Some Christmas Pictures
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I could go on forever about how wonderful this Christmas has turned out to be, but I will spare you the boring details and share with you our Amman Christmas photo album. Click to enjoy! |
Have a Merry Christmas!!!
Wedding anniversary
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Today is our one-year anniversary. I can’t believe how time flew by so quickly. It was just the other day that we were running around trying to take care of all the wedding preparations! I remember back then how extremely stressed out I was about the big day. I was worried about everything: my dress, my weight, the flowers, the wedding cards, the travel preparations, you name it. But it worked out perfectly. Well, we made it and the wedding turned out absolutely beautiful, definitely the happiest day of my life. Happy anniversary hubby! You complete me. When we first got started on all of this web blogging business it all began with the wedding website. Those of you who have seen it already can take a peek again. Those that haven’t might find it interesting. It was Jeff’s early and first "web" project. He is putting up scans "within the week," he says of some of the professional photos taken at the ceremony. For now there are tons of fantastic amateur photos to peruse. Some new video "might" make it as well he says. Keep checking and please sign our guest book if you do take a moment to stop by 🙂 |
A new magazine for Christian Arabs in Jordan and Palestine
Al Maghtas — a new magazine for Christian
Arabs in Jordan and Palestine
By Daoud Kuttab
AMMAN — For the first time in decades, Christian Arabs in Jordan and Palestine have their own magazine.
The first edition of the 40-page glossy colour magazine Al Maghtas (the baptismal) was produced in Amman recently featuring interviews, articles, and even some controversy.
According to Reverend John Noor, the secretary of the bishops of Jordan, there are between 10-15 million Christian Arabs living in the Middle East.
Most of the region’s Christian Arabs live in Egypt (7-12 million) and Sudan, 600,000 in Iraq, 165,000 in Jordan, 900,000 in Syria, 1.3 million in Lebanon, 50,000 in Palestine and 130,000 in Israel.
Noor, whose two-page article deals with emigration estimates that four million more live in the diaspora.
Unlike most available Christian magazines, Al Maghtas is neither denominational nor theological. It deals with socioeconomic conditions concentrating on Christian Arabs on both banks of the Jordan.
Christian Arabs refuse to be called a minority, they consider themselves part of the Arab world and partners with their Muslim brethren in the good and bad that face the Arab nation.
Philip Madanat, the editor of the magazine, says that the strength of Al Maghtas is in its exclusivity for the Christian community and its avoidance of theology.
Among the feature stories in the magazine was an interview with one of the leading Jordanian businessmen, and philanthropist Elia Nuqol, the CEO of the Fine tissue company.
In another article Widad Kawar, the internationally known collector of Palestinian and Jordanian dresses and folklore is featured with a detailed profile.
Controversy is not absent in the newest magazine of Christian Arabs. An investigation into the internal struggles between three Christian churches over the right to the keys to the Nativity Church is presented from all points of view.
Source [The Jordan Times]
I’m really glad that there is a magazine out there discussing issues facing
Arab Christians. I really agree with the point mentioned in this article: “Christian
Arabs refuse to be called a minority, they consider themselves part of the Arab
world and partners with their Muslim brethren in the good and bad that face
the Arab nation.”
Many misunderstand the position of Arab Christians and believe that they
blindly support any action done by the west. Even worse, sometimes they are
labeled as “crusaders” or “traitors”. Arab Christians are no less Arabs because
of their faith. This is a point that needs to be stressed and highlighted more
often.
The House of Skulls
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Of the many new and interesting things we saw on our recent trip to Sharm, I found the room in this house very intriguing. The building is called The House of Skulls and it is found at the entrance to St. Catherine’s Cathedral right in the middle of the Sinai Desert. As you can see, the room has skulls neatly stacked on top of each other. According to our Egyptian guide, back in the old days the caretakers of the monastery would separate the skulls of dead saints brought to the church from the rest of the bones of their body and display them in this manner we believe to honor them in some fashion. We got to peek in on this room through a gated metal door. There were many tourists jammed in to take a look at the skulls so, unfortunately, I didn’t get to examine the room as closely as I wanted 😉 Curious stuff eh? The picture is courtesy of my talented husband, the photographer of the family 🙂 |
The fabrication finally exposed
At last! The truth is coming out regarding the now clearly fictional book "Honor Lost," whose author narrates an alleged "true story" of her friend’s murder at the hands of her family because she, a young Muslim woman, was dating a Christian guy.
According to a Jordan Times article by Rana Husseini (a women’s issues reporter from whom some of the information for the tale was gleaned without permission), the book is the fabrication of an author writing under the name Norma Khouri, a name that now appears to be fictitious itself.
The article addresses a number of false claims by Khouri, including that she had to flee Jordan to Greece and then Australia after the incident, fearing for her life.
I remember last year when I first heard about the book. I was so furious I couldn’t sleep for days. What really annoyed me was how she fabricated her portrayals of Jordanian women and their male counterparts.
One example of these falsehoods was that women in Jordan aren’t allowed to eat at the same table with men. Instead, she claimed, they waited until after the men had their fill, staying behind to eat the leftovers. What a load of crap!
Another thing that infuriated me was how the author claimed Jordanian Christians pay some sort of a tax, called Jizyeh, to be able to live in Jordan! That is also a load of crap! I’m a Jordanian Christian and neither I nor any member of my family has ever paid Jizyeh! And we’ve been here all along, for generations and generations.
According to Rana’s article, a series of exposés by the literary editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Malcolm Knox, in cooperation with the Jordanian National Commission for Women have exposed Khouri’s tale as fiction.
Click below to read Rana’s full story
Source: [The Jordan Times]