NOSTALGIA: STEAMTRAINS AND CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

 

These are my photographs - I grew up with steam-trains.

Taken at Germiston Yard

These are my photographs - I grew up with steam-trains.

Taken at Germiston Yard.

Today I am in a very nostalgic mood! Please join me remembering my [or your] childhood days. I grew up [partially] in Vereeniging, old Transvaal Province [now Gauteng Province], South Africa. My first childhood memories are from a railway camp near the Vereeniging town, called Redan. We were very poor my father could not even pay attention! But, having said that, I do remember the steam-trains because my dad worked on the railways as a train conductor. And I spent many days with him right at the end of the long line on coal trucks [ I think that is what they were called]. I try to remember because me and my family left Vereeniging 1963 about. 

I can smell the steam and smell the root and soot. Hear the coaches on the tracks. When I served the State Attorney, we got a railway concession for holidays and we spent many nights on the "sleep over night trains." Please click on this link to listen to the trains. I bring pay a tribute to the photographers in South Africa who took these footage - I don't have the means to track them and ask permission to publish this - but I pay my respects. It is apparent that these guys must have spent many hours preparing to take these footages not to mention to locate the exact spots to photograph from. It is fascinating to sit in a car with them chasing a loco and to see how the photographer zoomed in on the wheels. Oh!!! those wheels!! Those wheels!! 

You will see that some of the footage were taken by railway machinists themselves; at time they are hanging out of the loco to take footage of the wheels!!! I am listening to the sound of the link that I gave you. There are also footage of the insides of the loco while speeding along the long lonely stretches of the arid Karoo. Look at the black smoke pouring out - the passengers in the coaches had to contend with the soot and grime while eating "padkos." If you don't know what "padkos" means, it means special food-packages that you prepare for the long journey. 

I do hope that you have enjoyed this lot - and if you happen to know the whereabouts of the photographers please forward that information to me to enable to engage with them. 

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HAVE'NT GOT TIME TO ...? COVID-19 LOCKDOWN IS ALSO A GIFT

This is my story for you - in images I saved from the internet.

The gift of light; the gift of having time; the gift of having rehabilitating myself.

Dare I say this to you not knowing your particular circumstances?

I myself have an underlying health condition

My very good friend is really suffering because covid-19 accentuated his prostate problem. 

He is still reading and is intellectually active

and he keeps praying. 

Surrounded by darkness? 

The prophet of old Isaiah reminds us:

"Let him who walks in the dark, 

who has no light,

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God"

[Chapter 50:10]. 

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LOCKDOWN NEVER REALLY WORKED AROUND EASTER

"Why do you look for the living among  the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24: 5 - 6.

This is the definitive and everlasting difference between Christianity and any other religion in the entire world. This is the cutting edge - we Christians stand or fall by this. For further reading I recommend  that you read 1 Corinthians chapter 15 - read the entire chapter. If you don't have a Bible, I suggest that now is the best time to get your own copy. You may also download a copy and I recommend the New International Version. 

Please write me an e-letter: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za 

 

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Evidence for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth?

 

Jesus Christ in the Temple

Historically we, the Christians, celebrate the infamous judicial killing of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? This is not a treatise about the truth and authenticity of those events – it is, I submit to you, just a short write up to whet your appetite to read and to do you own research into these historical events and to respond to it.

The society, internationally and locally in South Africa, are corrupt.

There is fierce battle for truth and authenticity.

It is a given in today’s world that Christianity is mistrusted, under suspicion and belittled. Anything remotely connected to Christianity is instantly suspicions and anathema. The sordid sad history of the Church with the crusades are partly to blame, but not entirely. The entire world ethos is antagonistic towards the pure undiluted Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Have you considered the claims of Christianity? Have you considered the evidence for the Cross? I submit to you that it is satisfactory, authentic and reliable.

What authentic and reliable evidence are available about those things that happened 2000 years ago? There is no better evidence available than the Scriptures themselves. And then you have corroborating and contemporary documents as well.

Let us just consider the uniqueness of the Scriptures. We should not only read the New Testament in isolation although that will bring us a very long way. I am convinced that an honest open-minded seeker/skeptic should also read the Old Testament [O.T.] – because Christ is foreshadowed there. In other words, He is “hidden” if you will, in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament.

Do we have contemporary and corroborative write-ups about Christ? In other words, do we have ancient documents that refer to Him? Reliable documents? Authentic documents? I submit to you that those documents are there. This write-up of mine is not a treatise about His crucifixion and resurrection, but just to whet your appetite and present a short cogent argument for those claims. I have considered it and have accepted it in my life. He changed my life and He works everyday in my life to change it to His likeness. I suggest to you that you should use this write-up to start your own open-minded investigation.

If you don’t have a Bible, please go out and buy one. The alternative is to download one from the internet and I suggest that you download the New International Version.

A few days after His ascension into heaven on a cloud [there were eye witnesses for that event] His disciples and other people were gathered in a room in Jerusalem and were discussing these things that happened. They were discussing the crucifixion; there were thousands of people in Jerusalem that gathered for the yearly Passover celebrations. The judicial killing of Jesus took place just outside the walls of Jerusalem and were a public spectacle – outside on a hill He hang on a cross flanked by two criminals. People walked past and saw it, and ridiculed Him. Now, a couple of weeks later there was this gathering and Peter got up and he was addressing the people in attendance. He just knew that the death and resurrection of Christ was going to be extremely controversial. I ask you to take your Bible and turn to the Book of Acts the whole of chapter 1 and then concentrate on verses 21 – 26. That is the crux of the claims of Christianity: the death and resurrection of Christ. If you can break that, you break Christianity. You will find the same argument in Corinthians chapter 15. The logic is pure and convincing.

The tools and insights of academic biblical scholarship deepen our engagement with the Scriptures as a living text in a modern world.

The images below will guide you to search the internet for these sources and then you should engage with it. I am not going to do that for you – this is the challenge for you to take and run with it. I am confident that you will do that and that you will not be intellectually and spiritually lazy - this last remark is intended for Christians as well as non-Christians.

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