JMarie Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 Abraham and his family faced many dangers while they waited on God's promise. When they came into a land that did not know God they were under attack from the kings and others who sought to take advantage of them. I recently moved to my new location, so I have not had a real chance to observe who is here, and what they may be facing in terms of oppression. But must people who relocate to other areas are generally looking for a better quality of life. I'm also attending a new church, I 've read their list of outreach programs and I assume that they are working to improve the quality of life in the community that this church serves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAJU Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? It is quite a challenge in a strange and foreign land to avoid facing dangers . I have not faced such sojourners in my community Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? They faced the possibility of being cheated, imprisoned, robbed, raped, or killed, etc. Anybody might oppress them from political leadership down to the local merchant. In Suwannanee County, Florida we have alot of Hispanics doing agricultural work. They are not treated with dignity and respect by and large throughout the community. My church and I are there to help in anyway we can in addition to ministering to their spiritual needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
servant for Christ Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? (1) The dangers were that they were vulnerable to evil people, they were not protected and they could have been abused by kings and religious groups and people that lived a very ungodly life style. (2) The people that were not blood relatives or any relationship. (3) In our community we have mostly Hispanic's. (4) A better way of life for them and their family. (5) I think the way they are discriminated against , they are made fun of for their life style and taken advantage of in job's because they can't speak English. (6) We need to tell them about Jesus and show His love to them through us. Stretch our a helping hand and be understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
servant for Christ Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? The dangers that faced Abraham was that he was in a different country, no loved ones around him, evil people could take advantage of them. They could have been killed for everything they owned. Other kings,leaders, and even other travelers could have oppressed them. We have a lot of Hispanic's that live in our city. They came for a better way of life for their families and freedom. They have been discriminated against by their jobs because a lot of them can not speak very good English or no English at all. Other's make fun of them because of their dress or life style. Our churches have reached out to these people by inviting and bringing them to church, telling them that God loves them, and give them a helping hand in anything when needed. We show them the love of Christ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masika Posted May 11, 2008 Report Share Posted May 11, 2008 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? There are a number of things that were facing Abraham, God had just told him to move from his home land to a new place, and now in this new land there is famine. So there is no food for him with his house holds. Where he was to move to Egypt, he was fearing that people might kill and take away his wife because of her beauty. We see here Abraham did not question God why He told him to move to that land and then now there is famine. He trusted God. This should encourage us believers that when we are determine to follow God, we will immediately encounter many obstacles, we should trust God in everything, He will provide a way out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Posted July 27, 2008 Report Share Posted July 27, 2008 I live as expatriate in a Muslim country, this culture has a value system lightyears removed from the one I embrace. My place of birth is Zimbabwe, where white people are not welcome regardless of their claim to citizenship. I have lived in this place 18 years and still do not feel part of the community, as we are not allowed to settle here, and not encouraged to integrate, we have few rights and can be told to leave at any time. I relate to Abram who in obedience to God moves from all he is familiar with, to a society which is hostile and foreign. I battle everyday with my desire for a home and security. All I am taught indicates that I should be joyfull in all circumstances, but sometimes the pain of loneliness is almost dibilitating. I miss my home, my family and friends who know and understand my sense of humour and fears, who relate to a common background and shared experiences. Be patient those of you who have aliens in your community. it is natural for people to seek the familiar. To gravitate to what they understand. We can enrich and colour each others lives in many ways if we offer genuine friendship and not just "Charity". Hospitality and friendship goes a long way to bringing down the things that divide us and helping us to focus on the things that we have in common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofmiraclebaby Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? ok i could give the same answers i have seen repeated about not having rights and such, but i have a question? In my studies when i come to this scripture it talks about Abram being under trial; forsakes the place of blessing and chooses to go to Egypt(which in my studies is likened to the World or Worldly). And in making that choice he starts down a slippery slope, cause in the very next verse he has his wife lie. Once you choose the world over God; sin riegns. To me they are aliens because they are out of the will of the Lord and when you make the choice to be out of the will of God you can expect bad and hard things to come your way. We are aliens in this world because we are not from here. And i so look forward to going home one day. And as a child of God (an alien) here on earth there is discrimination as well. so my question is can we expect God to protect us when we knowingly go against what He told us to do or where to go? I know God can do anything and everything but as i study this scripture during Abrams disobedience in going to Egypt, did the Lord speak to him? i don't see God speaking to him again until he is seperated from Lot. maybe this is totally off the subject, so if you want to know the correct answer to these questions look at the previous posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjrides4God Posted November 2, 2008 Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 Q1. What Dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Abraham and family faced the fear of being beaten, raped, kidnapped, killed, etc... Who might oppress them? The new land they entered was full of sinners and it was these people who they feared What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and other in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? Living in the isolated area that I do, it's difficult to answer these questions as they don't really apply to my current living situation... but if I lived in a close community I would like to believe that community along with me would extend a helping hand, comfort and a welcoming greeting to anyone new to the area or in need regardless of where they came from, what color of skin, gender, or background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mieche Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? I would say going just into the unknown would naturally cause a great fear. The fear of being murdered, abused, beaten, taken advantage of, starving to death, not being able to take of family and/or losing everything. 2) i believe that the people who would cause harm to Abraham and his family are those who were in lack themselves, people who desired their things, etc. 3) There are several people that live in my community from other countries, most are here for school and others came to get a better life. 4) i'm not sure if they are being discriminated against. 5) The church should try to assist in the best way they can if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Many potential dangers might face them. It would be surprising if Abraham and his family were the only family arriving in Egypt to escape the famine and sadly history is littered with the sufferings of refugees like this who are almost always seen as some kind of threat to the livelihood of the local people. The only fear which Abraham expressly refers to is that the Egyptians will kill him and take Sarah. In addition, there must have been other potential dangers for them (although ones own possible death is a pretty serious danger!!) Maybe Abraham thought that he was faced with no real options here and saw this as the only viable alternative. What is interesting is that in this passage we are not told that Abraham called on the name of the Lord as he had done in 12:8, which is surprising given the fix that they must have been in. In fact at no point in this passage do we have any communication between Abraham and God. I wonder whether this was a time when Abraham tried to rely on his own wiles to get by and what this passage is telling us is that God never left him and continued to take care of him as He had promised He would. What is clear is that this passage is obviously a very foreshortened version of events in Egypt, and to judge Abraham simply on the text of this very short report would clearly not be reasonable. For that reason, I think that the message of the passage that God continued to take care of Abraham is the most important thing here. There are now a lot of Polish people living in our community - they came here when Poland joined the European Union seeking a better life. I don't think that that have been oppressed very much, and in fact with the current economic situation in the UK, many of them are returning to Poland! There are though in the UK many examples of oppressed minorities. most notable recently were the group of Romanians who were harassed out of their homes by a campaign of intimidation and violence. Also, earlier this year, there were a lot of protests about foreigners taking jobs away from the British. This didn't take the form of direct violence to the foreign workers themselves, but nonetheless must have been intimidating. As to what we can do to show love to aliens, it really depends on the circumstances. Sometimes it can take the form of simply speaking with them and befriending them or inviting them for a meal, sometimes more practical help can be given such as gifts of food or clothes, sometimes it can even take the form of just leaving them alone. If in doubt, I would think that the best guide to follow would be to imagine what Jesus would have done or said. Read the Gospels and all of the guidance that you could possibly need is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peggy Crans Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? They faced many dangers. This was a sinful country with the rape of both men and women, the fear of being murdered, of not having enough food. of losing everything they had this must have been a very frightful time for Abraham. Because of the many sojourners in the country there was little protection for them. A stranger in another country was and is very difficult. They could have been oppressed by government leaders or even the other sojourners. Not knowing anyone in this country they didn't know any high offical that could protect them. It's hard to believe he didn't call out to God, when this fear was so great that he lied to protect himself. There are many aliens and sojourners that live in the community where I live. They came, I think, to have a better life than they did in their own country. I don't think they are being discriminated against. They are working and living pretty good. I believe my church is a very loving church and reaches out to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lionbait Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? Abraham and his family had no civil rights or civil security, but they where under the graceful care of the Living God. To day over the world we have seen a mass injection of others from war torn or less fortunate countries. Integration must be so fearful and hard, most don't speak the native language of the adopted country and maybe skin colour would make a sojourner stand out. Abraham and his family must have endured some of this. As a blood bought church who have gained from Jesus cross work and forgiveness we must hold out the hand of friendship. A smile can say more than many words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah43 Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? A sojourner's life is fraught with peril, as he or she is at the mercy of the natives in the strange land. He or she might be robbed, assaulted, killed, cheated, or raped, tormented in a variety of discriminatory ways. What comes to my mind is Tennessee William's words through his heroine, Blanche Dubois, who says at the end of the drama A Streetcar Named Desire, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." Also, Chaucer's words somewhere (I forget where exactly--it's been a while)embedded in The Canterbury Tales, "Life is a thoroughfare full of woe, and we are but pilgrims passing to and fro. I also think of the Greek concept of guest friendship, which honors and gifts the stranger, who might be the master of the house in disguise, or God. Finally, I am moved by the Word in Hebrews 13:2, " Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware." A stranger in a strange land, Abraham and his retinue faced the perils of any sojourner and anyone might have oppressed him/them. I live in a rural non-diverse neighborhood, but thirty minutes away, aliens abound. Latinos and Africans and Pakistanis in particular. They came to live in this city from their homeland to make a better life for their families. They tend to band together to form their own communities, but outside those new communities, they are teased and denigrated, perhaps paid less and/or made to work more and unsafely, as they don't always understand the laws and customs in America. Sometimes they are shunned by others, or ignored. I learned last week that in 1926, a community of Jews, living on the land where my daughter's high school is today, was slaughtered by some locals down to the last child, and buried in situ in a communal pit grave. The name of the road/grave site on which the high/school is built on is Gettile, a derivative of the word ghetto. In my church, and outside of it, if there is an outside of the church, I can do well to treat sojourners as made in His image, as are we all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeking His Face Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? As far as being stranger/aliens in a land, they were at the mercy of the King/or legal goverment. They could be killed, robbed,beaten and enslaved to the ruling authority. Many differnt peoples come to American for many different reason. Mainly I think for a better life, to support there families etc. Not sure about that part,but my job is to so forth the love of Christ to all, and He will tell me how to respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanks Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"?Being strangers in a foreign country, Abraham and his family were very vulnerable to attacks and exploitation by the locals. In my country we have many foreigners living and working who are periodically attacked by the locals for taking their employment. Also, they are exploited by employers who know they are illegal immigrants and pay them a much lower wage than the locals. Periodically we see these aliens are attacked and many have been killed. Why did they come Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foofee's Nana Posted January 23, 2010 Report Share Posted January 23, 2010 What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Since they had no relatives they were at the mercy of the ruling warlord, or local tribesmen. Who might oppress them? The local rulers as they were resident aliens. What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? My husband lives in our home...he is a resident alien from the middle east. Our life has been blessed by God, but we have encountered much prejudice along this journey during our marriage. On a less personal note our city has many refugees from Somalia, and also Vietnam and Cambodia. Why did they come? They came to experience a better life, perhaps escape from bad governments or for that want of freedom of choice. They came to afford better opportunites to care for their familes. How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? I will use our own experience...after 9/11 my husband was subjected to discrimination and ridicule on the job. He was in a management position at a large company and they made his life unbearable. As I said...GOD is good.....our life turned around and what this compnay intended for bad God turned to glory. What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? We can see people and situations through God's love....as humans we see with human eyes and it is difficult to try and understand someone or a custom that is different. We have to spend time in prayer and really try to know the will of God. We are not all "cookie-cutter" people but yet we share the foundation of humanity and that we are made in God's image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? As sojourners, Abraham and his family were strangers in the land and had no legal rights. They were subjected to the rules and regulations by the people who were citizens or countryman of the land. My community has a mixture of people. This particular area has probably been well inhabited by myself and others within the past seven years. Most of us are from somewhere else. Therefore most of us are aliens finding our way in this area There are those in the area who were established in this area years ago and the effects of how they ran the area previously effected most of us. I can see that in a lot of work places in the area, minorities are given menial, or no jobs at all. The church that I was attending in this area included all kind of people and I think as Christians, we just had that love for one another which we all needed. Love would be the way to win over people and situations .Of course with prayer and a daily practice of living in the Word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wifee Posted June 17, 2010 Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 1a)Due to famine Abraham forced to move to Eygpt to live for a while. b)Whilst there, they had to depend on the goodwill of the hosts, they had no civil rights no security,were fearful & their treatment depended on the whim of the king of local warlord. They were vulnerable without family or relationships to protect them. E.g gangs raping men & women genesis19 c)In our community people move into the area for low skilled work.d) They are often poorly paid, vulnerable to employers whims& have few rights. e)Our church runs a gp to support these individuals in a practical way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Rider Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 Have you considered that? Abraham was in danger because he didn't listen to or trust God in the first place. God didn't tell Abraham to go to Egypt. Abraham went to Egypt on his own in an attempt to escape the famine. Why didn't he stay where God had told him to go and Trust God to provide? Also, If he felt that he was susposed to go to Egypt, why did he feel the need to lie about Sarah? Why, didn't he trust in God to protect him? My answer: While Abraham was a man of faith, at this point he was still a man of weak faith, he hadn't yet learned to totally depend upon and trust in God Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan8 Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? This is a perspective that I had not seen before - the fact that they were new on the block and so they could be taken advantage of even so far as being raped and killed and possessions taken from them. Of course today in our country some of those things could not happen (i.e. killed)and many years ago the other things would be hard to find in this culture but not any more. As a stranger and sojourner you could very easily be taken advantage of. If you don't believe me just get lost in a big city and see what happens? We got lost outside of Washington DC trying to find our way and if it wasn't for police that came by, we were following people who said they would take us back to the route we were looking for but they were going the opposite way the police took us. Who knows what they were possibly going to do to us once they got us to where they wanted us. Perhaps that is why we read a little later that Abraham had a small army with him to rescue Lot when war broke out in Sodom. Abraham as he was getting wealthier had to protect what he had. Realizing that it was more than he himself could do had a small army - a band of men to help him. As someone else said in the posts, we as Peter says are all strangers and pilgrims to this world system. We are passing through being citizens of another country. Moses told the Israelites in the law to treat strangers and foreigners like you would want to be treated because remember you once were a stranger in a strange land. What a great witness that could be for the Lord! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spen Posted January 3, 2011 Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? 1.What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? As strangers and aliens in a strange land they were in danger from the normal predators the residents were but in addition they were often regarded as easy prey to be pressed into servitude or worse robbed and plundered even feeling free to kill them if they thought they posed a threat to the community. 2. Who might oppress them? The residents of the communities as well as those in authority. 3. What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? We have many Hispanics from Mexico and Central America as well as Chinese. 4. Why did they come? The Hispanics to work and improve their living conditions. The Chinese to work in restaurants. 5. .How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? Some if they are undocumented do day work by the job for lower wages. Others like the Chinese work for chain restaurants as cooks and waiters, subject to subsistence level living conditions and low wage compensation. 6. What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? Accept them as people beloved by God and entitled to our respect and assistance with citizenship requirements and worker permits. The children can be encouraged to come be a part of social programs and activities geared to their ages. The adults can be tutored in English and ministered to as we would minister to the native born among us. The difficulty in doing this is the cultural differences that seem to be built-in the aliens mind-set toward our language as well as moral and social customs. These attitudes make evangelism hard so our approach is to be sure they have the basics of food, shelter, clothing and help with local customs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastor neal Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 The dangers that Abraham and his family faced were of variety. Their main threats were those of food and shelter. As aliens it is conceivable that the citizens of the lands inwhich they entered would refuse them sustenacne and lodging whether out of fear or, sadly,hatered. They most likey even refused them the ground to erect their tents for a few days of rest. Today, sadly, we find a similar problem. Many people find it difficult to accept those individuals or families which come to the United States seeking a better life or for protection from a corrupt and subpressive government. As a Pastor who specializes in Senior/Young Adult Ministry I make every effort to introduce those who arer "alien" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastor neal Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 The dangers that Abraham and his family faced were numerous. But most pressing, in my opinion, would be that of physical safety, substance for survival and lodging. Sadly, as they were deemed aliens, a term that I find distasteful, the communities in which they would enter would most likely view them as a threat to their well-being and even as unjustified as their economy. The kings and his henchmen would oppress Abraham to the point where he would have to pull up stakes and move on to another land where he may find the same welcoming committee. Today, we find a great many "aliens" and "sojourners" coming into the United States, whether it be to seek opportunities better than they have or to escape an oppressive and tyrant leader these people often times find themselves isolated from the general population. As a Pastor who specializes in Senior/Young Adult ministry I make every effort to introduce these travelers into our society. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc'el4life Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? As aliens Abraham and his family are faced with oppression, rape, murder, starvation, rejection etc The evil people around them, people in authority People from other countries who need a better living. Some can't find job because they have no legal right, language barrier etc Welcome them, show them the love of God, assist them in the areas of their need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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