tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.comments2014-11-28T16:25:53.580-08:00New Testament YearUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-70660484867155965272014-11-28T16:25:53.580-08:002014-11-28T16:25:53.580-08:00Recall the parable of the seed. Must tend the soil...Recall the parable of the seed. Must tend the soil of the soul and blessed are the poor in spirit. Helps to ask for the grace to pray. All glory to GodAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16103530338258248721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-76515520124839349962010-04-22T14:31:52.313-07:002010-04-22T14:31:52.313-07:00St. Ignatious of Loyola pops into my mind at this ...St. Ignatious of Loyola pops into my mind at this point. One of his rules in the discernment of spirits is not to make a change in moments of spiritual desolation, especially when we come down from a moment of spiritual consolation. I think we can all imagine how Peter felt when he denied Christ--scared to pieces and so confused as to why his feelings and experience had changed so suddenly. Yet, in spite of our biggest failures, God uses us in the biggest way.A.Stouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00834595664659076276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-56189023130459329272010-02-05T11:25:47.473-08:002010-02-05T11:25:47.473-08:00A new Resurrection defined:
On the horizon is an ...A new Resurrection defined:<br /><br />On the horizon is an approaching religious and cultural furore so contentious, any clash of civilizations may have to wait. <br /><br />The first wholly new interpretation for 2000 years of the Gospel and moral teachings of Christ is on the web. Redefining all primary elements including Faith, the Word, Baptism, the Trinity and the Resurrection, this new interpretation questions the validity and origins of all Christian tradition; it overturns all natural law ethics and theory. At stake is the credibility of several thousand years of religious history and moral teaching.<br /><br /> This new teaching has nothing whatsoever to do with any existing religious conception known to history. It is unique in every respect. What science and religion have agreed was not possible, has now become all too inevitable. <br /><br />Using a synthesis of scriptural material from the Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha , The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Nag Hammadi Library, and some of the worlds great poetry, it describes and teaches a single moral LAW, a single moral principle, and offers the promise of its own proof; one in which the reality of God responds directly to an act of perfect faith with a individual intervention into the natural world; correcting human nature by a change in natural law, altering biology, consciousness and human ethical perception beyond all natural evolutionary boundaries. Intended to be understood metaphorically, where 'death' is ignorance and 'Life' is knowledge, this experience, personal encounter of transcendent power and moral purpose is the 'Resurrection', and justification for faith. Here is where true morality, called righteousness begins.<br /><br />Here then is the first ever viable religious conception capable of leading reason, by faith, to observable consequences which can be tested and judged. This new teaching delivers the first ever religious claim of insight into the human condition, that meets the Enlightenment criteria of verifiable and 'extraordinary' evidence based truth embodied in action. For the first time in history, however unexpected, the world must now measure for itself, the reality of a new claim to revealed truth, a moral tenet not of human intellectual origin, offering access by faith, to absolute proof, an objective basis for moral principle and a fully rationally justifiable belief!<br /><br />This is 'religion' without any of the conventional trappings of tradition. An individual, virtue-ethical conception, independent of all cultural perception in a single moral command, and the single Law finds it's expression of obedience within a new covenant of marriage. It requires no institutional framework or hierarchy, no churches or priest craft, no scholastic theological rational, dogma or doctrine and ‘worship’ requires only conviction, faith and the necessary measure of self discipline to accomplish a new, single, categorical moral imperative and the integrity and fidelity to the new reality.<br /><br />If confirmed, this will represent a paradigm change in the moral and intellectual potential of human nature itself; untangling the greatest questions of human existence: consciousness, meaning, suffering, free will and evil. And at the same time addressing the most profound problems of our age.<br /><br />Trials of this new teaching are open to all and under way in many countries. For those individuals who will question their own prejudices, who can imagine outside the historical cultural box, with the moral courage to learn something new, and test this for themselves, to stand against the stream of fashionable thought and spin, an intellectual and moral revolution is already under way, where the 'impossible' becomes inevitable, with the most potent Non Violent Direct Action any human being can take to advance peace, justice, change and progress. <br /><br />Published [at the moment] only on the web, a typeset manuscript of this new teaching is available as a free [1.4meg] PDF download from a variety of sites including:<br /><br />[www].energon.org.ukgoliahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09484401523720233875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-74374935939903390372010-02-01T22:08:21.044-08:002010-02-01T22:08:21.044-08:00Let's also remember that persecution can be th...Let's also remember that persecution can be the greatest form of evangalism. There is something very mysterious about the martyr who goes to his death with a serene joy, and people who see it want to explore that mystery. As Tertullian observed, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."Blaisenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-4586651942667211422010-02-01T21:34:41.209-08:002010-02-01T21:34:41.209-08:00There is a caution here: people may think they are...There is a caution here: people may think they are doing right BECAUSE they are persecuted. I wonder if that's how people who hold up signs about hell on street corners think, at least subconsciously.Jeanettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15615433096057569836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-58301165198729775202010-01-24T17:46:07.223-08:002010-01-24T17:46:07.223-08:00I love this as Jesus' response to the Pharisee...I love this as Jesus' response to the Pharisees attack on His relationships with "the lowest of lows" in Jewish society. It becomes even more powerful of an image when you look at the other stories in this chapter (Parable of the Lost Coin and The Parable of the Lost Son.) Especially understanding the jewish context pointing to the same fact that God seeks after us, with pure unconditional love.<br /><br />"...and let ourselves be found." - great words to pursue living outDanielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05169798413398061532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-30672395600856581312010-01-22T17:43:25.459-08:002010-01-22T17:43:25.459-08:00"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so gre..."Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." <br /><br />Heb 12:1-2. Article 2Kate Vnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-63877752836915842352010-01-20T23:48:42.858-08:002010-01-20T23:48:42.858-08:00This is really good: http://www.newadvent.org/fath...This is really good: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0102.htmEricPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05549194985167628398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-30546868543294427502010-01-20T23:38:16.098-08:002010-01-20T23:38:16.098-08:00Great quotes from Chesterton! They remind me of th...Great quotes from Chesterton! They remind me of the beginning of B16's pontificate, where some complained he was too liberal, while others thought he was way too conservative.EricPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05549194985167628398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-27285782867225231352010-01-19T22:08:10.745-08:002010-01-19T22:08:10.745-08:00I'm sure I do. Even though I know the most imp...I'm sure I do. Even though I know the most important rule of prayer is "just do it," all too often I let details and circumstances -- not to mention my own laziness -- derail me.kvnbrnbmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03258610861941382540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-13234457534364300502010-01-19T22:03:01.336-08:002010-01-19T22:03:01.336-08:00Indeed. I think he might even have said something ...Indeed. I think he might even have said something about that in there...kvnbrnbmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03258610861941382540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-62603422998641995222010-01-19T20:38:15.064-08:002010-01-19T20:38:15.064-08:00Well said. When weighing the demands of justice ag...Well said. When weighing the demands of justice against earthly pleasures, I think Jesus would teach that we must accomplish the needs of the kingdom first. Then God may add to us the temporal blessings.<br /><br />-C-Chris Hampsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637796912398020652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-31461668441089763242010-01-19T20:29:46.002-08:002010-01-19T20:29:46.002-08:00I often wonder whether we overthink prayer too muc...I often wonder whether we overthink prayer too much. Jesus Himself taught us how... the more I pray this prayer, the more meaningful it becomes in its simplicity.Chris Hampsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637796912398020652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-15608571706715715952010-01-18T16:51:56.367-08:002010-01-18T16:51:56.367-08:00Well said!Well said!Chris Hampsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637796912398020652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-46973684996242351552010-01-15T04:43:49.899-08:002010-01-15T04:43:49.899-08:00Polycarp is one of my favorite Christians... He...Polycarp is one of my favorite Christians... He's running away through Asia Minor, fleeing from the Romans, and then he learns that the people who are sheltering him are starting to get in trouble. So he does an about-face and heads straight for the people he knows are going to kill him.<br /><br />I think, Kevin, a large part of the answer lies in the virtue of integrity. We have to preserve the "lightness" and "saltness" that Christ calls us to have. You cannot desire to be a martyr, but the early martyrs had such a radical love for Christ that they "merely" followed Him despite being in a place of opposition. Integrity and loyalty.Chris Hampsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637796912398020652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-68617801737206940462010-01-15T04:36:18.941-08:002010-01-15T04:36:18.941-08:00My dad always giggled about Jesus' line, "...My dad always giggled about Jesus' line, "I've done many good things: which of them am I in trouble for?"<br /><br />This is on a different topic, Kevin, but I've been tracking all the miracles in the last few chapters. And yet, when we read Luke 7.36-50, Jesus forgives the sins of the woman who pours the oil on His feet. In Luke 5.17-26, He forgives the sins of the young man who is lowered through the roof.<br /><br />There is this tension building up... This man can bring people back from the dead! (7.2-17) And yet, somehow, He seems to regard forgiving sins as one of His primary functions. No other prophet acted like this! No other prophet forgave sins! Jesus is in a different league.Chris Hampsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637796912398020652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-11680568964938071432010-01-15T04:30:54.429-08:002010-01-15T04:30:54.429-08:00I'll venture an answer to Kevin's question...I'll venture an answer to Kevin's question.<br /><br />The early Christians were staunchly pacifistic. Celsus, the first major critic and articulate opponent of Christianity, fired a shot: "If everyone followed your example, the emperor would be left without soldiers and the barbarians would overrun the empire!"<br /><br />Origen, the brilliant apologist, responded, in effect: "Actually, if everyone followed our example, then the peace of Christ would have spread like wildfire: everyone would be Christians, and there'd be no one to fight against!"<br /><br />So, either big or small martyrdoms (I love that concept, Jeanette, and hadn't heard of it before!)—but perhaps God will work a change through these examples.Chris Hampsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637796912398020652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-37598378990069797992010-01-14T12:55:57.665-08:002010-01-14T12:55:57.665-08:00I think this is good to think about similar to the...I think this is good to think about similar to the "little martyrdoms" idea. We may not know anyone who we'd call an enemy or anyone who picks physical fights with us or steals from uss\. But there are plenty of ways that even people we love -- or, maybe, especially them! ;) -- irritate us, and those are little opportunities for love. They are also extremely challenging in their own way, because we all have bad habitual responses to small irritations, and habits are hard to change!Jeanettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15615433096057569836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-37092850631036200992010-01-13T17:58:09.826-08:002010-01-13T17:58:09.826-08:00Thanks, Eric and Chris, for the insights and refer...Thanks, Eric and Chris, for the insights and references. I thought also of what Pope Leo XIII wrote in his encyclical "Rerum Novarum" in 1891:<br /><br />"True, no one is commanded to distribute to others that which is required for his own needs and those of his household; nor even to give away what is reasonably required to keep up becomingly his condition in life, 'for no one ought to live other than becomingly.' But, when what necessity demands has been supplied, and one's standing fairly taken thought for, it becomes a duty to give to the indigent out of what remains over."<br /><br />In practice, it's finding that balance and determining what are true necessities that is so difficult, especially given our tendency toward greed and rationalization. Anyone have any practical advice?kvnbrnbmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03258610861941382540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-92206308774459908652010-01-13T05:29:56.214-08:002010-01-13T05:29:56.214-08:00Hm, how to balance giving and providing? Paul in 1...Hm, how to balance giving and providing? Paul in 1 Timothy 5.8 says that he who does not provide for his own family is worse than an unbeliever. In the same chapter, verses 4 and 16 declare that the children and grandchildren of widows should support them. <br /><br />Not to mention the verses that balance carrying our own weight and helping others. Paul in Galatians 6.2 says we are to carry each other's burdens; in Galatians 6.5 he says we should carry our own burdens.<br /><br />So I do think, as Kevin says, that Christ calls us to radical generosity. But there is a base limit that we must meet—a personal responsibility for our family—before we can embark upon that radical generosity. Note: this "before" is a "before" of priority and NOT of time! We shouldn't wait to be generous!<br /><br />-C-Chris Hampsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637796912398020652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-78293431022936048862010-01-11T23:24:40.951-08:002010-01-11T23:24:40.951-08:00Kevin, I'm really enjoying your blog, keep it ...Kevin, I'm really enjoying your blog, keep it up. <br /><br />What struck me the other day (chapter 3) was Jesus’ replies to the crowds, tax collectors, and soldiers. He didn't tell them to sell all and give everything to the poor (and basically become poor themselves), but to share what they had and to not take more than what is rightfully theirs. What struck me the most though was the last thing He told the soldiers: "be satisfied with your wages". I am not sure if this was intended to be applied to all humans throughout all-time, but it sure seems to speak to today’s (selfish) mindset of “climbing the corporate ladder”; the verse also doesn’t quite gel with a radical view of extinguishing all of your possessions. What seems to reconcile all these verses is what you pointed out, that we should not be too attached to our possessions -or at least we ought not be more attached to our possessions than we are to God and neighbor.<br /><br />All this reminds me of two quotes, I forget by whom is the first: “you don’t really own your possessions, they own you.” And from Notorious B.I.G.: “mo money, mo problems”.EricPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05549194985167628398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-38835790982674766442010-01-11T23:12:28.932-08:002010-01-11T23:12:28.932-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.EricPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05549194985167628398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-39396172322828724402010-01-11T23:06:14.356-08:002010-01-11T23:06:14.356-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.EricPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05549194985167628398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-48628587024361324312010-01-11T20:44:19.199-08:002010-01-11T20:44:19.199-08:00So I'm here and I'm reading it - I'll ...So I'm here and I'm reading it - I'll make some actual comments when I'm not sick any more :)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17470758833650696325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075741063627316712.post-26395158458651038482010-01-11T04:23:31.512-08:002010-01-11T04:23:31.512-08:00hi k :) this is cool what you are doing. hope you&...hi k :) this is cool what you are doing. hope you're well. i'll check in from time to time :)<br />- crysAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com