| "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." |
| "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." |
The book of Daniel has an interesting story in chapter 3, about the three young Jewish men who refused to bow to the golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar:
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (Daniel 3:19-22, AKJV)
Click to read the full posting.
Martin Luther didn't reform anything, in the sense of "fixing" it. Fixing the Catholic Church would have returned it to communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Christianity would have been unified once again.
No, he instead decided to strike out on his own, theologically, separating himself from 1,500 years of Church history. What he started is more properly termed the First Western Schism.
Some believers see commonplace miracles. They experience the suspension of the laws of physics every time they turn around.
Others look for such miracles, but find none.
I can show you a miracle, if you're willing to see it.
Click to read the full posting.
On the day of Pentecost, we commemorate the foundation of the Church, the Body of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as recorded in Acts 2. But what does that mean? The first clues are found at the very beginning of the Bible.
Click to read the full posting.
I talked a bit about tradition in a previous post, but tonight I got to witness some of it. I was in the store, looking for a few items, when I overheard a twenty-something woman inviting someone to her son's First Communion.
Like every generation before, I've worried about the generations that follow. Tonight brought a welcome relief from that worry.
Many Protestant denominations hold the New Testament as the measure by which something can be determined as "Christian" or "un-Christian." Yet the New Testament itself speaks of its purpose: to witness, that faith may be strengthened.
Click to read the full posting.
When St. John the Baptist warned his generation that the Anointed was soon to arrive, he gave a warning fit for a Greek dramaturge, making mention or reference to all four elements of classical Greek philosophy:
And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; John answered, saying to them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I comes, the lace of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you [in] the Holy Ghost and... fire. (Luke 3:15-16, KJV, slightly adjusted)
At Pentecost, both wind (air) and fire were signs of the presence of the Holy Ghost. As for earth, the Baptist said even it was sanctified by Jesus' steps upon it.
Sadly, the Lord's cousin didn't live to see the day when He turned the tables and washed His apostles' feet.
Haleigh shows that the State is completely ignorant of the nature of life. Even with all the high-tech gadgetry and "progressive" declarations of the "ethicists" in their ivory towers, these nattering nabobs get it wrong, time after time after time.
Haleigh's hard-fought recovery from the brink of death stands as a testimony to Massachusetts' arrogance. They have fallen, once again, for the lie of the serpent in the Garden of Eden:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5, KJV)
The State of Massachusetts thought they knew good from evil, and very nearly made their choice which they called "good," but their presumption to "play God" could not have been more evil for Haleigh. Only the work of those who value the gifts of the true, life-creating God saved this defenseless child from being murdered by the State.
In gratitude for the miraculous life of Haleigh Poutre and of myself, and in memory of Terri Schiavo, I ask the Lord for protection from the arrogant servants of death and destruction.
Ernie Chambers' lawsuit against a dead defendant has been tossed:
You can't sue God if you can't serve the papers on him, a Douglas County District Court judge has ruled in Omaha.
Judge Marlon Polk threw out Nebraska Sen. Ernie Chambers' lawsuit against the Almighty, saying there was no evidence that the defendant had been served. What's more, Polk found "there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant."
Somewhere, I think I hear God laughing.
According to their calendar, it's the 15th century, and their mindset reflects it: Land Dispute or Jihad? The Coptic Monastery Raid Revisited
From the article:
The video report depicted numerous monks, bruised, burnt, and bloodied, with broken bones and punctured wounds. One monk was severely beaten on the head, another stabbed in the neck...
"One of the monks had his arm and legs broken. The other two were tied together with ropes, suspended from a tree, and severely beaten with hoses and sticks. Afterwards, they were placed—upside down and still tied together—on the back of a donkey and shoved off. The monks were further commanded to spit on the cross and proclaim the shahada [the profession of Muslim faith that 'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet,' which, when uttered in front of Muslims, transform the speaker into a Muslim]—beaten every time they refused, and even threatened with death."
In their ignorance of Church history, they did not know that their basic nature is the same as those who beat St. Peter and his fellow Apostles:
[W]hen they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. (Acts 5:40-42)
2,000 years of persecution hasn't eliminated Christians from the earth. Not even Stalin's highly-organized purges could stop Christians from singing their hymns and taking Holy Communion. Why do these guys think they can do greater? As Gamaliel said right before the Apostles were beaten, "if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing; but if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it!"
In an earlier post, I asked the following:
how much more defensible would Intelligent Design be as a philosophy [than as science]?
Upon further consideration, I have concluded that I.D. is impossible as a science, but completely feasible as a philosophy. The scientific method, in its most basic form, requires experimental evidence from at least two emperical data points, one of which is a control.
We, being within the body of evidence itself, cannot experimentally produce two data points to prove that outside intelligence provides the design of the system in which we exist. That is to say, we cannot produce a design without an originating intelligence in order to show that our system is designed by an Intelligent Being.
Ergo, Intelligent Design is not science. However, just as imaginary numbers can be proven to exist via mental consideration, so also Intelligent Design may yet be subjected to such mental exercise.
Intelligent Design is not a science. Science depends upon emperical evidence, and I.D. has very little (read "none").
However, how much more defensible would Intelligent Design be as a philosophy?
With the saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Thy handmaid Bonnie Magdalene, where there is neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting.
Some things never change over time, and human nature is one of them. To illustrate, let me paraphrase 1 Corinthians 1:22-24:
For rednecks require a sign, and geeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto rednecks a stumblingblock, and unto geeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both rednecks and geeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Some students from Franciscan University got Bill Clinton to expose his moral vacuity a couple days ago. I especially love the part where he tries to use "political will" to justify abortion-on-demand, as if these little things like "right" and "wrong" have nothing to do with it.
And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. (Mark 5:39, KJV)
Have you ever been dreaming while your clock radio was playing, and you heard the radio in your dream? Then you tried to shut off the radio, even unplugging it, but it just kept playing? (And then you woke up, to recover from the budding nightmare...)
You heard this life in your sleep. So do those in the Body of Christ who have fallen asleep. Bishop Nicholas of Myra in Lycia hears us when we say, "Most holy hierarch Nicholas, pray to God for us." The priest Valentinus hears the prayers, "O Martyr among Priests, Saint Valentine, intercede with Christ God to save our souls."
And if the saints in slumber pray for us, does God hear their prayers?
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16, KJV)
Not all singing is with the mouth, and not all words to the Lord are heard with human ears. Even those who are "dead to the world" have silent hymns, and the Lord hears the words of their hearts.
Being the geek that I am, I like to challenge myself with new ideas. A few weeks ago, I decided that my latest challenge should be to create a Christmas slideshow. I could put up a few strings of flashy lights, maybe even hang a wreath, but why should I be like my neighbors? I have the power of Linux and Free Software at my fingertips; I should show it to them, right?
My requirements for the project were simple:
Click to read the full posting.
Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. (Mark 4:3-8, KJV, emphasis added)
The seed that fell on "good" ground, fell on ground that was fertile and tended. Someone pulled the weeds, put a fence around it to keep out the wild animals...
...and made sure it got some natural fertilizer every year.
I guess preaching the Gospel can sometimes be a stinky business.
With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Thy servant Rami, where there is no pain, no sorrow, no sighing, but life everlasting. Amen.
A Nebraska state senator has decided to "sue God" in court, making all kinds of wild accusations against Him. Ostensibly, he's trying to make "a point about frivolous lawsuits," but the sound bite I heard with him on the radio puts the lie to that. He said, with a microphone in his face, that Christians are using the courts to push a "bigoted" agenda. I guess he hasn't looked in the mirror lately.
But the stickiest thing about it is, wasn't God already tried and executed 2,000 years ago? How can Chambers bring Him up on charges again?
Or maybe Chambers is just another anti-Christian twit who refuses to recognize God's triumph over death, against which even Chambers himself is powerless.
I used to think Christ came to earth as a common man, in order not to frighten us when we saw Him.
No, Christ came to earth as the original Man, in order to frighten us into realizing just how badly we have damaged His image in us.
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (I Corinthians 6:19, KJV)
In light of this verse, and the implications it carries, I finally figured out what bothers me about shows like Heroes and comics like X-Men. It's the suggestion that somehow, we are "incomplete" without that next evolutionary step.
The so-called "enhancements" man wants are really defilements of God's temple. It is very much like putting a mirrored disco ball in the middle of the church ceiling: it might make the kids go "ooooh!", but in reality it's gaudy, pretentious, and it detracts from the Lord's due glory.
After the recent earthquake in Perú that killed over 500 people, survivor Richard Stallman made the following comment on Linux.com:
I read that a church collapsed on worshipers during mass; later I heard that the priest had been rescued. Believers surely attributed the rescue to the good will of a benevolent deity. They probably did not attribute the collapse to the ill will of an evil deity, but it would be equally logical.
As one commenter put it on another board, "Wow." The sheer audacity of those two sentences is shocking.
The rough-and-tumble discussion that ensued gave me pause for thought. What exactly was it about Stallman's comment that was so abrasive? Was it the timing? Certainly that was part of it. Was it his brazen rudeness to the faiths of his hosts in Perú? Possibly. But I think the fingernails on the chalkboard came from one phrase: "the ill will of an evil deity," and the accompanying assertion that this is somehow "logical."
Click to read the full posting.
In chapter 9 of the Gospel According to St. John the Evangelist, we get a stark contrast of authorities: Jesus' authority as the Creator, and the legalistic authority of the Pharisees.
Click to read the full posting.
When someone chooses hell over eternal communion with the Lord of all existence, he chooses innate contradiction.
Click to read the full posting.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. (Numbers 6:25-27, KJV)
Jewish ontology gives special meaning to someone's face. If the king looks at someone in his court, he is giving consent to that person's presence. In Fiddler on the Roof, when Tevye's daughter Chava married a Christian, he turned away and would not face her.
When Peter rebuked Jesus for speaking of His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus counter-rebuked Peter, saying,
Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. (Mark 8:33, KJV, emphasis added)
Or, in modern parlance, "Get outta my face!" Same concept, different words. Peter was still bound by worldly thinking, and as such threatened to interfere with Jesus' salvific work. Jesus rejected this outright.
It isn't difficult to demonstrate the compatibility of human free will with God's omniscience.
Quick, choose a number between 1 and 50! Got it?
Now, truthfully, I don't care what number you chose. And I doubt God cares, either. But the point is this:
Do you really think God didn't know, at the Creation, which number you just now chose? At the same time, did His foreknowledge in any way negate your choice?
His knowing in eternity does not preclude our temporal decisions.
No, I'm not talking about Paris Hilton. It's one of those stories about Heaven going around on the 'net. It tries to hand the reader a platitude on a silver platter, but its conclusion is dangerously wrong.
Click to read the full posting.
Hi, folks.
Sorry I've been so quiet these past few days. I lost a friend and mentor of sixteen years last Friday.
Click to read the full posting.
It's bad enough when religious persecution comes from non-believers. It's even worse when the persecutors claim to be fellow believers. Worse yet, when one of the first in line has a Ph.D. For this reason, Francis Beckwith has my sympathy.
Click to read the full posting.
The mask finally slips: Gore sees 'spiritual crisis' in warming:
"It's in part a spiritual crisis," Gore told the crowd in the Convention Center at the American Institute of Architects national convention. "It's a crisis of our own self-definition — who we are. Are we creatures destined to destroy our own species? Clearly not."
Rush Limbaugh was right: Environmentalism is the new Communism, complete with the same demands to end private property rights. This time, instead of service to the all-powerful State, the focus is service to the all-important "Mother Earth."
Click to read the full posting.
I texted several friends yesterday afternoon, saying "Christ is risen! :-)".
The first reply I got: "Indeed He is risen! (Who is this?) :-)"
The icons are right. The face is important.
Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and on those in the tombs bestowing life!
Having beheld the resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only Sinless One. We venerate Your cross, O Christ, and we praise and glorify Your holy resurrection. You are our God. We know no other than You, and we call upon Your name. Come, all faithful, let us venerate the holy resurrection of Christ. For behold, through the cross joy has come to all the world. Blessing the Lord always, let us praise His resurrection. For enduring the cross for us, he destroyed death by death.
The Lord gives us many warnings about "hellfire and brimstone" in the New Testament. What exactly is He warning us about? And why so many more words of warning about Hell, than enticement about Heaven?
Click to read the full posting.
Gentlemen, take your positions.
Ready...
Set...
Seriously, you'd think the yearly ritual of bashing Christ's Resurrection would be getting old after almost 2,000 years. But no, the so-called "post-modern" heretics can find lots of tawdry new ways to express their hatred.
Can we expect the same attitude from James Cameron towards Islam? I'm not holding my breath.
Update 2007-02-26 01:30pm EST: Cameron has exposed his dilettante side:
Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets, but the Oscar-winning director said the evidence was based on sound statistics.
Lies, damned lies, and...
A Carl Sagan quote from my "fortunes" file:
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987 CSICOP keynote address; emphasis mine)
He obviously never heard of these:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19,20, KJV)
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15, KJV)
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41, KJV)
Yes, it even happens today. It takes precious little effort to find people whose hearts were changed; one only has to ask colleagues and friends about any radical Christians they might know.
Yet somehow, I suspect Mr. Sagan never bothered to ask. He was wise not to ask questions for which he didn't wish to know the answers.
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13, KJV)
How did His audience understand "salt?"
Click to read the full posting.
Grant remission of sins, Lord, to all our fathers, brothers, and sisters who have departed before us in faith and the hope of the Resurrection, and make their memory eternal.
Thus always goes life: the prince and the pauper, the infant and the patriarch. No strength prevents death, "the way of all flesh."
Click to read the full posting.
Luke 16. It's a snapshot of hell, focused on the rich man. It shows a three-fold rejection of God's relationship to man: Abraham, representing the first covenant of salvation; Moses, representing the law; and the prophets, representing God's warnings of our ways. In other words, "I'll tell you how," then "here's how," then "do it." The rich man wanted none of it.
He has no name; "may his name be erased" is a common Jewish curse, in line with the Semitic philosophy about names and knowledge. Nobody in hell has a name, because nobody else cares to know it, not even others in hell.
Click to read the full posting.
As a convert, I tell people I am "Orthodox by choice, Greek by default." I was actually attending an OCA congregation regularly while I was investigating Orthodoxy during college. After returning to my hometown, I was chrismated into a Greek congregation, as it was the only Orthodox congregation less than an hour's drive from home. Today, after having lived elsewhere twice, I still call this congregation "home."
Since my chrismation, I have worshiped with Greeks, Russians, Belorussians, Ukrainians, Syrians, two Indians, a Japanese, a Chilean, and a Filipina, all confessing Orthodox. Will uniting the Orthodox in the USA lead to "Americanization" of the Church's beauty? Perish the thought! Her ethnic varieties are a direct result of the Lord's command in the Great Commission: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations..." (Matt. 28:19, emphasis mine)
To use ethnic differences as barriers, foundations for prejudice, etc., is indeed a grievous sin. But what good can come of minimizing "Old Country" cultures to fit into a so-called "American Orthodox" institution? Such a move would serve only to alienate the thousands of Orthodox immigrants, people who desperately need the support and experience of other Orthodox who migrated before. Without strong islands of old culture, new immigrants will find much less motivation to attend the Divine Liturgy regularly. They will prefer to stay home, rather than add one more day of frustrating culture shock to their week.
The cultural expressions of Orthodoxy (styles of iconography, hymnody, liturgical language) are just that: culture. None is "more Orthodox" than another, because Orthodox doctrine is independent of all of them.
Thank the Lord for this, because I can feel "at home" in a congregation, no matter what language I hear the most. They are my fellow Orthodox, and what they profess in the Nicene Creed, I profess, too. No man's jurisdictional unity is needed for the beauty of "all nations" in the Body of Christ; His true unity is sufficient.
What is baptism?
"Baptism" is derived from a Greek word, baptisma, which refers to a total immersion in water. For example, a ship sunk in battle would be recounted in historical chronicles using words related to baptisma.
As a religious act, baptism is a washing to signify a cleansing from sin, the death of the old sinner and the resurrection of the new believer. For Christians, it is commanded in the warning of St. John the Baptist: "Repent and be baptized, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." Jesus Christ Himself was baptized by St. John, and called it a righteous act. In the words of the Anglican Catechism, baptism is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace."
Click to read the full posting.
And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. (Matthew 1:25)
This does not automatically mean that Joseph and Mary had normal marital relations after Jesus' birth. Compare the following from I Corinthians:
For [Christ] must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. (I Cor 15:25)
Christ's reign does not end after His enemies are vanquished. "Till" merely indicates a goal to be accomplished; it does not alter or eliminate the precedent once that goal is reached.
(Cross-posted.)
Quote:
Well, if truth be told, that's all Christmas is about....Love
Please allow this Eastern Orthodox converted westerner to amplify a bit.
This "love" is far more than just "peace on earth, good will to men." The "love" in "God is love" is agapē, the love that is ill-understood, un-repayable, and very one-sided. As a former seminarian once explained to me, the love of a parent for a severely retarded child approaches this kind of love. The recipient is forever dependent upon that love, and even though it can never be repaid, the parent keeps on giving it.
In the case of Christmas, when God the Son set aside all His glory and took on a human body, the angels of heaven celebrated, the demons of hell arranged a counter-strike, and humanity finally started to see "how we're supposed to be": completely dependent on our Creator's infinite gifts, and reveling in the joy of His all-powerful protection. The Original, in Whose image we're all made, came to set things right in our hearts, by showing what the given Law was really about: agapē, from God to us, and through us, to one another.
I write this, in order to show that "peace on earth" and "God is love" have implications far beyond mere greeting-card phrases.
For all the saints, who from their labour rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed:
Alleluia, alleluia.
For all the saints, such as Paul, who helped set me up in my first apartment, with cooking utensils, flatware, and a TV. He could be a cranky old man, but his charity was never in question. May his memory be eternal.
For all the saints, such as John, a mischievous fellow, loved by many, but more importantly who loved many and who worked to make sure his neighbors' needs were taken care of. May his memory be eternal.
For all the saints, such as Ayad, who confessed the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the face of certain martyrdom. May his memory be eternal.
May their memory be eternal, O Lord, worthy of blessedness and eternal memory.
Many converts claim many reasons for joining Orthodox Christianity. Mine is very simple: it's in the Bible.
Click to read the full posting.
I've seen many comments lately referring to Hamas, Hiz'b'allah, and terrorists in general as "sub-human" or "less than human." I haven't liked that, for the simple reason that it usually precedes a slippery slope into genocide. I just found another, much more real reason for avoiding dehumanization of the enemy:
Without the capacity for tremendous evil, nobody could ever accomplish tremendous good.
Terrorists act from the same capacity that put Neil Armstrong on the moon.
This is the nature of humanity, as we are now. It is not right, it is not the way we are supposed to be, it is not the way the Lord created us, but it is our reality, every day.
I used to be Episcopalian. What I saw in the late 1980's convinced me that the famous "Scripture, Tradition, Reason" balance was becoming "Reason, Tradition, Scripture," and Biblical doctrine was becoming something to be negotiated at the triennial National Convention.
Click to read the full posting.
"Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Trinity, one in essence and undivided." This Trinitarian consubstantiality is the prerequisite for omnipresence.
Without being "one in essence," it would be possible for the Father to be somewhere that the Son is not. Yet, even when the Son of Man appeared to be limited in an earthly, physical body, He was still in heaven (John 3:13).
The Holy Spirit, called "Lord" in the Nicene Creed, must also be consubstantial with the Father and the Son. If not, then how can He be "Lord," worshipped and glorified as the Father and the Son are?
I'll post more thoughts on the matter when I've had time to ponder this further.
With so much going on in the world, and an uncooperative desktop computer, I feel overwhelmed at all the comments I could have made, but didn't. It's time to do some catching up.
Click to read the full posting.
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:13, KJV, emphasis added)
I stumbled upon this today, reading the preface to the First Edition of the New King James Interlinear Bible. The preface writer noted that most "modern" translations make a point of omitting the final phrase, thereby questioning Christ's omnipresence. The phrase "which is in heaven" has a deep theological meaning which even the preface writer missed.
Click to read the full posting.
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