scandle as "evidence"

A Winchester post on Phatmass...

Offered as "evidence" of the corruption and falsity of the Catholic Faith are sins of Catholics, clergy, laity and religious.

I submit that this is a pointless and completely dishonest tactic. I myself know that Catholics do evil things all the time. I cannot locate in my (admittedly larger than a Protestant or "fundamental" Baptist, whatever that is) Bible the passage that indicates becoming a Christian removes the capacity for free will. I cannot find the passage that says once one becomes a Christian, one never, ever sins again, or that sin proves the invalidity of the religion the sinner claims as his own. I cannot locate the passage that says sinners are prevented from claiming a religion, misusing the religion, attending services of said religion without any real faith. I have personally witnessed avowed atheists walk into churches of several denominations and neither burst into flames nor writhe in any form of agony. Apparently, one can enter and even participate in a religious service and not truly believe.

I submit to you that the Bible, inspired by God, is accurate in claiming that man has free will. I further submit that defects in man's nature, due to the stain of sin, permit him to hold opposite beliefs at the same time. This is due to various things, such as an unwillingness to release all the things of this world, personal experience, habit, obstinance, or stupidity. I submit that people are stupid. I submit that I am stupid in at least a few areas of my person, and further that you are stupid in some areas as well. Free will is given to us by God, and He does not take it away. Our capacity for sin, our capacity to partially accept beliefs, to mingle beliefs, to pervert beliefs, does not end. The Bible never indicates that we can make a single decision and live free of sin. Temptation is not simply the result of actual sin. Jesus was tempted, and He was undoubtedly sinless. He did not give in. He could have. He was, if one believe the Bible, fully human and fully divine. A belief rejected by, among others, Arians and the Cathars. If, indeed, one remains capable of choosing sin, then sin is no proof against the validity of the religion of the sinner. Mentioning these acts, then, as an attack against the religion is disingenuous. In shorter terms, it is a deception. Another word for deception is lie. One who pursues lies as a matter of course is a liar. The father of lies is Satan. The lather of flies is very tiny and can only be observed using a magnifying glass. The magnifying glass was invented by Morgan Freeman in "Prince of Thieves," a harmless Kevin Costner movie depicting the legend of Robin Hood. Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. The Poor Knights of Christ, according to their website (Predicting thread: "How can the 'poor' Knights of Christ afford a website?" (answer: THEY ARE EVIL! THE POPE IS THE ANTICHRIST) particularly addres those who: "contemn to follow their will and wish to serve with purity and courage in the Chivalry of the true and supreme Sovereign." The will, specifically free will, is the original topic of this thread.

Thank you very much. (Link)

O’Connor: "Dogma is an Instrument"

First, O’Connor found a true worldview, encapsulated in dogma, which constituted a lens that brings human nature and human significance into piercing clarity. “Dogma,” she said, “is an instrument for penetrating reality. . . . It is one of the functions of the Church to transmit the prophetic vision that is good for all time, and when the novelist has this as a part of his own vision, he has a powerful extension of sight.”

O’Connor understood that good writers do not simply parrot these insights; they must take this doctrinal understanding and apply it to the concrete realities of human life. “Your beliefs will be the light by which you see, but they will not be what you see and they will not be a substitute for seeing.”

When we do not understand this distinction, Christian fiction becomes mere religious propaganda. “The sorry religious novel comes about when the writer supposes that because of his belief, he is somehow dispensed from the obligation to penetrate concrete reality.” Doctrine is a light to see human experience by, not a formula to be dressed up in a fictional disguise. Link

Pulled from The Washington Post

This Opus comic strip was pulled from The Washington Post on August 26, 2007. I think it is a funny comic, "God willing". Seems to me that if this was a Catholic strip it would have gone through as is. Link

"environmental movement promises recovery of natural law tradition"

One could say that summer 2007 is when the Vatican decided to go green. First came an announcement in June that more than 1,000 photovoltaic panels will be installed atop the Paul VI Audience Hall, allowing the building to utilize solar energy for light, heating and cooling. A month later, the Vatican became the first state in Europe to go completely carbon-neutral, signing an agreement with a Hungarian firm to reforest a sufficiently large swath of Hungary's Bükk National Park to offset its annual CO2 emissions.

To some, these may seem curiously cutting edge moves from a pope whose recent decisions to revive the pre-Vatican II Mass and to reaffirm claims that Catholicism is the lone true church have cemented his reputation as the ultimate "retro" figure. He sometimes brings to mind the famous quip that rolling back the clock is a perfectly reasonable thing to do if it's keeping bad time. Link

So what gives?

Why hasn't this been in the secular news? That's right only bad news and scandles when it is the Catholic Church. Hat tip to Ratzinger fan club

Zion - Lauryn Hill

I touched my belly overwhelmed
by what I had been chosen to perform
But then an angel came one day
Told me to kneel down and pray
for unto me a man child would be born
Woe this crazy circumstance
I knew his life deserved a chance
but everybody told me to be smart
"Look at your career " they said,
"Lauryn baby use your head."
But instead I chose to use my heart
Now the joy... of my world...
is in Zion!

Medieval Voting

Voting in Medieval Universities and Religious Orders

This looks interesting although it is not light reading.

The Theology of Popular Economics

A post made by secular economist Tyler Cowen;

Once I pick up a popular economics book, I ask myself: what is this book's implicit theology? (How would you in this regard classify Freakonomics? Undercover Economist? Steve Landsburg?)

That is one of the best first questions to ask about any non-fiction book.

I view Discover Your Inner Economist as largely Thomist and more Catholic than anything else.

It is suggested that people are capable of simply doing the right thing, although we should not necessarily expect them to do the right thing.

It is suggested that a unified perspective of faith and reason, applied in voluntarist fashion, can indeed give people better and more complete lives.

It is suggested that not everything can be bought and sold, yet markets have a very important role in human life.

The chapters on food, or the seven deadly sins, are too obvious to require explanation.

The book is highly cosmopolitan, and it is suggested that acts of will and understanding can open up the sacraments to us. The possibility of those sacraments lies right before our very eyes, and they are literally available for free. Except the relevant sacraments are those of culture, and not of the Roman Church.

I am not a Catholic or for that matter a believer, but as I tried to solve various problems in the exposition, the argument fell naturally into religious ideas. Religion has so much power over the human mind, in part, because its basic teachings about life are largely true. Furthermore classical liberalism is far more of an intellectual offshoot of Christianity than most non-Christians are keen to admit. (Muslims and Chinese often see this more clearly.)

So when I realized that Inner Economist had this strongly Thomist philosophic flavor, I was greatly comforted. Link

I think that Tyler Cowen is satisfied with the scraps from the Catholic table but is missing out on the banquet. I have to admit that it is refreshing that someone from the secular side of things can acknowledges at least some of the truth of the Catholic Faith.

Liturgical Use of Fire

Fire is one of the most expressive and most ancient of liturgical symbols. All the creeds of antiquity accorded a prominent place to this element whose mysterious nature and irresistible power frequently caused it to be adored as a god. The sun, as the principle of heat and light for the earth, was regarded as an igneous mass and had its share in this worship. Christianity adapted this usual belief, but denied the divine title to heat and light, and made them the symbols of the divinity, which enlightens and warms humanity. The symbolism led quite naturally to the liturgical rite by which the Church on the Eve of Easter celebrates the mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, of which the extinguished and rekindled fire furnishes the expressive image. The beginning of the office also reflects ancient beliefs. The new fire is struck from a flint and is blessed with this prayer:

Lord God, Almighty Father, inextinguishable light, Who hast created all light, bless this light sanctified and blessed by Thee, Who hast enlightened the whole world; make us enlightened by that light and inflamed with the fire of Thy brightness; and as Thou didst enlighten Moses when he went out of Egypt, so illuminate our hearts and senses that we may attain life and light everlasting through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Catholic Encyclopedia

Christopher Hitchen's Challenge

My challenge: name an ethical statement or action, made or performed by a person of faith, that could not have been made or performed by a nonbeliever. I have since asked this question at every stop and haven't had a reply yet. Link

This challenge reduces faith to an object of which only has the use of producing works. It’s like asking a married man what he has in his marriage that a bachelor doesn’t. I did not get married just to produce something. I am married because I love my wife. My faith is the same. My faith is my relationship with Christ. I am able to give an oath to someone that is greater than myself. I am able to give an oath to my creator out of love. Now I can predict that I will get snickers for this statement. Just like when I was in junior high I got snickers from friends when I told them that it was not cool to use girls because girls are more than objects to be manipulated. The problem with the challenge is that it has a faulty premise.

Beliefs have consequences. If this were not true then why make the challenge towards believers?

Being a follower of Christ has many consequences. I am called to love my enemies. I don’t see how this command would make much sense to an atheist. It is also possible as a Christian to find joy when persecuted for Christ. Again I don’t know how this would make much sense to an atheist. Christians can find meaning through suffering. Suffering is an evil but through Christ I have the ability to transcend suffering. Again I don’t think this would compute for an atheist. The Beatitude would also fit the description. Now these things are hard and I will concede that most Christians are not there spiritually. But without Christ setting this high standard I do not know why an atheist would even try to reach to this. Atheism does not produce saints.

Atheists can be moral but they do not have an explanation for the why of their subjective conscious based morality. Why not reject your own conscious if it’s just the product of evolution to better pass on genes? [Or based on some other external cause] If my conscious is based on my own making, why not change it to whatever I want?

Apollo

Vatican City: Vatican Museum: Belvedere Apollo (2nd century Roman copy of 4th century BC bronze sculpture of artist from Attica)

Beautiful, ruthless, and cruelly imperturbable, Apollo performed precisely this cool seduction on his ancient worshipers; he was a healer as well as a destroyer, and hence not to be resisted. Although Winckelmann responds to the ancient god's image with an aesthetic rather than a religious rapture, the Apollo Belvedere had stood in the Vatican for more than two centuries in part because Apollo was seen as a forerunner of Christ, the brilliant son of God who comes to earth in a burst of light. In a real sense, Winckelmann's reverie before the statue is a spiritual exercise, a disciplined journey of senses and imagination in the tradition, if not to the purposes, of Ignatius Loyola, and it captures the continuing religious significance of a work of art that has embodied something more than human for two thousand years. "In gazing upon this masterpiece of art, I forget all else, and I myself adopt an elevated stance, in order to be worthy of gazing upon it," he wrote. "My chest seems to expand with veneration and to heave like those I have seen swollen as if by the spirit of prophecy, and I feel myself transported to Delos and to the Lycian groves, places Apollo honored with his presence -- for my figure seems to take on life and movement, like Pygmalion's beauty."Link

I seem to do this a lot. Take something of beauty from a different culture and submit it to the truth of Christ. It seems to me that we are not just called to convert the masses but the culture as well.

Modern Cosmology

Modern Cosmology: Science or Folktale?

I think there is still more that we don't know about the world than what we do know.

Chinese Room

Now, Searle asks us to suppose that he is sitting inside the computer. In other words, he is in a small room in which he receives Chinese characters, consults a rule book, and returns the Chinese characters that the rules dictate. Searle notes that he doesn't, of course, understand a word of Chinese. Furthermore, he argues that his lack of understanding goes to show that computers don't understand Chinese either, because they are in the same situation as he is. They are mindless manipulators of symbols, just as he is — and they don't understand what they're 'saying', just as he doesn't. Link

This is a good thought experiment to bring up when discussing how the mind is different from a computer.

World Clock

I don't know if these numbers are right but it's interesting.

World Clock

Secular Stained Glass

Give a stain glass window to a post modern artist and what does he make? That’s right....computer pixels. The depth and breath of secular culture is breathtaking. (NOT)

German: das Gerhard Richter Fenster in Köln Link

Bobby McFerrin - Ave Maria

I wouldn't know the words. lol

Transmitting the Flame

The preacher is of no account spiritually if he himself is not holy. People might say: “He spoke very well” (a theatrical success), or: “He is right” (a university success). But the silent adherence which results from the contact of souls communicating in God, transmitting the flame from one to the other- that, he will not experience. Father Antonin Gilbert Sertillanges

The same can be said of apologetics.

Mother Teresa

Time Magazine has a story on Mother Teresa based a letter she wrote to her spiritual adviser, "Please pray specially for me that I may not spoil His work and that Our Lord may show Himself — for there is such terrible darkness within me, as if everything was dead. It has been like this more or less from the time I started 'the work.'" Time tries to ster up some controversy but ends the piece in a level headed way.

The following is a comment left on a blog that I was reading....

Hello,

Too bad Mother Teresa couldn't discern that the reason for her conclusions about the Christian god is because he doesn't exist. In fact, the gods professed by all three so-called faiths of Abraham are purposeful deceptions, hence the darkness she felt.

On the other hand, in spite of her inability to discern the existence of Jesus or God, she persisted in doing good, by her own strength.

I am deeply sorry for her suffering while greatly admiring her decades of good works. After all, no true saint would ever claim that faith is more important than good works.

Here is Wisdom !!

My response...

Steve it funny to me how desperate some people are to down play Mother Teresa. She is a phenomenon that should not exist in your world view. Any detail that can be twisted to explains her away is embraced with relief. So Mother Teresa suffered a dark night of the soul. This is actually not unusual for a saint. The love Mother Teresa had was not based on getting a good feeling back. She loved, even when she did not feel love. To me this is evidence that she had supernatural grace to persevere. You still haven’t explained her away. Our faith is not based on emotions but supernatural grace.

Hat tip to The Ark Of the Dove

Update: This is actually old news. Here is an article in First things from 4 years ago...The Dark Night of Mother Teresa

ENVOY MAGAZINE IS BACK!

After three years of sabbatical Envoy is back. Link

Bending the Language

The preacher’s problem is that relevance is decided not only by what the hearer can and will hear, but what he needs to hear whether or not he wants to, and the latter may not be communicable in language he will naturally understand. The language can be bent only so far, till it is bent out of shape. The apostles of relevance do not see this problem, and hence toss away the truths they genuinely want to convey.

Because the right word is often the unusual or technical or “outdated” word, the preacher should not abandon a specifically Christian vocabulary even though the man in the pew may not understand it right away, and even though he may find it off-putting or even offensive. These words will be the language of the insider, and therefore almost by definition irrelevant to the outsider the preacher wishes to bring inside and many of those who are already inside but lack the conscious and energetic commitment of the real insider. Link

This is something that I need to watch out for.

John Michael Talbot

John Michael Talbot also has a blog