The Divine Spark

There is just something about this performance that I really like. The music is beautiful but the playfulness back and forth and the creative interchange just adds another dimension to it. I don’t know how you can watch this video and not see the Divine spark in man.

The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade all the other people how good they are. It has been proved a hundred times over that if you really wish to enrage people and make them angry, even unto death, the right way to do it is to tell them that they are all the sons of God. G.K. Chesterton

Defending John Paul II: Time Magazine's Irresponsible Article

This is something that we need to be ready to give a response too. I have a feeling that it is going to turn into an urban legend. Here is a response by Father Jonathan Morris and another by Jimmy Akin. Here is the misleading Time article that is being addressed.

Faith and Objective Scholarly Deliberation

I'm not in a writing mood. Just not feeling it. But here is a quote that is very interesting.

faith does not result from straightforward scholarly deliberation, nor does it come directly; on the contrary, in this objectivity one loses that infinite, personal, impassioned interestedness, which is the condition of faith, the ubigue et nusquam [everywhere and nowhere] in which faith can come into existence (29). Søren Kierkegaard, Postscript

Baby Got Book

I got this from my sister and it’s funny.



We both like the part where it says, "and if you're Catholic there's even more"

If you're looking to read more about why Catholic’s have a bigger Bible go here

Hypothesized Thor the thunder-agent.

An enormous bolt of electricity comes out of the sky and hits something, and the Norse tribesfolk say, "Maybe a really powerful agent was angry and threw a lightning bolt." The human brain is the most complex artifact in the known universe. If anger seems simple, it's because we don't see all the neural circuitry that's implementing the emotion. (Imagine trying to explain why Saturday Night Live is funny, to an alien species with no sense of humor. But don't feel superior; you yourself have no sense of fnord.) The complexity of anger, and indeed the complexity of intelligence, was glossed over by the humans who hypothesized Thor the thunder-agent. Link

Your analogy with Norse tribesfolk reminds me of the NRA slogan, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. There are many different levels of causation. The gun can be said to be the secondary cause of why someone died. The person pulling the trigger would be the primary cause. The secondary cause of thunder is nature but the first cause that brought things into existence and created the system is God. Nature cannot be its own cause.

Mr. Incredible, Edna, and Christ

Yesterday in my confirmation class as part of our starting prayer I had them make a prayer intention. One of the students could not think of one. I told him that there was so much to pray for and what other opportunity would he have in asking his fellow students to pray for something he hoped for. He finally prayed that he would get a “million dollars”. All the students had a little giggle at this. I told him that he should be careful in what he asks for. I explained that like in Spider Man, “with great power comes great responsibility”. I asked him if he was planning on squandering this money on himself or was he wanting to do the hard work of putting this money towards something good. I told him that one day he would have to make an accounting of what he did with the gifts that he had been given and that a million dollars would be a great temptation. (I am really blessed to have this person in my class. He is a pain at times, but his questions and challenges really livens up the class)

We all do this. We really don’t know what to ask of Christ. We are not that creative to ask for something really great and beautiful. This situation reminds me of Edna and Mr. Incredible over his super hero outfit. Mr. Incredible just wants the same old. Edna wants him to ask the impossible. But with no Capes!



May we ask for the cloths of Christ. But no million dollars! You might get sucked up in a vortex or something.

Hope is Rational

Once upon a time, I went to EFNet's #philosophy to ask "Do you believe a nuclear war will occur in the next 20 years? If no, why not?" One person who answered the question said he didn't expect a nuclear war for 100 years, because "All of the players involved in decisions regarding nuclear war are not interested right now." "But why extend that out for 100 years?", I asked. "Pure hope," was his reply.

Reflecting on this whole thought process, we can see why the thought of nuclear war makes the person unhappy, and we can see how his brain therefore rejects the belief. But, if you imagine a billion worlds - Everett branches, or Tegmark duplicates - this thought process will not systematically correlate optimists to branches in which no nuclear war occurs. Link

For hope to be useless, it requires the premise that God does not exist. If God exists, then the rational thing is to hope and not in just the improbable but the impossible.

As a Catholic, I am willing to abstain from food and sex at times. I even like to think that I would give my life for my faith. But you atheists are fanatical. Sacrificing hope is too hardcore. First you sacrifice faith, then hope, what’s next love?

Journal Question (2)

Today in our Confirmation class we talked about Divine Revelation. The question for my Confirmation class’s journal was the following:

What is the greatest truth that you know of that has been revealed in Scripture?

I think a lot of times we put the cart before the horse. We give answers to questions that students haven’t even asked. I think this takes some of the impact away from the answer. I believe that the right question is sometimes more important than the right answer.

What is my answer to the journal question? Christ, I also asked them to explain why this truth was the greatest truth. I’m excited to read what they wrote.

Nightcrawler the Catholic (X-Men)

-Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler of the X-Men

-The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

How is this related to Catholic Apologetics?

If you look at the Q&A section there are explanations for many parts of the Catholic faith. It is not a debate, but just a way to understand Nightcrawler from within his own faith. This is at least indirect communication if not apologetics.

Consciousness without a cerebral cortex

It’s bizarre how it’s ok to withhold food and water to a person who has a working brain stem but not much else. But to starve and dehydrate an animal without much more than a brain stem and this is considered cruel.

Self-awareness and other "higher" forms of thought may require cortical contributions. But Merker posits that "primary consciousness," which he regards as an ability to integrate sensations from the environment with one's immediate goals and feelings in order to guide behavior, springs from the brain stem.

If he's right, virtually all vertebrates—which share a similar brain stem design—belong to the "primary consciousness" club. Moreover, medical definitions of brain death as a lack of cortical activity would face a serious challenge. At the very least, physicians could no longer assume that individuals with hydranencephaly don't need pain medication or anesthesia during invasive medical procedures. (Consciousness without a cerebral cortex: A challenge for neuroscience
and medicine)

The Probability of Religion

I read somewhere that 65.4% of all statistics are made up on the spot. I don’t remember where I read this because I only remember 37.3% of where quotes come from. I spent some time and researched this and the truth is that the number 65.4% applies to all statistics. But when referring to statistics that are present on the internet the number shoots up to 95.6% of all statistic which is significant. Now 7 out of 10 people who were willing to call themselves apologists agree that this statistic is important. And although I am not a huge fan of Donald Rumsfeld he said something very insightful in regards to this topic. He said:

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

Now I am no scientist or statistician, although I was involved in a science fair once and the judges did say that my volcano explosion was the largest, but this is nether here nor there. The process of science is very messy. Here is an explanation of Why Most Published Research Findings are False which is very interesting.

There are an infinite number of false hypothesis and because of this the odds are that any given hypothesis is going to be untrue. My two loyal readers stand at two deviations from the mean which means that they get this or they don’t get this. The real questions is that if the null hypothesis is more likely to be the bull hypothesis then what does this have to do in regards to Papal bulls.

This truly is the bottom line. If the easy questions are so hard to answer then what chance do we have in any religion being true? My answer is a lot like St. Peter’s, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” The probability is not good but where shall we go. I have a relationship with Christ and I trust him. He is my starting point and with this data it makes all things new. If science were able to totally understand my Catholic faith and it was able to fit within the scientific box then I would reject it as untrue. Christ is my alpha and my omega. My morning star. He is the way the truth and the life. He is the logos and my firm foundation. What statistic do I have to prove this? I have none.

Steve Ray and Indirect Apologetics

I got an email from the religious education director of my parish. She sent me this interview with Steve Ray in regards to his video on St. Paul. She told me that she thought of me when she read the interview. It’s a good interview so go check it out.

I have seen most of the, In the Footprints of God, videos and they are very good. The videos are perfect examples of indirect apologetics. Steve Ray, dressed as Indiana Jones, travels around the globe to find different historical places in the Bible. The videos give a solid feeling of how the events in the Bible are connected to real history. Along the way, Steve happens to do a lot of apologetics but this is not something that you really notice. I think this is the genius of the serious. Steve falling face first in a hole of mud to demonstrate why Mary needed a savior, even though she was immaculately conceived, is a example of doing apologetics without it really feeling like apologetics. I wish I had this argument and demonstration on youtube, it’s classic. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go buy his video on Mary)

Steve Ray is a first rate apologist and teacher. He explains in the videos many of the distinctly Catholic doctrines with clarity and common sense. I highly recommend the series.

Fr. Stan Fortuna School of the Eucharist

Colbert: Mother Teresa and the Dark Night

The Calling of Saint Matthew

The Calling of Saint Matthew by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio 1600

The following is written by Michael Morris

The scene is one of suspended activity caught in a moment of time. Christ’s sudden appearance was not anticipated by these men. The invitation to another life and another world manifests itself in one shocking instant. The frozen gestures of these individuals betray the gamut of human emotions that follow a challenge or command.

The bearded Matthew is set apart from the others. Wide-eyed, he is dazzled by the light. Even though his right hand remains firmly on the coin he has been counting, with his left hand he points to his breast as if to ask the beckoning Savior, “Who, me?” Soon he will rise from the table and follow the captivating stranger. Already Christ’s feet are turned as if to leave. The light behind him and Saint Peter, which they have introduced into the scene by their arrival, would seem to be miraculous, for it casts no shadow upon the defensive youth facing them.

It is Characteristic of Christianity that the weak are often chosen and made strong to fulfill some measure of God’s divine plan. The fact that Matthew, the most reviled of men, should be chosen to enter into the company of the apostles and be one of the four recorders of Christ’s life on earth is a testimony to the wonder of God’s love and the transforming power of grace. (Magnificat Vol 3, No. 7 / September 2001)

Click on the picture a couple of times to get a nice close up of the picture.

Objectification of Man: Muscle Dysmorphia

I’m am hesitant in posting this youtube video for a lot of reasons. The main reason is that I don't want to participate in freak show entertainment. I am really not wanting to go in that direction with this blog. I also don’t want to pull a Michael Medved, where I get the most extreme viewpoint of the opposing side and kick it around like a strawman. But with this in mind, I do want to post this video as an example of something wrong with our culture. Something that is ugly. The objectification of women has become common place but this phenomena has happened to men too. “These guys are machines.”

Warning: This video has graphic self mutilation and drops the F-bomb a couple of times.

NPR, Nazis, and Abortion

I listened to NPR on the radio today while traveling for work. The program talked about a photo album of Nazi officers who worked at Auschwitz. The photos showed these officers participating in normal activities. The photos are now part of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The discussion was on how everyday people have the capacity for evil just like these Nazi officers. We have to be vigilant to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

So wake up NPR. The truth is that it is happening again and in our very own country. Abortion kills humans. The only difference between a Jew and a fetus is the stage of development. One day there will be the United States Abortion Memorial Museum and we will have pictures of people involved with abortions participating in normal activities. Pictures of NPR staff will be a part of the exhibit since they serve as the propaganda machine for abortion.

The argument from objective morality

This is an argument for God that I have not heard before. It has as its first premise objective morality and moves on from here. In a relativistic society this can be a rare starting point but it is still an interesting argument.

The Problem with Polygamy

A symptom of polygamy is that you end up with too many males. Males without the domesticating influence of women leads to problems. Here is an article that gives some of the details of this problem. Boys Cast Out by Polygamists Find Help

Mr. Gilbert estimates that 100 boys from his school class, or 70 percent of them, have been expelled or left on their own accord; there is no way to verify the numbers. “There are a lot of broken-hearted parents, but you question this decision at the risk of your own salvation,” Mr. Gilbert said.

The problem of surplus males worsened in the 1990s when the late prophet Rulon Jeffs, Warren Jeffs’s father, took on dozens of young wives — picking the prettiest, most talented girls, said DeLoy Bateman, a high school teacher who watched it happen.

One male and one female marriage is the building block of society.

Journal Question

The junior high Confirmation class that I teach has started. After the opening prayer there is a journal entry that I have them write. So every week I need to come up with a journal topic. I figured that it would be interesting to put these questions on my blog. Feel free to answer the question in the comment section if you would like to share.

What is your earliest memory of a religious experience?

Here are a few of my earlier memories but I can’t remember which one is older.

My parents had a statue in their bedroom. It was a statue of the risen Jesus but the statue was supported by a wooden empty cross. I remember looking at it at night under the flicker of candle light. I was a little scared but at the same time I was at peace.

A religious sister stayed at our house for a few days. She gave me a rosary. I remember having a feeling of love for this lady who gave her whole life to Jesus. I remember going to the basement and praying with that rosary in my hand.


I remember going to a next door neighbor’s house who was babysitting me. I remeber hiding in the closet and flipping threw the pages of a children’s picture book Bible. I was fascinate with it. Something about those pictures of ancient events, which God was involved, intrigued me. (funny thing is, it was probably a book of Mormon picture book)