Archive for the ‘catholic’ Category

Corona/Wuhan Virus a Great Way to Illustrate the Difference between Having Faith and Putting God to the Test

Posted: March 22, 2020 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
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Autloc: Tlotoxl was humiliated. He will not forget, nor will he forgive.

Barbara: I did as he commanded.

Autloc: But not as he expected.

Barbara: What did he want? A miracle?

Autloc: We all awaited it.

Barbara: Why should I use divine powers when human ability will suffice?

Autloc: Yetaxa has spoken.

Dr. Who The Aztecs 1964

There’s an old joke about a man in a flood zone who can’t swim but is not worried because he has faith that God will save him. A police man comes by in his truck to get him out of his house before the water comes but he refuses saying “God will save me.”

Then the water rises and he has to go to the 2nd floor of his house and some emergency workers come by in a small fishing boat to evacuate him but he refuses saying “God will save me.”

The the water rises so high that he is perched on his roof and a Helicopter comes by and lowers a man with a winch to get him to safety but he refuses again insisting: “God will save me”.

He drowns and finds himself before St. Peter and is very confused: “I don’t understand why I’m here? I thought that God would save me?”

St. Peter replies: “I don’t understand why you’re here either, why didn’t you use the truck, boat or helicopter we sent you?”

The moral of the joke is of course that there is a difference between faith in God and expecting him to perform a conjuring trick at your insistence.

This is one of the traps that is in play during the Corona / Wuhan virus. There are plenty of devout Christians. People who go to mass daily, receive the sacraments regularly, visit the blessed sacrament who might be tempted to ignore the public restrictions that have been imposed for the safety of the general public. In fact there will be a fair amount of mocking of faithful Christians who follow said restrictions by those who disbelieve or hate Christianity saying that this proves such people don’t actually believe in God prodding them to do just that.

But this form of temptation is one that is specifically illustrated in scripture as is the proper response to it

Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you and ‘with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'”

Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'”

Matthew 4:6-8

The promise of Christianity is eternal life, but not eternal earthly life. Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter and the son of the widow of Nain were all raised from the dead by Christ but all eventually died again. While Christ came to earth to serve he is not our manservant here to do our will, we are here to do God’s.

When we put God to the test we reverse our relationship with him, instead of the loving sons and daughters that he helps guide to the right path we become Veruca Salt who wants it now!

Don’t let yourself be tempted this way, particularly in this current crisis, because the drop it can help lead you to will prove a lot worse than what’s at the bottom of a garbage chute

The Socialist Republic of Philadelphia

Posted: March 3, 2020 by chrisharper in catholic, Church doctrine
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By Christopher Harper

The Socialist Republic of Philadelphia, where I live, has launched two attacks in recent months—one against a neighborhood to force a safe injection site there and the other against the Catholic Church to force it to place foster children with same-sex couples.

In a city where you have to pay an extra tax on soda pop because it can cause people to gain weight, hypodermic needles were going to be free. But that’s how the Democrats run Philly, a place where you could toss a hand grenade in virtually any direction without injuring a Republican.

The idea of the safe-injection sites is to get heroin, fentanyl, and other drug use off of public streets and into medically supervised facilities. The organizers, a nonprofit called Safehouse, argued that the site would reduce overdose deaths, prevent the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C, limit drug-related crime, and offer addicts a range of social, legal, and housing services.

In February, a federal judge cleared the way for a site, which would be the first in the country, with the support of Mayor Jim Kenney.

Most observers had expected the site to be located in Kensington, a North Philadelphia neighborhood that has long been a haven for drug users. The organization, however, decided to open up in South Philadelphia near Broad Street, one of the major thoroughfares in the city.

But neighborhood residents got the nonprofit and its supporters to back down—at least for the time being.

City Councilman Mark Squilla, who initially supported the site, accused Safehouse directors of choosing a facility location under “the cloak of darkness” without consulting the council or residents.

U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain, who plans to appeal the court ruling, said: “We believe that Safehouse’s proposed activity threatens to institutionalize the scourge of illegal drug use—and all the problems that come with it—in Philadelphia neighborhoods.”

In another court battle, the City of Philadelphia wants to force a Catholic foster agency to place children with same-sex couples—a practice that violates church teachings. 

The case, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, is the latest battle between the claims of same-sex couples and those who disagree on the grounds of religious beliefs. The case is broadly similar to that of a Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The court found in favor of the baker in that case. 

The city stopped placements with the agency, Catholic Social Services, after a 2018 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer described its policy against placing children with same-sex couples. The agency and several foster parents sued the city, saying the decision violated their First Amendment rights to religious freedom and free speech.

Nevertheless, a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, ruled against the agency. The city was entitled to require compliance with its nondiscrimination policies, the court said.

The case is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is likely to hear arguments next fall.  

Levitical hand washing & the CoronaVirus

Posted: March 1, 2020 by datechguy in catholic
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I was speaking to a friend at church who teaches Theology at a Catholic High school a few days ago and one of the things that she usually opens with are ways to verify the existence of God.

One of my favorite arguments for the existence of God came to mind when I saw piece after piece reminding you that one of the easiest ways to retard the Corona or other virus and flu is to simply wash your hands.

When it comes to preventing viral infections — especially those that spread via droplets from coughs and sneezes — washing the hands is always the first-line measure.

Now, in the midst of the recent coronavirus outbreak, correctly washing the hands remains public health officials’ top advice when it comes to controlling infection rates.

In their guidelines on how to prevent infection with the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) state that people should “[w]ash [their] hands frequently with soap and water.”

My “chapter old/new/psalms/Gospel a day or seven of each a week” system recently had me in Leviticus and one of the things that you see all over the place is in Levitical law is WASHING.

Washing cups, washing clothes, washing utensils, washing washing washing. And if you did any of the things that made you “unclean” (and thus needing to separate yourself from others) from touching a dead body to women in their periods, one of the things involved in becoming clean was you guessed it, washing. I tell you whoever had the washing concession among the people of Israel was going to make a fortune.

Why does this matter? Well consider that these are bronze age people who had a bronze age knowledge of Virus, disease, infection and microbes, which means practically none.

Yet somehow they were given a set of laws that mirrors basic advice on how to avoid the spread of germs. As I wrote ten years ago concerning Moses, the author of these books acting as God’s Stenographer concerning these laws:

Imagine him in the 21st century. Explain germs to him. Explain microbes to him, Explain the internal combustion engine, heart transplants and the internet to him. To say they would go over his head is the understatement of the year.

Leviticus doesn’t have God explaining to Moses what a virus was or how the spread of germs works. Instead he gives Moses laws and he accepts them, not because he has the eyes of modern man and understands that all of these rules concerning washing, avoiding blood, being “unclean”, becoming “clean” and avoiding things like promiscuity will help avoid disease among the hundreds of thousands of people packed together that he is managing, he accepts them simply as God’s laws because he is God’s man.

I submit it’s no coincidence that the Jews are one of the few ancient people whose cultural existence as they were still survives. Furthermore it seems to me that this would be a strong proof of the existence of God, after all if you were going to “choose” a people through whom the world would be blessed might you not give those people laws that give them an edge on survival?

Ash Wednesday and my Favorite Old Testament Passage

Posted: February 26, 2020 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
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Today is Ash Wednesday the beginning of Lent and the reason why so many people got drunk etc yesterday because traditionally this began a period of fasting and sacrificing to bring us closer to God and while many have abandoned the fasting/prayerful reflection part they’ve kept with full force the last big debauch.

Ash Wednesday is not the most popular devotion out there, you are given ashes which is a reminder of our mortality “Remember man that thou art dust and to dust you shall return.” Although because some consider that reminder too harsh a “Repent and believe in the Gospel” is substituted in some parishes.

But what I’ve always loved about Ash Wednesday is the first reading from scripture at Mass. Every Year the first reading is always this passage from the prophet Joel

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”

Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land
and took pity on his people.

Joel 2 12-18

Even now! Those are words of power and hope. Most importantly there are no qualifiers to those words

  • Even Now….unless you’ve had an abortion
  • Even now….unless you’ve cheated on your spouse
  • Even now…..unless you are a thief
  • Even now…..unless you are a drug dealier
  • Even now…..unless you are a murder
  • Even now…..unless you are a terrorist
  • Even now…..unless you are an atheist
  • Even now…..unless you promote sodomy
  • Even now…..unless you’ve sold your soul to the devil

In other words, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past or where you are, if you are willing to turn your heart to God, his outstretched hand will be there.

And note the time given is the ever present NOW, the time that every man spends their entire life in. As long as you have breath in your body, even if that breath is your last God will accept your return in that ever present now.

Does that mean that the path that follows will be painless? Nope.

Does it mean that the path will be easy? Nope.

But it means that path is available at every present moment of your life and that the time to embrace the forgiveness of God is always NOW.

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