Posts Tagged ‘christianity’

The Anglican Communion Gives Up Christianity For Lent

Posted: February 22, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, culture
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Actually that’s a rather unfair headline. The Anglican communion has not given up Christianity for Lent, they’ve given it up for good.

Church of England priests will be permitted to bless the civil marriages of same-sex couples in a profound shift in the church’s stance on homosexuality after a historic vote by its governing body.

The vote wasn’t as close as one might have hoped:

After an impassioned debate lasting more than eight hours, the C of E’s national assembly, the General Synod, voted by 250 votes to 181 to back a proposal by bishops intended to end years of painful divisions and disagreement over sexuality.

In one respect it isn’t a surprise, when you have a denomination that was founded on the principle “I get to bang who I want and the hell with what the church says” odds are that right is going to expand in time from just the king to everyone else.

And what is the grand prize they receive for choosing the world over Christ? SCHISM!

A group of Anglican church leaders from around the world have ousted the Archbishop of Canterbury as their head following the decision to allow the blessing of same-sex couples in England.

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) has said in a statement that it no longer considers Justin Welby to be ‘leader of the global communion’, and it has ‘disqualified’ the Church of England from being its ‘mother church’.

Earlier this month, the General Synod – the Church of England’s legislative assembly – passed a motion to allow the blessing of same-sex couples in civil partnerships.

The GSFA said it speaks for 75% of Anglicans around the world, officially representing 25 member provinces – mainly in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

That number is interesting, 75% of the Anglicans around the world aren’t with this move. You know the ones in Africa, India and Latin America.

I’ll wager the liberal Karens in England who have pushed this have very specific opinions on the clergy of color who are currently critiquing them but are keeping silent due to fears of being outed as racists think they know better than their non-white breathern.

Alas there doesn’t seem to be any signs of a modern St. John fisher or St. Thomas Moore in the west even though the only penalty might be cancellation rather than execution.

Over at Hotair they see where this is going:

Run amok is usually what happens when progressives take control of anything, so I think the remaining Church of England types in England should just bank on it. It’s not looking good for the home team. While I’m sure they’re all patting themselves on the back for their inclusivity and modern approach, when those C of E congregations start shrinking? No doubt they’ll be the most surprised.

This is of course the invariable result when you reject those who support biblical teaching for those who are fruitless and don’t multiply.

Then again when you have a denomination that is a copy of a copy they tend to fade which is the disadvantage of all Protestantism whose primary principle is that the every denomination must keep splitting until everyone has a church that suits either their desires.

Say what you will about the Catholic Church even as Denomination after denomination has embraced contraception, abortion and gay marriage they have stayed steady and not embraced the rebels within.

And of course there is always the choice for some of those Anglicans to decide to re-cross the Tiber per the guidelines set down by Pope Benedict XVI. How anxious Francis would be to welcome such congregations given his own proclivities is of course another story.

So let me say this to the new even more non-biblical Anglicans. I’m sure the press, video, print and online will embrace this decision as “brave” and pols and pundits will all be celebrating you for these moves and the Bishops involved in these decisions will be feted by their worldly pals for the rest of their lives but while you still have a heartbeat let me remind you of this warning from a fellow named Ezekiel:

You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me. If I tell the wicked man that he shall surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he (the wicked man) shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you warn the wicked man, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.

Ezekiel 33:7-9

You, our modernist friends are welcome to ignore the advice of Ezekiel that I’ve in duty repeated to you or choose to embrace it. You have the rest of your lives to do so…

…after that you’re on your own and I wish you the very best of luck.

Postscript. I know today was going to be the Trump advice piece that I wrote two days ago but this coming out the day before Ash Wednesday was ready made for the occasion. I’ll get the trump thing up tomorrow.

Five Chosen Season Finale Thoughts Under the Fedora (Spoilers) A Nitpick, A surprise, A key teaching, Cliffhangers and The Bread of life in season 4?

Posted: February 8, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, culture, entertainment
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Tonight is the season finale of the Chosen season 3 for those like me who didn’t see it in the theatre. Here are some thoughts.

There was a big error right in the front. In Israel the queen wasn’t the king’s wife, kings had many wives, it was the king’s mother. We also don’t know which wife of David that was although given her age and pregnancy I’m betting Bathsheba.

It’s an interesting note because it was not uncommon to ask of the queen mother to intercede with the king on behalf of a need, which explains the “Hail Mary” prayer of the Rosary to a “T”.

I’m sure like me A lot of people expected the climax to be the feeding of the 5000, the fact that it ended on the walking on the water and calming the storm was a surprise. Thomas’ line concerning the 2nd most incredible thing he saw that day was funny but what was more significant to me was even having Jesus right and having Jesus do what he had already done that day the Disciples were still urging Simon Peter not to get out of the boat when invited by Christ.

The overall arc of the season was apparently the story of the prodigal son (which he has not told yet) in the sense that Simon Peter and Eden are the faithful child who complains “Why is the fatted calf killed for a party for the one who did not obey?” The frustration of both Eden and then Peter in their suffering while so many are healed around them is poignant.

I also thought that Eden going to her local Rabbi and not waiting for Jesus’ personally was an important reminder that when are priest intervenes when we have problems we ARE getting God’s intervention as he is there in persona Christi.

Just because you don’t see someone dramatically commanding the waves to stop it doesn’t mean your relief from the storm isn’t an act of God.

There were two significant cliff hangers. First of them is Rabbi Shmuel. We know that he was invited by Christ to pray with him when the crowds were gone and that Christ made himself available to him, so:

  1. Did they pray together
  2. Did he question Jesus
  3. If so was he satisfied with the answer

That was to me the big cliff hanger, the second is Atticus Aemilius. He was right being the rabbis from Jerusalem in getting to the crowd, although they didn’t show it he obviously would have questioned them and more importantly he SAW Christ walk on the water and the sudden end of the storm.

Presuming he is a believer in the Roman Gods the idea that Jesus might be “A” God (as opposed to “The God”) would not be out of his comfort zone. The question is will he consider him a threat to Rome, basically a God of the Jews who is acting to challenge Rome or will his part be to be the one who reports to Tiberius, basically the Roman who produces the report to Caesar that is the basis for the movie “The inquiry“.

You could actually had Atticus urging and advising the death of Christ not because he doesn’t believe he is God but because he does.

That will be very interesting to see how it plays out.

Finally as of this writing they are still millions ($13.1) away from raising the funds needed for season 4. As of this day they have not yet payed for episode 4 so we don’t know when we will see it but we know a few things.

  • We know that Jesus will be healing Gaius’ son.
  • We know that even larger crowds will be following him

but most important of all

  • We know that boat will end up back in Capernaum

The significance of this is that in John Gospel directly after the feeding of the 5000 comes what is called “The bread of life discourses” The feeding of the 5000 and those words are basically John Chapter six and they, combined with the last supper, are the basis for the Eucharist where Jesus tells the crowd bluntly that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood and when challenged instead of explaining it as a metaphor doubles down, thus causing many of his disciples to leave him.

I’ve mentioned this before but I recall my Pastor upon hearing of the Chosen noted that Protestant productions that are not word for word adaptions of scripture invariably leave out the bread of life discourses as they are frightfully inconvenient.

I guess the rubber will meet the road in a year, how much influence the VERY catholic Jonathan Roumie will have on this decision will be interesting but either way we will see. (Of course if they do the feeding of the 4000 too they could always put it there).

Don’t miss the The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) Podcast starting today

Posted: January 1, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions
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There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.

Bishop Fulton Sheen

A lot of people use the new year as a time to resolve to make positive changes for oneself. I’m sure there are many Catholics who have resolved to know and practice their faith better in the come taking advantage of the many treasures of the Catholic Church.

There are a lot of treasures in the Catholic Church that are of use but if there is one thing I really wish to recommend, it’s The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) podcast.

This is worthwhile not just for Catholics but for non-Catholics because a lot of people will tell you what the Catholic church believes but if you listen to this podcast you will learn what we actually believe. This is our faith, in writing.

I can’t imbed the podcast but I can link it from youtube here, but no matter how you find this podcast, find it and listen to it. If you are a Catholic or not at least you will actually know what the Catholic Faith teaches and if you choose to accept it or reject it you will do so from knowledge and not from ignorance.

Of course if you don’t want to wait the year you can read it yourself direct from the Vatican site which our blog links to on the front page here.

The Great Christian Paradox

Posted: December 14, 2022 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions
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Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats

H.L. Mencken via Ace of Spades’ Masthead

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Jesus Christ Matthew 5:44

Lately I have been writing & tweeting a lot about people I really dislike.

You have people doing evil things, people condoning or approving evil things and people doing their best to pretend that evil is in fact good and sin is in fact virtue.

These days there seems to be an awful lot of that about and having been born in America’s golden age and having parents who were of the World War Two generation and grandparents from the 1800’s who understood the realities of life and did their best to teach us, it’s the type of thing that make a person understand the saying at the head of Ace’s blog.

For a Christian this is a very bad thing and that’s when I strive to remember one of the great paradoxes and non-optional doctrines of the Catholic Church.

We have the sense and we are constantly taught that Jesus died for our sins, this is reinforced by the words of Abolition said by the priest at the end of confessions:

God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Note what the priest says here, “reconciled the world to himself “. Not just “you”, not just your friends and those you like, but “the world” and that includes every person that if you might put up against a wall if you had the power.

Sometimes the sense of one’s sin make it hard to think that God can have mercy on your, but I suspect it’s very easy for most people to think that their enemies are beyond God’s mercy and fit only for God’s justice.

This is the great danger, remember the words of the Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer) Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and the warning Christ give us directly after this prayer:

If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.

Matt 6:14-15

Let’s be clear about this, as Christians we are not required to passively go along with what is being done, to pretend that it’s good and right and to ignore these sins and outrages, in fact one of the spiritual works of mercy is to admonish the sinner.

But we ARE required to love our enemies and pray for them, not that they may wreak the vengeance that Mencken suggests, for by your baptism you are no longer a “normal” man, but for their good and that they may find the mercy of God.

When you can look at the person you disgusts you the most and can realize that said person is so loved by God that he sent his only son to die to pay for that person’s sins then you’re doing Christianity right.

I’m not saying it’s easy, I find it very hard, particularly when dealing with someone who has wronged you directly, but it’s the heart and soul of Christianity, doing this is how you become Christlike.

Because the reality is that the quickest way to become the type of person who should to be put in front of a wall is to be the person who takes the people he thinks should be put in front of a wall and puts them there.

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