Perhaps another silver lining

Obamas Election is finally forcing the Catholic church in the U.S. to address the giving of Communion to those that support abortion, either in elected office or in the ballot box.

Article, 

In what may be a little to little to late, but better late than never the Bishops are beginning to do something they have not done so in a while, 

Teach Catholic doctrine forcefully and clearly, with consequences to Catholics that fail to live up to Catholic doctrine.

Article

It is a shame it took a political disaster to get this reaction, but then Christianity is often more clearly taught in the face of persecution.

Was Obama Right?

As Mentioned in my previous post. Obama was fond of saying that McCain would have brought about a second Bush Administration. He may have been right. It is true that McCain and Bush were in legislative agreement about 90% of the time. McCain could point to the 10% of differences to point to his maverick tendencies. The fact is that Bush and McCain are not Ideological conservatives. Both were opposed to earmarks, though Bush never vetoed a spending bill. both have a pro-life view and both are foreign policy Hawks, though McCain may be a little more hawkish.

A moderate McCain administration though preferable to a Socialist Obama may have a positive side. Having McCain as the leader of the party and as president may have resulted in delaying the much needed shake up in the Republican party that is now taking place. The next republican candidate may well have been carrying the same political baggage that was carried by the party on this election cycle.

Obama seems intent on implementing a socialist economic agenda. This will only deepen the economic problems we are now facing. Obama will want to blame Bush economic policies as being so bad that his policies are taking on Bush economic policies to work. We must point that the Bush economy of the last two years is a socialist economy and that Obama is simply taking us further left. The Obama economy in essence began in 2006 with the democratic congress, Bush simply rubber stamped it. McCain may not have taken us further left but was likely to keep us where we are now with minor adjustments.

Bush was a Second FDR term.

The eight years of Bush are very similar to the FDR years. Both faced economic problems and a global War. Both presided of what at the time was the largest expansion in government in history. Both were aggressive in pursuing Americas enemies abroad and expanding social services as home. It is entirely possible FDR may have felt more at home in today's Republican party as seen the democratic party as to radical for his taste.

The problem that historically once a social program is implemented it stays. Even the great Reagan could not roll back most government programs, at best he was able to slow their growth and grow the economy to better fund them though higher revenues.

 

This is the danger of an Obama administration, he stands ready to grow government even more and create more dependency, which a conservative administration will have a hard time removing. It is worth noting that both parties have moved left with the Republican party looking like the democrats of old and the democrats in many instances voting to the left of the socialists in congress.

We must push for a radical reform of the republican party to field candidates that will promise a mayor roll back of government and hold them to it.

Barrac, Another four years of Bush?

During the election Obama Obama was fond of linking McCain to Bush. He wanted to imply that to elect McCain would be to continue the Bush economic plans. The fact is that there is every indication that not only will Obama continue the Bush economic plans, at least the one he seemed to follow that on his last term, but that he will continue to take us further left.

The fact is that fiscally, aside from the tax cuts, Bush was no conservative. Not once did Bush veto a single spending plan. Obama promises the same. The only deviation from Bush that Obama promises is that everyone who pays taxes will get a tax increase. Yes everyone, not just those making over $250.000. When the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010 all will get a tax increase. The poor will also get a tax increase in the form of higher prices for goods and services.

Where do we go from here

Conservative underground, Conservative in the wilderness, the loyal resistance. These and many other terms have been used to describe the position of the conservative movement after the Barak Obama's victory in these recent election. It was not only Barak Obama's victory it is also an increase in the majority in both houses of congress including an almost filibuster proof majority in the Senate. This majority may yet prove to be filibuster proof if the partisan democrats decide to change the rules. Add to this a second legislative branch with a growing activist judiciary, which will potentially grow with more activist judges being nominated by the president and approved by the congress.

So given this seemingly insurmountable situation where to we go from here;

First: lets not loose perspective, we have seen this before in 1976 and 1992. Conservatism has returned as strong as ever. Reagan was able to advance conservatism with a democratic congress. 

Second: Support the new president. He did win and like it or not he is the president of our nation. We can support him when he is right and when his policies advance our beliefs and oppose him when it does not. We have more access to media than conservatives did in 1980 and even 1992 when the only conservative voice was Rush Limbaugh. Today we have and entire medium with right wing radio. We also have a more unbiased news outlet in Fox news, as we have the Internet with such sites as Drudge and the blogosphere. The fact is we do not know what type of president Obama will be. He has proven to be capable of dumping his radical associations when politically expedient.

Third; Begin supporting and encouraging the conservative bright Spots. Sarah Palin drew as many Large crowds as did Obama. We must as a movement encourage her to not go back to Alaska and stay there. There are others such as Bobby Jindal, Michelle Bachman etc. Newt Gingrich is a different issue. I love him and would support him if he ran but I think he best serves the movement as an Ideas and policy adviser. I would love to see him in charge of the RNC.

Fourth; Run for office. Our movement cannot take over government unless we have candidates willing and able to run for political office. Sara Palin began running for PTA and as a mayor of a small town.

Fifth; Educate the next generation. Many of our children go to public schools. We must understand that the schools are run by left wing activists. It is our jobs as parents to counter that. If we are able we should either home school our children, send them to private schools, and if not possible we must be aware what is being taught our children in public schools and be prepared to counter it. This means we must educate ourselves and prepare arguments and evidence to counter the potential brain washing of our kids. It is possible that public school kids with this background of left wing education and right wing counter arguments from home will in the future become the next Newt Gingrich's or Even Reagan's, capable of debating the left on their turf.

sixth; Pray. Our movement is righteous and even divinely driven, it cannot hope to advance unless we keep God in the mix.

So lets regroup and begin fighting back.

Coservatism did not loose, Republicans did.

First let me begin by congratulating Obama for running a great campaign, deceitful but great. Our side on the other hand ran a terrible campaign. John McCain is a war hero and for that is deserving admiration but he is not a right wing conservative. He knew that, he also knew that he was loosing the campaign so he choose Sarah Palin as is running mate to shore up the conservative base.

Unfortunately McCain had terrible odds. For one he was the standard bearer of the party whose president was wildly unpopular (due in no small part to terribly biased and irresponsible media reporting) President. The economy is bad shape and his party is getting the blame (due in no small part to terribly biased and irresponsible media reporting) even though the housing crisis the fault of the party that won and that is not even debatable. 

The fact is that conservatism was not on the ticket in this election, not was leftist socialism for that matter since Obama did a great job of hidding his real views with the help a biased and irresponsible media who added to his 600 million dollars in capaigning by providing free campaign adds in the form of decetful and irresponsible reporting.  even then Obama only received about 7 percent of the electorate.

It is my hope that on the enxt eelction there is a clear articulate conservative on the ticket who will both articulate right wing positions as well as not be afraid of calling his opponent a liar when it is warranted.

I haven't posted in a long time, but this warrants a post

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YmFhYzIzMGQ1Y2FlMTA4N2M1N2VmZWUzM2Y4ZmNmYmI=

Just read this article and watch this;

I think I need not say anything else

Is There enough room in washington for two Messiahs?

This Article, quotes speaker Pelosi as trying to save the planet, thus ascribing to her a Mesianic Mission. But correct me if I am wrong. Isn't Obama the true Messiah? Is there room in Wahsington for Two? We already know that there is no rom for two bee queens, which is partly what cost Hillary her Nomination.

Humana Vitae

I have a little remiss in not blogging on this most important of modern encyclicals. The reality is that Paul VI proved that prophets did not disappear after St. John the Baptist. Virtually everything he predicted in this encyclical has come to pass in regards to the value of human life. The use of artificial birth has given rise to abortion, euthanasia and other methods of killing humans for convenience sake. By introducing a mindset into the procreative act that I refuse to allow this act to be open to life the natural progression is to terminate any pregnancies that result from a malfunctioning artificial method. It is also a natural progression that if human life can be either prevented or terminated for the sake of convenience then it can be terminated for a pair of shoes or because one belongs to the wrong gang. All of these crimes have gone on the rise since artificial birth control methods have gone into wide spread use.

It should be noted that the church is not opposed to all means of avoiding pregnancies, only to those that are artificial and thus interfere with natural methods and therefore natural law. The church has always allowed for responsible spacing of children using natural means. A couple is free to engage in intimate acts anytime they so desire, they are not obliged to engage in marital relations only when it is known that the woman is fertile. A couple is free to not engage in this relation when the woman is fertile thus avoiding pregnancy in this manner. By using nature one is open to Gods will since it is Gods will that women not be fertile at all times.

Some have accused Catholic teaching in regards to artificial contraception and marital relations as being responsible for the spread of Aids and for fostering poverty in third world nations. As usual the fact prove the opposite. The fact is that the one nation in Africa that is teaching sexual abstinence outside of Marriage is the one nation that has had a drop in the Incidences of AIDS see article here. It is also true that of all the methods of spacing children natural family planning or NFP as the churches teaching is often referred to is the one that is free of change and thus most accessible to the poor. NFP does not promote promiscuity and thus protects the integrity of marriage and the dignity of the human person both male and female. None of this will be reported in the left wing secular media of course, nor will international organisations such as the UN who actively promotes both artifician contraception and abortion.

In short Paul VI has been proven right and the media is not only hidding this but ridiculing Humanae Vitae as beeing absurd, behind the times and even opposed to human nature (since according to them it is human nature to be, sex animals, unless you are member of NARAL or NOW in which case men beeing sex animals equals rape in all cases) when in reality church teaching promotes Natural Law and thus true human nature and dignity.

One can read the Encyclical here, and see how truly loving and dignifying it is.

Who to believe?

The Obama Campaign says this

The Pentagon says This.

Considering that people such as the president and Mcain are known to have visited the wounded troops without the need for photographers and media following to document their love for the the troops for a campaign photo op. I think this simply shows that Obama only cares for the troops and anything else for that matter only if it helps his political ends. I wonder if this thinking carries over to the Leave it to Beaver family he present to the world.

And the prophesies come true

I think I may join the movement, see article.

What to do in the face of Evil

Following on the same thinking of my brothers post here, I found this column. The fact is that not enough good men have stood up to evil, especially not during the last century when we saw the two holocausts of the Jews in Europe and of abortion world wide. It seems that we are content to leave it alone as long as we are not affected. The problem is that even if it does not affect us directly, no one live in a vacuum and the repercussions of evil will affect us like the proverbial rock in a pond, that even after the ripples from throwing it are gone is still in the pond ever so slightly affecting everything from the water level of the pond to its very chemistry.

As the proverb goes "When they came after the Jews I did nothing because I am not Jew, when they came after the blacks I did nothing for I am not black, when they came after the Catholics I did nothing, I am not Catholic, When they came after me there was no one left to defend me". Will you be the one left alone when evil has done it's work on those around you?

It's a good thing the media is not biased!!!!!

I wonder, where are the leftist environmentalists on this one?

The environmentlist left are all over man made global warming in a never ending effort to turn us into North Korea. But leave it to them to conveniently ignore a genuine man made ecological disaster in the name of sex without consequences, see article here. Again the hypocracy of the left never ceases to astound me.

If you don't agree he will kick your b--!

I think Chuck Norris has a point here

Interesting Info in Global Warming

GlobalWarming.org

Roy Spencer Phd.

I wonder what the headlines would say if Atlanta has sued Islam?

Article, as of the time of this posting even Drudge has not posted a link to this. Of course the resolution was passed two years ago and the headline then was not the resolution but the Catholic group suing the City of San Francisco being sued.

It will take 5-10 years for oil pricess to be affected by drilling, right?

Obama Likes to say that even if we start driling now it won't make a difference for another 5-10 years, here is an example of his brilliance. This of course demonstrates a total lack of understanding of the futures market and of capitalism in general, (you capitalism that economic system that makes us the economic power that we are and the socialist left wants to destroy). All it took was for bush to lift the executive moratorium on offshore drilling and this happens . This is how the futures market works. It normally takes a few months for the effect of the futures market to affect prices at the pump, but that is a far cry from the 5-10 years the opposers of drilling claim. Imagine if Congress were to follow suit.

The opposers of drilling site environmental concerns, but Katrina shows us that even a hurricane plowing though the thousands of Oil rigs in the Gulg do not cause environmental disaster so that arguments does not work.

Drill here, Drill now Pay Less and let the free market use the energy we have now to develop the energy of the future as is already happening, see here. This is a private individual using his own money to develop alternatives isn't the free marker great...

You Can't Drill There...There's Oil There!

I think the article speaks for itself. Click on post title to acess article

Interesting site

http://www.catholicunderground.com/podcast/. I am adding it to my links

Flip flopping like a fish out of water

Baptism

A couple of weeks back I posted a blog on the sacraments with the intention of expounding on each individual sacrament on a latter day. Given the deep theological nature of these type of posts I prefer to do them on the few weekends when my schedule is relatively light and can give them their due justice, both mentally as in regards to supporting documentation.

The initial blog on Sacraments can be found here.

Today I will begin with the sacrament of baptism. This is the logical beginning, since without this sacrament a Christian cannot participate in any other sacrament and is indeed concidered outside of the fold of the Christian faith.

Baptism is the first of the three sacraments of initiation. It is the sacrament that makes one a Christian, it cleanses us of original sin. Indeed without baptism one is outside of the spiritual jurisdiction of the church and without it one cannot even be married in a sacramental fashion.

Jesus stated Clearly the need for baptism when he made this very declarative statement to Nicodemus in John 3:4-5 after which he proceeds to Baptize with his disciples in verse 22.

The need for baptism stems from what is known as original sin. Which is the Sin of Adam that is inherited by humans from the moment of conception. (Whether this is just that all men should be subject to the sin of another man is the subject for another post, suffice it to say that people suffer the consequences of others sins constantly as evidenced by the numerous mass graves world wide created at the hands of evil men such as Saddam Hussein and others) The main purpose of baptism is to cleanse us of this original sin and infuse us with the life of Grace that can come only though the Holy Spirit of God. See Acts 2:38-39. God uses the natural element of Water which signifies cleansing to actually cleanse us of original Sin. In the scene of Acts 2 cited 3000+ people accepted Jesus and were baptized. Catholicism knows of no other means of making salvation accessible other than though baptism. This does not mean that non-baptized people cannot be saved. It simply means that those non-baptized that are saved are being saved though means other than the ordinary means instituted by Jesus. Like any King, God is at liberty to circumvent his edicts, the Church as his loyal subject is not.

All Christian faiths practice baptism, though not all have the same view of it. Some have the Catholic notion of it's necessity and salvific effect others see it as merely a symbol and a response of obedience and nothing more with no salvific effect.

One aspect of baptism that is often maligned by non-Catholics is the practice of infant baptism. The common non-Catholic refrain is that Children are not capable of making a decision for Christ thus making the baptism invalid. They will often re-baptize adult Catholics that convert to their churches on the notion that only adults can make that commitment. Traditional Christianity has always practiced infant baptism. The truth is that since no other provision was revealed for Salvation it was seen as imperative that even children be baptized so as to ensure their entrance into glory. Note in the above passage from acts that Peter says "...for the promise is for you and your Children" and it states that all present were baptized, no exceptions were made for adults. Consider the historical context of of early Christianity. Christianity is born of Judaism and carried many Jewish notions and beliefs. Indeed Jesus was a Jew and he founded his Church as a perfection of that old covenant revelation. In Judaism the means of becoming a Jew was though Circumcision and the law dictated that infants should be circumcised on the eighth day of they birth. Note, Jews did not wait until the child reached an age of accountability to be circumcised. to be sure converts to Judaism were circumcised as adults as are adults converts to Catholicism. Paul makes the connection of circumcision to baptism here. In Scripture we see entire Household being baptized (Acts 16:27-33, and 1Cor 1:16).

As can be seen Baptism is the most important of Sacraments, because without no other sacrament is accessible even the most precious Eucharist. Baptism cleanses us of Original sin and start us in the life of Grace. It is is also vital in that no other means of attaining salvation was revealed and thus no other means is known.

Further reading on baptism can be found in the Catechism, and New Advent

Farewell Tony Snow

This Blog post is not easy for me. I feel the death of Tony Snow almost like that of a Friend. Though I never knew him personally, his personality was such that even from a distant medium such as the Radio he made you feel as though you were having an intelligent conversation with a great man.

I recall him as being my favorite substitute host for Rush Limbaugh, before he went to work for Fox. While I dislike the term compassionate conservatism as the oxymoron that it is, if anyone embodied such a description it was Tony. His duty to country had him leaving a well paying job at Fox to serve the thankless job of White House press secretary. This job for Tony was something like Daniel being thrust in the Lions Den and like Daniel Tony was able to temporarily tame the contentious press and somehow got the message of the presidents policies across to a nation hungry for information about a war not properly reported on by the press. I never heard him being rude with a caller and found his demeanor refreshing and one that I will sorely miss.

Everything he did he did with a smile and with a sense of optimism that was contagious and genuine. He was just a good man and it showed even to those of us that never met him.

I also think he would have a great president. Perhaps his intercession from above will prove as useful as his contribution to the political discourse on this side of eternity.

Rest in peace and know you will be sorely missed.

It's a good thing Iraq had not WMD programs...

If they did we might have reason for concern at the discovery of yellow cake uranium. We all know that an oil rich country that could produce it's own energy (but didn't given that the country spent most of it's time in the dark while Hussein was in power) had plenty of uses for such uranium other than weapons.

Of course with no WMD programs the 500+ artillery shells found in the dessert were just accidentally left behind by beduin caravans. One of these shells just heppened to be by the roadside at the same time our sodiers were patrolling, see here. The 3000 protective suits found in a hospital were for a costume party I am sure. The parties were to held here

I mean they were fully cooperative with the WMD inspectors and in compliance with all UN Resolutions, weren't they?

Yeb Bush lied. All of the other world intelligence services that came to the same conclusion, did not...

Are Catholics afraid of truth

Christians in general and Catholics in particular are often accused of being afraid of truth. We are told that we reject science and hold to superstitions. That our beliefs when held to the light of truth fall apart like a snow man in the dessert. The fact is, that nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that in the past men of faith, or claimed the faith seemed opposed to progress and sound science, out of fear that their beliefs would be proven wrong perhaps, or out a sincere desire to save souls. But the folly of this is self evident and not in keeping with historical Christian thinkers. Indeed we owe much to Christianity when it comes to progress in education. The university system was a Catholic invention. Modern genetics was developed by Gregor Mendel a Catholic priest. Nicolas Copernicus developed the modern science that proves the sun is as the center of our solar system, again a Catholic Priest. Galileo did not get in trouble for proposing this but for delving in theology as well as science. So history shows that Christianity has from the beginning embarked in "A relentless, unstoppable pursuit of the truth" to borrow from Rush. Jesus said that "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). So to a Christian the truth, all truth, is liberating. It is also true that to a Christian the opposite holds in that to hold to a lie is to be enslaved. This is where the Church and some people in science clash. Not all research is interested in truth. Take stem cell research. Science has shown much progress in stem cell research not derived from an unborn embryo. Yet some insist on pursuing embryonic stem cell research. It is therefore evident that the research is not to seek out truth but to promote the lie and the evils of abortion. This the Church and the rest of Christianity will oppose with every moral weapon we can muster.

Happy Birthday USA

Today we Celebrate the birth of Our Nation. In all of our celebrations, family gatherings, and fireworks we must not loose sigt of what we are celebrating. We Celebrate the birth of nation founded on a premises never before conceived. The notion that All Men are Created Equal and are endowed by their Creator with the rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.. The founders of our nation set out to protect these God Given rights. They did this first by sacrificing their own lives, the lives of their families and their Fortunes fighting a revolution that they were not supposed to win against what was a the time the mightiest empire in the world. Having done the impossible and won their independence they then set out to create a governing document unique in history. That Document was our constitution. This constitution was unique in that it limited the power of the federal government first by enumerating the first powers it did have then by further dividing that authority into three branches of government thus no one individual could have absolute power.

Today as we see a judiciary encroaching on the legislature and the executive powers, and when we see an ever growing federal government who seems intent on appropriating powers that the founding fathers
never intended it to have. It is incumbent on us the voters to read and remember the words of our founding documents and begin the process of taking our government back. We have elections coming up, and while we are all focusing on the presidential candidates (none of which are rally that inspiring) let us remember that there are also local, state and federal positions on the ballot. Everyone of these races could begin the process of returning out government to it's founding roots.

Here are our founding documents lest we forget;

Constitutions

Declaration of Independnce

Read them, learn them, love them and fight for
them they are worth every bit of our blood and sweat and they are the founding
documents of the the one nation that is in the words of Bill Benet "The last
Best Hope of Man Kind"

This is what the left wants for us.

Note how north Korea the thuggish dictatorship the left wants us to emulate is dark and South Korea, the prosperous capitalist nation.

See here

Why is it....

That when privately held oil companies reports a profit (which goes for the most part to running the company and to the share holders, I.E. me as a 401K holder) it is seen as evil and the outcry is heard across the whole left wing spectrum, but the same people are silent when a muderous dictator turns an even bigger profit by scamming the oil for Food program.

Perhaps if the oil companies changed their names to oil for food or had a crecent as their symbol the left would be more sympathetic.

The Faith of an Atheist.

I have always believed that it takes more faith to hold to Atheism than it does to hold a belief in God. Atheist have to look at the majesty of Creation all around them and believe that is came by a process other than intelligent design. Atheist accuse believers of a faith that cannot be empirically proved, yet there is less proof for the atheist position than there is for the believers position.

Of course while atheist hold as an article of faith that there is not God, they have an ecclesiastic structure. The Have churches in the form of the University system (A catholic invention), the professors being their clergy. Their journals being their Magisterium, their sacraments (in most cases not all atheist are leftists) abortion, Tehir popes are leftists Judges who ignore the constitution and develop Dogma from the Bench, which no leftist Atheists dares contradict. They have no problem excommunicating those that defy their dogmas, ask Joe Lieberman and Zell Miler. Make no mistake the atheist will cling to his faith regardless of any evidence to the contrary, Not much different than the Pharisees of Old who opposed Jesus even when witnessing the miracles he performed in their mist.

Why Obama is more Dangerous to our Security than Carter

Many political pundits have stated that an Obama Presidency would be a second Carter Term. There are indeed some comparisons in that both seem to think that negotiation is the only way to address global issues. During Carters presidency the Military technological advantage the United States Had over the Soviet Union was almost lost. Carter canceled several defense projects such as the B-1 Lancer bomber program. Instead of defeating the Soviets, Carter sought to appease and negotiate with them. Obama has made it clear that he will take the same approach with our current enemies. The problem is that we live in a much more dangerous world today than in the 1970's. The Soviets were many things, but they were not suicidal. They sought to destroy America but were not willing to be destroyed in the process. So while Carter was pushing for negotiations the United states still had a Nuclear arsenal that could destroy the Soviets and the Soviets knew that. Our current crop of enemies on the other hand are not only willing to die, but see death as desirable when fighting the infidels. So while Obama negotiates with our enemies they are developing Nuclear weapons in the belief that their version of Armageddon will bring forth the twelfth Imam. So while Carter was Naive in dealing with the Soviets, the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction served as a deterrence against overt Soviet Aggression. There is no such deterrent against the current crop of Islamic Terrorist. To elect Obama is to re-elect Carter to negotiate against an enemy that is not interested in negotiating. While the prospect of a McCain presidency is not my Idea of an Ideal presidency, the prospect of an Obama presidency literally frightens me. Even a Hillary Clinton did not frighten me that much, with her at least I could be assured she could to to our enemies what she did to her husband when she found out about the Lewinsky Affair. I understand it was not pretty.

Why I cannot Vote for Obama

Article, No to put to fine a point on it, and at the risk of beeing called politically incorect (as if I cared) but this is simply evil, right there with Stalin and Hitler.

It's easy to be tolerant when there are no absolutes

This Column points to a survey dealing with religious tolerance. The fact is that the survey points not to religious tolerance but to religious relativism. Tolerance is recognising and thus protecting the God given rights of individuals. Tolerance does not mean giving another belief systems the same truth status as yours. While all beliefs systems have truth in them, they cannot all be equally true in all aspects. Christians believe Jesus is God and the Messiah promised in the old Testament, Jews reject that and Muslims believe Jesus was merely a prophet and hold Mohammad as higher in the order of prophets. Now only of these can be true. The relativist says that all three are true since what is true for one may not be true to another. The thing is that truth is truth and it remains true regardless of individual belief.

What are the Sacraments

One of the most misunderstood aspects of Catholic Doctrine , both by non-Catholics as well as by Catholics themselves is the Sacraments. The Sacraments are Central to Catholic theology. Failure to understand them is failure to understand Catholicism. Many of those who reject Catholic teaching on the sacraments often ague against a false understanding of them and are thus working against a straw man, in many cases in good faith wishing to correct what they perceive to be Catholic errors and in some cases by people who should know better. Examples; Here, here, here, and here. This post will (in the feeble words of the author) attempt to explain what the sacraments are and what they are not.

A Sacrament is in a essence a visible, outward sign of a spiritual reality. In essence what the we see taking place with our senses is actualytaking place in the spiritual realm. In baptism for example, Water which represents cleansing, actually cleans the soul of the individual of original sin. The following web sites give similar definitions of the word Sacrament; Here and here.

Humans are unique creatures in all of creation. Creation is comprised (As far as what has been revealed to us) by three distinct living being, the spiritual in the form of Angels, who have spiritual but not corporal natures, and corporal as in the from of animals and plant who have corporal but not spiritual natures, Humans are unique in that they are created with both spiritual and corporal natures. Of these beings the Angelic and the Humans are made to worship God. The Angels worship God within their nature and worship with their whole being which is spiritual. Humans are made worship God with their whole being as well. So how can a human creature who is both flesh and spirit worship God using their whole nature? This is where the Sacraments come in. In the old testament there was no sacramental system, so the Jews worshiped God using symbols such as the Temple, Sacrifice, Images (yes the Jews used Images in their worship, this is for another post) etc. Jesus Came to show us a more perfect form of Worship, first by becoming flesh himself and showing us God though our senses. Jesus usually used matter to perform his miracles. He would for example make mud by spitting on dirt and healing the blind. He would show a visible act of Worship to the Father and raise the dead. The lady with the blood disease showed her faith by touching the garment Jesus wore. Jesus made it a point of going down to the Jordan and being baptized by John. Jesus turned bread into his body and blood and commanded his apostles to forgive and retain sins. So by becoming flesh and leaving a visible church with visible means of showing us God's grace Jesus instituted a Sacramental Church. Indeed as Jesus is seen as a sacrament of the Father by making God visible, the Church is seen as a sacrament of Jesus as it is her mission to make Jesus visible in the form of his body, both in the sacrament and in her body of believers. It must be noted
that all of the Sacraments have supporting passages in scripture. I will deal with each sacrament individually in other posts.

There are seven Sacraments;

Baptism

Confirmation

Reconciliation

Eucharist

Matrimony

Holy Order

Anointing of the Sick

Each sacrament corresponds with a certain aspect or stage in human life. The fact that there are seven is also significant. In scripture the number seven corresponded with the fullness of what is being spoken off. Thus there are seven days in a week and on the fullness of Creation God Rested.

In essence the Sacraments are gift from God that shows us his grace. They are not means of earning salvation (as some non-Catholics say) since they have no use to us unless we have faith, they are simply there for us, to aide us in worshipping with our whole being, to see and feel Gods grace flowing into our lives, keeping us feed in our journey in this life while at the same time showing us glimpses of the next.

This T Shirt about Sums it up..

Taken From this site. I know it is a little vulgar, but hey it about sums things up.

What Not Global Warming

So let me see place an exploding volcanoe under the polar ice cap and what do you get. The Ice sheets melt. They still have to throw in the increasing water temperature... Read Article

On the existence of Ghosts.

I thought I would post on something less political and less apologetic in nature and post on something that I find interesting in a somewhat related field.

Recently I have become fascinated by the Sci-Fi Original Series Called Ghost Hunters. I have always had an interested in Ghosts, but have always found the field troublesome as it is filled with people whose views are decidedly non-Christians. I am interested in the field from the Christian point of view. The reason I find the program interesting, even though the main characters do not bring a Christian world view to the field, it the skeptics approach they bring to their investigations. Unlike the British guys on travel channel these guys (plumbers by trade) enter a situation with a desire to disprove anything paranormal and in many cases do show alternative explanations. When all natural explanations are exhausted then they are willing to acknowledge paranormal activity. Of course when paranormal activity is documented they do not usually offer a Christian explanation or solution. Sometimes they do offer solutions, but not a Christian one, such a bringing in clergy. One of the things that the show serves to establish is that there is something in this world besides the physical world. Which can come as a revelation to those from an atheistic point of view.

My interest in these subject as mentioned is belief that whatever entity is active in these hauntings can only come from one of two sources. Either it is of God (which is in most cases not likely as angels invariably come with a divine mission, there is also the potential of the souls in Purgatory seeking prayer some mistics have written on this) or it is of demonic origin (the more likely explanation in most cases) This is where I think the Ghost Hunters guys may be failing their "clients". Not all demonic activity results in possessions and are as overt as that depicted in the exorcism of Emilly Rose. Many are quite benign in appearance, the purpose of which is to cause confusion and crisis of faith amongst their intended victims. The victims then turn to spiritism and other pagan practice as a source of explanation and are thus drawn further from Jesus. I think these are more dangerous than the actual possessions as those are clear and the solution is also clear. It takes duly appointed Catholic Priest to liberate those poor souls.

The website for the Ghost Hunters group is Here.

There is a more Catholic oriented site that deals with the demonolgy aspect of this.

Voter Guides

Voter Guide For Serious Christians.

Note that nowhere in this guide is there mandate that seeks to create a government dependent class. Nor is the death penalty a non-negotiable, as the church while frowning on the death penalty still recognaices the right of the State in such matters. It is not the same to kill an innocent child and to kill a convicted Murderer.

There is at least one candidate that I know that will violate several of these non-negotiables.

One More Justice is all we need....

To keep making good decisions like this, on a consistent basis.

Of the Two candidates one promises to nominate, Justices like Ginsburg, and Stevens the other promises to nominate justices like Thomas and Elito.

Of course the one that promises to nominate such originalist Justices has a maverick streak and we cannot truly know what he will do, but if the other guy wins we do know what he will do. One might give us the majority we need to overturn state sponsored infanticide, with the other there will be no such chance perhaps for a very long time.

Priest Sex Abuse Scandal

It was terrible and it did highlight problems in church administration. It gave the Media an excuse to go for endless weeks attacking the church and showing how this proves the folly of Priestly celibacy. No mention of Protestant Clergy accused of similar crimes, this of course by married clergy, but to report on this would not advance the notion that sex abuse is the fault of celibacy. Also ignored are the acquittals of Catholic Priests being.

Article

Article

Article

Article

I found these in ten minutes using Google. I do not have the world wide resources of the media or a Lexus Nexus account.

Please note, I am as angered by the scandal as the next devout Catholic, but I think there should be perspective and this should point to the medias Anti-Catholic Bias.The Fact is that the incidents of Sex Abuse were wildly exaggerated in order to cast aspersions upon the Catholic Church and to discredit her teachings which stand in opposition to the secular Medias
libertine lifestyles and beliefs.

Charity is not a Government Program

It’s an election year. This means that predictably the secular left candidate will discover Scripture and Jesus and translate the teachings of scripture and Jesus on the treatments of others with charity into a government program. They will say Point to passages such as the Good Samaritan, the Be Attitudes, Do unto others etc. and speak of treating others with charity an immediately point to a government program as the only expression and or application of these teachings to the exclusion of legitimate charities such as Catholic, Charities, Lutheran Social service, The Salvation Army and other charities to do great service, often on shoe string budgets and lots of volunteers and real individual acts of charity. Interesting that when a secular left winger quotes scripture or refers to Jesus the ACLU’s and George Soros of the world do not scream as they do when a right winger does the same, perhaps because they know that the left wing candidate does not mean it.

Catholic Social teaching does allow and even encourage government assistance for the poor, but it also recognizes the obligation of a free people to do service for each other without the need or want of a government program. Catholic social teaching does not really care where the assistance comes from, it does not however promotes one method or the other. Catholic social teaching opposes the extremes of both Socialism as well as Capitalism and believes that society can have an economic systems that incorporates the best aspects of both economic systems. Only politicians seeking to buy votes and to create dependence of government will promote government as the only legitimate form of charity.

Real charity is something one does without coercion. No can be forced to be charitable for, if one is forced it is no longer charity. Charity by definition is voluntary. Politicians who promote charity through government programs are seldom charitable with their own Money as evidenced by their own tax returns. They love to be charitable with other peoples money, which the take in the form of confiscatory taxes. The fact is that it is people of faith that are the most charitable and they give without coercion, often above and beyond what is already taxed. It is also people of faith who often volunteer their time to charitable organizations (this never makes it on a ledger sheet). In time of disasters it is private individuals who often out-gives even our own very giving government

My Brother posted an excellent treatise on the true meaning of Charity on his Blog Assenting Catholic. Read Post here.

So in short do not let politicians fool you. Whenever they bring up Jesus and the bible and speak of charity, grab a hold of your wallet, it’s not as though they are going to open theirs.

Obama Supported by Foreign Leaders,

Such as Castro, HAMAS, Hugo Chavez, and Mahmoud I'm-a-dirty-Yak, And Now Kim Jung Ill. Still Waiting on Osama Bin Ladens, grainy video tape is probably in route as we speak.

It's nice to know who Americas Friends and well wishers want as our president.

This is what I was talking about on a previous post.

Based on this Logic (article), Bill Richardson should have been my Candidate.

See my previous post on this subject, here.

About the Author

Almost every book I read has a little snippet about the Author. I thought this would be a perfect time to Introduce my self and give you more than what is in my bio. This is also a far easier subject for me to write about when I do not feel up to pulling multiple sources for reference on a more controversial topic. Believe I have a Word file with about a page and a half of topics ranging from The Sacraments to UFOs I intend to get to in time. So here it Goes.

As Mentioned in my bio My name is Richard Lamb. I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in May 19th 1972. I have been married for 15 and a half years. I have two beautiful daughters, 9 and 4 respectively. I have a Bachelors in Information Technology, and Masters on Information Systems, with an eye for an MBA and perhaps a Doctorate (Depending on Student Loans Career Advances and My wife's Patience) As can be seen and will yet be seen by my posts, my interests vary greatly. I love Religion (Because I love God), Politics, Science, Sports (Especially NFL, Go Jaguars) etc. I short I am interested in those topics that people seem to want to avoid in polite company to avoid controversy. I firmly believe that people avoid these topics because they are often not well versed in them and can offer little support for their views and because they are really afraid of finding their view to be wrong. But since many of the topics I cover here are consequential, especially Religion and politics, which deal with both our eternal lives as well as our temporal, I think they not only should be discussed, but can in polite company when discussed with a sense of charity and truth seeking.

My Interest in religion and politics comes from a crisis of faith that I lived though when I was younger. I was born into the Catholic faith and grew up in the church, but as with many who are born into a faith my initial faith education was nominal at best. None of my early education prepared me to give a reasoned Response for my beliefs when faced with tough questions. During the process of my growing up in the church my parents were divorced my Father moved to Jacksonville and became more involved in his own faith tradition which was Disciples of Christ (Very much a Southern Evangelical Faith, similar in many ways to the Baptist, with minor but important differences not pertinent to this post) Fast forward to my 11th year of life when we moved to Jacksonville from Puerto Rico. While here we spent more time with our father who would make it a point to take us to his church when we stayed with him. Initially I resented that since I am not a morning person and preferred to go to Mass on Saturday nights with my mother when we stayed with her. In time though I was OK with it. I met friends there and there were even a girl or two that I took a licking to. But something happened while I was growing there that forced me to look deeper into my beliefs. People began asking me questions about such subjects as the papacy, and Mary, questions I had not answers for at the time. This forced me to research Christianity. I knew I was going to remain a Christian since I believed Jesus was my saviour, even then I felt an attraction to Jesus as saviour. My research focused initially on finding the historical church, the church founded by Jesus since I instinctively knew that a church not founded by Jesus himself had no historical standing. In my research I began to both find answers to such questions as the papacy, Mary and other Catholic teachings. Indeed I found the early church was Catholic, both in doctrine and structure, though in a nascent form initially. I also found that like my most Catholics were ill prepared to give responses for their faith and many were catholic because their parents were. To this day I find that. I began reading books that were both historical in nature as well as books that were more apologetic in nature. initially these books were in question and Answer format. Then I discovered Catholic answers on the Radio. I also discovered such heavy wights as Scott Hahn and Jimmy Akin. their knowledge was invaluable to me. I feel it is incumbent on me to teach others what I have learned and show others the beauty of Catholicisms and the Truth contained within.

My Interest in politics stems from my Interest in Religious issues, my first political thoughts stem from the abortion issue. When I initially voted I looked for the candidate that promised to put an end to the murder of unborn Babies. At this same time I recall hearing a voice on the radio espousing things I instinctively understood to be true, both from a Christian perspective, but also from a more down to earth common sense perspective. That voice was Rush Limbaugh. I guess it could be said I am a Rush teen. I would listen to him after school while driving home from school. Then I would listen to him when ever I could after work etc. Then I discovered other voices such as Bary Farber and others who espoused similar views. It should be noted that these voices only gave me a means to better express what I already knew to be true based on my upbringing and my faith. I found the notion of individual responsibility and judging people not skin color to ring true. When I heard the opposing thought process of government dependence, secularism judging people as remember of a race or group I found the reasons lacking and based on emotion not reason.

In short I find Religion and Politics to be so closely related in so many areas that I have become a religious and political animal. I seldom find people willing do discuss these topics with me (My brother does but we agree all the time, when we discuss these topics we reinforce each others views and help each other bolster our rhetoric, with resources and better answers). The few people that engage either agree or quickly shut down when I begin to make sense.

This why I am Glad I discovered this forum. Here I can give free reign to my thoughts rather than letting them fester and just sit in my brain unused (In time I will write a Book and find a way to get it published)

The Case for the Iraq War

It's popular these days especially in leftists circles to malign the war in Iraq. One can hear the common refrains in the evening news. They will say things such as, there were not weapons of Mass destruction, Bush Lied, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11, this was is about Oil Etc. I will try to address some of these Issues as I am perhaps one of about ten that still supports this war.

To begin with I must address a question that may be forming in the minds of some. How can a Catholic who claims to be devout support this was in light of the Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI's opposition as well as many other bishops. The answers is simple. The Catholic church is not opposed to war as a matter of Doctrine the same way the church is opposed to Abortion and Contraception. The fact is that the Catholic Church has developed a Just war Doctrine (Read here and here) There is no Just abortion doctrine. The Issue of War is a matter of prudential judgement by legitimate authority and neither the Pope not the bishops are privy to the information available to heads of state that leads them to such decisions. One can be a Catholic in Good standing and be in support or in opposition to this war (though I think that those that oppose it are misguided)

OK, now that that is out of the way lets address some of the talking points of the opposition.

1. There were not WMD's. This is one of the most common statements of those opposing the war.
First it must be pointed that this argument was used by no one before the war started, the fact is that every intelligence service in the world from the French, to the Germans, to the UN and everywhere in between had intelligence that they did have WMD's. He was tried on the use of the WMD's (article, and article) He used the weapons on his own people.I remember watching the Images when it happened. In actuality WMD's were found (Article). It is true that the expected stock piles were not found waiting for our troops to just pounce on them (As if Saddam were dumb enough to leave them liying around waiting to be found.). Was was found was documentation that a WMD program existed (This article shows that though it is not friendly to the U.S. cause) The opposition to the Iraq War before the was centered around allowing the inspectors to do their Job, the only notable war opponent that did not hold to this view was Saddam himself, he did all he could to prevent the inspectors from doing their Jobs.


Bush Lied. This statement shows a fundamental misunderstanding what a lie is. For someone to lie they must know that what they are saying is not true. Bush was relying on the same Intelligence used by the previous administration to support military action in Iraq. The only difference is that this time it was a republican and there were no interns involved. And yes the little Matter of 9-11. The famous sixteen words regarding Uranium in Africa is still affirmed by British intelligence to this day.

Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11, No one said he did. Though the 9-11 commission report did document contacts at various levels with Al quaeda. the events of 9-11 showed us the reality of Islamic terrorism in general of which al queada is but one group and the one brought to the fore front after 9-11. Bush said as much in his speech after 9-11. We are at war with Islamic terrorism not just Alquaeda. Furthermore to beleive that Al-quaeda a world wide organization was everywhere but Iraq is self delusional. Sadam was himself a terrorist, he ran a terrorist state and he sponsored terrorism world wide paying money to the families of suicided bombers in Israel.

The Iraq War is about oil, This argument was used during the last war with Iraq. If this war were about oil, gas would not be $4.00 a gallon. The Iraqis run their own Oil.

The war in Iraq diverts from tracking down Bin-laden, this argument is based on the notion that we somehow left Afghanistan to go after Iraq. This not true, the hunt for Bin-Laden is still ongoing. The ground condition in Iraq and Afghanistan are different thus different force structures are required. The notion that the U.S. cannot, with the most powerful military in the World cannot fight war in two countries. The fact is that the war on terrorism has our troops all over the world, including the Philippines and Somalia. Iraq is and has always been one front in the war on terrorism and those that say we should have stayed in Afghanistan are trying to imply that Iraq has nothing to do with the terrorism. If Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism then why are the terrorist streaming in from all over the world to fight there. I mush prefer they take on our trained troops than to have them here killing my family. Make not mistake they still want to do that.

Does God Even Exist?

This is the Classic question for the ages. For me the answer is simple. I have absolutely no doubt that God even exists. I could stop right here and go on since this answers the question of this post. But to do so defeats the purpose of this blog, doesn't it? So here we go.

There are several classical arguments for the existence of God. There is no way I can do justice to all of them on this blog, to even attempt to would probably take up the memory space of the server that stores this blog (the IT guy in me is showing) so I will use some of the more common one that I tend to use.

I have already used one of my favorite arguments for the existence of God here and here, This is the nature argument. The grandeur and majesty of Nature, even in its fallen state, proclaims with a loud voice the existence of a creator. The Psalms put it beautifully in Psalm 19:1. A lowly single cell organism is vastly more complex that the most modern of computers and yet the computer was created by an intelligent being, so to was the single cell organism.

The other argument is that of Human nature. Man was created with a desire for God. This is proven by the fact that every single Human Culture (even the Neanderthals who where a separate Human Species) has developed a religious system. The fact that there are many religions is due to original sin. Prior to the fall of man there was a belief in one God. After the Fall many religions systems developed. God then began a slow and deliberate process of revealing himself to man through a process of covenants. (it is this process that is depicted in scripture) It was not until the 20th century that a whole human made system developed from the outset as atheist and that is Marxism. Indeed the belief on the spiritual is so ingrained in the human nature that an Atheist must talk himself into that Atheistic mindset, or talk himself out away from believing in God, and in the process argue against his or her very nature to get to that point. No one is born not believing. Put a Child in a deserted Island and he will grow up believing in something higher than himself. Put that same child in Harvard and the outcome might be entirely different.

There is a reason why most Atheists come from academic and educated settings and that is that with Knowledge comes the great potential for arrogance. The belief that human achievement is the pinnacle of achievement. It is also true that many highly intelligent people will go though the same process of education and be humbled by the majesty of Creation and by how little of it we really understand. I will put the intellect of a G.K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas or Even Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI against any Atheist Intellectual, modern or historical.

For further Reading, Read this Article

Tiger Woods proves the Fallacy of Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action is the practice of setting aside a certain number of position, either in jobs or classroom space, for minority based a percentage of the population at large. The premise is that minorities especially those of African decent have no other way to make it in our society unless these percentage quotas are set aside for them.There may have been a time when racial apartheid existed in our nation where there may have been some merit to this, but that time is long gone. Today affirmative action is used to promote a political agenda and it is inherently racist. Forty years ago racism was legally permit ed and indeed it was written into our laws. Today racism is not only illegal, if proven it can affect a companies reputation to the point where it affects them financially (this reality is exploited by the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who use the threat of going public with a racist act, real or contrived to shake down major corporations) .

Today Minorities are represented in almost every industry, there is even a major political candidate who is Black, which is not possible without white vote.

To insist on Affirmative action is to tell minorities that they are incapable of succeeding without quota set asides. It also puts doubt in the success of those that do succeed on their own merit without affirmative action.

Tiger Woods is a perfect example. Had the PGA implemented an affirmative action program, Tigers success would be suspect on the premise that a potentially better white player was crowded out due to the set aside programs. Without this affirmative action program we know Tiger has achieved his success by defeating the best of the best in is sport. Even with a bad Knee. Golf Fans do not care what Color Tiger is, they tune in to watch a great golf game, to the point that the recent U.S. open was one of the most watched Golf games in history. People tuned in to watch Tiger play Golf, they did not tune out when they saw a black man winning. Tiger is proof that affirmative action an Idea whose time has come and Gone

Drill here Drill Now (Again)

Read Column by Paul Weyrich

There is hope for Charlie Crist After All.

Read Article.

Not Sure what it says about Crist. Either he is reading the tea leaves and acting accordingly or he is being a true politician and Doing what is politically expedient. Either way I hope he keeps going in that direction. We need the oil and we can get it in a way that does not automatically mean an ecological disaster. We need not be dependent for our oil to people that would rather we were dead.

Why Does God Permit Evil?

There have been thousands of books written by smarter men than me dealing with this question. Even so the question may never be fully answered on this side of eternity but I thought that since one of the areas I deal with on this blog is Theology I would take a stab at it.

The reason God allows evil is because he created being endowed with free will. God did not create puppets and this goes for the angels in heaven. The beginning of evil begins with the rebellion of Satan. Satan was created with the same free will and rebelled against God. After Satan's Fall he sought to tempt man and bring man down with him. When this happened original sin entered the world and creation. Thus bringing disorder to what had been an orderly creation. Satan threw a wrench in the works so to speak. Man was by no means an Innocent participant. Man made a free will decision to disobey God and conspired with Satan in this rebellion. The difference is that Satan's fall is complete since his rejection was complete. Mans fall was not complete, this is why Jesus was able to come and redeem us.

The consequences of that primordial rebellion remains and man is still a fallen Creature and still endowed with free will. Ultimately though Evil as a result of free will both Human and angelic is permitted by God as a manifestation of his greater glory.

The truth if this last statement is made manifest in the Paschal Mystery. The Paschal mystery is the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. In the paschal Mystery we see evil in its purest form. Jesus a man with no sin is betrayed by Judas (and act of Free will) condemned by the Sanhedrin and Roman authorities (all acts of free will) to die the most horrible death possible (as seen on the Movie the Passion). It took this act of pure evil to bring forth the manifest glory of God in the resurrection.

In short evil is allowed (not caused) by God because he allows for free will, which is abused by both man and angelic being, in order that his greater Glory is made manifest.

Further Reading

Gay Marriage is not about Equal rights

Lets not kid ourselves Gay Marriage is an attack on Marriage. It is an imposition of their morals, or lack thereof, upon the majority. Yesterday the California courts did what California courts do, to overturned the will of the people and legislated from the bench, allowing for the homosexual lobby to redefine a God ordained institution. They say that this will be a legal matter, but and that Churches are not obliged to recognized or sanction such unions. How long before a church is sues for doing just that?

It is not about equal rights, if it were they would have lobbied, with the support of the majority of people, they would have lobbied for the legal and social benefits of marriage, such as the sharing of insurance policy etc, without forcing the change in the definition of Marriage of the union of One man and One woman (till death do us part). The reality is that Marriage as currently defined and as ordained by God, places gay unions in judgement as immoral. Anything that places immorality in judgement is dangerous to the those that live immoral lifestyles.

I have heard the argument that redefining marriage does not affect my marriage, this is true. This is not about me, it is about a God ordained institution. If we want to redefined Marriage, why not redefine any other word, why not call Dogs, cats, or call water, fire.

Ladies and Gentlemen, There is no such thing as gay marriage. Gay unions, domestic partnerships, perhaps. Let them have their unions and allow them to have other social right, but they cannot have Marriage.

Article

We don't need the Muslims to stop us from handing out Bibles...

Read Article, We already have the ACLU

What is truth?

What is truth? This was the ironic question Pilate asked when in the presence of truth incarnate. (John 18:38). This question seems to reverberates through the ages to the present where modern man seems to be asking the same question. Unfortunately for modern man the answer is not the truth incarnate. For modern man the truth is whatever feels good. Today the response is what ever is true for you may no be true for me, but both are valid truths. Truth today is relative and subjective. Truth in today's world is in fact 6.5 billion truths.

But the real truth is something entirely different. The fact is that truth is objective and not dependent on anyone belief for it existence anymore than the wall in front of me depends on my belief for it's existence. If I were to say that my truth says that the wall does not exist that does not mean I can simply walk though. Any attempt to prove my version of the truth would likely result in a broken nose.

There is one truth, and that is the person of Jesus. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the Life"(John 14:16). He also said "you will know the truth and the truth will set you free"(John 8:32) This last passage has great implications. It shows that knowledge of truth (real truth not the subjective relativism we see today) brings freedom, it also means that the opposite is also truth, living and believing a lie will lead to slavery. Those that claim a truth not from Jesus are in reality enslaving themselves to a falsehood disguised as a personal truth.

Man Greater than the Sum of his parts

Today I was Listening to Bill Bennett and he made a comment that made me think. He was expressing amazement at how the Brain, a three pound mass of connecting neurons and firing synapses could result in our thought processes and to the notions of being. The fascinating thing is how this process of bio-electrical impulses translates to what we are as people. In essence philosophical statement "I think therefore I am" is the result of this biological process. Or is it? I think the fact that we are self aware goes beyond biological processes. The fact that we are born with a desire to go beyond ourselves and seek out God makes us greater than the sum of our parts. We are not merely a mass of cells working in harmony to form a human being. We are more than that. Only the Human can turn those firing synapses, in to splitting the atom and into putting a man on the Moon. In any other animals those firing synapses are geared towards mere survival and reproduction. We go beyond that and beyond ourselves.

Bush Converting to Catholicism?

Here is the Article any thoughts?

This just puts a smile on my face

From the Times online.

Further Thoughts on the Divinity of Jesus

There are religious groups that claim the title of Christian that do reject the Divinity of Jesus and thus the historical understanding of the Trinity as espoused in both the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed.

Two Groups in particular come to mind, the Jehovah's Witnesses (Further Reading, here and here) and the Mormons (Further Reading, here and here), the latter's most Famous adherent would have made and may still yet make a good president, that would be Mitt Romney.

The Jehovah's Witnesses for example have gone so far in their desire to do away with the trinitarian dogma that they have authored their own translation of the bible called the New World Translation, with numerous translations errors (I am being charitable here), done specifically to deny Christ his divinity. This translation has led many and unprepared Christian, both Catholic and non-Catholic (Sadly mostly Catholic Though) to leave their tradition and join with this pseudo-Christian Group. As Demonstrated in my previous post the Scriptures as well as the constant teaching of traditional Christianity is quite clear on the Divinity of Jesus.

The Mormons are something entirely different. They accept a Traditional version of Scripture in the King James Version (which has it's own problems but not to the extent of the New World Translation). This translation does establish the Trinitarian dogma quite clearly, however in order to justify their anti-traditional trinitarian view they state that their acceptance of this translation is conditional. The difference between them and the JW's is that they accept continuing revelation as expressed through their own office of Apostles and Prophets and in a second inspired Scripture called the Book of Mormons. It Must be noted by the way that this is not their only inspired text, they also believe all documents emerging from their governing body located in Salt Lake City, such as The Pearl of Great Price, is also inspired and on equal footing with Scripture, in this ongoing revelation they have developed a truncated version of The Trinity
Note in the article linked their notion of the Godhead and three gods forming one God Head. I heard a Mormon one state is as Three god that are one in purpose. This is completely different from the Traditional and Apostolic teachings regarding the Trinity as expressed in the Creeds.

It is important that As Christians we are clear, The Trinity is an undeniable dogma of all Christians. It is what makes other non-Catholic traditions Christians even if they do not hold to the fullness of faith as expressed by the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith. One cannot be a Christian and not Accept the Trinity. Thus the JW's and the Mormons are not true Christian Faiths even if they insist in claiming that title (I say this in all charity, but it is true).

This Column from Marcellino D'Abrossio is intereting in light of this post.

Is Jesus God?

Today I had a disturbing Dream. The details are unimportant but the essence was a discussion with a family member as to the Divinity of Jesus. The disturbing part is that this family member should have known better (no it was not my brother). I thought that since this is in part an apologetics site, I should post something in that area, lest this becomes exclusively a political site.


It is a part of traditional Christian teaching that Jesus is divine and the second member of the Holy Trinity (read article as well).

Other Scripture Verses For example, Mat 1:23 Jesus claim to be equal with the Father In John 10:30. Jesus Also Use the Term " I Am" to refer to himself on various occasions.

"I Am" is the descriptive name God gives to himself in Exodus 3:14,15, which the Hebrew renders as YAWH.
Jesus appropriates this title for himself in these Verses, John 8:58, Statement for which they wanted to stone him precisely because they knew the implications of that statement, In John 18:5,6 we see those who come to arrest him fell when Jesus said "I am he" it was at saying I am he that they fell back.

As can be seen by the linked articles there is plenty of scriptural and historical evidence to point to the Divinity of Jesus. The apostles understood this, but only after a time, which is why Jesus lamented Phillips lack of understanding in John 14: 8,12.

But it is in the Resurrection where we see the true divinity of Jesus. That Jesus rose from the dead on his own power is proof of his divinity and a historical fact (this will be dealt with in future posts).

In Short Jesus is as much God, (one person, two natures one human one Divine) as the Father and the Holy Spirit is God. This is the mystery of the trinity, revealed to man not something come come up on his own.