The Neverending Story (The New Christian Chronicles)

Southern Baptists ending talks with Catholic Church ^ | 3/24/01 | AP

[al_c]

ALL: Happy Friday, everyone! I thought this week would never end. I think I'll go pick up some cheese for the weekend!

Friday, November 9, 2001
Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome - Feast

First Reading: Responsorial Psalm: Second Reading: Gospel:

Genesis 28:11-18 or Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 Psalms 84:3, 4, 5-6, 8, 11 1 Corinthians 3:9-13, 16-17 Luke 19:1-10 or John 2:13-22 My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing his designs. Our single endeavor should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his work by our shortcomings.   -- St. Isaac Jogues

From wau.org

The date is 573 B.C. The Israelites are living in exile. Their nation has been trampled, their holy city defiled, and their people deported into slavery in Babylon. It has been fourteen sorrowful years since King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem was completely destroyed. You can just imagine the exiles' distress.

But now imagine their reaction as God sends the prophet Ezekiel with a message of hope. A new temple will emerge, better than the old. From this temple will flow water that brings life and healing. God tells his disheartened people not to dwell on their present circumstances, but to look to him and trust in his promises.

We know God's vision for his temple was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus' own body was the "temple" that was destroyed but raised up again by the power of God (John 2:19). Now, as members of Christ's body, the church, we are part of this holy temple. Jesus is the source of the river from which we receive life, power, and grace. Baptized into Christ's death, we are immersed in God's river of life. We ourselves are meant to become channels of grace and healing. As the church, we are called to bring life to the world.

Attention Becky and Steven ... y'all can stop reading now. ;o)

This is what we celebrate today by turning our attention to the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. Described as the "mother and head" of all the churches, this papal cathedral was built soon after 313 a.d., the year in which the Roman emperor Constantine gave all his Christian subjects the freedom to pursue their faith without persecution. The basilica takes its name from John the Baptist and John the Apostle, and also from the Laterani, the family of Constantine's wife, who donated the land on which the church stands.

St. John Lateran isn't just an ancient historical site. It is a symbol of the living church: dynamic, vibrant, gushing with the living water of divine life and love. Take a drink! Plunge in! Swim out into the deep, transforming waters of God's love and grace, and you'll see the church and the world renewed.

"Lord, I'm plunging into your river of life, right into the deep waters! Let me receive all that you have for me so that I can be a channel of your life and mercy to the world."

--------------------

Have a great day and weekend, everyone. I'll be out of town this weekend, so I won't be posting the readings. If someone else wants to tackle it, go ahead.

[malakhi]

Access to Founding Fathers' quotes is what got me into FR in the first place. Big fan, except for maybe Patrick Henry, who I have to read up on. Didn't mean to imply that we shouldn't be here, or doing this!

No problem, I didn't take it that way. Just explaining what I see as our relevence to this forum.

I'm all for it, and feel privileged to participate, especially to get replies. "And we hardly talk about cheese here." ...but YOU did!

Well we hardly talk about cheese! Actually, the subject had never come up before until Invincibly Ignorant or BigMack brought it up the other day.

[malakhi]

LOL!

[al_c]

[SoothingDave]

Re 7087

Having identified the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, we come immediately to the question, "CAN THIS SIN BE COMMITTED TODAY?"

There are teachers and preachers who answer, "Yes! And some will give illustrations of those who have committed it. I do not believe that it can be committed today. There are several reasons for this conclusion. In the first place, there is no record of it being committed any time after this in the New Testament. In fact, this is the only place in the Bible where we have a record of its being committed. Evidently, the Apostles, after the Saviour went back to Heaven, met and dealt with the committing of all other sins, but there is no record of them dealing with any who had committed this.

Well, isn't that convenient? The one sin that is unforgivable is one that isn't even possible to commit?

And I find it interesting that you dismiss it because it is only shown to have happened once in the NT, yet y'all make a huge deal out of the Good Thief vis-a-vis bpatism. And that only happened once as well.

SD

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I thought this week would never end

Me too! Every morning since Wed. I woke up thinking it was Fri.

We ourselves are meant to become channels of grace and healing.

Oh Al...can you elaborate on this statement a little:)

Becky

[Invincibly Ignorant]

Attention Becky and Steven ... y'all can stop reading now.

Lol. Ok I did but could you give me a brief summary of what I missed?

[SoothingDave]

What I want to know is what sort of connection there is between Aunt Jemima and the drewids.

Well, here goes. This took a little "research" ;) Quaker Oats owns the rights to Aunt Jemima. Quaker Oats has been involved in some mind altering experiments on human beings with MIT (it's on the internet, so it's gotta be true). Also, Quaker Oats has given away Gasp! Pokemon Watches. The plot thickens. Quaker Oats bought Snapple. Snapple supports the KKK and the ship on their label is a slave ship. Quaker Oats was also a primary sponsor of the TV show, "Bewitched.". Also, Quaker Oats was instrumental in bringing "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" to the silver screen (and VHS). Roald Dahl, author of the work upon which the film is based, also wrote The Witches. This is just the tip of the iceberg. :)

I further point out that Snapple used to advertise on the Rush Limbaugh Show. Rush is a large consumer of Snapple. Connect the dots. The drewids through their minions in the beverage industry fed Rush an enchanted Snapple which caused his hearing loss. They are seeking to coerce him into joining their nefarious cause!

Doesn't Proctor and Gamble and their satanic logo fit in here somewhere?

And consider this: Drew Carey gets a TV show. About a bunch of drunks in Cleveland. It becomes top ten hit. Satan extracts payment in form of loss of Browns. Then, Browns return and quality of show declines rapidly. Obviously, Drew and the other drewids made deal with the devile for popularity.

(Also remember that during this era somehow the Atlanta Falcons go to Super Bowl!)

SD

[al_c]

Lol. Ok I did but could you give me a brief summary of what I missed?

If you read up to that point, you got the message.

[al_c]

We ourselves are meant to become channels of grace and healing.

Oh Al...can you elaborate on this statement a little:)

It's pretty straight forward. We are God's children ... parts of the Body of Christ. We are called to do His will and spread the Good News, to be salt to the earth. Ever hear the phrase "vessel of your peace" or "instrument of your peace?"

[SoothingDave]

You assume the purity of the Hebrew text, but why?

BECAUSE IT WAS WRITTEN IN HEBREW!!! Not only that, but the manuscript evidence shows a remarkable accuracy in transmission. If the Hebrew text has significant errors, then so does the Greek. Garbage in, garbage out.

Not only that, but the whole Bible Code thing only works with the Hebrew text. ;-)

SD

[SoothingDave]

Ok I did but could you give me a brief summary of what I missed?

Nothing too bad. Just a little mild Roman triumphalism.

Today is the day we celebrate the founding of the Pope's home church, his official Cathedral. It was a present from Mrs. Constantine.

SD

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

We ourselves are meant to become channels of grace and healing.

It's pretty straight forward. We are God's children ... parts of the Body of Christ. We are called to do His will and spread the Good News, to be salt to the earth. Ever hear the phrase "vessel of your peace" or "instrument of your peace?

I agree, that we are meant to spread God's Word. I also believe that we are vessels of peace because we have received God's Grace. Is what I would like for you to address is when you say we become channels of God's grace and healing are you referring to the fact that when we tell people about the Gospel and the accept they will receive the peace of God's Grace from God, or is Grace channel through us to them. This may be my "bigotry" to catholics coming out, and I am sorry that that is the way you view my questioning, but I have heard it said here that Mary is a dispenser of Grace, so I was wondering if you believe all catholics are. The wording made me wonder this.

Becky

[SoothingDave]

Ok I did but could you give me a brief summary of what I missed?

I agree. Now Big Mack, would you agree that by suffering the sufferer is changed, transformed? That suffering in the name of Christ develops "character" (for lack of a better word)?

SD

[RobbyS]

Completely off the point. Has nothing to do with the accuracy of the translation of the Hebrew canon into Greek. Can you can show me the text used by the "Seventy." in translating the Bible and where they went wrong, as we can in the case of the KJV.

Nothing we can do to counter the Muslims, as they believe that Arabic is the language of God. So imbued with this idea are the literalists among them that they don't believe a true translation can be made and that all Muslims should read Arabic. You seem to be implying this of Hebrew, that as the national language of God's people it has an especial sacredness.

Justin Martyr somewhere claims that the entire Christian message can be discerned just by reading the Jewish Scriptures, a view echoed by some proddies and prodoids. I don't believe this. I think that one has to have had the Gospel presented to him/her if he/she is to have that special insight into those Scriptures. Christians read them in the light of the Resurrection. To us the Greek translators came closer to predicting the events of Jesus's career than the older writers and better serves as a pointer to God's purpose. To give a crude secular analogy, Who should we Americans follow in applying the phrase, "all men are created equal" Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln? Jefferson, who could not even bring himself to free his slaves, obviously was using the phrase only to buttress the American claim to repudiate George III. Lincoln realized that this was such a profound truth that it justified all the blood spilt to end slavery, and he was willing to go a long way toward making it a living principle. Was Lincoln wrong to appropriate the phrase? Can historians carp and say that Lincoln said something that Jefferson did not intend? If so, is Jefferson's intention really what matters?

[SoothingDave]

There is one thing for certain: If the gospel is to go forward today, someone must suffer. When a child is born into this world, some woman must travail in pain; and the reason there are not more people being born again is because there are not enough believers who are willing to travail.

Oops. This is the quote I was talking about, Mack. Ignore the other one.

SD

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Why didn't the italics stop, I have the HTML right I checked twice (or I did it the way I thing it is suppose to be:). This happens to me sometime, would you know why.

Becky

[SoothingDave]

You seem to be implying this of Hebrew, that as the national language of God's people it has an especial sacredness.

Give it up, Robby. He is saying that the Hebrew Scriptures, that is, out Old Testament, was delivered in Hebrew. Any translation is just that - a translation.

SD

[RobbyS]

A question I would put to Angelo is: Does suffering transform? I say this because I have read that some Jews have said that we are wrong to think of Anna Frank as a "saint," that Judaism has no "saints."

[SoothingDave]

Why didn't the italics stop, I have the HTML right I checked twice (or I did it the way I thing it is suppose to be:). This happens to me sometime, would you know why.

The italics are supposed to automatically turn off, I think, when you do a (p) for a new paragraph. Sometimes it doesn't. To be safe you can open and close the italics for each paragraph. (i) and (/i) with the right angle brackets, of course.

SD