Posted on 09/02/2011 9:07:47 AM PDT by marshmallow
Minneapolis, Minnesota (CNN) –Prior to 2006, few people even knew that then-Minnesota state legislator Keith Ellison was a Muslim. Because of his English name, he said, no one thought to ask.
But five years ago, when he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives - a race he would go on to win - word of his religious affiliation began to spread.
“When I started running for Congress it actually took me by surprise that so many people were fascinated with me being the first Muslim in Congress,” said Ellison, a Democrat now serving his third term in the House.
“But someone said to me, ‘Look Keith, think of a person of Japanese origin running for Congress six years after Pearl Harbor–this might be a news story.’”
Though Ellison's status as the first Muslim elected to Congress is widely known, fewer are aware that he was born into a Catholic family in Detroit and was brought up attending Catholic schools.
But he said he was never comfortable with that faith.
“I just felt it was ritual and dogma,” Ellison said. “Of course, that’s not the reality of Catholicism, but it’s the reality I lived. So I just kind of lost interest and stopped going to Mass unless I was required to.”
It wasn’t until he was a student at Wayne State University in Detroit when Ellison began, “looking for other things.”
(Excerpt) Read more at religion.blogs.cnn.com ...
With all due credit to you, MD, our beloved and illustrious resident wordsmith ;-), I rather believe that St. Ignatius of Loyola conveyed the message in a few succinct words (in his “22nd Point):
“In order that both he who is giving (the Spiritual Exercises), and he who is receiving them may more help and benefit themselves, let it be presupposed that every good Christian is to be more ready to save his neighbor’s proposition than to condemn it. If he cannot save it, let him inquire how he means it; and if he means it badly, let him correct him with charity. If that is not enough, let him seek all the suitable means to bring him to mean it well, and save himself.”
Ping to #2,741
To repeat - it is very simple - Jesus died to open the Gates.
The way it was before the cross was that the Gates were closed.
Our Lord died so we could gain entrance.
No one denies the gift of eternal life — However it is not free -
This is not hard to understand
I asked you if you were unsure, unconvinced. In reply, you state that I am not doing a very good job of reading the posts you have been writing. Attacking me, instead of simply stating your assurance and perhaps giving a scripture reference that guarantees your assurance is accurate, is very weak. I can only conclude that you are nervous, trusting Paulician promises. Paul boasted he was the chief of sinners, as I recall. Did he also boast that everyone who believed him [Paul] had the same assurance he [Paul] did? Did Paul say nothing about deeds? Maybe Hebrews 13? especially Verses 15-16?
And yet you're still posting :)
I’m sure Alex has no sinister agenda. Well, pretty sure. But ignoring salient facts isn’t like him, IF he had a pertinent answer....
PS, Alex, I pinged you to this post. Just in case you missed it.
THX. WELL SAID.
LUB BRO.
EXCELLENT words, attitude, perspective. Thx.
You paint a word picture much as Van Gogh played the cello. There is nothing like getting lost in the story of big words and clap-trap to make a person beg to be released from such torture. "But I must play my cello" says Van Gogh, "the more I play, the more people will understand that I CAN play, it is just they who have been ignorant of my talent. If their ears bleed, it can only be a result of their inability to hear the music behind the unfortunate squeaks of the strings. I shall play louder, then they will learn."
Kind of puts a damper on the *how could Jesus forgive us for sins we haven’t committed yet* mentality, doesn’t it?
Deeds that Paul commands Christians to perform, in Hebrews 13:
1. Love one another as brothers and sisters.
2. Show hospitality to strangers.
3. Remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison.
4. [Remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
5. Continually offer a sacrifice of praise.
6. Do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
7. Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority.
8. Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him,
This is a list of things Paul says you must do. If you don’t, what does Paul say will happen? Hebrews 12:1 Sin will entangle in the race marked out for us. There is a great cloud of witnesses, or do you reject that? Who ARE, those witnesses BTW?
Thank you for proving my point.
You wrote:
“You know of no cases of women being tortured? Have you read about Anne Askew?”
Did you bother to read the page you sent me to? Look at her death date. Now look at this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII
Who was king when she was arrested, tortured and executed? The PROTESTANT Henry VIII. There was no inquisition in England either by the way.
It’s so funny when you Portestants try so hard and fall flat on your face! If this woman was tortured, she was tortured by Protestants working for a Protestant king!
Good morning, Judith Anne. Please show me in Scripture where Paul is the author of Hebrews. Thank you.
Mad Dawg,
you wrote:
“The conjectures seem to focus on the Spanish/English strife of the 15th and following centuries, and Protestant northern Europe’s understandable desire to paint Catholic Spain in the most damaging light.”
Yes, scholars have shown there was an interesting nexus of interests on the part of Protestant England, Holland and Catholic France that came together to combat the greatest imperial power on earth: Spain. The Black Legends were formed to blacken the name of the Spanish everywhere on earth. The prejudice against the Spanish was so strong among English speakers that it is only now in the last few decades that scholar have been able to break away for its holding power and make themselves actually look at the documents that the Spanish have been pointing to for generations. Finally the truth is getting out. This is why some scholars have had the guts to admit they were once wrong. Henry Arthur Francis Kamen is one of them.
You know, Jesus condemned tradition so much. He had major problems with tradition taking the place of Scripture and didn’t have one good thing to say about it, IIRC. He never left instructions to put tradition to the same level as Scripture. The only thing that He left us that could be considered a tradition is instituting the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup in remembrance of Him and even that was pretty non=specific as to how to do it and how often to do it.
Now, what’s so ironic and hypocritical is that the Catholics continually brag on their tiers of truth, that the very words of Jesus Himself take precedent over anything else in the NT, and yet when they defend the teaching of their tradition, who do they appeal to?
Paul, the loon.......
All the Scripture quotes they use are out of the Epistles.
And they appeal to the authority of Scripture to try to defend their elevating of tradition to the same level as Scripture itself.
Why? Is Hebrews part of Holy Scripture, or not?
All the Scripture quotes they use are out of the Epistles.
Because you mock the "red letter Bible" and argue Christ's teaching with Paul's. All y'all are a failure at both.
“Why?” you ask? Because you claim that Paul wrote Hebrews. Yes, Hebrews is part of Holy Scripture. So is Colossians. But, as we both know, Paul did not write all of Holy Scripture. His name is on the Books he wrote. It is not on the Book of Hebrews. Yet you say he wrote it. I’m just asking where in Scripture it says that Paul wrote the Book of Hebrews.
Yet, when I rejected Paul, the dogpile on me was that Paul's traditionally authored Epistles were authoritative and HOLY AND true...Now, when I quote them, they aren'?
All the Scripture quotes they use are out of the Epistles.
Because you mock the "red letter Bible" and argue Christ's teaching with Paul's. All y'all are a failure at both.
Are you saying he did not?
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