There are some activities which are so widespread among human cultures that one might almost describe them as 'natural' to the human condition. Praying or mediating with beads may be one such activity. The very word 'bead' is cognate with the German gebet, meaning 'prayer' and the English word 'bid' which still has religious connotations in the phrase 'bidding prayers.' Thus we can see that beads and prayers are connected to one another from antiquity. Buddhists, Muslims and Catholic Christians across the world mediate with strings of beads, and Orthodox Christians use knotted ropes. The 'worry beads' that Greeks put around their wrists probably have their origin in a similar practice; and the New Age 'power beads' that are sold in the form of bracelets because of the special properties that are supposed to be inherent in the stones from which they are made evidently have an explicitly spiritual function.

In the British Museum there is a string of beads from the Aigina Treasure - Cretan work from about 1,700 to 1,500 years before Christ - in which each bead is carved or moulded in the form of a woman's breast with a hand around it. The identification label displayed next to the beads includes the observation that fertility goddesses in the ancient Near East were often shown holding one breast, and that the beads probably had a religious function. In other words, it looks as though they formed a rosary. The beads are made of carnelian, lapis lazuli and gold, which is to say that their colours are red, blue, and gold - the same colours that in the Middle Ages came to be associated with Our Lady, in whose honour the Catholic rosary is dedicated. And - as we shall see below - the motif of the nursing breast is likewise one with strong rosarian associations.

The most widely used modern Catholic rosary consists of mediation upon a circle, or chaplet, of 50 beads, divided into five groups of ten, or decades, with a separating bead between each decade and its neighbour. The mediator passes the beads through the fingers, saying the prayer 'Hail Mary' on each bead of each decade, and beginning each decade by reciting the 'Our Father' on the previous separating bead, and finishing the decade by reciting the 'Glory be' on the bead following. For each decade there is a different subject of mediation or mystery. These are divided into three groups of five, so it takes one round of the rosary to complete one set of mysteries.

The mysteries are as follows. The Joyful Mysteries: the Annunciation, the Visitation, Christ's Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion; the Glorious Mysteries: the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Assumption of the Virgin, and the Coronation of the Virgin in Heaven. A 'complete' set of rosary beads includes 15 decades with their separating beads, but the shorter form is more commonly used, and is often for reciting only one set of mysteries at a time.

Pope John Paul II (in the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Marie) promoted the use of an additional set of mysteries, the Mysteries of Light. These are concerned with Christ's earthly ministry, and are placed between the Joyful and Sorrowful mysteries. They are: the Baptism in the Jordan, the Wedding Feast at Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom, the Transfiguration, and the Institution of the Holy Eucharist.

Most rosaries have a pendant of additional beads with a cross or crucifix attached, and there are a various traditions as to what prayers are recited on these and why, although the Apostles' Creed is almost always included.

At this point, the puzzled enquirer may ask, 'What is the point of repeating the same prayer over and over again?' Is it to gain the merit that accrues to each recitation? Well, partly. Is it to help keep one's mind on holy subjects and to stop it from wandering? Yes: that is quite an important function. But most of all, perhaps, the repetition of a prayer over and over again is a technique for lulling the mind into a meditative state in which - to put the thing in Christian terms - it may become attentive to the movement of the Holy Spirit. The more it is used, the easier it becomes to slip into a meditative state.

The habitual use of the rosary can turn it into something to which the mediator has recourse at times of panic or other distress. It makes the reassurance of God's presence close at hand: the trust that the mediator is grounded in the divine may be summoned by the movement of a hand or the silent recitation of simple words.

The repetition of the rosary, especially when recited by a group of people, may be compared to the repetition of a sea shanty. The recurrent pattern of verse and response induces a sense of being caught up in the flow of something greater, and thus liberates the mediator to throw him - or herself completely into the task. It is probably the case that the two most ancient forms of song are those used for ritual and those used for work. If the sea shanty retains an ancient manner of working then the rosary retains a correspondingly ancient manner of praying.

Repetitive incantation is common to the use of prayer beads in all the traditions that employ them. What is more unusual about the Catholic rosary is the practice, which grew up in the Middle Ages and endures to the present, of using the beads to meditate upon a variety of different topics or 'mysteries' in sequence. The grouping together of a number of related topics under a single heading has been a popular religious practice retained until recent times, for example, English folk song. It acts as a mnemonic device, that is, helping one call to mind sacred mysteries or other points for meditation or devotion.

Thus there are the well-known Seven Sorrows of Our Lady - a devotion particularly promoted by the Servite order. The so-called 'dolour rosary' consists of seven groups of seven beads to assist in meditation upon the seven sorrows. Our Lady's Joys have been variously enumerated; one English song recounts ten, and another tells of seven. A common number is five, although these are by no means always the five which are familiar in the modern rosary.

One song lists them as the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the Harrowing of Hell, and the Ascension. It is most interesting that the Crucifixion is included in a list of Our Lady's Joys: it always occurs, of course, in lists of her Sorrows, but its inclusion in the list of Joys reflects the fuller understanding that the mystery of the cross is a paradox. For the instrument of death is simultaneously the instrument of life and salvation, and to see the Crucifixion as one of Our Lady's Joys invites the devotee to mediate upon this central Christian mystery at a much deeper level than that of the human drama.

The rosary in its current form is a relatively modern invention, having evolved over many centuries. It is likely that Christians from early times counted their prayers by moving pebbles from one pile to another, and subsequently by pulling beads or knots along a string or by turning a prayer wheel a spoke at a time. The devout Lady Godiva, Queen of Mercia, founded the women monastery of Our Lady at Coventry (the name 'Coventry' derived from 'convent' after the monastery) and when she died in 1401, in her will she left a string of beads, on which she used to keep a tally of her prayers, to be hung upon the neck of the image of Our Lady. However, the evidence does not indicate that praying with beads was associated especially strongly with Marian devotion; rather, beads were used for prayers of several kinds.

In monasteries, monks and nuns chanted the 150 psalms, and lay brothers and sisters, who were not bound by the obligation to do this, may have said 150 Pater nosters instead. By having 150 beads to pass through their fingers, they would have been easily able to count of the number of prayers they had said. here again, it does not seem that the pattern of reciting 150 prayers on 150 beads was anything like a universal practice for several hundred years. Beads were strung together in lines as well as circles, and the number could vary quite widely. In London, the streets around Saint Paul's Cathedral bearing the names Ave Maria Lane, Creed Lane and Pater Noster Row are the streets where the beads-makers lived and worked.

The names indicate the prayers used for bead meditation in the Middle Ages were largely those that are still in use today, but they would not always have been used in the same sequence. For example, the 'Our Father' or Pater Noster has given rise to the English word 'patter' after the sound of the practice of constantly repeating the prayer.

A popular Catholic legend recounts the origin of the rosary as follows. In the twelfth century in southern France there was a group of Christians known as Cathars (or Albigenses, after the town of Albi) who did not subscribe to the teaching of the Catholic Church, but believed that the material creation was evil and taught a world denying doctrine of the necessity for retreat into a purely spiritual realm. Saint Dominic tried by his preaching to convert them to Catholicism, but failed. In the year 1214, after much fasting and prayer, and when he was on the point of losing hope, Saint Dominic received a vision of the Blessed Virgin escorted by three queens and 50 maidens. The Virgin gave him the rosary, explaining to him the prayers that were to be said and the mysteries which the devotee should meditate upon when passing the beads through the fingers. The rosary would convert the heretics to the love of Christ in human flesh. The Virgin also pressed milk from her breast which Dominic drank.

We shall return later to the origins of this legend: for the present, let us attend to the symbolism of the milk pressed from the breast.

The Virgin's milk signifies the real humanity of Christ. His humanity was given by his mother, and her milk fed his dependent human body. In medieval iconography, Mary's bare breast often has connotations of mercy and these connotations are directly related to the doctrine of the incarnation. It is because the eternal Word of God took human flesh and understands our weaknesses the Christians can trust that he will show mercy to sinful humanity: indeed, he was so much one of us that he even depended upon a mother's milk for his survival.

So Mary's breast is the reminder of Christ's humanity and vulnerability, and hence of Christ's mercy. Her breast is sometimes compared in art and literature to the wound in the side of Christ, since both show his human weakness and both point to his pity for the world. Or again, it was because Mary gave Christ his humanity (symbolized by the wound) The mysteries of the rosary are centrality concerned with the incarnation, and it is therefore fitting that the motif of Mary's milk should appear in the legend of the rosary's supernatural origin.

Saint Dominic is not the only saint of whom such a legend is recounted. Most famously, it is Saint Bernard - noted for his Marian homilies and great devotions to Our Lady - who received from the Virgin's breast drops of milk upon his lips. Roland Bermann, a contemporary French writer on esoteric subjects, suggests that the symbol of the Virgin's milk falling upon Saint Bernard's lips stands for the mercy of God (made of the Virgin's own substance) falling upon that part of his body with which he speaks, indicating that he is called to transmit (by preaching) the grace that he has received.

This interpretation would perhaps be even more appropriate to Saint Dominic, since he founded the Order of Preachers and in the legend of the rosary is being called to preach this particular form of devotion. Moreover, since the rosary is a devotion conducted not only with the fingers but also with the mouths, or at least the lips, there is the implication that the prayers of the rosary are themselves like drops of the Virgin's milk in their spiritual purity and their capacity to nourish the life of Christ within the devotee.

Yet the image of a nursing breast gains its symbolic power because it evokes a profound emotional reaction. It has often reminded men and women of their dependence upon their own mothers and upon the whole material world that nourishes us, as we transform it into our very selves and participate in it through labour and pleasure - the same world, of course, which can fail to provide us with that nourishment and pleasure. Perhaps, the pagan goddess whose breast is represented in the Aigina Treasure personified that world and its divine power. The Blessed Virgin and the mysteries of the rosary point the devotee to the Creator God who makes and sanctifies both the human race and all that sustains or destroys it.

The colours of red, blue and gold - the colours of the Cretan beads - are found on a number of ancient Mediterranean images that seem to be representations of goddesses. When applied to the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages, people attributed the colours with symbolic meanings. In thirteenth- century Spain, king Alphonsus X ('the Learned') of Castile or one of his court musicians, wrote a song retelling the story of a monk who illuminated the name of Mary in three colours. Gold, traditionally associated with royalty, was appropriate to the Virgin because it was 'rich, harmonious, noble and very precious.'; blue, traditionally symbolic of heaven and of purity, 'resembles the heavens which show her splendours'; and the third colour, vermillion, is also called 'rose', a flower which, as we shall see below, has often been associated with Mary.

But since gold may be represented - in heraldry, for example - by yellow, it is surely the case that what we have here are the primary colours: the three colours which underlie all the colours of creation, as well as white and black. The nursing breast, the primary colours and the beads themselves: all are things which are primitive and fundamental to the human condition as something both physical and social. And it is precisely in operating at that most primitive and universal level that the rosary leads the devotee into intimacy with the divine.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Prophecy declared God's words for all time, and the prophets message had eternal force, which indicate the divine will for mankind on earth and in heaven. They often applied their messages to their day or the future. Prophet is a messenger of the Lord, a person who spoke for God in words and deeds, and who communicated God's messages courageously. Except for God's call, prophets had no special qualifications. They appeared from all walks of life and classes of society. The focus of all prophetic truth is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to them, 'You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?' Then starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself. - Luke 24:25-27 -

Now I know, brothers, that neither you nor your leaders had any idea what you were really doing; this was the way God carried out what he had foretold, when he said through all his prophets that his Christ would suffer. Now you must repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, and so that the Lord may send the time of comfort. Then he will send you the Christ he has predestined, that is Jesus, whom heaven must keep till the universal restoration comes which God proclaimed, speaking through his holy prophets.

Moses, for example, said: The Lord God will raise up a prophet like myself for you, from among your own brothers; you must listen to whatever he tells you. The man who does not listen to that prophet is to be cut off from the people. In fact, all the prophets that have ever spoken, from Samuel onward, have predicted these days.

You are the heirs of the prophets, the heirs of the covenant God made with our ancestors when he told Abraham; in your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. It was for you in the first place that God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. - Acts 3:17-26 -

At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son, the Son that he has appointed to inherit everything and through whom he made everything there is. He is the radiant light of God's glory and the perfect copy of his nature, sustaining the universe by his powerful command; and now that he has destroyed the defilement of sin, he has gone to take his place in heaven at the right hand of divine Majesty. So he is now as far above the angels as the title which he has inherited is higher than their own name. - Heb. 1:1-4 -

The problem of understanding when a prophecy is fulfilled is compounded if the modern reader has a theological bias about who is to fulfill a prophecy. For example, premillennialists believe that a 1,000 year reign by Christ - Rev. 20:1-10 - will exalt the nation of Israel and the Jewish people in the future. - Rom. 11:24-26 - But amillennialists believe the promises to Israel in the Old Testament have been taken from Israel and transferred to the Universal Church. - Gal. 6:11-18 - Such a disagreement does not deny that Abraham's descendants will inherit Palestine from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates River. - Gen. 15:18-21 - The premillennialists looks for a future revival of Israel as a nation. - Ezek. 37:11-28 - while the amillennialists claims the promise of the land was fulfilled in the past in the days of Joshua - Josh. 21:43-45 - or Solomon 2Chr. 9:26 -

Prophecy presents volumes about the future, kingdom of God, particularly information about the "Messiah" and His chosen people, Israel. There are prophecy foretells the destiny of the nations and their relationship to the kingdom of God. The New Testament identifies Jesus as King - John 1:49 - who spends much of His ministry describing His kingdom and its establishment. - Matt. 13:24-25 -

The battleground is the world; and the arch-foe of Christ is Satan, whose intrigue in Eden gave him control of the nations. - Matt. 4:9 - Most prophecy is concerned with undoing Satan's work; it elaborates upon the initial promise of Genesis 3:15, which announced that Christ, the seed of the woman would crush the Serpent, the Devil. All prophecy testifies about Jesus Christ.

Now before we came of age we were as good as slaves to the elemental principles of this world, but when the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons. - Gal. 4:3-5 -

I only hope that you are also know wise in what is good, and innocent of what is bad. The God of peace will soon crush Satan beneath your feet. - Rom. 16:19-20 - Rev. 20:1-3 -

Then I knelt at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'Don't do that: I am a servant just like you and all your brothers who are witnesses to Jesus. It is God that you must worship. The witness Jesus gave is the same as the spirit of prophecy. - Rev. 19:10 -

There are over 300 prophecies in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible speak of Jesus Christ. Specific details given by these prophecies include His tribe. His birthplace, dates of His birth and death. Jesus forerunner John the Baptist, His career and ministry, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension, and His exaltation as a priest-king. The kingly magnificence of His second coming, His conquest and dominion over the nations. His kingdom is characterized in Psalm 72. Events leading up to and including the first and second advents of the prophet Zechariah. - Gen. 49:10; Mic. 5:2; Dan. 9:25-26; Mal. 3:1-5; Matt. 11:10; Is. 52:13-53:12; Ps. 16:8-11; Acts 2:25-28, 2:34, 13:33; Ps. 110; Zec. 9-14 -

God has used people in every age to fill the prophetic role of proclaiming His word. Noah was a 'preacher of righteousness' to his generation. - 2Pet. 2:5 - Abraham was considered a prophet. - Gen. 20:7 - So was his son Isaac - Ps. 105:9-15 - and his grandson Jacob. - Gen. 49 - Moses was eulogized as the greatest prophet of all, due to his major accomplishments as well as his many writings. - Deut. 34:10-12 - Moses, successor, Joshua, received the commission to continue Moses' work and so assumed the prophetic role also. - Deut. 34:9; Josh. 1:1-5 -

Following the Hebrew people into the land of Canaan, many prophets appeared throughout Israel's history to aid and protect the nation. The prophets mentioned in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible probably represent only a small portion of the total number of prophets. Most of the prophets remain obscure because they never wrote down their message. This indicates their task required face to face confrontations and a spoken rather than a written message. Most of the times the prophets stood alone and spoke to an unsympathetic or even antagonistic audience. Great courage and independence of God's spirit was required. The prophet was not a person of routine; he charted new paths for the people.

It is appropriate that the first prophet mentioned after Joshua is unnamed. - Judge 6:7-10 - Prophets were to exalt God's glory and not seek their own glory. This unnamed prophet appeared in the time of Gideon when Israel was falling back into idolatry. Rather than speak of the future, he called Israel to remember the Lord who delivered them from Egypt.

The next prophet was Samuel, whose vocation was apparent to all from his youth. Samuel's life was spent serving diligently as a judge, leading the army to victory, and establishing the religious and civil life of the nation. He both appointed and recalled the first king of Israel. Samuel provided an excellent model for other prophets to follow. - 1Sam. 3:19-20, 7:9-15, 10:25, 12:1, 15:26-28, 19:20 -

Sadly, there were false Christs who take their place in the long line of false prophets who have existed since Old Testament days. There are also Antichrist, and the work of Satan through the Antichrist is clearly rooted in the prophecies of Daniel. False Christs are persons who pretend to be Christ but who are actually representatives of all that Christ opposes. False Christ are similar to Antichrist and his prophets.

And Jesus answered them, 'Take care that no one deceives you; because many will come using my name and saying, "I am the Christ" and they will deceive many'. - Matt. 24:4-5 -

And if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Christ" or "Look, he is there" do not believe it; for false prophets will arise and produce signs and portents to deceive the elect, if that were possible. You therefore must be on your guard. I have forewarned you of everything. - Mark 13:21-23 -

You study the scriptures,
believing that in them you have eternal life;
now these same scriptures testify to me,
and yet you refuse to come to me for life!
As for human approval, this means nothing to me.
Besides, I know you too well:
you have no love of God in you.
I have come in the name of my Father
and you refuse to accept me;
if someone else comes in his own name
you will accept him.
How can you believe,
since you look to one another for approval
and are not concerned
with the approval that comes from the one God? - John 5:39-44 - 1John 2:18-29 - 2John 7-10 -

The Antichrist's primary work is deception which also characterizes Satan in his attempts to undermine the work of God in the world. Satan's deception began in the Garden of Eden and will continue until the end of time. The Dragon or Serpent of Revelation 12 is Satan, the Serpent mentioned in Genesis 3. Thus, the thread of Satan's deceptive work may be traced from Genesis through Revelation. He will speak arrogantly, boastful words; and he will be aided by false prophets, who will make the entire earth worship him and receive his mark. The number of the beast, says Saint John, is 666 - a mysterious code name. - Rev. 13:11-18 -

Although Saint Paul does not use the term Antichrist, he surely had the Antichrist in mind when he wrote of the great apostasy or falling away, that would occur before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. - 2Thess. 2:1-12 - False prophets are those who falsely claim to utter revelations that comes from God, to foretell future events, to have God's power, and abusing it to produce miracles, signs, and wonders, not for the common good but only for self-glorification, for example, it can be a religious leader, a political leader, a world leader, or an individual leader, who betrayed the faith, who worshiped false gods and served idols, who falsely claimed to receive messages from God, who wandered from the truth and ceased to be a true prophets.

A recurring characteristic of the false prophets is that they are found in the employment of the powerful and that they are careful to speak pleasing, positive, and flattering words to their employers.

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets." - Luke 6:26 -

Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruit. - Matt. 7:15-20 -

It is not those who say to me, "Lord, Lord" who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?" Then I shall tell them in their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!  

Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, flood rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had! - Matt. 7:21-27 - James 2:14-16 -

Those who worship the Satan, Antichrist will experience doom through the wrath of God.

Then I saw the beast, with all the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to fight the rider and his army. But the beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophets who had worked miracles on the beast's behalf and by them had deceived all who had been branded with the mark of the beast and worshiped his statue. These two were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulphur. All the rest were killed by the sword of the rider, which came out of his mouth, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. - Rev. 19:19-21 -

When the thousand years was over, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive all the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and mobilise them for war. His armies will be as many as the sands of the sea; they will come swarming over the entire country and besiege the camp of the saints, which is the city that God loves. But fire will come down on them from heaven and consume them. Then the devil, who misled them, will be thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and their torture will not stop, day or night, for ever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne and the One who was sitting on it. In his presence, earth and sky vanished, leaving no trace. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing in front of his throne, while the book of life was opened, and other books opened which were the record of what they had done in their lives, by which the dead were judged.

The sea gave up all the dead who were in it; Death and Hades were emptied of the dead that were in them; and everyone was judged according to the way in which he had lived. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the burning lake. This burning lake is the second death; and anybody whose name could not be found written in the book of life was thrown into the burning lake. - Rev. 20:7-15 -

Do not delude yourself into thinking God can be cheated: where a man sows, there he reaps: if he sows in the field of self-indulgence he will get a harvest of corruption out of it; if he sows in the field of the Spirit the will get from it a harvest of eternal life. - Gal. 6:7-8 -


                                                                          Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Baptism is a ritual practiced in the New Testament Church that is still used in various forms by different denominations and branches of the Christian Church. Baptism involves the application of pouring water to the head and body of a person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

It is frequently thought of an act by which the believer enters the fellowship of the Church. Thus, widely differing views and interpretations of the act exist among Christians. Christian group have different views and interpretations on the nature of baptism, who should be baptized, and the appropriate method by which baptism should be administered.

The sacramental view, The covenant view, The symbolical view are the three major positions on the nature of baptism exist among Christians.

According to The sacramental view baptism is a means by which God conveys grace. By undergoing this rite, the person baptized receives Remission of sins, and is regenerated or given a new nature and an awakened or strengthened faith. Catholics and Lutherans have this view of the nature of baptism.

Catholic Christians belief emphasizes the rite itself - that the power to convey grace is contained within the Sacrament of Baptism. It is not the water alone but the Sacrament as established by God and administered by the Church that produces this change. [change from bad or worse or evil to good and right]

The Lutheran Christians, on the other hand, concentrate on the faith that is present in the person being baptized. They also emphasize the value of the preaching of the word. Preaching awakens faith in a believer by entering the ear to strike the heart.

Both believe that the act of baptism itself produces a change [from bad or worse or evil to good and right] in the life of the believer because baptism enters the eye to reach and move the heart.

There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew, who came to Jesus by night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.' Jesus answered:

'I tell you most solemnly,
unless a man is born from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.'

Nicodemus said, 'How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be born again?' Jesus replied:

'I tell you most solemnly,
unless a man is born through water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God:
what is born of the flesh is flesh;
what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be surprised when I say:
You must be born from above.
The wind blows wherever it pleases;
you hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.'

'How can that be possible?' asked Nicodemus. 'You, a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things!' - John 3:1-9 -

Other Christian denominations and groups think of baptism not as a means by which salvation is brought about, but as a sign and seal of the Covenant - The covenant view -

The covenant is God's pledge to save man and because of what He has done and what He has promised, God forgives and regenerates. On the one hand, baptism is a sign of the covenant. On the other, it is means by which people enter into that covenant.

The benefits of God's covenant are granted to all adults who receive baptism and to all infants who, upon reaching maturity, remain faithful to the vows made on their behalf at baptism. The covenant, rather than the Sacrament or another person's faith, is seen as the means of salvation; and baptism is a vital part of this covenant relationship.

In The covenant view baptism serves the same purpose for New Testament believers that circumcision did for Old Testament believers. For the Jews, circumcision was the external and visible sign that they were within the covenant that God had established with Abraham. Converts to Judaism [or proselytes] also had to undergo this rite. But now under the new covenant, baptism instead of circumcision is required.

Circumcision refers to a cutting away of sin and a change of heart. Similarly, baptism also depicts a washing away of sin and a spiritual renewal. - Deut. 10:16; Ezek. 44:7-9; Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:11-12; Titus 3:5 -

The symbolic view stresses the symbolic nature of baptism by emphasizing that baptism does not cause an inward change or alter a person's relationship to God in any way. Baptism is a token, or an outward indication of the inner change which has already occurred in the believer's life. It serves as a public identification of the person with Jesus Christ, and thus also as a public testimony of the change that has occurred. It is baptism into the name of Jesus Christ.

According to the symbolic view, baptism is not so much an initiation into the Christian life as into the Christian church. A distinction is drawn between the invisible or Universal Church which consists of all believers in Christ. This position explains that the church practices baptism and the believer submits to it because Jesus commanded that this be done and He gave us the example by being baptized Himself. Thus, baptism is an act of obedience, commitment, and proclamation.

According to this understanding of baptism, no spiritual benefit occurs because of baptism. Rather than producing 'Regeneration' of faith, baptism comes after faith and the salvation that faith produces. The only spiritual value of baptism is that it establishes membership in the church and exposes the believer to the values of this type of fellowship.

The question of 'The Subjects of Baptism' is an issue over which Christian denominations or groups disagree, for instance, who should be baptized. Should only those who have come to a personal, conscious decisions of faith be baptized? Or, should children be included in this rite? And if children are proper subjects, should all children, or only the children of believing parents, be baptized?

The Church that practice baptism of infants baptize not only infants but also adults who have come to faith and love in Christ Jesus. It is in favor of baptizing infants is because that the entire households were baptized in New Testament times. Certainly such households or family must have included children and infants too. Consequently, the Church who hold this position believe this practice should be extended to the present day.

One of these women was called Lydia, a devout woman from the town of Thyatira who was in the purple-dye trade. She listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized she sent us an invitation: 'If you really think me a true believer in the Lord' she said, 'come and stay with us' and she would take no refusal. - Acts 16:14-15 -

Late that night Paul and Silas were praying and singing God's praises, while the other prisoners listened. Suddenly there was an earthquake that shook the prison to its foundations. All the doors flew open and the chains fell from all the prisoners. When the gaoler woke and saw the doors wide open he drew his sword and was about to commit suicide, presuming that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted at the top of his voice, 'Don't do yourself any harm; we are all here.'

The gaoler called for lights, then rushed in, threw himself trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas, and escorted them out, saying, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They told him, 'Become a believer in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and your household too.' Then they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all his family. Late as it was, he took them to wash their wounds, and was baptized then and there with all his household. Afterwards he took them home and gave them a meal, and the whole family celebrated their conversion to belief in God. - Acts 16:25-34 -

Jesus commanded the disciples to bring the children to Him, and it is because of Jesus' treatment of the children, it would seem inconsistent to deny baptism to children today.

People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples turned them away, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' Then he put his arms round them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing. - Mark 10:13-16 -

The covenant theologians put forth that children were participants in the Old Testament covenant. They were present when the covenant was renewed and they had a standing in the congregation of Israel and were present in their religious assemblies. The promises of God were given to the children as well as adults. Circumcision was administered to infants in the Old Testament. Since baptism has now replaced circumcision, it is natural that it should be administered to children, according to those who practice infant baptism.

I will establish my Covenant between myself and you, and your descendants after you generation after generation, a Covenant in perpetuity, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. - Gen. 17:7 - Deut. 29:10-13; Josh. 8:35; Is. 54:13; Jer. 31:34; Joel 2:16 -

Catholic Christian who believe in baptismal regeneration explain explicitly that baptism of infants is necessary. Roman Catholics, however, believe the Sacrament of Baptism has power in itself to bring about salvation. Faith is necessary, and he and she must believe that the Sacrament of Baptism has saving power. In traditional Roman Catholic teaching, unbaptized infants who die cannot enter heaven in this state, but are instead consigned to a state of limbo. If this fate is to be avoided, they must be baptized in order to remove the guilt of their sins and receive new life.

As a matter of fact, the historical evidence supported infant baptism. Infant baptism has been practiced in the Church from early times, certainly as early as the second century.

Lutheran Christians, however, with their strong emphasis on 'faith' as the mean for salvation, may face problem. It is obvious that an infant does not have faith. One way of handling this problem, perhaps, is to resort to the concept of unconscious faith. Reasoning power and self-consciousness, they point out, must not be thought of as faith. Although Lutheran Christian also believe in baptismal regeneration, they are not as certain that God's grace is communicated through this Sacrament of Baptism. They believe that God may have some method, perhaps not yet revealed to us, of producing faith in the unbaptized. But this, if it is true, would apply only to children of believers. Lutherans are careful to affirm that this whole area of belief is a mystery, known only to God.

For the covenant theologians, the problem of the faith of children is not a difficult issue because it is a potential faith. So also is the salvation. God promises to give the benefits signified  in baptism to all. This same promise is extended to all infants who, according to them [Christian denominations and groups] when they grow to maturity, remain faithful to the vows that were made on their behalf at the time of their baptism. In this view, baptism's saving work depends on the faith that will be, rather than upon the faith that is.

There are other Christian denominations and groups too believe that baptism should be restricted to those who actually exercises faith. This approach excludes infants, who could not possibly have such faith. The proper candidates for baptism are those who already have experienced the new birth on the basis of their personal faith and who give evidence of their salvation in their lives. Both positive and negative arguments are advanced in support of this view.

The positive approach argues from evidence in the New Testament. In every instance of New Testament baptism in which the specific identity of the persons being baptized were sons was known, the persons being baptized were adults. Further, the condition required for baptism was personal, conscious faith. Without this adherents of believer's baptism point out, baptism was not administered. - Acts 2:37-41, 8:12, 10:47, 18:8, 19:4-5; Matt. 3:2-6, 28:19 -

The negative arguments given to support believer's baptism are generally responses to the arguments for infant baptism. One of these revolves around the household baptism issue. Saint Paul spoke the words to the Philippian jailer and all the people in the house. And the jailer rejoiced having believed in God with all his household. - Acts 16:34 - Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his whole household, all became believers. - Acts 18:8 - Those who hold to believer's baptism only point out that these passages do not state specifically that infants were included among those baptized. All the people in these households could have been adults.

The other argument concerns Jesus' blessing of the children. The believer's baptism position on this incident from Jesus' life is that baptism is not mentioned. These children illustrate simplicity and trust, like that which all believers should display. Jesus blessed the children, these Christian denominations and groups agree, but this was not baptism.

The final issue among Christians is the method or form of baptism, whether by immersion, pouring, sprinkling. They are those who insist upon the exclusive use of immersion, and those which permit and practice other forms. This immersion groups insists that immersions is the only valid form of baptism. One of their strongest arguments revolves around the Greek work for baptism in the New Testament. Its predominant meaning is 'to immerse' or 'to dip' implying that the candidate were plunged beneath the water. There are also other arguments that suggest that imerssion was the form of baptism used in the early Universal Church.

The Didache, a manual of Christian instruction written in A.D. 110-120 stated that immersion should be used generally and that other forms of baptism should be used only when immersion was not possible. In addition, the circumstances involved in some of the sacred scripture descriptions of baptism imply immersion. Thus, John the Baptist was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, 'because there was much water there.' - John 3:23 - Jesus apparently went down into the water to be baptized by John the Baptist. - Matt. 3:16 - The Ethiopian said, 'See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?' - Acts 8:36 -

The symbolism involved in baptism also seems to argue that immersion was the biblical mode, according to those Christian groups that practice immersions exclusively. Romans 6:4-6 identifies baptism with the believer's death and burial to sin and resurrection of Christ. Only immersion adequately depicts this meaning, according to the immersionist position.

The pluralistic position believe that immersion, pouring, and sprinkling are all appropriate forms of baptism. They point out that the Greek word for baptism in the New Testament is sometimes ambiguous in its usage. While it is most common meaning in classical Greek, was to dip, to plunge, to immerse, it also carried other meanings as well. Thus, the question cannot be resolved upon linguistic grounds.

These Christian groups also argues from inference that immersion must not have been the exclusive method used in New Testament times. For example, could John the Baptist have been physical capable of immersing all the persons who came to him for baptism? Was enough water for immersion brought to Cornelius' house? Or, did the apostle Paul leave the place where Ananias found him in order to be immersed?

Those Christian groups that use sprinkling or pouring also point out that immersion may not be the best form for showing what baptism really means. They see the major meaning of baptism as purification. They point out that the various cleansing ceremonies in the Old Testament were performed by a variety of means - immersion, pouring, and sprinkling. - Mark 7:4; Heb. 9:10 - Others note the close association between baptism and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which was from above. Therefore, true baptism requires the symbolism of pouring rather than immersion.

In conclusion, indeed, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands that the Lord Jesus Christ gave us. And know that the Lord Jesus Christ is with us always; yes to the end of time." - Matt. 28:18-20 -


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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.


HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -