The Acts of the Apostles could justly be entitled, "The Acts of the Holy Spirit" for the Spirit is mentioned more than 50 times in the book. In His parting words, Jesus reminds the disciples of the promise of the Father - Acts 1:4-8 -ten days later the power of the Spirit descends at Pentecost. Persons from every nation under heaven are enabled by the Holy Spirit to hear the wonderful works of God, and so the Christian Church was born. - Acts 2 -

Pentecost was a reversal of the Tower of Babel where language became confused and nations were separated by misunderstanding. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gathered peoples from every nation into one united fellowship. From Pentecost onward, the Holy Spirit directs the unfolding drama of the growth of the Christian Church.

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles contains portraits of many outstanding Christians of the early Church. Barnabas exemplifies generosity, Stephen forgiveness, Philip and Paul obedience, Cornelius piety, and the witness of the early Church vibrates with boldness; Ordinary people are empowered to perform extraordinary feats. A faltering apostle is empowered to address multitudes or make a defense before rulers. A prayer fellowship is shaken; a deacon defends his faith by martyrdom. The despised Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit as does a Gentile soldier. A staunch persecutor of the gospel is converted and through him the gospel reaches the capital of the world!

Paul reaches Rome in chains. Circumstances, too, may be adverse: persecutions, famines, opposition or violent storms. Through it all, however, the Holy Spirit directs the drama so that "all things work together for good" to further the cause of Christ. - Rom. 8:28 -

Nearly one fifth of the Acts of the Apostles consists of speeches, primarily from Peter, Stephen and Paul. Common to each of the speeches is a basic framework of gospel proclamation. This proclamation can be outlined as follow: (1). The promises of God in the Old Testament are now fulfilled. (2). The Messiah has come in Jesus of Nazareth. (a) He did good and mighty works by the power of God. (b) He was crucified according to the purpose of God. (c) He was raised from the dead by the power of God. (d) He now reigns by the power of God. (e) He will come again to judge the living and the dead, and restore all things for the purpose of God.

All who hear should repent and be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This outlined is our earliest example of the gospel proclaimed by the early Church. It is the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone upon which the Church is built. For each generation is enabled by the Holy Spirit to add its chapters by proclaiming the Life, Passion, Death, Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the wonderful works of God.

So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints and part of God's household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives in the Spirit. - Eph. 2:19-22 -

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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 -

In the New Testament, Jesus said: For at the resurrection men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven. Thus, sons and daughters of God in this passage are refering to human beings. The below context of the verses gives important clues that the "sons of God" in this case are not angelic beings. It is found in the biblical context. Nowhere else in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is there even to hint that non-human and human beings can mate.

That day some Sadducees - who deny that there is a resurrection - approached him and they put this question to him, 'Master, Moses said that if a man dies childless, his brother is to marry the widow, his sister-in-law, to raise children for his brother. Now we had a case involving seven brothers; the first married and then died without children, leaving his wife to his brother; the same thing happened with the second and third and so on to the seventh, and then last of all the woman herself died. Now at the resurrection to which of those seven will she be wife, since she had been married to them all?' Jesus answered them,

'You are wrong because you understand neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For at the resurrection men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you never read what God himself said to you: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? God is God, not of the dead, but of the living'. - Matt. 22:23-32 -

The phrase, sons of God, appears in the New Testament as a name for people who are in a covenant relationship with God. This exact phrase never appears with this meaning in the Old Testament, although the idea is implied. For example, God referred to the scattered children of Israel whom He promised to gather together again as His sons and daughters. - Isaiah 43:5-7; 2Cor. 6:18 - In the Book of Job the phrase is used for angelic or non-human. - Job. 1:6-12, 2:1-7 - These sons of God presented themselves before God in what might be called a heavenly assembly. Satan appeared with them, although this does not necessarily mean he was one of the "sons of God". Thus the stage was set for the telling of the story of Job.

The apostle Paul, in the New Testament encouraged the Christians at Rome to live not "according to the flesh" but "by the Spirit" because those who "are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God". The process is described as one of adoption, by which the believer becomes a child of God and thus an heir of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory. - Rom. 8:12-19 -

The are passages use the phrase "children of God" with the same basic. "But to all who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God". - John 1:12 - Do all that has to be done without complaining or arguing and then you will be innocent and genuine, perfect children of God among a deceitful and underhand brood, and you will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life. - Phil. 2:14-15 -

Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us,
by letting us be called God's children;
and that is what we are.
Because the world refused to acknowledge him,
therefore it does not acknowledge us.
My dear people, we are already the children of God
but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed;
all we know is, that when it is revealed
we shall be like him
because we shall see him as he really is. - 1John 3:1-2 -

First condition: break with sin. Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ. - 1John 3:3 -

Second condition: keep the commandments, especially the law of love. In this way we distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil: anybody not living a holy life and not loving his brother is no child of God's. - 1John 3:10 -

Third condition: be on guard against the enemies of Christ and against the world. It is not every spirit, my dear people that you can trust; test them, to see if they come from God; there are many false prophets, now, in the world. You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God. This is how we can tell the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood. - 1John 4:1-2 -

My dear people, let us love one another since loves come from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. - 1John 4:7 -

                                                                      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 -

Meekness is an attitude of humility toward God and gentleness toward men, springing from a recognition that God is in control. Although, weakness and meekness may look similar, they are not the same. Weakness is due to negative circumstances, such as lack of strength or lack of courage. But meekness is due to a person's conscious choice, coupled with patience and kindness. Meekness is a virtue practiced and commended by the Lord Jesus Christ.

'Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light'. - Matt. 11:28-30 -

The apostle Paul pointed out that the spiritual leaders have great powers even leverage, in confronting a sinner. But he cautioned them to restrain themselves in meekness, gentleness and self-control. Even toward evil men, a man of God should be meek and patience, knowing that God is in control.

Brothers, if one of you misbehaves, the more spiritual of you who set him right should do so in a spirit of gentleness, not forgetting that you may be tempted yourselves. You should carry each other's troubles and fulfil the law of Christ. - Gal. 6:1-2 -

What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit. We must stop being conceited, provocative and envious. - Gal. 5:22-26 -

Therefore, the 'Good Spirit' is part of the equipment which every disciples, followers, believers of Jesus and good people who have not heard of Jesus yet should wear and apply it in our daily life.

This is a personal matter; this is Paul himself appealing to you by the gentleness and patience of Christ-I, the man who is so humble when he is facing you but bullies you when he is at a distance. I only ask that I do not have to bully you when I come, with all the confident assurance I mean to show when I come face to face with people I could name who think we go by ordinary human motives. - 2Cor. 10: 1-2 -

I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you therefore to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.

Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. It was said that he would:

When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners,
he gave gifts to men. - Eph. 4:1-8 -

                                                                     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 -

Theologians sometimes try to simplify the meaning of the resurrection by packaging its essence into one sentence: In the resurrection, God vindicated Jesus, his life, his message and his fidelity. What does that mean?

Jesus entered our world preaching faith, love and forgiveness but the world didn't accept that. Instead it crucified him and, in that crucifixion, seemingly shamed his message. We see this most clearly on the cross when Jesus is taunted, mocked and challenged: If you are the Son of God, come down from there! If your message is true, let God verify that right now!

If your fidelity is more than plain stubbornness and human ignorance then why are you dying in shame?

And what was God's response to those taunts? Nothing, no commentary, no defense, no apologia, no counter-challenge, just silence. Jesus dies in silence. Neither he nor the God he believed in tried to fill that excruciating void with any consoling words or explanations challenging people to look at the brighter side of things. None of that. Just silence.

Jesus died in silence, inside God's silence and inside the world's incomprehension. And we can let ourselves be humbly scandalized by that silence, just as we can let ourselves be perpetually scandalized by the seeming triumph of evil, pain and suffering in our world. God's silence can forever scandalize us: in the Jewish holocaust, in ethnic genocides, in brutal and senseless wars, in the earthquakes and tsunamis which kill thousands of people and devastate whole countries, in the deaths of countless people taken out of this life by cancer and by violence, in how unfair life can be sometimes, and in the casual manner that those without conscience can rape whole areas of life seemingly without consequence.

Where is God in all this? What's God's answer?

God's answer is in the resurrection, in the resurrection of Jesus and in the perennial resurrection of goodness within life itself. But resurrection is not necessarily rescue. God doesn't necessarily rescue us from the effects of evil or even from death. Evil does what it does, natural disasters are what they are and those without conscience can rape even as they feed off life's sacred fire. God doesn't intervene. The parting of the Red Sea isn't a weekly occurrence. God lets his loved one suffers and die, just as Jesus let his dear friend, Lazarus, die and God let Jesus die. God redeems, raises us up afterwards, in a deeper more lasting vindication. And the truth of that statement can even be tested empirically.

Despite every appearance sometimes, in the end, love does triumph over hatred. Peace does triumph over chaos. Forgiveness does triumph over bitterness. Hope does triumph over cynicism. Fidelity does triumph over despair. Virtue does triumph over sin. Conscience does triumph over callousness. Life does triumph over death. And good does triumph over evil, always. Mohandas K.Gandhi once wrote: "When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants and for a time they seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always".

The resurrection, most forcibly, makes that point. God has the last word. The resurrection of Jesus is that last word. From the ashes of shame, of seeming defeat, failure and death, a new, deeper and eternal life perennially bursts forth. Our faith begins at the very point where it seems it might end, in God's seeming silence at Jesus' death. And what does this ask of us?

First of all, simply that we trust its truth. The resurrection of Jesus asks us to believe what Gandhi affirmed, namely, that in the end, evil will not have the last word. It will fall. Good will eventually triumph.

More deeply, it asks us to roll the dice of our lives on that trust and that truth: What Jesus taught is true: Virtue is not naive, even when it is shamed. Sin and cynicism are naive, even when they appear to triumph. Those who genuflect before God and others in conscience will find meaning and joy, even when they are deprived of the world's pleasures. Those who drink in and manipulate sacred energy without conscience will not find meaning and life, even when they taste pleasure. Those who live in honesty, no matter the cost, will find freedom. Those who lie and rationalize will find themselves imprisoned self-hate. Those who live in trust will find love. God's silence can be trusted, even when we die inside of it.

We can live in faith, love, forgiveness, conscience and fidelity in spite of everything that suggests that they aren't true. They will bring us to what is deepest inside of life and love because God vindicates virtue. God vindicates love. God vindicates conscience. God vindicates forgiveness. God vindicates fidelity. God vindicated Jesus and will vindicate us if we remain faithful as Jesus did.

BY REV. FR. RON ROLHEISER SJ

                                                                     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 -

The act by which God restores a relationship of harmony and unity between Himself and human beings refers to Atonement. The word can be broken into three parts which express this great truth in simple but profound terms: "at-one-ment". Through God's atoning grace and forgiveness, we are reinstated to a relationship of at-one-ment with God, in spite of our sin.

In the Old Testament, God Himself brought about atonement by graciously providing the appointed sacrifices. Although Old Testament believers were truly forgiven and received genuine atonement through animal sacrifice, the New Testament clearly states that during the Old Testament period God's justice was not served: 'For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins' - Heb. 10:4 -

Atonement was possible because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. However, God's justice was served in the death of Jesus Christ as a substitute who not with the blood of goats and calves but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant.

But now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He passed through the greater, the more perfect tent which is better than the one made by men hands because it is not of this created order; and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more effective the blood of Christ who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God.

He brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant. Noe wherever a will is in question, the death of the testaor must be established; indeed, it only becomes valid with that death since it is not meant to have any effect while the testator is still alive. - Heb. 9:11-17 -

The Lord Jesus came according to God's will, to give His life a ransom for many or for all. Though God laid on Him the iniquity of us all, yet Christ has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God so that those who believe in Him might receive atonement and be saved from God's wrath through the precious blood of Christ.

No believer who truly understands the awesome holiness of God's wrath and the terrible hopelessness that comes from personal sin can fail to be overwhelmed by the deep love of Jesus for each of us and the wonder of God's gracious gift of eternal atonement through Christ. Through Jesus, God will present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

Glory be to him who can keep you from falling and bring you safe to his glorious presence, innocent and happy. - Jude 24 -

                                                                    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 -

The one man who might be most inclined to doubt the historical fact of the Virgin Birth on natural grounds (because he was a physician) was the third Evangelist, Saint Luke. And yet he tells us the most about it. From the beginning Our Lord had many enemies. Certain aspects of His teaching were denied by heretics but there was one teaching that no early heretic denied and that was that He was born of a Virgin. One would think that this should have been the doctrine first attacked; but the Virgin Birth was accepted by believers and early heretics alike. It would have been silly to try to convince anyone of the Virgin Birth if he did not already believe in the Divinity of Christ; that is why, probably, it would have been unwise for Mary to speak of it until after the Resurrection, although Joseph, Elizabeth and probably John the Baptist already knew of it - and need we say, the Son of God Himself, Who brought it all to pass...

"One-texters" say that the Bible speaks of Our Lord as having brethren; therefore, they conclude, He was not born of a Virgin. But this claim can be answered. When a preacher in a pulpit addresses his congregation, "My dear brethren", it does not mean that everyone in the Church has the same mother. Secondly, the word "brother" is used in Sacred Scripture in the wide sense, to cover not only one's relatives but friends; for example, Abraham calls Lot his brother: "Pray let us have no strife between us two, between my shepherds and thine; are we not brethren?" - Gen. 13:8 -

But Lot was not a brother. Thirdly, several who are mentioned as brothers of Christ, such as James and Joseph, are indicated elsewhere as the sons of another Mary, the sister of the mother of Jesus and wife of Cleophas! "And meanwhile his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene, had taken their stand beside the Cross of Jesus" - John 19:25 - Fourthly, James who is particularly mentioned as the brother of Jesus: "But I did not see any of the other apostles, except James, the Lord's brother" - Gal. 1:19 - is regularly named in the enumeration of the Apostles, as the son of another father, Alphaeus - Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15 -

The so-called "brethren" of Our Lord are nowhere mentioned in the Scripture as the sons and daughters of Joseph and Mary. Our Blessed Lord Himself used the term "brethren" in a large sense. "For one is your Master; and all you are brethren" - Matt. 23:8 - "And stretching forth His hand towards His Disciples He said 'Behold... my brethren" - Matt. 12:49 - Nowhere in Scripture is it said that Joseph had begotten brothers and sisters of Jesus, as nowhere does it say that Mary had other children besides Her Divine Son.

The Gospel of Saint John assumes the Virgin Birth. We humans can be born twice: once of our parents and once of the Holy Spirit, given to us by Our Lord in Baptism. This is what Our Lord meant when He told the old man Nicodemus that he must be born again, the first birth being of the flesh, the second of the spirit. What makes us Christian is this second birth through Baptism. But notice how it relates to the Virgin Birth of Our Lord. Saint John, in the beginning of his Gospel, says that Our Lord gave us the "power to become the sons of God" Then he tells us that this happens by a birth. But he immediately distinguishes, saying that it is not like a human birth because there is in it neither blood nor sex, nor human will, but solely the power of God.

This statement of St. John assumes a common knowledge of the Virgin Birth. But how could any Christian understand such a birth if it had not already happened? No one, who at the end of the first century read the beginning of the Gospel of St. John, was amazed that he should speak of a new generation without sex. For by this time, the whole Christian world knew that is how Christianity had come into being. The Virgin Birth is God's idea, not man's. No one would have thought of it if it had never happened. No pagan religion has any idea of it; their myths are of the union of gods with women who bore children following a sexual union. All the love stories of Zeus and the other gods were of this anthropomorphic character. Nothing could be farther from the truth than to represent these births as "virgin birth".

Saint Paul implies the Virgin Birth of Christ by the use of a different word for "birth". Speaking of the earthly origin of the Son of God, he writes: "That Gospel, promised long ago by means of His prophets in the holy scriptures tells us of his Son, descended, in respect of his human birth, from the line of David, but in respect of the sanctified spirit that was His, marked out miraculously as the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead; Our Lord Jesus Christ" - Rom. 1:1-4 - "Then God sent out his Son on a mission to us. He took birth from a woman, took birth as a subject of the law, so as to ransom those who were subject to the law and make us sons by adoption" - Gal. 4:4-5 - "He dispossessed Himself and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men and presenting himself to us in human form" - Phil. 2:7 - Whenever St. Paul describes the incarnation of Our Lord, hr never uses the ordinary word to describe birth which word is used in every other New Testament passage: namely, the verb gennao. But in the four instances where he touches on the temporal beginnings of the Son of God, he uses an entirely different word, genemenos which comes from an entirely different verb ginomai.

Never once does he employ the word gennao of Our Lord and His Mother, the word meaning to be born which is used throughout the New Testament: but when he speaks of the coming of Our Lord, he uses a form of the verb ginomai which means "to come into existence", "to become". In one passage - Gal. 4:23-24, 29 - he uses the verb "to be born" three times, to describe the birth of Ismael and Jacob but refuses to use it in the same chapter and context for the birth of Christ.

The New Testament speaks thirty-three times of the birth of a child and in each instance uses the word gennao but it is never once used by St. Paul to describe the birth of Christ. Saint Paul absolutely avoids saying Our Lord was born in the usual way. Our Lord was born into the human family; He was not born of it. God formed Adam, the first man, without the seed of a man; so why should we shrink from the thought that the new Adam would also be formed without the seed of a man? As Adam was made of the earth, into which God breathed a living soul, so the body of Christ was formed in the flesh of Mary by the Holy Spirit. So firmly rooted was the Virgin Birth. It was believed in even by heretics, as surely as the Crucifixion because it stood on the same footing as a historical fact.

There are two birth stories in the Gospel: those of Jesus and of John the Baptist. But notice the different stress on each story. The Gospel story of John the Baptist centre on the father, Zachary. The Gospel story of the birth of Jesus centre on the mother, Mary. In each instance, there were difficulties from the scientific point of view. Zachary was an old man and his wife had long since passed the age of bearing children. "And Zachary said to the angel: 'By what sign am I to be assured of this? I am an old man now and my wife is far advanced in age'" - Luke 1:18 - "But Mary said to the angel, 'How can that be, since I have no knowledge of man?'" - Luke 1:34 - Mary was a Virgin with the vow of virginity. The power of God had to operate in both cases, with Zachary doubting and Mary accepting. For his doubt, Zachary was made dumb for a time.

No one ever makes a fuss against Zachary and Elizabeth bearing "the greatest man ever born of a woman" but some do fuss about the Virgin Birth. This is not because of the human difficulties, for to God these are surmountable. The real reason for incredulity is: the attack on the Virgin Birth is a subtle attack on the Divinity of Christ. He who believes that Our Lord is true God and true man is never troubled with the Virgin Birth.

BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )

                                                                     Page 3

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 -

When finally the Gospels were written, they did not prove what Christians believed; nor did they initiate that belief; they merely recorded in a systematic manner what they already knew. Men did not believe in the Crucifixion because the Gospels said there was a Crucifixion; they wrote down the story of the Crucifixion because they already believed in it. The Church did not come to believe in the Virgin Birth because the Gospels tell us there is a Virgin Birth; it was because the living word of God in His Mystical Body already believed it, that they get it down in the Gospels.

A second fact to be remembered is that this Mystical Body of Christ has a memory. If our physical life extends back forty-five years, we can remember two World-Wars. We speak of them as a living witness, not from the books written but from having lived through them and maybe through having fought in them. We may later on have read the books about these two World Wars. Yet they are not the beginning of our knowledge but only a recalling or a deepening of what we already knew. In like manner, Our Lord is the Head of the new humanity, the new fellowship or the spiritual organism which Saint Paul calls His Mystical Body. To this Mystical Body Christ is associated, first in His Apostles, and then in all who believed in Him throughout the centuries. This Body, too, has a memory, reaching back to Christ. It knows that the Resurrection is true because it, the Church, was there. The cells of our body change every seven years but we are the same personality. The cells of the Mystical Body which we are, too, may change every fifty or sixty years: yet it is still Christ that lives in that Body.

The Church knows that Christ rose from the dead and that the Spirit descended on the Apostles on Pentecost because the Church was there from the beginning. The Church has a memory of over 1900 years and this memory is called Tradition. The Apostles' Creed which was an accepted formula in the Church around the year 100 and which summed up the Apostle's teaching, is as follows:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven, sit at the right Hand of God, the Father Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.

Note the words: "Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary" The truths expressed in the Creed were essential for entrance into the Church. Everyone who was baptized early into Christ's Mystical Body believed in each of these truths. The Virgin Birth was as much an accepted Truth as the Resurrection in the first Christian centuries.

There is not one single quotation of the Gospels in the Creed. The early baptized of the Church were recording the early Christian tradition, of which the Gospels were only the literary expression. There are also several volumes of writings from within the first hundred years of the life of Our Lord; for example, the writing of Saint Clement, one of the successors of Saint Peter who wrote in the year 92; and also, Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, one of the successors of John the Evangelist: and Iranaeus who names the twelve Bishops of Rome; and Ignatius of Antioch who said that he wanted to be "ground like wheat between the jaws of lions to be a living bread for His Saviour".

Many of these writers do not quote the Gospels. We have 1500 lines from Clement and yet two texts of his are from the New Testament: he was recording the Christian beliefs, accepted by the witnesses of Christ. Polycarp quotes the Gospel only three times, for he lived on familiar terms with many who had seen Our Lord and he wrote what he knew and had learned from the Apostles. Ignatius of Antioch (who lived within seventy years of the Life of Our Lord) wrote: "Our God, Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit... and was truly born of a Virgin".

There is a double evidence from which we can draw, to learn true Christian teaching: one is the reveal Word of God in the Scriptures - the other is the continuous teaching of the Church from the very beginning, that is, its living memory. Just as lawyers, in proving a point, use not only the bare statement of law but also the way the courts have understood and interpreted that law; so, too, the Scriptures are not a dead letter but are living and breathing in the beautiful context of a spiritual fellowship.

In the year 108, there were still many living who had been boys when Our Lord was crucified - who, as young men saw and conversed with the Apostles before they were martyred - and who, in scattered parts of the Roman Empire, were already familiar with the Christian tradition passed on through the Church. Some of the other Apostles were not martyred until later - John did not die until the year 100. Some of these early writers were closer to John and other Apostles than we are to World War I. And this much is certain: if the Apostles, who loved with Our Lord and who heard Him speak on the open hills and in the temple - who listened to Him preach on the Kingdom of God forty days after His Resurrection - did not teach the Virgin Birth, no one else would have taught it. It was too unusual an idea for men to make up; it would have been ordinarily too difficult for acceptance if it had not come from Christ Himself!.

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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 -