As a literary device, an allegory may consist of only a few lines or it may be sustained through an entire book. Thus, an allegory refers to a symbolic representation of a truth about human conduct and experience. In the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, it translates the Greek verb allegoreo which means to say something different from what the words normally imply.
According to traditional Jewish and Christian interpretations, the entire book of the Song of Songs or Song of Solomon is an allegory: of God and his wife, Israel (Jewish) or of Christ and his bride, the Church (Christian). In fact, there are many examples in the Old Testament and New Testament. Some examples of allegory in the Old Testament are Psalm 80:8-19, Ecclesiastes 12:3-7, the Book of Job.
In the New Testament, Jesus' parable of the darnel (wheat and the tares) is a good example of allegory: Jesus put another parable before them, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner's servants went to him and said, "Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?" "Some enemy has done this" he answered. And the servants said, "Do you want us to go and weed it out?" But he said, "No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn." - Matt. 13:24-30 -
Then, leaving the crowds, Jesus went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, 'Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us.' He said in reply, 'The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears! - Matt. 13:36-43 -
The apostle Paul also used allegories when writing. In 1 Corinthians, saint Paul gives an allegory which compares the experience of Moses and the Israelites to Christian baptism and the Lord's Supper. And in Ephesians, apostle Paul urges his readers to 'put on the whole armor of God' and then gives the symbolic spiritual designation for each article worn by the Christian soldier.
I want to remind you, brothers, how our fathers were all guided by a cloud above them and how they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in this cloud and in the sea; all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they all drank from the spiritual rock that followed them as they went, and that rock was Christ. - 1 Cor. 10:1-4 -
Finally, grow strong in the Lord, with strength of his power. Put God's armour on so as to be able to resist the devil's tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the Sovereignties and the Powers who originate the darkness in this world, the spiritual army of evil in the heavens. That is why you must rely on God's armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance when the worst happens, or have enough resources to hold your ground.
So stand your ground, with truth buckled round your waist, and integrity for a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to put out the burning arrows of the evil one. And then you must accept salvation from God to be your helmet and receive the word of God from the Spirit to use as a sword. - Eph. 6:10-17 -
Perhaps the most memorable of apostle Paul's allegories, however, is found in Galatians 4:21-31 - Hagar and Sarah, Ismael and Isaac.
Ismael was born to the bondwoman, Hagar, and by the doing of Abraham and Sarah. In other words, without God interference and promises. (Hagar was Abraham's and Sarah's slave) Hagar and Ismael are symbolic of the Old Covenant: the law from Mount Sinai that brings all flesh into bondage.
Isaac was born to a free woman, Sarah, and by the doing of God. In other words, with God promises and interference. (Sarah's was the wife of Abraham's) Sarah and Isaac are symbolic of the New Covenant: the 'Gospel of Grace' from Mount Calvary that gives spiritual freedom.
When Saint Paul's concluded by saying, "When the Lord Jesus Christ freed us, He meant us to remain free. "Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit to the yoke of slavery." - Gal. 5:1 -
So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free woman. Thus, we must reject the bondage of legalism, that is, salvation for keeping the law only. Explicitly, we should attain our salvation to live by faith and love in the Lord Jesus Christ and by keeping God's law. Amen!
You want to be subject to the Law? Then listen to what the Law says, It says, if you remember that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl, and one by his free-born wife. The child of the slave-girl was born in the ordinary way; the child of the free woman was born as the result of a promise. This can be regarded as allegory: the women stand for the two covenants.
The first who comes from Mount Sinai, and whose children are slaves, is Hagar - since Sinai is in Arabia - and she corresponds to the present Jerusalem that is a slave like her children. The Jerusalem above, however, is free and is our mother, since scripture says: Shout for joy, you barren women who bore no children! Break into shouts of joy and gladness, you who were never in labour. For there are more sons of the forsaken one than sons of the wedded wife. Now you, my brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise, and as at that time the child born in the ordinary way persecuted the child born in the Spirit's way, so also now. Does not scripture say: Drive away the slave-girl and her son; this slave-girl's son is not to share the inheritance with the son of the free woman? So, my brothers and sisters. we are the children, not of the slave-girl, but of the free-born wife. - Gal. 4:21-31 -
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
The sinner will willingly do penance: He/she knows that all sins cost the God-man something-His Cross-and so must cost us something; moreover, he/she does not want to be "let off" but rather to "make up" for his/her sins. In the Christian ages, people who died continued their repentance, even after death, by leaving money to or endowing hospitals, churches, and schools in the Lord Jesus Christ name.
Penance is a recognition that we have a "past." It is not morbid to recognize this fact; rather, to pretend that it does not exist is morbid. The past will affect our future. We are not only what we eat; we are also what our sins have made us. If we do not make amends for our past, we are postponing and increasing our eternal punishment; the only reason that time is given to us is in order that we may do penance.
The true lover of God, conscious of having wounded Love, will voluntarily renounce his/her privileges and conduct himself/herself in such a way as to be identified with the Christ Who bears five hideous scars on hands and feet and side.
In this world most of us mind pain more than we do sin; in fact, we often believe pain to be the greater evil. Penance helps us to set these disorders in their right perspective; when a man finds joy in penance, he/she realizes that no other evil can affect him/her more than sin. Unless there is love, sacrifice and penance will be felt as an evil, but not when love is there. We understand, when we accept penance, that the very selfishness that caused our sin makes some such sacrifice necessary as a condition of taming the errant impulses that caused the trouble.
And when the full light of the Lord Jesus Christ Love shines in a soul, it begins to incorporate, not only penances imposed by the Church, but all the trails of life into the great work of redemption. Instead of breaking into bitter complaint about the reverses of fortune and the trails, it receives them in a spirit of resignation as the just wages of sin; through this patient acceptance, atonement is made for many sins.
There are three general ways of doing penances: prayers, alms and fasting. In prayer, we beg God's mercy on our souls. By alms, we give back to God some of the gifts He gave to us, that we may justify our possessions. "redeem you your sins with alms." - Dan. 4:24 - By fasting, we mortify the root of all cravings of a sensual character. The increasing comforts of modern life afford many occasions for mortification. If a person cannot himself/herself in respect to food, other pleasures within his/her reach - artistic, conventional, mechanical, and social - will supply many an occasion for actual fasting.
But penances are not done by ourselves alone; the penitent is helped by others who are in the Body of Christ. This could not be if we were isolated individuals, but it can come about if we belong to one Mystical Body where all are one because governed by one Head, vivified by one Soul, and professing the same Faith. Just as it is possible to graft skin from one part of the part to the other, and just as it is possible to transfuse blood from one member of society to another, so, in the spiritual organism of the Church, it is possible to graft prayer and to transfuse sacrifices.
This Christians truth in its fullness is known as the Communion of Saints. Just as we are all bound up in the guilt of one another's faults, so we can be bound up in one another's reparation. Such a miracle takes place in the reversibility of merits and the interchange of advantages. That is why we ask our friends to pray for us, why we pray in the context of "Our Father." We have spiritual need of one another. "And the eye cannot say to the hand: I need not thy help; nor again the head to the feet: I have no nee of you. Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble members of the body, are more necessary." - 1 Cor. 12:21-22 -
Few consolations are greater than the knowledge that we are bound up in great corporation of prayers and sacrifices. The Communion of Saints is the great discovery of those who, as adults, find the fullness of faith. They discover that for years there have been dozens, in some instances hundreds, of souls praying especially for them-storming heaven with the plea that a little act of humility by the convert might open a crack in his armor to let in God's grace and truth.
Every soul in the world has a price tag on it, and since many cannot or will not pay the price themselves, others must do it for them. There is probably no other way to account for the conversion of some souls than the fact that in this world, as in the next, their parents, relatives or friends interceded to God and won for them the prize of everlasting life.
Why are there monasteries and convents? Why do so many young souls leave the lights and glamour of the world for the shades and shadows of the Cross where saints are made? The modern world so little understands their mission that, as soon as a newspaper man hears of a handsome young woman entering a cloister, he telephones the parents to ask, "Was she disappointed in love?" The answer, of course, is "Yes, with the love of the world. She has fallen in love with God." These hidden dynamos of prayer, the cloistered men and women, are doing more for our country than all its politicians, its labor leaders, its army and navy put together; they are atoning for sins of us all.
They are averting the just wrath of God, repairing the broken fences of those who sin and pray not, rebel and atone not. As ten just men would have saved Sodom and Gomorrah, so ten just saints can save a nation now. But so long as a citizenry is more impressed by what its cabinet does than by its chosen souls who are doing penance, the rebirth of the nation has not yet begun. The cloistered are the purest of patriots. They have not become less interested in the world since leaving it; indeed, they have become more interested in the world than ever before. But they are not concerned with whether it will buy and sell more; they care - and desperately care - whether it will be more virtuous and love God more.
With such noble men and women helping here and now, there and formerly, the rest do little enough penance for our individual sins. But, even so, many of the frustrated modern men and women look around wistfully for some easier way - for a religion which will give the emotional lift without the penitential drag, for some cult that is elevating but not too demanding. Having many passions to be mortified, many bad habits to correct, many egotism to surrender, they want a streamlined cross. They seek a religion to give them a glow - but no blow. Some repudiate all religion, saying, "What can the Church give me?" At that stage of pride, the Church can give nothing, but it can take something away - one's sins. And that is gift enough, as a start.
Page 4
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN (1895 to 1979)
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.
Penance is a recognition that we have a "past." It is not morbid to recognize this fact; rather, to pretend that it does not exist is morbid. The past will affect our future. We are not only what we eat; we are also what our sins have made us. If we do not make amends for our past, we are postponing and increasing our eternal punishment; the only reason that time is given to us is in order that we may do penance.
The true lover of God, conscious of having wounded Love, will voluntarily renounce his/her privileges and conduct himself/herself in such a way as to be identified with the Christ Who bears five hideous scars on hands and feet and side.
In this world most of us mind pain more than we do sin; in fact, we often believe pain to be the greater evil. Penance helps us to set these disorders in their right perspective; when a man finds joy in penance, he/she realizes that no other evil can affect him/her more than sin. Unless there is love, sacrifice and penance will be felt as an evil, but not when love is there. We understand, when we accept penance, that the very selfishness that caused our sin makes some such sacrifice necessary as a condition of taming the errant impulses that caused the trouble.
And when the full light of the Lord Jesus Christ Love shines in a soul, it begins to incorporate, not only penances imposed by the Church, but all the trails of life into the great work of redemption. Instead of breaking into bitter complaint about the reverses of fortune and the trails, it receives them in a spirit of resignation as the just wages of sin; through this patient acceptance, atonement is made for many sins.
There are three general ways of doing penances: prayers, alms and fasting. In prayer, we beg God's mercy on our souls. By alms, we give back to God some of the gifts He gave to us, that we may justify our possessions. "redeem you your sins with alms." - Dan. 4:24 - By fasting, we mortify the root of all cravings of a sensual character. The increasing comforts of modern life afford many occasions for mortification. If a person cannot himself/herself in respect to food, other pleasures within his/her reach - artistic, conventional, mechanical, and social - will supply many an occasion for actual fasting.
But penances are not done by ourselves alone; the penitent is helped by others who are in the Body of Christ. This could not be if we were isolated individuals, but it can come about if we belong to one Mystical Body where all are one because governed by one Head, vivified by one Soul, and professing the same Faith. Just as it is possible to graft skin from one part of the part to the other, and just as it is possible to transfuse blood from one member of society to another, so, in the spiritual organism of the Church, it is possible to graft prayer and to transfuse sacrifices.
This Christians truth in its fullness is known as the Communion of Saints. Just as we are all bound up in the guilt of one another's faults, so we can be bound up in one another's reparation. Such a miracle takes place in the reversibility of merits and the interchange of advantages. That is why we ask our friends to pray for us, why we pray in the context of "Our Father." We have spiritual need of one another. "And the eye cannot say to the hand: I need not thy help; nor again the head to the feet: I have no nee of you. Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble members of the body, are more necessary." - 1 Cor. 12:21-22 -
Few consolations are greater than the knowledge that we are bound up in great corporation of prayers and sacrifices. The Communion of Saints is the great discovery of those who, as adults, find the fullness of faith. They discover that for years there have been dozens, in some instances hundreds, of souls praying especially for them-storming heaven with the plea that a little act of humility by the convert might open a crack in his armor to let in God's grace and truth.
Every soul in the world has a price tag on it, and since many cannot or will not pay the price themselves, others must do it for them. There is probably no other way to account for the conversion of some souls than the fact that in this world, as in the next, their parents, relatives or friends interceded to God and won for them the prize of everlasting life.
Why are there monasteries and convents? Why do so many young souls leave the lights and glamour of the world for the shades and shadows of the Cross where saints are made? The modern world so little understands their mission that, as soon as a newspaper man hears of a handsome young woman entering a cloister, he telephones the parents to ask, "Was she disappointed in love?" The answer, of course, is "Yes, with the love of the world. She has fallen in love with God." These hidden dynamos of prayer, the cloistered men and women, are doing more for our country than all its politicians, its labor leaders, its army and navy put together; they are atoning for sins of us all.
They are averting the just wrath of God, repairing the broken fences of those who sin and pray not, rebel and atone not. As ten just men would have saved Sodom and Gomorrah, so ten just saints can save a nation now. But so long as a citizenry is more impressed by what its cabinet does than by its chosen souls who are doing penance, the rebirth of the nation has not yet begun. The cloistered are the purest of patriots. They have not become less interested in the world since leaving it; indeed, they have become more interested in the world than ever before. But they are not concerned with whether it will buy and sell more; they care - and desperately care - whether it will be more virtuous and love God more.
With such noble men and women helping here and now, there and formerly, the rest do little enough penance for our individual sins. But, even so, many of the frustrated modern men and women look around wistfully for some easier way - for a religion which will give the emotional lift without the penitential drag, for some cult that is elevating but not too demanding. Having many passions to be mortified, many bad habits to correct, many egotism to surrender, they want a streamlined cross. They seek a religion to give them a glow - but no blow. Some repudiate all religion, saying, "What can the Church give me?" At that stage of pride, the Church can give nothing, but it can take something away - one's sins. And that is gift enough, as a start.
Page 4
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN (1895 to 1979)
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Friday, October 7, 2016
It is very difficult for the world to understand such sorrow as hers, but that is only because it does not have such love. The more one loves, the more one shrinks from hurting the beloved, and the more one grieves at having done so. But this grief should not make us dour and self-centered like those who say, "I can never forgive myself for that." That is hell - when the soul refuses to accept forgiveness for having wounded Love Divine.
The difference in standards between the pagans, old or new, and the believer, which results in remorse in one instance and sorrow in the other, is evidenced by the Lord Jesus Christ six precepts statements beginning with, "For I tell you (But I say/tell this to you) These contradict six precepts of worldly wisdom, each beginning, "You have heard/learnt."
- Matt. 5:21-22 - The Christian Standard. - The Pagan Standard - Do not let him/her get away with it. Stir up class enmity in order to seize power.
- Matt. 5:28-29 - The Christian Standard. - The Pagan Standard - Be self-expressive. Repression of sex instincts causes frustration. Liberty means the right to do whatever you please in the realm of the flesh.
- Matt. 5:32 - The Christian Standard. - The Pagan Standard - Get a divorce! Marry again.
- Matt. 5:34-37 - The Christian Standard - The Pagan Standard - Take matters into own hands. Say: I will be damned if I will do it.
- Matt. 5:39-42 - The Christian Standard - The Pagan Standard - Hit him/her back. Get even with him/her. Forgiveness is weakness.
- Matt. 5:44-48 - The Christian Standard - The Pagan Standard - Hate him/her if he hates you. Sue him! Kill him!
Since the Christian is trying to do something very difficult in aspiring to follow the Lord Jesus Christ precepts, he/she sometimes fails. His /her sorrow does not come because one has violated a law, but only if one knows one has broken off the relationship with Divine Love. But there is yet another element required for regeneration, the element of repentance and reparation. Repentance is rather dry-eyed affair; tears flow in sorrow, but sweat pours out in repentance. It is enough to tell God we are sorry and then forget all about it. If we broke a neighbor's window, we would not only apologize but also would go to the trouble of putting in a new pane. Since all sin disturbs the equilibrium and balance of justice and love, there must be a restoration involving toil and effort.
To see why this must be, suppose that every time a person did wrong, he/she has told to drive a nail into the wall of his/her living room, and that every time he was forgiven, he/she was told to pull it out. The holes would still remain after the forgiveness. Thus every sin (whether actual or original) after being forgiven leaves "holes" or "wounds" in our human nature, and the filling up of these holes is done by penance; a thief who steals a watch can be forgiven for the theft, but only if he /she returns the watch.
The difference between forgiveness and reparation is indicated in Sacred Scripture. When Moses sinned by doubting, God forgave him - but God still imposed a penance on Moses. "You shall not pass this Jordan." - Deut. 3:27 - David repented for his adultery, and Nathan the prophet absolved him: "The Lord has taken away your sin: you shall not die" - 2 Kin. 12:13 - But God demanded satisfaction, "The child that is born to you, shall surely die" - 2 Kin. 12:14 - It is the same today: God's pardon in the Sacrament restores us to His Friendship, but the debt to Divine Justice remains, either in time or in eternity.
The temporal expiation for many sins is necessarily considerable, and it requires considerable self-discipline on the part of the penitent. Faith in Christ's merits alone is not adequate for the remission of sins; as a matter of fact, faith without penance is always insufficient.
Christ's infinite merits and satisfactions are enough and yet not enough because God will not treat us as robots or automatons. There are those who often accuse us of attributing magical effects to the Sacraments. We retort that they are the culprits who attribute magic to Redemption, whereas we assert that there is magic neither in the Sacraments nor in Redemption.
God respects our free-will and without the cooperation of our free-will will do nothing. His operation is dependent on our cooperation, just as the electric current is dependent on the lamp for the production of light. Confession has the innate power to remove all traces of sin, but, before it can do so, there must be perfect cooperation, that is, perfect rectification of the will. Free-will is the core of the difficulty.
An illustration may help to clarify the issue. Suppose two person had a quarrel, and one of them got into an uncontrollable rage and struck his/her companion so hard that he/she damaged his/her own hand and wrist. Afterwards, the aggressor apologized and his apology was accepted. Would you call that the end of the incident? "No" you would say, "what about the hand?" Acceptance of the apology would not heal the hand.
So it is with us. By sin we damage our will; and the damage is not necessarily repainted by God's decree of pardon. Sometimes when we sin we turn to the creature with great intensity. Completely to rectify our will, we must turn back to God with equal intensity; that we frequently fail to do, with the result that our will remains scarred and out-of-the-straight. The will must be rectified before we can be fit for heaven.
If we turn back to God with an intensity equal to or greater than our intensity in sin, Confession takes away both the guilt of sin and the temporal punishment due to sin.
If we turn to God with less, though with sufficient intensity, the will still remains damaged, and other good works will be required to complete its rectification.
Here we have the explanation of the heavy penances imposed in the early Church. The early Christians did not doubt the efficacy of the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation, but the adequacy of their own repentance. This is the explanation, too, of Christ's own insistence on penance.
Or consider sin as a journey away from God. Imagine that A is a minor son, bound to respect his father's wishes. He is in Chicago. His father, B, tells him to go to the left on the map - to San Francisco. But instead A goes to the right, to New York. When A gets to New York, he telephones B and says, "Forgive me, will you, please? I am sorry for having offended you, who are deserving of my love." B forgives A; but look where A is! He is about nine hundred miles from his starting point, Chicago. In order to do B's will, A has to go back to Chicago before he can go to San Francisco; or you could say that the nine hundred miles A traveled in sin must be traveled back in penance. A cannot begin to be good until he has retracted his evil ways.
But, like all examples, this one limps. For the fact is that A need not walk back those 900 hundred miles; when A start, he can call upon the Church to assist him with an airplane full of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Mother, and the Saints. The plane flies him back the rest of the way. Such a remission in whole or in part of the punishment due to A's sins is effected through indulgences. Through them, the Church gives her penitents a fresh start. And the Church has a tremendous spiritual capital, gained through centuries of penance, persecution, and martyrdom; many of her children prayed, suffered, and merited more than they needed for the own individual salvation.
The Church took these super abundance merits and put them into the spiritual treasury, out of which repentant sinners can draw in times of spiritual depression. Or this spiritual capital may be likened to a blood bank; whenever any of her members are suffering from spiritual anemia or the deep wounds of sin, the Church gives them a blood transfusion. She can never do it for us if we are spiritually dead in sin; a transfusion will not avail a corpse. So to obtain the indulgences or remission of the penalties of sin, the recipient must be in a state of grace, must have the intention of gaining the indulgences, and must perform the prescribed works.
The sinner will willingly do.........
Page 3
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 difference in standards between the pagans, old or new, and the believer, which results in remorse in one instance and sorrow in the other, is evidenced by the Lord Jesus Christ six precepts statements beginning with, "For I tell you (But I say/tell this to you) These contradict six precepts of worldly wisdom, each beginning, "You have heard/learnt."
- Matt. 5:21-22 - The Christian Standard. - The Pagan Standard - Do not let him/her get away with it. Stir up class enmity in order to seize power.
- Matt. 5:28-29 - The Christian Standard. - The Pagan Standard - Be self-expressive. Repression of sex instincts causes frustration. Liberty means the right to do whatever you please in the realm of the flesh.
- Matt. 5:32 - The Christian Standard. - The Pagan Standard - Get a divorce! Marry again.
- Matt. 5:34-37 - The Christian Standard - The Pagan Standard - Take matters into own hands. Say: I will be damned if I will do it.
- Matt. 5:39-42 - The Christian Standard - The Pagan Standard - Hit him/her back. Get even with him/her. Forgiveness is weakness.
- Matt. 5:44-48 - The Christian Standard - The Pagan Standard - Hate him/her if he hates you. Sue him! Kill him!
Since the Christian is trying to do something very difficult in aspiring to follow the Lord Jesus Christ precepts, he/she sometimes fails. His /her sorrow does not come because one has violated a law, but only if one knows one has broken off the relationship with Divine Love. But there is yet another element required for regeneration, the element of repentance and reparation. Repentance is rather dry-eyed affair; tears flow in sorrow, but sweat pours out in repentance. It is enough to tell God we are sorry and then forget all about it. If we broke a neighbor's window, we would not only apologize but also would go to the trouble of putting in a new pane. Since all sin disturbs the equilibrium and balance of justice and love, there must be a restoration involving toil and effort.
To see why this must be, suppose that every time a person did wrong, he/she has told to drive a nail into the wall of his/her living room, and that every time he was forgiven, he/she was told to pull it out. The holes would still remain after the forgiveness. Thus every sin (whether actual or original) after being forgiven leaves "holes" or "wounds" in our human nature, and the filling up of these holes is done by penance; a thief who steals a watch can be forgiven for the theft, but only if he /she returns the watch.
The difference between forgiveness and reparation is indicated in Sacred Scripture. When Moses sinned by doubting, God forgave him - but God still imposed a penance on Moses. "You shall not pass this Jordan." - Deut. 3:27 - David repented for his adultery, and Nathan the prophet absolved him: "The Lord has taken away your sin: you shall not die" - 2 Kin. 12:13 - But God demanded satisfaction, "The child that is born to you, shall surely die" - 2 Kin. 12:14 - It is the same today: God's pardon in the Sacrament restores us to His Friendship, but the debt to Divine Justice remains, either in time or in eternity.
The temporal expiation for many sins is necessarily considerable, and it requires considerable self-discipline on the part of the penitent. Faith in Christ's merits alone is not adequate for the remission of sins; as a matter of fact, faith without penance is always insufficient.
Christ's infinite merits and satisfactions are enough and yet not enough because God will not treat us as robots or automatons. There are those who often accuse us of attributing magical effects to the Sacraments. We retort that they are the culprits who attribute magic to Redemption, whereas we assert that there is magic neither in the Sacraments nor in Redemption.
God respects our free-will and without the cooperation of our free-will will do nothing. His operation is dependent on our cooperation, just as the electric current is dependent on the lamp for the production of light. Confession has the innate power to remove all traces of sin, but, before it can do so, there must be perfect cooperation, that is, perfect rectification of the will. Free-will is the core of the difficulty.
An illustration may help to clarify the issue. Suppose two person had a quarrel, and one of them got into an uncontrollable rage and struck his/her companion so hard that he/she damaged his/her own hand and wrist. Afterwards, the aggressor apologized and his apology was accepted. Would you call that the end of the incident? "No" you would say, "what about the hand?" Acceptance of the apology would not heal the hand.
So it is with us. By sin we damage our will; and the damage is not necessarily repainted by God's decree of pardon. Sometimes when we sin we turn to the creature with great intensity. Completely to rectify our will, we must turn back to God with equal intensity; that we frequently fail to do, with the result that our will remains scarred and out-of-the-straight. The will must be rectified before we can be fit for heaven.
If we turn back to God with an intensity equal to or greater than our intensity in sin, Confession takes away both the guilt of sin and the temporal punishment due to sin.
If we turn to God with less, though with sufficient intensity, the will still remains damaged, and other good works will be required to complete its rectification.
Here we have the explanation of the heavy penances imposed in the early Church. The early Christians did not doubt the efficacy of the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation, but the adequacy of their own repentance. This is the explanation, too, of Christ's own insistence on penance.
Or consider sin as a journey away from God. Imagine that A is a minor son, bound to respect his father's wishes. He is in Chicago. His father, B, tells him to go to the left on the map - to San Francisco. But instead A goes to the right, to New York. When A gets to New York, he telephones B and says, "Forgive me, will you, please? I am sorry for having offended you, who are deserving of my love." B forgives A; but look where A is! He is about nine hundred miles from his starting point, Chicago. In order to do B's will, A has to go back to Chicago before he can go to San Francisco; or you could say that the nine hundred miles A traveled in sin must be traveled back in penance. A cannot begin to be good until he has retracted his evil ways.
But, like all examples, this one limps. For the fact is that A need not walk back those 900 hundred miles; when A start, he can call upon the Church to assist him with an airplane full of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Mother, and the Saints. The plane flies him back the rest of the way. Such a remission in whole or in part of the punishment due to A's sins is effected through indulgences. Through them, the Church gives her penitents a fresh start. And the Church has a tremendous spiritual capital, gained through centuries of penance, persecution, and martyrdom; many of her children prayed, suffered, and merited more than they needed for the own individual salvation.
The Church took these super abundance merits and put them into the spiritual treasury, out of which repentant sinners can draw in times of spiritual depression. Or this spiritual capital may be likened to a blood bank; whenever any of her members are suffering from spiritual anemia or the deep wounds of sin, the Church gives them a blood transfusion. She can never do it for us if we are spiritually dead in sin; a transfusion will not avail a corpse. So to obtain the indulgences or remission of the penalties of sin, the recipient must be in a state of grace, must have the intention of gaining the indulgences, and must perform the prescribed works.
The sinner will willingly do.........
Page 3
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Those who live in this moral twilight between faith and lack of faith have rarely a clear notion of the purpose of life. Yet a person must have a goal before he or she can live. In making a journey, one must first decide the destination and then the intermediate steps; this is what the Scholastic mean by, "The first intention is the last in execution." The choice of Paris for a holiday is the first step in a long series of preparations for the trip, but Paris is the last place one reaches in the journey. People who lose sight of the purpose of living - namely, to attain perfect happiness - begin to concentrate on means.
Like the fanatic, as once defined, they "redouble their efforts after they have lost sight of their goal." Their actions become staccato, jumpy, a crazy quilt of conflicting patterns. Possibility, in the sense of a progressive development and enrichment of personality, disappears. When possibility is lost, one of two things happens to a mind: Either it immerses itself in trivialities, with an accompanying cynicism, flippancy and superficiality, or else it tries to avoid responsibility for the inanity and foolishness of its life by denying the existence of human freedom and responsibility and subscribing to determination of the Darwinian, Freudian, or Marxian variety.
But there are some men and women who admitting their sins and faults, are still unhappy. Where there is a genuine sense of guilt, release can come only from Divine Mercy confronting human misery. Unless we are ready to ask for the forgiveness of our sins by God, the examination of conscience may be only a vain form of introspection, which can make a soul worse if it ends in remorse instead of sorrow. For the two are quite distinct: Judas had remorse. Peter had sorrow.
Judas Iscariot "repented unto himself" as Sacred Scripture tells us; Simon Peter, unto the Lord Jesus Christ. As a psychic malady sometimes results from a failure to adjust self to the right environment, so a moral evil results from the failure of the soul to adjust itself to God. Despair is such a failure - Judas despaired but Peter hoped. Despair comes from unrelatedness, from the refusal of a soul to turn to God. Such a soul opposes the order of nature.
For instance; When there are seven people in a room, few ever refer to the fact that there are fourteen arms present. But if we found a detached arm lying in a corner, it would create consternation; it is a problem only because it is detached. A soul isolated from God is like that arm. Its conscience (to take another example) is like a broken anklebone; it hurts because it is not where it ought to be. The final stage of this sadness resulting from a person's unrelatedness to God is a desire to die, combined with a fear of death - for "conscience doth make cowards of us all."
But if remorse is a sense of guilt unrelated to God, it is well to consider other states of mind and conscience from this single aspect. We find that there are several classes of souls, ranged according to the degree of their relatedness to God.
There are those who killed their conscience by sin and worldliness and who have steadfastly refused to cooperate with the Divine Action on the soul in order to amend their lives, confess their sins, and do penance; there are those who have awakened from a state of sin; there are those who followed conscience and the laws of God for a time and then turned away from God; and finally, there are those who kept their baptismal innocence and never defiled their conscience.
The second and the fourth classes are very dear to God. There are thus two ways of knowing how good God is: One is by never losing Him, and the other is by losing Him and finding Him again. Souls who have strayed and returned, Our Lord Jesus Christ said, rejoice the Angels in Heaven more than the steadfastly faithful. This is not difficult to understand; a mother with ten children rejoices more in the recovery of the single sick child than in the continued possession of health by the other nine.
For the sinner to be made well, then, confession and sorrow are required. And the sorrow must have in it an appeal to God's mercy to distinguish it from remorse. Saint Paul makes the distinction in writing to the Corinthians: "For the sorrow that is according to God works penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world works death." - 2 Cor. 7:10 - Remorse or "the sorrow of the world" results in worry, jealousy, envy, indignation; but sorrow related to God results in expiation and hope. Perfect sorrow comes from a sense of having offended God, Who is deserving of all our love; this sorrow or contrition, felt in confession, is never a vexing, fretful sadness that depresses, but it is a sadness from which great consolation springs. As Saint Augustine of Hippo put it, "The penitent should never grieve, and rejoice at his grief."
The experience a repentant sinner undergoes in receiving the Sacrament of pardon has been well described by Blessed Angela of Foligno. She tells us of the time when she first took cognizance of her sins.
"I resolved to make my confession to him. I confessed my sins in full. I received absolution. I did not feel love, only bitterness, shame and sorrow. Then I looked for the first time at Divine Mercy; I made the acquaintance of that Mercy which had withdrawn me from hell, which gave me grace. An illumination made me see the measure of my sins. Thereupon, I understood that in offending the Creator, I had offended all creatures... Through the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, I invoked the mercy of God, and on my knees, I begged for life. Suddenly, I believed that I felt the pity of all creatures and all saints. And then I received a gift; a great fire of love and the power to pray as I had never prayed... God wrote the "Pater Noster" in my heart with such an accentuation of His Goodness and of my unworthiness that I lack words to speak of it."
It is very difficult for the world to understand.......
Page 2
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Like the fanatic, as once defined, they "redouble their efforts after they have lost sight of their goal." Their actions become staccato, jumpy, a crazy quilt of conflicting patterns. Possibility, in the sense of a progressive development and enrichment of personality, disappears. When possibility is lost, one of two things happens to a mind: Either it immerses itself in trivialities, with an accompanying cynicism, flippancy and superficiality, or else it tries to avoid responsibility for the inanity and foolishness of its life by denying the existence of human freedom and responsibility and subscribing to determination of the Darwinian, Freudian, or Marxian variety.
But there are some men and women who admitting their sins and faults, are still unhappy. Where there is a genuine sense of guilt, release can come only from Divine Mercy confronting human misery. Unless we are ready to ask for the forgiveness of our sins by God, the examination of conscience may be only a vain form of introspection, which can make a soul worse if it ends in remorse instead of sorrow. For the two are quite distinct: Judas had remorse. Peter had sorrow.
Judas Iscariot "repented unto himself" as Sacred Scripture tells us; Simon Peter, unto the Lord Jesus Christ. As a psychic malady sometimes results from a failure to adjust self to the right environment, so a moral evil results from the failure of the soul to adjust itself to God. Despair is such a failure - Judas despaired but Peter hoped. Despair comes from unrelatedness, from the refusal of a soul to turn to God. Such a soul opposes the order of nature.
For instance; When there are seven people in a room, few ever refer to the fact that there are fourteen arms present. But if we found a detached arm lying in a corner, it would create consternation; it is a problem only because it is detached. A soul isolated from God is like that arm. Its conscience (to take another example) is like a broken anklebone; it hurts because it is not where it ought to be. The final stage of this sadness resulting from a person's unrelatedness to God is a desire to die, combined with a fear of death - for "conscience doth make cowards of us all."
But if remorse is a sense of guilt unrelated to God, it is well to consider other states of mind and conscience from this single aspect. We find that there are several classes of souls, ranged according to the degree of their relatedness to God.
There are those who killed their conscience by sin and worldliness and who have steadfastly refused to cooperate with the Divine Action on the soul in order to amend their lives, confess their sins, and do penance; there are those who have awakened from a state of sin; there are those who followed conscience and the laws of God for a time and then turned away from God; and finally, there are those who kept their baptismal innocence and never defiled their conscience.
The second and the fourth classes are very dear to God. There are thus two ways of knowing how good God is: One is by never losing Him, and the other is by losing Him and finding Him again. Souls who have strayed and returned, Our Lord Jesus Christ said, rejoice the Angels in Heaven more than the steadfastly faithful. This is not difficult to understand; a mother with ten children rejoices more in the recovery of the single sick child than in the continued possession of health by the other nine.
For the sinner to be made well, then, confession and sorrow are required. And the sorrow must have in it an appeal to God's mercy to distinguish it from remorse. Saint Paul makes the distinction in writing to the Corinthians: "For the sorrow that is according to God works penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world works death." - 2 Cor. 7:10 - Remorse or "the sorrow of the world" results in worry, jealousy, envy, indignation; but sorrow related to God results in expiation and hope. Perfect sorrow comes from a sense of having offended God, Who is deserving of all our love; this sorrow or contrition, felt in confession, is never a vexing, fretful sadness that depresses, but it is a sadness from which great consolation springs. As Saint Augustine of Hippo put it, "The penitent should never grieve, and rejoice at his grief."
The experience a repentant sinner undergoes in receiving the Sacrament of pardon has been well described by Blessed Angela of Foligno. She tells us of the time when she first took cognizance of her sins.
"I resolved to make my confession to him. I confessed my sins in full. I received absolution. I did not feel love, only bitterness, shame and sorrow. Then I looked for the first time at Divine Mercy; I made the acquaintance of that Mercy which had withdrawn me from hell, which gave me grace. An illumination made me see the measure of my sins. Thereupon, I understood that in offending the Creator, I had offended all creatures... Through the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, I invoked the mercy of God, and on my knees, I begged for life. Suddenly, I believed that I felt the pity of all creatures and all saints. And then I received a gift; a great fire of love and the power to pray as I had never prayed... God wrote the "Pater Noster" in my heart with such an accentuation of His Goodness and of my unworthiness that I lack words to speak of it."
It is very difficult for the world to understand.......
Page 2
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Thursday, September 15, 2016
The denial of guilt or the effort to reduce ethics to psychiatry is as unsound and unscientific as the error of denying that there are genuinely mental troubles or the reduction of psychiatry to ethics and moral theology. In actual fact, no moral theologian denies the validity and necessity of psychiatry; but since many analysts do deny the realms of the moral, the Divine, and the supernatural, it is important to continue stressing the difference between the two.
Even when a client has his or her psychoanalyst's encouragement to laugh off the possibility of moral evil or a sense of guilt as the cause of his or her worries, his or her rejection of ethical standards is still a form of escapism. In such cases, it is vain for the frustrated soul to say that he or she will work the problem out "for himself or herself." For the soul that relics upon itself is unrealistic. Cure is conditioned upon the realization of two basic facts: There is some evil in the soul; and the perfection and cure are not to be sought in the person. Just as medicine must come from outside of the body, so moral healing must come from outside of the soul. Yet many modern men and women run to the ends of the earth to escape the one source of health or recovery.
Escapists refuse to face the fact that their own lives are disordered; or else they try an "easy" way out of their misery that lands them into worse confusion. Some of the "easy" ways out are the escapism of scandal-mongering which seeks to find others who are worse than the self and thus make the self seem good by comparison; the escapism of ridicule, which makes fun of the virtuous and religious to avoid the reproach of their goodness; the escapism of noise, of drowning oneself in excitement, crowds, collective trances, so that the sweet, low voice of conscience, through which God speaks, is never heard; the escapism of atheism, an anarchical revolution by which one covers up one's own need of personal, inner, spiritual regeneration by revolutionizing everyone else.
For by pointing out the wrongs of others, the atheist avoids the need of righting himself or herself; by spreading the ideology of class conflict, he or she creates the illusion that the evil he or she hates is not within himself or herself, but in the social system. The social conscience thus dispenses many people today from any compulsion to set right their individual consciences. There is also the escapism of calling religion "escapism." This atheistic at riposte is the most wrongheaded of them all - to throw it at a distraught friend, is like telling a person whose house is on fire that he is an "escapist" if he or she calls the fire department.
The real escapists follow many different routes, but none of them are humble enough to admit that there is some evil in them; all of them are too proud to admit that they need outside help to cure their misery. By denying guilt, they show that they are cowards; by denying any perfection outside themselves, they become snobs. The last, desperate stage of escapism is religious persecution; hatred of religion is projected self-hatred. It is not easy for normal persons to understand how goodness and truth can be hated, but they are.
Truth can be hated because it implies responsibility. Goodness is hated because it is a reproach. If the Lord Jesus Christ had been tolerant and broad minded, He would never have been crucified; it was the perfection of His virtue that constituted a judgment of the wicked. But since those who persecute religion as a form of escapism must constantly think about God and His universal Church, it follows that they are often closer to conversion than the indifferent person of a Liberal Civilization, who does not trouble making up his or her mind on any ultimate question.
Escapism never succeeds. In every sinner whose frustrations and neuroses are due to a burdened conscience, there is a latent contradiction. The person is pulled in two directions. He or she is not so much at ease with sin as to be able to make it his or her definite vocation, nor, on the other hand, is he or she so much in love with God as to disavow his or her faults. The dualism arises from a desire of God, on the other hand, and a turning from God on the other. Such people have insufficient moral energy to be bad or to be good; they have not enough religion to find peace of soul, yet quite enough of it to intensify their sense of frustration after they have sinned.
Those who live.......
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Even when a client has his or her psychoanalyst's encouragement to laugh off the possibility of moral evil or a sense of guilt as the cause of his or her worries, his or her rejection of ethical standards is still a form of escapism. In such cases, it is vain for the frustrated soul to say that he or she will work the problem out "for himself or herself." For the soul that relics upon itself is unrealistic. Cure is conditioned upon the realization of two basic facts: There is some evil in the soul; and the perfection and cure are not to be sought in the person. Just as medicine must come from outside of the body, so moral healing must come from outside of the soul. Yet many modern men and women run to the ends of the earth to escape the one source of health or recovery.
Escapists refuse to face the fact that their own lives are disordered; or else they try an "easy" way out of their misery that lands them into worse confusion. Some of the "easy" ways out are the escapism of scandal-mongering which seeks to find others who are worse than the self and thus make the self seem good by comparison; the escapism of ridicule, which makes fun of the virtuous and religious to avoid the reproach of their goodness; the escapism of noise, of drowning oneself in excitement, crowds, collective trances, so that the sweet, low voice of conscience, through which God speaks, is never heard; the escapism of atheism, an anarchical revolution by which one covers up one's own need of personal, inner, spiritual regeneration by revolutionizing everyone else.
For by pointing out the wrongs of others, the atheist avoids the need of righting himself or herself; by spreading the ideology of class conflict, he or she creates the illusion that the evil he or she hates is not within himself or herself, but in the social system. The social conscience thus dispenses many people today from any compulsion to set right their individual consciences. There is also the escapism of calling religion "escapism." This atheistic at riposte is the most wrongheaded of them all - to throw it at a distraught friend, is like telling a person whose house is on fire that he is an "escapist" if he or she calls the fire department.
The real escapists follow many different routes, but none of them are humble enough to admit that there is some evil in them; all of them are too proud to admit that they need outside help to cure their misery. By denying guilt, they show that they are cowards; by denying any perfection outside themselves, they become snobs. The last, desperate stage of escapism is religious persecution; hatred of religion is projected self-hatred. It is not easy for normal persons to understand how goodness and truth can be hated, but they are.
Truth can be hated because it implies responsibility. Goodness is hated because it is a reproach. If the Lord Jesus Christ had been tolerant and broad minded, He would never have been crucified; it was the perfection of His virtue that constituted a judgment of the wicked. But since those who persecute religion as a form of escapism must constantly think about God and His universal Church, it follows that they are often closer to conversion than the indifferent person of a Liberal Civilization, who does not trouble making up his or her mind on any ultimate question.
Escapism never succeeds. In every sinner whose frustrations and neuroses are due to a burdened conscience, there is a latent contradiction. The person is pulled in two directions. He or she is not so much at ease with sin as to be able to make it his or her definite vocation, nor, on the other hand, is he or she so much in love with God as to disavow his or her faults. The dualism arises from a desire of God, on the other hand, and a turning from God on the other. Such people have insufficient moral energy to be bad or to be good; they have not enough religion to find peace of soul, yet quite enough of it to intensify their sense of frustration after they have sinned.
Those who live.......
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Friday, September 2, 2016
If only. If only people just behave. You see, I actually do not need to control my anger, everyone around me just need to avoid annoying me. Is that not how some of us feel?
Tonight we turn to yet another work of mercy which is to bear wrongs patiently and forgive offences willing.
What does it mean to say bearing wrongs patiently and how is that different from forgiving offences willingly? Let us just say that wrong is not always wrong. As a priest once said to me, left is right and right is wrong. Confusing as it sounds, that was basically an instruction given to someone whilst driving. What I am trying to say is that wrong is not always wrong. The other way of phrasing this spiritual work of mercy is to be patient with those in error. When I state that wrong is not always wrong I am saying that firstly, nobody intends to be wrong and secondly, some people are just “wrong” FOR US. The operative words are “FOR US”. Let me explain.
If you have gone to Thailand before, you would have seen T-shirts, “Same same but different”. The original phrase describes “lady-boys” who have added female features yet retaining the OEM—Original Equipment from Maker! It illustrates a subtle nuancing whereby we may like to think that we are all the same but really what appears to annoy me might not be what irks other—thus wrong is not always wrong. Think pilgrimage and as the Ringgit swims underwater, not infrequently strangers are forced to share rooms. I had one pilgrimage where a cough threatened to derail our journey.
In an uber-sensitive world, anything can upset anybody not solely because we are different but because we have developed this overwhelming sense of uniqueness that is our individuality is expressed to the extreme. And the older you are, the more set you are in your ways. For example, poor as I am as a religious, I do not like a stranger to sit beside me during a Economy flight. I like my space. The Teochews have a word for it “Kou Tuck”.
When we are set in our ways, we often like to impose on others our norm as if it is the only norm or standard there is. This is made even more pronounced when our social space is organised according to the principle of me. It is all about me.
Why me? Whenever sorrow strikes us, many a complaint will be “Why me”? Apart of the celebration of victimhood, we are basically children of our age. What gives this “why me” syndrome? A possible explanation is the shift that took place almost 400 years ago and ever since that tumultuous upheaval, the universe has gradually moved at a pace almost imperceptible that has transformed truth to meaning, from a heteronomous perspective to an autonomous worldview. Truth is no longer a question at the top of our minds, meaning is. Simply put: Heaven is not important, earth is. Salvation is not important, liberation is.
You can count the number of young people here every day. For many of them, Mass is boring because the truth of the Mass is not as important as the meaning of the Mass is to them. Meaning is premised on personal satisfaction. It does not interest me. I do not feel a thing coming here. The transformation from truth to meaning changes the question “What is it?” to “What is in it for me? When “I, me and myself” is the centre of the universe, the only result of that is an increased in irritation when the world does not conform to my expectations.
You know OCD? It does not stand for Ordo Carmelitarum Discalceatorum (or Order of Carmelites Discalced). OCD is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Do you realise that so many people are suffering from OCD? Cleanliness and Orderliness are two common expressions of OCD behaviour.
I think that OCD is a form of hungering for God. The more we make ourselves the focus and the more we banish God from the centre of the Universe, the more OCD we will witness because this desire to be “ordered” is a divine innate quality bestowed by God. When we do not know who the Author of order is, we will go out of our way to be more ordered thinking that that is what Godliness is. And for that, the world has to suffer our “disordered” orderliness, our OCD.
Look at the servers. Are they an expression of OCD? I am impressed by the deliberate and regimented steps that make them sway in unison. The first day I came, I was fascinated and I tried to sway with them but I am always out of synch. This is just one example of the way they serve. The question here is this: Is their way of serving an expression of a priest, namely your parish priest’s psychosis or OCD?
As previously stated, if order is a reflexion of God then chaos must be the product of the Devil. Order points us in the direction of God and the liturgy is musical in the sense, according to Pythagoras, as music properly composed according to mathematical principles, is one of the best measure for an ordered universe. Perhaps you can make the connexion between a beautiful rhythmic swaying of the entrance procession as an example that reflects the order of the universe.
The tricky part here is that the line between God’s order and OCD is rather thin which brings us back to Truth as a communal search. It is not just “my” search for Truth. In all that we do as Church, there has to be dialogue and conversation amongst us. But, it is not restricted to just amongst us meaning it is also not just “our” search for Truth. This dialogue or conversation must, in addition, take place between us and the Magisterium and the Tradition amongst others.
Yesterday, I mentioned about the Church in heaven, the Church in purgatory and the Church on earth. Each time Catholics speak of Tradition with a capital T, it means our communal search cannot be independent of the Church in heaven and the Church in purgatory. Perhaps you appreciate why the Church does not change her practices willy-nilly just because time has changed or just because fads have shifted.
In this search, bearing wrong or errors patiently is an expression charity as we communally search for truth. We do not possess the truth. We need to bear in mind that some people can seem more arrogant than others. Some people speak differently from others. People are definitely not copies of me. When you work together, this will come out. People are not as clever as I am. People are not as generous as I am. And my irritation grows. It is not always easy. And sometimes, I guess it takes heroic strength to bear the wrongs of another person. There were two professors—one a chemist and the other a philosopher. They are known to have called each other by name. The Chemist to the Philosopher: Navel Contemplator. The Philosopher to the Chemist: Shit Analyser. Both are priests. Both are Jesuits. Both live in the same community. Not easy right because both are headstrong. But nonetheless, they are not excused from a very important Spiritual Work of Mercy because bearing wrongs patiently is pre-requisite for the next work of mercy.
Bishop Fulton Sheen makes an interesting distinction and let me paraphrase him: “Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error meaning be kind to those who are in the wrong but be firm about the truth we want to stand with because we do not possess the truth.
This brings us to forgiving others willingly. The difference between bearing wrong patiently and forgiving other willingly lies in deliberation. Wrongs are not intentional—they are just things out of order. If you think about it, no one wakes up in the morning and the first thing he does, like Mr Burn of The Simpsons who drums his fingers and say in a most wicked quivering voice: “Let me see, today I am going to irritate my husband”. It is not malice even if sometimes we ascribe malicious intent to the offending person. In short do not flatter yourself—the wicked world does not revolve around you. (Only victims do lah).
If wrongs are not deliberate, offences are in the sense that an injury has been done to us. And for that, forgiveness is demanded of us. I have heard it mentioned that it takes a lot of strength to hang on. But it takes so much more to let go. When our sense of justice is warped by revenge then forgiveness will come across as weakness.
Unforgiveness may be emblematic of love. If we love deeply, it follows that the cut will be just a deep. And, the more we love, the greater will our struggle be to forgive. Perhaps the difficulty of letting go of hurt in order to forgive is symptomatic of our hoarding culture. One of the side effects of a consumeristic culture is the need to hoard. If we hoard things, we can also hoard resentment and unforgiveness and we can nurse them like they are our treasures.
Forgiveness does not mean that we forget totally as Dr Martin Luther King said: Certainly one can never forget, if that means erasing it totally from his mind. But when we forgive, we forget in the sense that the evil deed is no longer a mental block impeding a new relationship.
Finally, there is freedom involved in forgiving. At times, unforgiveness can constrict our vision so much so that we cannot see the truth of what our enemy is saying. If the Devil can say something which is true, what is more, our mortal enemies. Of course, the Devil cannot be trusted to be truthful but he can still say something which is true. The very people we hate or are angry with are capable of truth. So, without forgiveness, we destroy our freedom to hear the truth. Funny thing is that the very people whom we cannot forgive may just sleep well at night and the one who hurts is the one who does not know how to forgive. From bearing wrongs patiently to forgiving willingly, we know that an inability to bear with one another and a heart unwilling to forgive will definitely consume our energy and drain us of the motivation to do other more important works of mercy be they spiritual or corporal.
BY REV. FR. SIMON YONG KONG BENG S.J.
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Tonight we turn to yet another work of mercy which is to bear wrongs patiently and forgive offences willing.
What does it mean to say bearing wrongs patiently and how is that different from forgiving offences willingly? Let us just say that wrong is not always wrong. As a priest once said to me, left is right and right is wrong. Confusing as it sounds, that was basically an instruction given to someone whilst driving. What I am trying to say is that wrong is not always wrong. The other way of phrasing this spiritual work of mercy is to be patient with those in error. When I state that wrong is not always wrong I am saying that firstly, nobody intends to be wrong and secondly, some people are just “wrong” FOR US. The operative words are “FOR US”. Let me explain.
If you have gone to Thailand before, you would have seen T-shirts, “Same same but different”. The original phrase describes “lady-boys” who have added female features yet retaining the OEM—Original Equipment from Maker! It illustrates a subtle nuancing whereby we may like to think that we are all the same but really what appears to annoy me might not be what irks other—thus wrong is not always wrong. Think pilgrimage and as the Ringgit swims underwater, not infrequently strangers are forced to share rooms. I had one pilgrimage where a cough threatened to derail our journey.
In an uber-sensitive world, anything can upset anybody not solely because we are different but because we have developed this overwhelming sense of uniqueness that is our individuality is expressed to the extreme. And the older you are, the more set you are in your ways. For example, poor as I am as a religious, I do not like a stranger to sit beside me during a Economy flight. I like my space. The Teochews have a word for it “Kou Tuck”.
When we are set in our ways, we often like to impose on others our norm as if it is the only norm or standard there is. This is made even more pronounced when our social space is organised according to the principle of me. It is all about me.
Why me? Whenever sorrow strikes us, many a complaint will be “Why me”? Apart of the celebration of victimhood, we are basically children of our age. What gives this “why me” syndrome? A possible explanation is the shift that took place almost 400 years ago and ever since that tumultuous upheaval, the universe has gradually moved at a pace almost imperceptible that has transformed truth to meaning, from a heteronomous perspective to an autonomous worldview. Truth is no longer a question at the top of our minds, meaning is. Simply put: Heaven is not important, earth is. Salvation is not important, liberation is.
You can count the number of young people here every day. For many of them, Mass is boring because the truth of the Mass is not as important as the meaning of the Mass is to them. Meaning is premised on personal satisfaction. It does not interest me. I do not feel a thing coming here. The transformation from truth to meaning changes the question “What is it?” to “What is in it for me? When “I, me and myself” is the centre of the universe, the only result of that is an increased in irritation when the world does not conform to my expectations.
You know OCD? It does not stand for Ordo Carmelitarum Discalceatorum (or Order of Carmelites Discalced). OCD is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Do you realise that so many people are suffering from OCD? Cleanliness and Orderliness are two common expressions of OCD behaviour.
I think that OCD is a form of hungering for God. The more we make ourselves the focus and the more we banish God from the centre of the Universe, the more OCD we will witness because this desire to be “ordered” is a divine innate quality bestowed by God. When we do not know who the Author of order is, we will go out of our way to be more ordered thinking that that is what Godliness is. And for that, the world has to suffer our “disordered” orderliness, our OCD.
Look at the servers. Are they an expression of OCD? I am impressed by the deliberate and regimented steps that make them sway in unison. The first day I came, I was fascinated and I tried to sway with them but I am always out of synch. This is just one example of the way they serve. The question here is this: Is their way of serving an expression of a priest, namely your parish priest’s psychosis or OCD?
As previously stated, if order is a reflexion of God then chaos must be the product of the Devil. Order points us in the direction of God and the liturgy is musical in the sense, according to Pythagoras, as music properly composed according to mathematical principles, is one of the best measure for an ordered universe. Perhaps you can make the connexion between a beautiful rhythmic swaying of the entrance procession as an example that reflects the order of the universe.
The tricky part here is that the line between God’s order and OCD is rather thin which brings us back to Truth as a communal search. It is not just “my” search for Truth. In all that we do as Church, there has to be dialogue and conversation amongst us. But, it is not restricted to just amongst us meaning it is also not just “our” search for Truth. This dialogue or conversation must, in addition, take place between us and the Magisterium and the Tradition amongst others.
Yesterday, I mentioned about the Church in heaven, the Church in purgatory and the Church on earth. Each time Catholics speak of Tradition with a capital T, it means our communal search cannot be independent of the Church in heaven and the Church in purgatory. Perhaps you appreciate why the Church does not change her practices willy-nilly just because time has changed or just because fads have shifted.
In this search, bearing wrong or errors patiently is an expression charity as we communally search for truth. We do not possess the truth. We need to bear in mind that some people can seem more arrogant than others. Some people speak differently from others. People are definitely not copies of me. When you work together, this will come out. People are not as clever as I am. People are not as generous as I am. And my irritation grows. It is not always easy. And sometimes, I guess it takes heroic strength to bear the wrongs of another person. There were two professors—one a chemist and the other a philosopher. They are known to have called each other by name. The Chemist to the Philosopher: Navel Contemplator. The Philosopher to the Chemist: Shit Analyser. Both are priests. Both are Jesuits. Both live in the same community. Not easy right because both are headstrong. But nonetheless, they are not excused from a very important Spiritual Work of Mercy because bearing wrongs patiently is pre-requisite for the next work of mercy.
Bishop Fulton Sheen makes an interesting distinction and let me paraphrase him: “Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error meaning be kind to those who are in the wrong but be firm about the truth we want to stand with because we do not possess the truth.
This brings us to forgiving others willingly. The difference between bearing wrong patiently and forgiving other willingly lies in deliberation. Wrongs are not intentional—they are just things out of order. If you think about it, no one wakes up in the morning and the first thing he does, like Mr Burn of The Simpsons who drums his fingers and say in a most wicked quivering voice: “Let me see, today I am going to irritate my husband”. It is not malice even if sometimes we ascribe malicious intent to the offending person. In short do not flatter yourself—the wicked world does not revolve around you. (Only victims do lah).
If wrongs are not deliberate, offences are in the sense that an injury has been done to us. And for that, forgiveness is demanded of us. I have heard it mentioned that it takes a lot of strength to hang on. But it takes so much more to let go. When our sense of justice is warped by revenge then forgiveness will come across as weakness.
Unforgiveness may be emblematic of love. If we love deeply, it follows that the cut will be just a deep. And, the more we love, the greater will our struggle be to forgive. Perhaps the difficulty of letting go of hurt in order to forgive is symptomatic of our hoarding culture. One of the side effects of a consumeristic culture is the need to hoard. If we hoard things, we can also hoard resentment and unforgiveness and we can nurse them like they are our treasures.
Forgiveness does not mean that we forget totally as Dr Martin Luther King said: Certainly one can never forget, if that means erasing it totally from his mind. But when we forgive, we forget in the sense that the evil deed is no longer a mental block impeding a new relationship.
Finally, there is freedom involved in forgiving. At times, unforgiveness can constrict our vision so much so that we cannot see the truth of what our enemy is saying. If the Devil can say something which is true, what is more, our mortal enemies. Of course, the Devil cannot be trusted to be truthful but he can still say something which is true. The very people we hate or are angry with are capable of truth. So, without forgiveness, we destroy our freedom to hear the truth. Funny thing is that the very people whom we cannot forgive may just sleep well at night and the one who hurts is the one who does not know how to forgive. From bearing wrongs patiently to forgiving willingly, we know that an inability to bear with one another and a heart unwilling to forgive will definitely consume our energy and drain us of the motivation to do other more important works of mercy be they spiritual or corporal.
BY REV. FR. SIMON YONG KONG BENG S.J.
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Christians need to be truthful and to be extremely careful not to be deceived and to be influenced into saying and thinking that comparing the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible to others similarity is legitimate and the same. "IT IS NOT."
To pay attention to why we believe, what we believe, how we believe, in whom we believe is definitely not 'spiritual narcissism' but is the source for speaking credibly and communicating effectively "the word of life" and "the word of God."
In this context, saint or apostle Paul's doctrine reveals explicitly, and clearly founded on divine [God] revelation. His own apostolic experience made it explicit to him that it is not human wisdom and eloquence but only the force of the Holy Spirit that builds the Universal Church.
Thus, 'I believe in order to comprehend' and 'I comprehend in order to believe.' Saint Augustine of Hippo begins to comprehend that things said simply can be true, while things put eloquently may be lacking in substance. In other words, the harmony between faith and reason means above all that God is not far away; He is not far from our reasoning or from our love; God is intimately connected to every human being, very close to our hearts and close to our reason if we truly believe and follow His path.
Faith and reason are not alien or separated to each other. Accordingly, all our experiences must be subjected to the canon of reason, and reason in most cases is basically scientific reason whose foundation for knowledge is based on observable data. When reason is restricted positivistically, then, everything else becomes a matter of personal judgment or opinion. But, reason is not just restricted by the criteria of science.
Faith is a form of reasoning too. It takes the assumption from the experience that the order can be trusted. You ask a child to jump off a ledge and the child will hesitate but once the child knows that you can be trusted, he will jump without thinking, without 'reasoning' be he knows that the one who asks for it can be trusted. In fact, in many cases, when you play with a trusting child, he will jump even when you are not ready to catch him. This shows that belief or faith is a form of reasoning which cannot always be explained scientifically.
The most emphatic reason atheism is on the rise is that more and more people desire to live without accountability and consequences. They desire and want to do whatever they please, regardless of the consequences. Therefore, they choose not to entertain the truth and the idea of God who calls them to a life of holiness, humility, and compassion.
Sadly, atheists have no absolute standards of right and wrong, good and evil, since they do not believe in God. As a result, they will justify their actions whether right or wrong, good or evil, and will always not own up to their actions. Apparently, it is not a matter of the absence of evidence of a supernatural God, but rather of choosing the easy way out.
On the contrary, advances in science and the ability to do and think critically have actually divulged overwhelming evidence of "Omnipotent" [God] and in fact, many from the scientific fraternity concede that it is becoming harder to maintain a stand for the absence of God in the light of such evidence. However, for many or most of them, the cost of living according to God's way and truth is too high a price to pay, and so they choose to turn a blind eye to the evidence.
"We have no power to resist the truth; only to further it. Must I go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by it? But I will move on to the visions and revelations I have had from the Lord. From Paul's, an apostle who does not owe authority to men or his appointment to any human being but who has been appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ and by God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead.
I am astonished at the promptness with which you have turned away from the one who called you and have decided to follow a different version of the Good News. Not that there can be more than one Good News; it is merely that some troublemakers among you want to change the Good News of Christ; and let me warn you that if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one we have already preached to you, whether it be ourselves or an angel from heaven, he or she is to be condemned.
I am only repeating what we told you before; if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one you have already heard, he or she is to be condemned. So now whom am I trying to please - man, or God? Would you say it is men's approval I am looking for? If I still wanted that, I should not be what I am - a servant of Christ.
The fact is, brothers and sisters, and I want you to realize this, the Good News I preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We wish you the grace and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in order to rescue us from this present wicked world sacrificed Himself for our sins, in accordance with the will of God our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. - " - Gal. 1:1-12 -
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
To pay attention to why we believe, what we believe, how we believe, in whom we believe is definitely not 'spiritual narcissism' but is the source for speaking credibly and communicating effectively "the word of life" and "the word of God."
In this context, saint or apostle Paul's doctrine reveals explicitly, and clearly founded on divine [God] revelation. His own apostolic experience made it explicit to him that it is not human wisdom and eloquence but only the force of the Holy Spirit that builds the Universal Church.
Thus, 'I believe in order to comprehend' and 'I comprehend in order to believe.' Saint Augustine of Hippo begins to comprehend that things said simply can be true, while things put eloquently may be lacking in substance. In other words, the harmony between faith and reason means above all that God is not far away; He is not far from our reasoning or from our love; God is intimately connected to every human being, very close to our hearts and close to our reason if we truly believe and follow His path.
Faith and reason are not alien or separated to each other. Accordingly, all our experiences must be subjected to the canon of reason, and reason in most cases is basically scientific reason whose foundation for knowledge is based on observable data. When reason is restricted positivistically, then, everything else becomes a matter of personal judgment or opinion. But, reason is not just restricted by the criteria of science.
Faith is a form of reasoning too. It takes the assumption from the experience that the order can be trusted. You ask a child to jump off a ledge and the child will hesitate but once the child knows that you can be trusted, he will jump without thinking, without 'reasoning' be he knows that the one who asks for it can be trusted. In fact, in many cases, when you play with a trusting child, he will jump even when you are not ready to catch him. This shows that belief or faith is a form of reasoning which cannot always be explained scientifically.
The most emphatic reason atheism is on the rise is that more and more people desire to live without accountability and consequences. They desire and want to do whatever they please, regardless of the consequences. Therefore, they choose not to entertain the truth and the idea of God who calls them to a life of holiness, humility, and compassion.
Sadly, atheists have no absolute standards of right and wrong, good and evil, since they do not believe in God. As a result, they will justify their actions whether right or wrong, good or evil, and will always not own up to their actions. Apparently, it is not a matter of the absence of evidence of a supernatural God, but rather of choosing the easy way out.
On the contrary, advances in science and the ability to do and think critically have actually divulged overwhelming evidence of "Omnipotent" [God] and in fact, many from the scientific fraternity concede that it is becoming harder to maintain a stand for the absence of God in the light of such evidence. However, for many or most of them, the cost of living according to God's way and truth is too high a price to pay, and so they choose to turn a blind eye to the evidence.
"We have no power to resist the truth; only to further it. Must I go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by it? But I will move on to the visions and revelations I have had from the Lord. From Paul's, an apostle who does not owe authority to men or his appointment to any human being but who has been appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ and by God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead.
I am astonished at the promptness with which you have turned away from the one who called you and have decided to follow a different version of the Good News. Not that there can be more than one Good News; it is merely that some troublemakers among you want to change the Good News of Christ; and let me warn you that if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one we have already preached to you, whether it be ourselves or an angel from heaven, he or she is to be condemned.
I am only repeating what we told you before; if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one you have already heard, he or she is to be condemned. So now whom am I trying to please - man, or God? Would you say it is men's approval I am looking for? If I still wanted that, I should not be what I am - a servant of Christ.
The fact is, brothers and sisters, and I want you to realize this, the Good News I preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We wish you the grace and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in order to rescue us from this present wicked world sacrificed Himself for our sins, in accordance with the will of God our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. - " - Gal. 1:1-12 -
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. 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 -
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