We are told in Scripture that it is God, not us, who is to act as the judge. We are also told, when Jesus comes again, he will judge the living and the dead. Taking the two together, we can conclude Jesus is God. It is Jesus who has the right to judge; anyone who presumes to take on that role and condemn others try to act as if they are God when they are not. Jesus is the just... Read more
Cruelty continues to be the point as Texas Governor Greg Abbott pushes on with his fight against migrants at the Texas border. He dehumanizes them in order to justify deadly barriers, barriers which he says are needed to keep people from illegally crossing the border. In reality, he is attacking those who are coming or staying legally, such as those looking for asylum, even as his own tactics are hypocritical as he has workers illegally cross the border to place... Read more
When we contemplate the eucharist, we can find all kinds of paradoxes associated with it, paradoxes which either can leave us in awe as we consider the implications behind them, or else, they can leave us wondering if we should continue to believe in the eucharist itself. The reason why there are two different responses is that some people easily accept the transcendent nature of truth, and understand they will not properly comprehend it, while others think the truth can... Read more
St. Paul warned us against using some external representation of the faith, however good and valuable they might be within a given context, as indications of faithfulness to God. Externals can have value. They can be used as signs and symbols of the faith. They can help explain the faith. Nonetheless, they must be used appropriately. They are to be treated like any and all disciplines. As long as they are helpful, they can be used, but when they cause... Read more
God created the universe out of nothing; this makes creation contingent in its existence. The nothingness predicated to creation is different from the nothingness which can be said to be found in and with God. The divine nature transcends being, and it is in this fashion God can be said to be nothing. God is not some being next to every other being because God is the source of being itself. God’s creative activity produces being, meaning, the production of... Read more
St. Isaac the Syrian reminds us of the consequences which follow if we do not take care of those in need, such as those who are sick: “He who despises the sick will not see light, and the day of him who turns his face from a man straitened by affliction will become darkness; and he who scorns the voice of one suffering hardship, the sons of his house will grope their way in blindness.”[1] Not only is it dangerous... Read more
We have many temptations and sins which we fall into throughout our lives. While we can understand why many sins are wrong to do,others challenge us, as we do not understand why they are so bad. We might avoid them, but do so the same way we avoid breaking the law: we fear the consequences which come if we do them, not because we think we shouldn’t do them. This kind of approach to sin has led us to engage... Read more
It is hard to imagine how different Christianity would have been without all the contributions women gave to the faith, especially when their contributions were respected and encouraged by various apostles like St. Paul. Yes, Jesus’ disciples showed confusion and misunderstanding concerning his relationship with women during his earthly ministry, but they seemed to have learned from it, and promoted the role of women in the church after Pentecost. This was one of the things which made Christianity quite different,... Read more
Humanity has had, and continues to have, many kinds of relationships with God. Many of them come from us and how we seek after and choose to understand God. For example, when we think of God as the creator, that produces all kinds of notions about God, notions which suggest our own relationship with God is primarily that of a created subject. Similarly, when we consider God as the absolute source and foundation of all things, we see the divine... Read more
Sophists like to generate generalizations; through them, they find it easier to create the equivocations they need for the rhetorical flourishes they like to use in their arguments. While they often act as if truth, or facts, are what they are interested in pursuing, their rhetoric serves to undermine it. Their arguments come for the sake of one ideology or another, one which they have either come to accept, or one which promises them the most personal gain if they... Read more
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