Christ’s sending the Spirit at Pentecost is often misunderstood. Some erroneously believe that until then, the Spirit had not been very active in the world. This is not what the Christian faith teaches. The Spirit has always been active, and, as Scripture says, goes where she wills. Throughout all history, the Spirit has inspired people, giving them grace, helping them to be holy. We see this, for example, with the prophets, for they spoke in and through the Spirit, proving... Read more
Paul was upset to see Christians fighting against each other, for he saw that it could and would bring not only discord, but actual division within the church. He saw Christian unity being divided up into various factions. Christians were becoming, as it were, rivals with each other. They fought and argued with each other over petty differences of opinion or practice. Many became followers, not just of Christ, but of their favored apostles or leader, centering around them more... Read more
Many people misconstrue the Christian faith and its teaching of salvation because they understand it only with a legalistic mindset. They conceive of sin as they do crimes, that is, sin is only some violation of a law which God put in place. How those laws are established is not clear, especially as it seems each law is promulgated for different reasons. What is clear is that we do not need to know God’s reasons: the law, once it is... Read more
Those who often speak upon religious liberty and human dignity often do the exact opposite of what they say. This is especially true within politics. Politicians like to portray themselves as defending freedom, and with it, religious liberty and human dignity, so that they can suggest that their critics and political opponents do not. They might give a limited nod to each, hoping that doing a little will prove they stand by their words, but when their ideologies run contrary... Read more
Prelest, that is, spiritual deception, readily tricks people who hold so much pride that they believe no one or nothing can ever deceive them. They think so highly of themselves, they will never question themselves, their experiences and their interpretation of those experiences, especially if those experiences can serve to reinforce the notion that they are somehow great and should be listened to by others. Prelest relies upon someone to not be willing to consider the possibility that they can... Read more
The first six ecumenical councils, from Nicea to III Constantinople, show Christians slowly developing a way for them to best express the basic elements of their faith. It was not an easy process. There were many who took elements of revelation and over-extended them in a way to ignore or reject other elements of revelation, leading to some sort of heresy. There were terms established by the councils, like homousios, which became normative, while there were other expressions of Christian... Read more
One of the most difficult elements of Christianity for us to understand, thanks to the way we have been led to think and consider ourselves as mere individuals in modern times, is the way Jesus, the incarnate God-man, is said to have made atonement for our sins. That is, we have a problem understanding his substitutionary atonement for us. It is not possible in a short space to properly respond to all the concerns people can and do bring up.... Read more
As the world burns with the highest average temperatures ever recorded, Republicans continue to play interference in regards to what is needed to deal with climate change. Everyone should be working together to deal with the rising temperatures as everyone will find themselves adversely affected by climate change. We are responsible for what is happening to the earth. Morally, no sound argument can be made to justify ignoring our duty to protect the earth and all the life which lives... Read more
Nostra Aetate is a very important document from Vatican II. This is not because it creates a new theological position on non-Christian religions, but rather, because it revitalizes and confirms an element of Christian tradition which had been neglected and lost in modern times (especially after the Reformation). While Christians obviously do not agree with non-Christians in regard to all their beliefs and practices, Christianity has long accepted that the work of God in and with the rest of the... Read more
Love is at the heart of the Christian message. God loves humanity, indeed, God loves the world and all creation, even after it has been defiled by sin. Sin should not to be viewed as a real, ontological substance. Rather, it the effect which comes about due to a choice, an act of will, and it is established when someone chooses a particular good for themselves at the expense of the greater good, leading to the corruption or destruction of... Read more
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