Abortion Trumps Pedophilia, Says Catholic Priest

Last updated on: February 11, 2020 at 3:54 am By Fellow Dying Inmate

Abortion trumps everything!—Rhode Island priest says “pedophilia doesn’t kill anyone,” but forbids Communion given to pro-choice lawmakers. Abortion, abortion, abortion. This is the one defining issue for Catholics, no? How you stand in relation to it defines whether or not you are even Catholic, yes? Not Baptism. Not Eucharist. Not love. Abortion. Isn’t that how we make it? It sure seems that way. That’s the way things get presented these days in many Catholic circles when approaching elections. How did... Read more

Evangelists Sometimes Didn’t Understand Jesus

Last updated on: February 10, 2020 at 2:40 am By Fellow Dying Inmate

Evangelists were elites representing two percent of the total population who could read and write—because their context was far removed from the Galilee, sometimes they are at a loss to understand the sayings and stories of Jesus. Evangelists, pray for us! Being a disciple of Jesus has never been easy. Just as we should grapple with Jesus and his sayings, so too the Evangelists did. These sacred authors did their very best to honestly present the words of the Master.... Read more

Fiery Catalyst is what “Salt of the Earth” Means

Last updated on: February 8, 2020 at 6:15 pm By Fellow Dying Inmate

Fiery catalysts, rather than flavoring or preservative, is what Jesus calls his disciples to be in this Sunday’s Gospel. Fiery tempers go unhinged often when Western Christians are presented with challenge to the status quos they enjoy. Change is the last thing many of us ever want to do. We prefer a Jesus who attends to our complacency and does not challenge us—just look at many Catholics and Evangelicals in relation to the Trump presidency. And when the real Jesus... Read more

Missing Gospel Stories!

Last updated on: February 7, 2020 at 9:29 pm By Fellow Dying Inmate

Missing from one Gospel, but included in another, traditions about Jesus differ widely between “Matthew,” “Mark,” “Luke,” and “John.” Missing stories!—why do some Gospels include a saying or doing of Jesus but others do not? Last week, we went over various difficulties experienced by Bible readers expecting the Gospels to be fact-precise like well-researched 21st century biographies. Our Gospels grew incrementally. This happened as followers of Jesus used his sayings and acts in new contexts. They drew parallels with Israelite... Read more

“Picard” Stellar Despite Fan Feelings

Last updated on: January 31, 2020 at 11:00 pm By Fellow Dying Inmate

“PICARD,” the latest Star Trek offering, is great, but it offers us an opportunity to look at our own expectations. I really like “STAR TREK: PICARD.” It’s good!—if you are going to give me old, give it to me old, but also give me the old new. Whatever you do, please don’t reheat frozen dinners from 20 years ago, my friends. I am a demanding customer when it comes to entertainment choices. To me, nothing at the movies or streaming, nothing... Read more

Difficulties! Gospels Cannot be Biographies!

Last updated on: January 31, 2020 at 6:06 pm By Fellow Dying Inmate

Difficulties abound for Western Bible readers expecting of the Gospels the kind of fact-precise, historically accurate material found in contemporary biographies. Difficulties ahead for fundamentalists reading this! Biblical peoples—whether inspired authors or the characters they wrote about—lacked our historical interests. They didn’t obsess over the line dividing fact and fiction, historical exactitude, detailed precision and accuracy. Their interests were theological. As we have seen, if they could extrapolate from Jesus and arrive at wisdom that was of “the Spirit of... Read more

Conversion (or Metanoia) of Paul?

Last updated on: January 25, 2020 at 9:29 pm By Fellow Dying Inmate

Conversion of Paul is January 25—but how did he “convert” when he remained Israelite all his days? Conversion, as it applies to Paul, is one of many things about which there exists much spurious familiarity. We celebrate “the Conversion of Paul” every January 25, but perhaps we should think of it as the feast day celebrating the Metanoia of Paul, or maybe, the Commissioning of Paul. Conversion is about changing groups, especially religious groups. From what group did Paul, the Israelite,... Read more

Sayings of Jesus Grew Into Gospel Stories

Last updated on: January 23, 2020 at 1:37 am By Fellow Dying Inmate

Sayings of Jesus, originally pithy zingers, grew over time into much larger Gospel passages as traditions evolved. Sayings of the historical Jesus or sayings of the earliest followers of Jesus attributing them to Jesus? The Gospels are full of supposed Jesus quotes, but scholars find it difficult to make sure these sayings’ origins! For a couple of posts, here and here, we have been looking at the difficulties scholars have in distinguishing sayings of the historical Jesus from later things... Read more

Sacrilege Reveals Scratch-Off Atheists

Last updated on: January 21, 2020 at 1:26 pm By Fellow Dying Inmate

Sacrilege should never happen, but sometimes it does, and it can even be the occasion for self-discovery. Sacrilege comes in many shapes and sizes. The Universal Catechism (CCC 2120) defines sacrilege here— Sacrilege consists in profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to God. Sacrilege is a grave sin especially when committed against the Eucharist, for in this sacrament the true Body of Christ is made substantially present for us.... Read more

Gospels and Beyond—Comparing “Sayings” of Jesus

Last updated on: January 20, 2020 at 4:00 am By Fellow Dying Inmate

Gospels, whether canonical or not, present difficulties to scholars wishing to learn about the historical Jesus. Gospels, like inspiration and incarnation, are a messy business! Last time, we compared traditions about Jesus’ sayings and doings, and their variations in the canonical Gospels. Our New Testament has four canonical Gospels—“Mark,” “Matthew,” “Luke,” and “John.” But in the first centuries after Jesus’ ministry, many more gospels were produced by the early Jesus groups than just those four. We count at least twenty-eight... Read more