Saturday

The Religion WAR (12-27)

 
 
    It's astounding to me that a German pope—speaking at Auschwitz, of all places—could not come up with something similar to the comments made by Angela Merkel. I believe he steered clear of the subject because, like many Germans, Pope Benedict xvi disagrees with many of the key statements Merkel made—including the mention of shame and guilt.
    [WAR: There are sooo many things wrong in this article by the "Philadelphia Prophet" -- who prophesies in Baal's name -- but I'll only address the main subject, which is: How can B16 be ashamed of something that didn't happen?
    I hate and despise the pagan Whore of Rome. I will condemn all her evil ways and teachings, but when it comes to the truth of history -- what did, and didn't, happend in the past -- I'll let the truth defend whoever it may.]
 
    Benedict XVI says that even consecrated persons need to guard against an increasing process of secularization that is gaining ground in modern times. "The process of secularization is gaining ground in modern culture [and] unfortunately does not even spare communities of consecrated life. Hence it is necessary to be cautious with lifestyles that risk abating evangelical witness, rendering pastoral activity ineffective and weakening the vocational response."
 
    Benedict XVI will bring with him to the US this month a "revolution of virtue," says the leader the Knights of Columbus. "We are talking about a revolution of virtue, but of the theological virtues: faith, hope and love. And this is the message Benedict XVI has given us with his 2 encyclicals, Deus Caritas Est, on love, and Spe Salvi, on hope."
    The supreme knight said that especially during this election year, Americans are waiting "in a tremendous way" to hear about "the question of change and the question of hope, and Christianity is a religion of change and a religion of hope."
 
    The Vatican has issued a statement emphasizing that a revised version of the traditional Good Friday prayer for Jews should not be seen as a change in Catholic teaching regarding the role of the Jewish people.
    The 4-paragraph Vatican statement, issued by the Secretariat of State on Friday, responds to protests raised by some Jewish leaders after Pope Benedict XVI released a new version of the prayer for the Good Friday liturgy in the 1962 Roman Missal. While eliminating a reference to the "blindness" of Jews, the Latin-language text retained a prayer for their conversion.
 
    Italian journalist Magdi Christian Allam, the Muslim convert baptized by Pope Benedict XVI during the Easter Vigil, said the Pope played a key role in his conversion despite the fact that prior to his baptism he had never met the Pontiff.
 
    No churches should be permitted in Saudi Arabia, unless Pope Benedict XVI recognised the prophet Mohammed, according to a Middle East expert. While Saudi mediators are working with the Vatican on negotiations to allow places of religious worship, some experts believe it will not occur without this recognition.
    "It would be possible to launch official negotiations to construct a church in Saudi Arabia only after the Pope and all the Christian churches recognise the prophet Mohammed. If they don`t recognise him as a prophet, how can we have a church in the Saudi kingdom?"
 
    The world's Catholics are now outnumbered by Muslims, according to the editor of the Vatican's statistical yearbook. The latest data (from 2006) show a worldwide population of 1.115 billion Catholics, but 1.322 billion Muslims.
    "For the first time in history, we are not at the top," Msgr. Formenti told the Vatican newspaper. He noted that the Catholic proportion of the world's population has held steady in recent years, while the Muslim representation has grown because of the larger family sizes in the Islamic world. Catholic families are having fewer children, he observed.
    While Muslims outnumber Catholics, Christianity - taken as a whole, including Orthodox and Protestant faithful - still represents the world's largest religious group, with well over 2 billion believers.
 
    The doors of Opus Dei are open to everyone, says the prelature's vicar general, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz. Zenit spoke to him for the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Opus Dei as a personal prelature -- the only one in existence at present. He explains the relationship between this institution and the dioceses, and says that the strength of the group is simply the power that comes from the Gospel.
 
    Papal writings on social and especially economic questions began with an attempt to give guidance on particular situations as the Church authorities saw it at the time, given current resources, and ends up trying to establish, perhaps unwittingly, or at least some people trying to establish, a consistent "corpus" of social teaching.
    In this author's opinion, this attempt has been at least a partial failure. One major reason is that in Social Teachings one is not generally dealing with revelation, but with applying eternal principles to concrete political, social and economic questions, in which the Church authorities have no special expertise outside of moral teaching itself.
 
    A leading Catholic moral theologian has called Catholic Relief Services to task for condoning condum use in the fight against AIDS. He says that while CRS does not promote condum use, the agency's written materials, distributed in Africa, include a "how-to" guide on condom use, and discuss the benefits of condoms.
    [WAR: Again, part of the AIDS agenda is to force the Catholic church to change its teaching on condom use. But the Whore won't do this, because she needs all the little Catholics that people can pop-out. The more Catholics, the more power.]
 
    Egypt has ordered the seizure of a special edition of the German news magazine Der Spiegel after it was deemed to be insulting to Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. The magazine contends that Islam is a Christian offshoot and contains several images and comments insulting to the Prophet Mohammed, citing a "German orientalist" who said Islam incites violence and terrorism.
 
 
 
    After 40 years of Europe saying "no" to its future, the Neocatechumenal Way is leading the way to say "yes," according to the archbishop of Vienna. Cardinal Schönborn said this at a meeting of 9 cardinals and 160 European bishops who gathered at the Domus Galilaeae International Center on the Mount of Beatitudes in Galilee to reflect on the New Evangelization in Europe.
    "In the last 40 years," said Schönborn, "Europe has said 'no' to its future 3 times: in 1968 when it rejected 'Humanae Vitae'; then, 20 years later, with the legalization of abortion; and today with homosexual marriages."
    "This is an objective 'no' to the future. The only voice in Europe that has promoted and is promoting the future is the Catholic Church with Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and so many others.
    "The Neocatechumenal Way is without a doubt an answer of the Holy Spirit to this situation and I have been able to see it as a bishop and as a shepherd. I have seen parents saying 'yes' to life in an encouraging and generous way; they are saying 'yes' to the future."
    At the end of the gathering, the bishops released a joint declaration to launch the re-evangelization of Europe. The archbishop of Kracow underlined the importance of the gathering: "It is very important because morality is in a deep crisis in Europe, not just in an individual level, but in an institutional level as well."
 
    Arab and Islamic leaders last Saturday denounced a Dutch film that portrays Islam as a ticking time bomb aimed at the West, demanding international laws to prevent insults to religions. The 15-minute film entitled "Fitna," or "ordeal" in Arabic, by a Dutch anti-immigrant politician has brought condemnations from Muslim capitals and street protests in Pakistan after it was posted on a Web site.
 
    The leader of a doomsday cult in Russia tried to kill himself by hitting his head with a log because his apocalyptic vision had not come true, officials said. "It was an attempted suicide. Pyotr put his head on a tree stump and started hitting his head with a log. He is in hospital with a head wound."
    Pyotr Kuznetsov, who had been hospitalized after being diagnosed with schizophrenia, was allowed out to try to persuade his followers to come out of caves where they had been awaiting the end of the world.
    Officials in the remote area 435 miles southeast of Moscow say that 11 people are still underground, arguing abut whether to emerge. They have said they will come out on April 27, the Russian Orthodox Easter.
    Kuznetsov gathered his followers into what he called the True Orthodox Church. In addition to a belief that the end of the world is imminent, the group refuses to eat processed food. Authorities have presented them with a cow because they refuse to drink milk packaged with bar codes, which they believe are satanic symbols.   
 
 
 
    An animal rights group is threatening to take legal action to prevent the Jewish Temple movement from carrying out an educational demonstration of the Pesach sacrifice next week.
    The demonstration of the Paschal sacrifice is part of a study day scheduled to take place on Sunday, the First of Nissan (April 6), at the Kotel Yeshiva in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. The study day is a joint project of the Temple Institute, the Sanhedrin and the King David Museum. It was originally planned to take place one week later.
    [WAR: Actually, the new year starts on Tuesday. So they're 2 days early this year.]
 
    Ancient slings, oil lamps and anointing jars alongside an advanced center charting descendants of biblical King David. On display fashion trends from the streets of Jerusalem during the times of David. Men dressed in Biblical clothing who provide guided tours for patrons.
    Welcome to the King David Museum & Genealogy Center, a new interactive museum that officially opened its doors last week in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City. Located on Tiferet Yisrael, the main pedestrian district in the Old City neighborhood known as the Jewish quarter, the museum is dedicated to the life, rein and legacy of the second biblical king of Israel.
 
 
 
    Canada's Anglican church is breaking apart, mirroring the strife in the worldwide Anglican communion.
 
    Tony Blair will spell out why he believes faith and young people can solve the problems of the world and will call on religious leaders to work together to "awaken the world's conscience".
    In his first major speech in the UK since leaving Downing Street last year, the former Prime Minister will address the whole area of faith in a global context, a subject about which he is passionate.
    In his wide-ranging speech, titled "faith and globalisation", Blair will say that he is passionate about the importance of faith in the modern world and will emphasise the need for people of faith to reach out to one another.
    Blair will describe why he believes that faith can be a progressive force, helping to advance humanity and end global poverty. He will say that the Millennium Development Goals are "the litmus test" of the world's values and that, while faith groups do great individual work in this area, they could do even more, if helped to work better and more closely together.
    The Millennium Goals as described by the UN are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development.
 
    Will belongs to a Plymouth Brethren family, and listening to music, watching television or seeing films are all forbidden to members of the reclusive religious sect. "The Plymouth Brethren is a very secret society. They keep to themselves and it took a lot of investigation to find out more."
    The Plymouth Brethren was started by law student John Nelson Darby in the early 1800s after he broke away from the Anglican Church in Ireland. A gathering in Plymouth, Devon, in 1832, gave the sect its name, but 10 years later, the group itself split into 'Exclusive Brethren' and 'Open Brethren' - the former being much stricter.
 
    Catholic and Anglican bishops have been campaigning for months against government plans to update the regulation of fertility treatment and embryo research. Easter sermons provided a platform to denounce those plans from on high. With little other news, the prelates gained a hearing far beyond their flocks. On March 25th the prime minister, Gordon Brown, conceded to their main demand.
 
    As the last major primary state for the Democratic Party presidential contest and a contested state in the general election, Pennsylvania Catholics could play a key role in determining the presidential race.
    "While a candidate cannot win on the Catholic vote alone, there is no doubt Pennsylvania Catholics are a key swing vote candidates must understand. No politician can win if they have upset the Catholic apple cart."
    Some observers see an internal struggle taking place in American Catholicism as believers try to reconcile their religious and moral duties with their involvement in both political parties. Most Catholics have traditionally supported the Democratic Party.
 
    On the road to clinching the Republican party nomination for president, John McCain worked hard for the endorsement of influential Evangelical Christian ministers. The ministers are helping shore up McCain's support on the party's right wing, which has always been sceptical about whether the Arizona senator is a true-blue conservative. But in seeking a path to the White House, it seems McCain is counting on the politics of fear and relying on a disturbingly belligerent spiritual guide.
 
How the religious right uses the 'prosperity gospel' to win foot soldiers and continue its culture war.
    Researcher Sarah Posner has been following the Religious Right for several years and writes a blog called The FundamentaList for the American Prospect. Her new book, God's Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters examines the role advocates of the "prosperity gospel" play in the Religious Right.
    Posner talked recently with Church & State about her research and the status of the Religious Right today.
 
(And you thought Tom Cruise was scary.)
    Just how crazy have our politics become when members of Congress bow down to a cult leader on Capitol Hill who dresses up like George III...jet-sets around the world with the Bush family...and publishes a powerful newspaper?
    This is the larger-than-life story of Reverend Moon, the billionaire Korean preacher behind the Washington Times, the heart of the GOP media machine...who literally claims to be the Second Coming...to whom D.C. insiders shamelessly pay homage.
 
Clueless Catholics on...
    Here on Earth there are celebrities or "celebrated" people (they used to call them "idols"), and they exert an influence, especially those in Hollywood, often an unfortunate one. What do they believe? How do they view God?
 
    In a first for the East End, creation of an eruv, a symbolic fence used in Orthodox Jewish observance, is being sought by a synagogue in Westhampton Beach. The resolution formally requested permission from the village last month to erect the eruv, which creates an area within which Orthodox Jews can push or carry things without breaking religious law that bans work on the Sabbath outside of one's home. "According to Jewish law, one can carry items outdoors on the Sabbath only when the act occurs within a proper enclosure."
    [WAR: Oh, what a burden "the Jews" have made of the Sabbath day -- according to their Jewish law, but not by Biblical law!]
 
 
 
Pot warning about the kettle...
    An apologetics writer says many Christians are not prepared to face off with Jehovah's Witnesses in door-to-door encounters. In his new book, The Tower of Deception, Louis Ruggiero says many Christians do not realize the teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses conflict with scripture.
    For instance, he points out that Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus is actually Michael the Archangel and that he returned to earth -- invisibly -- in 1914.
 
    There are 2 ways to approach the Bible. The first is that of considering it an old book, full of religious wisdom, of moral values, and of poetry too. From this point of view it is absolutely the most important book for understanding our Western culture and the Judeo-Christian religion. It is also the most printed and read book in the world.
    But there is another, much more demanding way to approach the Bible, and it is that of believing that it contains the living word of God for us, that it is an "inspired" book, that is, written, indeed, by human authors, with all of their limitations, but with God's direct intervention. A very human book and, at the same time, divine, that speaks to men of all times and reveals to them the meaning of life and death.
    The 2 ways of approaching the Bible -- the way of erudition and the way of faith -- do not exclude each other, on the contrary, they must be united. It is necessary to study the Bible, the way in which it should be interpreted (or to pay attention to the findings of those study it in this way), so as not to fall into fundamentalism.
    Fundamentalism consists in taking a verse from the Bible, just as it sounds, and applying it to today's situations, without taking into account the difference of culture, of time, and of the different genres of the Bible.
 
Today in Scripture
    "In the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin from prison on the 27th day of the 12th month."
(2Ki 25:27).
    But: "... he released Jehoiachin and freed him from prison on the 25th day of the 12th month." (Jer 52:31)
    So: "Probably on the 25th day the decree for his elevation was given, and the preparations for it made by releasing him from prison; and on the 27th day it was carried into effect." (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary)
    [WAR: Over the years of my calendar studies, I've read/heard it said that the Bible doesn't mention a 13th month, so therefore there shouldn't be one. And I didn't really have a good Scriptural answer to that conundrum.
    But now I have one. We all know that each lunar month has either 29 or 30 days, right? But guess what! The last day of a month recorded in the Bible is today, the 27th day! There is no 28th, 29th or 30th day mentioned. But does that mean that they don't exist or shouldn't be used in determining time?! Of course not.
    So, just because the Bible doesn't specifically mention a 13th month doesn't mean it doesn't exist or shouldn't be used when needed/determined -- not by man, but by the heavens.]
 
 

posted by The Daily Warrior | 9:49 AM