The Joys of Monotheism

I AM A MONOTHEIST!! (giggle, clap, smile, "yeah!")

Finally! Whew.

I had no idea how this had weighed on me all these years. Cognitive dissonance doesn't usually red flag itself in your subconscious. It is like a strange pain you get used to and ignore. Then one day you take an Advil and realize that you feel GREAT! You weren't even aware you had been carrying this pain around until it is gone.

Hallelujah! Beethoven you have given me a song to sing.

Several people have explained the Trinity doctrine lately in comparison to the doctrine I had grown up with. And I don't know if the Seventh-day Adventist church taught me wrong or I just wrongly understood their doctrines. But I have always thought deep down that Christians were really polytheists and wouldn't admit it.

When my husband and I had decided to be missionaries to Egypt, (right before 9-11 and the state department discouraged us from going) I was trying to figure this subject out. This is a huge issue with both Jews and Muslims. They consider Christians polytheists and I needed to know how to explain it so it made sense. Well, I couldn't. It didn't make sense. We were polytheists and just trying to excuse it.

BUT NO MORE!! I'm not saying I totally understand how God can be three in one. I am not there yet. I have, however, stepped up into a place where I CAN see the Catholic Dogma of the Trinity and understand it so much better than I ever did in my former religion. Wish there was a way I could express it in written words. God is one, expressed in three forms--all the same substance. I had always seen them as three separate beings, not truly united in one, but like three family members who thought alike.

No, that was not right. The Trinity is more Spirit than form, symbolized in the Cherubim angels. Not fully represented by the unity of man and woman physically in marriage, but their spiritual union. Yes, hard to explain and I am doing a terrible job.

I think repeating the Nicene Creed has also helped. "Begotten, not made", one in substance,  "True God from True God".... these words are making an impact and I love it.

Now God has taken the cognitive dissonance away and I feel as light as air. I feel like I just became a real Christian. But that is not new to me at all. Each day I awake and grab my rosary and pray the Divine Chaplet of Mercy and say the Nicene Creed, I feel like a new Christian.

Man, I LOVE being Catholic.

(Lady Dragon, I think you were one of those people who was discussing the Trinity that helped me. Thanks!)

As a Bride Adorneth Herself For Her Husband....

Some examples of the casual dress at Sunday Mass in North Carolina.

 This is just to show that flip flops are very common, even among older people. 

You can't see it, but this shiny gold shirt, worn by an older woman in the choir, has a T back and she has on a black miniskirt. 

Jean shorts and tank top blouse, this is NOT a teenager but a woman in her late twenties, early thirties.

This woman, in her late thirties, is a bit casual for church. The spaghetti straps  probably would be better at a backyard picnic.

You can see women in capri shorts and sleeveless shirts. Not immodest, but for Sunday Mass?

Yes, she is a teenager, about sixteen, but her parents should not have allowed short, short jeans and a t-shirt.  

Another example of the casual dress; grown men without shirts tucked in and shorts. Fine for a baseball game, but what are we saying about our respect for the presence of Christ in the sacrifice of the Mass? 

Bishop Burbridge needs to see these pictures. These are pretty tame examples of what we have seen and are by no means the worst. We have seen many college age girls wearing short short jeans and t-back t-shirts with bra straps showing. Women with strapless towel material dresses, like beach wear. Flip-flops, common. Nice shorts on men, okay--but with t-shirts, or shirts not tucked in? This is not just about modestly, it is about what we are saying to the world and our children about the respect we have for Sunday Mass.

I am certainly not upset at these people or necessarily blame them. It is our Protestant American culture that does not have the real presence but only a symbol who have begun this trend in casual attire for church. And that is okay for them, because church is a symbol. However, for Catholics, no way. What are we saying when we come before the King of Kings and Lord of Lord to partake in the holiest act of worship, the holiest consummation of Christ and His Bride with such flippant and unconsidered attire?

Just one more picture to leave you with, an older woman and her daughter, just as they were leaving church.

Idolatry and Symbols

The Protestant religious worldview is based upon Christian symbols. They suppose themselves to reject rites and rituals, but when it come to things of God, they are all about the symbolic.

To most Protestants:

• The Body of Christ is not a tangible, physical organization, but a conceptual fusion of sincere hearts. The Kingdom of God on earth is allegorical, not a organized, connected body--but somehow a blurry, abstract spiritually-connected group. This  spiritual connection is not specifically defined but assumed by many to be a belief in sola scriptura and sola fide--or, for the more simple minded--their love for Jesus.  

• Baptism is nothing more than a symbolic public confession that they have received Christ into their hearts. It has no intrinsic grace. There is no regenerated New Man as the death and resurrection with Jesus at baptism represents more of a legal exchange than an authentic "born again" experience. For a Protestant a person's new birth occurs with an experience--when a person asks Jesus to come into their hearts as Savior. 

• The Communion Bread/Eucharist is symbolic to a Protestant. And here is where we see the huge difference in worldview which affect our views of each other. 

In Protestant corporate worship, they come together to pray, sing praises and to listen to a sermon usually about a Bible text. Many imagine that their assembling together to worship brings a fuller presence of God than in their personal devotions at home. But from those I have encountered, many do not. They believe that God is no more at church, than He is in their private prayers and Bible study.

The very essence of Protestant worship and doctrines are:  spiritual symbols, spiritual thoughts, spiritual feelings, spiritual experiences that happen in their heart.

The symbolic even bleeds over to their actions. Many evangelicals and fundamentalists teach that a Christian should not expect any apparent sanctification in their lives. Moral growth and becoming holy is to them, again, symbolic.

So, all that to build my case:

When you see Christianity through the lens of the symbolic; when baptism, the church, spiritual growth and the Eucharist/Communion bread is all allegorical; when your highest form of worship is infused with symbols, then you see idolatry in Catholicism's symbols. 


When kneeling to pray to God is a Protestant's highest form of worship, they see idolatry when they see someone kneeling to a statue of Christ or Mary or another saint. They cannot fathom that to a Catholic kneeling is subsidiary to worship. It aids in worship but it is not worship itself, as throughout history and in almost all cultures one would bow to one's king, queen or local lord or even to one's family. The Bible is replete with these examples.

When prayer is the highest form of worship, Protestants see idolatry when they see Catholics praying to saints. They cannot fathom that to a Catholic praying is subsidiary to worship. It aids in worship but is not worship itself, as throughout history and in almost all cultures one would pray (or in today's language: petition) to one's king, queen or local lord. History is replete with these examples.

These actions ARE worship to a Protestant, the fullest expression of what humans do to worship. So when they see others acting in a way which represents their highest and most holy form of worship, they sincerely believe Catholics are idol worshipping.

What they don't realize is two-fold:

1. Catholics highest form of worship is not praying, praising, bowing or even studying God's written word. To a Catholic the sacrifice of the mass is the highest holiest form of human worship. Worship is the re-presentation of Jesus on the Cross to the Father. It is partaking of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist. All other things are worship aids--the music, the rites, the rituals, the candles, the stained-glass windows, the genuflecting and bowing, the reading of scripture, the prayers. All these things are not worship in and of themselves but are done to keep our hearts and minds upon the greatest and most holy act of all time:

Jesus on the Cross.

Coming before Him at the foot of the Cross and joining with Him in the sacrifice for our sins and those of the whole world, participating in the Last Supper with Him and joining our very bodies with Him in eating of His true flesh, that and that alone is the fullness of worship. (And that is why we keep Jesus on the cross in our crucifixes--always reminding us of what Jesus did for us at the Cross.)

Just as holding hands and kissing are not the fullness of marital consummation, but aids to bring two people together in the fullness of human intimacy, so bowing and praying, praising and Bible study are not the fullness of worship. As you can hold hands with your parents and kiss your siblings without committing adultery because you have not reached the fullness of consummation (and it was never a temptation to go there!) So we can pray/petition others, bow to them without even a hint of idolatry.

2. Secondly, what Protestants do not realize is that worship has for all history been participating in sacrificing to idols. The first commandment of God on Mt. Sinai:

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them..."

This making of an image and bowing down to serve it means, within the context of Hebrew history, sacrificing a living thing and sharing in a covenant meal with the god, who the pagan believed to be alive. They would bring them food and drink, they would consult the oracles as to what the idol told them to do or to find out predictions of the future.

Pagan worship was not symbolic! It was a true joining with the demonic spirit's soul through a covenant meal offering. They worshipped a piece of stone, or an animal--not by just bowing or even praying to them as symbols. But this "bowing and serving" was known to all as joining themselves to the idol through a corporate sacrifice of a covenant meal. That was why Paul kept bringing up eating meat sacrificed to idols in his letters to the different churches. Joining in a covenant meal with an idol was tantamount to adultery. Please, if  you don't believe me, do a Biblical study on what idol worship was in the Old Testament.

Idol worship wasn't symbolic, so Protestants misunderstand true idol worship because they cannot fathom a spirituality that is real, with a real Body of Christ in a real church, a real Eucharist and a baptism of regeneration.

The Fall of the Knights of Columbus

This is so disappointing to my husband and I. We were so looking forward to his joining the Knights soon.

Being Good

Little Richard, the fifties rock idol, came to the Dallas First SDA Church when I was a preteen and gave a titillating conversion testimony mostly recalling his wild and exciting fall from grace, which secretly inspired a desire in me to have such a theatrical repentance story. 

But then again... I would have to be that bad first! Something seemed wrong to me in the scenario that to have a really good testimony for the Lord, I would have to first ruin my life. 

Today, I see the American Christian culture, because of its fear of the “righteousness by works” mindset, concentrate exclusively on the negative salvation formula of:  God’s amazing grace saving a “wretch like me.” Of course, all of us find ourselves captive to sin and can rejoice greatly in a gospel that promises, “God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," (Rom. 5:8). 

We seem totally oblivious to a positive and less destructive method in which a human can discover the love of God. 

It is not only through failing and repenting that one can grow in grace, but it is also through the struggle of winning over sin that we can come to a deep insight into what Christ went through on the cross for us.

Let me give an example. A husband, who has never been such a good guy, commits adultery and is truly repentant. He asks his wife for forgiveness and comes to know Christ’s love for him through his deep sorrow for this wicked act. An understanding seizes upon his soul of what Jesus did to save him from the eternal consequences of sin. And that is wonderful, praise God! 

But what about the wife who choses to freely forgive? Her agonizing humiliation by receiving back a husband who doesn’t deserve a second chance may be the experience where she gains an even deeper revelation of Christ’s sacrifice. By picking up her cross and following Him, she may grasp a penetrating first-hand cross experience. And what way to identify with another who has been through the fires of hell than by going through them yourself? 

Again, I wish to stress, I am not speaking of earning salvation, only becoming aware of Christ’s love for you. 

Both the act of selfish sin and the act of selfless love can be used to bring us to the Cross, flooding us with insights into the character of God.

May I suggest being good has gotten a bad reputation by Christians because we run from the idea that we can even be good and the fear of works-righteousness. But in the end, our lives will be a lot less miserable if we can find God in being good. 

Climate Change and Christianity

[The Lord] is about to deprive Jerusalem and Judah of resources and provisions -- all reserves of food, all reserves of water-  of hero, warrior, judge ... People will be ill-treated by one another, each by his neighbor; the young will insult the aged, and the low, the respected. For Jerusalem has collapsed and Judah has fallen, because their words and deeds affront Yahweh and insult his glorious gaze. Their complacency bears witness against them, they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not conceal it, all the worse for them, for they have hatched their own downfall. ... O my people, their oppressors pillage them and extortioners rule over them! O my people, your rulers mislead you and efface the paths you ought to follow!       Isaiah 3: 1- 9 selected (NJB)

Global warming a myth? Who really knows. But for Christians convinced that they will plunge the world into a new ice age or scalded desert from drinking bottled water, take a look at this text. Maybe it is not our overuse of natural resources that is causing weather catastrophes. 

Sounds as if God takes away our resources, not because we don't separate our aluminum from our glass trash for recycling, nor from failing to compost for our organic gardens.

Could global warming be directly related to our complacency? Our sin? 

Perhaps the problem stems from that fact that we have disdained God's original command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Satan has twisted our science and used it to promote fear of overpopulation, defying God's instructions to procreate--so now we think we are doing the planet a favor by using contraceptives and murdering our children through abortion? 

The world is on the verge of collapse alright, but the earth is groaning and wrenching from its forced ingestion of toxic sin, not toxic waste. True Environmentalists need to break the yoke with which they have joined with Planned Parenthood and the radical left. If you want to save Mother Earth, love your neighbor, respect your parents, appoint judges who will bring justice, that our sins will no longer affront and insult our Holy God. The creation is crying out because of our sins, our complacency. The Creator is hearing..... 

3 Characteristics of the Diabolical....

This is truly interesting:

The video at the bottom of this post is of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. It is a fascinating excerpt from a longer video he did, where he analyzes the diabolical (anything of or relating to the Devil), from several different perspectives. In the excerpt I present, he identifies three characteristics of the diabolical by examining the story of the Gerasene demoniac, depicted in the synoptic gospels. Here is the story as Luke presents it:

They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.  Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.. (Luke 8: 26-30)

You will then recall how Jesus drove the demon(s) out and into the herd of swine.

From this story and also based on an insight from a psychiatrist of his time (the talk was given in the mid 1970s), Bishop Sheen sets forth characteristics of the diabolical:

1. Love of Nudity – For the text says: For a long time this man had not worn clothes.
2. Violence – For the text says: though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains. Mark 5:4 more vividly adds: For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
3. Division (Split Personality and divided from others) – for the text says, many demons had gone into him.Mark’s version has the demoniac reply My name is Legion, for we are many. (Mk 5:9). Further all the texts say the demoniac lived apart from others, in solitary places.

So here are three characteristics of the diabolic.

It does not take much analysis to see how these three characteristics of the diabolic are alive and flourishing in the modern world, at least the Western branch of it. Let’s consider them

1. Love of Nudity - This is clearly manifest at several levels. First there is the widespread tendency of immodest dress. We have discussed modesty here before and ought to note that modesty comes from the word “mode” referring to the middle or to moderation. Hence, while we want to avoid oppressively puritanical notions about dress that impose heavy burdens (especially on women) and regard the body as somewhat evil, we must also critique many modern forms of dress at the other extreme. These “fashions” reveal more than is reasonable and generally have, as their intent to draw attention to aspects of the body that are private and reserved for sexual union in marriage. Too many in our culture see little problem parading about in various stages of undress, wearing clothing that are more intended to disclose and call attention to, than to conceal the private areas of the body. This love of disclosure and titillation is surely an aspect of the Evil One’s love of nudity, and he has surely spread his obsession to many in the modern West.

Pornography, though nothing new in this fallen world, has surely reached epidemic proportions via the Internet. Any psychotherapist, counselor or priest will tell you that addiction to pornography is a huge problem among people today. Pornographic sites on the Internet outpace all others tenfold. Multimillion Americans are viewing enormous amounts of pornography and the “industry” is growing exponentially. What was once hidden away in adult bookstores is now one click away on the Internet. And the thought that browsing habits are easily discoverable matters little to the addicts of this latest form of slavery. Many are on a steep slope downward into ever more deviant forms of porn. Many end up at illegal sites before they even know what has happened to them, and the FBI is knoocking on their door. Satan’s love of nudity has possessed many!

The overall sexualization of culture also ties in to Satan’s love of nudity. We sexualize women to sell products. We even sexualize children. Our sitcoms chatter endlessly about sex in a very teenage and immature sort of way. We are, collectively, goofy and immature about sex, and our culture giggles like horny teenagers obsessed with something we don’t really understand. Yes, Satan loves nudity, and everything that goes with it.

2. Violence – We have discussed here before how we, collectively, have turned violence into a form of entertainment. Our adventure movies and video games turn violent retribution into gleeful entertainment and death into a “solution.” Recent Popes have warned us of the culture of death, where death is increasingly proposed as the “solution” to problems. In our culture violence begins in the womb, as the innocent are attacked and it is called “choice” and “rights.” The violence and embrace of death continues to ripple through culture through contraception, violent gang activity, easy recourse to war and capital punishment. The past Century was perhaps the bloodiest ever known on this planet and untold people in the hundreds of millions died in two world wars, hundreds of regional wars and conflicts, horrific starvation campaigns in the Ukraine, in China and elsewhere, genocides in Central Europe, in Africa and Southeast Asia. Paul Johnson, in his book Modern Times estimates that over 100,000,000 died in war and violent ways in the just the first 50 years of the 20th Century. And with every death, Satan did his “snoopy dance.” Satan love violence. He loves to set fires, and watch us blame each other as we burn.

3. Division - Satan loves to divide. Archbishop Sheen says that the word “diabolical” comes from two Greek words dia+ballein, meaning “to tear apart.” My own study of Greek, poor that it is, does not yield this result.  Rather dia means “through” or “between” and ballein means “to throw or to cast.” Nevertheless, the Good Archbishop was a learned man and I ask you Greek Scholars to set me straight and defend Bishop Sheen.

But, even still, it is clear that the devil wants to divide us, within our very own psyche and among each other. Surely he rejoices at every division he causes. He “casts things between us” (dia+ballein)! Diabolical indeed. And thus, we see our families divided, the Church divided, our culture and Country divided. We are now divided at almost every level: racial, religious, political, economic. We divide over age, race, region, blue and red states, liturgy, music, language, and endless minutia.

Our families are broken, our marriages are broken. Divorce is rampant and  commitments of any sort are rejected and deemed impossible. The Church is broken and divided into factions, so too the State, all the way down to the level of school boards. Though once we agreed on essentials, now even appeals to shared truth are called intolerant.

And within too, we struggle with many divisive drives and forms of figurative and literal schizophrenia. We are drawn to what is good, true and beautiful and yet what is base, false and evil also summons us. We know what is good, but desire what is evil, we seek love, but indulge hate and revenge. We admire innocence but often revel in destroying it or at least replacing it with cynicism.

And Satan dances his “snoopy dance.”

Three characteristics of the diabolic: love of nudity, violence, and division. What do you think? Is the prince of this world working his agenda? Even more important: are we conniving? The first step in over-coming the enemy’s agenda is to know his moves, to name them and then rebuke them in the Name of Jesus.

Thank you Archbishop Sheen. Your wisdom, God’s Wisdom, has never aged.

Pay attention to What the Good Archbishop has to say:

http://blog.adw.org/2011/07/three-characteristcs-of-the-diabolic-and-how-they-are-manifest-in-the-modern-world/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=three-characteristcs-of-the-diabolic-and-how-they-are-manifest-in-the-modern-world

Written by Msgr. Charles Pope Archdioceses of Washington

My Prediction

I think that within the next half-century Poland is going to be the country where persecuted Christians from all over the world will flee...