The Mystery of Faith

My parents raised me as a Catholic. So I understand much about the Catholicism and what Catholics believe about the Christian faith. Nonetheless, I did not understand enough. So when I read The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine at age seventeen, that was enough to cause me to drift away, and I did not return to Christianity until I was fifty years old (see THOMAS PAINE’S PROFESSION OF FAITH).
When I realized how foolish I had been, I did the human thing. I blamed someone else. I blamed the Catholic Church. Upon reflection, I realized that was not fair. I was smart enough to read the Bible, but until I was over fifty I had never bothered.
Since that realization, I generally take a neutral attitude towards the various Christian churches. When we organize churches, we do so to carry out the Great Commission. Whatever else we might want to say about it, the Catholic Church does do an effective job of spreading the Christian faith. Unfortunately, like most human organizations, it fulfills its functions in series of fits and starts, and on occassion it piles on some ideas that lead to much head scratching.
In The Mystery of Faith, Biltrix explains why Catholics believe the Mass is sacred. It has to do with “transubstantiation“.

In the Eucharistic Celebration, Christ himself is present among us in his body, blood, soul, and divinity. Once this occurs, the priest pronounces the words: “The Mystery of Faith.” (from here)

Supposedly, most Protestant churches do not believe in “transubstantiation“. Nonetheless, most Protestant churches believe something surprisingly similiar.

Matthew 18:18-20 Amplified Bible (AMP)
¹⁸ Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven.
¹⁹ Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever [anything and everything] they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven.
²⁰ For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I Am in the midst of them.

When Christians come together to worship, we do so to bring Jesus Christ into our midst. To aid us in our quest for salvation, we do as Jesus instructed us. That includes celebrating His last supper with His apostles. When we celebrate the Last Supper, together we remember Jesus. As His disciples we remember what He did for us. In our place, He died. Therefore, does it truly make any difference if Catholics believe Jesus is present with them during the Mass? Don’t all Christians effectively believe the same thing and for much the same reason? MORE

Voices without a Vote

The teenagers who speak in this video belong to http://www.im2moro.org. These young people realize that if they don't stand up and speak out for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness today, they will be living in a very different America tomorrow.

These young people may be too young to vote, but their rights are still protected under the Constitution. Hear what they have to say. Then, help them to defend their freedom, and yours, with your vote on November 6.

 Reblogged from Biltrix:



To some extent, we have missed important opportunities. To restore constitutional government, we must nominate Conservatives and elect them. Unfortunately, we have much to learn. So after this election -- even if we do well -- we will only have begun. Nonetheless, we must do what we can. We can remove Obama and throw out the senators who voted for Obamacare. We can repeal Obamacare. With sufficient effort, we can begin the restoration of constitutional government. With sufficient effort, we can keep those who cannot protect their rights from growing up to become serfs.

Words of wisdom : Citizen Tom

 

DO YOU BELIEVE MAN CAN PERFECT HIMSELF?

 

When America still considered itself a Christian nation, Americans knew better than to trust in the ambitions of their fellow men. They understood something about the temptations of their own pride.

Who Is Proud?

Consider this story told by Jesus.

Luke 18:9-14 New Century Version (NCV)
Being Right with God
⁹ Jesus told this story to some people who thought they were very good and looked down on everyone else: ¹⁰ “A Pharisee and a tax collector both went to the Temple to pray.¹¹ The Pharisee stood alone and prayed, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people who steal, cheat, or take part in adultery, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week, and I give one-tenth of everything I get!’
¹³ “The tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even look up to heaven. But he beat on his chest because he was so sad. He said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴ I tell you, when this man went home, he was right with God, but the Pharisee was not. All who make themselves great will be made humble, but all who make themselves humble will be made great.”

What is our natural inclination? Don’t we want to believe that neither the pride of that Pharisee nor the admitted sinfulness of that tax collector describes us? When we think of ourselves, don’t we want to think of ourselves as “good”? Then we are wrong. The Bible says we are sinners. Because we are proud, like that Pharisee we do not want to admit our sinfulness — that we too are subject to temptation — but when America still considered itself a Christian nation, Americans knew the Bible is right. Therefore, when America still considered itself a Christian nation, Americans limited the powers — and the temptations – of their public officials.
Why is such a thing necessary? Death is the great unknown. We can look out into space. We can see something is there, but of what lies beyond death we know only in faith. We have only the promise of our Creator, our Savior, that He will save us. Because our own failing hands are inadequate, without faith in God, we must seek salvation from another.
Imagine being that Pharisee. As the years unfolded, what would have happened to you? In time your body would have become weak, and you would have become increasingly dependent upon others. Would you have become humbled by the experience? Would you have begged God for His grace. Would you have persisted in the belief that you could save yourself with your works, or would you have sought a god of your own design? If you still believed man can perfect himself, what do you think you would do?
What Is The Consequence Of Putting Our Trust In Men?
Imagine you are joesix, and you are an advocate for what modern America calls Liberalism. How do you defend something like Obamacare? You talk about the promised results. Why? Instead of whether Obamacare is right or wrong, what you care about is whether the ends justify the means.
Look at ‘s last comments (here and here). Just as he did in these comments (here, here, here, and here), depends upon statistics, faraway examples, and so-called experts. Instead of talking about whether Obamacare is constitutional or about the financial (threatening bankruptcy) and ethical problems (Do we really want government to both run and regulate our healthcare?) we have actually experienced with government-run social programs, persists in talking about anything else. Nonetheless, repeats persuasive arguments. We elected Obama, didn’t we?
When our nation began drifting from Christianity, we forgot the age-old methods Satan uses to persuade us to evil. Referencing Genesis, Dr. Ron Jones explains how Satan tempts us today just as he once tempted Adam and Eve.

• The Serpent of Old, Part 1 and The Serpent of Old, Part 2 describe the temptation of Adam and .
• The Image Defaced, Part 1 and The Image Defaced, Part 2 explains the consequences and God’s plan for our temptation.

Since Dr. Jones explains Satan’s methods better than I, I will leave that to him. What I will point out here is how our experience with Socialist programs contradicts the propaganda. When we can see Socialist programs do not work — obvious failures – why do we need to counter absurd statistics and foreign examples?
What happens when we give our leaders too much power?

• Our leaders do not allow the Constitution to restrict their powers. Increasingly, President Obama blatantly chooses to ignore the Constitution. If Congress won’t give him what he wants, he just issues an executive order. See here and here for a couple of lists.
• We borrow forty percent of every dollar the Federal Government spends. We spend the majority of Federal funds on social welfare programs. In fact, defense spending accounts for less than a quarter of Federal spending. Check out www.usgovernmentspending.com.

Why Do People Refuse To Accept The Obvious?

Unfortunately, many people do not consider these observations relevant. Because we elect them, they expect our leaders will do what we want them to do. Even when the facts are so plainly obvious, they refuse to accept the fact that our leaders have their own ideas and their own plans. Many forget the rarity of democratic government. Yet if it was easy for the People to control their leaders, then democracy would be the norm.
When the Founding Fathers debated The United States Constitution, proponents wrote The Federalist Papers in its defense. Much of that document speaks to the problem that a People must solve to control their leaders. Here is an example.

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. — James Madison from The Federalist No. 51

Look again at that Pharisee. Consider his vanity. Is it unusual for a man to be too proud? Then imagine controlling hundreds of billions of dollars in Federal spending. Compare our president with billionaires. What Obama spends makes the wealth of even the richest look tiny.
Combined Federal, state, and local spending exceeds $six trillion per year. In addition, government regulations are costly. That’s why lobbyists fawn over politicians, and that’s why when we try to control our leaders they can propagandize us and buy many of us off with other people’s money.
In a three-part series starting with WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CHALLENGE THE ESTABLISHMENT — PART 1, I define The Establishment. If the folks in The Establishment want the majority of Americans to have good healthcare, all they have to do is let us spend our own money. Unfortunately, too many in The Establishment want to feed their pride, and that’s why they want to spend our money for us.

Citizen Tom