I don’t know if any of you saw the Frontline piece
On the Vatican, on the reasons Benedict left, etc.
An awful lot of us have known all of this all along, I’m afraid.
Which is why I am quick to point out that Catholics do not choose our “Leaders”, they are chosen for us. The system is precisely feudal and based on royalty, this is why bishops are addressed as “Your Excellency” and cardinals as “Your Eminence”.
We have been extremely lucky that for a good deal of my life we have had benevolent leaders, but that day is over. The painful truth is that an overlarge portion of the clergy is- as Ann Barnhardt calls “Homosexualist Marxist”
Do not forget that there are still a lot of decent clergy. Do not forget that there are still some decent Christians on the planet.
Sadly, I fear that that number is on the order of 50-80,000 actual Christians. I wish I could actually count myself among their number.
The world we allow to exist normalizes perversion, glorifies human sacrifice, and promotes greed. We have earned this world of filth.
Join me, if you will, in praying this simple prayer each night as you go to sleep:
“Lord, make me an instrument of Your Will”
And know that if He chooses to do so, your life as you know it will be ripped to shreds.
40 comments Og | Uncategorized
Yep.
And I just woke up with a clearer and darker vision of America this morning.
A generation of godless, self-centered, ‘uninstructed in the nurture and admonition of the Lord’ are voting for leaders that reflect them.
So it was said, so shall it be done.
“Lord, make me an instrument of Your Willâ€
Og, this simplest of prayers is easy for us to glibly pray, yet for the reason you note, the sincerity of our desire for an affirmative answer to the prayer may be somewhat lacking.
Og, I will say that prayer the day I sling my rifle and pack, and head out to join battle. I fear that day will soon be here.
There are no atheists in foxholes.
John: I have long known of your disconnect from the Creator. I pray someday you understand as well.
Dog: I pray that day never arrives.
I have long known of your disconnect from the Creator.
Og, your statement is an unqualified judgment. I can damn myself, as can the Creator, but you cannot, and may not.
On a purely philosophical note, it is impossible to tell if God is using you as an instrument of His will or not, without regard to you having prayed for it.
I know people who ascribe to the “every sparrow” philosophy when crediting God’s will and those who demand to see a gilded plaque bearing God’s own PKI, and the words, “I DID THIS”. Either way, the results are pretty much the same all around.
Only an observation. You have chosen to believe demonstrable lies. The Creator does not lie. You are correct; I cannot damn you and certainly would not. Your own actions do. Your very attitude convicts you.
Hale: not impossible.
One sure test is if they claim to be acting on gods behalf, they are not.
Only an observation.
Understood, Og.
You have chosen to believe demonstrable lies.
Og, would you please, specifically, elucidate?
The Creator does not lie.
Amen.
I will be happy to, but not in this format. We can have this discussion via live chat on aim or Google talk but I will not do so via any other format, period.
Og, I am not a member of either of those formats. Is an email exchange out of the question?
Sometimes I despair at the open “freedom theology” and “assimilate to the borg,” ie, disarm stuff I hear at Mass, and my kid hears at CCD. But I am a Roman Catholic (poor) Christian. It is a quandary for me.
John: yes. Aim and Google talk are free but if you have another real time platform you would prefer let me know.
Knox: you and me, brother.
Og, I’ve initiated AIM, and am currently online under my actual name, or my yahoo email address. Are you available?
Frontline’s narrator [search] has always uses this matter of fact and intoned delivery that adds presumptive weight to whatever the subject. But it is informative to watch how the Frontline crew carefully edits how they introduce each segment. It reveals their bias and tells quite a bit.
Because of the judge not lest ye be judged rule that is too often used as a cop out not to take a position against even the most flagrant crimes, I have not met clergy that is fully trustworthy. The repeated overlooking of evil within the RCC undoubtedly started with that rule and festered into cover-up over time, not all of it related to money as this damnable story has been threaded.
You can get a glimpse of the the thinking of the Marxists applying Critical Theory authors at Frontline when they introduce Francis. There was this one woman gushing how “he IS the best pope of all time.” ORLY? Let me be the first to note how that unbalanced and unchallenged exclamations is so much like awarding Zero the Nobel Peace Prize simply for being elected Prez of the USA before he served a day in office.
And of course Frontline labels anyone who adheres to the old principles as conservative (implying cover-ups are conservative — don’t miss that!). And then Frontline asserts how Francis has but one sure rule — that capitalism around the world is sinful.
Since I’m not Roman Catholic, and many tell me I’m nuts to defend them in any way, that is not what I’m doing here. All the evils that Frontline starts off telling us are bad are gonna be overlooked because it’s suddenly kind of like “judge not lest ye be judged.” But those damned capitalists and holders of private property, well, they apparently now are fair game to Francis.
And the Frankfurt School alumni at Frontline are not directly saying how they feel about that. But Francis is the best Pope evah.
The leadership of any old institution in this world cannot be trusted is the point to take away from this. (I would note that Frontline itself has become quite hoary, but they never were trustworthy to begin with.)
So we come down to Og’s prayer.
I say, Amen.
I’ve found a sure-fire way to tell when God has used me as an instrument of His will: I never realize it until after I’m finished. If I go into something saying “I’m doing this because God wants me to” I’m probably wrong. It’s always in retrospect that I see God’s hand guiding me.
At the risk of falling under the derision of the host here, I would like to make the statement that this is why organized religions push so many people away. These are institutions of man, not of God, and as a result, are prone to the weaknesses and failings of men, and will always fall short of God’s perfection. Before I lost my ability to have faith, I was absolutely reticent to participate in an organized church because I could not get past these hypocrisies. It felt unclean, that the only advertised way to properly worship a perfect being was through a flawed and imperfect human institution. I wouldn’t accept it, and so I decided not to participate. Perhaps that is why I lost my faith. I don’t know. As flawed and imperfect as I am, who was I to judge?
I do know that I envy those who still have faith. My losing it was not a conscious decision. I just woke up one day and realized that I no longer believed. How comforting it must be to know these things, instead of just being in the dark, as I am.
Og, I know that this is going to piss you off, but it wasn’t posted with that intent in mind. Forgive me, but I couldn’t help but draw that moral, and was interested to see where it took the discussion.
Mark D: Oorah.
Goober: you’re confusing faith with belief. Probably nobody ever taught you any differently. I can fix that for you if you like.
John: my workday starts at five and usually ends around seven. Look for me around eight central.
To be somewhere around 10-12 years of age again. That was when I was old enough to start understanding what the Catholic Church (my church at that time) was all about. The joy of getting at least a couple of questions one comes up with at that age answered….and having faith that with enough time, and proper knowledgeable pursuit, good Lord willing, many more could be answered.
It was a time when I honestly considered what it would be like to take up the calling of the Priesthood. Of listening to our “senior” parish Priest ( A fine upstanding Irishman of the old school theology….his fire and brimstone homilies were not to be missed) and knowing in your heart that he spoke the truth.
That church has long since died….and I have (also) since fallen far far short of most everything God has given me to do…. I would pray your prayer….but I would be very much afraid of what the Good Lord would task me with…my penance will be steep.
“my penance will be steep. ”
Guy: No steeper than mine, trust me.
As for me, all I can say is Bring It. I would much rather face my failings here on earth than forever in eternity.
Yep….should have been a bit clearer….just cause I will be a tad on the “apprehensive side”, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen. Hell, any service (active, former, or retired) member will tell you that if the “balloon ever goes up” they would to a man (or woman) be scared of what it potentially could mean to them and or their families…but we were trained…we were as ready as we would ever be…so bring it on. The ones you had to worry about were those who professed to not be scared at all. Those were the #@(^ who got themselves (and unfortunately others) killed in very short order.
I for one, am thankful for his Mercy.
‘Cause I’d surely not enjoy being measured by His Justice.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
We started a men’s groups centered around a video series called “That Man Is You” and it covers much of what you are talking about Og… mainly, we as men have failed to follow God’s laws and instructions, much as David and Solomon did, so now we are suffering the same thing they did… our only hope, Besides God, is to rectify that and start being the men we are called to be and following Gods instructions… I have faith and know that only thru’ God can these problems, all of them, be solved or at least bearable… I would suggest all look into this series.. very good..
You can bet that I will Mr Dennis.
I’m all ears, Og. I meant what I said about being envious of those who have faith.
Og, you love to point out that the Lord is always in control. Another way of saying this is that He designed nature to be self correcting.
Wretchard wrote something this evening that parallel’s that thought.
BTW Goober, that demonstrates faith. As Og professes, people would be far happier were they to divorce faith from belief. Let me try something Og may not approve of, but I feel works for me. Do you believe the sun will rise in the East tomorrow? Or is your expectation even more fundamental than that? More fundamental than belief is faith.
Something I noted in my first comment has happened again. Our Soviet-Style Media has begun a trend.
1) OBama getting his Peace Prize just for being elected.
2) Francis annoited by Frontline as the greatest Pope ever before the white smoke cleared of Vatican City.
3) Ronan Farrow Receives Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism — After 3 Days on Air!
Pascal – the sun rising in the East is based on my knowledge of how the solar system works, not on faith or belief.
Faith would mean that I trust that it will happen with every ounce of my being, despite lacking the possession of the information necessary to KNOW that it will.
Belief is simply saying “it has every day up to this point, so I believe it will tomorrow.”
Goob: Check your mail.
Og, I’ve written extensively about my own experiences of institutional hypocrisy in the Church in various blog articles – I’m sure you’ve read them.
The worst of it is, I acknowledge my own guilt as a sinner, my own desperate need of salvation: but if I wish to be reconciled with the Church, I have to be willing to state that I was all wrong and the Church is right in what she says and does about the scandals. In conscience, I don’t believe that for a moment – but that leaves me forlorn and outside the walls.
What’s a man to do if he wants to be true to what he believes?
I’d appreciate your prayers, as you have mine. May both of us be forgiven our sins, and be brought to everlasting life.
Peter: I understand your issues, and I have to tell you, at this point it’s easier to ask the lord who NOT to help. The list is smaller.
We have also gotten to the point that there is serious hazard to property if we light any more candles at mass.
I have reconciled myself with my Creator. He himself told me that wherever two or more are gathered in his name, there he is also. That’s good enough for me. I prefer the word of The Lord to the rules of men, even if they were well intentioned men.
Just my $0.02, but I just can’t believe in organized religions, like some of the other posters. This doesn’t mean I don’t believe in God (by whatever name you choose). I rarely feel closer to the Holy than when I’m hunting; truly open, attentive to everything, appreciative of the simplest & most profound sights & sounds, grateful for the simplest pleasures, and convinced (YMMV) that it all couldn’t have come together without some Author. Tree-huggers would scoff, but then they don’t understand how hunting is the most merciful & beneficial thing for the hunted species.
But what do I know? I feel close to the Eternal when on a long ride on my motorcycle, as well. I don’t think I’m bent toward belief: I have been an atheist & an agnostic in 49 years. I’m not baptized & will not be. I’ll take my chances: I think living as the best man I know how to be will win the favor of the Judge. If I’m worng, I’ll pay for it. It’s neither easy, nor always (immediately) pleasant being a “good” man. I still try.
Budd, you also probably never had anyone explain the difference to you. So damned many were raised by wolves, I swear.
Whoops, I’m already wrong (not “worng”). I stand by the rest.
Budd, all you need is to believe in Jesus.
He that believe in me (Jesus Speaking) shall have eternal life. As I recall all four of the direct witness accounts of his life say the same thing.
Course once you accept him, regardless of source, you are bound. There in lies the rub.
Og;
Can you resend to the e-mail linked to this post instead?
I just realized I was using an outdated e-mail that I don’t have access to anymore – a relic from having last posted here years ago, I guess.
Will do.