Rapture? not

Here it is May 22 and we're all still here, awkward. For Harold Camping I mean. Actually, I am probably wrong there. Ol' Harold most likely does it just to gain attention and 50 million dollars every ten years. I think if I were Camping at this point I would just fold up my clothes all nice and hit the road. His little 'rapture prophecies' have ruined many families with divorce, after the women lose respect for their husbands for believing this BS. It has also caused people to lose their faith. But I'm sure that doesn't bother our friend. Na', he'll just keep up his little scam 'til he dies and goes to meet his corrupter. 

His love, mercy, and forgiveness

Everybody likes the New Testament God better. The old God, from the Old Testament, was, to many appearances, mean. He was even seemingly often on bad terms with His own people, and told Moses he would destroy them more than once. In fact, He did destroy them at one point (Noah's Ark), though this was before Moses. The Pharisees often stressed the wrath and punishment of God. Jesus, on the other hand, is almost thought of as God's other side, and not to mention His, from our point of view, better side. In many of our "Christian songs" on the radio, for example, the singer starts out by telling of his evil past life, but then, instead of begging forgiveness, states, as in one popular song, "I'm forgiven!!" While it is true the Pharisees did not speak of God's love and forgiveness to the people near enough, at least it kept them in fear of the Lord, if not love. Today we're basically taught to love God, but not to fear him, for "He loves us so much that hell is extremely rare." So today it's like we're making the same mistake the Israelites did, just turned around. Now we do not stress God's judgement enough, which can, if we are not careful, create, ( it already has) lax Christians. Christians who say, " I don't have to worry about hell, even if I do sin, because God loves me so much." are lax Christians, or Christians who like to make up an excuse so as to keep sinning, and then state that they're "forgiven." So we have taken the most wonderful thing God ever did for us, dying for us, and have twisted its meaning so that we can sin even more. As a demon in C.S.' Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters, states, "He (Jesus) did not become one of them and die among them by torture-in order to produce candidates for Limbo*; 'failed' humans. He wanted to make saints; gods; things like Himself" God's judgement is just as real as His love, and they both should be equally stressed. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's views on the subject were: "Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." 
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer



   * Limbo is used to mean purgatory, a place where deceased humans go to have their sins purged from them, since they were not good enough for Heaven, but not quite bad enough for hell.

God hates it, do you love it?

             The question on the Harry Potter books is definitely a large one, and one that needs an answer. As a Roman Catholic I am sworn to follow the Pope,who is the Vicar of Christ. Our current Pope, Benedict XVI, is opposed to Harry Potter and wrote two letters in 2003 to MS. Kuby, the author of Harry Potter-Good or Evil?. In a letter dated March 7, 2003 Cardinal Ratzinger thanked Kuby for her “instructive” book Harry Potter - gut oder böse (Harry Potter- good or evil?), in which Kuby says the Potter books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still young. Here are the official letters from the Cardinal Ratzinger to Kuby in 2003:

Esteemed and dear Ms. Kuby!

Many thanks for your kind letter of February 20th and the informative book which you sent me in the same mail. It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.

I would like to suggest that you write to Mr. Peter Fleetwood, (Pontifical Council of Culture, Piazza S. Calisto 16, I00153 Rome) directly and to send him your book.

Sincere Greetings and Blessings,

+ Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

=======================

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
  Vatican City
  May 27, 2003

Esteemed and dear Ms. Kuby,

  Somehow your letter got buried in the large pile of name-day , birthday and Easter mail. Finally this pile is taken care of, so that I can gladly allow you to refer to my judgment about Harry Potter.

  Sincere Greetings and Blessings,

+ Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

                     So for those of you who follow the Pope, well, he is against Harry Potter.

            For those Christians among you who don't acknowledge the Pope's authority, I shall quote some scripture, seeing as you beleive in scripture alone:

Deuteronomy 18:9-11 (New International Version, ©2010)

Occult Practices

 ⁹ When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. ¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, ¹¹ or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.

Acts 19:18-20 (New International Version, ©2010)

¹⁸ Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. ¹⁹ A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.^{[a] 20} In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Footnotes:

1. Acts 19:19 A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day’s wages.

                    Satisfied? YOU'D BETTER BE!!    

           

            And for those of you who don't even believe in God, the only way I can help you is right here   

Veterans Day

Vets. Day is a day to honor those who have served in wars, though I think that some veterans are not given credit on Vets. Day but deserve it none the less. I had this person primarily in mind: Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc was born on January 6, 1412, and is probably one of my favorite saints because of her cause, FREEDOM for her country, France. After hearing voices tell her that it was her destiny to lead France out from under the English yoke since about age 15, Joan started her work at age17. Through her miraculous eloquence  she even got the King of France to her side. She soon was leading armies and lead many successful attacks, though her most noted battle is probably when she raised the siege of Orleans on May 8th, 1429. On may 20, 1430 she was captured by the allies of the English, the Burgundians and burnt at the stake for heresy on May 30, 1431. France was eventually freed and the Dauphin was crowned King Charles the VII of France as she had always hoped.
              

The Catholic Church

This is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. Here is something on it:

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a prominent Latin Rite Catholic basilica located in Washington, D.C., honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the Patroness of the United States. It is the largest Catholic church in the United States, the eighth largest religious structure in the world, and the tallest building in Washington, D.C. An estimated one million pilgrims from around the country and the world visit the basilica each year. The basilica is located on Michigan Avenue in the northeast quadrant of Washington, on land donated by The Catholic University of America. Nearby is the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

Construction of this church, notable for its Neo-Byzantine architecture, began in 1920 under Philadelphia contractor John McShain and opened unfinished in 1959. The Basilica is the Patronal Catholic Church of the United States, honoring Mary, Mother of God, under the title Immaculate Conception. It is not the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Washington; the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle serves as church of the Archdiocese. The Basilica is sometimes confused with the Washington National Cathedral, also a National Historic Landmark, which is an Episcopal church chartered by Congress as the National House of Prayer.

Who are the Eastern Catholics?

The Eastern Catholics are no different than Western Roman Catholics except that they use different rites.

They also say the mass differently, and sing more of it than The Western Roman Catholic Church does. They are in Communion with the Pope, and agree with The Western Church on almost everything except certain rites.

Definition of RITE

1

a : a prescribed form or manner governing the words or actions for a ceremony b : the ceremonial practices of a church or group of churches

2

: a ceremonial act or action <initiation rites>

3

: a division of the Christian church using a distinctive liturgy

Examples of RITE

1. Incense is often burned in their religious rites.
2. <the annual summer rite of loading up the car for the big family vacation>

Origin of RITE

Middle English, from Latin ritus; akin to Greek arithmos number — more at arithmetic

First Known Use: 14th century

Winner

Hurray GOP!! These historic elections will change the history of mankind! Maybe, sort of, not really, no. It's still good to know that the Republicans are in power though, and I hope we get some better laws.