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The Semantics of Easter

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2012/04/07 at 9:11 AM

Beginning in the 1960’s, a concerted effort was launched by influential clergy in the Vatican and their American allies to make radical changes in the Church. According to some, the changes have not enhanced the Church or the religious experience of the Catholic people.

The  most obvious was the complete overhaul of the Mass under the guidance of Archbishop Bugnini who worked in the Vatican. It was later discovered that he had been a secret member of the Masons, a group not well-disposed toward the Church. Bugnini’s goal, in his own words, was the make the Mass more acceptable to Protestants which is odd because Protestants do not even believe in the Mass in any form. The new Mass has been a subject of controversy ever since.

Another source of negative change were the  new Bible translations which too often actually altered the meaning of the original texts. One notable example concerns what used to be a familiar verse:”What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers (allows) the loss of his SOUL.” This is a warning from Christ Himself that the salvation of the soul is one’s most important need and goal. The contemporary wording is: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his LIFE?” Major difference. The idea that to become very wealthy and then die has no spiritual implications at all. To use a slang term…it’s a “tough break”, but little else. After all, everyone will “lose his life” at some time. The tragedy is not dying: it not being ready to die spiritually.

Another change for the worse is in the verse “My Father’s house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” The new reading is “My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a place of business”. In the time of Christ, the Jews had to convert their Roman coins to Jewish coins for Temple use. Money-changing was, in itself, legitimate. However, the men were gouging the  Temple attendees by giving far less vale in Jewish money than for the Roman money they took in. Christ was not objecting to the business aspects, but to the almost extortionary exchange rates over which the people had no control.

An even more serious change occurs in the Easter narrative. It concerns to change from the active to the passive voice (Normally translations would not change the voice of verbs.) The active voice in grammar means that the subject of the sentence is doing something himself. Ex. The man opened he door. The passive voice means that the subject is being acted upon by someone/something else. The door was opened by the man. The door did not open itself. In my younger years, the Easter narrative always read: “Christ rose from the dead.”, “He is risen: which are in the active voice and means that Christ brought Himself back to life.

Nowadays the words are in the passive voice. Christ was raised from the dead.”God raised Him up.” The problem is that some might conclude that Christ did not raise Himself and had to be resurrected by some other power like Lazarus and widow’s son were raised by Christ.

If we begin to doubt the reality of the Resurrection, it will damage our faith and lead to doubt about other aspects of doctrine, especially ones we may not be much in favor of. Thus, it is very important that we understand that Christ as God brought Himself back to life. He did not need any help.

Is all this re-translation an effort to deny or denigrate the Person of Christ. I don’t know, but the history of the Church in U.S. Certainly suggests I might be so. If the faith of a Catholic is weakened or lost, there is no alternative. In the words of St. Peter, “Where shall we go, Lord, you have the words of eternal life.”

The Resurrection of Christ is the singular event in the history of mankind and of the Church. No has done it before or since. The Resurrection is a truly a historical event as any historical event you can name. It really happened and can be proved.

St. Paul tells us that if Christ did not rise from the dead, we are wasting our time with Christianity because, without the Resurrection, Christ is just another teacher of doctrine and morals, but no more significant than any other teacher.

In the Easter season, the Church often speaks of the “joy of Easter”. This joy is not a physical or emotional joy as it was at the first Easter. It is the happiness that arises in the mind because we KNOW that Christ rose from the dead as He said He would. It is the joy of confirmation that all that He said is true. It is the satisfaction of certitude that we are followers of the true God and our faith is not misplaced. It is the assurance that our efforts to lead a moral life amid a grossly immoral culture are not in vain.  It is the hope that the blessed eternity that Christ promised to those who are faithful will actually come to pas in due course.It is the consolation of knowing that our God who took on human flesh is still alive and always available to us.

Live accordingly.

“Resurrexit sicut dixit.”

“He has risen as He said.”

Alleluia!

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The Mythical God by Jack Reagan

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2012/03/23 at 2:11 AM

Wishful thinking really does not have much to do with thinking; it is an unsupported hope that something negative will turn out to be positive in the end.  Prior to WWII, it was thought that if Hitler were treated as a normal person, he would act accordingly.  He didn’t.  Some women marry men with serious flaws hoping that marriage will change them for the better.  It seldom does.  We vote in elections at all levels hoping that perhaps this time the politicians will act like statesmen … or at least act rationally.  Maybe in the next election!

There is a deadlier form of wishful thinking that is becoming more widespread and snares many people who do not have a basic grasp of Christianity.  It is the illusion that God is so loving that He could not possibly condemn people to hell forever and that eventually everyone gets to heaven.

In the Catholic version of this, I suggest that the Catholic people have been told for the last 30-40 years that “God is love”.  (This is true, but incomplete.)  God loves us unconditionally, and He simply cannot bear to lose anyone in hell, so the illusion goes.  At the same time, when did you last hear a sermon on sin as the topic?  In the Pope’s talk to American Bishops recently, he referred to the decades of inferior  instruction in the US.

“Love” is a tricky word. In English it is used to denote not only true love, but also hopes (I’d love to visit Paris), preferences (I love pie more than cake) likes (I love that song).  English is basically an Anglo-Saxon tribal language, but more refined languages such as Greek use different words for love, depending on what is being loved.  There are different words for religious, physical, and parental love.  The Greek word for religious love is “agape” (ah-ga-pay), and it connotes nothing of sentiment, romance, or irrationality.  What it does suggest is that divine love means that God is committed to us.  (The basic meaning of the idea of love is commitment to someone.)  But, like any commitment, it demands reciprocal commitment.  Commitment in marriage cannot be one-sided.  Neither can our relationship to God.

It is certainly true that God has a commitment to mankind, and it is also true that God is good, but He is not stupid. He is certainly not the silly old doting grandfather figure so enamored by sinners.  There is even a denomination known as Universalism whose chief belief is that nobody stays in hell.

It is a deadly (spiritually) idea that God does not really care that much about sin, and that He ignores sin. It has no Scriptural foundation.

1. In the Gospels, Christ warns about hell far more that He mentions heaven.  Recall the story of Lazarus and Dives. “Many are called, but few are chosen.”  The reference to the lake of fire. Nowhere is it suggested that hell is a temporary situation.  If you read the Gospels and conclude that hell is not permanent, then read them again.  Christ was also God; therefore, His words reveal Truth … whether we like it or not.

2. Since God has set down Commandments and rules, He simply cannot ignore disobedience to them.  If He were to do so, he would be deficient and defective as God, and, therefore, imperfect … and, therefore, not really God.  God’s divine nature demands that he not ignore serious sin because such sin involves a broken relationship with Him … and He cannot ignore broken relationships.  To fail to punish at some point would not be consonant with His divine nature, and He cannot reject His own nature.  Thus, one who dies in the state of a broken relationship with God must expect the eternal consequences.  Remember that once you die, you cannot repair any spiritual problems.

3. It would not be fair, even in human terms, for someone who leads a dissolute, sinful life to share the rewards of the saints. What kind of a God would reward Mother Theresa and Adolph Hitler in the same way?

4. If everyone eventually ends up in heaven, what would be he point of living a moral life?  Might as well “live it up” with the sinners.  It’s probably more fun and will not cost you anything ultimately.  More than that … if everyone is going to heaven and will be saved, what was the point of the Incarnation and Redemption?  Humans would not need to be redeemed. Therefore, everything about Christianity is a waste of time and, worse, a fraud.

5. Last, but not least … it is true that God condemns no one to hell.  Nor does He assign anyone to heaven.  It is our choice which He merely ratifies.  We are free agents in the matter of salvation: we can choose it or not.  (The work of divine grace is involved, but that is for another essay.)  If we end up in hell, it is because we chose to, and God never voids man’s free choices.

False philosophies, bad ideas, and poor judgments lead to negative effects.  To believe that you can go through life making decisions on matters that are the province of God (moral law) and presume that, even if you are sincerely wrong, God will nevertheless still welcome you to Paradise is the ultimate in wishful thinking.  God will never declare our errors to be truth.

The Gospels tell us there is only one narrow road to heaven and a wide freeway to hell. If you find yourself breezing along a freeway, you may think it’s worth it for a temporary sojourn in hell … but that is wishful thinking.

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The Coming Storm by J. Reagan

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2012/02/11 at 9:11 AM

Ponder these possible headlines:

Homeowner arrested for allowing Bible study in his house.

Catholic Church loses exemption from property taxes based on discrimination.

Law enforcement officials given authority to collect evidence based on Confessions.

Catholic bishop sued for refusing to ordain a practicing homosexual.

State officials to determine how diocesan money is to be spent.

To protect children, an accusation of molestation will be enough to presume guilt of priests.

If you think these are exaggerated or cannot happen here, let me assure you that each of the above is either a law, a proposed law or an actual event.

One does not have to be a prophet to predict what is the probable future of the Catholic Church in the United States … persecution. In fact, it is already in progress. For many years now, groups like the ACLU along with liberal judges have been attacking Nativity scenes, public and private prayer, Christian moral codes and the like. Physical persecution is taking place in China, India, Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan, Iraq, Pakistan and other places. In every case, Government officials are either behind attacks (Sudan) or refuse to do anything about them (India).

Can physical persecution happen in the U.S.?  Certainly it can, and may arise within 5-10 years.  American history has numerous incidents of anti-Catholic activity.  Our Lord told his disciples that the world hated Him, and the world will hate them (and us) because of Him.  The Church has been persecuted from its very beginning (with intermittent periods of relief) while rarely have other Churches or religions been so attacked.

The U.S. has become a secular society, the hallmark of which is to relegate religion and religious practices to the level of the ignored, if at all possible. One may prefer to be religious, but he will be advised to keep it to himself. Religion is to have no role in public society. Thus, God has been banished from the government at all levels, from education, from bio-medical research, from business and the secular media. (The effects have not been pretty.)

Then, too, the Catholic Church claims to have a complete hold on divine truth (as opposed to the partial truth of Protestantism).  A secular philosophy does not approve of this at all because modern society claims that no one can have a monopoly on truth in the non-physical sphere. It denies the very idea of objective truth. Truth becomes little more than opinion, and contradictory opinions are quite acceptable.  After all, who of us is capable of judging another?

The Catholic Church is also contra-cultural. The Church’s moral code is based on divine Revelation and human reason. Contemporary culture bases its “moral code” on consensus and self-gratification. Each one may decide his own moral conduct based on not much more than whim. In any case, who’s to judge?

Persecution of the Church is always inspired and led by Satan and his human agents.

Since the Catholic Church contains irrefutable proof of it doctrines and morals, it is the Church that Satan tries to destroy. Those humans, under the control of Satan, fear and hate the Catholic Church.  If they  were honest and acknowledged the truth of Catholicism, they would have to repent of their merry lifestyles and abandon them … not very appealing.  Better to attack the Church.  (Note that while it is politically incorrect to judge others, it is never out of line to judge the Catholic Church falsely.)

How likely is persecution in a more blatant form? Just recently the Obama regime decreed that Catholic institutions would be compelled to commit sin in order to comply with the latest dictates of this administration. Anti-Catholics have jumped right up to declare that the Church is trying to do damage to women’s health. However, none of the proposals actually involve health. (In fact, if all Americans observed the Catholic Church’s moral code regarding sexuality, think of all the current problems we would NOT have.)

Eventually the ignorant, the disgruntled and the unstable will want to “show these Catholics”.  Can it happen?  The moral level of the U.S. has been declining for a long time, and it is morality and conscience that deter immoral actions. Less morality, less deterrence! The picture is made worse by the huge number of “Catholics” who do not live their faith anymore. Polls have shown that the attitudes of both “Catholics” and non-Catholics in the matter of favoring abortion, same-sex marriage, birth control among others, are about the same. This should not be.

Any solution? Probably not! Of course, there is always prayer for divine mercy, but what reason would God have for granting mercy to this country? He has been outlawed in some quarters. His moral code is treated as a joke.  And, on it goes.

On a personal note… The next presidential election is the most important in U.S. history.  I think it is imperative for the country not to elect Obama again. (My voting registration is Independent.)  The most important possession we all have is life itself.  Obama favors killing fetuses, partially born babies, babies who survive abortion and human embryos.  One who favors killing the helpless for someone’s convenience lacks any normal sense of morality. Since these are all considered sinful by the Catholic Church, no Catholic should even think about voting for a man who endorses so much sin.

I hope I am wrong about the coming storm, but when it passes, and they always do, the Catholic Church will still be there with its doctrines and morals intact. Heaven will gain newly martyred citizens and the Catholics who survive will be Catholics, not “Catholics”.

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The Great Deception by J. Reagan

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2012/01/28 at 9:11 AM

The Law of Degradation states that things will continue to degrade further unless effort is made to stem the downward movement.  Humans begin physically degrading from conception.  Illness, left untreated, becomes worse. Garbage does not improve its aroma with time.  A mind not used well does not become more intelligent. Unused muscles atrophy.

This principle applies in the moral order as well.  One of the basic words in Catholic vocabulary is “sin.”  Sin has been and still is the major cause of personal and societal ills.  At the root of every social problem is a moral problem or habits of sin.    Sin and redemption are basic tenets of Catholicism.

Illicit drug use is a moral problem (instant gratification). Having illegitimate children is a moral problem (impurity).  Unwarranted price inflation is a moral problem (greed).  Political corruption is a moral problem (hypocrisy).  And so it goes.  We try to solve them with non-moral means, and, of course, it never works.  The worst of it is that Catholic pulpits are mainly silent on the subject of sin.  I cannot recall the last time I heard a sermon on the topic, and yet polls show that Catholics are as immersed in the sins of the culture as non-Catholics.

Sin is real whether we like it or not or believe it or not.  If we look at what used to be Christendom, we see immediately that sin is alive and well.  Too many people exist in lives of chronic sinfulness, some because of ignorance, some because of indifference, and others because of malice in the soul.  Habits of serious sin (mortal sin) have consequences because sin is a rejection of divine law.  It is a rebellion against God (which is a rather daring undertaking).  Sin always exacts a price.  Somewhere, somehow, sometime the sinner must pay the penalty for his accumulated sins.

What are some of the effects of constant, unrepented serious sin?

  1. Life becomes disordered, i.e. out of order.  God has set up an order by which each person can live and fulfill  his or her potential.  It does not involve sin.  Obedience to divine law assures us that we are in harmony with this divine plan.  Disobedience renders our life irrational, in that we, by habitual sin, thwart the divine plan and make ourselves incapable of attaining God’s best blessings.  A habitual sinner is like a person who refuses to obey the rules of math, and always ends up with a wrong answer.  Moreover, no human has the standing, legally or morally, to decide that divine law is optional for him, and that it can be ignored with impunity.  Thus the habitual sinner exists in a state of disequilibrium concerning God no matter how “successful” he may appear to be in the world.
  2. The constant sinner has rejected the concept that the creature owes a debt of commitment to the Creator.  Sinners are committed to things of this world first … money, power, popularity, illicit sex in inordinate amounts.  The greedy person never has enough of what he craves.  Power often leads to other forms of corruption, etc.  The Creator is forgotten or ignored in the pursuit of ephemeral delights.  He begins to look for ways to rationalize his way of life and to associate with like-minded people.  The problem is that natural debt to God does not vanish because someone finds it inconvenient.  The one who never attends Sunday Mass has rejected the debt he owes to God, but God  does not free him from the debt.  The final cry of the unrepentant sinner, “The past has deceived me; the present torments me, and the future terrifies me”.
  3. Habitual serious sin is grossly deceptive.  Our Lord called Satan the father of lies.  As soon as the human race appeared on earth, Satan set out on a “con job” and was very successful in the Garden of Eden.  He told Eve that God was the deceiver in telling her and Adam not to eat of a particular tree.  Satan said that if they did eat it, they would become just like God and He didn’t want that.  “So go ahead! Take a bite.”  They did.  Not only did they not become divine; they lost all the gifts and blessings they already had.  And Satan slithered off to look for Cain.

Habits of sin affect the mind proportionate to the sins involved.  We change our values.  We begin to think that evil is really “not that bad.” (In fact, there are attitudes around that say a certain amount of activity that used to be called sin is actually beneficial to you such as “free love”.) Changed values led to the deaths of 55 million aborted babies.  We see the odd sight of “Catholic” politicians endorsing and voting for sin at every opportunity.  Ultimately, sin destroys the society in which it becomes an accepted part of life.  Every one of the past civilizations that existed died from suicide caused by moral failure.  We are on the same road now. The regime in DC flaunts its disregard of traditional morality, especially in matters of life itself.  Just this week, the current administration issued an ultimatum to the American Catholic Church demonstrating that those in power could not care less about its doctrines or its conscience; Catholic institutions must toe their immoral line or else.

G.K. Chesterton said that unless man becomes an enemy of evil, he will not only become its slave, he will end up championing it.  How many “Catholics” vote at odds with their Faith? Far too many!  The divine moral law (the Ten Commandments) will never change even if every human votes to rescind it. It just doesn’t work that way. The Law of Degradation applies to sinners.  Those who begin their anti-God rebellion may begin with one type of sin, but it is not long before other types become habitual as well.  Just as one initial disease can cause others to appear, habitual sin has a way of expanding because the sinner can only rely on the grace of repentance.

It is no longer “cool” to believe in sin, judgment, Heaven, Hell, good and evil, truth and error. But these ideas matter and have objective existence even if we snicker and sneer at them. The most important moment of your life is the last one. If you have lived striving to be obedient to divine law, you can smile.  If you have lived according to your own laws …

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What Could Have Been by Jack Reagan

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/12/30 at 9:40 AM

Now that Christmas Day has come and gone for another year, and all the activities associated with Christmas, such as shopping, presents, food and carols have ended, and we have the time and the disposition to think about Christmas and its real significance, it might be well to reflect on the extraordinary gift that the first Christmas was, or, perhaps, better still, if there had not been a first Christmas, if the Second Person of the Trinity had not lowered Himself to become a human (while still keeping His divinity), how would that have affected the world and us? It may be a good time to contemplate what would have happened had there been no first Christmas.

When Adam and Eve were created by God, they constituted the whole human race. God made a pact with them which would benefit them and their descendants. Basically, the pact involved obedience to a small rule about eating the fruit of a certain tree. They broke their agreement and they and we lost out. We called this Original Sin. We are not guilty of this sin, but we were included in the pact, and therefore, the effects.

Since sin is an infinite offense against the infinite God, no human or any number of finite humans could possibly atone for the sin. Only God could do something to rectify the situation. At that point, we were all doomed to Hell, but God is so committed to mankind that He agreed to solve our problem by sending a Redeemer who would be able to make adequate atonement for sin. This Redeemer was Jesus Christ who, because He was divine, could offer an infinite atonement, and because He was also human, could represent mankind in the atonement. In the fullness of time, the Redeemer appeared as a baby on the first Christmas day.

But suppose God had told Adam that he was now on his own and good luck.

1. There would be no Redemption of the human race. We would be doomed to Hell regardless of our  manner of living. There would simply be no hope because there would be nothing to hope for. We would live and die in the state of Original Sin totally helpless and hopeless.

2. Humans would live in a permanent state of spiritual darkness. God began creation with light because future humans were not to be creatures of the dark. Darkness has always been seen to be a negative. All kinds of evils are associated with darkness. To live a condition of spiritual blindness would so enfeeble us that our lives would be a negative existence.

3. Religions, if there were any, would be a hodge-podge of many man-made doctrines by people who had no real concept  of religious truth. They would be subjective with no objective reality. There would be no Catholic Church, founded and guided by Christ to set the standard for truth in religion. There would be no Baptism to take away Original Sin, no Confession to clean the moral slate, no Holy Eucharist to remind us of the ongoing presence of God because Christ would not have come to institute these and the other Sacraments.

4.There would be no divine Revelation (the Bible) because God would be silent. Even if there were a Bible, it would have been useless to help us avoid the coming doom.  We would have been deprived of the divinely-inspired message of God who is all truth, and, therefore, without any guidance toward our end. We would be traveling in a strange world without a map.

5. A divinely-inspired moral code (the Ten Commandments) would be absent in human life. Moral codes would be written by the most various people, and be totally subjective, even to the point of saying, as some say now, that each one should make up his own  list of right and wrong. Therefore, evil of all kinds would abound. Life would be lived in fear of the immoral among us. Human survival demands an objective moral code; society cannot function without it. Yet, there would be none. In fact, it is likely that the human race would have died out  ages ago from the countless evils that humans can invent.

6. Death, rather than being seen as the gateway to eternal happiness with God (if we deserve it), becomes the gateway to Hell. There is no hope for anything better.

I’m sure others could give different and better reasons than I did, but my point is that the Incarnation was a gift to man beyond measure and comprehension. We will never fathom the goodness of God while we are on earth. His goodness is infinite (unlimited), and our minds are finite (limited). Without the busyness of the Christmas season to distract us, think about the awesome events of the first Christmas and how it affects YOU. Try not to see the first Christmas as some historical story, but as an event that directly impacts YOU.

Without Christmas, there would be no Good Friday, and with no Good Friday there will be no Resurrection and without all of these, you (and I) don’t stand a chance.

Christmas is not about a gift, but about THE GIFT.

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Let’s Get Real: Part I by Jack Reagan

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/11/18 at 10:02 PM

We have come to the point where most thinking people (as opposed to those who merely react to events with little or no understanding of their significance) have concluded that the U.S. and  Europe are in a period of grave, and perhaps, irreversible, societal decline. Some attribute that decline to banishment of God from public life and the inevitable loss of a divine ethos. Others cite defective leadership at all levels of government and education. Still others cite the division of the population into groups and blocs . . . whites, blacks, Hispanics, gays, etc. We are members of a group before we are Americans. There are other suggested causes, too, and all are valid to some degree. I suggest, however, that these are effects of another problem, as well as causes of decline. There is one underlying or root cause of these secondary causes, and that root cause is the failure to deal with reality.

Too many ignore reality, redefine it to suit themselves or decide what it should be and act accordingly. They pretend the unrealistic is real. The idea of reality has been so abused intellectually that many have come to believe that realty is what they say it is. When you fail to deal with reality, it is almost impossible to have positive results.

Reality is the state, condition or situation objectively viewed regardless of what anyone thinks of it. Reality is what is, what exists objectively.

Reality may be physical, such as objects perceived by the five senses.

It may be intellectual or mental such as thoughts, memories, images in the mind. These are real, but not subject to sense perception. If you think of a person, that person does not become real.  Rather, the idea of him is real. This why Our Lord could warn us that thoughts can be the cause of sin. Intellectual products are probably the greatest source of unreality. Communism had not the least grasp on reality. Same-sex marriage is not a matter of equality, nor of objective reality (of which it has none), but rather a matter of perceived reality.

Modern man has rejected the Ultimate Reality which is God. The Bible tells us that God has defined Himself as “I am who am.” This means that God defines Himself as a being whose very essence is to exist, to be. His essence is not mercy, justice or goodness, but existence. No other created being has that property because each began and each will end. This is not an easy concept for humans to grasp because we dwell in time while God dwells in eternity.

Reality is also truth. What is true is real and vice versa. Thus, when we reject God, we reject the ultimate standard of truth. Without a divine standard, the new standard of truth becomes fellow humans; and we know how reliable humans are and how we often sacrifice truth on the altar of stupidity.

The effects of this rejection of reality (to ignore it, avoid it or pretend it is something else) is the endangerment of making sound judgments. Bad judgments will lead to bad effects that may last until that judgment is changed (if it can be) or even a lifetime. For example, the lazy student will experience failure until he decides to raise his grades; the drunk driver who kills someone may suffer for the rest of his life for his bad judgment.

Another effect of refusing or failing to see what is is that we lose the ability to think coherently. There is an increasing effort to impose assisted suicide in the U.S. The reasons offered are usually economic while ignoring the impact, the consequences, of that effort. For example, if we can legally kill the unborn and the sick, who comes next on the list? The impaired? The homeless? We like to tout “benefits,” but we forget or ignore the unforeseen consequences. We begin to think emotionally, rather than rationally.” We focus on “how something feels” not “whether it’s realistic.”  We’ve chosen to live in a perceived and subjective “reality,” not an objective and truthful reality.

Continued

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Let’s Get Real: Part II by Jack Reagan

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/11/18 at 10:00 PM

We are in decline because of decades of refusing to deal with reality. The United States was not founded to make citizens equal, but free. Today, we have reversed that premise; we try to make everyone equal and the result is a gross erosion of liberty. If a man has ten times as much money as I do, acquired legitimately, I have no problem with that. He had more talent. Today,we call him evil and say that he owes others some of his money because they lacked what it took to acquire it. This is why we have a progressive income tax (an idea right out of Karl Marx). One atheist and an irrational judge can override the religious sentiments of hundreds or thousands of people.

The three main sources of the cult of the unrealistic are:

1. Civil governments at all levels. (Remember the “bridge to nowhere?”)  Crazy, unworkable schemes abound.

2. Public education at all levels. We took God out of the schools and replaced Him with police officers.

3. The media which is so biased (with few exceptions) that they are often ludicrous when, without any facts, they attribute events to the “right”, to Christians, to racism, etc. Apology for errors is just about unheard of.

So abounding are the errors, stupidities, false ideas, distortions and lies that rather than deal with it all, the dreamers have come up with another absurd idea: that we must not be judgmental. Nothing is right or wrong, good or bad, useful or useless, necessary or unnecessary, true or false, moral or immoral. According to these people, one should not complain that during WWII, we built 1000 ships a year and the Bureau of Ships had 1000 employees. Today, we build 17 ships, and the Bureau of Ships has 25,000 employees. If you complain, the retort will be that you are trying to put people out of work.

A good example of modern insistence on unreality concerns evolution. It used to be the “theory of evolution.” “The theory” has been dropped, and evolution is now presented as proven fact even though it has not only not been proven, but there are serious scientists who have mounted rational challenges against it. Why the persistence? Because if I am the cousin of a monkey, then like my cousin, I am an animal with no moral responsibility; I can live on instinct and whim.

The first humans to try to ignore reality were Adam and Eve. They thought that disobedience would lead to divinization of themselves. (Note that Satan always offers “pie in the sky” which, when obtained, is just mush.) They soon found out that God does not think much of those who ignore reality.

Another Bible person who was a realist was Noah. His grasp of the real was to obey God while everyone else snickered and sneered. We know how that turned out.

If we’re in decline, is there any hope? Probably not, barring divine intervention, which I would not count on. The world is a cesspool of sin; what would be God’s incentive to save us? Besides, history tells us that no declining society has ever saved itself.

Pessimistic? Of course!  But, the individual does not have to decline along with society if he has a sincere, consistent and productive relationship with God. That is the only hope for any person.

God is real. If you want to be a realist, realize that His is the only way, the truth and the life.

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The Dropouts

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/10/22 at 9:11 AM

Pollsters who deal in religious topics tell us that only about 21% of those who call themselves “Catholic” attend Sunday Mass weekly.  They tell us further that Catholics and non-Catholics agree at about the same rate on such matters as abortion, same-sex marriage, contraception and other issues.  They tell us further that Catholics in general (with exceptions, of course) have a rather hazy view and understanding of basic doctrine. For example, only 37% believe that Christ is really present in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Obviously and objectively, such persons cannot be called Catholics in good standing.  (We must always leave the ultimate moral judgments to God.)  How did this state of affairs in the Church come about?  How did we descend from relative respect 50-60 years ago to being frequent objects of ridicule in the media?  How is that so many “Catholics” risk the wrath of God?  There is no one satisfactory answer.  Many factors have contributed to this malaise in the Church, and one could debate the causes forever.

In light of this, let me suggest a trio of interwoven and interconnected reasons for abandoning the Church.  In each lapsed Catholic one reason will dominate and the others may follow right behind it.  Regardless of which reason is dominant, it will usually have a causal effect on the other two.

The first is IGNORANCE.  It is a lack of knowledge of both Catholic doctrine and Tradition. (Note the Capital T.)  Also, respect and decorum about religious things will be a low priority.  We used to have a term, “Sunday best”, referring to clothes worn to Mass.  Nowadays, the Sunday attire too often cannot be distinguished from any non-serious wardrobe….men and boys in shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. Women and girls in apparel they would not wear to meet anyone of high rank.  Is this because there is not an awareness or strong belief in the Real Presence in the tabernacle?  It used to be called a venial sin to talk and laugh needlessly in the church proper.  If that is still the case, many either don’t know or don’t care.  The problem is that often others come to church before Mass to pray or just reflect on holy things, but are distracted by the noise of talkers.

There are other instances of ignorance in the Church. One is the proverbial erroneous idea that once a person is Confirmed, he or she no longer needs to do more than the minimum, if that, to still be called “Catholic.”  There is little interest and response to adult religion classes.  I remember a situation in which a group of 60 people were invited to join a religion class for six weeks.  The average attendance was six and only one person attended every class.  It has been said that Catholic publishing is waning because Catholics are not interested in reading Catholic books and magazines.

One could cite other examples, I suppose, but in all this ignorance, when it is deliberate, it deprives the person of knowing the value of what he should, but often does not, know.  How can we know the eternal advantages of the Church if we know little about it.  We can’t learn the value of anything unless we know what it is.  Remember . . . ignorance is not genetic; it is a deliberate choice.   And, ignorance about important aspects of life has baneful consequences.

Does this mean we should have a degree in theology?  Not at all.  It does mean that we should understand and know the significance of the articles of the Creeds and honestly try to observe the Church’s moral law.  We know what Our Lord thought of those who had knowledge but failed to put it into practice, namely, the Scribes and Pharisees.

The second general reason is INDIFFERENCE, which also involves ignorance.

We begin to believe, along with the culture we live in, that religion is optional.  It is like a hobby, personal to a person and unrelated to his “real” life.  You become your own Pope deciding what to believe or not to believe, what moral code suits your whims, what your life is all about.  The culture tells us that all religions are equally worthwhile while ignoring the blatant contradictions among them.  (Contradiction is the enemy of reason.)  There are those who believe (conveniently) that God is so good that He will never send anyone to Hell, that all will get to Heaven eventually.  (Our Lord warned about Hell more than He talked about Heaven.)

When one lives in a culture that places little or no value in religion, tells us that life is a fast trip to oblivion and that we must get what we can while we are here, it is easy to fall into indifference to a way of life that promises happiness only after death, particularly when it is at variance with cultural standards.  The Romans said it:  “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die.”  They meant, get it now because this is all there is.  The problem is that our culture is simply wrong in its outlook.  It cares nothing about where we came from, what we are supposed to be doing here and where we are going.  Yet, these are most important questions each one must answer.  A wrong answer will lead to a total loss regardless of whether you believe it or not.

The third general cause is IMMORALITY or habits of sin.  (This refers to mortal sin.)

Many years ago, Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote that no one ever left the Church because he or she reasoned his or her way out; it really can’t be done. He said the ultimate reason was some sin(s) that they did not want to give up.  Whenever someone tells you he or she left the Church because of the clerical scandal, or some other “offense”, these are often merely excuses to avoid having to face their own immorality which they prefer to hang onto or simple do not want to face.

There will always be man-made problems in the Church.  There always have been because people are affected by Original Sin which means that no one is perfect or good all the time.  The miracle of the Church is that the human side is offset by the divine element, the Holy Spirit that has enabled the Church to survive all this time.

Sin is not only made up of actions or omission of actions, but sin also lies in attitudes.  Our Lord said that there is such a thing as sinful beliefs and attitudes. One aspect of this is condoning the sins of others. A woman may never choose to have an abortion, but if she believes it to be morally acceptable, then she is entertaining an attitude or belief that is wrong.  Another may not have any intention of entering a same-sex marriage, but if that person approves it in principle, then that person is subscribing to an attitude that is morally wrong. If a person votes for candidates who support immorality when other candidates are available who do not support immorality, it is probably wrong to vote for the former.  To support in any way that which is contrary to natural law (which ultimately is Divine Law) is to have a sinful attitude and to be at variance with the Church’s moral doctrine.  And, that’s a very short step away from being a Church-dropout.

We live in a difficult and dangerous time, probably the worst of any time in history.  It is difficult because there are so many false philosophies out there trying to weave a siren spell on the unaware and the ignorant.  It is dangerous, in a moral sense, because at no time in human history have there been so many means to sin in thought, word and deed.  Yet, in spite of this, we are still told by God that sin is still an abomination to Him and that we are to avoid it, difficult as it may be. The only way to avoid sin is through the Church, its sacramental system and divine liturgy, all given to us by Christ Himself without Whom forgiveness and reconciliation to God would be an impossibility.  It is Christ’s Church that gives the sincere believer the means to overcome a culture of sin. But, if you are a Church-dropout, then you’ve closed yourself off from the very institution given to you, to us all, by Christ as a refuge from sin, a bulwark of the Faith and a vessel of Grace.

I think one of the most terrifying verses in Scripture is one that quotes Christ as saying: “Because you have denied me before men, I will deny you before My Father.”

What, O Dropout, can you possibly say in defense of yourself?

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Is Any Religion True? Part II

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/09/18 at 6:00 AM

In part I, we noted that God has given man certain innate tendencies for which He has provided the means to satisfy these needs. We have food and drink, but we should not eat whatever we put into our mouths; we must be selective. He has given us an appetite for religion, and we can assume that he had something definite in mind rather than the myriads forms of religion abounding today. What did He have in mind?

Recently I came across a phrase that I had not heard or read in many, many years. It is a phrase that used to be quite commonplace in the Catholic world. It is the reference to the Catholic Church as “the one true Church.”  The onslaught of relativism and political-correctness has declared it a matter of bigotry and base intolerance to dare to claim that anything in the non-physical world is truer, better, more moral, immoral, false or worse than something else.  This applies usually to religion, fine arts, morality and philosophy and is the reason we find so much that is utterly base, inane, or stupid being called art, music or literature. “Experts” in these fields dare not criticize what is patently inferior. A work of “art” that consisted of a crucifix in a container of urine was acclaimed and defended by all the “right” people. Such is the sorry state of the transcendent nowadays.

The question is: “Is it reasonable to claim that a particular religion or Church is the only true one and that all others are deficient and defective?” It depends on who is making the claim. Anyone who claims to give the ultimate, final and irrefutable religious truth must be a person of unimpeachable and credible authority because so much is at stake for that individual. Otherwise, we are dealing only with religious opinion and  an opinion is no better than the facts underlying it. Martin Luther was terrified during a storm, and promised that he would enter a monastery if he was saved from the storm. Mohammed’s way of life precludes him from being a credible witness for morality. Joseph Smith, at age 14, claimed to have been given the famous “golden tablets” containing the teachings of Mormon. These tablets have never been seen except by Smith. Buddha abandoned his wife and children to go find Nirvana. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, which shuns medical doctors, regularly consulted doctors when she needed them. These, and all other founders of religions, have one thing in common…they are human and only human.

There is one religious founder who does exemplify the ideal religious founder and actually established a Church . . . Jesus Christ. The four Gospels can be viewed as true history. (Some have spent years attempting to disqualify the Gospels as true history, but they all failed.)

There are three aspects of Christ that separate Him from every other religion founder.

The first is His moral character. At one point, he challenged his enemies to declare what sins he may have committed. They had nothing to say because there was no moral fault in Him. Contrast that with the founders previously mentioned.

The second is the fact that He performed thousands of miracles witnessed by thousands of people. No other founder even claims to be a miracle-worker. (Seeing the need for miracles in Mohammed’s life, his later followers, several centuries after his death, attempted to claim he had worked miracles to enhance his image, but they could not be substantiated. There was simply too large a gap in time and, therefore, no witnesses.)

The third is the fact the Jesus Christ is still alive. It is true that he died, but then He brought Himself back to life and continues to live as the eternal God-man. All other founders are long dead, and no one expects them to reappear.

While still on earth, Christ set up a Church (note the word ”Church” is singular). “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church.” If a divine person establishes a Church, it must the one true Church. It, therefore, behooves us to determine which one it is, for if we are in the wrong Church/religion, we are in spiritual danger of not attaining our God-given goal. Finding the right Church will give us intellectual and spiritual peace and contentment. So, we look to the Divine Founder to determine the True religion, the True Church.  Christ, being Divine, established His Church on earth through Peter.  That Church is the Catholic Church.

There are a few points to consider about the Catholic Church, this one true Church.

History:  Through troubled times and profitable times, the Church has endured. Although it has never had a Golden Age, it has always been beset by problems. Persecutions (today is no exception), schisms, heresies, incompetent and immoral members. Sometimes it was more influential than at others times (Middle Ages) but, even then, problems arose.

The human element:  The Catholic Church is both divine and human in that the Church on earth has humans as members and those members have not always acted according to Church teaching. There have been a few despicable popes, priests and bishops who were not faithful.

Let me emphasize this:  No merely human organization could have survived throughout history as the Catholic Church has were it not under the guidance and protection of its living Divine Founder. “I am with you all days, even to the end of the world, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” (Note the word “prevail.” It means that Satan will always be assaulting the Church, but he will never be able to destroy it.) No other organization of any kind has such a history. The Protestant Church has evolved into 30,000 different sects and denominations, all claiming to be the true Church. The Catholic Church has remained true to the teachings of Christ and the Apostles; if they were to appear on earth, they would easily recognize the doctrine and moral code of the Catholic Church as the same teaching they taught. Nowadays no religion founder would recognize the religion he founded; all have changed so much.

Why one true Church?

Humans like certainty. We don’t like to be unsure of important aspects of life. Finding the one true Church gives us that certainty. The fact that all contemporary religions (except Buddhism and Hinduism) were founded long after the Christ, who is both man and God, established the Church, and the fact that are all man-made tell us that they cannot possibly have come from God.

The teaching of the Catholic Church is based on the doctrine set forth by the divine Christ. The others are merely human opinion, theory or fantasy. Besides, no human can be remotely qualified to set up a divinely-approved religion.

The Magisterium (teaching authority) of the Church was established by Christ, too. “Whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” This statement made by Christ transfers to the Catholic Church the authority to speak in God’s name, an authority which gives Catholics the peace of mind to know that if they follow the Church, they are following and submitting themselves to the Divine Will. That is not a small matter.

Finally, the Church, following the teaching Christ and the Apostles has the means to assure salvation to those who sincerely seek it through the Sacramental system. The seven Sacraments of the Church keep the believer close to God as he treads the dangerous pathways of earthly life. Confession, for the believer, is concrete evidence of forgiven sin. The Holy Eucharist (the Lord’s Supper) for the believer is a concrete expression of Emmanuel, God with us.  Holy Orders guarantee of Apostolic succession and authenticity.

In contemporary life, this whole article is a daring sally into the politically-INcorrect. Bear in mind that the whole concept of political-correctness is based on a lie or an unrealistic view of life. The pied pipers of this attitude do not live in the real world. Years ago, when this nonsense began, the city council of Pawtucket, RI passed an ordinance that a manhole cover was to be renamed a “personhole” cover. They cancelled it when the ridicule became too much. We live in a world filled with wars, hatreds, uncertainties and irrational ideas. The Catholic Church, whether you believe it or not or like it or not, has stood the test of time (2000 years). God is with the Church, and I’d rather be a member in good standing of God’s Church than any human religion I can think of. Wouldn’t you?

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Is Any Religion True? Part 1

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/09/17 at 1:01 AM

One of my memories of childhood is the time a friend and I were taken to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass. In front of the building, there is a life-size statue of an American Indian astride a horse with his eyes cast upward and his arms outstretched in supplication. The inscription on the base reads: “Appeal to the Great Spirit”, a testimony to the innate tendency toward religion in human nature. In fact, archeologists have discovered only two small groups of people who did not seem to have religion as a part of their culture.  Throughout human history, religion has been a part of culture.  Religion seems to be as natural to man as thinking.

Not only do religions abound, but they come in many forms. Christianity, Judaism and Islam are monotheistic. Greek and Roman mythology were polytheistic (many gods) as were the Arabs prior to Islam. Hinduism is both pantheistic (all is divine) and polytheistic (300,000,000 gods). Buddhism, often called a religion is actually non-theistic; it has no real concept of a deity. It is more of a philosophy of behavior.

In the modern world we make up quasi religions and worship ideas rather than deities. Professional atheism has become a religion. Darwinian evolution has ceased to be a part of science and has become a religious cult totally intolerant of opposing views. (The science of molecular biology has devastated the theory of evolution, but you will never hear this from the media, the education establishment or science partisans.) There are also “religions” based on tolerance, relativism and determinism, among others.

While the Creator may have instilled a penchant toward religion in human nature, man has certainly distorted and denigrated the religious tendency. Human religion is full of contradictions, absurdities, irrational beliefs and, sometimes, downright evil activities.

The world is awash in relativistic and political-correctness claims that we should not pass judgments on any religious beliefs because that would show bias and prejudice, the great sins of the modern Western world. We are told that we can never use such terms as: “better” or “worse”, “good” or “bad” or “true” or” false.” The result has been that since we cannot deal with religion in any rational or responsible way, it should be relegated to the level of a personal hobby with no societal impact or importance at all.

Ideas have consequences, and the abandonment of age-old religious standards in the West has led to a precipitous decline in rational and moral behavior in general. Watch any newscast and you must conclude that the world is going insane. For example, the Federal Department of Education has decreed that one need not know grammar, spelling or be able to write coherently to be hired to teach English. Multiplying this over and over, the insane are running the asylum. Wars, crime, economic collapse, moral perversities, gross incompetence in government at all levels haunt our waking moments.

The questions now must become, “Can there be a true religion amid the mishmash of contemporary religions?” And, “Did the Creator intend something other than the religious cornucopia of today’s world?” If there is one thing that is evident in nature, it is that the Creator is rational and set up the universe in an orderly and systematic way without conflicts, distortions or contradictions. He surely envisioned the same with regard to the religious tendency He put into human nature.  If so, there must be a form of religion that is also orderly and rational, and, therefore, in accord with the divine plan.

To assert that the Creator intended that mankind live in a religious hodge-podge is to deny the goodness and wisdom of God. If He designed man to be religious, it means that humans were meant to have some relationship with God. If this is so, there can be only one way to attain that relationship, and anyone serious about it will want to find that one way.

The belief that God may have set up a particular way to reach Him gives man a goal or purpose in finding that way. Man, by nature, is an explorer and discoverer, but modern man says there is no true religion. Modern man picks whatever one appeals most . . . or, better still, he simply doesn’t pick any religion. Who cares!

If the Creator ordained that man should be able to learn something about Him, it becomes incumbent on God to make it possible to do this. If humans could not perceive and find a true way to God, it would mean that God is demanding what humans cannot do which would be a gross injustice. Fortunately, that is not the case because any normal person can observe nature, its workings and arrive at a logical conclusion that nothing so intricate and complex could ever have created itself, and from there, one proceeds to the idea of a true God.

Objectively speaking, man is a religious creature; however, humans can and often do suppress this tendency. Millions do it every day. It also does not guarantee that humans will find the true path to God. Millions are members of contradictory faiths. To those who do believe there is a God and are sincerely attempting to find Him, He did make available to them a sure way to Him. The Indian sitting on the horse did not have the benefits of later philosophy and theology, but he did know there was a Being to whom he owed allegiance. This understanding put him miles ahead of the arrogant moderns who dismiss the very idea of a Supreme Being, who reject the transcendent, who have all the important answers to unimportant questions, whose ignorant egos direct their superficial lives and whose ultimate fate may not lie with The Great Spirit.

(In part 2, we will try to find that unique religion.)