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Archive for the ‘08 Musings by Jack Reagan’ Category

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What’s in a Name?

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/12 at 8:32 PM

Did you know that majority of those who live in the U.S. label themselves “Christian”?  That  is a great number of people by any standard; yet, by any Christian standard, the United States is a pagan country in practice, if nothing else.

Consider the following: More than fifty million babies have been killed because they were   inconvenient for someone…….and the majority is silent.

We spend over 30 billion a year on pets while countless humans lacks the basics of food, shelter…… and the majority is silent.

Pornography is another billion dollar business in the U.S……. And the majority is silent.

The media of all types ridicule and distort Christianity routinely while almost never doing the same to another religion…….and the majority is silent.

Television and movies depict sex and violence as not only acceptable, but, in some cases, as desirable…… and the majority is silent.

Health and fitness have become for many a quasi-religion, ignoring the fact that one’s  spiritual fitness, not physical fitness, determines one’s eternal destiny…….and the majority is silent.

In a nation that says it is overwhelmingly Christian, something is amiss beyond the obvious fact that too many “Christians” are participants in the above.

So, let’s look a little deeper into what research has discovered.

Most Americans say there is no absolute truth.  Most evangelical Christians do not believe in absolutes. (An absolute is a doctrinal or moral principle that is true for all people, everywhere, at all times. Ex. the Ten Commandments, the existence of God.)

Most of those 18-25 do not believe in absolutes. The majority of evangelicals believe “that the Bible is the written word of God and is totally accurate in all that it teaches”. BUT, most of Americans say they believe this too which is about the same percentage that reject absolutes. (The Bible is full of absolutes.)

Most of “fundamentalists” engage in non-marital sex; about the same rate for non-Christians. Half of the  Protestants and  Catholics are pro-abortion. Half of Evangelicals and of Catholics believe in euthanasia. Half of freshman entering Christian colleges cannot explain or defend basic doctrines of the faith. Half of  youth who do attend church do not believe in absolutes.

It seems that the word “Christian” can mean many things to many people. One thing seems obvious and that is that too many “Christians” are “cafeteria Christians” who pick and choose what doctrines and morals apply to them.  That is the result of rejecting absolutes.  If there are no absolutes, there can be no abiding truth that we cannot challenge without risk to our spiritual welfare.  We are left with human opinions instead of divine knowledge and revelation.  And the blind lead the blind.

We cannot even begin to change the situation until we recognize that the American Christian world is not in good shape. Then we have to determine how we came to reflect the reality above. There is no salvation in using that name “Christian” only in the name of Jesus.

Note: Poll statistics generalized because of constant fluctuation; sadly on the rising side.

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Another Easter!

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/11 at 6:01 PM

It’s a rare Catholic church that does not talk about the significance of Christmas on Christmas day and the significance of the Resurrection on Easter.  The reason is that both these feasts have momentous implication in the Christian religion. Easter is the paramount celebration of the Christian Church. Good Friday would have been forever in dispute if there had been no Easter.

St. Paul tells us that without the Resurrection, our faith and belief is useless because it would amount to little more than opinion. What would we have faith in? A corpse? A memory? A shaky hope? But, the Resurrection of Christ is God’s seal of approval on Christ and His Church.

No other religious founder is still alive. Some have known burial places; some do not. Some, like Ellen Gould White, founder of the Seventh Day Adventists, promised her followers that she would rise from the dead. They are still waiting. No religion even claims a founder who came back from the dead. Even Islam, the source of much religious absurdity, does not claim that Mohammed is still alive.

The Resurrection is not some myth or fable or tall story. It is a historical fact like any other authenticated fact of history. Christians should not think of the Resurrection as some pious sectarian tale, but a fact of history attested to by 500 witnesses, some of whom actually conversed with the risen Christ. Courts accept the testimony of two reliable witnesses. What of five hundred? Many of these were still living when Gospels and Epistles were written.

If Christ had not risen from the dead as He prophesied, His mission on earth would have been suspect and subject to two millennia of bickering, arguing, doubt, etc.  By rising from the grave by His own divine power, He affirmed Himself as God and Savior, making His teaching of divine origin and, therefore, not subject to change by human or group of humans.

Thus the Resurrection, by itself, affirms the truth of Christianity. All other religions, ‘ipso facto’, can be labeled ‘false’. Ah, yes, you say; what about the ‘sincere’ members of other religions. They may be sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. Sincerity does not affect truth. Truth does not arise in our minds, but in the real world.

After Christ died on the Cross, He could have brought Himself back to life and simply vanished from the tomb. Salvation would still be possible for man.Prayer would be possible.Liturgies would be possible.What would not be possible would freedom from doubt and anxiety, and centuries of skepticism. Humans want to have certitude about vitally important matters, and the Resurrection is a divine gift of certitude  about Christ and His Church. It is another example of divine love (commitment) for the benefit of us humans.

Man has conquered the heights of the heavens and the depths of the seas, but, even though some try, he cannot seem to conquer that six-foot hole. Not a single human has ever come back to life by his own power, and even those whom Christ raised from the dead in the Gospels died later and are still dead.

In this Easter-time, the world is in a mess. All of it is man-made.Nothing seems to be working. There is fear and dread of resurgent Islam. World economies are falling. There are wars, protests, insurrections all over.

Politicians have no answers or the wrong ones. Some Church leaders have rejected their God for human applause. Some feel like a man in a boat without oars heading for a waterfall.

But, God is unchanging. Easter tells us that God still cares about people and is committed to their well-being if they so desire. In a world of chaos and unbelief, the resurrected Christ calls to us and says, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy burdened and I will refresh you.”

Easter tells us that is a real possibility. Recall the words of St. Augustine, “Our hearts were made for Thee, O, God, and they will not rest until they rest in Thee.” The risen Christ is the ONLY answer to man’s problems. That is why he referred to Himself as “THE way, THE truth, and THE life.

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Correct Answer?

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/11 at 5:50 PM

THE PROBLEM: Pollsters who deal only in religious matters tells us that between 75% and 80% of those who live in the U.S. Label themselves  as “Christian”.  This means that between 225 and 240 million people label themselves as followers of Jesus Christ.  Yet, by any theological, moral, philosophical, or cultural standard, the US is a pagan nation with a notable lack of Christian morality: 50 million abortions, rampant pornography, illegal drugs, greed (often called “inflation”).

Does anyone really think that  all this can be attributed to the 20% of non-Christians in the country? Pollsters further tell us that Catholics are no better than any others in espousing the cultural immoralities. Between 60-80% of Catholics approve abortion, divorce, pre-marital sex, cohabitation, Mass  as optional, same-sex relationships etc.

The same high percentages do not accept/ believe some of the basic doctrines of the faith.  63% do not believe that Christ is really present in the Eucharist under the appearance of bread and wine.  Some do not think morality is any of the Church’s business, especially regarding sex and marriage. I wonder if this is why Our Lord spoke of hell far more than of heaven.

HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT? During the Middle Ages, the Church took the best of the ancient Greek and Roman  world and Christianized it.  The Renaissance  took some of the worst of the ancient world, ignored the Church’s contribution, secularized society and philosophy, and declared, “Now we have the answer”.  The Reformation  took the truths of Revelation and reason, and disputed, distorted, and destroyed many of them.  And they cried, “Now we have the answer”.

Rationalism/Enlightenment said religion is the cause of too many problems.  Man needs only his reason the build a perfect life for himself. Forget the supernatural nonsense. We will think our way to a Utopia on earth.  Science became the new religion.  And they smiled and said, “Now we have the answer.”

Romanticism- it took no time at all to discover that people do not really want to think very much. Rousseau said that everyone can’t think well, but everyone can feel.  Emotions and feeling became to the guidelines and norms.  And they danced for joy and said, “Now we have the answer.

On and on the crazy ideas went until nowadays we are told…there is no objective truth;  truth is subjective; contradictions are quite acceptable; opinion is what counts; moral and intellectual judgments are taboo; religion has the status of a hobby; God is made in man’s image….if He is thought of at all.

THE EFFECTS: The result of these centuries of false and anti-human philosophies is a crushing and  irrational secularism sweeping the part of the world that was once called “Christendom”. Religion, the most far-reaching and important activity of humans has been relegated to  the level of one’s personal likes, such as television programs, in the dominant cultural philosophy.  But religion is still given lip-service once in a while and Jesus Christ is usually listed as a “great philosopher”, a great moralist, a great teacher in the same breath as Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius or Lao-Tse.

In reality, that idea simply does not work. Christ is  either God or a fraud…often, as we say, a nutcase. Why? Because too many times He claimed to be God. The first sign hat He might be what he claimed lies in the hundreds of prediction about Him and His life, made by many prophets, who did not know one another because they lived at different times. All these prophecies were centered on one person and every one was fulfilled in that same person. No one predicted Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Martin Luther etc.

Imagine trying to predicts particular details of the life of descendant who will live five centuries from now.Impossible. Yet, this is just what happened in the case of Christ…and no one else.

Jesus Himself prophesied the betrayal by  Judas, the denial by Peter,  His own resurrection, and the destruction of Jerusalem.

We are familiar with the Gospel miracles so we need not labor over them. They are historical facts. And there were at least hundreds because the Gospels, in several places, tell is that “He healed all in that district”.  These miracles were done on His own authority and using his own power.  No other religious founder claimed to be God or  performed miracles. At most, they claimed a special relationship with God.

We must remember that the Resurrection is the one surpassing miracle never duplicated in the entire history of the world.  It is a  historical fact.  We have conquered space and the ocean, but not the six-foot hole.

CONCLUSION: But what about us? We don’t live in  the time of Christ. How do we connect?

Our Lord told us that He would be with us for all time. He is with us and we are with Him in the Catholic Church. The Church is the visible representative of Christ on earth. Like her founder, she is the only source of salvation, the only source of truth, infallible and miraculous in her spiritual activity: the Sacraments.  The Catholic Church is the one true Church.All other churches that call themselves Christian are deficient to some degree. But, this is not a good time to be a Catholic because of the scandals. The Church has never enjoyed a “Golden Age”.  Our Lord predicted multitude of trouble and so has it been .mostly because of the clergy.  However, He promised : “I am with you all days…the gates of hell will not prevail.” The scandals prove the divinity of the Church, the two natures in the Church. The Church will survive.

So, the Christ..God or Fraud. Does It Really Matter? Absolutely. It’s a matter of life and death;.eternal life or death. Unless we answer this question correctly and live accordingly, we may hear some the most frightening words in the Bible, “Because you have denied me before men, (and that’s what an incorrect answer is.) I will deny you before My Father.” Those who have the correct relationship with Christ and the Church will be able, not only to say, but to know:”Now we have the answer”.  And there is no other.

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Freedom, a Paradox

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/09 at 3:12 PM

We humans are the only creatures that do not have to act in a predetermined way; we can radically alter the circumstances of our lives if we so wish. A tree will grow in the same spot year after year and follow its prearranged cycles. A dog will never live like a fish and a cat will never fly. Humans have found ways to both live under water and fly.

People have a moral dimension that other creatures do not have. We can produce a Mother Teresa and a Hitler, great saints and great sinners, and every level in between. The reason is that humans have the power of choice, of free will; we can decide to do or not to do something.

The Greeks of the ancient world, who helped lay of the foundation of our own civilization, were the thinkers of their time. They thought about almost every aspect of human existence. They delved into mathematics, physics, medicine, music, and literature. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Hippocrates, are among the more notable of them. They even had an atomic theory.

Their philosophers pondered the question of free will and its significance. They came to the conclusion that there is a paradox (apparent contradiction) in the matter of free will. They said that there are two kinds of freedom of the will, a “freedom from” and a “freedom to”. The former is negative and the latter is positive. “Freedom from” is the idea that no one should tell us what we can and cannot do, that we are free agents answerable only to ourselves.

The paradox here is that when we set out to be totally free of inhibitions, laws, rules etc, we eventually become, not free, but enslaved to our desires. They very things we thought would show our freedom bind us in a grip of negative habits and vice, and which, under our own power, would be proportionately difficult to overcome. Thus unlimited freedom turns into slavery.

“Freedom to” has its own paradox. In order to be free to accomplish anything of value or anything worthwhile, we must be willing to restrict, limit and restrain our free will. The reason you can read this essay is that I have limited myself to using certain words, in a certain order and arrangement. I could have used many of the other thousands of English words, but the result would be a different message or none at all…jibberish. I happen to enjoy choirs, but only because the choir members agree to follow a certain pattern of notes with no deviations. Imagine what would happen if the choir members decided that “no one was going to tell them what to sing”, and they all sang different hymns at the same time.

Man is the only creature that can conceive of and try to attain goals. No goal is reached in a haphazard way. Plans must be made, and part of those plans are restricted choices we must make to be successful. If one wishes to become a doctor, he/she must, long before, set out on a prescribed  course of study, and restrict himself or herself to whatever aids in the pursuit of the goal.

We live in a “Sez who?” society. Authority at every level, divine, parental, civil, educational, ecclesiastical , is being questioned and/or ignored if anyone so desires; each one becomes his or her own lawmaker. We forget that legitimate authority comes from God, and, therefore, obliges us to obey lawful rules. Too many people in authority have brought disrespect and disregard on themselves. Nevertheless, when we look around us, we see all too often the fruits of the “Sez who? Society”: dangerous addictions, high crime rate, low church attendance, rampant illicit sex, abortion, deficient education, evolution as fact, greed at every level (called “inflation”),  scientism (the belief that only science has all the answers), etc.

The Greeks had it right, BUT, because they did not have the benefit of Revelation, their idea of freedom is valid, but incomplete because they had only human reason to work with. It was not until the coming of Christ that we learned the true meaning of freedom. “The truth shall make you free.”

Because the Greek philosophers’ ideas of freedom were limited,  they relied on human reason alone, and, while they did develop some sound ideas, they were, nevertheless, incomplete and insufficient. They based everything on the idea of restraints and lack of restraints which is valid only to a certain extent. After all, it was a pagan world they lived in. We have the guidance of divine Revelation. It tells us that the real origin and basis for freedom is truth. “The truth shall make you free.”

Christ Himself referred to Himself as “the Truth.” The Gospels tell us that part of the mission of Christ on earth was to tell us how to find complete and necessary truth because it is only in truth that we find real freedom. Ever notice that false gods always seem to reduce freedom? The followers of Islam certainly have diminished freedom.

It does not require much observation to realize that we live in a world filled with errors and lies in all areas of life: ecclesiastical, political, moral, economic, social, scientific, educational, etc. Note also that the more error and falsehood involved, the more freedom is diminished. Ex. Darwinism has become a religion in the scientific world. Any opponent speaks out risks danger of grave consequences to his position and status. The same attitude is developing in the matter of global warming. The elites have decided that it exists, and anyone who questions it is subject to ridicule, ostracism, etc. In both Darwinism and global warming, contrary facts are not given a hearing. This means a loss of freedom to make our own judgments in such matters.

It is truth that makes us free. It is Christ who gives us true freedom. We can better understand this by using the terms the Greek philosophers used, “freedom from” and “freedom to”.  In Christ, we have a “freedom from”

ANXIETY: Christ Himself told us we need not be anxious about anything because God is in control of the world and whatever happens in it. With Him as our guide, we are assured that whatever comes to pass, good or bad, it will be to our advantage eventually.

ERROR:    Using the inspired Word of God and the  Catholic Church as a beacon of truth and  standard of behavior, we can judge and evaluate the myriad false ideas being tossed around today.

DOUBT:  The suicide bomber can only hope that his actions will bring him to heaven.(They won’t.) The Christian who believes in Christ and His promises KNOWS what his destiny is.

FEAR OF DEATH: The modern world seems to have a mania for staying alive as long as possible. Of course, the reason is that too many think that the grave is the end of the story. The Christian knows that death for him/her leads to the second and better part of life as  his/her soul goes to meet with Christ while the body remains temporarily on earth.

In short, believing the truth of Christ rescues us from the baneful effects of our sinful human nature, and gives us freedom that the non-saved can’t even imagine.

There is a positive side the God’s freedom, the “freedom to.”

Human freedom is tenuous, and fickle, and can be dangerous when misused; too much freedom often leads to disaster.

God’s freedom is infinite, constant, and eternal.

We are free to be all that God has designed us to be, free to be what no human power can give, free to reach our full potential which is eternal union with God.

The Greeks said that true freedom lies in restraint. So too is it in the Christian life. We call this restraint obedience to God’s will. That is the source of man’s true freedom because it will lead to eternal glory in which human freedom becomes perfect, and a more mentally peaceful existence on earth. That is God’s plan for us.

There will be no “freedom from” in Heaven because there will be no  doubts, fears, anxieties, or errors, etc. The least free person is the habitual sinner. Listen to his last lament.

“The past has deceived me; the present torments me; and the future terrifies me.”

The true Christian, free in Christ, will never need to utter these words.

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Catholic Christian?

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/08 at 6:14 PM

A Baptist friend of ours in California asked the following question.

As my only resident expert on Catholicism, I have a question……do you regard Catholics Christian? If yes, why…and if no, why….I know virtually nothing about their beliefs and hear that they are not Christian…and just want to know what you think…thanks…

Reply: This accusation is an old one from years and years ago when there was much overt anti-Catholicism in the US. There is absolutely no foundation for such a charge. It is based on abysmal ignorance of the Catholic Church.

If you define a  Christian Church as one that believes in the God of the Bible, the Trinity, the Second Person of that Trinity taking on human form while still remaining divine, accepting death for human sin to make salvation (heaven) possible again, that He rose from the dead and is now very much alive in heaven, then the Catholic Church is totally Christian. It believes all that and much more found in the Bible.

In some denominations, the Sunday service includes the recitation of the Nicean Creed, a creed set up by the Catholic Church in 325 AD at the Council of Nicea.

If you say that the Catholic Church is not Christian, then you have to say that the Christian Church did not begin until the time of Luther. Prior to him, there was no other Church except the Catholic Church. It would ignore the facts of history and human psychology for a founder to say that he would set up a church 1500 years AFTER his death.  Never happens.  Luther never said the Catholic Church was not Christian; he did say it had too much corruption at the time (which was true).

If the Protestant Churches were the beginning of the Christian Church what were they protesting?

Perhaps a more relevant question today is whether some Protestant denominations are still Christian.  Too many have succumbed to the siren of the culture and accept practicing homosexuals as they are.   Regardless of the cultural PC involved, the Bible condemns homosexuality in several places. Last time I looked, there was nothing in  the Bible about  the divine moral code being subject to contemporary human vote.

One reason the Catholic Church is not liked is because in all it history (2000 years), it has never made the current cultural attitudes the norm of its doctrine. To be specific, the matter of abortion.  The US Supreme Court can declare a divine law void, but God does not agree. The Catholic Church condemns abortion because it is evil in itself. Abortion is not a “Catholic” sin; it is a sin against nature. You can successfully argue against abortion and not mention religion because it is a sin against nature itself. What kind of society kills off 50,000,000 unborn people (humans) mostly because someone finds them inconvenient? That has nothing  to do with religion; is  naturally irrational.

To say that Catholic Church is Christian is NOT to vouch for all its members, past and present. In fact, if you look at the history of the Catholic Church, it is a wonder it has survived at all when you look at some of its members (even popes). The Catholic Church, like all churches has more belongers than believers. The Protestant Churches have broken up into about thirty THOUSAND denominations. The Catholic Church has no denominations. The doctrine of the Catholic Church is that Christ founded the Catholic Church and protects from collapsing into chaos.

Both the Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches are Christian.  Both urge their members to seek a salvific relationship with Jesus Christ. I can’t imagine that a just God would exclude Rev. Charles Stanley from heaven because he happens to be a Baptist. If more Catholics and Protestants had his faith, we’d all be better off in the USA.

Hope this helps you understand the question better.

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Being Objective About Being Subjective

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/08 at 6:07 PM

One of the effects of living in a society that substitutes opinion for truth is that subjective judgment becomes the norm for truth.“I believe it; therefore, it is true,” rather than,“ It is true; therefore, I believe it.” Such a person sees truth as a product of his own mind rather than something we discover in the world of reality. One who habitually thinks like this can eventually lose an awareness of the difference between thinking objectively and thinking subjectively.

There is certainly a place for subjective judgments. There are elements of reality that simply do not demand objective evaluation or appraisal. If we are in a restaurant, there is no best meal, or morally good/bad meal, or  true/false meal. Barring other factors, the choice is ours. Many of our everyday choices are subjective and quite legitimate. Ex. clothes choice, activity choice, exercise, TV programs, etc.

When we view persons, things or events objectively, we see them as they really are regardless of our personal attitude, feelings etc. about  them. Ex. Mozart was a great musician. That is established truth whether we agree or not. On the other hand, it is quite legitimate to say, “Mozart is a great musician, but I don’t like his music” because objective truth is still recognized.

Natural laws are fixed even if we don’t like them. The law of gravity is not subject to our veto. Anyone who would dispute or deny what is objectively true can be said to be literally unrealistic, and his judgments and inferences are suspect.

Negative subjective thinking arises when we view persons, things or events through the eyes of our own biases, likes/dislikes etc. “I don’t like Mozart’s music; therefore, he can’t be a very good musician.” This attitude denies objective reality the basis of truth.Any further discussion of Mozart is probably useless with such a person. Moreover, people who thrive on personal opinion see themselves as their own standard and impervious to criticism because they can always say, “Well, that’s my opinion,” meaning that’s the end of the discussion.

Opinion is only as valid as the amount of factual basis that supports it.

One who issues opinions based on not much more than personal bias can never be engaged in productive thinking or discussion with those who view things more objectively. Ultra liberals and  ultra conservatives are examples of this thinking.

The problem with substituting subjective opinion for truth is that when we act on a wrong or false opinion, the results can be negative and usually are. “I believe God is so good that He will save everyone eventually.” “Christ was merely a great teacher like Socrates or Aristotle, nothing more.” “All religions lead to heaven.” “Christ did not mention homosexuality in the Gospels.” “I’m a good person. I don’t need religion.”  “God will take care of me when I die.” What is happening here is that the speaker is substituting his/her wishful thinking for truth. None of these statements conform to Biblical reality, but they are commonly voiced.

We forget that a man/woman must worship God as He sees fit, not as he/she sees fit. Those who “think” like this are, in effect, demanding, or at least assuming, that God should be receptive to his/her opinion even though He has decreed otherwise. After all, truth arises in MY mind, and God should agree with me.

However, truth/reality does not change to accommodate our false ideas and errors.

In matters of religion and faith, it can be eternally dangerous not to seek and hold to objective truth. That was Eve’s mistake; she ignored the objective truth that God had set down and relied on her personal evaluation of the serpent and his offer. Our personal opinions simply do not count if they are at variance with the truth, be it natural or divine. There is no substitute for truth, especially divine truth given to us in the Bible, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church.

Error is error even if everyone is in error and truth is truth even if no one believes it.

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Moslems/Muslims

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/07 at 2:02 AM

All of what I say today refers only to the Arab Moslems.  They are the radical ones.  The Asians and sub-Saharan Moslems are generally milder.  Example. Indonesian Moslems can often convert to Catholicism with no objection from other Moslems.

US Government officials, especially federal, are so paralyzed by the stupidity of political correctness that they are confused and unrealistic about the dangers of militant Islam. Terrorists fall into a narrow pattern of Arab men, but the government refuses to profile lest Muslims be offended.  If these officials had been in power 60 years ago, we would probably not have engaged in WWII lest we offend our enemies.

Too many people use God and Allah interchangeably.  “Allah” is the Arabic word for God or god but it is not synonymous with the One we call God.  They are worlds apart.

In sixth and seventh centuries, in Arabia, the religion was polytheistic.  Allah was the moon-god that Mohammed simply elevated to supreme status and eliminated the rest.  On the flags of the some Moslem countries there is a crescent moon which symbolizes Allah.

There are those who like to insinuate a sameness between Christian, Jews and Moslems by saying that they are all monotheistic.  This is true, but it is irrelevant.  Monotheism has nothing to do with truth.  The Catholics worship the true God in the fullness of revelation. Protestants and Jews worship the true God but incompletely.  The Moslems do not worship the true God at all.

Moslems do not believe in the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the Crucifixion as atonement, the Resurrection, and many other revealed truths.  Thus, it doesn’t matter what similarities there happen to be.  Islam is a totally false religion because, if for no other reason, it is man-made.

Mohammed himself, before he founded Islam, was considered a respectable and honorable man, but in order to spread Islam, he changed.  He was a killer, mass murderer, thief, bandit, liar, and child molester to name a few of his evils.  In one episode he had 680 Jewish men beheaded in front of their families, and sold the wives and children into slavery. Compare him with Christ who challenged His enemies to find any sin in Him.

Islam was spread by conquest and the sword. Christians and Jews, for a time were spared death, but others who did not convert were killed.

In the eleventh century, Arabs had produced a fairly high culture.  They had philosophy, literature, math, science, medicine (most of which they learned from Christians).

Then it all fell apart. In the last thousand years the Arabs have had no intellectual culture at all.  Were it no for oil money (which benefits only a very few) the Arab world would seem like a primitive people.  What happened?

In the early days of Islam, the dominant faction believed that human reason and intelligence was essential to understand and make it appealing.  In the twelfth  century a new group gained power.  Their main idea was that reason had no place in Islam.  Instead, a slavish reading of and obedience to the Koran replaced reasoned treatment of the Korah and the Hadith (Mohammed’s sayings).

No interpretation of the Koran was needed or allowed or wanted.  A society or civilization cannot function without reason or common sense.  A prime example of this in the Moslem world is their totally absurd attitude towards women.  Because of their failure to use and respect reason and logic Arabs are left with the only other alternative, emotion.  Thus they are very volatile.  It doesn’t take much to set them off.

CONCLUSION: “It is only radical Moslems who are the terrorists.”  This is another of those head in the sand pronouncements of government officials.  80% of Moslems agree with Sharia law.  Almost no voices are raised against the radicals

Islam’s goal is to conquer the whole world for Islam.  In the past the used military means and failed.  Now their technique is immigration. There are cities in the USA that are, in effect, Moslem cities.  Parts of England are under Sharia law. Moslem birth rate is far higher than in the US.

Because of many years of false judgments about and ignorance of Islam, we face a determined enemy. Because of many years of living as though God did not exist, we are left in a condition that we can probably be saved only by divine intervention. Pray for it.

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What Is Truth?

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/06 at 9:00 PM

St. Thomas Aquinas was one of the most brilliant philosopher-theologians in the history of the Catholic Church. His definition of truth, which is still valid today, is that truth is the conformity/agreement of the mind to reality. This means that objective truth lies outside of us, outside the human mind. The human mind discovers/learns/ finds truth; it does not invent it.

What arises in our own minds is opinion which may or may conform well to reality. It is the role of the human mind to seek objective truth. That is how God designed the mind. Some times it takes eons to discover a truth or set of truths. Ex. The laws of aerodynamics have existed probably since the beginning of time, but they were discovered only in the last century.

We live in a world in which too many believe that truth is manufactured by the human mind, that man does not discover truth, but determines it. This attitude is far more prevalent is matters of the spiritual and the intellectual spheres like religion, morality, ethics, education, government, etc. In these areas opinion, often the loudest, becomes “truth”.

But truth comes from God and when man dares to usurp that authority, the consequences can be disastrous. Frederick Hegel, a nineteenth century philosopher, when told that his theories did not fit the facts, said,  in effect, that was just too bad for the facts. He was one of the founders of Communism. As a result of this invented “truth,” millions of people were enslaved and worse for almost a century.

The theory of evolution is much in a news today. Honest scientists will admit that evolution is far from a proven theory. About 90-95% of contemporary scientists admit they are materialists and act as thought evolution were a fact.  If it’s not matter, it doesn’t matter.”

Materialism is a philosophy; it is not science, but scientists prefer pretending evolution is a fact because, as Thomas Huxley, an associate of Darwin, said that he liked the idea of evolution because if man were merely a high-grade monkey, he is not responsible for his actions, and, therefore,  he could continue to what do we call sin. In fact,  evolution has long since  passed from the realm of science and has become a quasi religion among many scientists. That’s why there is a kind of frenzy about protecting the theory of evolution against the inroads of logic or fact.

The ACLU is so vehemently anti-Christian that is quite willing to distort and manipulate facts to make the U.S. Constitution say whatever the organization wants it to say. The result has been constantly invented “truth” aimed at the Christian community.

If we do not live in the real world, must then live in a world of whim, fantasy, opinion, subjectivism, etc. Only by living in the real world can we even hope to live a fully human life.

In a world that denies objective truth in matters transcendental and spiritual, and tells us that opinion is a good substitute for truth, we have the words of Christ (Jn 14:5) that He and He alone is the embodiment of truth, that He is the only source of truth.  If we ignore that, we do so at great peril not only to out temporal life, but to our eternal life.

Remember this: an idea  is not true because we say it is or because we believe it is, or because the majority favors it is, an idea is true only if it conforms to objective reality.

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Is God God or Are You God?

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/05 at 3:17 PM

One of the characteristics that distinguishes  humans from animals and all other creatures is that humans can and do wonder about things, about the purpose or the reason something is what it is or does what it does. Animals never wonder about the circumstances of their lives. They live by instinct which never changes; they would have no reason to wonder because they can’t change anything anyway.  Adam and Eve’s dog would be right at home with your dog, but they would be awestruck by human life today. That’s because we humans can ponder purpose and make changes if we so desire.

It is very important to know the purpose of whatever we are dealing with because, if we do not know the true purpose of something or someone, we may end up not using it, misusing it, damaging or even destroying the thing. Small children do this routinely. This also applies to people; think of the misuse and destruction of people by Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot in the modern era alone. They saw other people only as means to an end.

Throughout life  we deal with many intermediate purposes and goals such as education, marriage, family career etc. These differ from person to person and culture to culture. Some are successful in reaching their goals while others, not understanding the nature of goals, flounder through life. Half the marriages in the U.S. fail because at least  one spouse does not understand the nature and purpose of marriage.  Schools today are failing in a tragic way because they changed their purpose from the acquisition of knowledge to politically correct socialization.

I don’t think many would dispute that the country has many seemingly insoluble problems; drugs, crime, abuse at all levels, illegal immigration etc. I suggest that the reason is that  in the U.S. (and most of the Western world)  the most important purpose of all has been forgotten or ignored, i.e. the purpose of man himself . The purpose of anything is usually determined by the maker. Man was made by God in the beginning, and it is  God who assigned man his purpose which will never change regardless of how man deals with it. God does not adjust Himself to contemporary cultural whims. Anyone who does not know or does not care that he or she is made in the image and likeness of God is doomed to the ultimate failure which is not to be a saint.

Man has a divine goal or purpose which is his final union with God for eternity. This is what God has set up, and He has also set up definite ways to reach that goal which are not subject to human interpretations. On the other hand, man can reject his purpose and set up his own idea of purpose, but if we set up any purpose that does not  conform to divine purpose,  he will live a substandard human life.

Many are going through life today with no ultimate goal in mind. They are like a person who drives without a destination. When the gas runs out, he is nowhere and there’s no gas. Going through life without an eye on eternity  may cause one to lose the very purpose of life itself. No matter  what circumstances we find ourselves in, for good or bad, we all will arrive  at that six-foot hole. That’s the end of striving. You made it or you didn’t.  Hell is realizing that you “blew it…. badly”.

The real purpose of human life is to know, love, and serve God while on earth and spend eternity in His presence. Anything less is risky. One of the great saints of the Church used to have as his norm, “Quid ad aeternitatem?”.. How does this affect eternity? We live in a world which, at least in practice, does not believe in eternity at all. How many people have you seen die on TV with no thought whatsoever of an afterlife? Death is the end. Be that as it may,  it does not affect God’s purpose for people. We will knock on the door of eternity someday. If you have pursued your God-given goal, the door will not be opened by  a fellow in a red suit carrying a pitchfork.

The most important question is: “Is God God or are you  God?” If you decide that YOU are God by your lifestyle, then you are a fool, as the Psalm says. And there are no fools in heaven.

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Is It Just Semantics?

In 08 Musings by Jack Reagan on 2011/04/02 at 7:53 PM

In the field of language, Latin is classified as a dead language while English is classified as a living language. A dead language is one which is no longer spoken by any recognized group, and, therefore, its grammar and vocabulary will not change. (Latin has been dropped from most schools because “dead” was interpreted as “useless” which it is anything but.)

Since language is arbitrary to begin with, and is designed by those who use it, a living language changes all the time by adding new words, new meanings for old words, words dropped, etc. Words can pick up positive or negative meanings. Ex “pretty” used to mean “sneaky”.  Think of all the new words added to English in the past 30 years.

If you eliminate the English words with Latin or Greek roots, you are left with a very monosyllabic tribal language based on the uneducated Germanic tribes of Angles and Saxons who settled in England.  Thus, English may be widespread in the world because of American power and wealth (as Latin once was for the same reasons), but it is not a very sophisticated language. For example, the Greek language, much older than English, has about 7-8 words that mean “love” depending on the object of the love. If a Greek uses a form of “agape,” we know he is referring to religious love. If he uses “eros,” we know he means physical love.  If he uses “philos,” he is thinking of friendship.

In English, we use only one word, “love” to cover everything.  Thus we love God; God loves us; we love our spouse, our child, our parents and the country. But we also “love” our team, pizza, ice cream, that movie, a TV program, and we’d love to visit Europe. We even love the dog.

Thus the word love covers so much that it really doesn’t mean much or at least not what it’s supposed to mean.  We have extended the meaning of love to encompass the ideas of like, prefer, hope, desire  etc.

The ability to love is one of those gifts of God that comes with our rational nature.

No other creature can love….not even the dog.  It is like language, law, conversation, fine arts etc…a peculiarly human gift in that only humans can engage in them.

Love must be rational.  This is why we tend to look askance at infatuation whose root is “silly”.  Love can only apply to rational beings. You simply cannot love ice cream or any other food.  I suggest that these egregious uses of the “love” may be part of the reason that love doesn’t mean what it used to mean; we have made it a vague and amorphous word.

We need to find a synonym that conveys the idea of love accurately.  We are always hearing that God loves us. Is it a quasi romantic, cutesy, mushy love that cannot even be really imagined, let alone grasped by the mind?  It is because of this false idea of divine love that the error of universal salvation has arisen. “God loves us so much, He would never send anyone to hell.” “God is good that He could never sent anyone to hell.”

I suggest we think of love in  terms of “commitment”. Whenever we hear “love”, we think “commitment.” John 3:5 might be more meaningful if we said, “God was so committed to the world that he gave His only-begotten Son…”   “Commitment” suggests a much stronger reality.

All human love should involve commitment to another person. If there is no commitment, the “love” may be based merely on physical attraction (“He’s a hunk.”) or selfish utility  (marrying the boss’s daughter). The highest love involves a dedication/commitment to the spiritual and/or temporal well-being of another person.

There is another aspect of real love that contemporary society has rejected. The best love relationship has a divine component. If you do not have a commitment to God and the things of God, whatever love you offer will be diminished because God is the source of love. A true love song can be used as a prayer, too. Think of “Be My Love”. Try making a prayer out of modern “love” songs!

When we think of love, think of commitment to someone. That is a strong word….and a bit scary, too. It does give us sense of what is expected in a love relationship whether it is with God or another person. When we want to have a model of commitment, we need look no further than the Bible and Christ. God didn’t just say he was committed to man, he proved it on at least three major occasions.

The first was Christmas when a divine Being allowed himself to take on human form.

The second was at the Crucifixion when Christ committed Himself to rescue mankind potentially from hell.

The third is a commitment that we don’t usually think of in that way…the Resurrection. This was a commitment to the peace of mind of the faithful who, because of the Resurrection, need never doubt that the Gospels are true history and, therefore, reliable in all that they teach.

As Catholics, rejoice and be glad that our God has shown His commitment to us.

Have we reciprocated that commitment?