November 7, 2008
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Moving On
I printed off 22 pages of comments from my “Dear Obama” post.
I’ve been told by a few fellow bloggers that they miss reading my posts on other things such as spirituality. While I very much want to and am willing to address the enormous number of comments, I realize that, judging by the amount of passion generated by the topic, and also the outright anger and borderline hatred, to continue on the topic would only serve to foster more in the future.
Abortion is not a topic I will ever, ever surrender on.
However, this blog is not about me. It is about us. When I petitioned my superior back in novitiate (and then again when being missioned here to St. Louis), I did so in the hope that sharing my experience and insights with the broader Xanga community might be helpful for others in their journey to Jesus Christ. There have been a great number of people that have experienced this, and I am very grateful for it. In light of this, the purpose of my blog, I want to ask you what you want.
Again, I could address the comments and continue that dialogue.
Or, I could blog on something else. If you were a commentor that wants to continue the discussion, you may message me and we can continue there.
Please do not see this as a cop-out or a surrender. Quite the contrary! I merely want to make sure I am not letting my own personal passions overshadow the purpose of this blog, to the disservice of so many amazing people who I have been able to reach over the last five years.
So, what’ll it be?
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Comments (27)
I vote for Something Else. I’m so tired of politics at this point I’m game for just about Anything Else.
perhaps you should have been “drowned” at birth
@apyus - umm… what?
@apyus -
LOL. I like your style.
Spain’s immigration problem
Are missionaries in Foreign countries successful
Jews and Palestines in Israel
Is self harm a sin
Death penalty
Blah blah bluster blah
There’s some topics for ya crusdaer.
@King_of_The_Night - …abductions
I believe our search is in becoming a faithful imitation of Christ and His Virtue, as He is Virtue and Goodness itself. On the one hand, Virtue contends with evil, overcoming it by persevering when the world tells us that the culture of death is inevitable. So politics and abortion are intertwined. To fight the culture of death, we must deal with politics, as distasteful as that is. On the other hand, we must realize that in prayer we come into contact with Christ Himself, and gain strength to fight the good fight. So they go together. We must have both the contemplative and the active life. I see the nitwits beaming over the election of Obama, and I ask myself if there is something I am missing here. Then the answer comes: “No! Obama supports and promotes intrinsic evil! The crowd of glassy-eyed politocos are the ones missing something. They see Obama and all they see is the color of his skin. You see the blood on his hands.”
Let’s have both, my virtuous friend. We are strangers in a strange land.
Why don’t you talk about the one topic that no clergyman is willing to discuss?
Plagiarism in the Bible.
The story of the virgin birth, for example, is a word-for-word retelling of an Egyptian virgin birth story carved into Egyptian temple walls which predate the New Testament itself.
The story of Moses, as another example, is a retelling of the Syrian King Sargon which is also carved into temple walls which predate the immigration of the Jews out of Egypt and, thus, predate the Old Testament.
The Ten Commandments, yet another example, are word-for-word copies of ten commands found in the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.
The story of Noah’s Arc is plagiarized, the figure of Jesus is mirrored from the Old Testament (Joseph) and is also plagiarized from several other religions – all predating Christianity.
Explain that clergyman: why is the Bible full of plagiarism?
I really do see enough grumbling from Republicans and conservatives about the election and enough divisive and angry rhetoric and personally I find it really alienating. You have remained above that so far, but you won’t for long if you go down the politics route. And that would be disappointing. I guess the question is do you want to only speak to people who agree with your views, or do you want to debate with your readers, or do you want to reach out to people across all lines and divisions? I’d personally prefer the latter but it is really up to you.
I personally would like to see a few meditations on the nature of faith, guidance on discernment of vocation, how to fight sexual temptation, your experience as a novitiate, informational posts on Jesuits and what they do…. if I think of some more things I’ll comment with them.
I say move on. Abortion has too many emotions tied to it, and you will never get everyone to agree with you. Let’s hear about something else.
As the child of an unwed teenage mother, I was a prime candidate for abortion myself as an embryo. Thank God my mother chose to both birth me and raise me. I’m definitely against it. However when it comes to voting it isn’t the only thing I consider. There are many issues to consider when selecting a candidate. We live in a fallen world, and many times in an election I feel I am choosing the lesser of two evils. Each person has their own strengths and weaknesses.
@praytherosaryeveryday - the issue was tranparancy
@apyus -
Our friend knows that to which I am referring.
@praytherosaryeveryday - pray the rosary every day!
movies!?! always a hot topic for debate! lol!
umm, how about the nature of love/ the resounding voice of God that most people can not hear (how to find/ listen to it)/ how to effectively pray/ how to be a gentleman (because a lot of the pressure and anxiety of women is put there by men)/ im thinking of these as i type. sry. i got nuthin. >^.^<
Hey Jake, I realized I don’t seem to have your email today… you can contact me via the contact link on my page
@iwfuutaudls -
It is difficult to call commonalities in the ancient world “plagiarism,” as the concept did not exist then, and traditions were so strongly oral, that there’s hardly any way of knowing which really came first before someone happened to write it down. Take Homer’s Odyssey, for example. Most anthropologists and literary critics believe that he was simply really good at telling an old story, but he takes the credit for the version that is in the written form. Stories often didn’t have an particular one author, but were held in common. So we could call that “not original,” but that hardly counts as “plagiarism.”
Couldn’t the commonalities also be a sign of universal longing for something?
@maje_charis -
The concept did exist back then, it was called theft.
The traditions were not oral. As I said in my original post to this thread, they were hieroglyphs carved into stone walls in pagan temples which preceded Christianity. We can test the dates from historical documents and carbon-14 dating.
Homer’s Odyssey has nothing to do with the specific examples of plagiarism I brought up. Your red herring failed.
Just because the carvings in ancient Egyptian and Syrian temples did not have one particular author signed at the bottom, does not mean they were not authored before Christianity and before the Jews organized themselves and migrated out of Egypt.
The commonalities are not a sign of universal longing because, as I said in my original post to this thread, they are word-for-word copies of ancient scriptures which predate the Bible.
Maybe you should actually study the facts behind my original post instead of trying to come up with red herrings and excuses.
@iwfuutaudls -
I had no intention of creating a red herring. You act as though I am trying to deliberately cover something up, but I am not. I am merely suggesting that because oral traditions pre-date written ones, and because rote memorization was used back then, who is to say where these originated before being written down? Also, I admit that I have not seen the examples of which you speak, but even if they are eerily similar, there will be translation differences and adaptations. Also, it is true that there are commonalities and parallels in other religions/worldviews besides the examples you cite. So, really, there could always be something more going on that neither you nor myself understands.
Peace be with you.
@maje_charis -
The oral traditions in the Egyptian and Syrian cultures may have had those stories which were later carved into stone temple walls.
But that does not change the fact that the Hebrew people could not have possibly read those carvings until they migrated to those regions. They migrated there after the carvings were carved. I do not see what there isn’t to understand. Besides the concept of a timeline.
And for the last time, they are not similar. They are word-for-word copies. I am not asking anybody to believe me. This subject is the subject of many textbooks written by university professors of archeology, ancient history, mythology, and of world religions.
In fact, you want to see a nice list of dozens upon dozens of published sources and reference texts, click here.
are you planning on suing the whole hebrew people? no. what’s the use in fighting about it? none. if you know about the history of these peoples, then you would also have to admit that this sort of thing happened all of the time especially in the middle east during the time of the babylonian exile (also before and after) due to the assimilation of peoples- which was a tactic to incorporate defeated countries into one’s own nation to prevent more unrest. it was almost an expectation to adapt another’s culture and theism in order to survive. lots of other cultures have done this too. ~there are several versions of what we may know as the story of Noah that had circulated the area at that time (before and after). it’s really not a big deal.
ryc:
I’m not shouting it from the mountain tops just yet, but I’m getting close.
Post topics – politics swirl around us, and I would like to see some other topics. Now, if you would like to speak about politics, you could chose something other than abortion and other ‘hot’ topics. Why is it that the ‘hot’ topics of politics are always the least moral or honorable? I’ve been reading your site now for at least a year or two and have seen the postings on your contemplation and faith, but I only see a little bit about apostolic endeavors. Maybe stir the ole pot a bit – faith and works? What kinds you do or are drawn to? or put the spotlight on others in the world who’s work is great, but greatly ignored?
@iwfuutaudls - You raise some interesting points. You mentioned the story of Sargon, but would you mind giving me the names of the other stories you reference, like which part of the Book of the Dead or what inscription on what pillar? I’d like to read these for myself before I decide if I want to blog about them. Thanks!
@jn316ps23 - For two thousand years, people have claimed that the Bible is the word of God. Indeed, many people claim this to this day. Since very little of the Bible is original, and since most comes from non Middle Eastern pagan religions, this cannot be the case.
We may not be able to sue, but as the Christian’s themselves say, there are laws which are higher than government’s laws.
To spell it out for you: it is important because the Bible cannot be the word of God and simultaneously be a collection of plagiarized pagan texts.
@Ancient_Scribe - I’m pretty sure I mentioned this earlier. The ten commandments are word-for-word copies of a portion of the book of the dead. Noah’s arc and the Moses’ adoption and even the virgin birth of Christ are all word-for-word copies of text in more ancient, pagan scriptures.
As I have already said, all relevant sources, plus more, can be found on this page.
A Good day to you Sir , I have a complain I want to read but its a little bit difficult because your interesting line come over the photo of the Holy Mary. And that is to corect when you take advantige of the enter button
like
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Furthermore I come back to read more Pieter and a good 2009