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Category: Religion

Higher Than The Heavens; Lower Than The Angels

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In preparation for writing one of my stories which has been held up in the underworld region of my cognizance for far too long, I have been researching !!!***astrology***!!! (Insert scream of shock and scandal here!) What most strikes me at this stage is that this is the last living link to the myths of our pre-Christian ancestors. And it’s pretty lively. But even astrology, or the way it has been approached, has also been changed by the advent of Christ and the rise of Christianity. Specifically, the literary development of conscious allegory… Read more Higher Than The Heavens; Lower Than The Angels →

Another Brief Word on Universalism

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Perhaps one of the weakest arguments that’s advanced against the hope that all mankind will eventually be saved from evil and enjoy the blessings of God’s love is the argument that this belief encourages sinners to sin. Without the doctrine of eternal punishment, some people say, people will sin with impunity, unafraid of the consequences. What an odd thing to say! Suppose I tell my son, “If you do such-and-such, you get no more screen time for a week.” And he really wants to do such-and-such so he says, “OK,… Read more Another Brief Word on Universalism →

Martyrs

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Not long ago a friend told me the following story. She had been falsely accused of sexual sin, in a strict religious community, in her youth. She spent her teenaged years under a cloud of scrutiny, suspicion, and self-doubt. She was ostracized by the “good people” and later on she even was rejected as a marriage candidate by a suitor’s parents, because of the old rumors. Later on, one of this woman’s friends actually did the thing she had been accused of, more or less. When she heard about that,… Read more Martyrs →

Christ The Quiet Conversationalist

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When we Christians teach about the Old Testament sacrifices, we often place much emphasis upon the death of the animal. Do we believe that the moment of death is the moment that God reconciles himself to sinners? Does he venerate death so much? As a teenager I felt horror at the thought of the innocent animal, completely unconcerned in this divine drama, dying for sins that people had committed, because God was otherwise unable to forgive. My viewpoint now is a little different. It’s been a while since I examine… Read more Christ The Quiet Conversationalist →

On Prayers to Mary

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I recently ran into this discussion over at an interesting blog. She called it the “scary Mary prayer” and apparently it is the one that says, “Most Holy Theotokos, save us.” The comments were interesting, but I wanted to add to them. Pretty soon my comment got too long so I’ve decided to post on my own venue. First of all, I had a similar crisis to this in Bible College when I realized that the scriptures – yes, the Bible – speak of things and people as saving folks.… Read more On Prayers to Mary →