Category Archives: religion

God Became Human

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The following quote is from an interview Martin Sheen did with his son Emilio concerning their new movie “The Way.”  It can be found on salon.com here.

While I may not agree with everything Sheen says, it is more than refreshing to see a Hollywood star speak seriously about his or her faith.

Religions separate us, by their very nature. Spirituality unites us. That’s the key, and if spirituality is not about humanity, it’s not spiritual. I am a practicing Catholic. I love the faith. I’m not nuts about the institution, but the faith is mine, everywhere I go in the world. The belief that God became human — that’s genius, man. And that God would choose to dwell where we would least likely look, inside ourselves and each other. The genius of God in our humanity, I love that.

Every culture has that — the Hindus, Muslims, all of them have it. That’s the fundamental belief in all true believers, that God is present, God suffers and is broken with us. That’s why the Catholics never removed the corpse from the cross. Our hero is a convicted criminal. He was tried and convicted in a kangaroo court and then he was murdered. That’s God. We’re embraced by that. The most fundamental, most basic, most sincere beliefs — that’s not religion. It’s spirituality. It’s transcendence. People are looking for transcendence now more than ever, I think. Sometimes our transcendence becomes drugs, alcohol, money, power, sex, and they’re so shallow. It’s we ourselves, we must surrender ourselves to our brokenness. That’s the beginning of community, and that’s what this film [The Way] is all about.

Satan Writes to Pat Robertson

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About a month ago the Minneapolis Star-Tribune published a letter from Satan to evangelist Pat Robertson.  It was in response to his saying that Haiti‘s problems were all due to a pact the nation made with Satan.  Of course, Satan didn’t really compose the letter.  Rather, Lilly Coyle of Minneapolis, did the writing in Satan’s name.  But it seems it seems to me she must have at least been channeling the devilish spirit when putting pen to paper.  While some of you may have seen this already, I thought I would go ahead and post it here as well.

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.

Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll.

You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS

How to Avoid Being an Idiot or a Swine

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“At bottom, what should you do to avoid being an idiot or a swine? Merely this: you should do something great, you should lay aside all the foolishness of a more of less long existence, you should become resigned to the fact that you will seem ridiculous to a race of janitors and bureaucrats if you are to enter the service of Splendor. Then you will know what it means to be the friend of God. The Friend of God! I am on the verge of tears when I think of it. No longer do you know on what block to lay your head, no longer do you know where you are, where you should go. You would like to tear out your heart, so hotly does it burn, and you cannot look upon a creature without trembling with love. You would like to drag yourself on your knees from church to church, with rotten fish strung from your neck, as said the sublime Angela de Foligno. And when you leave these churches after speaking to God as a lover speaks to his beloved, you appear like those poorly designed and poorly painted figures on the Way of the Cross, who walk and gesticulate full of pity, against a background of gold. All the thoughts that had been pent up unknown within you, in the caverns of your heart, run out in tumult suddenly like virgins who are mutilated, blind, starving, nude, and sobbing. Ah! Surely at such moments the most horrendous of all martyrdoms would be embraced , and with what rapture.” – Leon Bloy

July 10th – Some Interesting Facts about Today in History

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A can of Coke II

Image via Wikipedia

1509 – John Calvin was born. His ‘Institutes of the Christian Religion’ became the most popular doctrinal statement of the Protestant Reformation. Calvinism, a system of theological thought, was later developed from his writings and include the famous TULIP, an acronym outlining its five main points.

Total Depravity (also known as Total Inability and Original Sin)
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement (also known as Particular Atonement)
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints (also known as Once Saved Always Saved)

To read more about TULIP, you might want to go here. As a United Methodist myself, I am more disposed to the other predominant strain of thought in American theology: Arminianism.  To read more about it, you might want to go here, but for me the main differences are that the Atonement is unlimited (Christ died for all), humans play a part in choosing to serve God, and they may also decide to stop believing in God and thus lose their salvation.

For a summary of the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism, this site is a good beginning point, even though it is written from a Calvinist point of view.

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1830 – Camille Pissarro, the French Impressionist painter, was born (See painting below).

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1875 – Mary McLeod Bethune was born.  Bethune was an American educator, co-founder of Bethune-Cookman College, and a civil rights advisor to Franklin Roosevelt.  She once said, “Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.”  She also once opined, “Knowledge is the prime need of the hour,” a statement that is often true.

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1925 – The famous ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ began in Dayton, TN, after high school biology teacher John T. Scopes was charged with teaching evolution to his students.

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1985 – The Coca-Cola Co., bowing to pressure from irate customers after the introduction of New Coke, said it would resume selling its old formula.

Les chataigniers a Osny (The Chestnut Trees at Osny) - Pissarro

Signature with Picture

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