Talk:Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God

Learn more about this page

Deus Propicius Esto: the battle for our souls

When we sin, Jesus suffers; When we suffer, Jesus suffers

Book of Revelation

Senses of Scripture

Sin

Dating the scriptures

Adam' s choice: martyr or God

"The Way"

Observation, Judgment and forgiveness

Modernism: the Parable of the Tenants

The Return of the Unclean Spirit: Lk 11:24

"Who can forgive sins except God?" < Jesus didn't say that!

Why is the Old Testament God so mean? (revelation and salvation history)

common objection to our faith is the the OT God is mean.

There are various approaches to answering this question, including

OT is not literal (Sodom/ the Flood, exaggerations, esp. regarding war)
- so those events in the OT are either allegorical, moral, or not the whole truth
- ex. God tells the Isrealites to kill all the Caananites, yet, the Israelites end up marrying Canaanite women... which is it?
God was only killing people who themselves were really mean

Seems to me that Jesus answered it best in Luke 13:4: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/13?4

Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them*—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

Let's step back: The Israelites were not special, they were special because God chose them as his vehicle for salvation of all mankind.

A couple conclusions must be drawn from that: 1. The Israelites, as a people, were no better or worse than any other peoples at the time; indeed, we see this over and over again when they violate God's word 2. God necessarily sustained them as a people through to the Incarnation of Christ.

The OT shows us just how brutal and beautiful ancient life could be. Sodom (), the rape of the slave girl (Judges 19:25), the Rape of Tamar (2 Sm 13:1)

Concubines were everywhere. In defense of Jerusalem, God struck dead 185,000 Assyrians (Is 37:36) and after invoking the same against 80,000 Greeks, to show God's power, Judas Macabeaus hangs Ncanor's head and arm on the wall of the city (2 Mac 15:35). (Btw, Henry VIII did the same to Saint John Fisher, but Fisher's head retained an eerie liveliness that freaked out people, so his head was flung into the Thames.)

God gave us free will. There is no sin if committed unwillfully (when raped by her brother, Tamar did not sin). By extension, we must choose not to sin, choose to return to God (sin is separation, so we must un-separate ourselves) freely, consciously, and willfully.

Tell a 12th century B.S. exile from Egypt that a stone some crazed dude who brought you into the desert and caused you much suffering carries the word of God. We see the easy fall back upon idolatry: build a statue of a calf like the Egyptians did^[1] and we'll have milk and honey like we did back in Egypt. These people weren't just uneasily persuaded, they were hard to change, for their reality was not with the Living God.

They lived in a violent world, and the idea of God the Father was alien, weird. We recite "Our Father" so much without really considering what it means to have a father in our God, to have a Living and present God.

To the extent that God revealed himself directly to the Israelites, they still had a hard time with it. Did Jacob wrestle God himself? Did Moses see God's face? God came at them, as they like to say these days when excusing dumbing-down Christian doctrine, "where they're at."

If that's the case, then the people of 30 AD were ready for God. In fact, we see a remarkable progression of Old Testament violence from divine to human agency. Whereas, around 600 BC, God dispatched 180,000 Assyrians, in 180 BC the Maccabees had to take down the 80,000 Greeks themselves. Both events were manifestations of God's greatness, but the latter event was in faith in support of man's actions, whereas the earlier event was a show of God's power unto itself.

Three crosses on Calvary

Christian and pro-Abortion?

Out of Pride or Fear?

Are politics downstream from culture?

The Parable of the Dishonest Steward

Friday, Nov 15: The Parable of the Deceitful Steward

Luke 16 1-9 was the Gospel reading on Nov. 8. Constable calls it "the most diffikcult passage in Luke <<

Here from St. Thomas’ Catena, a couple explanations for why the boss praised the lying, thieving steward in Luke 16:1-8.

First, though, what’s most confusing about this parable when we read it in Church it ends at verse 9, whereas Jesus connects the parable in verses 10-13 to his more famous line, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” (!) And it continues with the Pharisees scoffing at him and Jesus’ rebuke in verse 15.

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas

Here, AUgustine sees a contrary lesson:

AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) On the other hand this parable is spoken, that we should understand that if the steward who acted deceitfully, could be praised by his lord, how much more they please God who do their works according to His commandment.

Here, though,

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. ... But he whose wishes are on earth is troubled at his departing. Hence it is added of this steward, Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do, for my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship? I cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed. Weakness in action is the fault of a slothful life. For no one would shrink who had been accustomed to apply himself to labour. But if we take the parable allegorically, after our departure hence there is no more time for working; the present life contains the practice of what is commanded, the future, consolation. If thou hast done nothing here, in vain then art thou careful for the future, nor wilt thou gain any thing by begging. The foolish virgins are an instance of this, who unwisely begged of the wise, but returned empty. (Matt 25:8.) For every one puts on his daily life as his inner garment; it is not possible for him to put it off or exchange it with another. But the wicked steward aptly contrived the remission of debts, to provide for himself an escape from his misfortunes among his fellow-servants; for it follows, I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. For as often as a man, perceiving his end approaching, lightens by a kind deed the load of his sins, (either by forgiving a debtor his debts, or by giving abundance to the poor,) dispensing those things which are his Lord’s, he conciliates to himself many friends, who will afford him before the judge a real testimony, not by words, but by the demonstration of good works, nay moreover will provide for him by their testimony a resting-place of consolation. But nothing is our own, all things are in the power of God. Hence it follows, So he called every one of his Lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my Lord? And he said, A hundred casks of oil.

Bede focuses on the debts of the others -- so the steward is actually helping them out!

BEDE. A cadus in Greek is a vessel containing three urns. It follows, And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty, forgiving him the half. It follows, Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. A corus is made up of thirty bushels. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore, forgiving him a fifth part. It may be then simply taken as follows: whosoever relieves the want of a poor man, either by supplying half or a fifth part, will be blessed with the reward of his mercy.

AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) The steward whom his Lord cast out of his stewardship is nevertheless commended because he provided himself against the future. As it follows, And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely; we ought not however to take the whole for our imitation. For we should never act deceitfully against our Lord in order that from the fraud itself we may give alms.

Huh? Biblical contradictions

Good News? The Destruction of the Temple & the Tribulations

Arian Heresy

[1] [1]

[1]