Short... and sweet... and The End

LAST POST!!!  Let’s get this DONE.

Extreme judgment…

Jude 1:14 – 15

Enoch, of the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied also about them when he said, "Behold, the Lord has come with his countless holy ones

to execute judgment on all and to convict everyone for all the godless deeds that they committed and for all the harsh words godless sinners have uttered against him."

These people are complainers, disgruntled ones who live by their desires; their mouths utter bombast as they fawn over people to gain advantage.

Once again, referring to the apocryphal book of Enoch, the Lord returns and gets His Holy Smite on.  The passage goes on to describe those again in colorful language the people who are not in God’s favor.  He also refers the believers to the fact that the apostles prophesied that there would be “scoffers who will live according to their own godless desires”.

The next 4 lines are a message to those who have remained faithful.

Jude 1:20 – 23

But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the holy Spirit.

Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

On those who waver, have mercy;

save others by snatching them out of the fire; on others have mercy with fear, abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.

While those who are completely given over to living for themselves, those who live for God should keep themselves in love and prayer with the Holy Spirit.  We are also called to help those who doubt.  Doubting is one thing… rejecting, something wholly different.  Those who doubt are people who want to do what’s right, but are unsure as to what is correct.  Those who reject, many times, know what is right, but out of selfish consideration, deny what is right and embrace what is easy and usually wrong.  It’s a lot more difficult to “snatch them out of the fire”.

But evangelization is the general call here.  We are to snatch souls from the fire while abhorring the outer garments.  I’m pretty sure that means to be careful to avoid the vices that have snagged those who doubt when trying to help them.  We can’t ever save people with our own strength, but with the help of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, we can work in cooperation with grace to bring them to God.

I’ve had great fun doing this blog… but honestly, it’s been tough to find the time.  I’ve discovered a great deal about these Catholic Letters and I think they’re some of my favorite.  The reason I chose this though was that this would have absolutely no physical benefits… no losing weight, or getting healthy, or getting compliments for the “goodness” I’m doing.  It’s something on my own. It was tough, though… as it should have been.  Maybe next year, I’ll give up soda or something. 

Jude 1:24 – 25

To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and exultant, in the presence of his glory,

to the only God, our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, power, and authority from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen.

Amen.

My angel's stronger than your angel

It’s the LAST chapter of the LAST book for Lent… and true to my nature, I’m going to stretch it out over two days… there’s no way I’ll finish it today when I could finish it TOMORROW.

The book of Jude is another one chapter book and is in the form of a letter.  This time it’s from a man named Jude who is usually attributed to being the brother of the Bishop James who wrote the book of James.  This letter seems to be written in a hurry to respond to people teaching heresies.  It mentions a number of old testament stories, many of which only appear in apocryphal books no longer included in the Bible.  All in all, some pretty interesting stuff.  Not much on the theological scale, but interesting nonetheless.

Jude 1:1 – 2

Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:

may mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.

I seriously want to start opening letters like this.

Jude 1:3 – 6

Beloved, although I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel a need to write to encourage you to contend for the faith that was once for all handed down to the holy ones.

For there have been some intruders, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, godless persons, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

I wish to remind you, although you know all things, that (the) Lord who once saved a people from the land of Egypt later destroyed those who did not believe.

The angels too, who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains, in gloom, for the judgment of the great day.

First line has a request to contend for the faith handed down.  I’d like to think that by contend, he meant argue forcefully, but then again, you never know.  But I’d like to think that.  The second line mentions again the Gnostic heresy which believed that Jesus was either not God (Subordinationism) or that Jesus wasn’t physically present on Earth (Gnosticism).  Both of these… quite bunk.  You should know that by now after 3 books of John.  The next two lines are warning not to get too complacent about things.  Those saved from Egypt and the God’s very angels were not spared from His wrath when they sinned against Him.  Why should he spare those who have just professed faith in His Son, but still sin against Him?  The Israelites had a covenant with Him too, but they violated it and were smited (I don’t think that’s  word).  If we violate our covenant with Him, formed through Jesus, why shouldn’t He smite us?

What’s our covenant?  You know I’ve thought about that for a while… and I know God’s part of the covenant… eternal life through the sacrifice of His, Son Jesus Christ.  But what’s our half?  Well, if you’ve looked at the past 4 books, all of their warnings are to obey the commandments and to stay walking in the Truth.  It’s not to accept Jesus’ sacrifice (although that’s definitely a part of the commandment), but it’s the actions of obeying the commandments that is considered action.  Throughout the Old and New Testaments, righteousness is not credited through people’s strong faith, but rather, their even stronger Actions.  That’s our covenant.  Eternal Life, in exchange for living our lives in the commandments.

That sounds kind of Old Testament though… where’s Jesus in all this?  Well, Jesus made that whole path easier, didn’t He.  Through His suffering, now we only have to meet Him halfway… we can see Him body and divinity in the Eucharist… we have confession, sacraments, baptism, etc.  That’s pretty cool.  But enough blathering.

The next line, I didn’t quote, but it’s a similar mention of Sodom and Gomorrah’s absolute smiting for their “sexual promiscuity and… unnatural vice”.  In return for that break in the covenant, they received eternal fire.  Do you think God didn’t love them?  Of course He loved them, but they had no love for Him, so instead of forcing them to spend eternity with Him, he gave them the alternative… not so great of an alternative… but it’s the alternative.

Jude 1:8 – 10

Similarly, these dreamers nevertheless also defile the flesh, scorn lordship, and revile glorious beings.

Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!"

But these people revile what they do not understand and are destroyed by what they know by nature like irrational animals.

This next section mentions a sin that seems kind of strange for us.  It is the disregard and disrespect of spirits and angels… even fallen angels.  Even Michael the archangel did not directly rebuke or attack the devil (apparently this is a story in the apocryphal book the “Assumption of Moses”).  He didn’t dare to revile another angel, even if it was a fallen one.  I don’t think we go around reviling angels or even dark angels, but I think we do on occasion underestimate the value they pose.  Sure we pray for protection from our guardian angels, but do we pray for God to protect us from dark angels?  Do we place ourselves reachable by evil influences?

The last line and the lines following it describe in vivid imagery how those who have fallen away from God are like animals (you ever watched a night club dance in a college town) and have no direction.

Jude 1:12 – 13

These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they carouse fearlessly and look after themselves. They are waterless clouds blown about by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead and uprooted.

They are like wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameless deeds, wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever.

Take it from someone who used to be there.  When God plays a marginal role in our lives, our lives quickly lose direction.  Going through college, I had my share of “shameless deeds” and I really did feel so empty so many times.  It was as if my actions sapped the very sub-conscious life out of me.  It’s difficult to describe, but suffice to say it was only visible when I was on my own.  Left alone to my own devices, my mind went lethargic with the burden of my actions.  Sure, with other people, I was different, but it was fake.  As I mentioned before, it’s difficult to describe unless you’ve been there.

I’ll finish this up tomorrow.

Dear Lord, keep us always in your covenant.  May we always receive the help of the angels and be protected by your saving grace from those fallen beings that watch the world.  Give us the strength to break the bonds of sin and to find our direction in your Will.

Political Church Sniping...

Ok, 3^rd John.  This is a neat little letter… and it is a letter.  The letter written from John to a man named Gaius is regarding missionary work that John is involved in.  It doesn’t really involve any teaching, but is more of a nice perspective into the early Church.

It begins with a nice introduction and a thankfulness that Gaius is living in the Truth (all the books of John use walking in the Truth as a way of saying, living the commandments and staying loyal to the faith).  He then thanks them graciously for assisting the missionaries that John has sent out.

3 John 1:5 – 8

Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers, especially for strangers;

they have testified to your love before the church. Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey.

For they have set out for the sake of the Name and are accepting nothing from the pagans.

Therefore, we ought to support such persons, so that we may be co-workers in the truth.

So, first, notice that John has not allowed his missionaries to collect money from the people they’re ministering to… the pagans.  Doing so would create a conflict of interest… I can just see the pagans saying, “uh… I don’t want to believe because I don’t want to have to pay you”.  Next, and more importantly, I notice that we who support others in their missionary work become co-workers in the truth.  That’s always been understood, but it’s nice to see it said.  We are all called to be missionaries… if we can’t go out and quit our jobs and do so, we must support those who are willing to do so.

The next part is what I like to call Church Politics 101

3 John 1:9 – 11

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to dominate, does not acknowledge us.

Therefore, if I come, I will draw attention to what he is doing, spreading evil nonsense about us. And not content with that, he will not receive the brothers, hindering those who wish to do so and expelling them from the church.

Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does what is good is of God; whoever does what is evil has never seen God.

Church politics in the apostolic era had an obstacle that we really don’t have to face these days.  Churches established had leaders and such, but considering how practicing Christianity was punishable by death, it was difficult for the churches to communicate and freely exchange ideas.  There was no centralized church in the beginning and no way to synch up on what was officially a part of the “Faith”.  Notice John acknowledges Diotrephes as the rightful leader of this church, but disparages his behavior.  Even if an individual church is led by someone who is not worthy, they still must be followed until they are countered by someone higher up. 

I think the bigger lesson learned is the difficulty of operating independent non-communicating non-centralized churches.  Churches refuse to acknowledge each other insisting that they already have the entire truth, but instead, many times selfishness and pride take over and they aren’t even listening.  If you are allowed to split off and create your own church and then ignore all who try to correct you to defend your “orthodoxy”, you’re being selfish and prideful.  Who’s to say you have it right?  Once again, it helps to have a central church that looks into all these concerns and decides on a “protected” answer.

How are we allowed to say that we’re protected while others aren’t?  Well, apostolic succession is one way.  Peter received the keys of Heaven and Earth and is protected from teaching wrong.  That power has been passed down to the Bishop of Rome (The Pope) ever since.  Not to say everything that has come out of the Curia has been perfect, but on the matters of teaching, it’s been proper.  

Here, Diotrephes isn’t even bothering to consider John’s position, he outright rejects the letters and the missionaries simply out of suspicion.  Sure, hindsight’s 20/20, we all know John had it right… but it could have just as easily been the Book of Diotrephes if he had just listened to John a little more.

So after this warning, John ends with the same dismissal as last time, saying that he wants to communicate more, but prefers to do it face to face, and then, poof, the Book is over.

3 John 1:15

Peace be with you. The friends greet you; greet the friends there each by name.

I think we should always end letters with this.  We are the friends… the Children of the Chosen Sister.

Dear Lord, help us to always listen to others while remaining faithful to you.  Give us the Wisdom to discard the arguments of others that bring us away from you and to take with humility the arguments that bring us closer to you.

From the children of the Chosen Sister

Ok, let’s get started with the short books.  I’ve been looking forward to this all Lent.  The second letter of John is significantly shorter but covers a lot of the similar material.  The introduction mentions that this letter seemed less focused on teaching and more on countering some confusion and mis-teaching going on in the church.

The introduction is pretty cool to:

2 John 1:1 – 3

The Presbyter to the chosen Lady and to her children whom I love in truth--and not only I but also all who know the truth--

because of the truth that dwells in us and will be with us forever.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son in truth and love.

In this case, “the Lady” referred to is actually the Church and the children are the members of the Church.  He constantly refers to the truth throughout this chapter.  What is the truth?  The footnotes say the truth mentioned refers to the “affirmation of Jesus in the flesh”.  So this letter is directed against the Gnostic heresy.  Gnostics, as I mentioned before, believed that God was all good and all spiritual while the evil one was all bad and ruled the material world.  Therefore, Jesus never actually came to the Earth as man… therefore he never died because spirits can’t die.  This kind of makes our entire faith in the sacrifice of Jesus a moot point.  From what I’ve read this was a huge deal back in the generations after the apostolic era.

2 John 1:6

For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, in which you should walk.

Hmmm… how do I walk?  This is one of those moments where I have to look into my performance over the months.  But the most important commandments involve respect for God, which I think I’m doing pretty decent, and love of your fellow man.  I’m doing average on that.  Sure, I love those who are good to me and that I care for… but even those who have very little love for others do that.  I need to work on loving those who deserve no love… those who’ve done me wrong or have pushed me away.  I guess I should start walking the walk, huh?

2 John 1:8 – 9

Look to yourselves that you do not lose what we worked for but may receive a full recompense.

Anyone who is so "progressive" as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.

This is yet another passage encouraging us to continue working out our faith and keeping close to the commandments, else we lose what we’ve worked for, for so long, namely our salvation.  The “progressives” here are most likely referring to the Gnostics again, but anyone who veers far from the teachings of Christ are also far from Christ himself.  No matter what level of teacher you are, no matter what powers you’ve been given by the Church or anyone else, if your teachings are awry from that of Christ, then you have no power.  But then again, who determines what is awry from the teachings of Christ?  It leads to a very relativistic view of things doesn’t it?  Someone who doesn’t want to follow what someone tells them just has to say, well, you’re veering away from the teachings of Christ… you’re a “progressive”. 

Well, I think that’s why Christ instituted the Church.  At least we have a claim above the individual that we can use to bolster our stance.  I can say what I believe all I want, but with the Church behind me, I at least will have a few millennia of people saying about the same thing.  It’s nice to be backed.

2 John 1:10 – 11

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him in your house or even greet him;

for whoever greets him shares in his evil works.

Sounds a little harsh doesn’t it?  At that period of time since the faith was so new and the Church so small, it was difficult to determine who had the truth and who had corrupted the truth.  I think this is a slight overreaction that was appropriate for that period of time.  It’s kind of similar to the Church banning private “mis”-interpretation of the Bible during the Dark Ages.  Heresies ran so rampant during that time that it was more important to stop the damage than for individuals to blossom in their faith.

I think we are at a point where we are called to share our faith to those who believe differently.  But the same warnings still hold to this day.  Those who are far from the faith can quickly drag others into their evil lives, even those meaning well.  Also, the lessons of that time must be applied also.  If an individual is not strong in their faith, they shouldn’t try to bring in others who are even further from it.  Take the speck out of your own eye first.

2 John 1:12 – 13

Although I have much to write to you, I do not intend to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and to speak face to face so that our joy may be complete.

The children of your chosen sister send you greetings.

From the chosen sister to the chosen sister… one universal church.  Pretty cool isn’t it?  We’re all children of the Chosen Sister.  I think I’m going to start a club now called Children of the Chosen Sister (CotCS).

That’s it for 2 John!  Quick… easy.  Now I just need 3^rd John and Jude.  Bring it on!

Dear Lord, help us to always walk in your truth and to bring others into your truth.  Help us to remember always that we are children of your Church, the Chosen Sister.

My will and a hole in the ground...

Ok, so I’m going to get through 1^st John today.  Unfortunately, I still have 2^nd and 3^rd John, and Jude.  Fortunately, those are only one chapter long each, so hopefully, if I do a chapter every day this week, I’ll be in the clear.  Wish me luck.

There are two parts in the last half of the 5^th chapter of 1^st John.  The first section talks about how when we ask for things, God will provide for what we ask for.  The phrasing of this section is easily misinterpreted as a tried and true was of getting anything you want.  The second half distinguishes between mortal sin and non-mortal sin.

1 John 5:13 – 15

I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours.

So, we all know that we don’t always get what we ask for.  Sometimes we do, and sometimes we don’t.  So how do we interpret this piece?  Well, the way I see it is that when we ask for things, we have to take into account how well we know God.  Those of us who believe in the name of the Son of God and have confidence in Him (above having confidence in us), the things that we ask for will already be in the Will of God, so we’ll be getting it anyways.  But this is only true when our will is in line with God’s will.  Cynics will say, “Well, that’s convenient”… but this is what I believe.  It’s not convenient because that’s just the way it happens to be, but it’s true because that’s the way it always is, so it appears to always just work out that way.

However, very few of us are actually at the level where our will is completely in line with God’s.  Sure if we knew what God’s will was, we’d go ahead and line it up, but God desires us to find His will through our own means.  Meaning, we should work on our holiness and focus on becoming as close to Him as possible, through his Son.  When that “work” is complete, our Will is going to be in line.  But until then, we ask with only partial confidence because we know we’re incomplete.  I kind of wish John had specified this, but I guess he took it for granted… after all, he did live with the Virgin Mother for the rest of her life.  Your thinking on normal fallible human behavior skews after something like that.

1 John 5:16 – 17

If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray.

All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.

This passage proposes the line between mortal and non-mortal sin.  He specifies that not all sin is deadly.  So what could be considered deadly sin?  And why does he not tell us to pray for those in mortal sin?  That confuses me a bit, but I think he’s saying that praying for someone in deadly sin will not give that person life through God.  For non-deadly sin, we simply pray for that person and God begins to breathe new life into that person.  Forgiveness may begin to flow even without the sinner noticing.  But the footnotes mention deadly sin as sin that creates “apostasy” or activities brought on by the anti-christ.  Apostasy is an abandonment of faith, so I’m assuming that he refers to sins that cause a serious break in ones faith.  For that level of sin, praying for the person probably won’t begin the healing process.  That person must be contrite and call for his/her own forgiveness.  I think we should still pray for them, the scripture doesn’t outright say we shouldn’t.  But for that sin to begin being forgiven, they must be contrite.

The 1^st book of John completes as majestically as it opens… almost.

1 John 5:18 – 21

We know that no one begotten by God sins; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the evil one cannot touch him.

We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Children, be on your guard against idols.

Once again, this contains vast generalizations and still is part of the section that I need to follow up on.  I’ll get back to you.  I mean, how can he say that no one begotten by God sins?  This is the insurmountable pressure that brought Martin Luther to his reformation.  It’s impossible to live up to that standard… there must be either another explanation, or none of us are begotten by God.  I’ll let you know if I find the answer. 

The majesty of the ending is intact though.  We who know Jesus Christ is the Son of God and we know it is true.  He is God, and He is and is the source of, eternal life.  The last line is kind of weak though.  It’s almost as if he was going to elaborate and got tired.  Either that or it’s beginning to be a big problem.  I know it’s a big problem today… just a difference sense of the world idols.  Who knows, maybe he wrote that line especially inspired by the spirit.  People of those times would know not to worship idols, but the people of today would read it and know that they should not make any material possessions into idols.  We’ve got lots of idols nowadays… money, power, fame, physical love, just to name a few.  But anyways… here lies, the end of 1^st John.  Onto 2^nd John!

Dear Lord, give us the wisdom to know your will and to call out to you to help accomplish the tasks you set before us.  Give us the strength to live without wrongdoing and the grace to pray for those who are in sin.  Help us resist the draw of modern day idols.