WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY

[dr. who]

4 hours ago, B-Man said:

 

 

A little late,  sorry.

 

This morning’s Gospel reading at the procession is Matthew 21:1–11:

 

When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’ Then he will send them at once.” This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: Say to daughter Zion, “Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?” And the crowds replied, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

 

 

The Lord wanted the Israelites to become a nation of priests and prophets that would spread His word to all nations, with Jerusalem a city of light through devotion to Him that it would bring the entire world to its footstep to learn and love God.

The Old Testament records what actually transpired. The Israelites corrupted themselves for worldly power for their own ends. They abandoned the Lord, and then fell victim to worldly power and destruction. Despite repeated opportunities to repent, the Israelites and Judeans continued to abandon the Lord and seek power through idolatry and sin.

 

It’s easy to sit in judgment of the people of Jerusalem and the old kingdoms in retrospect, of course. But do we not do something very similar ourselves? After all, we all accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, both at the sacraments and then every Mass. And yet, when it comes time to decide whether to remain obedient to our Lord and Savior or follow our own desires and impulses, we reject Christ and go our own way, trusting in materiality to achieve what only the Lord can provide.

 

It’s easy to welcome Jesus into our lives; it becomes much more difficult to allow Him to be our Lord and follow Him where He leads us. We remain stubbornly attached to sin, and not just in the form of specific sins but of the basis of all sin: rejection of His authority and seeking to compete with God Himself. That was the sin of Adam and Eve; it was the sin of the Israelite nations; and we see that in the people of Jerusalem in today’s Passion, as they reject the true Messiah because Jesus doesn’t offer them material power.

 

 

More at the link: https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/04/02/revere-to-revile-and-the-tough-path-back-palm-sunday-reflection-n540950

Increasingly, the call to martyrdom will become a real possibility in the West. It will begin with the imposition of something like the Chinese social credit system. It is already happening with the ostracizing of conservative and traditionalist voices on social media and in the public square generally. We can all recollect the various ways a weaponized DOJ puts people of faith in peril whilst protecting those who commit violence against them. Yet just as pervasive is the mode of perception: the economy of the Triune is nothing like the mundane reckoning. The values of eternal grace are those of the child, filled with wonder and exceeding the capacities of finite calculation. The numerous crises of the fallen earth reduce the human imaginary to something very different that produces its own pseudo-religious cults and disciplines that surreptitiously worship idols infinitely distant from the God who is Love. And the marketplace pays heed to these idols, creates space and opportunity for those willing to obey the reckoning of those moneychangers that Christ chased out from the court of His Father's house two millennia ago.

Edited April 4, 2023 by dr. who

[B-Man]

 

He is risen indeed: A blessed and joyous Easter to All 

 

Gospel reading from the Easter Vigil is Matthew 28:1-10, when the women come across the empty tomb and are the first to be told its implications:

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

 

 

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

 

For us, this question should have special resonance, and not just at Easter. We already know that Christ defeated death in His resurrection on our behalf, a victory in which we share only through His grace. We do not seek Him at the tomb any longer, nor even on the cross, even as it remains a powerful symbol of His love and sacrifice. We seek Him through the Holy Spirit, which we will revere at Pentecost, the Trinitarian Person who converts our hearts into His temple — when we allow it.

 

Our predilection toward sin, however, leads us to seek redemption elsewhere. We seek it through our own will alone, even though we know it is an impossibility. We seek salvation through material ends — money, sex, power, gluttony, and so on. The mortal sins all relate to the same impulse of original sin: an attempt to challenge God by controlling Creation and judging good and evil without Him.

 

 

Even once we accept the Lord’s salvation and take the Holy Spirit into our hearts, though, sin tugs at us and seduces us to seek our previous life away from Him. We constantly seek ourselves among the dead in that sense, rather than seek our living selves in His salvation.

 

This Easter, we should ask ourselves the same question that the angels ask the women: Why do we seek the living among the dead? What is it within us that pulls us back to our ‘dead’ selves rather than our redeemed and true identities? Why do we seek salvation in the material rather than in the Lord who created it and us? The empty tomb is a powerful reminder that we will find nothing among the dead except death and hopelessness — and that Christ’s tomb points us to eternal life.

 

.

[Cinga]

22 minutes ago, B-Man said:

 

He is risen indeed: A blessed and joyous Easter to All 

 

Gospel reading from the Easter Vigil is Matthew 28:1-10, when the women come across the empty tomb and are the first to be told its implications:

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

 

 

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

 

For us, this question should have special resonance, and not just at Easter. We already know that Christ defeated death in His resurrection on our behalf, a victory in which we share only through His grace. We do not seek Him at the tomb any longer, nor even on the cross, even as it remains a powerful symbol of His love and sacrifice. We seek Him through the Holy Spirit, which we will revere at Pentecost, the Trinitarian Person who converts our hearts into His temple — when we allow it.

 

Our predilection toward sin, however, leads us to seek redemption elsewhere. We seek it through our own will alone, even though we know it is an impossibility. We seek salvation through material ends — money, sex, power, gluttony, and so on. The mortal sins all relate to the same impulse of original sin: an attempt to challenge God by controlling Creation and judging good and evil without Him.

 

 

Even once we accept the Lord’s salvation and take the Holy Spirit into our hearts, though, sin tugs at us and seduces us to seek our previous life away from Him. We constantly seek ourselves among the dead in that sense, rather than seek our living selves in His salvation.

 

This Easter, we should ask ourselves the same question that the angels ask the women: Why do we seek the living among the dead? What is it within us that pulls us back to our ‘dead’ selves rather than our redeemed and true identities? Why do we seek salvation in the material rather than in the Lord who created it and us? The empty tomb is a powerful reminder that we will find nothing among the dead except death and hopelessness — and that Christ’s tomb points us to eternal life.

 

.

 

He is Risen Indeed! And great lesson for a Resurrection Sunday!

[Cinga]

[CarpetCrawler]

All for the salvation of our souls.

[Cinga]

Good thought provoking (I hope) article on the evolution vs Creation debate and the different interpretations of "day"

 

https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2023/03/24/how-i-interpret-day-in-genesis/

[B-Man]

The Good Shepherd and the wayward sheep: Sunday reflection

 

ED MORRISSEY on April 30, 2023

 

Wikimedia Commons.

This morning’s Gospel reading is John 10:1–10:

 

Jesus said:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

[Fansince88]

9 hours ago, B-Man said:

The Good Shepherd and the wayward sheep: Sunday reflection

 

ED MORRISSEY on April 30, 2023

 

Wikimedia Commons.

This morning’s Gospel reading is John 10:1–10:

 

Jesus said:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Which version is this? Never seen it like this? 

[B-Man]

4 hours ago, Fansince88 said:

Which version is this? Never seen it like this? 

 

 

Gospel reading is John 10:1–10:

 

The rest of the article.

 

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/04/30/the-good-shepherd-and-the-wayward-sheep-sunday-reflection-n547191

[IDBillzFan]

6 hours ago, Fansince88 said:

Which version is this? Never seen it like this? 

 

Looks to be NABRE (New American Bible [Revised Edition]).

[B-Man]

God does not live in shrines

 

Acts 17:22-31

 

17:22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.

 

17:23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

 

17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands,

 

17:25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.

 

17:26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,

 

17:27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him--though indeed he is not far from each one of us.

 

17:28 For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.'

 

17:29 Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.

 

17:30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

 

17:31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

 

 

.

[B-Man]

For God so loved the world ...

Sunday reflection

 

 

This morning’s Gospel reading is John 3:16–18:

 

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

 

Today we have perhaps the most well-known Gospel verse as our Mass reading — a status not entirely attributable to its core of the faith, although it certainly is. Sports fans of a certain age or older will remember a proliferation of signs bearing “JOHN 3:16” at games, usually in end zones but also at basketball and other televised sporting events. This took place in the 1970s and 1980s, for the most part.

 

At that time, as a teen and young adult, I didn’t take too much notice of it except as a novelty act. At the time, I lived a strange blend as a cradle Catholic and secular lethargist (never an atheist or agnostic though), and it didn’t occur to me to look up the reference until later. Even when I did, the Gospel verse struck me as flowery nonsense.

 

God loves this world? Or even the world at the time of Jesus? Huh?

 

At that time, in my less-than-enthusiastic approach to faith, I tended toward a common Manichaeist/Gnostic heresy — that this world is evil and irredeemable, and that there’s nothing to love about it. Salvation could not possibly come through the material world, I thought, and the idea that God loved this mess of a place made it very difficult to have faith at all. And to send His only Son to die at our hands for the sake of redeeming our world … well, that was beyond comprehension to me then.

 

And to a certain extent, it still remains a mystery to me, as I’m sure it does to others. But after a long time and more life experience, I see glimmers of it in both the world and the Word.

 

More at the link:

 

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/06/04/for-god-so-loved-the-world-sunday-reflection-n555338

[Cinga]

Interesting take on REV 16:12-14... and yes, the Euphrates is drying up and in other threads we have discussed how virtually evil Harari is so Clark take could be spot on. If your pressed for time, fast forward to about 12 1/2 minutes

 

Quote

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. ¹³ Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

 

I'm feeling a strong Spiritual push to get back into Revelation and study it more closely in a modern context of what is happening now

[B-Man]

 

 

Loving the Albert Brooks reference.

 

 

This morning’s Gospel reading is Matthew 10:26–33:

 

Jesus said to the Twelve:

“Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

 

 

Quite a few years ago, Albert Brooks starred in a witty comedy called Defending Your Life that I caught in the theaters, and later ad nauseam on cable TV. The film offered Brooks’ musing on the meaning of life and the way to judge it, with a weird kind of reincarnation motif as a humorous context rather than as a belief system. (It had a hilarious cameo by Shirley MacLaine, in fact.)

 

If the motif was reincarnation, the theme was fear and courage. Brooks’ character had to go on trial to defend himself against the accusation that fear had run his life and prevented him from being the fully human person he was meant to be. As a comedian, one can certainly understand why Brooks focused on fear — and not so much as a failing in itself, but in the lack of resolve to face and overcome those fears.

 

It’s one of Brooks’ better films, in part because it offers a universal look at a very ubiquitous human question. Do we let fear control us and keep us from doing the right thing? And if we fear, what does that say about what we value?

One measure of the ubiquity of this issue is the Bible itself. It is chock-full of fears by the people whose stories are told in it. We have innumerable instances of this just in the Gospels; the season 3 finale of The Chosen depicts the storm on the sea of Galilee and the fright of the disciples in the boat, for instance. The word “fear” appears hundreds if not thousands of times in the Bible, in one form or another.

 

MUCH more at the link:  https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/06/25/all-we-have-to-fear-is-fear-itself-sunday-reflection-n560377

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

Posting this here, as it's passingly relevant, and I'd like the honest opinions from the devout here.

 

 

But...why should this be false?  Seriously, why should God be gendered?  Shouldn't God be genderless or, being omnipotent, capable of presuming any gender?  (Personally, regarding the latter, I've never believed on placing boundaries on an omnipotent God.)

 

I don't ask this because I'm supporting in any way the trans-activist's usurpation of religion for their agenda, of course.  I simply don't know either the general Judeo-Christian doctrine on the topic, nor the specific Catholic doctrine (though I'm aware that there's at least general Judeo-Christian assumption that God/Yahweh/Jehovah is male. 

 

And obviously Christ was male as the "Son of God," so that's not my question.  

 

[B-Man]

 

32 minutes ago, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

Posting this here, as it's passingly relevant, and I'd like the honest opinions from the devout here.

 

 

But...why should this be false?  Seriously, why should God be gendered?  Shouldn't God be genderless or, being omnipotent, capable of presuming any gender?  (Personally, regarding the latter, I've never believed on placing boundaries on an omnipotent God.)

 

I don't ask this because I'm supporting in any way the trans-activist's usurpation of religion for their agenda, of course.  I simply don't know either the general Judeo-Christian doctrine on the topic, nor the specific Catholic doctrine (though I'm aware that there's at least general Judeo-Christian assumption that God/Yahweh/Jehovah is male. 

 

And obviously Christ was male as the "Son of God," so that's not my question.  

 

 

 

 

God the "Father"

 

Thats what I was always taught throughout my Catholic upbringing. And I always took it literally.

 

Nowadays, I really don't have a problem with people calling him a "genderless God" because He (yes, I know I wrote He) is really so past our ability to comprehend anyway that assigning Him (again) a human sex is really only for our benefit.

 

Now the trans-activist above is not fooling anybody. She is trying to place our Lord into her own little box, assigning Him "plural pronouns" only for the reason of pushing her own false ideology.   

 

 

 

Back, a loooooong time ago, at St. Bonaventure I took a very good "Religions of the World" course, taught by the wonderful Brother Bernard.  I seem to recall the same "convenience" being used by most of the major religions

 

As illustrated by this.

Quote

 

 

According to Islamic theology, God has no physical body or gender, although he is always referred to with masculine grammatical articles, and there is nothing else like him in any way whatsoever.

 

 

 

So, while i understand that there is not an old white man God sitting on a cloud looking out for me, I'll be damned (heh) if I am going to let the 'trans-nuts" use the a bastardized spin on God to promote their evil.

 

 

 

 

.

[Cinga]

5 hours ago, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

But...why should this be false?  Seriously, why should God be gendered?  Shouldn't God be genderless or, being omnipotent, capable of presuming any gender?  (Personally, regarding the latter, I've never believed on placing boundaries on an omnipotent God.)

 

I don't ask this because I'm supporting in any way the trans-activist's usurpation of religion for their agenda, of course.  I simply don't know either the general Judeo-Christian doctrine on the topic, nor the specific Catholic doctrine (though I'm aware that there's at least general Judeo-Christian assumption that God/Yahweh/Jehovah is male. 

 

Good questions.... This is probably going to be pretty long so bear with me, there are a couple things I want to establish first.

 

Let me start by first pointing out that as Christians and Jews, we believe the Bible is "God Breathed" and in that, every Word in it is given to us by God, through the prophet that wrote that particular Book. I know, I know... different translations etc but my response to that is we know through John 1 that Jesus is the embodiment of the Word and if taken in context, it cannot be corrupted, because Jesus can't be corrupted. That doesn't mean unfortunately that some don't take parts of that whole. and twist them for their own purpose. Heck, Satan the father of lies is the best at that as we know from the temptations of Christ during his 40 days in the desert. Each time he took something specifically out of the Book Deuteronomy and twisted them into a temptation. Jesus responses were actually a correction, and direct quote from the same Book.

You mentioned Jesus as the Son of God, but He was more as He is the Creator and God Himself. Again back to John 1

 

Quote

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind

 

And of course you notice the masculine, Him/He. In the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed to God to remove the burden, it was (Mark 14:36)

Quote

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

 

I bring this quote up because Jesus used the name Abba, Father and I think there is no doubt He knows God the Father better than anyone else... Abba was used in both the Old (Chaldean) and New Testament (Greek) interchangeably when referring to God as Father. Translated it literally means Father is the masculine singular. It is also important to note that this is Jesus referring to another part of the Trinity in the masculine

Some claim that other names for God, Elohim, and Yahweh are feminine, so one at a time.

 

Elohim is the earliest name we have of God in Genesis and is actually a plurality for Lord, a masculine and I believe, the first introduction to the Triune nature of God

 

Yahweh is God's name, literally when the Hebrew language had no vowels and is the masculine with the modern day Hebrew (with vowels) being the more familiar Jehovah which means the Existing One but again, the masculine. Yahweh for what it's worth is most often translated into "The Lord"

 

For the most part, the Bible is also patriarchal with men playing most of the prominent roles, but also if you look to any of the many genealogies listed in it, they all run through the men. I'm also one of many who believe original sin descends to us through our fathers which i would argue is why Jesus was born without sin being of the Holy Spirit and Mary. 

 

2 more quotes, then I'll summarize. from Exodus 15 and Psalm 100

Quote

 

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

“I will sing to the Lord,
    for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
    he has hurled into the sea.

2 “The Lord is my strength and my defense[a];
    he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.

 

 

And

Quote

 

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.

 

 

In both of these of course God is referred to as Him/He and I don't know of anywhere in the Bible that He is referred to in either the feminine, or as a neutral and I wanted to make sure you also know there was nothing lost in translation and anyone here can tell you I'm fanatical in using a Concordance to see the original Hebrew/Chaldean or Greek to help my own understanding. 

 

All that said, one thing I hope we can all agree on is that Scripture establishes man as the head of the home. And no, don't go there because we are also instructed to talk it over with our wives. There is a good reason for that. Man is more straight forward thinking and most of what we decide is based on logic, or at least we try. Women on the other hand are much more broad in their thought, taking in everything around them (this is the emotional part) and so sees things we probably didn't think about. This is the part so many miss, because in this the husband is actually subservient to his wife. However after that discussion, the man is to make the final call. 

 

So in summary, yes, all through the Bible God is referred to, and refers to Himself as Abba, Father. But we also established, and believe the God is Greater than us, and just as Man is theoretically the head of the home, God is the head of everything. In this I agree with you and @B-Man that we can't put God in a box. But you also can't put a human understanding on Father other than He is the Creator, and above all of Creation. The use of the masculine I think is more in trying to give us something we could understand in the human sense while here on earth and the masculine, Him/He is the closest to our earthly understanding. To try to make Him neutral, or feminine would be to try to make Him beneath men, or at least weaker in nature which I suspect is the goal of those trying to do it.

 

Sorry for the long winded, but God/Jesus is obviously my favorite topic! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fansince88]

On 6/28/2023 at 11:10 AM, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

Posting this here, as it's passingly relevant, and I'd like the honest opinions from the devout here.

 

 

But...why should this be false?  Seriously, why should God be gendered?  Shouldn't God be genderless or, being omnipotent, capable of presuming any gender?  (Personally, regarding the latter, I've never believed on placing boundaries on an omnipotent God.)

 

I don't ask this because I'm supporting in any way the trans-activist's usurpation of religion for their agenda, of course.  I simply don't know either the general Judeo-Christian doctrine on the topic, nor the specific Catholic doctrine (though I'm aware that there's at least general Judeo-Christian assumption that God/Yahweh/Jehovah is male. 

 

And obviously Christ was male as the "Son of God," so that's not my question.  

 

I see it this way, God the Father is Male. Genesis creation shows it this way. Day 1 ended and HE said, "it is good". Scripture says that all things were created for and by the Son. He was actually the one of the triune Godhead doing the creating as  we see here in Colossian's 1:16. "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him". So we see that ALL things were created by and for him. you and I were both created by and for him and his pleasure. as seen in Revelation 4:11 " Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created". So as you see, Jesus did the creating. All that said back to your original question. Is God gendered. I say yes. Here is why. at the end of each day He said, it is good. If it was Mother God she would have been constantly unhappy that the Son of God did not complete it yet!!

 

Of course I joke about that. I dont know if he is Genderless per say When discussing creation of man He said, let us make man in OUR image. and when they created Adam he was created in their image and likeness. With all of His traits. From man they pulled a part of him to create a helper that would suit him and created Eve.  This actually gets more deep than your question so I will leave it right there.

 

Finally, the woman in the video above is a Quack 

[B-Man]

Meekness ain't weakness: Sunday reflection

ED MORRISSEY 

 

This morning’s Gospel reading is Matthew 11:25–30:

 

At that time Jesus exclaimed:

“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

 

 

This is what Jesus means about meekness and humility. It does not mean weakness, nor does it mean passivity and fatalism either. James understood how meekness could get misinterpreted in that way, which is why he made clear that meekness is an action, a purposeful choice to submit to the will of the Father and do His work rather than the work that suits our own interests alone. Humility accompanies meekness because it requires the recognition of our right relationship with the Lord — that we must strive to put aside our desires and temptations in order to serve His will rather than our own.

 

Without humility, meekness becomes impossible. And without meekness, we cannot align ourselves to the will of the Lord, as we choose to flex our own muscles rather than focus on His mission.

 

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/07/09/meekness-aint-weakness-sunday-reflection-n563219

[B-Man]

 

 

Hold to His hand.