I don't know about you all but I find that many of the traditional and ancient prayers were for mercy. The Jesus Prayer "Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." A prayer for mercy. I pray this prayer quite a bit, when I was walking to class I had a pocket devotional I would pray this pray while I walked. From the time it took me to get from my car to class I would have prayed the prayer about 100 times or more. It made me very aware of my everyday sins and how much I really do need mercy.
The same thing is true of praying the Rosary. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed art the fruit of they womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now at the hour of our death." Mercy is not stated anywhere in the prayer, but the theme is mercy. Not for the Blessed Virgin to have mercy on us, but to ask her Son, our Lord, to have mercy on us.
Even in the Daily Prayer of the Anglican Church, the confession starts out "Most merciful God..." we are pleading for mercy from the beginning, by reminding ourselves that God is merciful. In one set of the Suffrages we say the lines, "Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy. Lord, show us your love and mercy;" And again in the General Thanksgiving we start with, "Almighty God, Father of all mercies," It is God's mercy that sustains us, it was mercy that allowed Adam and Eve to live on after they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is mercy that sent Jesus to die for us, that we might come back to God. It is mercy that keeps us going through out our lives today. And it is mercy that will bring us to the Throne of our Lord and God when we pass away. And it is mercy that will allow us to once again eat from the Tree of Life and live with God on the New Earth.
It seems that the prayer for mercy has been with us since the beginning of the Christian movement. Mercy is a very persent theme in the Catholic/General Epistles. We should join in our forerunners and beg for mercy from God.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
CHRIST IS RISEN! ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!!!
(Well at least for us Western Christians) Just wanted to make a quick post saying happy Easter and stuff like that. So hope you have a good Easter and that your Lenten fasts were not too hard. For you Easterners, I pray that you may stay strong through your Lenten fasts.
Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels,
and let your trumpets shout Salvation
for the victory of our mighty King.
Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth,
bright with a glorious splendor,
for darkness has been vanquished by our eternal King.
Rejoice and be glad now, Mother Church,
and yet your holy courts, in radiant light,
resound with the praises of your people.
Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels,
and let your trumpets shout Salvation
for the victory of our mighty King.
Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth,
bright with a glorious splendor,
for darkness has been vanquished by our eternal King.
Rejoice and be glad now, Mother Church,
and yet your holy courts, in radiant light,
resound with the praises of your people.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Help! Help! I'm Being Repressed!
I hope that you all got that great line from Mighty Python and the Holy Grail. But it is true I am being repressed. You may remember a few posts ago when I was talking about the Christian discussion board, that I had found, bibleforums.com. Well I would like you all to know that as of now my account has been suspended. I can no longer post until I argue successfully that I was not promoting Roman Catholic Doctrines. Which I was not.
Let me set it up for you. There was a post in the "Bible Chat" forum called "Saints and Patron Saints." So I think this should be fun and also what is this doing here that should be in the "World Religions" section (this is where the banish all the posts that have to do with Catholic stuff, I know it is sad). So the person wants to know where they can find some stuff about the Saints and Patron Saints. So I help out by giving them a website that has all the Saints on it. I also go on to explain that it is not really praying to Saints but asking the Saints to pray for us; because someone had already misunderstood the idea. So this morning I got a message saying that my post has been deleted so that they will not have to move the thread to the "World Religions" section. Their reasoning is that I was promoting Catholic Doctrine. This is not correct because I started out the post saying that I was Anglican and I was going to explain the idea from an Anglican point of view. Then later this morning I got a message saying that they are suspending my account until we can discuss my promoting Catholic Doctrine.
Following is what I posted in the original thread. (Stars is the person who asked the question: "Is there a place I can learn about all saints and patron saints?")
"Stars,
Here is a list of Saints and Angels, it has a very long list of saints on the site. With a description of them. http://www.catholic.org/saints/stindex.php
I don't see asking the saints to pray for me as anything bad. A lot of Protestants misunderstand the concept. I know I did before I studied it and before I became Anglican. It is not praying to the saints it is only asking for the saint to pray for you as you pray for yourself also. A lot of people ask the saint to pray for them if they are having trouble with one certain problem. For instance if I was having trouble writing a paper then I might ask a saint who wrote a lot to pray for me because he/she dealt with writing a lot and knows better then I do what I need help with or why I am having problems. I like to think about it the same way that I would ask a friend or fellow Christian to pray for me. The more people I have praying for me the better. The saints just happen to be dead. But they have better access to the Father then we living people do because we still have to get through our sinful nature, whereas the saints who are in heaven have had then sinful natures taken away from them because they are in heaven in the presence of God and he can not have sin anywhere near him.
I hope that makes some sense. "
I go into the explanation because of this post: "Stars, honestly a saint is a born again child of God and a patron saint is a fantasy. There is a RCC dogma (teachings) that say you can pray to your patron saint and they will make intercession for you, but that just plumb ain't true. We only have and need one advocate and that's Christ Jesus. 1st John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
So later you will find a post on here that will be an allegory about bibleforums.com and some other stuff. It should be pretty fun or funny, whatever.
So I think I will be kicked off of the board. Which really it took longer then I thought it would have. So I would not suggest posting on this forum unless you are uber-Protestant, or can get along with them, really, really well.
Jesse
Let me set it up for you. There was a post in the "Bible Chat" forum called "Saints and Patron Saints." So I think this should be fun and also what is this doing here that should be in the "World Religions" section (this is where the banish all the posts that have to do with Catholic stuff, I know it is sad). So the person wants to know where they can find some stuff about the Saints and Patron Saints. So I help out by giving them a website that has all the Saints on it. I also go on to explain that it is not really praying to Saints but asking the Saints to pray for us; because someone had already misunderstood the idea. So this morning I got a message saying that my post has been deleted so that they will not have to move the thread to the "World Religions" section. Their reasoning is that I was promoting Catholic Doctrine. This is not correct because I started out the post saying that I was Anglican and I was going to explain the idea from an Anglican point of view. Then later this morning I got a message saying that they are suspending my account until we can discuss my promoting Catholic Doctrine.
Following is what I posted in the original thread. (Stars is the person who asked the question: "Is there a place I can learn about all saints and patron saints?")
"Stars,
Here is a list of Saints and Angels, it has a very long list of saints on the site. With a description of them. http://www.catholic.org/saints/stindex.php
I don't see asking the saints to pray for me as anything bad. A lot of Protestants misunderstand the concept. I know I did before I studied it and before I became Anglican. It is not praying to the saints it is only asking for the saint to pray for you as you pray for yourself also. A lot of people ask the saint to pray for them if they are having trouble with one certain problem. For instance if I was having trouble writing a paper then I might ask a saint who wrote a lot to pray for me because he/she dealt with writing a lot and knows better then I do what I need help with or why I am having problems. I like to think about it the same way that I would ask a friend or fellow Christian to pray for me. The more people I have praying for me the better. The saints just happen to be dead. But they have better access to the Father then we living people do because we still have to get through our sinful nature, whereas the saints who are in heaven have had then sinful natures taken away from them because they are in heaven in the presence of God and he can not have sin anywhere near him.
I hope that makes some sense. "
I go into the explanation because of this post: "Stars, honestly a saint is a born again child of God and a patron saint is a fantasy. There is a RCC dogma (teachings) that say you can pray to your patron saint and they will make intercession for you, but that just plumb ain't true. We only have and need one advocate and that's Christ Jesus. 1st John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
So later you will find a post on here that will be an allegory about bibleforums.com and some other stuff. It should be pretty fun or funny, whatever.
So I think I will be kicked off of the board. Which really it took longer then I thought it would have. So I would not suggest posting on this forum unless you are uber-Protestant, or can get along with them, really, really well.
Jesse
Monday, February 25, 2008
What Kind of Heretic Are You?
Hey found this neat little survey thought we might all get a kick out of it.
Survey
I am 100% Chalcedon Compliant, in other words I am not a heretic in any way shape or form from what the quiz says. However it did not ask about a lot of areas only a few so I might be a heretic in some other area. But you can rest assured knowing that I have been church approved since 451 AD. Other areas in the quiz I am 67% Monophysitism, 58% Modalism, 33% Adoptionist, Nestorianism, and Pelagiansim, 25% Monarchianism and Apollanarian, 8% Donatism, and 0% Albigensianism, Ariansim, Socinianism, Docetism, and Gnosticism.
So let me ask you what kind of heretic are you? Take the quiz and post your results in the comments.
Survey
I am 100% Chalcedon Compliant, in other words I am not a heretic in any way shape or form from what the quiz says. However it did not ask about a lot of areas only a few so I might be a heretic in some other area. But you can rest assured knowing that I have been church approved since 451 AD. Other areas in the quiz I am 67% Monophysitism, 58% Modalism, 33% Adoptionist, Nestorianism, and Pelagiansim, 25% Monarchianism and Apollanarian, 8% Donatism, and 0% Albigensianism, Ariansim, Socinianism, Docetism, and Gnosticism.
So let me ask you what kind of heretic are you? Take the quiz and post your results in the comments.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Personhood
This discussion that came up in a discussion group I'm in, and so I thought I'd post here as well. The issue deals with when a person becomes a person in general. What we have kinda concluded there is that when a human is embodied with a soul from/by God, then it becomes a person. Or: body + soul = person. Being Christians, we also all agreed that God is the one implants the soul into the body (indicated by the 'from/by' above). Two questions then emerge:
1) When does this take place?
2) Does this always happen? (This was my own question.)
There have been several issues at stake with (1). One lady has posted Psalm 51:5 and Jer 1:5 as precedence for personhood beginning at conception. Those texts:
Psa. 51:5 (KJV) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Jer. 1:5 (WEB) Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you...
I then replied that these are great precedents, but logically, precedents can (and do) get broken. Which brought another question:
1b) Does God follow the same precedent every time?
So before I give all my thoughts, I'll let a few people chime in.
1) When does this take place?
2) Does this always happen? (This was my own question.)
There have been several issues at stake with (1). One lady has posted Psalm 51:5 and Jer 1:5 as precedence for personhood beginning at conception. Those texts:
Psa. 51:5 (KJV) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Jer. 1:5 (WEB) Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you...
I then replied that these are great precedents, but logically, precedents can (and do) get broken. Which brought another question:
1b) Does God follow the same precedent every time?
So before I give all my thoughts, I'll let a few people chime in.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Christian Forum
Hey everyone, I know that some of us like to post on boards and forums. So I thought I would make a post about it. I will post a link to it over on the links tab. If you all get on there I don't think it will be too hard to spot me on there, but you can't my screen name is jtalexanderiv. Hope you all at least check it out. The sight is http://bibleforums.org/forum/
Grace and Peace,
Jesse
Grace and Peace,
Jesse
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Our sufferings
Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you and I am filling up what is still lacking of the inflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the church. (own translation)
Here's an interesting verse to be sure, particularly the part of "what is still lacking of the inflictions of Christ." Is this supposed to be arguing for the incomplete accomplishment of the atonement upon the cross? Is Paul suggesting that we, as individuals, must contribute to the atonement by filling a alloted portion of suffering prepared for us? This has puzzled scholars and theologians alike, and a quick look into the commentaries will show that many people do not know what to do with this verse.
I will offer one helpful suggestion. While Christ's accomplishment on the cross was sufficient for its own purposes, it did not accomplish God's total plan. God's total plan was for the formation of the church, the collection of the saints. Christ's sacrifice makes this possible, but it is only through the sufferings of individual Christians that this comes about. Paul as a missionary fills up this alloted amount of suffering to fulfill the complete plan of God.
I think several points come from this. Any system of theology that suggests that Christ's sufferings were all that were needed for salvation should be considered wrong. Obviously there is a portion of sufferings reserved for Christians who take the gospel to others. This is the other point, which I will form as a question. Is every Christian individual expected to contribute to this allotment of suffering, or only certain ones that like Paul, have been called to such work? Obviously we are called to die to ourselves, so that Christ might live in us, so that we might indeed truly live, but this does not involve the type of suffering that Paul has in mind here. Although I think an argument for only the suffering of certain individuals can be made here, I'll leave it for discussion.
Here's an interesting verse to be sure, particularly the part of "what is still lacking of the inflictions of Christ." Is this supposed to be arguing for the incomplete accomplishment of the atonement upon the cross? Is Paul suggesting that we, as individuals, must contribute to the atonement by filling a alloted portion of suffering prepared for us? This has puzzled scholars and theologians alike, and a quick look into the commentaries will show that many people do not know what to do with this verse.
I will offer one helpful suggestion. While Christ's accomplishment on the cross was sufficient for its own purposes, it did not accomplish God's total plan. God's total plan was for the formation of the church, the collection of the saints. Christ's sacrifice makes this possible, but it is only through the sufferings of individual Christians that this comes about. Paul as a missionary fills up this alloted amount of suffering to fulfill the complete plan of God.
I think several points come from this. Any system of theology that suggests that Christ's sufferings were all that were needed for salvation should be considered wrong. Obviously there is a portion of sufferings reserved for Christians who take the gospel to others. This is the other point, which I will form as a question. Is every Christian individual expected to contribute to this allotment of suffering, or only certain ones that like Paul, have been called to such work? Obviously we are called to die to ourselves, so that Christ might live in us, so that we might indeed truly live, but this does not involve the type of suffering that Paul has in mind here. Although I think an argument for only the suffering of certain individuals can be made here, I'll leave it for discussion.
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