|
We met at a Saturday afternoon fund-raising and promotional rally sponsored by a para-church organization. His calling card introduced him impressively. He was the pastor of an independent church congregation not aligned with any denomination, and a radio preacher. They called him "Doctor". And why not? After the good reverend's name, his calling card displayed the symbol D.D. for his honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Observation shows that human creative activity has a physical, a social and a spiritual aspect. (By human creative activity I mean useful and constructive activity by human beings). The physical aspect of our creative activity concerns our activity in relation to the physical universe. The social aspect relates mainly to human behaviour and interaction amongst humans. The spiritual aspect of our creative activity primarily concerns our activity in relation to God. Over time, mankind has acquired considerable knowledge of the physical universe. This knowledge has been classified as the physical and natural sciences. Knowledge we have acquired of human behaviour and interaction amongst humans has been classified as social science. This has not been the case with knowledge we have of the spiritual aspect of life. Such knowledge has not been classified as spiritual science. This is so because much of what at present constitute spiritual facts and beliefs cannot be considered as science. A lot of such facts are not backed by proof and many of the beliefs are not founded on reason. Unverifiable conjectures about phenomena and existence beyond this life are professed as truths. The situation at present is such that spiritual works available to us contain fiction, misconceptions, superstition and falsehood in addition to actual facts. I will use some examples from the Christian teaching and Holy Bible to illustrate this point. The popularity in the past few years of the apocalyptic fiction series Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins in indicative of the fact that people would rather believe a lie told to them in a sexy, slick way then believe the truth of the Word of God that has been staring them straight in the face for centuries. There's an anecdote about twins still in their mother's womb. They argued about who should come out first. One of the embryos complained "I'm the most beautiful; I should be born first." Many Mexican and Latin Catholics are dismayed that the Cardinals picked a German Pope, Benedict XVI, over a Latin Pope. Latin and Mexican Catholics are some of the biggest supporters of the Catholic Church. Some Mexican, Latino and Hispanic Catholics are saying; "This just proves white men still run the world." Many Mexicans who have proud Indian Aztec and Mayan Heritage whose civilization was destroyed by European Explorers and conquerors, which brought this religion with them are thinking twice about their loyalty to the Catholic Church. Dear Ratzy, In classrooms throughout the country, Judeo-Christian beliefs are often cast aside or ridiculed. Multiculturalism studies, environmental propaganda, and Save-the-Earth classes now indoctrinate children with New-Age religious beliefs, often without parents' knowledge. Public schools sometimes try to sneak offensive pagan or new-age religions into their curriculum without parents' knowledge under the guise of multiculturalism studies. Sainthood?that title given by the Catholic Church that seems to draw so much criticism from so many denominations. The mere mention of it angers some people. It's not so much the title itself that draws attention but the dogma that prayer to those saints is helpful to the living. And while opponents of such an idea try to distance themselves from Catholic theology, they miss out on a big benefit of this 'disagreeable' doctrine. Recently, the Presbyterian Church (USA) beat a drum for justice. This brave denomination took the first steps toward removing its monies from companies that profit from the Israeli theft of Palestinian land. Now, let's recall again the text: "Let her be covered." That is God's decree.
INDEX: HOME | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 |
|