A Little Direction

I am a brand new blogger. Before March of this year I heard of blogs in passing only and was never even remotely interested in any level of participation, not even reading. Then a very dear friend and strongly faithful Christian, whom I am sorry to be separated from by thousands of miles, invited me to his brand new blog site! Of course I would go! So, in order to leave a comment I had to join up.

Well, now I am happy to be introduced to blogging, but when I started my page, I just had no idea what to write about. I had no direction and was fresh out of ideas (which is a very sad state to start out in!). I know a little bit about science, a little bit about history, a little bit about Christianity and God, and I am very opinionated (in case you can't tell). So a little bit of direction is sneaking up on me. One of the things I absolutely believe without a doubt is that the existence of God, and that Jesus is God, can be proven by science. I would really like to explore in that direction with this blog site, along with the history of the Church, the history of science and mathematics, the way all of them affected each other and where they may be leading or what some of the possibilities are.

I would be really sorry though if this were always a one way conversation. It makes for really boring talks, so I have added my e-mail address to my profile and would welcome suggestions for my site via e-mail. Also If anyone has anything to say and would like that as a main topic in a post I would be happy to copy and past it out of an e-mail to me, unless of course I feel it is inappropriate or offensive, in which case you would get a return e-mail explaining why I object to the post. I think this could be a very edifying experience and pray that it will be successful and something that is good to read for everyone.

Salvation Is From the Jews

The traditional view of salvation history begins with the fall of Adam and Eve, but I really disagree with such a position. It must really begin with Creation, seeing as God created all things through, for and after Christ. For the sake of keeping the peace, I will begin my brief discussion about history with the Fall. “From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die.” Of course God was not lying to Adam. The price for sin is blood. When Paul said, “According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness,” he was not presenting new information to the Jews, he was simply emphasizing what they already knew to be true. Getting there was a long road though. The first time God purified the world was in Noah’s Flood. One theory I heard, which is purely speculation, but I like none the less (and makes good sense to me), is that God preserved Noah’s family because their blood was “pure” meaning it was untainted with the blood of angels, but that is another discussion. Shortly after Noah’s flood God brought Abram into the world and promised him to make a great nation of him because of his faith. Three generations later He saved Abraham’s family from starvation by placing one of the children in a position of authority in Egypt, where he had knowledge of the coming famine and the prudence and position to prepare for it. Four hundred years later the Israelites needed salvation from their gracious hosts of old. With the night of the Passover, the political nation of Israel was born and the people who had found God’s favor found themselves being brought to the foot of Mount Sinai, where they were to receive the Law of Moses and a formal system of restitution and forgiveness.

For the first time in history man and God had an opportunity to share in a bond never experienced on Earth outside the Garden of Eden – that of mans’ sins covered over in the blood of restitution. This was very specific and many requirements had to have been met in order for the sacrifice to be a valid offering to God. The sacrifices had to be in the right place, performed by the right people with the right animals. The priests had to be ordained ministers and wear the right clothes. God’s decision on who were to fulfill all these “rights” rested on Abraham’s faithfulness. The unique relationship the Israelites shared with the Lord through the Law bore many fruits. It put them in a place of moral, spiritual, physical and mental superiority to the rest of the world. This was God’s family. They were His people and it was the Law that was the vehicle that brought them to this exalted position. Without the opportunity to stand before God without the burden of sin on their persons, they would not have been able to achieve anything more than mediocrity.

This was the stage the Christ stepped out onto. In the fullness of time, God came down from Heaven and made His dwelling among us. If Jesus is truly the manifestation of God then Mary is the personification of the perfect Jewish society, but that is also a different discussion. Because the blood of goats and lambs did not remove the stain of sin and completely restore man to God, a better sacrifice was called for. God wanted a better relationship, one made perfect. While the Law was perfect, the sacrifice did nothing more than cover the sins of the people and they had to make the same sacrifice over and over again. “For this I was born and for this I came into the world,” is what Jesus told His disciples. With the backdrop of salvation history, the world was ready to move on to the perfection of the person and work of Christ Jesus the Lord through the framework given to the Israelites in the Law. This would be a valid sacrifice made in the right place, by the right people who wore the right clothes in a perfect framework for the forgiveness of sins once and for all.

Jesus and the Jews

The angel Gabriel declared unto Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word," and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Being a Jew and growing up in the Jewish religious tradition was the desire and goal the Lord God our Father. From the beginning of all time He wanted to redeem His people, His family. This was deduced by the fact that Christ was the first born of all creation. The Jewish people were chosen by God from the beginning. This is plainly obvious to me because of how God relates to time. Because all things are instantaneously present to the Lord, He has the choice of all things for all time at the instant of creation.

St. Augustine developed "Replacement Theology" which asserts the promises made to the Jews which were unfulfilled were inherited by Christians and lost to the Jews by their unbelief. Let me quote the great Pope Benedict XVI. "God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature." This quote has been taken out of context, he was speaking about using the force of arms as an instrument of evangelizing, but the argument applies to this discussion none the less. If not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature, then that is true in every aspect of His creation. Is it reasonable to choose a people out of the world to be your own, to favor them more than any other people, to manifest yourself among them, then to reject them when you know from before any single one of them was created the exact way you will be treated by them? Absolutely not! Is it reasonable to lie to someone by promising them something when you know before hand they will not keep faith then refuse them the promise? No, that is malicious. God is not capable of giving a promise to someone that will not be fulfilled because He sees the parade in its entirety at a single instant. He is continuously present to all time. He is outside of time. That is why St. Augustine was mistaken in his theology of Christian replacement. He was on the right track though, just one lane over.

Gentile Christians will share in the promises of the Jews. Scripture is very clear on this matter. Where St. Augustine went wrong is not keeping up with the times. When the New Testament writings were written Christianity was considered a Jewish sect. It was a schismatic denomination of Judaism. By the time St. Augustine lived the Church population had radically changed. It was now mostly Gentile. Looking into a discussion between Jews and knowing the truth was being spoken one to another, St. Augustine mistakenly included himself in the class of Jewish Christians. He was a Gentile, not a Jew! "For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?" In this passage the olive tree represents God's promises to the Jews, the Gentiles are the branches of the wild olive tree and the Jews are the branches of the cultivated tree, so the Church as She exists today is obviously not a Jewish Church but a Gentile Church. The cultivated tree has been populated with "wild branches" but the ownership of the promises remains in the hands of the Jews. By grace we are included and are able to receive "the crumbs which have fallen from the children's plates."

The main point of it all is that Jesus is a Jew. He went to the Temple and to the synagogues, He was a rabbi, He celebrated the Jewish feasts, He spoke Hebrew and read the Torah. To the best of my understanding He never read The Acts of the Apostles, or the Epistle to the Romans, or an Epistle of St. Peter, or the Revelation to St. John. When He spoke to the gathered crowds He never quoted St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Hilary, Pope Leo, St. Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, or any other great saint of ours. That all belongs to our Christian tradition. He quoted Moses, Isaiah and Elijah. The Jews are still His people, His family and the rightful heirs of the kingdom, because where He is His family belongs, and He will draw them unto Himself and the natural branches shall be grafted back into their own cultivated olive tree.

Jesus and Time

Since all theology must lead to Jesus, let me develop the person of the Lord Jesus keeping in mind what was discussed in God and Time. There are three separate aspects of Christ Jesus the Lord, and they appear in that order in God's Creation. The first to appear was Christ, which means "Anointed". This is an office of the Lord. It was the "first born of all creation." The fulfillment of that office is the salvation of mankind, so before all else was created God created the Christ, through whom all else was created. The second is Jesus, the human. He came into the world at the time of the Annunciation. He was formed in the image that fancied the Father. The Father knew what He wanted to look like before He began His endeavor of creation. The third aspect is the Lord, or master. There are many different lords. We have landlords, men of noble birth, a peer of the realm, and on and on, but Jesus is the Lord of lords. He is God.

I have heard many people say that Christians have the fullness of God's revelation of Himself to man in the person of Jesus Christ, which is not entirely true. We do have the fullest revelation of God to man, but it is not yet complete. More will be revealed. This is established by St. Paul in saying, "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man that which God has prepared for those who love Him." Then again he said, "At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully as I am fully known." One of the ways in which we can approach the Lord is through science. Just as the church fathers sought to know Him and explain Him through philosophy, we can seek Him and seek to explain Him through science. Surely, science will leave evidence of the existence of God. His fingerprints are everywhere in the universe, we only have to learn to read them.

Jesus is light. St. John said, "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world." Then quoting Jesus, he said, "I am the light of the world." Every single time I ever heard someone speaking publicly on these verses and similar verses the only thing they ever mentioned was the metaphorical aspect of things, but that is not the only component to these verses. While what these people said is certainly true, Jesus enlightens our hearts and minds, He is also physical light. When we enjoy the the beating of the warm sun on our skin, that is the Lord Jesus we are feeling the direct touch of. When we watch the sun rise over the eastern mountain ranges or gaze out the window at the hustle-bustle of midday, that is the Lord Jesus making that possible through His presences in the form of light waves (will you ever look at Easter Vigil the same again while paying attention to the extinguishing of the candles and illumination of the sanctuary?). Jesus is continuously present to all time. He is omnipresent. This did not come to be by virtue of being God, but by virtue of being light.

We were made in the image of God. This speaks of the image of Jesus Christ. God knew He wanted to be about six feet tall with two arms, two legs, a symmetric body, ten or twelve fingers, roughly, etc. etc. This gives great dignity to all men and women, no matter what their creed, color or culture is.This all leaves much to be discovered, and much to be revealed. How is Jesus light? We don't understand, but we know it is true. How are we made in the image of God? Also, we do not know for certain, but the answer goes much deeper than the sermons usually given. Science can answer some of these questions we have, but not all, which we also already knew by the writings of St. Paul.

God and Time

When I was young I had a hard time wrapping my mind around what time meant to God and how He related to it, but it always fascinated me. Consequently, I spent a lot of time thinking about it, ever since I was a little boy. One day my dad drew an example that I was able to understand very well. He explained that we experience time like a spectator standing on a street corner watching a parade go by. We see the band approaching, then the various cars, civic groups and floats going by one at a time in a progression. God, on the other hand, sees the parade from the vantage point of a helicopter. He can take it in all at the same time and sees everything from the beginning to the end all in the same instant.

My understanding of it has developed a little, but the basics remain the same. All things were completed at the instant of creation. Even though things have not come to pass for those of us bound by time, they have already been completed in, for and through the Lord. That is why He can tell us the future and make promises to us and tell us if we do this then this will happen, or if we do something else, something else will happen. That is also why the psalmist can quote God saying, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." That is also how the Christ was the first born of all creation. God wanted to create all things through Him, and that is exactly what He did. That is why prayer is timeless. From the beginning of all creation God knew us and our prayers and our souls. That is why Moses told us that for God a single day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a single day.

Popular science tells us that to exceed the speed of light means we will achieve the ability to travel backwards in time, but that is wrong. Einstein said that we would never be able to achieve the speed of light because as we approach it time slows down. I propose that we will never achieve the speed of light because when we do that we will experience time as God does. To me it is the only explanation of physics that makes sense. If time stops and we continue in our existence then we will not reverse the clock but will become omnipresent. Because God knows we are not ready for something of that order He will intervene to prevent that from happening just as He did with the Tower of Babel.

The Flight Into Egypt

There has always been an image in my mind of St. Joseph leading a donkey which bears the Blessed Virgin carrying the Baby Jesus on a long walk through the wilderness to a tiny Egyptian village in the middle of the desert to wait out the storm of King Herod's wrath. I never found that fully satisfying though. There are only two references to the Holy Family's flight to Egypt that I am aware of in Holy Scripture and I can not ever recall hearing any Catholic theologian speak extensively on the issue. In essence the trip is in an intellectual and historical black out for me, but none the less interesting.

Let's set the stage for their flight from Israel. In the Fourth Century BC the city of Alexandria was founded and Egypt was reborn with a new capitol, a new religion, a new dynasty and a new idea. The Ptolemaic idea was to build an empire based on knowledge. This was masterfully accomplished and the city became the intellectual center of the world. In the middle of the First Century BC Alexandria was acquired by the Roman Empire, but the intellectual dream lived on. At the city's founding it was about one third Jewish and by the early years of the First Century AD the city had grown to a population of one million with a Jewish population two hundred thousand strong (not insignificant). In fact, it was the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel and Judea and birthplace of the Septuagint. It had a large synagogue and would have been a community familiar to the Holy Family, and it was close by both land and sea. St. Joseph would have found employment easily and the transition would look almost seamless to my eye. So, the more I learn about Alexandria, the more I begin to believe this is exactly the place Jesus celebrated His first birthday.

Aside from all that there was quite an interesting Jewish fellow by the name of Philo who was born into affluence in Alexandria in the year 20 BC. He enjoyed all the privileges of Roman citizenship and led a life devoted to casting Jewish tradition in a Greek philosophic light. He is credited by Justin Pollard and Howard Reid (in their book The Rise and Fall of Alexandria) with bringing the idea of "The Word" to Jewish tradition, thus setting the foundation for Christianity. He wrote extensively on Jewish tradition and had a classical education to compliment his Jewish heritage. As I read the brief account of his work I could not help but think of how God might have been working to perfect His work on earth by introducing Jesus to this man in the prime time of his educational formation. Could God have been working to establish His Church while preserving His Son from Herod's jealousy?

Church History

So I dropped out of college with two and a half semesters left to earn a BSN degree in order to pursue a marriage (only God knows whether or not that was a good idea seeing as the marriage did not last). Now my life is beginning to settle down again and I am getting back on my feet and I thought about finishing a degree. I know I do not want a nursing degree as I previously sought, but where do I go from here? In examining my life and looking where I might be most useful and find a fulfilling endeavor I thought about a major in history with a minor in philosophy. Then I thought if I am going to major in history I would love to specialize in the history of the Church if I continue my education. Now that involves a lot of work! I would imagine you need a firm command of Latin, Greek and Hebrew just to start, then look at the history of Israel, Greece, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, England, Russia, North Africa, the US, and where else? I would imagine to really appreciate it all you need more than the rudiments of anthropology. But then what do you do with all that information? I have no idea what historians do besides teach. Writing books is not something I would like to depend on as a source of income. So, now I have found something I could really dig into with all my enthusiasm, but I have no idea what to do afterwards with it! If anyone knows what historians do with their degrees or if anyone wants to chat about history or just have your opinion heard, I would love to hear what you have to say.