Help Me Understand

vendredi 10 mai 2024

Intercession of Saints: Is it true Jesus taught us to Pray the Father only? A Discussion with danielt3475

On my Youtube channel, I have had a series of discussion on the topic of the intercession of the saints. I wanted to share the one I had with this interlocutor who goes by the name, danielt3475. His comments are in yellow.

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Me: @danielt3475 You have yet to specifically respond to any of my questions.

1) You had initially said, "Jesus gave us the template on how to pray in Matthew and Luke that doesn't include any man but only God. "

Answer 1: But nowhere in Matthew or Luke, assuming you are referring to the "Our Father" prayer, that Jesus gives the template to pray 'God' (the word 'God' does not appear in that prayer), but rather the template, if template it is, the prayer is directed to the "Father". (Father is the word being used). In order words, the "Our Father" prayer, it is addressed to God the Father, and not to God the Son, nor to God the Holy Spirit specifically.

And seeing that you are correctly open to praying the Son and the Holy Spirit, while none is being taught in neither two Gospels as you suggested, this already shows that Prayers are not exclusive directed to the Father, despite the fact that "Our Father" prayer was taught, and which you regard as an exclusive template for all prayers.

2) You also said, "Secondly the bible clearly shows us who to pray too. Father Son and Holy Spirit."

Answer 2: Hence my request, where is the biblical evidence you are relying on that clearly show that we should pray to the Holy Spirit? I'd appreciate if you could quote this specific verse here, since you claim is it clearly shown. Thank you in advance for your response.

3) You said, "Where is your evidence that prayer is dedicated to anyone other than our Triune God, Father Son and Holy Spirit??? Prayer is us communicating with God and God alone. "

Answer 3: Remember I did ask for the objective definition of prayer not your subjective definition of prayer. It is best when we look at definition that we make reference to proper authority such as a dictionary in order to avoid subjectivity in our definition which will simply muddy the waters and lead to a difficult dialogue and misunderstanding.

Let me then model this below with the following:

Prayer is usually taken to mean, to ask, to make a request, to make a petition. The Merriam Webster dictionary give us the definition of prayer in this way:

1.: to make a request in a humble manner.

2.: to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving.

Therefore, based on the above we can find examples in the Bile were people prayed (request made to) other people so that they in turn can pray (make request to) God. An example is st. Paul who prayed (requested) the Ephesians to pray (petition) God on his behalf:

Ephesians 6:18-19, "Pray in the Spirit at all times with every kind of prayer and request. Likewise, be alert with your most diligent efforts and pray for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that, when I begin to speak, the right words will come to me. Then I will boldly make known the secret of the gospel"

Note therefore that there is a biblical example of a man (st. Paul) praying (making requests to) other men so that in their turn they may pray (make a request) for him on a specific need. This is why I asked for an objective definition of prayer, and not a subjective one that can not be objectively verified.

I am afraid a lot of protestants have an incorrect, non verifiable definition of Prayer. They have constructed their own meaning of Prayer and then have imported it into the Bible. Hence this make the dialogue difficult because we use the same word but we mean different thing.

4) You said, "Then what is the point jesus dying on the cross and resurrect if we add other saints to plead to them for our sins etc? The honours is on you to provide evidence that we should pray to saints biblically???"

Answer 4: The evidence is already provided above with Ephesians 6:19 when St. Paul prayed (made a request to) the Ephesians saints. And Jesus death on the cross is not nullified because we pray for each others need and carry each others burden, either when we are physically on earth or present in heaven after our physical death. Our states may have changed but not our love for each others. We are still members of the same one body of Christ, either alive on earth or physically dead (but alive in God's presence):

1Corinthians 12:25 "so that there might be no disharmony in the body, but that its parts should have the same concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is praised, every part rejoices with it."

We are not separated of Christ's body when we die. We are still in Christ and members of Christ body and we have concern for each other. This is the point of this video above between Sam and his interlocutor. We care for each others now, and we will continue to care for each others when we are physically dead. Love binds us, and death can't separate us from the love of God manifested for each one of us (Romans 8:38-39). And prayer is one of those way we show concern and care for each others, when we pray for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18).

Thank you and God bless you.

Intercession of Saints: No Need for other saints prayers? - A Discussion with Shamelessly Red

On my Youtube channel, I have had a series of discussion on the topic of the intercession of the saints. I hope I wanted to share the one I had with this interlocutor who goes to the name, ShamelesslyRed. His comments are in yellow.

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@ShamelesslyRed Sorry for the inconvenience of the disappearing comments, I hope it gets fixed soon. Having said that, I still haven't seen the response to my comments nor where in Deuteronomy 18 a prohibition on the intercession of saints is found. Hopefully, your comments gets through one day to provide the missing evidence.

1) You said, "Ask yourself if you have a personal relationship with Christ. And if you do, why do you feel the need to pray to saints that have died. ... I hope you will understand that if the King is your father, you don't need to ask his servants no longer on earth to petition Him." Answer 1: There is 2 questions here, firstly , it is about having a personal relationship with Christ. Since you have not define what you meant by the expression 'a personal relationship with Christ' , I will therefore take the liberty to assume until further notice that what is meant is to have frequent charismatic or mystical encounter with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. From this perspective, the answer is yes. I do. Secondly, you wonder why would any one who has such relationship with Christ feel the need to pray to saints that have died. The answer is simple, because: A) I am *NOT* the only one who has relationship with the Lord Jesus and some saints (believers on earth or in God's presence due to physical death) have a deeper relationship with the Lord than I have in certain respects. For this reason, we have a legitimate reason to ask those who are deeper in that relationship with God than us to support us in prayer. To illustrate this with two biblical episodes, Example 1: remember the passion narrative where st. Peter, who had a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and yet for one specific moment he prayed (asked) st. John to ask a pertinent question to Jesus on his behalf although they both had immediate access to Jesus: "But there was one of His disciples leaning upon Jesus' bosom, the one whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore signaled to him to ask whom it might be of whom He spoke. And lying on Jesus' breast, he said to him, Lord, who is it? " - John 13:23-25 Example 2: remember that Job friends were in direct contact with God and yet they were directed to ask for Job intercession for the forgiveness of their sins instead of doing it themselves despite the fact that they were matter of fact directly conversing with the Lord Himself: "After these words had been spoken by the LORD to Job, the LORD spoke to Eliphaz from Teman ... So take seven bulls and seven rams and bring them to my servant Job. And bring a whole burnt offering for yourselves and my servant Job will pray for you. ... So Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar from Naamath did precisely as the LORD had spoken to them, because the LORD showed favor to Job." - Job 42:7-9 B) As member of the same body of Christ, we support and carry each others burden. And this is exemplified by St. Paul who prayed (requested) the Ephesians to pray for him, and not only for him but to also pray for other saints: "Pray in the Spirit at all times with every kind of prayer and request. Likewise, be alert with your most diligent efforts and pray for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that, when I begin to speak, the right words will come to me. Then I will boldly make known the secret of the gospel" - Ephesians 6:18-19 Note: Clearly, asking (praying) other to pray for us to God is not a betrayal of the existence of our relationship with God, but is a proof that we are one body and we support and care for each others either when we are in this body or out of this body. Our membership to the body of Christ is not rescinded at our physical death, for we remain in the true vine (one body of Christ) as branches (members of that holy body): "that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." - 1Corinthians 12:25-26 2) You said: "They're not omni-present. Only the Holy spirit searches the hearts of believers." Answer 2: The saints do not have to be omni-present to fulfill their tasks as intercessors or prayer partners. This was the whole point of this very video. I would invite you to listen to it once again attentively. 3) You said: " And ask yourself what old testament saint God ever allowed prayer to after they passed on. None of them were prayed to. There's a strict warning against this practice." Answer 3: I do not know which one in the Old Testament God allowed for such privilege, maybe to Abraham in the parable of the bad rich and Lazarus, but in any case this is irrelevant to our discussion of the intercession of the saints nowadays since in the new covenant inaugurated by Christ, believers in Christ who have passed on are regarded as alive, "Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" - John 11:25-26 Moreover, there is no text whatsoever that suggest that the command to pray for each others (Ephesians 6:18) should be discontinued at the physical death, especially given that we still live and never die in the Lord's presence as per the Lord Jesus statement. I see zero biblical evidence that there is a warning against the practice of the intercession of saints, let alone a supposedly STRICT warning for that matter. I know that protestant prohibit that but Protestantism prohibition has no authority on a Christian. Only God has authority on a Christian through the Holy Scriptures, Apostolic Traditions (2 Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6) and the Church authoritative teachings (Matthews 18:17-18)

........

UPDATE:

Prayer is usually taken to mean, to ask, to make a request, to make a petition. The Merriam Webster dictionary give us the definition of prayer in this way:

1.: to make a request in a humble manner.

2.: to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving.

Note therefore that there is a biblical example of a man (st. Paul) praying (making requests to) other men so that in their turn they may pray (make a request) for him on a specific need.

Thank you and God Bless you.

mardi 26 mars 2024

Theology of Sex: Sexuality and Gender perception

A short reflection I made during one of my class courses on early centuries Christians' reflection on Sex and Gender from Canonical sources to non canonical sources.

1) "Consider how Christian scripture impacts the roles that Christians can take up based on gender and sexuality."

From an academic point of view, the impact that Christian scriptures can take up on gender and sexuality will depend on which Scriptures one is drawing his reflection from. If one is basing his reflection from the Canonical Christian scriptures composed in the first century for example, one will come out of it with a view that gender for example is binary, male and female.

Mathew 19:4 - "He answered them, "Haven't you read that the one who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female'"

However, if one look at Christian scriptures beyond the canonical texts, and read the gnostic texts, one may very well look at gender not as a binary construct, but rather a fluid construct. An example comes from the gospel of Thomas which read as follow:

"(114) (1) Simon Peter said to them: "Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life." (2) Jesus said: "Look, I will draw her in so as to make her male, so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you." (3) (But I say to you): "Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.""

We can note that in this particular gnostic gospel, we can see a possible seed of the trangenderism optic about gender categories, which differs from the Canonical gospels found in the Christian Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

2) "How do scriptures intersect with cultural norms and power relations? Choose two specific examples (e.g., a passage from the Bible, a biography, or other assigned reading to illustrate your points."

Let's start the comparison first with the cultural norms and we will follow with the power relations.

First, when we compare the first century interpretation of marriage, as we can see from the Pauline letter or the unknown canonical author of Hebrews, we gather a sense that marriage is good. It may not be regarded as the highest good when compared to the gift of celibacy but it is nevertheless regarded as good and noble:

1Corinthians 7:36, 38 "If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. ... So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better."

Hebrews 13:4, "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."

However by contrast, when we read non-canonical texts as it was shared in the class section titled "Christian Scripture and Tradition on Sex and Marriage", we read how marriage is degraded as evil and regarded with strong aversion to the point of being compared to the very act of sin:

"Clement of Alexandria, for example, reports about some Christians in the late second century who "say outright that marriage is fornication and teach that it was introduced by the devil. They proudly say that they are imitating the Lord who neither married nor had any possession in this world, boasting that they understand the gospel better than anyone else" (Stromateis III,6.49.1)."

Second, when we come to power relations, there is a varied way one can assess this. But since Christianity present itself as salvific or salvation religion, then salvation is among the core tenet of Christianity. And here again we can see the place of gender roles in it with we compare the canonical gospels or canonical Christian texts vis a vis the non-canonical gospel from the Gnostic thinkers.

Women are believed that they are capable to attain salvation just like their male counterparts, as since in the baptism of Lydia or the baptism of whole households in the Acts of the Apostles. And even in the ambiguous text that seem to make a condition on women such as, "1Ti 2:15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.", women still, even in this case, are candidates to salvation.

But this is not saw as it appears from the gospel of Thomas, which requires women to make a gender transition away from their femaleness in order to be worthy of salvation, entrance into the kingdom of heaven:

"(114) (1) Simon Peter said to them: "Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life." (2) Jesus said: "Look, I will draw her in so as to make her male, so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you." (3) (But I say to you): "Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.""

It is therefore true that depending on which scriptures one relies on, this will have an impact of ones conception of gender roles and gender power relation to a certain good.

Ancient Christian assumptions on "Sex and Marriage" in light of a Canonical Biblical Text

A short reflection I made during one of my class courses on scriptural on early centuries Christians' assumptions on sex and marriage

Assignment: "Choose one passage from the unit "Christian Scripture on Sex and Marriage" and analyze it using the three assumptions given here. How does reading through that lens affect your interpretation of the Christian text(s)?”

Reflection:

One of the texts that was quoted is Hebrew 13:4 "Let marriage be kept honorable in every way, and the marriage bed undefiled. For God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery."

1) The household is a basic social and economic unit; it includes parents and children of several generations as well as slaves.

Viewed through this new testament lenses, marriage has an elevated view. It is regarded as honorable. And by honorable one can extrapolate that it is expected to be the aspired norm in any given society. We know that many modern culture and surely ancient culture also were very strong on honor and their dignity, so much so that they created social strata to separate those who are more honourable than those weren't. Hence if marriage was to be considered honorable, this implies that it must have been regarded as indispensable as a basic social and economic unit in society. At least, this was the aspiration projected by the Christian confidence about the usefulness and value of marriage.

2) "Natural sex" is understood to be phallic and it should properly reproduce hierarchical norms of class, age, and gender. This means that "natural sex" always involves a penetrating male. Moreover, the penetrated person should be of a class status (whether male or female) lower than the penetrator, be younger in age (including children), or be a female.

From the Christian ideal that set all people from different socio-class status on the same rank when it comes to their value in the eyes of God, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28 , it is unlikely that marriage was regarded as simply being a 'phallic' endeavor. And coming back to Hebrews 13:4, the text emphasis on honor bestowed to marriage, meaning on the individuals participating in this marital union, it would be a departure from its ethos if the marriage intimate act of sexuality was regarded simply as a sheer acts of sexual penetration with no other noble sentiments linked to it. I do not conceive this as being feasible based on this first century text of the New testament.

3) Sexual desire is perceived as morally problematic.

From the perspective of Hebrews 13:4, it is adultery and other form of sexual sins that are problematic and which attracts God's judgment. However, the marriage bed is expected to be distanced from unfaithfulness, a concept often linked with adultery - the breaking of one's marital vow toward one's spouse. Hence the marital bed is expected to remain undefiled by unfaithfulness.

Beside that, marriage which in itself assumes the openness to sexual activities between partners falls in the category of what makes marriage honorable according to this texts:

"Because sexual immorality is so rampant, every man should have his own wife, and every woman should have her own husband. A husband should fulfill his obligation to his wife, and a wife should do the same for her husband." - 1Corinthians 7:2-3

Hence, there is no problematic view regarding sexual desire within marriage, it is the sexual desire outside of marriage which is regarded as problematic, and Christians readers are expected to take all necessary measures against it.

mercredi 13 mars 2024

Managing Mass Communication

In today's world, it is unthinkable to run a business without involving oneself into intensive PR (public relation) through all the available outlets. A company needs to have a public face and it needs that face to be recognizable and distinguishable from all other players in the market.

In order to have that lonely voice heard in the competitive market, marketers use advertisement, sales promotion, events & Experiences and Public Relations to position a company and its products/services.

Advertisement: is defined as any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of a product by any identified sponsor. Advertisement is used to disseminate a message for with brand building or for educational purposes. In the early days of my start-up company, we did advertise with the distinct purpose to inform anyone who care to read our messages that there was a new company in town offering translation services.

For an advertisement to have any success, two things need to be kept in mind, first - always remember who is your target market and second what are your buyers motives. These two point helps in keeping the marketer's message clear and on the point.

The next step is based on some common sense steps dubbed the 5 M's when one is building an effective mass communication for a company:

1. Mission; 2. Money; 3. Message; 4. Media; 5. Measurement.

I can relate with these five in retrospect of my first try-out with my start-up company that got suspended pre-covid.

1. Mission: our objective was ill-defined but we knew nevertheless in a foggy way what we wanted to do. And the more we clarified our own objectives, the clearer the message became and the less repetitive and elongated the wording were. By the end of the first year, we understood that without a time limit to accomplish a given objective, that objective would never become a properly defined goal.

2. Money: since our start-up was service oriented (and we chose it by design to avoid big working capitals), we didn't need a big budget for marketing the company and the advertisement came at an especially low cost through the internet.

3. Message: Thee message kept changing and refined as we went on with the business. Somethings that seemed obvious to us at the beginning kind of loss its appeal as we met the resistance and difficulty of the market. We expressed our desire to be able to do everything including translating books in a record time and at an affordable price. But soon, it became clear that we didn't have the staff quality to undergoes these type of projects. So our message started changing and became more realistic per our capacity. We still wanted to be recognized as the best on what we do, hence the need to optimize what we could do well.

4. Media: Advertisement were done using our Facebook page and the social media mostly know in Rwanda called 'Kigali-Life' yahoo group.This spot of the net offered us many opportunity of jobs since it is well attended by foreigners and expatriate always in need of a translation of docs and else.

5. Measurement: this one was the toughest to ascertain. Since our advertisement were done through social media and cold email, we received sometime positive feedback from those two outlets. But truth to be said, it was a very unpleasant experience as tones of emails were sent on a weekly basis to only receive a handful of potential customers responding and even less a fraction who would buy our services. As i recall my memory, even though it was less expensive to advertise through the social media, the respond didn't add much to our bottom line.

The hardest thing we had to face was to objectively present our services without straying the path of over exaggeration to the point of becoming untruthful. I do hold to corresponding theory about truth, which states that truth is that which correspond to reality. Our messages always strove to maintain that level of authenticity and realism. It came with its cost but this was the ethical price to pay.

Despite the hardship i had to go through with my business and subsequent failure, i am still interested to back to business and apply more of the marketing tools and advertising philosophy that i have learnt since i close/suspended my business. Matter of fact i am working on a couple of projects and advertisement will be at the forefront of its launching when the day comes.

mardi 12 mars 2024

The Future of Christianity: Charismatic Unity and Doctrinal-Moral Dis-Unity

1) "what do you think Christianity will look like in the future?"

Christianity is growing and spreading across continents and cultures. We can also note that Christianity in its different facets is fast becoming more charismatic in its expression regardless of which theological obedience a particular Church tradition falls in, Catholic, Protestants, and Orthodox. The statistics shared in the book section 'The New Shape of World Christianity' by Mark Noll bears witness to it, Pentecostals & Charismatics are the fastest growing section of Christianity, far surpassing Evangelicals in all continents in numeric numbers (Millions : Mio) except in Oceania where Evangelicals accounts for 4.4 Million and Pentecostals / charismatic, 4.3 Million (see page 22). In all other continents, traditional Evangelicals Churches are being surpassed by Pentecostals/Charismatic Churches, Africa (69.6 Mio vs 126 Mio); North America (43.2 Mio vs 79.6 Mio); South America (40.3 Mio vs 141.4 Mio); Asia (31.5 Mio vs 134.9 Mio); and Europe (21.5 Mio vs 37.6 Mio).

All protestant's denominations are being swept by the Charismatic phenomenon which was once reserved to the Pentecostal denominations and Catholicism. Even Catholicism that has always had room for the miraculous and supernatural in its doctrinal grid, has undergone a popularization of the Charismatic phenomenon since the 1960's. I therefore think that the Church as a whole will grow more in tune with its historical Charismatic nature. One can only hope that it will also grow closer in unity with each others too.

2) "What will be the major issues and challenges?"

The major issue that Christianity face is division. And this is accentuated by the fact that a growing segment of the Church population is considered to be independent and hence disconnected to their historical origin within the Holy Catholic Church and hence freeing themselves from the bounds of normative doctrinal orthodoxy. This will make dialogue and understanding of each others more difficult as each groups develop their own language to express their faith. Misunderstandings are bound to abound in Christian dialogues if the trend continues and is not rectified.

A typical example is found in the book, "Testing Prayer" by Dr. Candy Brown, (Harvard University Press), in which she noted the following, reflecting a continuous suspicion between Christians which maintain alive the division, even within the pentecostal-charismatic system:

"Certain Protestant respondents acknowledged that they were healed through the prayers of Catholics while simultaneously revealing an anti- Catholic bias. A woman from Imperatriz noted that “I had a balance disorder from an ear infection. I was very dizzy and could not stand on my feet for too long. I would fall from side to side. One day a Catholic sister prayed for me. I had a lot of faith and independent of her religion I was cured.” From this woman’s perspective, healing did not validate the beliefs of the person praying but instead reflected God’s compassionate response to the faith of the person seeking intercession." (Page 189)

Another issue I see is in the realm of morality. As different ideological influences search to make their peculiar morals or ethical practices enshrines within denominational systems, this will create more factions and defections within the protestants churches and orthodox churches. As for the Catholic Church, having a central head, the Pope, and a living teaching authority (the magisterium of the Church) that preserve the unity of the faith, morals and the revealed tradition, stability is expected to remain within its corridors. Nevertheless, dissenting voices within will continue to trouble the faithful by obscuring the authoritative position of the Church on questions related to morals and else. And this will continue to create discontent among uninformed Catholics and be the cause of possible schismatic behaviors if not formal schismatic acts.

Hence unity is the biggest challenge of Christianity in all its current expression now and in the foreseeable future.

mercredi 31 janvier 2024

A Year In Review: Book Reading List 2023

We finally crossed the year 2023 over to 2024. Last year was an intense year for me on many fronts and I am glad to have survived it. As I have done each year, I have continued my regular weekly Bible studies with the Living Word Association (LWA) which is an inter-denominational association which strive at understanding the Bible and practice its precepts. This year marked an important shift in our bible study protocol. A new study method was introduced that has enriched everybody's learning curve. The method is coined, C.O.C.A. This acronym stands for Context, Observation, Comprehension, Application. Yes, it is easy to remember and even easier to apply. This method was introduced into our local scenery by Father Raphael Manikiza, the Dominican Vicar Provincial of the Provincial Vicariate of Rwanda and Burundi.

This method, COCA, was initially introduced in our monthly Bible Study at the Dominican Chapel where I have been honoured to work alongside with Father Raphael and the lay theologian Tigana Birasa as we offered our reflection on the Gospel of Matthew for the Liturgical Year-A to the Community. For 2024, we will continue our study and focus on the Gospel of Mark.

Half a dozen year ago, I went into a quest to better understand my Christian faith as a Catholic and I have come enriched and better for it. After completing the reading of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I turned to the official teaching documents of Vatican II. I have made a slow inroad this last year, after reading the 4 Dogmatic constitutions (Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, Sacrosanctum Concilium and Gaudium et Spes) and read the 3 Declarations of the council Vatican II:

Gravissimum Educationis, it is the Declaration on Christian Education
Dignitatis Humanae, it is the Declaration on Religious Freedom
Nostra Aetate*, it is the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (this one was read the year prior*).

I also started reading the list of Vatican II Decrees. So far, I have read two of them and I am slowly going through the rest:

Apostolicam Actuositatem, it is a Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity
Ad Gentes, it is a Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church

As I said in my last review, "reading what the Church says in its own words is so refreshing and so encouraging and it sounds at time quite different from what people out there says about the Church teaching", I would now add, it is also so different from what some Catholic clergies have said about the Church teaching, 100% different. I remember in the year 2000 and 2001 when I had first read my whole bible systematically from Genesis to Revelation, I was in shock. The initial shock was not what I found but what I didn't found in it. Things I have heard so many times in popular platform, TVs, Radio, Conferences, etc., about what "the bible say's" but were nowhere to be found in the Bible. Neither did I find them in my second reading, nor the third time I read it. It became clear there are many things' people passes for biblical teaching which can't be found in the Bible itself. It is the same with the official Church teachings. I will dare, even challenge, anyone who has an issue with the Catholic Church teachings to first stop and ask themselves, where did I get these views about the Catholic Church teachings? And then after such honest introspection, I invite you to read the Church OFFICIAL teachings for yourself, either doctrinal or moral or social and find out the truth for yourself. You ought it to yourself!

For example, in Gaudium et Spes, I was gladly surprised, two years ago, to see that the Church takes her evangelistic mission seriously to the point of including it into one of its 4 Constitutions. And this aren't a unique occurrence, similar texts can be read in its Declarations and Decrees:

"It is necessary never to lose sight of the fact that the objective of the Church is to evangelize, not to civilize. If it civilizes, it is for the sake of evangelization." - Footnote Part II, Chapter II, No.7.

In the same effort to strengthen my understanding of Christianity, I completed a Certification course with Harvard Divinity School on "Christianity through Its Scriptures". There are many reasons I pursued such endeavour, and one of them was to get a neutral view about my faith and to be challenged, and it was challenging to say the least. In our introduction, the professor clearly let us know that we would be studying the Christian sacred scriptures from a standpoint of Academia and not from a Devotional starting point. The message was clear, and we found out soon enough that not only we studied the Canonical texts found in our Bibles, but the Academic view of the Christian scriptures included also other early writings not found in the Bible such as the Gnostic writings of the earlier Centuries. We read them and made dissertations about them. Overall, it was a stimulating intellectual experience, and inadvertently despite the exposure to other competing writings presented to us as Scriptures, I came out of it more convinced of the Christian faith as it is articulated in its orthodoxy.

There is one important item that I should add to my list of memorable activities, namely 'The Strength of Witnesses' conference. It was a 3-day Charismatic Conference organized and hosted at the St. Dominique Parish ahead of the Feast of Pentecost and it was animated by our guests, Dr. Thierry Luhandjula, Sister Olivia Jani and Brother Nesbert Muzamba. This was followed by The Philip Course, a 3-day retreat in October 2023 at the Convent of the Dominican Sister, this retreat delved deeper into the meaning of the Christian Life. It was animated by Brother Nesbert Muzamba and Brother Giovanni Valerio Svegliati. These two events have left participants with no voice and deeply moved both emotionally, spiritually and in some cases bodily. We have come out of these events, better Christians, and more committed as Christians. It is hard to properly describe what transpired without causing misunderstanding so I would simply recommend for a better understanding of what was experienced by participants, both Catholic and non-Catholic Christians, please do refer to Encounter Ministries which is the Catholic apostolate which was our inspiration in the design of this charismatic event.

I will end with my yearly tradition which consist in sharing the list of books I read during the previous year. Each book comes with a scoring metric. This scoring doesn't necessarily mean that the book was either perfect or poor. It simply reflects my enthusiasm at the moment of reading it based on the book content and the appeal of the writing style. These are the books that I read in 2023:

Religious Books

Catholic Authors

"Hostile Witnesses: How the Historic Enemies of the Church Prove Christianity" by Gary Michuta (5/5)
"Introduction to Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus" by Brant Pitre (4/5)
"Supernal Saints: A School of Ministry from the Saints" by Patrick Reis (4.5/5)

Protestant Authors

"Why I Am Still Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions" by Jack Deere (4/5)
"Why I Am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heal Today" by Jack Deere (4/5)
"Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? - Four Views" - Edited by Stanley N. Gundry and Wayne A. Grudem (4/5)
"The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural" by Lee Strobel (5/5)
"Investigating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: A New Transdisciplinary Approach" by Andrew Loke (4.5/5)

Non-Religious Books

"Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Healing" by Candy Gunther (Oxford University Press) (5/5)
"Reconciliation Is My Lifestyle: A Life's Lesson on Forgiving and Loving Those Who Have Hated You" by Antoine Rutayisire (5/5)
"Even in Our Darkness: A Story of Beauty in a Broken Life" by Jack Deere (5/5)

Note: These last 3 books can hardly be labelled as religious books even though their authors may be known for their religious convictions.

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The year 2023 was an intense year both in my workplace and in my family with its share of challenges. My family has known series of illnesses with different degrees of intensity, from major surgery for my boy earlier in the year to a medical trip at the end of the year. Sickness and Illness became a permanent feature of our household from the beginning of the year to the end. So much so that my wife once told me with an aggravated tone that pharmacists in our neighbourhood now know who we are. It is a miracle that with all these health constraints and intense workload in my job, I was able to read this much and done so much in my community. I guess it comes with the territory, I aggressively attacked the kingdom of darkness, and it expectedly struck back.

Nevertheless, in all these, I praise the Lord that my wife and I never went through this fire alone. The Lord was always there comforting my family during those long sleepless night with kids fighting with uncontrollable fevers, bizarre diseases and those long hours at the hospitals' queues.

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, stand firm and immovable, devoting yourselves completely to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." - 1 Corinthians15:58

dimanche 1 octobre 2023

Saints et Esprits Ancestraux : Comprendre la Perspective Catholique

Une question pertinente a été soulevée dans un groupe WhatsApp, abordant le sujet de l'intercession des saints tel que compris par l'Église catholique, et les réserves que certains non-catholiques peuvent avoir à ce sujet. Dans les lignes qui suivent, je vais tenter de répondre brièvement à cette question complexe.

Question : "Pourquoi l'Église nous défend-elle alors d'invoquer les esprits des défunts alors qu'on récite la litanie des saints ? En quoi le rituel à nos parents défunts au village va-t-il à l'encontre de notre foi chrétienne ?"

Réponse : Je crois que la question a plusieurs composantes :

l'invocation des morts
l'évocation des morts
la litanie des saints
les rites envers les ancêtres

Prémier point: l'évocation des morts vs l'invocation des morts

Si nos traductions sont fidèles aux langues originales, je pense que la Bible interdit explicitement l'évocation des morts, mais ne semble pas se prononcer explicitement sur l'invocation des morts.

Ésaïe 8:19 : "Si l'on vous dit : Consultez ceux qui évoquent les morts et ceux qui prédisent l'avenir, qui poussent des sifflements et des soupirs, répondez : Un peuple ne consultera-t-il pas son Dieu ? S'adressera-t-il aux morts en faveur des vivants ?"

Deutéronome 18:10-12 : "Qu'on ne trouve chez toi personne qui fasse passer son fils ou sa fille par le feu, personne qui exerce le métier de devin, d'astrologue, d'augure, de magicien, d'enchanteur, personne qui consulte ceux qui évoquent les esprits ou disent la bonne aventure, personne qui interroge les morts. Car quiconque fait ces choses est en abomination à l'Éternel ; et c'est à cause de ces abominations que l'Éternel, ton Dieu, va chasser ces nations devant toi."

1 Samuel 28:7 : "Et Saül dit à ses serviteurs : Cherchez-moi une femme qui évoque les morts, et j'irai la consulter. Ses serviteurs lui dirent : Voici, à En Dor il y a une femme qui évoque les morts."

Quelques considérations en termes de définition selon le Dictionaire Larousse. Si nous évitons de confondre ces deux verbes, le dialogue interreligieux entre catholiques et protestants deviendra fructueux:

A) Évoquer

Faire apparaître des esprits, des démons par des prières, des incantations, des sortilèges : Évoquer les âmes des morts.
Rappeler quelque chose au souvenir, en parler : Évoquer des souvenirs de jeunesse.
Faire songer à quelque chose, le rappeler : Ces maisons blanches m'évoquaient la Grèce.

Source 1 : https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/%C3%A9voquer/31905

B) Invoquer = appeler à son secours par une prière ; citer en sa faveur."

Appeler une puissance surnaturelle à son aide par des prières : Invoquer Dieu, les saints, la Vierge.
Solliciter de quelqu'un de plus puissant, par des prières, une aide, l'expression d'un sentiment : Invoquer l'aide de ses alliés.

Source 2 : https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/invoquer/44154

Je propose donc cette vue que l'évocation des morts est explicitement interdite par la foi chrétienne, car c'est ce que les Cananéens étaient coupables de, comme expliqué par la sorcière d'En Dor dans 1 Samuel 28 (La Catéchèse de l'Église Catholique numéro 2116-2117). Elle faisait apparaître les morts comme on le voit avec Samuel, par des probables incantations ou sortilèges pour les consulter en faveur de vivants. C'est ce qu'on appelle également la 'nécromancie'.

Cependant, l'invocation des morts, ou les prières aux saints ne sont pas en soi explicitement interdites dans les Écritures. La litanie des saints, qui a pour but de solliciter leurs prières puissantes, ne tombe pas dans la catégorie de l'évocation des morts, mais probablement dans l'invocation des saints. La question qui reste à savoir est : quels morts pouvons-nous dire sont en position de puissance pour s'allier avec nous dans la prière ?

Deuxiement: La litany de saints ou l'intercession de Saints

L'histoire de Lazare et du mauvais riche nous montre que le mauvais riche mort n'avait pas pu recevoir une exaucement favorable. Cela pourrait signifier que ces requêtes (ceux des morts impies) sont inefficaces (Luke 16:24-31). Cependant, les morts appelés saints sont des esprits justes qui ont atteint la perfection (Hébreux 12:23), et nous savons que la prière des justes est efficace (Jacques 5:16). Donc, ces derniers peuvent être sollicités pour leur intercession (Apocalypse 5:8).

Troisiement: Culte des ancêtres

C'est pourquoi pour en finir avec la question sur nos ancêtres, comme on ne sait pas qui de nos ancêtres lointains ou proches tombe dans la bonne catégorie (les esprits des morts impie ou les esprit de saints parfait), l'Église nous propose simplement de nous concentrer sur ceux qui ont déjà été reconnus ou canonisés comme saints, comme une mesure de sécurité qu'ils sont dans la présence de Dieu et peuvent intercéder efficacement (La Catéchèse de l'Église Catholique numéro 2683).

vendredi 7 juillet 2023

The Theory of Biological Evolution is Evolving

For this post, I am going to share a fascinating reflection by Dr. William Lane Craig about the evolution of the Theory of Biological Evolution. I found it to be insightful.

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I think one of the most important take-aways for laymen from my study of this subject is the realization that the theory of biological evolution has itself evolved. If we leave aside the theories of Charles Darwin’s predecessors, there are three major stages in evolutionary theory:

Stage I: Darwinism. This was Darwin’s original theory of evolution laid out in his book On the Origin of Species (1859). Darwin’s theory of evolution comprised two fundamental theses: (i) descent with modification of all living organisms from one or a few common ancestors, and (ii) natural selection as the explanatory mechanism for evolutionary change. Darwin’s theory was dead almost upon arrival. While his thesis of common ancestry quickly won the day, for seventy years following the publication of Origin of Species Darwin’s second thesis was widely regarded as explanatorily deficient. Ignorant of Mendel’s genetics, Darwin could provide no account of the sources of the variability of hereditary traits nor how such traits were inherited. It has been justifiably quipped that Darwin’s theory explained the survival of the fittest, but not the arrival of the fittest.

Stage II: The Modern Synthesis. Formulated during the 1930s and 40s, the Modern Synthesis represented the marriage of Darwin’s natural selection and Mendel’s genetics. Its chief contribution was the thesis that hereditary variability arises by random genetic mutations, which, when acted upon by natural selection, can be the source of new and advantageous traits over time. It thereby supplemented Darwin’s theory with a genetic explanation of the source of heritable variations. On this theory new species originated by rather small steps that accumulated over many generations. This theory, sometimes called “Neo-Darwinism,” rapidly became orthodoxy among evolutionary biologists and prevailed almost till the close of the twentieth century.

Stage III: The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. Proponents of this theory indict the Modern Synthesis for its myopic focus on genetic inheritance as the source of evolutionary change. They contend that new data from adjacent fields such as developmental biology, genomics, epigenetics, ecology, and social science now demand a wider theory. The following diagram illustrates the relation between the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, the Modern Synthesis, and Darwin’s theory:

The fact is that the Modern Synthesis did not really offer much by way of explanation of the causes of how organisms change over time. The Modern Synthesis postulated correlations between an organism’s genotype (its genetic makeup) and its phenotype (its observable traits) but not causal mechanisms connecting them. As a result, the Modern Synthesis treated all mechanistic aspects of evolutionary change as a “black-box” and so was unable to explain how organismal change is actualized.

According to Pigliucci and Müller, the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis thus prompts several reforms to the Modern Synthesis:

First is gradualism. Because the Modern Synthesis assumed that evolutionary change proceeds via incremental genetic variation, all non-gradualist forms of evolutionary change were excluded. But various new approaches show that non-gradual change is a property of evolutionary processes.
Second is externalism. Under the Modern Synthesis the direction of the evolutionary process results exclusively from natural selection. In the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, organisms themselves are determinants of selectable variation and innovation. Thus, in sharp contrast to claims of the Modern Synthesis, mutations may not be random but actually biased toward the benefit of the host organism in which they occur.
Third is “gene-centrism.” The Modern Synthesis’ focus on the gene as the sole agent of variation and unit of inheritance suppressed all calls for more comprehensive attitudes. In the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, extra-genetic (epigenetic) influences on developing embryos is increasingly emphasized, in contrast to genetic mutations.

J. B. S. Haldane

Creationists and proponents of Intelligent Design have long complained about the explanatory deficits of the Modern Synthesis but were uniformly ignored, probably because they were able only to poke holes in the theory without offering a credible alternative. J. B. S. Haldane once remarked that “Theories pass through four stages of acceptance: (i) this is worthless nonsense; (ii) this is an interesting, but perverse, point of view; (iii) this is true, but quite unimportant; (iv) I have always said so.” Today contemporary textbooks already incorporate many of the new insights of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis without noting the explanatory deficiencies of the Modern Synthesis thereby exposed.

It should not be thought that with the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, the evolution of the theory of evolution has come to an end, and we can breathe a sigh of relief that all is well. No, while the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis served to expose explanatory weaknesses in the heretofore prevailing evolutionary paradigm and so to open new avenues of research, many of the ideas of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis remain unproven, poorly understood, and controversial, so that the quest for a final theory must continue. The evolutionary biologist Eugene Koonin observes that what follows in a “post-Modern” era is not a post-Modern Synthesis but a post-Modern state “characterized by a pluralism of processes and patterns in evolution that defies any straightforward generalization.” He opines that whether the directions currently being pursued in post-Modern research “can be combined in a new evolutionary synthesis in the foreseeable future, is too early to tell. I will venture one confident prediction, though: those celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Origin will see a vastly different landscape of evolutionary biology.”

vendredi 20 janvier 2023

A Year In Review: Book Reading List 2022

The year 2022 is behind us. A new year has now dawned on us. The year 2022 has been filled with joy and pain, but in all these we express our gratitude to God for having been right there with us. Last year also marked a distinctive rite of passage for me to adulthood as I turned 40. I suppose in some way, I still looked at myself as a Young-Adult but I guess there is now no more reason to add any prefix to the word adult.

I have had the continuous opportunity to have my regular weekly Bible studies with the Living Word Association (LWA) which is an inter-denominational association which strive at understanding the Bible and practice its precepts. Since the advent of COVID, we have never been able to transit back to an in-persons gathering, we are still meeting virtually. This format has its share of challenges. But on the up side, we e-meet with people joining us from different regions including someone from a different continent.

In my quest to better understand my faith, after completing the reading of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I turned to the official teaching documents of Vatican II. This came at the right time as the Church was celebrating in 2022 the 60th anniversary of the council Vatican II. One milestone I was able to achieve was the reading of the Four Constitutions of Vatican II, namely:

Lumen Gentium which means 'Light of Nations'. It is the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.
Dei Verbum which means 'The Word of God'. It is the Dogmatic Constitution of Divine Revelation.
Sacrosanctum Concilium which means 'The Sacred Council'. It is the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
Gaudium et Spes which means 'Joy and Hope'. It is the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.

Now that I completed the reading of the constitution, I have the foundational understanding by which I will be reading the remaining Vatican II documents for this year which include: 3 Decrees and 9 Declarations. I have already read one declaration, Nostra Aetate, and I will be bulldozing through the remaining ones in due time, God willing. Reading what the Church says in its own words is so refreshing and so encouraging and it sounds at time quite different from what people out there says about the Church teaching. For example in Gaudium et Spes, I was gladly surprise to see the focus that the Church has of its own mission on earth while waiting for the return of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ:

"It is necessary never to lose sight of the fact that the objective of the Church is to evangelize, not to civilize. If it civilizes, it is for the sake of evangelization." - Footnote Part II, Chapter II, No.7.

Now, back to the purpose of this post. As I do each year, I will be sharing the list of books I read in the year 2022. I have unfortunately been a bit undisciplined in my reading hence I read less book than in previous years, but there is also a human reason to it, I have been quite busy, in-ordinarily busy this year and It took me a bit by surprise. I will do better this year in organizing myself with the help of the Lord and be better focus this time in my priorities. Each book comes with a scoring metric. This scoring doesn't necessarily mean that the book was either perfect or poor. It simply reflects my enthusiasm at the moment of reading it based on the book content and the appeal of the writing style. These are the books that I read in 2022: