Gender Theories Purposefully Cancel Christians

Another one bites the dust over transgenderism. Daily wire had an article entitled, Christian Organization Suspended From Twitter After Calling Dr. Rachel Levine ‘A Man Who Believes He Is A Woman.’

I still believe that the powers-that-be are using this issue and LGBTQ+ promotion to cancel Christians, especially Catholics. It divides Christians to the nth degree. It seems like compassion to accept and tolerate (tolerance in the old sense) this disorder, but it's not loving per 1 Corr. 13: 6. "Love does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the Truth."

Once we're out of the way, the utopia may commence.

Love(1) Is Not Love(2)

I grew up in a town northeast of a big city named Adelphia. The city's name means "City of Love." Never heard of it? It's in the U.S.

Of course, the real name is Philadelphia which means "City of Brotherly Love."

But I heard that "Love is Love." I wonder how can this be true?

Are all these loves equivalent?

• Sister/Brother
• Mother/Son
• Father/Daughter
• Dog/Dog owner
• Gamer/Mindcraft 
• Husband/Wife

The Greeks had at least four words for love that can be found in the book The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis.

They are (according to Wikipedia)

Storge – empathy bond
Philia – friend bond
Eros – romantic love
Agape – unconditional "God" love

or (affection - friendship - eros - charity)

Eros can also be a desirous love for chocolate or video games.

Lets put the letters of the loves next to the list above. Storge = S; Philia = P; etc.

• Sister/Brother S/P/A
  
• Mother/Son S/A
  
• Father/Daughter S/A
  
• Dog/Dog owner S/P
  
• Gamer/Mindcraft E
  
• Husband/Wife S/P/E/A

The above listing may be debatable, but it can be seen that love is not love in all cases. Husband/Wife love is the ultimate love (includes all four) that has the potential to create new humans that can love.

May we always cringe whenever we read "Love is Love." It's not.

How I Live Now Part VI Lent Edition

**Spoilers Alert!*** In this post on the movie How I Live Now, a connection will be made between the last post about fasting and the post about Daisy's dialog.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirror_of_erised/9627836210/meta/

During the movie, Daisy went through a transformation in three main steps. Daisy said, "Before the war, I used my will power for stupid stuff like not eating chocolate." During the war, as was mentioned in the last post, she had to give up many things to help the war effort. In the post with her dialog, she gave things up for the sake of Eddie.

In Lent, many of us give up "stupid stuff" like chocolate, sweets, or ice cream. This is a good start, for to get to the last stage like Daisy did, it has to start with the small things. It may seem stupid in the beginning, but with reflection, it may turn out that it wasn't so stupid after all.

Since we are corporal beings ("embodied souls"), quite often it takes corporal actions for us to realize things. For Daisy, it could well be the case that the "stupid stuff" was actually a jumping off for her next challenge during the war that is shown in the image above, namely, taking care of her cousin.

In a similar way, even though our motives may not be the best for fasting from whatever we gave up, we may eventually realize in a more profound way what the fasting is for (like in the last post).

From there, as a final goal, fasting during Lent will hopefully lead us to reach out for Our Lord as Daisy reached out for Eddie. "Now I use my will power to wait for you Eddie."

May we use our will power to (1) love God and neighbor and (2) wait for the Lord at His second coming for, "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Amen.

How I Live Now Part I
How I Live Now Part II
How I Live Now Part III
How I Live Now Part IV
How I Live Now Part V Ash Wednesday Edition

Happy Saint Valentine's Day

Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

From Catholic Online:

Valentine was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith ineffectual, commanded him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to be beheaded, which was executed on February 14, about the year 270.

 

My Valentine

 

One Direction's Story of My Life

I thought I would look at some top 40 songs for a couple of posts.

A girl in my old Sunday school class loved (and still loves) the latest boy-band One Direction. I noticed them on the most recent, top 40 list at number 10 with their song Story of My Life.



Some of the lyrics stuck out to me:

Written on these walls are the colors that I can't change
Leave my heart open but it stays right here in its cage
I know that in the morning now I see us in the light upon a hill
Although I am broken, my heart is untamed, still

And I'll be gone, gone tonight
The fire beneath my feet is burning bright
The way that I've been holding on so tight
With nothing in between

It's strange that even though the former couple of the song are no longer together, the singer of the song will see himself and his former love-interest "in the morning" "in the light upon a hill".

This reminds me of the light on the hill, or mountain:

You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. Matthew 5: 14-16

It seems that their love was a glimpse, for them and others who saw them together, of the God Who is Love. And, even though the love that might have been there was requited by this girl, it can still go on to perhaps give itself to someone else. His love is still open to bare itself again.

This love cannot be hidden, or tamed once it is laid bare.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Part II

It seems that the main point of Star Trek II - other than vengeance - was that, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

It is quite remarkable that this logic was set in direct contrast to Khan's vengeful passion.

In the end, however, both Spock and Khan were dead. How did their companions fare? Spock voluntarily gave his life for his companions lives and Khan took all the lives that were set about reaching Khan's personal goal.

Most people see love as a passion for the other. However, the highest form of love is to do something positive for/to another person for the others sake, not ourselves.

Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Part I

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (TWOK) was by far the best Star Trek movie. Based on Moby Dick, Khan believed from hell's heart that Captain Kirk killed his wife, so he pursued him with hateful vengeance, even with his last breath.

Of course, the plan was foiled by Spock who sacrificed his life for the despised Kirk.



I was thinking specifically about Spock's Christlike sacrifice when I remembered the first time I heard the phrase, "Good deeds never go unpunished." My high school choir director uttered these words, and then later went on to heroically save a drowning kid from the Delaware River. (Go figure.)

This phrase was shortsighted in the final analysis. TWOK showed this in that Spock's true self lives in Dr. McCoy. This could obviously indicate that we live in our friends' memory, but I think it was deeper than that. Since Spock's Katra could be passed onto another, was it possible that his Katra could live on in the Ultimate Mind, God? I think that was a distinct possibility.

So, ultimately, good deeds in love could assure our infinite existence in the Mind of God.

Huey Lewis and the News Stuck With You

I was walking through the grocery store to get a few things, and my favorite band Huey Lewis and the News came on the PA system. It was "Stuck With You".

There really isn't much content to this song and the guitar riff gets old pretty quickly, but there is one nugget that stuck out for me from this Golden State band's song.

The line from the song was, "All the same friends, and the same address. Yes it's true, (Yes it's true) I am happy to be stuck with you!"

On first glance, the whole idea about staying with someone romantically just because they can't get away from them is pretty pathetic. But then this line reveals something important (closer to the end of the song). Sharing relationships and things outside themselves help people in a relationship maintain their romantic love.

This is something I believe Aristotle wrote about. A transcendent third, or outside influence that brings people together is one of the ways that people stay stuck together. In this song it is friends and a residence. For others it is faith. Probably for most, it's a combination of many things.

The thing is, the better and longer lasting the glue is, the better and longer the relationship will most likely be.