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Recent posts here have raised questions which are for all who claim the name Christian; the most notable of these is the question of what it means to be a Christian? It is a good thing to live in such times (to answer Frodo’s question more positively than did Gandalf).
When I was young most people where I lived went to church. We went to the Church of England because that was what what we did on Sundays. Did we go because of a burning belief in Christ? If we did, then as English people are wont to, we hid it awfully well. ‘Enthusiasm’ was something best left to the Nonconformists whose tendency to get emotional was a cause of some embarrassment. Perhaps we should have been embarrassed by our lack of enthusiasm?
Now, when I leave for Mass (slightly early so I can drop Jessica off at her church) there are not many cars on the road, neither are there many walking the streets to church. When Dr Dawkins rejoices that such things are a sign of the decline of Christianity, he misses the point, as it is precisely the opposite. When it was thought desirable to attend church, many did, and many of those did so for social reasons. No one does that now.
One of the unexpected things about becoming a Catholic is that I have refound that sense of being marginal which one lacks if one is an Anglican. The Establishment gives the local bishop and vicar an immediate place in society. That is lacking if one is a Catholic.
Bigger is not necessarily best. Those who lament Constantine’s adoption of the Faith are not wholly incorrect, although, as Jessica has reminded us, it was not wholly a bad thing either. Our standards, are not, however, those by which the world judges. As Christ hung there on Good Friday most of those who followed Him despaired. Peter had betrayed him, so had Judas, and the others, well they were for the most part nowhere to be found. A solitary group of women at the foot of the cross, and St John, were all there were faithful to what seemed the end.
As we go through the dark velley of Lent to the darkness of Calvary, we too are prone to despair and desertion, and we should offer those up at confession. We are the people of the Resurrection. If, as we say, we are His, then may we manifest it. Too easily do we accept the ways of this world which say that our faith is a private matter. It is not. It is the heart of who we are.
So, when we pray today, let us ask God to help all those who still have to be warmed by the sun of the love He has for them.
Depends on what side of the fence you are on as to what being Christian means. It means a casual belief of christian holidays to most. Others it means youre not budhist or muslim. Whooo, we just had a earthquake. I hate when that happens.
Well, now that ive calmed down
Being christian to the born again, is being born again. But they also call unsaved christan to separate them from other, eastern religions, but the bottom line is, if youre not born again, youre not a christian.
The bottom line, Bosco, is set by God.
Well, i just got a taste of god. The house felt like it was a boat on water. Im on the third story so it sways more. But its always a giant scare because you think its going to be a big one. Ive lived thru a bunch of big ones. 1971, up the street from me, the maid at my friends house would get up in the morning and open the sliding glass doors to let fresh air in. Those were the sliders that were facing the pool. 5 mins later, the ground tilted and the pool water filled the house. Like pouring a glass out.
I am glad you are safe. I hope others are.
Thanks brother chalcedon
Quake measuring 5.2 strikes in desert near Anza
Los Angeles Times | March 11, 2013 | 10:10 AM
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake centered in Anza east of Temecula was reported at 9:55 a.m. today, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
For the latest information go to http://www.latimes.com
Remember, you heard it first from me.
We did indeed Bosco. Glad you are safe.
We are headed for a day when real Christians will be forced underground. No more social clubs, no more sitting on the fence…it’s going to cost something to say you are a follower of Christ.
That is very true.
I have used this joke before, but what do you get when you cross a Jehovah’s Witness and an Anglican? you get someone who rings your doorbell, but does not have much to say.
We as Catholics do not have much to say in comparison with when I was a protestant, we do not talk much, we stick to listening, because the mass covers every moment, we are like small islands all around the horizon, all looking at the same thing. The Russians are a mythical people in a large way, we are smaller I find, or I have individual thoughts on the Apostles Peter who betrayed, Thomas who doubted, There is not much what my friend a black pastor would say, ‘can you give me an Amen’, ‘tell like it is brother’. But the homilies are better then a movie and cheaper.
I am an usher and greet people with warmness because we are accused of being called cold to those new to the mass. All that kneeling and responses and set procedures frighten people that we are looking at them, but we are not aware actually.
My Priest give a homily on the second Sunday of lent and I still am thinking about it.
Bosco seems to feel that he knows, whereas I only can believe. Christ was cheated of what I have, He could never have the gift of faith, because he knows, so belief is not possible for him. Bosco is cheating himself, belief is a rainbow of possibilities, knowing just is..
Ask Jesus to show himself to u.
He has done so Bosco.
He has to ask, nothing wavering.. You too brother Chalcedon. ask jesus to show himself to you. Believe he can. he said he would.
I believe so, Bosco.
I think Constantine’s conversion was a disaster for the Christian Church. What can you expect when a clandestine group of true believers, intermittently persecuted for their faith, numbering not more than a twentieth of the population of the Roman Empire, is suddently catapulted into a position of enormous power? The Church was immediately flooded with social climbers. Personally, I think Christians are at their most attractive as members of an unfashionable minority, and it is an almost unmixed blessing for modern British Christians that churchgoing has lost the genteel aura of respectability that it used to have. Those who go to church now (apart from the obligatory attendance for the traditional British ceremonies of hatching, matching and dispatching) are nearly all Christians. That is how it should be.
Incidentally, the decline of respectability has also been an almost unmixed blessing for us agnostics too. There was a time, not too many decades ago, when being an agnostic was almost as reprehensible as being gay or socialist. Thank goodness times have changed.
An admirable summary. I would amend only the word ‘disaster’ as there were some advantages – one being an end of the sort of persecution which helped deplete the Church about which you have written so well. I am a great admirer of your book and look forward to your next one.
You are right about the end of the persecutions, of course, though I think even that was not regarded as an unmixed blessing by every Christian. Robin Lane Fox admirably characterises the ‘overachiever’ outlook of some of the martyrs, and gives examples of ‘bolshie’ Christians who actively courted martyrdom. These were the people who, one generation after Constantine, migrated to the desert of Skete to become anchorites.
Do you know Evelyn Waugh’s novel ‘Helena’? His satire of the social climbers at Constantine’s court, who become Christians because it is the fashionable thing to do, is delicious.
Thank you for your kind comments. The next book will be either a history of the Jacobite Church (how strange that name sounds to a Briton) or a history of the Nestorians in China. In the meantime, I am rushing to get out a history of the Sino-French War (1884-85) by Christmas. That is my other academic interest, totally unrelated to my passion for the Eastern Churches. I don’t know whether the subject is your cup of tea, but if it is I’ll keep you posted on progress.
Do, it sounds interesting – as does the one on the Jacobites (I agree, it does sound as though Bonnie Prince Charllie was the patriarch).
‘Helena’ is a far more interesting novel than is often admitted.