Pondering/Reflection
Ponder with Paul, beneath the surface.
Ethics and Reason – the Forgotten Bridge Between Politics and Religion
The following two questions are related – the first was priority for premodern philosophy, the second is for modern philosophy: How should people behave? What behaviors should people be allowed to do? The first question is ethical, or the science of self-governance. The second is political, i.e. the science of state governance. The first is […]... Read More
Sodom, the U.S., and Death by Association
Today’s OT reading was about Abraham “bargaining” with God about saving the city of Sodom from destruction via fire and brimstone. There are a number of themes one could take from this story, including the importance of intercessory prayer. My priest chose the notion of guilt by association. He had a heavy accent so I […]... Read More
Christ and Diversity
While God created a diversity of species, ‘diversity’ as the liberal elite define it never seemed to concern Christ. While He taught the inherent dignity of all human beings, He chose twelve white Jewish males to be the pillars of authority in His Church, one of whom he commissioned to lead it. There have been […]... Read More
Children, Race, and Deception
Nobody believes the far left cares about children. They wouldn’t vehemently support the daily wholesale slaughter of preborn children if they did. They also would have criticized Obama when he placed children of illegal immigrants in “cages” while processing adults, instead of waiting for the next president to display outrage. When Gov. Cuomo declared pro-lifers […]... Read More
Bachelorette Sends Contestant Home After Premarital Sex Talk
I don’t watch these foolish Bachelorette shows, but an article from foxnews.com today writes of an interchange on a recent episode between two self-proclaimed Christians. In the process it speaks rather loudly about the female psyche. (www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bachelorette-hannah-luke-sex-twitter-instagram-home) While discerning marriage (sic), the man admits of his discomfort with the young woman’s moral beliefs on premarital […]... Read More
Headline: “Trump’s ‘Go Back’ comments Are ‘Destructive’ [and he Has] ‘Failed Badly’ at Uniting the U.S.”
The above headline is from a Breitbart article (www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/07/15/mitt-romney-trumps-go-back-comments-destructive-has-failed-badly-at-uniting-u-s/). As a former Romney supporter, it has become clear to me he just doesn’t get it when it comes to uniting the country. Only a person without deep principles would say what he said. Why is this? First, no president in my lifetime has […]... Read More
Progressive Privilege
I have already seen some people claim that Trump’s recent twitter storm against the female congresswomen is a sign of White Privilege. Here is my question: Isn’t it obvious that Progressive Privilege is much more prevalent today? When one mentions natural law or the moral teachings of the Church for example, which I think need […]... Read More
Moral evil in the public sphere
There are basically three kinds of denial when it comes to sin: 1) denial of doing it, 2) denial of responsibility for it, and 3) denial that it is wrong. The first two are as old as mankind, illustrated in Gn 3:8-13. The third, which is gravest of all (cf. Is 5:20), not only leads […]... Read More
The Paradox of Love
This week’s mass readings have been focusing on the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus shocks the world with His wisdom, as He continues to do today. Anger, lust, greed, dishonesty, and ultimately idolatry, are condemned as violating the natural moral law and causing barriers to happiness and union with God. There’s much to ponder […]... Read More
“Love” Isn’t Love
We are reminded by secular progressives during their pride month that “love is love.” This of course is kept vague and ambiguous as a bumper-sticker slogan, to avoid the scrutiny of reason. Without further definition, one must presume it means that sexual expression may be perverted in any way desirable as long as there is […]... Read More
The war on God, and on human nature, continues
Survey: U.S. Approval Rates as of May 2019: (a) contraception 92% (b) fornication (premarital sex) 71% (c) abortion 42% (50% disapprove, but many with exceptions) (d) divorce 77% (e) euthanasia 51% (f) pornography 61% (g) homosexual relations 64% The war on God, and on human nature, continues. What many ‘pro-lifers’ don’t get is that with […]... Read More
What would it take to be an abortion advocate?
Being a student of human nature I continuously seek to understand why people think the way they do. My primary means is to ask them, but I also imagine what it would be like to believe what they believe and what it would take for me to do so. I often ponder what it would […]... Read More
Natural Purpose and Personal Motive
Many people ignorantly accuse the Church of teaching that people must have procreation on their minds as a conscious motive in order to engage in sexual union. This is false. To see why, we must appreciate the notion of telos, which in Greek means end/purpose/fulfillment. This applies especially to the two bodily appetites inherent in […]... Read More
Word, Meaning, and Interpretation
Words without interpretation are meaningless. Words with improper interpretation become subjective falsehoods. The only foolproof way of knowing the right interpretation of words is to be informed by the one who has spoken them. This is an important principle. So too, the divine Word without proper interpretation becomes something false in the subjective minds of […]... Read More
Death, Burial, and Resurrection
“By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity… She cannot, therefore, condone attitudes or permit rites that involve erroneous […]... Read More