Showing posts with label Bible and Catechism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible and Catechism. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Jesus: Human, But Not Just Human

My last few posts about the Incarnation focused on Jesus as a human being: someone who occupied a particular spot, who learned stories he or his family heard, and whose appearance was fairly ordinary.
Jesus is human: but not just human.

John 1:1-5 and 14 makes that fairly clear: God "made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14) Jesus had knowledge that the rest of us - don't.

"...Not Yet Fifty Years Old..."

Jesus said 'I am God' very clearly: "...before Abraham came to be, I AM." (John 8:58) That comes right after this exchange:
"Jesus answered, 'If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, "He is our God."

"You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word.

"Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it 22 and was glad.[']

"So the Jews said to him, 'You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?' 23 "
(John 8:54-57)
Jesus, the Word made flesh, was "not yet fifty years old" at that point. But Jesus, the Son of God, "was in the beginning with God." (John 1:2) Small wonder that some folks have had trouble, trying to understand how a person could be coeternal with God, and have been born at a particular time, and in a particular place.

Me? I've read Job 38:1-42:6. We've learned a bit about this vast universe since that book was written: but I can no more fit a curb to the Pleiades than Job could. As I've said before: God's God; I'm not.

Jesus: Not Just Human

Jesus is human. He's also God. That gives him a kind of knowledge that nobody else has. Jesus knew, and knows, God the Father as a son knows his father; and Jesus knew what other people were thinking:
"Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, 'Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
(Mark 2:8)
Sometimes I 'know' what someone else is thinking. More accurately, I can make an educated guess, based on what I know about the person and what's happening at the moment.

What Jesus "immediately knew in his mind" was knowledge, not guesswork:
"...The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human hearts.107"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 473)

Jesus, Peter, and Denial

Jesus knew he was going to be killed. This alone could have been a reasoned prediction. By that time my Lord had insulted powerful men in Jerusalem, and topped that off by claiming to be God. A person wouldn't have to be divine, to know that going back to Jerusalem would be risky, at best.

What sets Jesus apart is that he also said that he would rise after three days. Human beings who are killed don't do that. We stay dead. Jesus didn't and that's another topic. (March 11, 2012)

Jesus was also remarkably specific about what Peter was going to do:
"He began to teach them that the Son of Man 7 must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days."
(Mark 8:31)
"5 And as they reclined at table and were eating, Jesus said, 'Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.'

"They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one, 'Surely it is not I?'

"He said to them, 'One of the Twelve, the one who dips with me into the dish.

"For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, 6 but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.' "(Mark 14:18-21)

"Then, after singing a hymn, 9 they went out to the Mount of Olives.

"Then Jesus said to them, 'All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed."

"But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.'

"Peter said to him, 'Even though all should have their faith shaken, mine will not be.'

"Then Jesus said to him, 'Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.' "
(Mark 14:26-30)

Death and Beyond

Not long after that, Peter denied that he knew Jesus. Three times. (Luke 22:56-62) Jesus was publicly executed, and buried in a borrowed tomb: and then stopped being dead. (March 16:6)

That got the surviving disciples' attention. One of my favorite bits from the Bible is what happened after Jesus left:
"When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

"While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.

"They said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.' "
(Acts 1:9-11)
Two thousand years later, that's still a good question - or implied advice. Jesus left us with orders and a promise. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Details of how we carry out those orders changes as the centuries roll by, but our basic instructions haven't:

On Standby Alert for Two Millennia

Writing and publishing 'End Time Bible prophecies' is a sort of cottage industry here in America.

I take God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, very seriously: as well as the Last Judgment. What I think of wannabe prophets is another matter:
I don't see a point in trying to prognosticate when the Son of God will come back. We've got our instructions, and were placed on standby alert about two thousand years ago. From one point of view, that's a very long wait. From another, it's a tiny fraction of the time humanity's been around - and that's another topic or two.

Jesus doesn't seem to think we need to know God's timetable. That's okay by me:
"'But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

"Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.

"It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.

"Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.

"May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.

"What I say to you, I say to all: "Watch!" ' "
(Mark 13:32-37)
"5 He answered them, 'It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.

"6 But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'

"When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight."
(Acts 1:7-9)
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Jesus, Knowledge, and Stories From Egypt

Folks often use words like "infinite" and "almighty" when trying to describe God.1 (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 268-271)

The idea of God being immeasurably vast, all-powerful, and all-knowing, isn't too difficult to believe.

Believing that Jesus is God: not so much. Folks have had trouble believing that from the start, even when Jesus was right there, talking to them:
"So the Jews said to him, 'You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?' 23

"24 Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.' "
(John 8:57-58)
"Philip said to him, 'Master, show us the Father, 7 and that will be enough for us.'

"Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father"? "
(John 14:8-9)
Maybe believing was hard because God was right there, quite visible, taking up a specific amount of space, speaking literally face-to-face. Later, after Jesus stopped being dead - - - and that's another topic. (March 11, 2012)

Metaphysical Knots and Pondering the Infinite

Folks have tied themselves in metaphysical knots, trying to explain how God Almighty could fit 'inside' one human being: or explain that God didn't.

I like to understand things, but have long since had to admit that God's God, and I'm not. I'm a finite creature, using a few pounds of neural circuitry to ponder the infinite and eternal.

The Incarnation

That brings up an interesting point. God is almighty. A human being is not. How could Jesus, the Son of God, possibly be God and human: and keep all that infinite power?

He didn't. As Paul put it, Jesus "emptied himself" to become one of us. (Phillipians 2:7)

I'd better back up a little. Jesus is human. Jesus is God. How, I don't know: and I don't need to. I accept the Incarnation as the least-complicated explanation for what's happened. Occam's razor, and all that.

Some folks balk at the idea that God would really become human. Maybe it doesn't seem 'spiritual' enough. They've said that Jesus is:
  • Is not really human (Gnosticism)
    • Catechism, 465
  • Is human, with a God implant (Nestorianism)
    • Catechism, 466
  • Started human, then became purely divine (Monophysitism)
    • Catechism, 467
    (December 26, 2012)
Then there's the currently-fashionable notion that God isn't involved, and that's yet another topic.

A Human Soul

A decade or so back, I ran across a discussion of the stories and parables Jesus told. Apparently they're a lot like stories folks told in Egypt around that time. That's hardly surprising. Jesus spent time in Egypt. He or his parents could easily have picked up a few stories while there. (Matthew 2:14-21)

I think it's a mistake to imagine Jesus as merely a wise man - who said "before Abraham came to be, I AM"?! I also think it's a mistake to imagine Jesus as purely 'spiritual,' someone who was just pretending to be human.

Jesus has a human soul: and had human, limited, knowledge. He was born in a particular time and place, learned to speak, and grew up: just as we all do. (Catechism, 472)
"And Jesus advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man."
(Luke 2:52)
"He asked them, 'How many loaves do you have? Go and see.' And when they had found out they said, 'Five loaves and two fish.' "
(Mark 6:38)
"6 Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?' "
(Mark 8:27)
"When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed 7 and deeply troubled,

"and said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to him, 'Sir, come and see.'"
(John 11:33-34)
About questions like "Who do people say that I am," I suppose Jesus could have been using the Socratic method: asking questions to elicit answers. It's a pretty good method for getting students to think about a subject, rather than just record what an instructor says: and that's yet again another topic.

Some commentary on the fifth chapter of Mark focuses on belief that physical contact and faith in Jesus' saving power. I'm also interested in this brief glimpse of my Lord's awareness:
"Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, 'Who has touched my clothes?'

"But his disciples said to him, 'You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, "Who touched me?" '

"And he looked around to see who had done it."
(Mark 5:30-32)
Jesus not knowing everything doesn't make my Lord seem 'too human,' as far as I'm concerned. If the Son of God wasn't human, Christ's death on Golgotha would have been an interesting bit divine play-acting. And that's still another topic.

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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Jesus: Human; Really Human

Jesus is human. He's also the Son of God, one of the Trinity.

For several weeks now, I've been posting about the Incarnation, when God "made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14)

Faith, Understanding, and a Lack of Omniscience

Folks have been having trouble believing that for two thousand years now. I suspect it's partly because we can't figure out exactly how God manages to be three persons and one God; and how one of those persons could be human and divine: at the same time.

Every now and then someone decides that Jesus isn't human, isn't God, or was one first, and then became the other. Recently, some folks have decided that Jesus either didn't exist, or was merely human.

I enjoy understanding things, but realize that I've got limits. As I've said before, God's God, I'm not. One of the ways that I'm not like God is my lack of omniscience.

"Omniscience?" Dictionaries tend to make you hunt a bit for the definition of that word:
  • Omniscience
    • The quality or state of being omniscient
      (Merriam-Webster)
    • Omniscient
      • Having infinite
        • Awareness
        • Understanding
        • Insight
      • Possessed of universal or complete knowledge
        (Merriam-Webster)
I've decided that I'll believe that Jesus is human and divine, without knowing as much as God does.

Heavy Reading, Lists, and Me

"...Everything that Christ is and does in this nature derives from 'one of the Trinity.' The Son of God therefore communicates to his humanity his own personal mode of existence in the Trinity. In his soul as in his body, Christ thus expresses humanly the divine ways of the Trinity:98...."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 470)
My oldest daughter noted that I like to make hierarchical lists. She's right, of course. Besides helping me learn what I'm reading, I think it's a good way to show what I've found in posts like this one.

Besides, although the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a good resource, it's slightly heavy reading. There's a lot of information in each paragraph. For instance, here's all of 470, with that excerpt in bold:
"Because 'human nature was assumed, not absorbed,'97 in the mysterious union of the Incarnation, the Church was led over the course of centuries to confess the full reality of Christ's human soul, with its operations of intellect and will, and of his human body. In parallel fashion, she had to recall on each occasion that Christ's human nature belongs, as his own, to the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it. Everything that Christ is and does in this nature derives from 'one of the Trinity.' The Son of God therefore communicates to his humanity his own personal mode of existence in the Trinity. In his soul as in his body, Christ thus expresses humanly the divine ways of the Trinity:98

"The Son of God . . . worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin.99"
(Catechism, 470)
As I've done before, I broke out some of the main points out as a list: for my own enjoyment, and because I wanted to share what I found.

Jesus: Human and Divine

Jesus the Christ, Son of God:
  • Is one of the Trinity
  • Took on human nature
  • Is human
    • And so
      • Worked with human hands
      • Thought with a human mind
      • Acted with a human will
      • Loved with a human heart
    • Was born
      • His mother is Mary
    • Really has been made
      • One of us
      • Like us in everything
        • Except sin
    (Catechism, 470)
Jesus wasn't pretending to be one of us. He was, and is, human. He's also God. Like I said, folks have had a hard time believing that.

"...Believe me ... or ... believe because of the works..."

Jesus said, in effect, 'you want to know what God looks like? Take a good look:'
"Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father"?

"Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.

"Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves....' "
(John 14:9-11)
Two millennia later, it's a bit easier to "believe because of the works themselves," and that's another topic. Topics.

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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Jesus "...Made His Dwelling Among Us...."

I was at church yesterday. We celebrated the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. It's a Holy Days of Obligation for Catholics in the United States.

"Mother of God?!"

First of all, Catholics don't worship Mary, Elvis, or wealth: or, rather, we're told not to. Worshiping anyone or anything that's not God is idolatry, and a very bad idea. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2097, 2112-2114, 2534)

We are told that Jesus is God, and that Mary is the mother of Jesus. Folks have tied themselves in metaphysical knots, trying to not think that Mary gave birth to Jesus the Nazarene, without being the mother of Jesus the Son of God.

I prefer to slice through the question my Lord's identity with Occam's razor. (December 18, 2012)

I've decided that Jesus is I AM. (John 8:57-58)

It's also quite clear that Mary is the mother of Jesus. (John 2:1-8)

The way I see it, Mary is the mother of Jesus. Jesus is God. Therefore Mary is the mother of God. It's not complicated. Astonishing, miraculous, epic in scope; yes: complicated, no.

Two Millennia of Sidestepping Truth

Some folks have had trouble believing that Jesus is both God and human. This was the case before the:
I suspect that when folks tend to see the Maurya Empire, the Ming Dynasty, and Kipling's one with Nineveh and Tyre poem as roughly contemporaneous, someone will still be trying to sidestep the idea that Jesus is God: and is, really, human. (December 26, 2012)

True God and True Man

The idea that God would choose to become one of us, and willingly be tortured to death for our sake, seems - unusual, to say the least. But that's what I believe. More to the point, that's what the Church says.

We're also told that Jesus the Man, and Jesus the Son of God, are the same person, the person who:
  • Was born in Bethlehem
  • Performed miracles
  • Died at Golgotha
  • Is our Lord Jesus Christ
    • True God
    • True Man
    • Lord of Glory
    • One of the Holy Trinity
    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 468, 469)
Jesus died: but he didn't stay dead, and that's almost another topic. (March 11, 2012)

"...We Saw His Glory..."

The Gospel according to John starts by saying that Jesus is the incarnate Word of God:
"1 2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

"He was in the beginning with God.

"3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to

"through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;

"4 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. "

"And the Word became flesh 9 and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth."
(John 1:1-5, 14)
Those are among my favorite verses in the Bible: a "magnificent prologue," as the New American Bible's Introduction to the book says. I enjoy re-reading them, just to hear the rhythm of ideas, repeated in my native language.

But, as I said last Sunday, I also like to sort ideas into hierarchical lists. For me, it's a way of studying them:
  • In the beginning was
    • The Word
      • Was with God
      • Was God
  • All things came to be through him
    • Without him nothing came to be
  • Through him was life
    • This life was the light of the human race
  • The light
    • Shines in the darkness
    • The darkness has not overcome it
  • And the Word
    • Became flesh
    • Made his dwelling among us
  • We saw his glory
    • The glory as of the Father's only Son
    • Full of grace and truth
    (John 1:1-5, 14)
I don't know which makes it easier, believing that Jesus is God: seeing him on that mountain; or knowing what happened afterward. And that - is another topic.

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Jesus, God, and What St. Augustine Said

God's decision to become fully human, Jesus the Christ, doesn't make sense. Not to me, not if by "make sense" I mean fully understanding the Almighty's motives and methods.

As I've said before, God's God, I'm not: and there are some things I probably can't understand. Not with the few pounds of neural circuitry that's between my ears.

I like to understand things, but think St. Augustine was right:
"If you understood him, it would not be God"
(St. Augustine)
(Quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 230)
I have decided to follow the Word made Flesh, Jesus who in the beginning was with God, and is God. (John 1:1-14)

Sidestepping the Incarnation

Having trouble with the idea that Jesus is God and human isn't new. Neither is someone coming up with an alternative to that pivotal reality.

Two ways to sidestep the Incarnation showed up fairly early; three, counting a sort of 'compromise.'

Folks have said that Jesus:
  • Is not really human (Gnosticism)
    • Catechism, 465
  • Is human, with a God implant (Nestorianism)
    • Catechism, 466
  • Started human, then became purely divine (Monophysitism)
    • Catechism, 467
My guess is that variations on Gnosticism, Nestorianism, and Monophysitism, will continue to pop up. I wrote about the first two earlier this month. (December 18, 2012; December 12, 2012)

A new wrinkle is to take the Nestorian idea that Jesus started human; and wasn't divine at all. Pretending that God doesn't matter, or doesn't exist, has been been very 'in.' (August 8, 2012)

Faith, Philosophy, and History

Saying that Jesus was human, and nothing more, is probably still a good way to be considered 'intelligent' in some circles.

But sometimes it's prudent to ask 'do I really want their approval?'

I've decided to follow the man who wouldn't stay dead; whose outfit has been riding out the rise and fall of empires and civilizations for two millennia.

There's full-bore dualism, too, and that's another topic. (August 31, 2011)

Monophysitism: Having it Both Ways

Monophysitism comes from two Greek words that mean "one" and "nature." It's the idea that Jesus was human, and divine: but not at the same time. I'm oversimplifying the concept, but that seems to be the gist of it.

I'll grant that it may be easier to believe that God couldn't - or didn't - become one of us, human, with a divine nature and a human nature. But my Lord didn't promise us "easy:" and, yep, that's yet another topic.

The fourth ecumenical council, at Chalcedon in 451, said that Jesus is God and man. Again.

They said that Jesus Christ is:
  • Perfect in
    • Divinity
    • Humanity
  • Truly God and truly man
    • Composed of
      • Rational soul
      • And body
    • Having the same substance or essence as
      • God the Father
        • Being divine
      • You and me
        • Being human
    (from Catechism, 467)

"Two Natures Without ... Separation"

Discussions of Who, and What, Jesus is can get quite technical: using terms like consubstantial, hypostasis, and πρόσωπον (prosopon). Here's part of what the Council of Chalcedon said, translated into my native language:
"...We confess that one and the same Christ, Lord, and only-begotten Son, is to be acknowledged in two natures without confusion, change, division, or separation. The distinction between the natures was never abolished by their union, but rather the character proper to each of the two natures was preserved as they came together in one person (prosopon) and one hypostasis.92"
(Catechism, 467)
Jesus grew and learned, like we do; and was tempted, as we are: but did not sin. (Luke 2:52; Hebrews 4:15)

When my Lord was executed, a very real human life ended. What happened after that is - what else? - another topic.

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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Jesus, Mary, and Occam's Razor

I don't know how Jesus is both God and Man.

I don't know how God continually sustains creation, either, and don't expect to. God's God, I'm not: and I've learned to live with it.

The idea that Jesus of Nazareth is human and is God has bothered folks for about two millennia now.

Belief and Understanding

Some decided that my Lord wasn't really human. Others came to the conclusion that Jesus was human, with a 'God implant.' A new wrinkle is saying that Jesus didn't exist at all, or was just a human being with good ideas - who said he was God?!! (March 11, 2012)

I accept what the Nicene Creed says:
"...We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation,
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary,
and became man...."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Credo)
That's "accept," not "understand:"
"If you understood him, it would not be God."
(St. Augustine)
(Catechism, 230)

Faith and Me

I'm a practicing Catholic, and an adult convert. I take my faith quite seriously, and accept what the Church teaches. That's not a blind faith, though, and that's another topic or two:

God as an Implant?!

The Nestorian idea was that Jesus is a human person, Jesus of Nazareth, who has been joined to a divine person, God's Son. The idea that Jesus was two persons welded together, human with a 'God implant,' caught on in the fifth century.

That was after the Council of Nicaea had established that Jesus is "God from God, Light from Light," and all the rest. Wikipedia has a pretty good article about the First Council of Nicaea, in 325.

I gather that a fifth century chap, Nestorius, didn't want to call Mary "Mother of Christ" He preferred calling her Mother of Christ. and not Mother of God.

Actually, the term Nestorius didn't like was Θεοτόκος, which translates into my native language as "Mother of God." I've opined on translation and transliteration before. (May 5, 2012; Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 21, 2011, January 25, 2009))

The Council of Ephesus in 431 (re)established that Jesus is, no kidding, "true God from true God:" and not two persons walking around in one body. More than a dozen centuries later, we've still got folks who don't seem comfortable with the idea that Jesus is I AM. (March 11, 2012)

I don't worship Mary, by the way. That would be idolatry, and strictly against the rules. (Catechism, 2097, 2112-2114, 2534) Also a very bad idea. I've been over that before. (July 15, 2012)

Mary, Gabriel, and the Son of God

Applying Occam's razor to Luke 1:31-32, plus what the Church has been saying for two millennia, I think it's reasonable to think that my Lord is the Son of God, and God.

Particularly since Jesus said so. (John 8:57-58)

Here's what got me started today:
"The Nestorian heresy regarded Christ as a human person joined to the divine person of God's Son. Opposing this heresy, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the third ecumenical council at Ephesus in 431 confessed 'that the Word, uniting to himself in his person the flesh animated by a rational soul, became man.'89 Christ's humanity has no other subject than the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it and made it his own, from his conception. For this reason the Council of Ephesus proclaimed in 431 that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: 'Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that, since the holy body, animated by a rational soul, which the Word of God united to himself according to the hypostasis, was born from her, the Word is said to be born according to the flesh.'90"
(Catechism, 466)
In metaphysics, hypostasis means "essential nature or underlying reality." (Princeton's WordNet) And that's yet another topic. Topics.

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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Son of Man, Yes: Flower Child, No

I was talking about the Incarnation last week:
I quoted part of this bit then, but it bears repeating:
"...Jesus Christ is true God and true man. During the first centuries, the Church had to defend and clarify this truth of faith against the heresies that falsified it."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 464) [emphasis mine]
That didn't stop after the first centuries. For two millennia now, the idea that Jesus really is God, had been God from before the beginning, and really is human, has seemed rather - unusual.

Maybe one reason why folks have occasionally decide that Jesus isn't God, or isn't human, is that we can't explain how God did the Incarnation - and that's almost another topic.

Icky!

I've run into a few variations of this joke:
"If it's green or wiggles, it's biology. If it stinks, it's chemistry. If it doesn't work, it's physics. And if it doesn't make sense, it's math."
(www.Pithypedia.com)
Quite a few folks aren't entirely comfortable around green, wiggly, things: and remarkable number of biological things stink.

In a way, it's no wonder that so many folks have decided that God shouldn't have much to do with green, wiggly, stinky, stuff. Particularly when it's sticky, too.

Diapers and Divinity

I didn't find biology repulsive before my wife and I started raising children. Since then I've changed diapers, cleaned up messes, and still think biology is fascinating: but I don't expect everyone to be just like me.

On the other hand, even if I couldn't abide wet, sticky, things: I wouldn't think it was prudent to assume that the Almighty shares my limitations. At least, I hope not.

That brings me to this bit:
"The first heresies denied not so much Christ's divinity as his true humanity (Gnostic Docetism). From apostolic times the Christian faith has insisted on the true incarnation of God's Son 'come in the flesh.'87 But already in the third century, the Church in a council at Antioch had to affirm against Paul of Samosata that Jesus Christ is Son of God by nature and not by adoption...."
(Catechism, 465)
Maybe it was easier to think that Jesus, Son of God, became divine after those awkward early years.

Think about it. When was the last time we saw Christmas-themed art include something like a changing table?

Jesus: God and Man

My Lord didn't pop into existence, fully grown and with a beard. The Gospels are clear on that point: Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:26.

Is the baby Jesus divine? The apostle John says so: John 1:1-5. So did John the Baptist: John 1:29-30, 35-36.

Physical growth aside, Jesus learned as he grew:
"Jesus, with his human heart, learned how to pray from his mother and from the Jewish tradition. But his prayer sprang from a more secret source because he is the eternal Son of God who in his holy humanity offers his perfect filial prayer to his Father."
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 541; quoted in "General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI" (November 30, 2011))
I've wondered how God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, Three Persons, One God; and how the infinite and eternal got packed into a finite body: without bursting this physical creation.

Wondering is one thing, understanding is another. I don't expect to know, or understand, exactly how God works. God's God, I'm not, and I've discussed Job 38:1-42:6 before.

"...God from God, Light from Light..."

One of my favorite parts of the Bible are those first verses of John:
"1 2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

"He was in the beginning with God.

"3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to

"through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;

"4 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. "
(John 1:1-5)
"...and the Word was God..." seems clear enough, but folks having trouble believing that Jesus is God is nothing new.

Catechism, 465 talks about the first ecumenical council of Nicea. That was almost 17 centuries ago.

Someone had decided that God had zapped some dude, making the Son of God from a created being. We got the Nicene Creed from that council:
"...We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
one in Being with the Father...."
(Nicene Creed)
There's more to it than that, of course.

Jesus, Books, and a Goofy Idea

Nifty new, and not-so-new, ideas about Jesus keep popping up. One is that Jesus isn't divine; another is that Jesus is God, but not human. Conspiracy theories have been popular, at least for the last few decades.

Writing a book about Jesus 'really' being a failed political leader, a flower child, or a plot to enslave women, is a fairly reliable way to get attention. I wouldn't do that, since I'll have enough trouble during my particular judgment. (August 27, 2011)

One goofy idea that's been popular for a while now is that Jesus of Nazareth was just a wise man: and that we should do what he says. That sounds nice: except that Jesus also said, with no possibility of misunderstanding, "I am God:"
"24 Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.' "
(John 8:58)
Sane men don't say, "I am God;" and I don't think doing what a crazy man teaches makes sense.

Crazy men don't stop being dead, Jesus did: so I think Jesus is sane, and is God. (March 11, 2012)

Radical, Yes; Flower Child, No

A flower child is "someone who rejects the established culture; advocates extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle" (Princeton's WordNet)

Jesus didn't exactly reject the establish culture, but I can see how folks get that idea:
"He said to him, 22 'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

"This is the greatest and the first commandment.

"The second is like it: 23 You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

"24 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.' "
(Matthew 22:37-40)
This isn't the sort of fluffy sentiment we find in greeting cards. It's the cold, hard, unrelenting love that walked to Golgotha, and will never end. That sort of love was radical two millennia back, still is, and that's another topic.

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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

"He Emptied Himself"

Jesus became one of us, a human being. He was born, lived, and was killed. Then my Lord stopped being dead. (March 11, 2012)

Ordinary human beings don't do that.

"God from God"

Jesus is, no kidding, God:
"...God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father...."
(Nicene Creed)
My Lord was quite clear on this point:
"So the Jews said to him, 'You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?' 23

"24 Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.' "
(John 8:57-58)
I've been over that before. (March 11, 2012)

"True God and True Man"

Jesus is also, no ifs, ands, or buts, human:
"The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 464) [emphasis mine]

Jesus Matters

I don't think it's possible to over-state Jesus' importance:
"1 2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

"He was in the beginning with God.

"3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be

"through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;

"4 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. "
"And the Word became flesh 9 and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. "
(John 1:1-5, 14)
Two millennia later, the darkness still hasn't overcome the light. That's why I don't get overwrought when I get a cold; or when an election doesn't go the way I'd like:
I'm getting a bit off-topic. Where was I? God. Jesus. Right.

Son of God: Obedient

Jesus set a very high standard:
"Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, 2

"Who, 3 though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. 4

"Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; 5 and found human in appearance,

"he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. 6 "
(Philippians 2:5-8) (cited in Catechism, 461)
Looking at what Jesus did, I think I can handle being obedient in smaller matters: or should be. And that's another topic.

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

"...Wanting to Make Us Sharers in His Divinity..."

I was trekking through part of the Catechism that explains why the Word became flesh. I'd gotten up to Catechism of the Catholic Church, 459, about a month ago. (October 24, 2012)

... To Really Mess Things Up, You Need a Computer

I had written the framework for this post late Monday afternoon. Then, somehow, I deleted the whole thing. Irrevocably. Every trick I know for recovering 'deleted' data - didn't work.

I took a break, then started reconstructing the post. I knew where I'd found most of the information, and still remembered most of the structure. That kept me occupied until after midnight. My after-midnight work tends to be a trifle unstructured; or strangely-structured; or both.

The rest of this post is an effort to break that mass of text and lists into something that might pass as an orderly set of ideas.

Should you choose to continue reading, good luck. I should be much more coherent by Friday: emphasis on "should." :)

Issues and an Election

Issues at stake in America's national election encouraged me to go 'off schedule' for late October and most of November. I even put one of these 'Wednesday' posts on a Monday. (November 5, 2012)

The election didn't turn out entirely as I'd hoped. By the way, this isn't a political blog: but having standards sometimes means discussing my native land's leadership.

The Ultimate Role Model

One of the reasons the Word became flesh was "to be our model of holiness." (Catechism, 459) There's more to Jesus than that, but like God the Father said:
"...'This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.' "
(Mark 9:7)
I went over that last month:

Eternal Life: Good News, Bad News

Listening to Jesus seems prudent, since each of us will live forever. That's good news, or bad news: depending on what each of us decided to do with our lives. (Catechism, 1021-1022)

Some of my take on eternity:
When Jesus died on Golgotha, and then stopped being dead, my Lord made eternal life available. (Catechism, 1026)

"Partakers of the Divine Nature"

Jesus is more than just a good role model. My Lord became one of us so that we could become "partakers of the divine nature." This doesn't mean that I'm God; or we'll all God; or will become God. As I've said before, "God's God, I'm not."

On the other hand, St. Thomas Aquinas said Jesus came to "make men gods." Lower case "g:"
"The Word became flesh to make us 'partakers of the divine nature':78 '... 'The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.'81"
(Catechism, 460)

Fully Understand - - - GOD?!

I talked over "...might make men gods" with someone who's been Catholic longer than I've been alive. He said that a better translation of St. Thomas' words might be "...might make men like gods."

That cleared things up a bit, but I still don't completely understand: which is about par for the course. St. Augustine said:
"If you understood him, it would not be God"
(St. Augustine of Hippo, quoted in Catechism, 230)
Then there are the last chapters of Job, and I'm getting a little off-topic. Which is also about par for the course.

Learning About God

I'm a finite creature. I don't expect to fully understand the infinite Almighty; but we're all expected to:
  • Know God
    (Catechism, 31-35)
  • Know about God
    (Catechism, 36-38)
    • As much as a finite creature can understand the infinite Creator
      (Catechism, 39-43)

Describing God

"There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written."
(John 21:25)
I think what John wrote applies to efforts to catalog the characteristics of God. That didn't keep me from assembling this list:
  • A "mystery without words"
    • Even after revealing Himself
      • "If you understood him, it would not be God"
        (St. Augustine)
    (Catechism, 230)
  • All-powerful
    • Created everything
      (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 268)
      • Out of nothing
        (Catechism, 296)
    • Didn't have to create anything
      (Catechism, 295)
    • Upholds and sustains what He created
      (Catechism, 301)
  • The source of
    • Every good
    • All love
    • All truth
    (Catechism, 1723, 2465)
  • The great HE WHO IS
    • From everlasting to everlasting
    • Without origin and without end
    (Catechism, 212-213)
  • Infinitely good
    (Catechism, 385)
  • Loving
    (Catechism, 268)
  • Merciful
    (Catechism, 270)
  • Holy
    (Catechism, 208)
I've posted most of that list before:
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Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:Posts in this blog: In the news:

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.