Do you think the pastor or congregants would consider it distracting if during the service or sermon you moved around the sanctuary with a portable CO2 detector? If it had loud beeps or anything like that, you could turn the volume down a bit. It could be a bit embarrassing though if you discovered extra hot air near the pulpit.
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There’s a difference between OT and NT on this: in the Old, the defiled polluted the holy, making it unclean; in the New, the holy purifies the defiled, making it clean. The epitome of this is with the woman who touched Jesus’ garment and was healed: under the Law, that touch would have made Jesus unclean, but thanks to the Incarnation, things “flow” the other way.
That is an interesting point to think.
What you wrote is interpretation as the scriptures do not tell it directly. I do not say that I disagree but there are different possibilities how this could be interpreted. Whatever the interpretation is, the core is that the touch or word of God can turn a defiled to clean or heal a sick.
How this happens now and happened during the OT times are just details in the big picture.
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Just a reminder that many in the scientific community are suffering due to the chaos and uncertainty of current events, and we need to keep them in our prayers, as well as be advocates for those affected. As this should transcend politics or divisions of religion, am posting here, but please be careful not to venture into partisan politics.
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I use to go to church a lot. 15 years ago I went to Bible studies 3-4 times a week at 5am at a coffee shop to study with those we believed were lost and needed to hear to gospel. Additionally I went to church Sunday morning and Sunday evening, Tuesday evening, Thursday morning and Wednesday evening. Went to church so much I had three part time jobs just so I could get 40 hours a week working around that bizarre amount. Did that for several years then dropped to just 1-2 Bible studies a week, Sunday morning and Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
When I went into the army it dropped down to a few Bible studies a month along with church Sunday mornings only.
Five years ago I was going to church again around 3 times a week for typical evening mid week services, Sunday evening services and men’s group meetings. Would wax and wane to a few times a month with people studying the Bible with. Random men and women I met while out and about and seeing if they wanted to meet up and study. Usually again around 5-6am. Did this by being up at that time and out and about so I naturally met other early birds or even night owls who were still up then.
Then suddenly fright before Covid started feeling burned out. During Covid, felt rejuvenated because most of the fellowshipping was happening outside of church. Laws prevented full out services, plus those who listened to what the consensus was about social distancing and so begin to social distance by me and others from church drove to the beach and kayaked in the gulf a ways out, and then floated there while talking and praying or by going hiking in groups of 3-8. We would be six feet or so apart, hiking and talking. Or standing in a circle in the woods several feet apart all facing in and talking. Was very rejuvenating to me and carried far more fulfillment.
But as we got past Covid those groups begin to breakup as services opened back up, and work hours became more open. Kind of begin to pull out. Got into where I felt my “spiritual needs” met through fellowshipping online and over the phone in short conversations and the occasional gathering to watch horror films and eat food together. Have consistently done that 2-3 times a month for the last several years. My “learning” itch got scratched through scholarly podcasts and books. But my church attendance basically came to a halt.
Then today after waking up at 2am, heading out and going hiking by 6am and hiked until 230pm I noticed at one point a trsil crossed a highway right next to a church. They had outdoor showers at that spot and so I headed there after hiking in my truck to shower and was glad it actually had heated water, though it only lasted about 5 minutes lol. But as I got out to get back in my truck I noticed despite it being 330pm a service was just starting at the church and so I decided on a whim to go inside. Turned out they were getting ready for a 4pm service. It only lasted just over half an hour. They sang one song, talked for about 10 minutes and then members asked questions.
The elder mentioned that it’s important to go to church. That church is not just about you feeling satisfied but that you help others feel better at church. That’s it’s not about finding the perfect church but finding a good one.
Nothing deep, but it’s what’s been on my mind. While I want be going to this church. I’m very different from it. To different from it I did feel that I do need to get active again. Not as much as before, but at least once a week.
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Just before service me and two others were talking movies (such as Apocalypse Now and The Dead Zone and how people perceived the use of a child or children to protect oneself from enemy fire).
So when the sermon started and the pastor juxtaposed intelligence and the spirit, I thought of the movie “Name of the Rose” with Sean Connery. In the movie he was trying to solve the murders with logic and was criticized by those insisting on using apocalyptic Bible passages to understand events. I thought the juxtaposition by the pastor was clearly flawed and not in fact what the Bible said at all.
The question I kept coming back to was how are we to know whether something is of the spirit and of God or not. Certainly in the movie what was being put in juxtaposition to logic was far more like superstition, and it was logic and intelligence which was needed to discern what was from God and the Spirit.
The passage in the sermon was 1 Corinthians chapter 2. It speaks not of intelligence but of… “human wisdom” and “wisdom of this age.” To be sure I strongly believe Jesus called upon us to use a more spiritual understanding of things and I see the height of this in the gospel of John chapter 6. For without a spiritual understanding of His words it sounded like He was advocating cannibalism. This was His response to their attempt to make Him king, and the result was those who could not take a spiritual view of things abandoned Him. Anyway, I would make this the touchstone for understanding the difference between “wisdom of the age” and a spiritual understanding.
And what is the difference? It is really quite simple. We do not live by bread alone – which feeds only the body. For we are living minds which require a different kind of food – the teachings of God which make us human: love, justice, goodness over evil, truth, and responsibility. It is a struggle of love not power to win over our opponents with compassion and service. It is a defense of justice not an abuse of the law to force a worldview on other people. It is to do what is right for its own sake and not to bribe people with false charity. It is to seek the truth as shown to us by God in all things, and not make our own opinions the measure of truth confining God to a prop in an ideology. It is to be responsible for the consequences of what we do rather than pretending we have God at our command to fix everything with magic.
Well there was something else in that sermon which bothered me. He attacked the common advice for us to follow our heart, quoting the verse which says “the heart is deceitful above all things.” On the one hand, I know this only too well, which is why I say hell is our heart’s desire, while heaven is God’s desire for us. On the other hand, following your heart is good advice for many things. It all depends on what the other options are. The intellect is a useful tool (especially to discern what is from God) but the heart is a better guide for the most important choices in life and also something which God is known to speak to.
In summary, it is neither a choice of intellect vs. spirit, or a choice of heart vs God. These are false dichotomies. Instead it is more an opposition between worldly success and the spirit, or following the dictates of God (and His values) rather than personal advantage. And in both of these intellect and heart can help us follow the better path.
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That integration of heart and intellect may well be a good definition of what the Bible means by wisdom. Something we continually seek.
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February is Black History Month, so we had a guest speaker in theology class-- Dianne Harris, a native of historic Selma, Alabama.
Dianne became a committed activist in the Civil Rights Movement at the age of 15. Actively participating in several pivotal marches, including the iconic “Bloody Sunday,” she was arrested twice for her courageous stand against racial injustice.
Over the course of her lifelong dedication to equality, Mrs. Harris has been honored with numerous accolades, including the Congressional Foot Soldier Medal and Certificate. A passionate public speaker, she is frequently sought after by media outlets for her insights and reflections on the ongoing struggle for justice. As a Selma Historical Tour Guide, Mrs. Harris also shares her personal narrative with visitors, educating others about the civil rights movement.
All very interesting!
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In an Easter sermon, the speaker lifted up an interesting viewpoint to the attitudes of Christians today. The viewpoint was how sadducees viewed the resurrection and a comparison was made to the situation today. We seem to have both ‘pharisees’ and ‘sadducees’ among us today, although these are not called with the old names.
He illustrated the situation by comparing it to having ditches on both sides of our path. We drift forward between these ditches, often closer to one than the other.
If we are close to the ‘pharisee’ ditch, we tend to focus too much on the rules picked through a literal reading of the scriptures and demands that others follow our standards, rules and interpretations.
If we drift towards the ‘sadducee’ ditch, we tend to have a too human- and natural laws-centered viewpoint to the scriptures. We question miraculous events in the biblical scriptures and even the resurrection of the dead because - well, everyone knows that dead remain dead and the dust does not suddenly turn to a living body. The ideals, the good example and the teachings may live but not the body - like Elvis lives today through his music, not as a living body.
If the seriously sick do not suddenly get healed in our surroundings and people do not walk on water, we question stories told by others about such miracles because such are against the natural laws and common sense.
We may question the role of the Holy Spirit in the origin of the biblical scriptures and we tend to separate the scriptures to those that are somewhat authoritative and those that should not be taken as seriously - often on subjective grounds.
We should walk forward between the ditches, not drifting towards either one.
I guess the speaker, the former head of the denomination (something resembling an archbishop), got that picture from his earlier illustrations about what is the doctrine of this denomination. Instead of a tightly defined path, with books of concorde or comparable rule books, we have something that resembles a multilane road between ditches. As long as you stay between the ditches, you can be part of the movement, even if we have different opinions and interpretations about matters that are not central to the Christian faith. Stick to the biblical scriptures and the Apostles’ Creed and you are probably heading to the correct direction. The Holy Spirit may then lead you towards a better understanding about the will of God.
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This wasn’t from “church” - but a recent Skyepod podcast (HolyPost media) on the topic of “humiliation”. It also challenged one of the common views of Pilate. He is often given a fairly sympathetic role in the story because after all, he didn’t find anything wrong with Jesus and wanted to let him go, but the big bad religious leaders and the crowds they stirred up prevailed on him to crucify Jesus anyway. But Skye made a persuasive case that Pilate is no “innocent” Roman leader just caught up in unfortunate events. He was (according to contemporary Roman historians even) a cruel and vindictive man who loved taunting the Jews anytime he got the chance. So when he learns what the religious leaders want from him, and how this backwater Nazarene was purporting to be a king even, Pilate couldn’t resist having fun with that. Hence the mockery and flogging, and after Jesus has been reduced to a bloody mess, complete now with crown of thorns and purple robe, Pilate then paraded him out in front of the Jewish crowds and taunted them: “Here is your king!” And they, already having a history of humiliation by foreign, pagan occupiers, and having already been disappointed to find that Christ wasn’t going to be throwing off these Roman heathen with a glorious military conquest - they were ripe to shout “None of this!” We want Caesar! We want Barrabas! Give us people who know how to “do stuff” - not this meek and mild “love your enemies” stuff!
And today now too, we still get stirred up and provoked in the same way! The crowds today are still clamoring for and admiring the cruel ones, the criminals, the so-called “strong man”. None of this Jesus stuff. Oh - they’ll invoke the name of Jesus, but only after rebuilding him in their own image as the bloody conqueror that they want. So we’re still clamoring for Barabbas (and Caesar) instead of the real Christ today too.
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Martin Luther used the “two ditches” illustration often, but he may have stolen it – I think it goes back to Chrysostom and even earlier (I’m not sure, but Origen may have used it).
Though Luther added to it Christians being too much like drunken peasants, falling into one ditch, then climbing out only to stumble cross the road and fall into the other, ad infinitum, and tended to describe one ditch as Law and the other as Gospel.
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The pastor at the local Lutheran church called St. Thomas a hard-core scientist this morning due to insisting on hard, verifiable evidence.
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