Don't Be Ashamed

 In today's reading from Mark 8:31-38, Jesus predicts his death and resurrection and tells us what it takes to follow him.

"Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’"

"He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’"

I find it interesting that the lectionary editors must have been ashamed of something when they cut out seven verses from the Old Testament reading (Genesis 17:1-7,15-16) for today.  Here is what they deleted,

8 And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.’

9 God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. 13 Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.’

I suspect that the lectionary editors were ashamed of three things in God's words to Abraham. 

First, there is that business of the land of Canaan being given to Abraham and future generations as a perpetual holding. That offends many who wish to see the destruction or at least the subjugation of modern Israel. 

Second, all that circumcision talk is something we might be ashamed to mention on an otherwise pleasant Sunday morning. 

Third, there is that slave reference. That God's chosen people might at some time in history owned slaves and forced circumcision upon them is doubly shameful.

But shouldn't God's people hear his words?

"Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

 

Universal Healthcare, U.K. : Automatic DNR Orders For Down Syndrome Patients During Pandemic?

 From The Guardian in the United Kingdom comes the unsettling news that, during the pandemic, "Do Not Resuscitate" (DNR) orders have been written for Down's syndrome persons without consent. 

"People with learning disabilities (such as Down’s syndrome) have been given do not resuscitate orders during the second wave of the pandemic, in spite of widespread condemnation of the practice last year and an urgent investigation by the care watchdog."

"Mencap said it had received reports in January from people with learning disabilities that they had been told they would not be resuscitated if they were taken ill with Covid-19."

"The Care Quality Commission said in December that inappropriate Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) notices had caused potentially avoidable deaths last year."

"Edel Harris, Mencap’s chief executive, said: 'Throughout the pandemic many people with a learning disability have faced shocking discrimination and obstacles to accessing healthcare, with inappropriate Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) notices put on their files and cuts made to their social care support.'"

"A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said: 'It is completely unacceptable for do not attempt CPR decisions to be applied in a blanket fashion to any group of people. This has never been policy and we have taken action to prevent this from happening.'"

That such a thing could happen can only be made understandable if one sees this as a result of a government run health care system in which the overarching goal is not preserving life but instead is saving money.

This is not the first time I have heard of something like this happening in the U.K. I was told by a physician friend who moved from England to the U.S. that he had to leave when his hospital started automatically placing DNR orders on all patients over the age of 65, and that he was ordered to stop CPR on a patient who had entered the hospital at 64 years old but whose 65th birthday had occurred while hospitalized.

The dangers of a top down run, one size fits all health care system are very real, but I fear that is the way we are headed as our young people increasingly seem to favor such an approach.

Forty Days and Forty Nights

Since we can't sing this as a congregation this year, sing along at home with the choir and congregation of Bradford Cathedral in West Yorkshire, England in this video (lyrics included). 

This of course refers to the reading for the first Sunday in Lent from Mark 1:9-15 in which Jesus is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit and faced Satan's temptations.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

I know that I will be sorely tempted to sing "Forty Days and Forty Nights" aloud on church today although I cannot. 

 

Representative Eric Swalwell's God(ess)

From Faithwire, 

"Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) isn’t respecting God’s preferred gender pronouns.

During a Saturday interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, Swalwell — one of the House impeachment managers for the Democrats’ second attempt to convict now-former President Donald Trump — referred to God using female pronouns.

'We could have called God herself and the Republicans weren’t going to be willing to convict [Trump],' he said. 'So we’re proud of the case we put forward.'

 "...God is, of course, a spiritual being unbound by the physical attributes of His creation. So, in that sense, He is neither male nor female in that way. However, God does possess the characteristics of personhood, and He chose to reveal Himself in human form through His Son, Jesus, who is male.

While it’s undeniable God — even as we do — exhibits both feminine and masculine attributes, the Bible contains around 170 references to God as 'Father'. And Jesus always referred to God as His 'Heavenly Father'.

Swalwell’s comments come as the left is increasingly embracing the LGBT agenda to 'respect' everyone’s 'preferred pronouns,' depending on how they identify."

I believe that since Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father", and as we have committed our souls to follow Christ, then to pray otherwise might lead others astray, like what St. Paul warns against in 1 Corinthians 8 when writing about those strong in the faith doing something that is a danger to those weak in faith. 

Rep. Swalwell is from California, so he has probably been eating the food sacrificed to idols unwisely because of a weakness in faith, and he is regurgitating that poisonous stuff so that others might follow him (I guess that is his preferred gender pronoun).

 

Six Days Later?

 This Sunday's reading from Mark 9:2-9 contains the story of the Transfiguration. It begins with a memory teaser about what preceded this event.

"Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead."

Six days earlier would appear to refer to Mark 8:27-30,

"Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him."

Because Caesarea Philippi was a Greco-Roman city located near the ancient city of Dan, in the northern part of Israel, by Mount Hermon and the Jordan River, it is assumed that the mountain upon which the Transfiguration occurred was Mt. Hermon. At 9,232 feet this is the highest peak in Israel and the source of the Jordan river.

Others assert that Mt. Tabor or the Mount of Olives was the site, so all of these places get a little piece of the tourist action today. 

Matthew in Chapter 17 also uses the six days later text, 

"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them."

Matthew in Chapter 16 places Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi as the last specified location before the Transfiguration.

To us, it matters not where it happened. 

The important thing is that it did happen.

 

Facebook Bans Ads For Certain Christian Books

Facebook keeps banning ads that they consider to be dangerous to society. Orthodox Christianity appears to have been deemed hazardous. Here are a few titles recently banned (reported by Paul Kengor at Crisis Magazine), 

"The Devil and Karl Marx: Communism's Long March of Death, Deception, and Infiltration", by Paul Kengor, 

"The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity",  by Dr. Carrie Gress,

"Motherhood Redeemed: How Radical Feminism Betrayed Motherly Love", by Kimberly Cook,

"Stations of the Cross for Kids" (per Paul Kengor, “Apparently, the image of the crucifix on the cover constitutes a shocking and violent image. The Facebook blocker states: 'Ad Can’t Run: Ads must not contain shocking, sensational, inflammatory, or excessively violent content. Read our Sensational Content Policy.'” ). 

Paul continues,

" So, here we are with Big Tech censorship in America in 2021: a children’s book on the Stations of the Cross, a book on the Blessed Mother, a book on redeeming motherhood, and a book on the evils of communism, all face the wrath of Facebook."

It won't be long before Amazon takes those books off of its site. 

We are entering a dangerous time as the Devil has his minions working overtime to silence the truth.

I have been in the process of getting off Facebook by posting truths, but they have yet to come after me. 

I guess I have so few progressive "friends" that the risk of getting reported is low.

"I may make the gospel free of charge"

 In this Sunday's reading from 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, Paul gives me good reason not to run ads on the pages of this blog.

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe betide me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

I have always been leery of otherwise Christian internet sites that sell space to advertisers. Spreading the Good News of Jesus as Lord and Savior should not be a money making concern. Reaching others is reward enough.

While it does not cost me a thing to run this blog, it does cost Google something to maintain the servers and the software, and for that I am thankful. 

Little does Google know that they are helping to make the Gospel available to all free of charge.

If their monitors ever find out what is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they will probably shut me down.

But if by some chance they open their hearts to the Gospel, they might start advertising this blog themselves and others like it!

I kinda doubt that will happen, but it is a miracle that might be worth praying for.

Digital ghosts of your loved ones?

From Unheard.com

"Imagine your wife died suddenly, and you struggled to cope with the loss. Well, soon you’ll be able to converse with her synthetic ghost, via a chatbot! Microsoft has filed a patent to access 'social data' such as images, social media posts, written letters and so on 'to create or modify a special index in the theme of the specific person’s personality'. This could then be used 'to train a chat bot to converse in the personality of the specific person', while 'a 2D or 3D model of a specific person may be generated' to go with it. 

I don't think this will be a healthy thing especially for people with prolonged or "complicated" grief. 

Also, what age will the ghost appear as?

I asked Pewsterspouse if she wanted a 26 year old digital ghost me or a 65 year old one. 

I didn't get an answer.