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Creation, Doubt and Asking Questions

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  Creation, in the beginning, now and the future.... “Every living organism originated from a common ancestor; there is one DNA, and all plants and animals share it. The carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in our bodies, in all animals and plants and in the earth itself, were created by generations of stars. … Cradled in the great forests of the world, the air that gives us life gives breath to fishes of the sea and everything that lives, and it has been so since the beginning some 4.6 billion years ago when a supernova in our galaxy, the Milky Way, exploded and a new star, our sun, was born. As swirling gases and dust broke off from the sun, planets were created, including Earth and the moon. … “…We are related to every human being of every culture, color, tongue, and land; we are related to all animals on earth, all fish, all plants, rocks, and rocky mountain ridges, and every star, moon, sun, and planet in the universe.” (Select portions from a ‘Reflection’ by Anne Rowthorn in “T...
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Jesus Unhinged: Part Two (or Three)

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  I want to wrap up my discussion showing Jesus in what I'm calling his "unhinged" state. You should look up the definition of "unhinged". Jesus did NOT always peacefully discuss various potential "options" of what his target Jewish faith leaders were doing and what they should NOT be doing and the consequences of NOT listening to him. I have focused on Jesus "unhinged" because I think it shows how human Jesus is. He was/is angry at what was/is wrong, and he reacted directly and bluntly. No doubt about hypocrites. I briefly summarized the outraged Jesus in Matthew Chapter 23 in an earlier post. Almost the entire Chapter 23 involves Jesus yelling (yes, I think he was yelling and it should be read that way) and letting the Pharisees and scribes know they are condemned. Yet he closes with the comforting: "How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings..." However, he's not done ...
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Preparing for Christmas

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Christmas Stories and The Son of Man Continuing our concentration on the 4 Gospels as we prepare to celebrate the coming of the Son of Man, let us see what the Gospels have. It is interesting that Mark and John start Jesus' story without any mention of the "traditional" Christmas stories like Matthew and Luke. Most bible scholars consider Mark to be the oldest written Gospel and John the youngest. It is known that in the 3 synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) some stories of Jesus are shared word for word. It is expected that Matthew and Luke shared information from Mark. In this Advent season it is a good time to read the beginnings of the 4 Gospels and see what the differences mean to you. The differences should not distract from the celebration of joy in the coming of The Son of Man.  In Mark the story begins "...my Son, the Beloved..". (Mark1:11) In John the story begins "...Here is the Lamb of God.." (John 1: 29)
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Short post to drive home one of my main points about the Gospels

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  That's it! So short.  Man, so much packed into those few pages. The life of creation. The Son of Man. Everything...well, everything we have. The other parts of the Bible are a great reference; but concentrate on the four Gospels. Ask questions and seek answers. Use the most powerful entity available: your own mind! Critical reasoning will follow.
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Critical Reading, Thinking, Reasoning and more

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  We must include critical QUESTIONING in our list of critical actions--Socratic Questioning, part of the Socratic Method. Once we have a question we can move on to the other critical actions of reading, thinking and reasoning. I have added the image of Socrates because he is considered The Father of Critical Thinking. Using all these critical actions allows us to dig deeper into the Gospels and possibly find answers that may have remained misunderstood. Do you think the Church (any and all denominations) are still reading and studying the Gospels with the guidance of the Socratic Method? I don't.  In the Forward: Day by Day publication for October 26, 2025, the author of that day's discussion asked: "What might God be trying to show you that you don't already know?" THE Church (all denominations) should be continually asking that question of The Church.  Also consider (my opinion as always): If you read the entire Bible, Old and New Testament, EXCEPT the four Gos...
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Two of Jesus' main missions in 6 words in 2 sentences

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Leading into my next blog post about critical reading, thinking and reasoning, look at these short and simple, yet absolutely critical 6 words to Jesus' mission: Jesus told the leaders of the faith (more than once) during his physical existence on earth: "You are wrong." (Mark 12:24, Matthew 22:29) and he said to everyone: "Love one another." (John 13:34) Jesus first had to stop the 'wrong' teaching and then he gave what I consider to be THE commandment. We can study the impact of these 6 words in the next post. What has Socrates got to do with critical understanding of the Gospels? Everything.
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Matthew Chapter 23: Required reading!

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  If you are seeking to learn what Jesus was/is doing, you MUST read Matthew Chapter 23. And you MUST read it with PASSION and practice your critical reading, thinking and reasoning. Look up the definition to each of those processes. In Matthew Chapter 23 Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees: --Hypocrites 6 times. --Blind guides 2 times. --Blind Pharisee. --Whitewashed tombs. --Snakes, brood of vipers. You should refresh your understanding of hypocrite and hypocrisy to better understand why Jesus felt so strongly to scream this curse at them 6 -7 times in one gathering. And Jesus accuses them: --They do not practice what they preach. --You burden others yet are unwilling to lift a finger. --You are not to be called rabbi. --"You make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." -- You neglect the law of justice, mercy and faith. --"You are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." --"How can you escape being sentenced to hell?" Well, I guess we...
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