Dear mister Matsumoto, Thank you for your wonderfull writing. I surely liked it. For forty years I was a biodynamic gardener and I did a lot in breeding red beets, carrots and onions. And it is about the onion that I have to say something. On the photo of the onion you did a cross-section and because you had a socalled singel-centre onion it seems that there are only circles which become smaller and smaller towards the middle of the onion. But if you cut the same onion in the longitudinal direction than you will find a growing point, which is slightly green coloured. And when it is not a single-centre onion you may even find several growing points. In the end of the storage season you will sea that the growing point(s) will become bigger. And in an a later stage the growing point(s) emerge at top of the onion. Having said this, I still like the picture you gave. Thank you again.
Indeed! As mentioned in the post, the second half, Legion, was from a piece of private writing I did some time ago in my little computer journal and when I write privately I just go without really explaining or double checking my words because I know the point I’m trying to make already.
I was trying to say something closer to the idea that you might peel away the layers thinking you’re trying to get to something good to eat but actually the layers you discard are the nourishing part you use. I think that makes the post make a little more sense, thank you!
"If you’ve ever tried to take your faith seriously then I suspect at times you felt them. Those old pains. The old wounds. The scar tissue… that sometimes oddly thin veneer of Jesus seeming to just barely cover all the old paint. You sat and struggled with how incongruous The Old Testament seems with The New. With how audacious it is to claim that the suffering peasant out of Galilee is the same as the vindictive and jealous Yahweh."
You hit the nail on the head. It's heartwarming to see someone going through similar issues I have, and talking about them openly. Few Christians are willing to go there.
"Perhaps you’ve been hurt by the logical whiplash that results from taking an Abrahamic faith out of the desert and trying to force it through the sieve of Greek Philosophy."
This is why I would only ever have converted to Eastern Orthodoxy ;). You should check it out sometime, you have many similar views imo.
Wait I see you do talk about them lower down! Such a glib dismissal of mystery from you Yoshi, I'm surprised. I figured that the concept of Eastern Orthodox 'Mystery' is what you are getting at in your writings/worldview on Christianity. It certainly seems quite similar.
There's Mystery and then there's refusing to define your terms. IMO about 50% of EO is the latter. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not immune to the same problems everyone else has.
Hmm, the way it was explained to me is that the Holy Mysterious must be experienced through the heart, not the mind. Basically that to try and reason through the mysteries is a theological mistake - that was St. Augustine's error.
It WAS St Augustine's error, I agree. Nonetheless, I think E. Orthodoxy went too far the other direction and, in some cases, ended up not using their heads at all.
Truly, the Holy Mysteries transcend human reason. The Uncreated Grace of God is ineffable and beyond telling, yet it is immanent and fully present in His Church. 🔥The Sacraments, the sacred Holy Things, unite us with the Love, mercy, truth and grace of God in Trinity. 🕯️☦️ 📿
O'Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me the sinner. ⛲ 📖 🔔 Most Holy Theotokos save us.....
Your observations on the ever-evolving dogma of the church throughout its fractured history is equally valid as it is frustrating. The desire for the cohesion and infallibility of the church is a good one, I believe, despite its untruth in reality.
I, like you, am less bothered by this than I used to be. That is because to me, the "core" of the onion always goes back to the simplicity of Jesus' direct teachings, to the Sermon on the Mount, to the Gospel as summarized by John 3:16.
We can complicate this message, that Christ died for our sins and invites us to live lives shaped by his love and mercy, to no end. But it is precisely this core that the oft-maligned reformers sought to preserve from the bloated Catholic church of their day. This core is what Paul sought, through tears, to remind the Galatians of when they were being lured back into the complicated rules and regulations of the Old Covenant. This core can be grasped by a child as much as by the highest ranking church official or the most profound historical and theological exegete.
Anyways, great post as usual. Always enjoy your open and honest thoughts on the faith, regardless of so called orthodoxy. All the best.
You frustrate me about half way through your essays almost every time I read them; sometimes so much so I'll simply say "No" and click off the page. And yet, I always come back and finish them. I reckon that's because in between those two states I'm thinking awfully hard about what you've said. You have a gift in that regard, and I guess I keep reading because I like to be irked. So thanks for irking me toward the truth!
"See… The Catholic Church is currently in the process of deciding not to care about sexual matters anymore. Maybe that’s good. Maybe it’s bad. Which you decide it is, is an opinion. What isn’t an opinion is that that is what’s happening. That’s fact. What the Church teaches is changing. What I just showed you above is example five-hundred and thirty-four."
This isn't such a problem in the Orthodox church; indeed, this habit of changing things by the RCs is one of the reasons for the Great Schism - the Bishop of Rome thought it was just fine to change the wording (and thus the theology) of one of the most fundamental creeds of Christianity, the Nicene Creed. When that happened the Eastern Bishops had had enough of the Bishop of Rome's meddling and changing things, so they just broke it off.
I had to look up what you wrote about "immorality" and "sexual immorality."
Indeed, the underlying Greek of the passage in question, 2 Corinthians 6:13b, is "τὸ δὲ σῶμα οὐ τῇ πορνείᾳ" (to de soma ou te porneia), literally "the body is not for sexual immorality."
Everywhere I could find that word, porneia, in the New Testament, it is most often translated as "sexual immorality" in newer English translations. In older translations it is "fornication." (Which is also the way the Latin Vulgate translates that word, as "fornicatio.")
I get what your saying but not all faiths are equal. I love Catholics but they are in a suicide pact with the rest of the west and things are going to continue to fall apart. I know you have your issues with EO but us not drawing hard lines isnt a copout its that the lines arent really there. I think its also worth remembering that the church isnt in rome or Constantinople, its in Mary, its Jesus's mothers and brothers those that do his will.
As to your point about "how audacious it is to claim that the suffering peasant out of Galilee is the same as the vindictive and jealous Yahweh". Sure, Christ says that he came not to condemn but to save. But that was THAT time. Next time he'll come in full Glory to judge the living and the dead. That's why the incarnation is sometimes called a dispensation. Next time, it's back to the Old Testament pattern.
I think this ties into your general "wrestling" theme. Faith has a corporate element to be sure, but when it comes down to it its you and God and you have to wrestle it out with Him. I'm far from a perfect person but as I struggle and learn I grow closer and closer to God Himself. Often times it feels like God is the only one I have though, so maybe that prevents me from even bothering with all the dogmas and current creeds. I did recently join a fairly traditional Baptist church recently. So far no big doctrinal disputes, just fellowship. But it could rear its head eventually. Anyways, good article, I enjoyed it, and I enjoy you getting a lil "raw" with us.
The relentless pursuit of TRUTH ain't no joy ride,🐉 it's a real jihad, a real 📯⚔️🛡️ struggle, here there be dragons! "Blessed art Thou O'Lord, teach me Thy statutes", is one of THE MOST TERRIBLE 🌐⏳ 🔔 📖 ⚜️ prayers we consistently 😔 submit. We are asking for a Job moment, "I thought I knew, 🌪️ but now I see". ❤️🩹 🌦️ ☘️ 🌊 🌌 🌄
Dear mister Matsumoto, Thank you for your wonderfull writing. I surely liked it. For forty years I was a biodynamic gardener and I did a lot in breeding red beets, carrots and onions. And it is about the onion that I have to say something. On the photo of the onion you did a cross-section and because you had a socalled singel-centre onion it seems that there are only circles which become smaller and smaller towards the middle of the onion. But if you cut the same onion in the longitudinal direction than you will find a growing point, which is slightly green coloured. And when it is not a single-centre onion you may even find several growing points. In the end of the storage season you will sea that the growing point(s) will become bigger. And in an a later stage the growing point(s) emerge at top of the onion. Having said this, I still like the picture you gave. Thank you again.
Indeed! As mentioned in the post, the second half, Legion, was from a piece of private writing I did some time ago in my little computer journal and when I write privately I just go without really explaining or double checking my words because I know the point I’m trying to make already.
I was trying to say something closer to the idea that you might peel away the layers thinking you’re trying to get to something good to eat but actually the layers you discard are the nourishing part you use. I think that makes the post make a little more sense, thank you!
"If you’ve ever tried to take your faith seriously then I suspect at times you felt them. Those old pains. The old wounds. The scar tissue… that sometimes oddly thin veneer of Jesus seeming to just barely cover all the old paint. You sat and struggled with how incongruous The Old Testament seems with The New. With how audacious it is to claim that the suffering peasant out of Galilee is the same as the vindictive and jealous Yahweh."
You hit the nail on the head. It's heartwarming to see someone going through similar issues I have, and talking about them openly. Few Christians are willing to go there.
"Perhaps you’ve been hurt by the logical whiplash that results from taking an Abrahamic faith out of the desert and trying to force it through the sieve of Greek Philosophy."
This is why I would only ever have converted to Eastern Orthodoxy ;). You should check it out sometime, you have many similar views imo.
Wait I see you do talk about them lower down! Such a glib dismissal of mystery from you Yoshi, I'm surprised. I figured that the concept of Eastern Orthodox 'Mystery' is what you are getting at in your writings/worldview on Christianity. It certainly seems quite similar.
There's Mystery and then there's refusing to define your terms. IMO about 50% of EO is the latter. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not immune to the same problems everyone else has.
Hmm, the way it was explained to me is that the Holy Mysterious must be experienced through the heart, not the mind. Basically that to try and reason through the mysteries is a theological mistake - that was St. Augustine's error.
It WAS St Augustine's error, I agree. Nonetheless, I think E. Orthodoxy went too far the other direction and, in some cases, ended up not using their heads at all.
Truly, the Holy Mysteries transcend human reason. The Uncreated Grace of God is ineffable and beyond telling, yet it is immanent and fully present in His Church. 🔥The Sacraments, the sacred Holy Things, unite us with the Love, mercy, truth and grace of God in Trinity. 🕯️☦️ 📿
O'Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me the sinner. ⛲ 📖 🔔 Most Holy Theotokos save us.....
Enjoyed the post.
Your observations on the ever-evolving dogma of the church throughout its fractured history is equally valid as it is frustrating. The desire for the cohesion and infallibility of the church is a good one, I believe, despite its untruth in reality.
I, like you, am less bothered by this than I used to be. That is because to me, the "core" of the onion always goes back to the simplicity of Jesus' direct teachings, to the Sermon on the Mount, to the Gospel as summarized by John 3:16.
We can complicate this message, that Christ died for our sins and invites us to live lives shaped by his love and mercy, to no end. But it is precisely this core that the oft-maligned reformers sought to preserve from the bloated Catholic church of their day. This core is what Paul sought, through tears, to remind the Galatians of when they were being lured back into the complicated rules and regulations of the Old Covenant. This core can be grasped by a child as much as by the highest ranking church official or the most profound historical and theological exegete.
Anyways, great post as usual. Always enjoy your open and honest thoughts on the faith, regardless of so called orthodoxy. All the best.
Thank you.
You frustrate me about half way through your essays almost every time I read them; sometimes so much so I'll simply say "No" and click off the page. And yet, I always come back and finish them. I reckon that's because in between those two states I'm thinking awfully hard about what you've said. You have a gift in that regard, and I guess I keep reading because I like to be irked. So thanks for irking me toward the truth!
Thanks for sticking around my friend!
So thankful for this piece. It has a kind of medicine in it. The whole presence of His radical love broke in for me at the end...
Grateful to hear it! Cheers to you
"See… The Catholic Church is currently in the process of deciding not to care about sexual matters anymore. Maybe that’s good. Maybe it’s bad. Which you decide it is, is an opinion. What isn’t an opinion is that that is what’s happening. That’s fact. What the Church teaches is changing. What I just showed you above is example five-hundred and thirty-four."
This isn't such a problem in the Orthodox church; indeed, this habit of changing things by the RCs is one of the reasons for the Great Schism - the Bishop of Rome thought it was just fine to change the wording (and thus the theology) of one of the most fundamental creeds of Christianity, the Nicene Creed. When that happened the Eastern Bishops had had enough of the Bishop of Rome's meddling and changing things, so they just broke it off.
I had to look up what you wrote about "immorality" and "sexual immorality."
Indeed, the underlying Greek of the passage in question, 2 Corinthians 6:13b, is "τὸ δὲ σῶμα οὐ τῇ πορνείᾳ" (to de soma ou te porneia), literally "the body is not for sexual immorality."
Everywhere I could find that word, porneia, in the New Testament, it is most often translated as "sexual immorality" in newer English translations. In older translations it is "fornication." (Which is also the way the Latin Vulgate translates that word, as "fornicatio.")
Yeah it’s pretty blatant.
I get what your saying but not all faiths are equal. I love Catholics but they are in a suicide pact with the rest of the west and things are going to continue to fall apart. I know you have your issues with EO but us not drawing hard lines isnt a copout its that the lines arent really there. I think its also worth remembering that the church isnt in rome or Constantinople, its in Mary, its Jesus's mothers and brothers those that do his will.
As to your point about "how audacious it is to claim that the suffering peasant out of Galilee is the same as the vindictive and jealous Yahweh". Sure, Christ says that he came not to condemn but to save. But that was THAT time. Next time he'll come in full Glory to judge the living and the dead. That's why the incarnation is sometimes called a dispensation. Next time, it's back to the Old Testament pattern.
I think this ties into your general "wrestling" theme. Faith has a corporate element to be sure, but when it comes down to it its you and God and you have to wrestle it out with Him. I'm far from a perfect person but as I struggle and learn I grow closer and closer to God Himself. Often times it feels like God is the only one I have though, so maybe that prevents me from even bothering with all the dogmas and current creeds. I did recently join a fairly traditional Baptist church recently. So far no big doctrinal disputes, just fellowship. But it could rear its head eventually. Anyways, good article, I enjoyed it, and I enjoy you getting a lil "raw" with us.
Grace🔥 and Peace🕊️ to you fellow Pilgrim! 🧅🧭⚓
The relentless pursuit of TRUTH ain't no joy ride,🐉 it's a real jihad, a real 📯⚔️🛡️ struggle, here there be dragons! "Blessed art Thou O'Lord, teach me Thy statutes", is one of THE MOST TERRIBLE 🌐⏳ 🔔 📖 ⚜️ prayers we consistently 😔 submit. We are asking for a Job moment, "I thought I knew, 🌪️ but now I see". ❤️🩹 🌦️ ☘️ 🌊 🌌 🌄
Keep on Keep'n On, Amigo ☀️🌙✨🌳🌾🍇
Onward through the fog, one day at a time!
🎶 Pray on.... ....we never pray alone!🕯️📿 ☦️