I've accidentally created the perfect station on Pandora. I made one based on Apollo's Fire, because I liked their Christmas album so much, but it turns out they do traditional folk music too; so I've got a station playing Baroque, Celtic, Bluegrass, and various related pieces, in both secular and sacred varieties of each.

Dear Youtube;

I don't care about Prince. I didn't care that he was alive, when he was alive. I don't care that he's dead, now he's dead. I didn't like his music when he was alive. I still don't like it, now that he's dead. I have never, ever, watched a video of his on your site, and have clicked "not interested" at least a hundred times on the videos you have been incessantly suggesting in the last few days since he, apparently, died. How can your algorithm possibly still think that anything by or about him should be "recommended for me"?

P.S. I don't care about Merle Haggard either.

C.S. Lewis on the Supernatural

"I believe in miracles here and now. . . .We ought all of us to be ashamed of not performing miracles and we do not feel this shame enough. We regard our own state as normal and theurgy as exceptional, whereas we ought to regard the worker of miracles, however rare, as the true Christian norm and ourselves as spiritual cripples."

-- C.S. Lewis, Petitionary Prayer

The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash

Rosebud

This is my grandaughter in Hawaii, whom I call Rosebud, the premature one with the holes in her heart, who you were praying for. Perfectly healthy and happy now.

Also got a message from my daughter in law this evening, telling me what a wonderful man I raised, what a good husband and father he is, and how happy and in love she is. That pleases me.

The Main Thing is Not to Panic

My daughter Bethany was riding to work this morning with her friend, heading down the highway at 50 mph, when the friend, who was driving, had a sudden seizure. No history of seizures, no explanation. Just out of the clear blue. The car went out of control and was about to cross over into oncoming traffic but Bethany kept her presence of mind, took the wheel, redirected it into a field on the other side of the road, and managed to bring it to a halt without either of them or anyone else being injured.

I am thankful to the Lord for his grace, that no one (and especially Bethany) was hurt. But I am also very proud of my daughter, for keeping her head and not succumbing to panic. It takes great courage and strength of character to react with cool determination in a life-threatening situation.

But that's not the end of it. She also showed another kind of courage, when the policeman who responded started acting like a dickhead like so many cops do, and yelling at and threatening the poor girl who'd had the seizure and almost just died, and who was completely disoriented and in a state of shock. Bethany stood up to him, put him in his place, and made him back off and leave her alone. Well done, sweetie. My daughter has more balls than most men.

Why--when there's Mozart?

I was out yesterday. As often happens, as I was in a store looking for what I needed, my mind was being assaulted by the soul-crushingly awful banality of what passes for music in our time. Just mind-numbingly stupid, both musically and lyrically. The sheer idiocy of it is staggering.

And then, this morning, as I was looking out on the rainy Spring morning and listening to Mozart, I thought, "Why? How can such ugliness even exist when there is this?"

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." -- Isaiah 53:3

This is why I love him so. He knows. He understands.

"Truth is beleaguered with a vast force of enemies, and yet how secure she is in her own inherent strength! And naturally enough when from her very adversaries she gains to her side whomsoever she will, as her friends and protectors, and prostrates the entire host of her assailants."

-- Tertullian

God in The Lord of the Rings

A friend asked me a fascinating question today--managing to bring two of my three very favorite things to talk about into one discussion--and I thought it could make an interesting blog post.

The question was, if Tolkien was a Christian and, in Middle Earth, Iluvatar represents Jehovah, why do the characters in The Lord of the Rings never talk about Iluvatar? Why is there no religion?

And my answer is this:

There is some mention of religion, but it's very low-key. The "High Hallow" where Aragorn finds the white tree is a place where the kings go to do whatever rites they have to Iluvatar. There was a similar thing on Numenor, on top of the highest mountain. And the Elves worship through their song and arts, rejoicing under the stars and all that. Tolkien being a Catholic, there is a strong sense of worshiping the Creator through intermediaries, i.e., Elbereth, Lady of Stars (Mary, Queen of Heaven), etc. Also, the Elves are more closely connected with the Valar and the Earth, whereas Men have this strange destiny which the Elves don't understand, which includes mortality, but they are also apparently more directly connected with Iluvatar himself than the Elves are (foreshadowing the Incarnation in ages to come). In the background works of mythology which underlie The Lord of the Rings, it is explicitly stated that Elves are forever bound to "the circles of the world" whereas Men, when they die, depart "the Elves know not whence" and it is only after all things are made new that Elves and Men will finally be reunited.

As it's set in a pre-historic age of this Earth, the concept, I think, is sort of like in the Patriarchal ages before Moses, when religion, magic, and kingship weren't separated but all one thing. So in a sense, Gandalf is a priest and a prophet. Like Noah or Abraham. The patriarch is priest, prophet, and king. This is the early state of mankind, not only in the Bible, but in other societies as well. See James Fraser's The Golden Bough, for instance.

And there is the much more obvious, but dark, religion of those who worship Morgoth and Sauron, representing the cruel, ignorant, and bloody side of paganism.

So what he's doing is reconciling, cosmologically, his Catholic faith with his love of pagan mythology. He wants his stories to take place in the stark sort of hard and cruel world which informs things like Beowulf, the Volsungsaga, and to a lesser degree, Greco-Roman literature. But he is definitely a devout Catholic, and wants God--The God--to be above all, and for beauty, truth, and goodness to triumph in the end (remember Sam's epiphany in Mordor, when he looks up at the stars and realizes that even Sauron and Mordor, powerful as they seem, are only fleeting temporalities). So he creates this universe in which the Creator created through the agency of his greater created beings (the Valar), then sort of left everything in their hands. They are, however flawed, and thus so is the world, but he lets it run its course (like the wheat and the tares) and only directly intervenes in very subtle and secret ways. Thus he gets both the Eternal, Omniscient, Omnipotent God of his Catholic faith and the lesser, limited, anthropomorphic gods of myth who, as gods, are infinitely less desirable than the True One who is all Love, but as characters in a story, are very interesting and useful.

Also, I think the very reverent Catholic sense of the Holiness of God and our separation from him pervades it. Contrast to the Protestant concept found in Narnia: Aslan is right there in person. But he is still there, in Middle Earth, in more subtle ways. Like when Gandalf says "Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought." That means Iluvatar. And it is, of course, Iluvatar, who arranges for Gollum to be there to complete the quest when Frodo can't. But it only works if they obey His will--and show mercy.

"Stand firm on the counsel of your heart, for no one is more faithful to you than it. For a man's soul sometimes tells him more than seven watchmen sitting on a high tower. And in all matters, pray to the Most High, that He may direct your way in truth." -- Ecclesiasticus 38:13-15

"Men more easily believe the evil that is false than the good that is true."

-- Tertullian, Ad Nationes

Tertullian on Free Will

"It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions: one man's religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion--to which free-will and not force should lead us." -- Tertullian, 217 AD

This is the fundamental point on which the institutions of Christianity have so often gone wrong: the Catholicism of the Inquisition, the various repressive Reformed communities, the harsh religiosity of the post Awakening churches. Even twentieth-century American Evangelicalism--the religious right--is guilty of this to a great degree. This sense of the latter that our great commission means the constant preaching, nagging, and haranguing of every single person we can reach, to agree with our doctrines and become like us is, in my opinion, a great perversion of the Gospel, and is demonstrably supremely ineffective anyhow. You can't trick, force, coerce, or browbeat someone into truly turning to Christ. You may get someone to repeat the "sinner's prayer" but that doesn't mean that person is really ready to surrender to God. I once read that Billy Graham estimated that less than ten percent of the "conversions" at his crusades were sincere and actually led to a changed life.

Our task as Christians is not to try and ensure that everyone else around us conforms to our own convictions. Our task is to live what we believe, to love God and man with all our strength, and to show forth the Light of Christ through our lives more than our words. There is a time and place for the actual preaching or proclaiming of the Message. But the far more effective message is that of living a life of conspicuous goodness and love, without an agenda.

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." -- James 1:27

The Temple, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Ark of the Covenant

Since I was a boy, I've heard that nobody knows what happened to the Ark. Indiana Jones, documentaries, historians, biblical scholars, treasure hunters, and conspiracy theorists always repeat a variation of the same thing: that the Bible simply stops mentioning the Ark just before the Babylonian destruction of Solomon's Temple, and that we don't know, therefore, whether Nebuchadnezzar carried it away, or whether the priests hid it under the Temple Mount, or whether the refugees carried it to Egypt whence it eventually ended up in Axum, Ethiopia, or whether Pharaoh had already captured it a few years before, when King Josiah went out to fight him against the warning of God, and then hidden it in Tanis.

What I can't fathom is that none of these scholars or seekers ever seemed to have done something so simple as to read the Orthodox Bible, or the Septuagint. Because it's right there, plain and simple, in black and white:

"They took all the large and small holy vessels of the Lord, the ark of the Lord, and the king's possessions, and carried them off to Babylon." -- 1 Ezra 1:51

This was at the final sack of Jerusalem, after they had rebelled several times against Nebuchadnezzar.

So the Ark was carried off to Babylon and then lost to history, right? Wrong. After Babylon had fallen to the Persians, first Cyrus, then Darius sent the Jewish exiles back to Judea, along with the things from the Babylonian treasury which had been taken from Jerusalem. First, under Cyrus, there is a shipment of sacred vessels, with an inventory, handed over to Sheshbazzar and the initial group of returning exiles. but the Ark is not among them (1 Ezra 2:7-11). Then, under Darius, there is another, given to Zerubbabel, but whose specific contents are not given. But:

"Then he sent forth from Babylon all the vessels Cyrus had removed; and everything Cyrus said to do, he also commanded to be done [that is, rebuild the temple --ed.], and he sent them forth to Jerusalem." -- 1 Ezra 4:57 (emphasis mine)

Now that's very intriguing, but not conclusive. This, however, is:

"One finds in the records, as it is noted, that Jeremiah the prophet ordered those migrating to take some of the fire. . . . It was also written that the prophet received an oracle and ordered that the tabernacle and the ark should accompany him when he went to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. So when Jeremiah went there and found a cave, he brought the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar of incense, and then sealed up the entrance. Some who followed him came to mark the way, but they were unable to find it. Now when Jeremiah learned of this, he rebuked them and said, 'The place shall be unknown until God gathers His people again and shows His mercy. Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the Glory of the Lord and the cloud will be seen, as they were shown to Moses, and as Solomon deemed it worthy that the place should be specially consecrated.'" -- 2 Maccabees 2:1, 4-8

So, at some point, whether it was at the time mentioned in 1 Ezra 4, under Darius (and Jeremiah lived to be a very old man), or at some previous time, the Ark was returned to Judea. And Jeremiah hid it in a cave on Mount Nebo. That's not a theory: that's scripture, and therefore, true.

Now, I've never been sure that when end-times prophecies mention the Temple, that they mean the literal, physical Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, in the spot where the Al-Aqsa mosque now stands. Most Evangelicals would say definitely yes, most Catholics and Orthodox would say definitely no, and most liberal and modernist biblical scholars would simply scoff. But my mind is open and not made up on the matter.

Recent discoveries I've made, however, have me presently leaning toward the literal interpretation. The above is one. Especially when considered in light of the other: that is, that among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the largest and most complete one found was called the Temple Scroll. This is a detailed set of instructions, written as a direct revelation from God to Moses, on how to build the Temple. Why does that make me lean toward the literal rebuilding? Because this scroll, along with the others, lay hidden and forgotten for two thousand years. Think about that. That's a phrase we hear a lot, but think for a moment about how long that really is. Think about some place from your childhood, that you revisited twenty years later, and how much it changed, and how much was lost. Then think about two thousand. So this scroll is completely unique: there are no copies or transcripts of it anywhere else in the world--its contents were completely unknown to the world until--1947--the same year Israel became a nation for the first time since A.D. 70. Coincidence?

Now, think of all that in light of the passage from 2 Maccabees quoted above: "The place shall be unknown until God gathers His people again and shows His mercy." Sound familiar? Yes, it's true that the Ark hasn't been found yet (that we know of). But that's because it isn't God's time yet. When will it be found? My guess is when the scroll that He provided has been put to use, and the Temple has been rebuilt. Then its location will be revealed, along with the Tabernacle (the original tent made under Moses' direction in the wilderness), and probably some of the other essential vessels and things, like the sacred anointing oil for the priests, which cannot be made any more because no one is sure of the correct interpretation (or current availability) of one of its ingredients.

Also interesting on this topic is the Copper Scroll, whose origin no one knows, but which is written in ancient (not 1st century) Hebrew. Did Jeremiah make it, and entrust it to his disciples? Did he hide other temple treasures in other locations? So far none of the treasures listed has been found. But maybe it's just not God's time for that either.

**Update**

I came across this in my further reading:

"'And because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it; and all our rulers, our Levites, and our priests seal it.' Those who sealed it were: Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashur, Amariah, Malchijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Gennethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests." --Nehemiah 9:38-10:27

When I saw this, I asked myself, "Wait; are those the same men who wrote the books of those names? Was Jeremiah a priest? And Daniel?" So I did some research, and indeed Jeremiah was, and Daniel probably was too. As for Obadiah and Baruch, there is nothing in the scripture either way, but that means they could have been, and that it is very possible that these are those prophets. Credence is lent to this by the fact that both Jeremiah and Baruch are listed, Baruch being Jeremiah's scribe and loyal disciple. Scholarly opinion allows that the Daniel listed may well be the great Daniel of the exile (http://biblehub.com/daniel/1-6.htm). So this, considered along with the evidence I wrote about above, seems to lead to the conclusion that both Daniel and Jeremiah were present at the restoration of Judah. I consulted some biblical timelines, and even if Jeremiah was 21 when he received his call (the scripture doesn't give his age, but he refers to himself as "a youth"), he would have been 113 when Artaxerxes returned the exiles--very old, but very possible: many people have lived that long, and Jeremiah was, after all, highly favored by God. He could conceivably been as old as 30 and still called himself a "youth", which would put the outside of his age at 122. But he could have been much younger too, and 'only' in his nineties at the return. Either way, it makes possible the hiding of the Ark by him, as told in Maccabees, plausible, either sometime during, or at the end of the exile, when all the articles of the other Temple furnishings were returned.

St. Patrick

St. Patrick's Armor

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.

I arise today, through
God's strength to pilot me,
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.

I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

Clement on Giving

"Do not you judge who is worthy or who is unworthy. For it is possible you may be mistaken in your opinion. As in the uncertainty of ignorance it is better to do good to the undeserving for the sake of the deserving, than by guarding against those that are less good to fail to meet in with the good. For though sparing, and aiming at testing, who will receive meritoriously or not, it is possible for you to neglect some that are loved by God; the penalty for which is the punishment of eternal fire. [Matt. 25:41-46] But by offering to all in turn that need, you must of necessity by all means find some one of those who have power with God to save. 'Judge not, then, that ye be not judged. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again; good measure, pressed and shaken, and running over, shall be given to you.' [Matt. 7:1-3, Luke 6:38] Open thy compassion to all who are enrolled the disciples of God; not looking contemptuously to personal appearance, nor carelessly disposed to any period of life. Nor if one appears penniless, or ragged, or ugly, or feeble, do thou fret in soul at this and turn away. This form is cast around us from without, the occasion of our entrance into this world, that we may be able to enter into this common school. But within dwells the hidden Father, and His Son, who died for us and rose with us." -- Clement of Alexandria, Who is the Rich Man that Shall be Saved?

This is the first time I've seen someone else enumerate the philosophy by which I live. I've said it many times before; in fact, I think I've written on here about it: I'd rather give to someone who doesn't deserve it than not give to someone who does. You hear the excuse all the time from people that they won't give to beggars because "they're just going to use it on drugs" or whatever. Well, they might. But that's not my job to judge. And I've received smirking, patronizing criticism for certain acts of charity. "You know, they're just scamming you, right?" Well, they may be. But then again, maybe they're not. I'd rather let myself be scammed than leave someone who really is in need destitute and hopeless. The Bible says "Give to everyone who asks of you." (Matt. 5:42, Luke 6:30). If they would rather use it on drugs or alcohol than food, then that's their choice. If they're lying to me and ripping me off, then that's on them, not me. I give the money in good conscience, and once it leaves my hand, it's no longer my responsibility. Besides, it's only money. Now, I won't give if I know for certain or firmly believe that it's going to be misused, or that the person is trying to hustle me. And I can't give always, to every single person--my resources are limited, and the Bible also says to be responsible with what God gives you. But I believe that we Christians should do as much as we can, whenever the opportunity presents itself, without raising questions of conscience that are most often just excuses for being selfish.

How to get me to not watch a movie...

...in no particular order

1. Use the word "heist" anywhere in the title or description.
2. Put a picture of a half-nude, tanned, pumped, and oiled woman on the cover or poster.
3. er...Put a picture of a half-nude, tanned, pumped, and oiled man on the cover or poster.
4. Make it yet another heartwarming sports movie about underdogs overcoming the odds.
5. Make it yet another revisionist period piece about how everybody in the past was either an ignorant, superstitious idiot or a narrow-minded religious bigot.
6. Make it about gangsters, mobsters, or racketeers as the heroes.
7. Make it about how free-spirited young people liberate a community from close-mindedness and prudish oppression through dancing.
8. Make it yet another movie about a princess who doesn't need rescuing because she's a strong, capable, confident woman. <gag>
9. Make it any type of slasher, torture, or sado-masochist movie.
10. Make it a sequel to a movie I've watched and liked, and re-cast one of the major characters.
11. Make it an adaptation of a book I like, and try to "improve" it...especially by adapting it to modern politically correct sensibilities.
12. Make it about something from the Bible, and be anything but absolutely faithful to the text.
13. Adapt it from a Shakespeare play and set it in modern times, or update the language.
14. Make it yet another vampire or zombie movie.
15. Make it in pixar-style CG animation. Or Anime.
16. Put a rape in it.
17. Make it about a together New York girl who works at a magazine, but who can't find love.
18. Make it about a suave New York guy who works at an advertising agency and won't settle down.
19. Make it about politics in any way, shape, or form. Or Wall Street, corporate business, or lawyers and courtrooms. Especially, use a phrase like "high-powered attorney" or "high-flying stock broker".
20. Make it yet another movie about a cop who's always in trouble because he does things his own way.
21. Be Woody Allen.
22. Make it about adultery; especially about "romantic" adultery.
23. Put in a stereotypical overweight, wise-cracking, finger shaking, eyebrow-raising black woman character, probably played by Queen Latifah.
24. Make it about the South or Southern characters, based on how the South and Southerners are viewed by New Yorkers.
25. Make it yet another heartwarming movie about how a kid finds an unusual, legendary, mythical, or otherworldly creature and takes care of it, then has to let it go in the end.
26. Cast Vin Diesel or The Rock. In any role.
27. Put a scene in the movie, trailer, or advertisement, where the "crew" walks side-by side in slow motion, looking cool.
28. Make it yet another movie about teenage boys trying to have sex.
29. Cast stupid, pretty models (male and female) instead of actors.
30. Say, "But he's (or she's) about to learn..." in the trailer.