Asymmetric Religion and Philosophy

From the Wiki:

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning on Christmas Day (25 December). This period is also known as Christmastide. The Twelfth Day of Christmas is 5 January - the day before the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January.

I think Crosby and the Andrew Sisters had a fine version:

Caravaggio adds one of those Saints who experienced Christ during his lifetime, St. Francis.

About 2000 years ago, God decided to become man in addition to God to fulfill a mission He gave Himself, the redemption of the world. Respecting our free will, God sought the cooperation of she whom He created for that purpose, Mary.

I can prove this indirectly through the testimony of the apostles, all of whom suffered and died carrying out their own mission assigned to them by Jesus, to spread the Good News. We also have the reality of unique miracles, personal witnesses, and the peaceful transformation of an entire society. Nobody can disprove it directly or indirectly without arguing that the God of their conception wouldn't follow this course or that there isn't a God at all. Therefore a leap, but not one that must ignore reality or dismiss counter-evidence: God thinks faith important and I don't expect completely verifiable evidence until He comes again.

One may assume that such a course better served Cosmic Justice. Actions must be recompensed physically as well as in thought. The means by which God deals with humanity's straying, a mystery which requires faith in man's free will- that man could have done otherwise even with God's foreknowledge, is sacrifice, a recurrent theme in God's history with us and instituted to help us appreciate the truth.

God simply wants us to recognize this reality, to believe what truly is, and in keeping with the emphasis on physical actions, to live in accordance with that truth. The moral ordering of the world is faintly written on our heart and He's given us sacraments, scripture, and an earthly authority, His Church, to help us out.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I love everything related to this season- the music, movies, decorations; and the way they combine with my memories of Christmases past and what I believe about the holy day to effect a real inner-transformation, one that conforms to the traditional urgings of the Advent season: peace, charity, brotherhood.

Merry Christmas

An intelligent person recognizes that any organization will have a percentage of bad members. A person who's studied the abuse crisis in the Church as I have, a little, will also realize that abuse occurs, tragically, anywhere authority intersects weakness, and especially where men encounter potential sexual victims (see links below).

We all feel for the victims, and nobody is excusing misconduct, so lets get that out of the way.

Now, what hurt the Church's reputation is the seeming lack of action on the part of the Church hierarchy- really, if you're a hierarchical institution, the people on top better be good. By not immediately dismissing bad priests and bishops, the Church gave the impression that it wasn't concerned about or that it even condoned what was going on. Christopher Hitchens jumps on the fact that Bernadin Law received an appointment in Rome after being bishop when the pedophile scandal broke in Boston. While they snicker, the faithful fume at what they perceive as a betrayal of trust.

I might not attend a Christmas concert at the Our Lady of Angels Cathedral just because one of the the worst Cardinals since Richelieu, Mahoney, might be there.

Which is why I'm very happy that the Pope has accepted the resignation of Limerick Bishop, Donal Murray and that the Irish Church will restructure.

Finally.

Some perspective on the crisis here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

As Anne Applebaum notices and Diane Francis' anti-person screed proves, nature worship leads to a diminution of man's place in the world. It's logical, actually:

1. If desiring nature to be preserved as it is now or restore it to a pre-human state is the greatest good.

2. and, if people are just one creature amongst many, without any more natural worth than nature itself.

3. and, if man is using more than his share of resources or damaging the earth so that 1 is impossible.

4. then, man's power to destroy needs to diminish.

We can do this two ways, by reducing the number of people or limiting each person's engagement with nature.

Christianity teaches us that man is the ultimate physical creation (angels are spirit) and infinitely more valuable than animals by virtue of our being created in God's image, as moral agents. The universe's resources are here for us. One judges anything men do in relation to the earth by how it impacts humanity, physically and aesthetically (preserving nature because men enjoy its beauty is perfectly justifiable, although using marble to make Michelangelo's David is probably more beneficial to mankind than having another slab of marble in the ground).

You can be thoroughly secular and still value men more than nature, but you can't do so logically while holding the the first and/or second assumption; it would just be a personal preference.

As for the Pope's seemingly anti-capital pronouncements, it's probably not correct to frame them in secular right-left terms.

Society should orient itself towards what's good for its citizens (I think it's capitalism) and if taking care of the environment, as per the explanation above, is part of that, so be it.

One of my most annoying traits is verbally assaulting foreigners (there's a word you don't hear anymore) with questions.

Thaddeus Mensah was one of my unfortunate victims a few weeks ago. Mr. Mensah's from Sampa, Ghana (below). He and his friend Alex Obroni run a charity in Ghana called Sampa Community Educational Project, Thaddeus here in the US and Alex in Ghana. They build schools and do other good works.

My view on foreign charity:

Generally speaking, a dollar to a person in places like Africa means a lot more than it does to somebody in Los Angeles. Here, it's the difference between a single and double Whopper. Over there, it's the difference between eating for a week or starving, going to school or staying illiterate.

Patriotism is important and there's a utilitarian dimension to helping one's neighbor first, but we should remember that we have obligations to all fellow humans (according to my beliefs and probably yours if you didn't follow a link from some Ayn Rand forum).

Thaddeus seems like a nice guy, and if you are charitably inclined, I'd like for you to consider SCEP.

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