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Catholics and the Afterlife

 I received a question: Sorry if this sounds silly. But what are the Catholics belief in heaven/hell?I have not had a minute to ask the priest or deacon this, and usually I keep forgetting to ask. So growing up in a different denomination I was taught we go straight to heaven or hell. Wasn’t taught about hell much just that it’s fire 24/7 and everyone is going there unless you accepted Jesus as savior. But in heaven first you watch your life from start to finish, and explain all the bad things you did. I was taught that you don’t know anyone when you get there. You might know somebody was related to you in some way. But most likely you won’t know them at all, everyone is a stranger. And what you do in heaven is sing 24/7, there is nothing else we do but sing (which I’ll be honest sounds terrible to me only because i personally am not good at singing and I don’t like to sing) I don’t mean this in a crude way but from the various descriptions I’ve heard, I thought heaven didn’t soun...
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Christians and War Themed Board Games

Someone asked me, nonchalantly, about whether someone should play war themes board games. The logic was basically, "War is bad, therefore, should be play board games that glorify war?" I thought I would give a short little response:  You pose an interesting moral and ethical question. On one level, if the theme (any theme) bothers you, then, sure, you probably shouldn't play the game. I, personally, can't stand games (or movies) with Zombie themes. I find the whole concept of a Zombie just gross and preposterous :) So, I'd never tell anyone to do something that is against their conscience or they think on some level is just creepy or weird.  To a bigger question, is war always bad in the sense of it has never has any inherent value? Not being a Pacifist, I don't agree with that assessment. Steps should be taken to try to avoid war, as it's always a tragedy that affects innocent people. That being said, sometimes war is the only option. There is e...
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Thoughts for the First Sunday of Lent

     The Season of Lent is a profound and transformative period in the Christian calendar. Lent is characterized by reflection, penance, and preparation for the celebration of Easter. The readings for the First Sunday of Lent invite believers to engage deeply with their faith and the narrative of salvation that unfolds during Lent.. As we enter Lent, these readings serve as a stark reminder of our human condition, the gravity of sin, and the grace that is offered through Jesus Christ.       Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 recounts the creation of humanity and the pivotal moment of the Fall. In these passages, we see God forming man from the dust and breathing life into him, establishing a unique relationship between Creator and creation. The Garden of Eden is a place of abundance and intimacy with God, yet it is also the setting for humanity's disobedience. The serpent tempts Eve, leading both her and Adam to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, resul...
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When you are not feeling very ashy...

Lent finally dropped today, as it is Ash Wednesday in the West. (Eastern Orthodoxy and many Eastern Catholic churches do Lent but do not really do Ash Wednesday.) For those of us in the West, Ash Wednesday kicks off what I humorously refer to as the "Season of Church Music in a Minor Key" as it seems like we transition to a season of penitence and fasting, where even the liturgy is fasting from anything other than funeral dirges in discordant minor musical notation. Lots of flats and ending verses on something that sounds like a major motion picture film soundtrack when the villain appears.  I exaggerate. A bit. Not all music in liturgical churches for the next several weeks are all in B minor. Some churches still throw in some normal hymnology, at least in part. Of course, the liturgy of our Protestant brethren who don't do Lent at all is pretty much "all systems normal"-whatever that means in Megachurch Protestant worship these days. They may well have already...
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Thoughts on the Immaculate Conception

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 I got a question about the Immaculate Conception of Jesus (edited for brevity): I am strongly considering converting from Baptist to Catholic. However, the only thing really stopping me is my inability to grasp the concept of intercession from the Saints & Mary... I also just am really really struggling with the idea of Mary being sinless. I have been stuck on this completely. I have read Luke 1:28 multiple times, and just am not understanding how Mary being favored by God translates to her being sinless. I just really need some clarification Thank you in advance! My response:  Now, the second part of your question is a much broader topic that is very easy to get off into the theological weeds. If you are only looking to the Bible for an easy explanation from the Biblical text, you are not going to get really far. The Bible in itself is exhaustive as to every theological issue. While uniquely Divinely inspired revelation, it is not an end all be all encyclopedia t...
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Epstein Files and the Christian response

As something of a freelance investigator of contemporary culture, I decided to do a minor dive into the Epstein files that finally got dumped. I have largely ignored this whole saga because Epstein is dead and pretty much anyone involved outside his inner circle of toadies is likely to never see any jail time.  I mean, let's be honest. Reality is our friend.  The one thing that finally flagged my attention was the fact that this latest and presumably last dump of information from the US Department of Justice was literally documents in the millions. I was just assuming it was his personal redacted e-mails and whatever...but millions of documents? What was that about? So, I decided to take a look.  What can I say, other than Kyrie Eleison ? I knew Epstein was a sick man, but the level of depravity (and I don't use that term lightly) I saw in the documents that I examined online was shocking. I won't go into detail because I generally try to keep this blog 'G' rated. B...
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Superbowl Theology

Like many Americans (apparently 135+ million of us), I watched the NFL's championship Superbowl on Sunday night. Let me be clear from the outset that I like American football in general. I played football (not on the professional level of course). It has become the one sport that I follow closely on a regular basis, both on the collegiate and professional levels.  I used to follow baseball like that when I was younger, as it was the first sports love of my youth, but Major League Baseball has done everything in its power to alienate old school baseball fans like myself. I watched the Cubbies and a bit of the Braves last season for the first time in years, but baseball is just not a joy to watch anymore. It's largely just run by computers and sabermetrics now with the added nonsense of incoherent rules changes to try and speed up the games. There are ways to speed up baseball naturally without dumbing it down or becoming dependent on computers, but that's a discu...
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