A Christian and an evolutionary biologist with no faith discuss the value of religion

 A non-religious evolutionary biologist is stumped about human dignity.  Only religion explains it.

https://youtu.be/gwQHLHNsKvw?si=4NEjlCLCo8Qf_fpY  full podcast

https://youtu.be/28AvAlU8FPs?si=ePq6yhIVsjhUFltq   critical clip

Dark Horse is one of my favorite podcasts.  I've never heard of John Papola and the Dad Saves America podcast before, but he sounds like a critical thinker and just a wee-bit over my head. He reminds me of Joe Rogan without the profanity. 

The truncated Daniel—what a loss for Protestants

This morning in my devotions I was reading the Prayer of Azariah in the book of Daniel.  It is so lovely.  What a shame that Protestants don’t know it except in excerpts of songs and liturgy.  It’s beautiful passage and devotion to read when in the furnace of fire of suffering.

The Orthodox Wiki explains how it is interpreted and used by Orthodox Christians: “The song constitutes a hymn of thanksgiving to God for deliverence from the fiery furnace into which the three young men, Ananias, Azarias and Misael (also known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) had been cast by the Persian king Nebuchadnezzar. They were cast into the furnace for refusing to worship a golden idol that Nebuchadnezzar had created. However, an Angel of the Lord entered the furnace and protected the three young men. In liturgical practice, the event is seen to presage the Resurrection of Christ, thus its inclusion in the canon.”

The note in the Roman Catholic Bible reads: * [3:24–90] These verses are additions to the Aramaic text of Daniel, translated from the Greek form of the book. They were probably first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, but are no longer extant in the original language. The Roman Catholic Church has always regarded them as part of the canonical Scriptures.

Prayer of Azariah.^* 24 They walked about in the flames, singing to God and blessing the Lord. 25 Azariah^* stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud:

26 “Blessed are you, and praiseworthy,

O Lord, the God of our ancestors,

and glorious forever is your name.

27 For you are just in all you have done;

all your deeds are faultless, all your ways right,

and all your judgments proper.

28 You have executed proper judgments

in all that you have brought upon us

and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our ancestors.

By a proper judgment you have done all this

because of our sins;

29 For we have sinned and transgressed

by departing from you,

and we have done every kind of evil.

30 Your commandments we have not heeded or observed,

nor have we done as you ordered us for our good.

31 Therefore all you have brought upon us,

all you have done to us,

you have done by a proper judgment.

32 You have handed us over to our enemies,

lawless and hateful rebels;

to an unjust king, the worst in all the world.

33 Now we cannot open our mouths;

shame and reproach have come upon us,

your servants, who revere you.

34 For your name’s sake, do not deliver us up forever,

or make void your covenant.

35 Do not take away your mercy from us,

for the sake of Abraham, your beloved,

Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,

36 To whom you promised to multiply their offspring

like the stars of heaven,

or the sand on the shore of the sea.

37 For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation,

brought low everywhere in the world this day

because of our sins.

38 We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader,

no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense,

no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.

39 But with contrite heart and humble spirit

let us be received;

As though it were burnt offerings of rams and bulls,

or tens of thousands of fat lambs,

40 So let our sacrifice be in your presence today

and find favor before you;

for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.

41 And now we follow you with our whole heart,

we fear you and we seek your face.

Do not put us to shame,

42 but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.

43 Deliver us in accord with your wonders,

and bring glory to your name, O Lord:

44 Let all those be put to shame

who inflict evils on your servants;

Let them be shamed and powerless,

and their strength broken;

45 Let them know that you alone are the Lord God,

glorious over the whole world.”

46 Now the king’s servants who had thrown them in continued to stoke the furnace with naphtha, pitch, tow, and brush. 47The flames rose forty-nine cubits above the furnace, 48and spread out, burning the Chaldeans that it caught around the furnace. 49But the angel of the Lord went down into the furnace with Azariah and his companions, drove the fiery flames out of the furnace, 50and made the inside of the furnace as though a dew-laden breeze were blowing through it. The fire in no way touched them or caused them pain or harm. 51Then these three in the furnace with one voice sang, glorifying and blessing God:

52 “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestors,

praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;

And blessed is your holy and glorious name,

praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.

53 Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,

praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.

54 Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,

praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

55 Blessed are you who look into the depths

from your throne upon the cherubim,

praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

56 Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven,

praiseworthy and glorious forever.

57 Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.

58 Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.

59 You heavens, bless the Lord, 

praise and exalt him above all forever.^a

60 All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.

61 All you powers, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

62 Sun and moon, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

63 Stars of heaven, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

64 Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

65 All you winds, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

66 Fire and heat, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

67Cold and chill, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

68Dew and rain, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

69 Frost and chill, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

70 Hoarfrost and snow, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

71 Nights and days, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

72 Light and darkness, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

and clouds, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

74 Let the earth bless the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.

75 Mountains and hills, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

76 Everything growing on earth, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

77 You springs, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

and rivers, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

sea monsters and all water creatures, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

80 All you birds of the air, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

81 All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

82 All you mortals, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

83 O Israel, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

84 Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

85 Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

86 Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

87 Holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

88 Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

For he has delivered us from Sheol,

and saved us from the power of death;

He has freed us from the raging flame

and delivered us from the fire.

89 Give thanks to the Lord, who is good,

whose mercy endures forever.

90 Bless the God of gods, all you who fear the Lord;

praise and give thanks,

for his mercy endures forever.”

Deliverance from the Furnace.

Our most anti-Catholic president

Bill Donohue is President and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization. He lists the reasons he sees Obama as anti-Catholic. The Roman Catholic Church has a big umbrella, and many Catholics pick and choose what they will accept in their church's teaching. Many support abortion and embryonic stem cell research and because Catholics have traditionally been Democrats, they also support the party rather than the church on many issues. Donohue has listed what the church says is necessary to be a member in good standing.

--In 2003, when Obama was an Illinois state senator, he led the fight to oppose a bill that would have mandated health care for a baby who survived an abortion, and he did so even after the bill explicitly said it would not imperil Roe v. Wade. The Catholic Church does not support infanticide.

--Before he was elected in 2008, he said he would sign a bill, the Freedom of Choice Act, that would have forced Catholic hospitals to perform abortions.

--One of the first executive orders Obama signed after being sworn in on January 20, 2009 was to overturn the Mexico City Policy that denied federal funding of private organizations that perform and promote abortions abroad.

--On January 29, 2009, Obama said he looked forward to restoring U.S. aid to the U.N. Population Fund that pays for abortion.

--Obama supports partial-birth abortion, the procedure where a baby who is 80 percent born has his head pierced with a scissors.

--In 2008, Obama said the biggest mistake he ever made was to side with the parents of Terry Schiavo: they petitioned a federal court to allow their daughter food and medicine needed to live. Obama reversed himself, thus siding with those who said, just "let her die."

--Obama sent his two daughters to private schools but opposed every school choice initiative that would allow poor parents to escape the public schools by enrolling in a private or parochial school.

--Obama opposed the Defense of Marriage Act signed by President Bill Clinton that allowed the states to determine what defines marriage, thus undercutting the traditional definition.

--Obama supports same-sex marriage.

--Obama opposes a display of the Ten Commandments on public property.

--Obama supports the intentional killing of embryos.

--Obama sought to appoint Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel. She cut her teeth as a lawyer working with the ACLU in the late 1980s trying to take away the tax exempt status of the Catholic Church.

--Obama appointed Harry Knox to his Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership program. He has a record of hate speech against the pope.

--Obama was the first president to welcome atheist leaders to the White House, some of whom are Catholic bashers.

--When Obama spoke at Georgetown University in April 2009, his staff insisted that all religious symbols in the room where he was to speak had to be covered with a drape.

--Obama's Heath and Human Services mandate, still pushed by the administration, says that Catholic institutions that hire and serve non-Catholics are no longer Catholic, and are therefore subject to government oversight. This includes the Little Sisters of the Poor.

--Obama fought U.S. bishops for years—and is doing so now—trying to force Catholic non-profits to pay for abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization in their healthcare plans.

--Obama made sure that no grants went to Catholic programs that provide relief to the victims of human trafficking—even though the grant proposals received high scores from independent reviewers—simply because the Church's opposes abortion.

What is a lay apostolate?

I've heard so many Catholics on the Journey Home refer to their apostolate, I thought I'd better look it up.  Well, for starters, it isn't what you do for your individual church or congregation, like parish council or teaching classes.  It's in the secular world, working for the Lord.

A key part of lay apostolate is that it happens in a secular environment, not in church. Vatican Council II's Constitution on the Church spoke of it as a “special vocation” — making faith “present and fruitful” in those places where that can only be done by the laity. What places might those be? The home, the neighborhood, and the workplace come to mind. If Christianity is to be lived out there, it's up to lay people to do it.

Lay apostolate comes in two broad varieties — individual and group. A group apostolate might involve something like running a pregnancy counseling program or operating a values-oriented private school. http://catholicexchange.com/whats-a-lay-apostolate

I encourage you to read the    

DECREE ON THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY
APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM
SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS,
POPE PAUL VI
ON NOVEMBER 18, 1965 

It's really quite inspiring; succinct, yet readable in its thoroughness.
  http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651118_apostolicam-actuositatem_en.html

Our own times require of the laity no less zeal: in fact, modern conditions demand that their apostolate be broadened and intensified. With a constantly increasing population, continual progress in science and technology, and closer interpersonal relationships, the areas for the lay apostolate have been immensely widened particularly in fields that have been for the most part open to the laity alone. These factors have also occasioned new problems which demand their expert attention and study. This apostolate becomes more imperative in view of the fact that many areas of human life have become increasingly autonomous. This is as it should be, but it sometimes involves a degree of departure from the ethical and religious order and a serious danger to Christian life. Besides, in many places where priests are very few or, in some instances, deprived of due freedom for priestly work, the Church could scarcely exist and function without the activity of the laity. . . "

". . . The greatest commandment in the law is to love God with one's whole heart and one's neighbor as oneself (cf. Matt. 22:37-40). Christ made this commandment of love of neighbor His own and enriched it with a new meaning. For He wanted to equate Himself with His brethren as the object of this love when He said, "As long as you did it for one of these, the least of My brethren, you did it for Me" (Matt. 25:40). Assuming human nature, He bound the whole human race to Himself as a family through a certain supernatural solidarity and established charity as the mark of His disciples, saying, "By this will all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). . ."

" . . . In the manner of the men and women who helped Paul in spreading the Gospel (cf. Acts 18:18, 26; Rom. 16:3) the laity with the right apostolic attitude supply what is lacking to their brethren and refresh the spirit of pastors and of the rest of the faithful (cf. 1 Cor. 16:17-18). Strengthened by active participation in the liturgical life of their community, they are eager to do their share of the apostolic works of that community. They bring to the Church people who perhaps are far removed from it, earnestly cooperate in presenting the word of God especially by means of catechetical instruction, and offer their special skills to make the care of souls and the administration of the temporalities of the Church more efficient and effective."

Conestoga visits local glass art

Yesterday our Conestoga group (friends organization for the Ohio History Connection) met at the Ohio Historical Society, got on a bus and enjoyed a delightful day of seeing beautiful glass art in Columbus, Ohio. First we went to Franklin Art Glass in German Village, a family owned and operated stained glass studio since its inception in 1924, the largest in Ohio. We had a tour of the product/sales section and the studios where the artisans prepare work to order. Our guide explained about the design to glass to finished work procedure, and showed us many wonderful pieces.

Then it was back on the bus (we were using a school bus so it was easier to navigate the narrow streets of German Village) for our luncheon spot, Schmidt's Sausage Haus where we enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch of Bahama Mamas, Bratwurst, potato salad, tossed salad, saurkraut, and mini-cream puffs. For a number of years the German Village Schmidt's was our Friday Night date spot, but we hadn't been there for a number of years. Still has great food.

Then it was on to Trinity Episcopal Church down town on Capitol Square where we had a lecture and tour by the Rector, Richard Burnett. The congregation was founded in 1817 and the current building was designed by Gordon Lloyd in the Gothic Revival style and built after the Civil War. The Church in the World window on the west side was designed by William Kielblock and made by the Franklin Art Glass Co., and was dedicated in 1965.  I'd heard about it for years--unfortunately, in 1970 a new organ completely obscured the window from view on the inside, where we were. I understand that you can see it from the outside with interior illumination.  It has been criticized as too secular, with flags of the U.S., landmarks of the statehouse, O'Shaughnessy Dam, city skyscrapers, Port Columbus airport, John Glenn's spacecraft, etc., as though the church is embracing the world. I guess I'll never have the opportunity to judge!  The windows behind the altar had also been somewhat obscured by a huge skyscraper blocking the light--and light is always a partner in art glass. They were in the art deco style.

Then it was a short bus ride to St. Joseph Cathedral which began as a modest brick church building in 1866, but was rebuilt soon after as a stone cathedral when the Diocese of Columbus was established.  The lot size was rather small, so the cathedral is not large.  Conestoga had a Christmas dinner here several years ago, so we had already had a tour of the organ loft, which is really incredible.  We also had a brief concert while we were there.  The windows were replaced during the WWI era, and because of the war, had been buried for awhile in Germany to protect them. They were made by F. X. Zettler of the Royal Bavarian Art Institute. Names of donors appear on the windows.

Our final stop was Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, and I just don't have words to describe the loveliness of this church and our spectacular guide, who was able to explain all the mosaic art and also provide a wonderful evangelistic story of faith, symbols, and art. It's just amazing what a faithful, small group of Greek immigrants were able to do. All the mosaics were made by Bruno Salvatori of Florence, Italy, and are spectacular in detail and beauty. They consist of about five million tiles of Venetian glass and 24-carat gold.  There's not another church in Columbus (or maybe Ohio) that tells the gospel better through its art.
Check here for further details.

It was a long day, but we came home tired and fulfilled and spiritually uplifted.