Magic Statistics

The task of the pastor used to include giving godly advice or spiritual direction, but we rarely hear of those nowadays. Instead, clergy are up to their eyeballs in counselling. The counselling approach generally assumes that the church exists to meet the needs of Christians. Thus, biblical evaluations, if they are not passed over altogether, are filtered through the "insights" of psychology—pop or otherwise. This therapeutic perspective overlooks or ignores fundamental aspects of human nature, such as the tendency to desire what is contrary to God’s will. This is what John wrote of in his first letter:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

The Rev Dr Peter Toon recalls that the church used to call such inordinate desire concupiscence. Now there’s a word I haven’t heard for ages.

The reason why the word concupiscence, and associated words such as mortification and sanctification (not to mention "original sin," lust and chastity) are not common in modern preaching and teaching, retreat addresses, devotional and spirituality books, is that most of our pastors and congregations (ourselves) either do not believe in the presence of concupiscence, or we choose to think and live as though it is not what the apostles and saints have said it is. That is, being enlightened through modern scientific discovery and study, we see fulfillment of desire as more often than not the true development of our natures rather than the way into sinfulness – thus the emphasis on self-realization and associated themes.

The refusal to accept chastity as a virtue, together with indulgence in sexual excess, have often been used to illustrate the presence of concupiscence in the soul. In parts of the contemporary Church in America and Europe, one does not have to look far to find such and to find it as boldly proclaiming itself as good and holy! However, in the abundant evidence in our midst of over indulgence in food, in alcohol, in drugs, in pleasure and in a variety of pursuits to satisfy the self, concupiscence cries out for recognition. Those who do not see it and recognize it for what it is are fools, for, as John puts it, "the world is passing away, and so is its desire; but he who does God’s will abides for ever."

The 77s sing a great song about concupiscence: The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes and the Pride of Life. Here are some of the lyrics:

Well, I see something and I want it
Bam! Right now!
No questions asked
Don't worry how much it costs me now or later
I want it and I want it fast
I'll go to any length
Sacrifice all that I already have
And all that I might get
Just to get
Something more that I don't need
And Lord, please don't ask me what for

The lust, the flesh
The eyes
And the pride of life
Drain the life
Right out of me

It’s so excruciatingly true. Clergy who "counsel" troubled souls to fulfil their felt needs are not doing them any favours.

Steve Whitney, pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church, West Sacramento, has posted a bunch of Bible content examinations. Each of the 18 tests has seven categories of multiple-choice questions: Pentateuch, Historical Books, Prophets, Psalms and Wisdom Literature, Gospels, Acts and Pauline Letters, Rest of the New Testament. Each question is hyper-linked to the Bible passage with the correct answer. These tests were used to prepare seminary students for ordination exams, so they are not easy!

via Drell's Descants.

The province of Alberta is going to pay people for living there. It sounds like a poor imitation of Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend. Alberta is giving residents a one-time payment of $400, while Alaska gives an annual payment to each of its residents. This year's dividend is $846, down from $1963 in 2000. (All amounts are in the respective country's currency, which means that this year's Alaska dividend is equivalent to about $1000 Canadian.)

Inevitably, some joker has made up fake versions of the Alberta cheques, emblazened with the slogan "Screw You, Rest of Canada". There are six in the series. A friend from Alberta sent me the lot by e-mail this morning. The whole series is here. I've posted the best one, but not the whole series because this is a family blog (sort of). Consider yourself forewarned.

Someone came to my site earlier today via an MSN search with these keywords: "feelings of social justice". Boy, did he (or she) get a wrong number! This page came up third in the MSN search results window. Just to top it off, the searcher's web domain is in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I do hope and pray my visitor is not one of those Uzbeki Christians suffering severe persecution because of their faith.

Protestant believers in the predominantly Kazakh village [Janbashkala, Uzbekistan] of 12,000 are now refused access to drinking water for their homes, with men, women and even children subjected to severe beatings for their faith, Primbetov told Compass. Others have lost their jobs or businesses, had their homes attacked or confiscated and faced astronomical fines for participating in house church meetings.

Here's the whole story, via Dhimmi Watch.

The collect for today, the Feast of St Simon & St Jude, Apostles, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

O almighty God, who has built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head cornerstone; Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

On the various New Testament lists of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13), the tenth and eleventh places are occupied by Simon and Judas son of James, also called Thaddeus.

To distinguish Simon from Simon Peter, Matthew and Mark refer to him as Simon the Cananean, while Luke refers to him as Simon the Zealot. Both surnames have the same signification and are a translation of the Hebrew qana (the Zealous). The name does not signify that he belonged to the party of Zealots, but that he had zeal for the Jewish law, which he practised before his call. The translation of Matthew and Mark as Simon "the Canaanite" (as, e.g., KJV has it) is simply mistaken.

The New Testament contains a variety of names for the apostle Jude: Matthew and Mark refer to Thaddeus (a variant reading of Matthew has "Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus"), while Luke calls him Judas son of James. Christian tradition regards Saint Jude and Saint Thaddeus as different names for the same person. The various names are understood as efforts to avoid associating Saint Jude with the name of the traitor Judas Iscariot. The only time words of Jude are recorded, in John 14:22-23, the Evangelist is quick to add "(not Iscariot)" after his name.

Jude is often identified as one of the brothers of the Lord and the author of the New Testament Epistle of Jude, but this is by no means universally accepted. The New Testament says that some or all of the Lord's brothers did not believe in Him until after the Resurrection, so it is questionable whether the apostle Jude is the same Jude who authored the epistle bearing his name. In any case, as James Kiefer suggests,

we commemorate on this day (1) Simon the Zealot, one of the original Twelve; (2) Judas of James (also called Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus), also one of the original Twelve; and (3) Jude (or Judas) the brother of James and author of the Epistle, without settling the question of whether (2) and (3) are the same person.

After Pentecost, nothing certain is known about Simon and little about Jude. Some ancient Christian writers say that Simon and Jude went together as missionaries to Persia, and were martyred there. If this is true, it explains, to some extent, our lack of historical information on them and also why they are usually put together.

In modern times Jude has acquired considerable popularity as 'patron of hopeless causes' or 'saint of last resort'. This patronage is said to have originated because nobody invoked him for anything since his name so closely resembled that of Judas who betrayed the Lord; consequently he favours even the most desperate situations of his clients.