Photo by Ray Bilcliff
Martin Luther’s Prayer link
Behold, Lord,
An empty vessel that needs to be filled.
My Lord, fill it.
I am weak in faith;
Strengthen thou me.
I am cold in love;
Warm me and make me fervent
That my love may go out to my neighbour.
I do not have a strong and firm faith;
At times I doubt and am unable to trust thee altogether.
O Lord, help me.
Strengthen my faith and trust in thee.
In thee I have sealed the treasures of all I have.
I am poor;
Thou art rich and didst come to be merciful to the poor.
I am a sinner;
Thou art upright.
With me there is an abundance of sin;
In thee is the fullness of righteousness.
Therefore, I will remain with thee of who I can receive
But to whom I may not give.
Amen.
Prayer of Mother Teresa link
Dear Jesus, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go.Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine.
Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine,
so to shine as to be a light to others.
Amen.
A Prayer for Peace link
O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels,
and all just works, give to me, Your servant, that peace which the world cannot give,
that my heart may be set to obey Your commandments and also that I, being defended from the fear of my enemies,
may live in peace and quietness;
through Jesus Christ, my Lord.
Amen
Benediction: Prayer of St. Theresa of Avila (1515-1582) link
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
Amen
Doing a bit of research and fact-checking on Sharon Dirckx.
The transcript of this interview contains a real zinger, cited at the bottom of this comment.
The Gospels are emphatically NOT as reliable as “every other historical document that there is about any other historical event.” If they were, we would all be Christians and no faith would be required. The fact is, there is no good evidence contemporary to the alleged time of Jesus for a miracle working god who walked the earth.
This tells me that she was never much of a skeptic, nor a thoughtful scientist.
She is a garden variety apologist.
“And I remember reading another book. I can’t even remember its title now, but showing me how I could actually trust the documents of the New Testament and of the gospels, so if you want to throw them away as unreliable, you actually have to do that with most other, if not every other, historical document that there is about any other historical event. Such is their reliability and trustworthiness.”
Sandy(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Sandy,
I agree that she is wrong about them being considered so reliable and also in thinking it is an either accept completely or not at all situation when it comes to historic documents. Good historians always evaluate documents carefully and don’t ignore them (barring obvious much more recent fakes [though other historians of the time period the fakes were written could find them of interest, see Book of Mormon]). The New Testament documents plus some other sources are sufficient for almost all historians of the period including those who are not Christian to think that Jesus of Nazareth existed and was executed by the Romans; the miracles and resurrection are a different matter (just as most historians don’t think Vespasian was doing miracles despite what several contemporary or near contemporary writers were claiming).
I will also note that it is the uncommon person who is well qualified in both science and history (or science and philosophy). My guess is she read Josh McDowell’s “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” (the institute, the C. S. Lewis Institute, that sponsored the video has someone endorsing that book) or something similar and just swallowed it whole. An example from the other extreme are the scientists (and others) who accept Richard Carrier’s works on Jesus mythicism as being accurate (it isn’t). BTW I have my doubts that Lewis would agree completely with the statement of faith that the Institute named after him has; he was no inerrantist.
To me an important thing is whether we are treating all our neighbors (in the absolute broadest sense of the word) justly, mercifully, generously, and in the way we would want to be treated if we were in their position (I usually fail). Scholarship including that done by scientists, philosophers, and historians broaden our knowledge which can then inform us how best to do this and so should be pursued.
Erp(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Sandy,
Where do spiritual meanings, or meanings at all, come in for anybody? What is the invisible economy of the real “God’s” kingdom? Try out Proverbs 21: 10-31; and the feedings of the thousands, which are about head hunting.
I knew as a slightly backward primary school child what meanings are (but that’s just God’s set of gifts to me there, then).
BTW the first two chapters of Genesis do not describe either evolution nor creation! (I keep saying this)
I can tell you “bibles” that are not inerrant – and that’s any of Gruesome Grudem’s.
The latest two dirty words in “new evangelical” churches these days are: meaning, and belief.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Marshall McLuhan, both, warned them not to grab influence.
Michael in UK(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
This!
From your lips to God’s ear.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply.
I believe in God and I love Jesus.
It troubles me when people of faith make assertions which are profoundly false, as Dr. Dirckx does here. Yes, for a prime example, see Book of Mormon.
I am a professional scientist, an amateur historian, and a sort of Catholic. After a lifetime of looking, I can find no good contemporaneous evidence for the assertion that “Jesus of Nazareth existed and was executed by the Romans.” All the apparent evidence appears much later, after Christianity had spread. Notice that not even Paul says “executed by the Romans,” despite having every reason to do so, if he was aware of it. Paul viewed Christ as a pre-existing archangel, as Bart Ehrman has recently admitted. Paul said nothing about a wandering preacher we know as the Jesus of Nazareth.
May Gods love be with you.
Sandy(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Meaning is everything.
Words are nothing without meaning.
And meaning is always plural.
May Gods love be with you!
Sandy(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)