JAN 23: A QUICK NOTE

1/23/2013

A quick note - chapter 4 of Basket of Reeds has been set in.

Had a revelation of sorts this morning, short and sweet: and that is, that the road to deliverance, to nirvana or heaven, is really right there before us. I got a glimpse of it. At the same time, a voice seemed to say, "so, what are you interested in this for, anyway?" What it meant was clear - there was the road, long and rocky but obvious and ready for use, but - was I ready to take it, to go to the end? To take it, I also realized, was to give up everything else, just as the wise books and people say; but I saw it myself and understood what that meant in a more personal way...

...and so have been in a quandary since. To see the road placed so clearly is a gift - but to take that gift is to make a change of unimaginable proportions. Wasn't it James and Andrew who threw away their nets - and their family - to follow Jesus? Yes, but did they have a wife and children? We have often wondered at such phrases in the Bible, and now I know - they weren't simply metaphors.

We know what road most of us would take - the road to procrastination. I suppose that's what reincarnation is for - you get a few (dozen, perhaps) chances to say "yes."

There is no such thing as "just another morning." FK

2 Comments

RB Rooson

1/24/2013 04:54:48 am

A mainstay of the Jesuit Catholic Catechism is that: We are saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection (Solus Christus). Faith (Sola Fide), however, is more than an activity of the mind; it must express itself outwardly. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells a parable about the final judgment, saying that some people are saved because of their actions and other people are condemned for failing to act.

Those who are saved do not “earn” their salvation by good works. Their works of mercy simply reflect a cooperation with God’s sovereign, saving grace (Sola Gratia) and an inability not to do good works. Those who are condemned have failed to cooperate with that same grace, thus their works are shallow and inconsequential.

Luther wrote in the Smalcald Articles that:

The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us ... Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).

In 1991, the Holy See International Theological Commission published "Certain Aspects of Eschatology", which says: “Christianity defends duality, reincarnation defends a dualism in which the body is simply an instrument of the soul and is laid aside, existence by successive existence, as an altogether different body is assumed each time.

As far as eschatology is concerned, the doctrine of reincarnation denies both the possibility of eternal damnation and the idea of the resurrection of the body. But the fundamental error is in the rejection of the Christian doctrine of salvation. For the reincarnationist, the soul is its own savior by its own efforts." (Section 9.3).

Reincarnation denies the need to convert, about which Jesus spoke often. If souls keep recycling, won’t they all end up in the same place eventually? If so, why are our decisions today important?

Arguing that some major doctrine was originally in the Bible but was later removed strikes me as too easy a solution and non-provable. Usually the esoteric thought by individuals, who believe they can "out-reason" God and the words of Scripture (Sola Scriptura). Very illuminati approach...."it must conform with their own version of thought and understanding".

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “When ‘the single course of our earthly life’ is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: ‘It is appointed for men to die once’ [Hebrews 9:27]. There is no ‘reincarnation’ after death” (#1013).

RB Rooson

1/29/2013 11:57:12 pm

A side-light: In your 'Books To Come' section, the short story "The Potato Patch" is delightful. Actually would like to see more of these.....and a place to comment in that section.

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JAN 23: A QUICK NOTE

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