God Never Punishes With A Stick!

It is said the Pilgrims arrived on American shores seeking religious freedom. They knew that true freedom came only from Jesus Christ. They believed God was guiding them and made a profound effort to follow His lead. But did they (really) follow what God, in His Divine Providence, would condone?

Long before the Vikings or Columbus landed in America there were scores of Indian tribes inhabiting American soil. Not long after this "landing," countless Indians and their families were murdered, raped, and placed on small reservations; they were (forced) to speak English and to abandon their cultural languages and beliefs.

Today, the American populace cannot understand why the Ten Commandments and other Christian writings are subject to removal from courthouse doors, the money we spend, and why Christianity has been problematic when we evangelize and attempt to convert. The Bible tells us not only that a "divided house will not stand," but also says we basically cannot build a good life on faulty foundations. The same can be said for building on ill-gotten gains. The hard and plain truth of the matter is that when we stole the Indian's land, their women, their sons, and their culture, we rendered ourselves the contractors of faulty foundations. It is this writer's opinion, that God is (not) happy about how we obtained this country and how we have managed it since the acquisition. Why then, are we so surprised at the reluctance people pose to don any Scripture on the doors of present-day America?

To date, one American tragedy after another strikes our brave soldiers, but they are under orders from the very country whose past leaders were involved in this Indian takeover; and we cannot blame God either for the newest movement that is slowly removing God's Word from the doors of American government buildings. Could this be God's way of telling us He will not allow His Word on faulty foundations? Remember your old grandparents and the adages they used: "God Never Punishes With a Stick."

We can never be truly free if we mix what God frowns upon with that of which He smiles on - we must be hot or cold or - He will "spit us out!" What do you, the readers say? Let your true feelings outline this opinion, but please allow your conscience to lead you as your pen strikes the paper. Noteworthy - is that the Bible also tells us "what you do the lest my brothers and sisters - you do to me." Ever wonder if the Indians knew that verse?"

Can You Deal With Faith - When Negative Links Are Present?

On a recent interview in New Orleans I interviewed Father Danilo Degal, of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, in Chalmette, Louisiana. When asked how natural disasters affect ones Faith, he said:

"Faith is strong here in Chalmette, and since I am the Dean of 12 Churches, I hear a great number of people asking when the destroyed Churches within their parishes will reopen."

How do you, our readers, respond to this? Would you lose some Faith should our fault-line cave in for an oncoming earthquake or like disaster? Do you feel that God creates or allows evil so that He can bring about the greater good - looking at the cross for proof?

Let us hear what you have to say.

Randall Oddo

Can Biblical Hermeneutics Save Us From Revelations 14:03?

Many of us take Biblical passages literally in every sense. But Biblical Hermeneutics teaches us to study with great vigor the preceding paragraphs to properly place what we read in the right prospective or context.

Revelations 14:03 tells us "there before the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a hymn that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the world." Verses 4 - 5 says: "these are the ones who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women; they follow the Lamb wherever He goes, they, out of all people, have been redeemed to be the first fruits for God and for the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths and no fault can be found in them."

Opposition to Christianity have taken these passages and concluded if the numbers in Revelations are correct human mathematics, then we as Christians are certainly in trouble. However, teachings within the Diocese by the many competent instructors, indicate (many) Scriptural writers were using the large numbers of the period to emphasize the greatness or lesser census' to outline the importance of a given message, i.e., the number 40 is used with the floods, the time spent in the desert, etc. That does not mean (all) Biblical events were subjected to the number 40 - the writers were merely saying He spent a long time with this, a long time with that.

We may find our answer in the truth that God's mention of years is betoken God's numbers in time - His clock is certainly not a product of Timex and not to be confused with human time - or numbers of people verbatim. How would you address this in a Bible Study?

Thank you, and yours in Christ,
Randall M. Oddo (Moderator)