Brutally Honest

What comes after death?

Father Tim answers the question:

We go through life, we work hard to achieve something, we find someone to love and if we’re fortunate we build a family and experience good and positive and lasting relationships. But what does it all mean if it all ends in death? What’s the point of learning, if my brain’s just going to go demented and then die out? What’s the point of love, if sooner or later you’re going to lose the one you love? Is it really possible that all these years of laughing and working, eating and sleeping, learning and loving are going to end up in nothing more than the decay of my body in the grave?

Human beings have always pondered that question, and throughout our history we’ve continuously speculated about what happens to us after we die. Some, believing that the person continues to live in some sense after death, have left tools and articles of clothing in the grave to help the dead person in the next life. Some people have tried to contact the dead, and others believe that the dead have contacted them. Some people have been afraid of what comes after death and have paid money for masses to be said for the safety of their souls. Some have believed that when we die we go to a better place. Others have been skeptical: we just die, and that’s the end of that.

The Christian faith is firmly on record as teaching that there is life after death. In the Nicene Creed, which goes back in its earliest form to the fourth century A.D., we say, ‘We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come’. What does this mean? What do we actually believe about life after death?

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Our Christian hope isn’t a selfish one: it’s not just about ‘what will happen to me after I die’. It’s about the future of God’s entire creation. And that future will not just be what we call a ‘spiritual’ thing – it will involve bodies and matter as well. All the material things we know with our senses – the taste of food, the feel of the sun on your skin on a warm day, the caress of a lover – these are good things made by a good and loving God. When the last day comes God isn’t going to abandon matter as a bad idea and opt for a purely ‘spiritual’ world, as Plato taught. No: the Bible tells us that what God is going to do is ‘make all things new’; God is going to heal the wounds of creation and restore it to his original dream. And he’s going to raise his people from the dead so that they can enjoy life as he originally conceived it, before evil entered his world.

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What we do know is that the Christian hope is about the renewal of this world. It tells us that the future of this world is in the hands of God and not of the forces of evil and destruction; that the last word will be God’s word and not the words of tyrants or mass murderers. The symbolic language of the book of Revelation tells us that the day will come when the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth, when God will make his home among us and live with us forever, when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, when death and mourning and crying and pain will be no more; the time when God will say, “See, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:2-5).

That’s our hope, and so we can face death with a different attitude. Christian teaching doesn’t pretend that death isn’t a huge blow; Paul doesn’t tell his friends in Thessalonica not to grieve for those who have died. What he says is that they do not need to grieve ‘as others do who have no hope’ (4:13). We will grieve, yes, but only as I might grieve if I was going to be separated from my loved ones for a very long trip in which I would be unable to contact them at all. People who don’t have this hope grieve because they see death as the final separation. But we Christians are encouraged to trust that beyond that separation there will be a great reunion, on that bright morning when God renews his whole creation, when Jesus is acknowledged by all as Lord of heaven and earth, and when the human family finally finds the peace and justice we’ve been longing for, for as long as we can remember.

Friends... that's hope... and change... to believe in.

I suggest you read the whole thing... and be refreshed.

Planned Parenthood "Helps" Hurricane Katrina Victims With Free Morning After Pills

Praise God for all the beautiful expressions of care and compassion that are being sent out to the hurricane devestated Gulf Coast.

And then there are those who can only think of how to spread a little more death along the way.  Link: Planned Parenthood "Helps" Hurricane Katrina Victims With Free Morning After Pills.

Utterly unbelievable.

...Fr. Tim

A Disturbance in the Force

I'm about three weeks behind the times but I finally went to see "Revenge of the Sith"  You can read several great reviews at Hollywood Jesus .

Several guys from my parish got together for what soon became known as the "Unofficial St. John the Apostle, StarWars geek movie night".  It was a guy's night out as we went to see the film and then conviened at my favorite pub (The Dragonmead) to knock back a couple of brews and discuss the movie.

One thing that struck me about our discussion was that no one seemed to pick up on an element of Anakin's descent to the Dark Side.  In witnessing all of his rebellion, anger, and selfishness one thought kept running through my head.  "It's the Jedi's fault".  You see, up until the very last minute, Anakin was willing to give up on his desire to preserve his wife from death.  But as he prepared to hand over the evil Darth Sidious to the Jedi Council, Anakin realized that it was not their intent to bring Sidious to justice but rather to kill him.  Nothing wrong with that.  I mean if anyone deserved death it was this guy.  The problem was that it was an action that went against the code of the Jedi.

I wonder how many times the rebellion and disappointment that people feel against the Church or the government can be traced back to the fact that the leaders abandoned the principles that they champion for everyone else?  It might be the hypocracy of a Senate that won't allow others to have the same Social Security options they have.  It could be a Bishop who ignores the church law that binds all others under his care.  The fact is that those who lead must earn the trust of those who follow with each decision they make. 

How sad when a Jedi Master lets his apprentice down.  How many Sith are created in such a way?

Pax Christi
Fr. Tim

Intolerance cont.

USA Today posts this example of the cluelessness of the elite of our country.

It seems that author E. L. Doctorow was giving a commencement speech at Hofstra University when he was roundly booed after making several anti-Bush statements. Apparently he expected everyone to either agree with him or to simply keep quiet.

He was quoted as saying:

"I thought we were all supposed to speak out," he told The Washington Post in Tuesday's editions. "Isn't that what this country is about?"

According to USA Today

He told the Post that his speech made the point to graduates that "simply because something was said by authority did not mean it shouldn't be questioned. I think it was entirely appropriate."

I think the students got the message Mr. Doctorow. They simply questioned your authority.

Fr. Tim

UPDATE: Juliette speaks to the indoctrination education exhibited by some at Hofstra.

The Intolerance of the Tolerent

Before I get started Rick asked if I would introduce myself to all of you here at Brutally Honest. My name is Father Tim and I am a 37-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Michigan. My wife Anna and I have been married 9 years this May. We have two girls, 3 & 6.

My background is in the performing arts. I studied to be an actor before I received my call to the ministry. I hold a bachelors degree in Philosophy from Asbury College in Wilmore, KY and a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary (also in Wilmore). I am the son and grandson of United Methodist pastors and I served in the UMC from 1997 until 2003. I was ordained into the Priesthood in the Charismatic Episcopal Church on January 10 of this year. We are currently preparing for a move to the Detroit area where we will help to plant a church on the East side of the city.

I have a passion for all things Celtic (including a good 12 year old single malt scotch and Guinness stout), love authors from Alvin Plantinga and C. S. Lewis down to Ian Fleming and Jack Kerouac. I love just about anything to do with the ocean and my fondest dream is to spend a two-week holiday sailing on a tall masted ship in the Caribbean.

Now that that's out of the way let me get down to the topic. I have just spent a few of the most frustrating months of my life trying to converse with a number of self-proclaimed "progressive" Christians. For those who have never come across this particular classification, you usually find this species of churchperson prowling the halls of old-line denominational seminaries searching for the unsuspecting freshman seminarian in order to swiftly kill any remnants of traditional belief they have brought with them. Their secondary habitat is on clergy oriented blog sites and PBS religion specials where they smugly assert that only the most primitive believer still maintains a belief that the Bible actually means what it says.

In particular, I was trying to have a reasonable discussion with a few of the PCs, first on the topic of whether The Passion of the Christ was an artistic success, and second on the Christian response to the war in Iraq. What I soon discovered is that these most tolerant of all religious individuals, who never met a Buddhist they didn't like, quickly came to the conclusion that since my traditional understanding of the Scripture was not as theirs, I must therefore be unworthy of the name Christian. This was done while making many assumptions about my character and activity (not to mention theology) and absolutely refusing to address the statements I actually made.

The one thing that kept running through my mind during these exchanges was, "I thought only conservative, orthodox, uneducated people were supposed to act this way?" After all, this is exactly what the Religious Right has always been accused of. I know! I've read the articles! Only those who hold to a traditionalist view of the world are supposed to be capable of bigotry, hatred, and intolerance. And yet here were PCs who (according to conventional wisdom) were above such things acting as if reason and tolerance were completely unknown to them.

Now the gut reaction to this kind of discovery is usually to whine, "that's not fair" and retreat into sulking. That's unfortunate because the best way for traditionalists to flush out this kind of hypocrisy is to meet it face to face. One of the lessons that I have learned (the hard way, as I do with most things) is not to let the PCs send you off on rabbit trails. If you have asked a question, stick with it until it's answered. Don't be bamboozled by a quote from Scripture. Remember these individuals only believe the passages that support their positions. Confront them with the whole Bible along with common sense and tradition and their argument begins to disintegrate.

And finally. . . stop expecting them to be the tolerant people they proclaim themselves to be. Like most of the arguments they put forward, their tolerance is about a mile wide and an inch deep.

Pax Christi
Fr. Tim