deacon's corner

Freedom Is Never Free

31. December 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

man’s freedom is limited and fallible

Saint Irenaeus wrote that “Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.”[1] Much of current scientific thought, quite to the contrary, would deny the existence of the divine and thus call into question the remainder of just such a statement. If there is no God, then it follows that man could not be a creature of a non-existent God and therefore not bound by any law instituted outside human construct. “Without its Creator the creature simply disappears… If God is ignored the creature itself is impoverished.”[2] Without God, free will becomes meaningless for the sole purpose of free will is so man “might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him.”[3]

Sovereignty Of Reason

22. December 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

setting boundaries

Incumbent with any attempt to define morality and the moral order as objective is the absolute necessity for God to be the source and substance of it. For it is God who is the final arbiter, the supreme judge of what is right or wrong, good or evil. Yet we have been reluctant to accept that from the very beginning.

Objective Morality

16. December 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

God decides

Catchphrases and slogans are found in virtually every aspect of daily life. Marketers know that a successful catchphrase or slogan, repeatedly uttered, can propel a product or service beyond any normal expectations. Sometimes a catchphrase mirrors prevailing sentiment to such a degree that it transcends well beyond its age and its original intent, such as “These are the times that try men’s souls.”[1]

Searching For The Truth

09. December 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

on the dependence of human reason on Divine Wisdom

Nineteenth Century author and playwright H. H. Munro once remarked that “The fashion just now is a Roman Catholic frame of mind with an agnostic conscience; you get the mediaeval picturesqueness of the one with the modern conveniences of the other.” Sadly I’m afraid his observation would appear to be far more fashionable in the twenty-first century than it was in the nineteenth.

A Moral Life

01. December 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

what life?

Asked any question and more often than we might care to admit we immediately respond to the query with little if any serious thought or consideration. Seldom do we question the question, consider exactly what is being asked, or whether the question is a reasonable one. And rarely do we pause and question whether it includes dubious or unwarranted presuppositions.

An Uneasy Feeling

23. November 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

questioning the question

Sometimes we find ourselves filled with an uneasy feeling, a vague unsettling sensation that permeates the very core of our being, telling us that something is amiss. And yet the cause of our disquietude is difficult to discern, as if diffused and obscured by a fog laid low upon the ground.

Off Angels’ Wings

18. November 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

look into the face of God

For many, Thanksgiving is a pivotal moment in the steady march toward a new year, marking the onset of what is commonly called the “holiday season”. Bookended by the national holiday and the ringing in of the New Year, the season is filled with a madcap rush of non-stop activities centered on family gatherings, shopping, decorating, cooking, parties, and more. The air is filled with insistent voices urging everyone to stop whatever they are doing and shop, shop, shop. Each passing day only serves to increase the sense of impending doom should one fail to get it while it lasts!

Heroes And Saints

12. November 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

what it takes to be one

Heroes and saints almost always share two traits in common: neither sets out in life to become one and when recognized as such they react with great humility and self-deprecation. Whenever the spotlight shines upon them, their reaction is one of embarrassment and self-effacing modesty for they never see themselves as especially heroic or saintly, rather they are quick to recognize the great deeds of others, never themselves.

To Love Less Than

06. November 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

Whom do you serve?

Whatever you possess is never yours to store or stash away; it is a gift on loan from God to assist you in living as Christ taught us. Have you ever taken inventory of all your possessions? How tightly do you hold them? How hard would it be to give some or everything you possess away? Do you possess your possessions or do your possessions possess you?

The Crisis

28. October 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: Reflections

with apologies to Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine on December 23, 1776 penned these immortal words: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”[1] While the focus of his article was on the then ongoing struggle for independence from Great Britain, his words still ring as true today as they did 239 years ago.