JMJ
July 10, 2015
This evacuee from the wildfires of Saskatchewan has been given a computer to use.
We haven't had a Mass in our area since February . We were excited and blessed to be where we could attend. The Bible reading was the historic account of the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah. God bless the historic Church that does not allow his priests to choose their own Bible passages. I wondered how this might be watered down. Even with that I was shocked to hear the priest " explain" that it didn't happen, that God doesn't send down fires 'that Lot's wife was not turned into a pillar of salt. Then why was this story put in the Bible.? Oh, it was to teach us that Lot had taken more land than he needed and Abraham had not.
Actually both Abraham and Lot were were wealthy ranchers or shepherds who had many flocks of goats, sheep and cattle. They had many servants who began to quarrel about water supplies.
Abraham told Lot to choose other land and take what was left. Lot chose land that encompassed the cities of Sodom and Gommorah. These cities were given over to sinful sexual practices. The only righteous people were Lot and his family. They were told to flee the city and not look back. His wife did look back and turned into a pillar of salt. The cities were completely destroyed .
In addition to the Bible there are other ancient accounts of this event that have been unearthed by archaology. The cities of Sodom and Gommorah have also been established as actually having existed and actually having been destroyed completely. For 2000 years the Catholic Church has taught that this story as factual history. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the sin of Sodomy is just that: a serious sin.
If God does not rain fire from heaven then the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal are also made up. The priests of Baal put an animal offering on an altar and prayed to Baal to send fire from heaven to burn the sacrifice. They prayed, they shouted, they cut themselves but no fire came. Elijah made a similar altar and sacrifice. He told people to pour water on the altar in great buckets. They did so. Elijah prayed. Fire came down. The Baal priests were defeated.
If God does not rain fire from Heaven then on the day of Pentecost flames of fire did not light on the apostles, they did not receive the gift of speaking in many languages and were not changed into courageous, zealous missionaries. The Church believed that the flames did happen and the bishops' mitre, the pointed triangle hats are the symbol of this event.
If does not rain fire from Heaven then he can't send ain on the fires that have caused 13,000 evacuees from northern Saskatchewan to camp elsewhere. There is no point to pray for rain. Yet the Gospels say that even the winds and waters obey Jesus.
If thehistoric story of Sodom and Gommorah did not really happen then we can't trust the Bible about anything. If our religion is really a bunch of fables then why not preach Aesop's Fables, Grimm's Fairy Tables or Ali Babba? The most incredible story is that Jesus is really present in a consecrated wafer. If that is not true then why be a priest and why have a Mass?
Sorry Christianity is a Packaged Deal, You can't pick and choose. Either Christianity is True or False. There is no middle ground. Please pray to the God who exists for rain for northern Saskatchewan. Gay
