R.E.S.P.E.C.T just a little bit

What are some ways nowadays of how people disRESPECT God? Well God has given us himself in the form of the Eucharist. If the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of our Lord then we better RESPECT Him in it. Also we should RESPECT the liturgy, Mary, and the Saints because it is along with these people and practices that we enjoy the fullness of God's presence and love in heaven.
One important way to show RESPECT for the sacrament of the Eucharist is to fast for an hour before Mass and to receive it in a state of grace. It is important that we prepare ourselves for the Eucharist like we should prepare ourselves for heaven. Because in both we receive the fullness of God. Also we can dress appropriately to Mass. Wearing clothing that could be distracting to our brother or sister in the pew behind us is not helping them to focus on the Lord. Also by taking time to prepare ourselves to look nice and to go the extra mile to be groomed and presentable is pleasing to God and also befits us because we know that we are pleasing Him. Quieting our hearts and minds and removing distractions from our minds helps us to remember that we are in the holy presence of God.
All of these things take preparing. They all are forms of fasting because we are removing distractions between us and God.

page 272
question 1

The Prophets and the Hope for Restoration of the Kingdom

After the Southern Kingdom was exiled to Babylon they were set under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was one of the people sent into exile. He also had the gift of interpreting dreams. So when the Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a statue with a gold head, silver upper body, bronze lower body, and iron and clay feet he called on Daniel to interpret the dream. The golden head represented Nebuchadnezzar, the silver body was an inferior kingdom that would come after him, and after that kingdom would come another kingdom inferior to the second represented by the bronze, and then would come a kingdom that would be more powerful than the first three represented by the iron. However in the dream the statue was destroyed by a rock. The rock destroyed the iron kingdom as well.
What I find really interesting is that the four kingdoms actually existed. They all took over Judah at one after the other. First the Assyrians represented by gold, then the Persians represented by silver, then the Greeks represented by bronze, and finally the Romans represented by the iron and clay feet. The Romans are the most interesting because they were in controlled during Jesus' time. They were the most powerful like iron. But the rock, aka Jesus, was stronger still and ended up using the Roman's already established empire to His advantage in spreading the message of the new kingdom that wouldn't be reign by any earthly power. but would be found in heaven.

page 260
question 2

Goodness, Gracious

Well... after reading this question I realize how much like Jonah I am, or at least how I am in the same position as him. There have been so many times in my life where I have had a chance to talk to someone about Christ or invite someone to experience Him. What is sad is that I was and am selfish and prideful about my faith and cared little about that person because he or she bugged me. Well, Jonah had it worse. The people in the city of Nineveh were horrible and their armies had destroyed the Northern tribes. Jonah didn't like them at all, he didn't want them to be saved from God's wrath. So when God told him to tell the people of Nineveh to repent Jonah ran away, not because he was afraid, but because he hated them. But eventually Jonah reluctantly went into the city and the people repented.
Once a someone came up to me and asked me about a retreat that I went on, he also wanted to go. I didn't like this person and I thought he was wanting to be apart of something that was rightfully mine. Of course the experience of God is for me, but it is also for everyone else. I told this kid that he didn't belong with us and that it wasn't for him because I didn't want him steppin on my grill yo. So he didn't go. I was an idiot and God was probably very upset. That was a long time ago, but there are still times today that I don't invite people to be apart of the Body of Christ. It is a horrible thing to do. So yeah... I QUIT!!!!

page 238
question 3

God's Plan for His People

Throughout time, since the dawn of man, God has grown humanity. But also since the fall man has been broken. Humanity continued to be broken into two groups, the followers of God and those who didn't. God generally kept His early followers at a distance from other nations and people who would drag them to sin. We know however that Jesus came for all nations, the whole world. This included the Gentiles. This is why it is significant that the Temple that was planned under David's rule and built under Solomon's was actually built by another nation before Jesus had come to save the world. The fact that they did build the Temple is a foreshadowing that they will be excepted into the new Temple, the Heavenly Kingdom, Heaven.

pg. 220 question 2

The Ark and the Tabernacle

The Ark of the covenant carried the ten commandments, the staff of Arron, and I think manna, but I am not sure. Anyway the Israelites carried the Ark around in the desert. The Ark was a symbol of God's throne over the earth. The Ark had very strict rules and laws made by God on how it was to be made and carried, it wasn't even allowed to be touched! Once a man reached out to steady the Ark on a long journey to Jerusalem and he was struck down dead by God.
God has given us something just as special, if not more special, than the Ark. It is the Eucharist. And we hold the Eucharist in something much like the Ark called a tabernacle. Actually, as I was searching for an image to use on my blog I typed in "Tabernacle" and a ton of Ark pictures showed up. I think that they mean the same thing, maybe they mean "throne" or something. Anyway if the Israelites were suppose to respect the Ark then we better really respect the Eucharist. Because every time we receive the Eucharist we are receiving Christ. We are casting judgment upon ourselves by receiving the Eucharist. Therefore, if we are not prepare to receive the Eucharist and we do the consequences will be worse than the spiritual death that one of the Israelites received, it will be a spiritual death for us. Hell.


Practical Exercises #1, page 206.

Adam and Moses and such

So how are Adam and Eve's sin like the sin of the Israelites when they worshiped the golden calf. First God gave Adam and Eve one law, don't eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This was to protect them. God also gave the Israelites laws however they didn't make it down the mountain. The Israelites started praying to the false god, the golden calf, either because they wanted an excuse to pleasure themselves in immoral sexual activity or they lost faith in God, either way they turned their backs on the God who saved them from Egypt. In the same way Adam and Eve reject God by accepting Satan's demands and eating from the tree of knowledge. So basically they both sinned and broke the covenant with God by sinning.
Another way that these stories are similar is that the sinners are judged and punished. The Levities slaughter the idolaters and Adam and Eve are banished from the garden. Their lives become bound by rules. Adam and Eve have to toil and have painful births, while Israel is boxed in by new laws.
The biggest thing that these stories have in common is that they both turned away from God and God set rules in place to bring them back to Him. And for Tim's sake I will say Chinese Swiss Roll that is actually a Atom Bomb.

On Joseph and his Brothers, but not really.........

God is amazing. Last night some of my fellow students and I were talking about God and how He is so infinite and beautiful. We all came to the conclusion the He is so beyond our comprehension. Every sentence that came out of our mouths ended in a, "....I don't know, man..." or a, "like, wow". It is really funny to think about now, but then we were so in awe, it was very innocence and childish of us, because God is so much greater. Somethings that just stubbed us stupid were things like; God being outside of time and therefore not really making any decisions but just being, and He just is forever. "I am who I am," is the explanation that God gives us about Himself. So if He just is and always will be unchanging, than He is just an unmovable rock that our choices and decisions bounce off of, in a way. Let me explain better.

Okay, so God is like this rock. He doesn't change. If I do the same thing 50 times than the reaction from God will always be the same. Just like if I threw the same pebble the exact same way at the exact same spot on that rock, that pebble will react the exact same way. God is always forgiving and loving, however it is the way that we throw the pebble that effects what happens in this world. Life is an endless choice made up of countless choices that we make in our lives. By choosing the better of a choice we are choosing to create our life to be one step closer to the perfect life that God originally planned in the garden of Eden for us. So every decision also can bring us one step farther away from that. And every decision is unavoidable for us not to make, because by not making the decision we are deciding to not choose. Even not choosing is a choice.

So when Joseph's brothers throw him in a pit they have made a bad choice that leads them away from God. Then they are presented with another choice, should they kill their brother or not? They decide to sell him as a slave, yet another choice that sets them apart from their original purpose of human perfection. They are choosing to be imperfect. But even after they fail to achieve the gift that they have been given, freewill, they get another choice to turn back to the Lord. God being the unmovable rock that He is, always gives us that second chance. Just the fact that we are creatures of time means that we are given multiple choices. The next choice that could have been made by Joseph's brothers is to feel guilty. Then after choosing to feel guilt they can choose to realize their mistake, then choose to accept their mistake and so on. Eventually this process could have ended up in their sincere confession and when we sincerely confess God will always react the same way, forgiveness. And it doesn't stop there. We will have to make a decision after receiving that forgiveness and another after that, we don't stop choosing until we are outside of time like the angels. Which means that we must die and leave the chains holding us to time, our earthly bodies. Thank goodness for our bodies. These are the temple in which we are able to come back to Christ again and again. Anyway.....

Joseph's brothers had second chances, countless second chances (although I guess by saying countless second chances I really mean a second chance and a third chance and a fourth chance and a fifth.....), before the saintly actions of Joseph and the unchanging goodness of God brought them to Egypt looking for food. When they messed up they hit the rock in just the right place so that the pebble would ricochet toward a famine. Maybe I'm all wrong, but I'm thinking that God doesn't have a choice in the matter to bring them a second chance like this. Most people would say that God choses this to happen, but really we choose it because of our actions. Everything is our fault, and at the same time is God's fault, but how can you blame a rock for being a rock. Anyway, God is an awesome rock. He is perfect love and will never change. It is kinda unnerving to think that God doesn't choose to love us, but actually can't help it. He is just this love.... that can't help it. To me it makes Him less and less humanlike. Or maybe i am totally wrong and am going to fail this class for speaking heresy. So to anyone who has gotten this far I say unto thee, "It is my intent to speak the truth, however it is Professor Micheal Barber's duty and vocation to tell me to shut up if I am wrong. Check the comments section to see if he approves."
So the point of this blog was to answer question #3 in the "Practical Exercise" section of Chapter 6 of Scott Hahn's "Understanding the Scriptures". It is as follows:

"Joseph's brother committed a terrible sin when they intended to leave Joseph for dead and sold him into slavery in Egypt. God, however, used the situation to let Joseph assume a place of power in Egypt and eventually save his whole family from starvation. How does this story relate to the story of Noah? How does this story relate to the suffering and death of Jesus Christ?"

Well I am going to go out on a limb here and say Scott Hahn can't say that. He can't say that God used a situation to let Joseph assume a place of power in Egypt. God can't use! He can't anything, but be. And in being He does love and forgive and do everything that we know God to do, but he doesn't make the decision to set a plan into play. Okay, so basically I have said all so I don't have to answer the question listed in the text, but I will anyway. All of these stories relate to each other because they are stories of God's people in trouble and how that trouble is turned around to better us in the end. But I will say it again, that trouble only turns around not because God chooses to turn it around but because God is and "That's all folks." - Porky Pig