I believe! I reject!

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The early Christians lived in a world…a culture where all sorts of evil things were going on…the gladiator games (and other “spectacles” as they called them which would be quite sinful)…idolatry .etc. So in the baptismal rite there is the rejection of the the Devil and his “pompa”…his “pomps” …which include all these things…so the Christians would not go to these sorts of entertainments…such is still part of our life too in essence …

Such is still our Profession.

Now this does not mean one cannot engage in modern forms of entertainment per se since they sometimes are often a “mixed” thing…(one should avoid scrupling too)…but I think it does mean there are entertainments and other things that are sinful…etc which others go in for but we as Christians do not…

As well as a whole assortment of immoral choices proposed to us by the “culture” around us…not just in the entertainment area.

Even in the New Testament it says they are surprised that we do not go in for the things we used to…or that they do…

Such is part of the nature of our Baptismal promises…of our lives as Christians.

Here read this slowly: vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20060108_battesimo_en.html

Oh and…I suggest every day renewing your baptismal promises…even in a very simple way such as “Lord Jesus Christ I renew my Baptismal promises and will follow you as your disciple”
 
From the link of Pope Benedict XVI:

"Let us say “no” to this promise of apparent happiness, to this “pompa” of what may seem to be life but is in fact merely an instrument of death, and to this “anticulture”, in order to cultivate instead the culture of life. For this reason, the Christian “yes”, from ancient times to our day, is a great “yes” to life. "
 
That is a beautiful Homily. I have expressed to my wife that I’d enjoy hearing that at our next child’s Baptism.

It’s very true that we often forget, after Baptism, what we have said “yes” to. And I’m moved in how our Pope conveyed the perspective on the 10 Commandments as not just being a set of “noes” but of a “yes”, and then he details it so clearly for us.

"We might also say that the Face of God, the content of this culture of life, the content of our great “yes”, is expressed in the Ten Commandments, which are not a pack of prohibitions, of “noes”, but actually present a great vision of life.

They are a “yes” to a God who gives meaning to life (the first three Commandments); a “yes” to the family (Fourth Commandment); a “yes” to life (Fifth Commandment); a “yes” to responsible love (Sixth Commandment); a “yes” to solidarity, to social responsibility, to justice (Seventh Commandment); a “yes” to the truth (Eighth Commandment); a “yes” to respect for others and for their belongings (Ninth and 10th Commandments). "

Great post!!
 
"Paul illustrates the same idea of a necessary renewal of our way of being human in two passages of his Letter to the Ephesians; let us therefore reflect on them briefly. In the Letter’s fourth chapter, the Apostle tells us that with Christ we must attain adulthood, a mature faith. We can no longer be “children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine…” (4: 14). Paul wants Christians to have a “responsible” and “adult faith”. The words “adult faith” in recent decades have formed a widespread slogan. It is often meant in the sense of the attitude of those who no longer listen to the Church and her Pastors but autonomously choose what they want to believe and not to believe hence a do-it-yourself faith. And it is presented as a “courageous” form of self-expression against the Magisterium of the Church. In fact, however, no courage is needed for this because one may always be certain of public applause. Rather, courage is needed to adhere to the Church’s faith, even if this contradicts the “logic” of the contemporary world. This is the non-conformism of faith which Paul calls an “adult faith”. It is the faith that he desires. On the other hand, he describes chasing the winds and trends of the time as infantile. Thus, being committed to the inviolability of human life from its first instant, thereby radically opposing the principle of violence also precisely in the defence of the most defenceless human creatures is part of an adult faith. It is part of an adult faith to recognize marriage between a man and a woman for the whole of life as the Creator’s ordering, newly re-established by Christ. Adult faith does not let itself be carried about here and there by any trend. It opposes the winds of fashion. It knows that these winds are not the breath of the Holy Spirit; it knows that the Spirit of God is expressed and manifested in communion with Jesus Christ. However, here too Paul does not stop at saying “no”, but rather leads us to the great “yes”. He describes the mature, truly adult faith positively with the words: “speaking the truth in love” (cf. Eph 4: 15). The new way of thinking, given to us by faith, is first and foremost a turning towards the truth. The power of evil is falsehood. The power of faith, the power of God, is the truth. The truth about the world and about ourselves becomes visible when we look to God. And God makes himself visible to us in the Face of Jesus Christ. In looking at Christ, we recognize something else: truth and love are inseparable. In God both are inseparably one; it is precisely this that is the essence of God. For Christians, therefore, truth and love go together. Love is the test of truth. We should always measure ourselves anew against this criterion, so that truth may become love and love may make us truthful. "

From the last link I posted from Pope Benedict XVI
 
Greetings Bookcat,

That was an inspirational post. Thank you for posting.

It reminded me to continually to pray for the grace of final perseverance.

God bless.
Anathama Sit
 
Anathama_Sit said:
Greetings Bookcat,

That was an inspirational post. Thank you for posting.

It reminded me to continually to pray for the grace of final perseverance.

God bless.
Anathama Sit
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Yes, and also it speaks volumes of holding fast to our Faith, always seeking to understand further the Faith we profess, and to be strong and faithful in our effort to not be drawn or tempted to attach ourselves to modern trends.
 
Another great section of the homily:

“It is our very existence that must become praise of God. But how does this happen? In the second verse we are given the answer: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God…” (12: 2). The two decisive words of this verse are “transformed” and “renewal”. We must become new people, transformed into a new mode of existence.” …

“The Apostle exhorts us to non-conformism. In our Letter he says: we should not submit to the logic of our time. We shall return to this point, reflecting on the second text on which I wish to meditate with you this evening. The Apostle’s “no” is clear and also convincing for anyone who observes the “logic” of our world. But to become new how can this be done? Are we really capable of it? With his words on becoming new, Paul alludes to his own conversion: to his encounter with the Risen Christ, an encounter of which, in the Second Letter to the Corinthians he says: “if anyone is in Christ, he is in a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (5: 17). This encounter with Christ was so overwhelming for him that he said of it: “I… died…” (Gal 2: 19; cf. Rm 6). He became new, another, because he no longer lived for himself and by virtue of himself, but for Christ and in him. In the course of the years, however, he also saw that this process of renewal and transformation continues throughout life. We become new if we let ourselves be grasped and shaped by the new Man, Jesus Christ. He is the new Man par excellence. In him the new human existence became reality and we can truly become new if we deliver ourselves into his hands and let ourselves be moulded by him.”

–Pope Benedict XVI
 
Furthermore:

“Paul makes this process of “recasting” even clearer by saying that we become new if we transform our way of thinking. What has been introduced here with “way of thinking” is the Greek term “nous”. It is a complex word. It may be translated as “spirit”, “sentiments”, “reason”, and precisely, also by “way of thinking”. Thus our reason must become new. This surprises us. We might have expected instead that this would have concerned some attitude: what we should change in our behaviour. But no: renewal must go to the very core. Our way of looking at the world, of understanding reality all our thought must change from its foundations.”

–Pope Benedict XVI
 
Bookcat said:
…so the Christians would not go to these sorts of entertainments…"
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Actually, I understand from History that the Christians were active, if unwilling, participants in the entertainments. “throwing them to the lions…”
 
Wardog said:
Actually, I understand from History that the Christians were active, if unwilling, participants in the entertainments. “throwing them to the lions…”
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Yes of course some of the martyrs knew them quite well.

(Such though was not the point…)

and Pope Benedict XVI makes reference to them in that first homily I posted.

They are very important to me!
 
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