Turn deserts green to combat climate change and save Florida!

[Megan7]

It may not be a coincidence that today is celebrated as the Day of Ascension!

When Is Ascension 2012? - Date of Ascension 2012
Question: When Is Ascension 2012?

Ascension of Jesus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, TODAY is Ascension THURSDAY!

May 17, 2012

PAX

 

[lynnvinc]

For the record, I personally have been EXTREMELY interested in becoming a Catholic. I sensed something of a fear of people like myself who may be too into Judaism so I have wondered if perhaps the time might not be right…but I wrote up a blog a few years ago regarding how I feel that the Roman Catholic Church is in an amazing position to take point on combatting climate change through the creation of a Vatican Currency Unit.

I would suggest a Vatican Dollar?!

greendesertstoreducecarbon.blogspot.ca/
Combat Climate Change by Turning Deserts Green!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Is Pope Benedict XVI In The Best Position to Effectively Combat Climate Change?
Homily for January 17, 2010 by Dennis Tate. Assignment #2 for MNST 130 class at St. Francis Xavier University.

Hi Dennis,

There are some notable Carmelites (a contemplative order) of Jewish origin. St. Teresa of Avila’s (b. 1515) father converted from Judaism to Catholicism. Now there were a lot of Jews in Spain who were pressured into conversion (and some settled here in the Rio Grande Valley, where I live, and their descents have names like Perez). However, Teresa’s father sincerely wanted to convert and was a very good Catholic. Teresa remembered as a young child going with her father to sit shiva when her Jewish grandfather died. Toward the end of his life, her father had a terrific pain in his shoulder (maybe it was cancer or something) and could not bear it. Teresa pointed out that Christ would have suffered pain as he carried the cross on his shoulder, and this helped her father, who was then able to bear the pain in peace.

Another famous Carmelite was Edith Stein, St. Benedicta of the Cross, a German Jew (b. 1891 in an area that is now Poland). She was pretty much an atheist as a young person, and got into phenomenology philosophy under Husserl, but later converted to Catholicism. During WWII she was captured by the Nazis and put to death in Auschwitz.

I’m a 3rd order Carmelite (OCDS), open to laypersons and secular priests. JPII was OCDS. There are other contemplative religious orders, as well, and many have 3rd orders for layperson. Even tho there are some AGW denialists in my local community and elsewhere among OCDS, St. John of the Cross’s emphasis on “nada, nada, nada,” to me is a good approach to dealing with AGW:

To reach satisfaction in all
desire its possession in nothing.
To come to possession in all
desire the possession of nothing.
To arrive at being all
desire to be nothing.
To come to the knowledge of all
desire the knowledge of nothing.
To come to the pleasure you have not
you must go by the way in which you enjoy not.
To come to the knowledge you have not
you must go by the way in which you know not.
To come to the possession you have not
you must go by the way in which you possess not.
To come to be what you are not
you must go by a way in which you are not.
When you turn toward something
you cease to cast yourself upon the all.
For to go from all to the all
you must deny yourself of all in all.
And when you come to the possession of the all
you must possess it without wanting anything.
Because if you desire to have something in all
your treasure in God is not purely your all."

Also see srhelena.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-is-doctrine-of-nada.html & monasticdialog.com/a.php?id=356

The Catholic Church at the top is very much into mitigating AGW and calling on everyone to do so. Here’s a recent op-ed by the bishop of Juneau, AK: juneauempire.com/opinion/2012-05-13/our-environmental-challenge#.T7EUqOivKSq

And the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change – catholicclimatecovenant.org/

The disappointing thing is that at the local level there are a lot of Catholics who deny AGW – however, in the U.S. only 32% deny it, compared to 38% of non-Catholics, so the Church does have some impact, but not much. I think some Catholics in America really have a master ideology of tea party conservatism, which is more important to them than the Catholic faith or following what our leaders have to say. We are in sad need of a revival here. The harvest is great and the laborers few.

Thank you so much for your post here, and your blogsite.

 

[DennisTate]

Hi Dennis,

There are some notable Carmelites (a contemplative order) of Jewish origin. St. Teresa of Avila’s (b. 1515) father converted from Judaism to Catholicism. Now there were a lot of Jews in Spain who were pressured into conversion (and some settled here in the Rio Grande Valley, where I live, and their descents have names like Perez). However, Teresa’s father sincerely wanted to convert and was a very good Catholic. Teresa remembered as a young child going with her father to sit shiva when her Jewish grandfather died. Toward the end of his life, her father had a terrific pain in his shoulder (maybe it was cancer or something) and could not bear it. Teresa pointed out that Christ would have suffered pain as he carried the cross on his shoulder, and this helped her father, who was then able to bear the pain in peace.

Another famous Carmelite was Edith Stein, St. Benedicta of the Cross, a German Jew (b. 1891 in an area that is now Poland). She was pretty much an atheist as a young person, and got into phenomenology philosophy under Husserl, but later converted to Catholicism. During WWII she was captured by the Nazis and put to death in Auschwitz.

I’m a 3rd order Carmelite (OCDS), open to laypersons and secular priests. JPII was OCDS. There are other contemplative religious orders, as well, and many have 3rd orders for layperson. Even tho there are some AGW denialists in my local community and elsewhere among OCDS, St. John of the Cross’s emphasis on “nada, nada, nada,” to me is a good approach to dealing with AGW:

…

Also see srhelena.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-is-doctrine-of-nada.html & monasticdialog.com/a.php?id=356

The Catholic Church at the top is very much into mitigating AGW and calling on everyone to do so. Here’s a recent op-ed by the bishop of Juneau, AK: juneauempire.com/opinion/2012-05-13/our-environmental-challenge#.T7EUqOivKSq

And the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change – catholicclimatecovenant.org/

The disappointing thing is that at the local level there are a lot of Catholics who deny AGW – however, in the U.S. only 32% deny it, compared to 38% of non-Catholics, so the Church does have some impact, but not much. I think some Catholics in America really have a master ideology of tea party conservatism, which is more important to them than the Catholic faith or following what our leaders have to say. We are in sad need of a revival here. The harvest is great and the laborers few.

Thank you so much for your post here, and your blogsite.

Wow!!!

As I was taking my Theology 130 course at St. Francis Xavier I went to hear Dr. Syd Mifflen and I was truly amazed by how well he put Judaism and Christianity together. I counselled with him regarding my possible conversion to Catholicism and even the part regarding transubstantiation did not throw me for a loop. A scientist from Sweden named Hans Jenny conducted some experiments using a tonoscope that in my opinion offered a perfectly logical explanation for this doctrine.

March 2007 Newsletter
Monday, April 2, 2007
By: A. Ryab

Hebrew, the Language of Heaven!

I was born to Jewish parents in Kiev but the only religion I was ever exposed to was atheism. Deep inside I knew there must be a Creator.

…

Vibrations create and change substance
I recently composed a CD entitled, The Lord is My Healer. Scriptures read in Hebrew accompany the music. It’s amazing because people are being touched in their spirits although they may not understand the Hebrew language. Interestingly, a Swiss physician and scientist, Hans Jenny, constructed an instrument called a “tonoscope” to make sound visible on substances like water or sand. Different shapes appeared on the sand as the result of different sounds coming through the device. He then tried spoken words in different languages
but nothing happened. When he spoke the Hebrew language, however, the language spoken made the shapes of Hebrew vowels on the sand. None of the modern languages did that. Although Hans Jenny was not a Christian, I accept the science of his research.

I believe that, when God spoke the universe into existence, the sound of His voice set in motion frequencies that became shapes. In fact, many scientists believe that everything in this universe is made of sound. Today, when we align our thoughts with the thoughts of God and speak them out, the creative power of God goes forth to accomplish that which He desires. That is why I believe that when the healing Scriptures are spoken in Hebrew it makes an imprint, not only on our mind, but also on our cellsfor we are made of dust (sand).

This is the glorious focus the Lord is directing us in with music and the spoken Word of God for such a time as this! It is the understanding of this “Quantum Faith Science,” which God is granting to us with sound, frequency, vibration and the manifestation of matter. It has to do with creationism, the formation of entire planetary solar systems being created by the sound of the voice—God’s Word!

In other words God has given His people authority to use words in such a way that matter can be affected even at the subatomic level.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation

 

[lynnvinc]

Wow!!!

As I was taking my Theology 130 course at St. Francis Xavier I went to hear Dr. Syd Mifflen and I was truly amazed by how well he put Judaism and Christianity together. I counselled with him regarding my possible conversion to Catholicism and even the part regarding transubstantiation did not throw me for a loop. A scientist from Sweden named Hans Jenny conducted some experiments using a tonoscope that in my opinion offered a perfectly logical explanation for this doctrine.

…

In other words God has given His people authority to use words in such a way that matter can be affected even at the subatomic level.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation

I’m also a convert, and had the problem in believing in transubtantiation – it took some years. And this is despite the fact that as a young adult – age 18, living in San Francisco, some 3 years after I had left my Presbyterian church and 3 years before I met & married my Catholic (from India) husband – I had a very special dream. I was with a tour group and we were visiting a mission church (one which I thought was defunct or no longer in use). It was a huge church, and I was lagging behind the group as they walked along the back of the church, perpendicular to the main aisle. As I crossed the aisle I looked down it. Far away just behind the altar the tabernacle was glowing an extremely radiant power that compelled me to my knees in worship. It was a radiant power, positive, full of love, tho it forced me to my knees. I had some unclear understanding this was God. (I had never been to the mission in SF, though I had been to some in San Diego and LA; and I had only been to a Catholic mass once with a friend, and I really didn’t have much or any understanding of the Catholic belief in transubtantiation, beyond the communion we had in our church…only a symbolic representation).

Years later as a Catholic, and studying sociology and anthropology I was reading Durkheim’s (sociologist, atheist of Jewish background) ideas about how religion is an eminently collective thing, it forms the society, brings and ties people together. Through that understanding of communion (as something that ties us together into one body, so to speak) I finally came to believe in transubstantiation.

I also figured if one is to believe a bunch of peasants 2000 years ago (and I’d believe them over the rich and elites any day) re Jesus’s miracles and resurrection, which they witnessed (and were dumb-founded, amazed, and awed by), then who are we to question what Jesus said, which was “This is my body,” not “this is a symbolic representation of my body.”

So it was those 2 things – Durkheim’s ideas about religion and accepting what the apostles said – that finally helped me believe. The dream, which I later remembered, also greatly helped, but blessed are they who have not had such special dreams and believe.

 

[DennisTate]

Wow!

I read an amazing visionary dream given to a Pastor Rick Joyner back in 1995 that did an amazing job of explaining how each denomination of Christianity was entrusted with metaphorically guarding certain levels of a mountain, symbolic of truths that other groups did not so well understand.

The power of a mere man speaking words with faith to transform substances at their most basic level will I suspect soon play a role in saving the lives of thousands of us who will be faced with situations that there is no way that we could handle without God intervening to help us!

If the NDE of Dr. Richard Eby is a valid encounter with God it seems that we Christians are way way off from where God is at regarding the subject of protecting the environment!

Richard Eby:
"Jesus hastened to explain more. "You were wondering about those "dry’ stems. My book would have told you that because of sin. Satan lied and did deceive Eve, and then Adam, into sinning against their Creator-God. In heaven, which includes paradise, there are no gases such as hydrogen and oxygen from which I made water on Earth. On Earth it is essential to maintain life. It is a substitute for what we have here, LIVING WATER! Earthly water has become polluted. Living water is always pure. It flows from my throne. One drop can last for eternity. Remember? I told the woman at the well that she should ask of me a drop of that living water. She was so excited that she sent a crowd of her friends running to meet me!

"Earth’s water has been so dirtied by man that I will someday have to destroy all of it, and remake the old Earth with a new one without even a sea!

“My son, you know that everything in all of heaven is sustained by MY LIVING WATER. Your flowers are one example which I let you discover so that you would ask me for an answer. Your flowers are watered from my throne through my Spirit. You noted the absence of any fallen leaves. My living water prevents leaves from dying; it does not evaporate! All forms of life here is maintained by my light and my living water. Both are pure and eternal. I told you in my book about these leaves: they are for the healing of the nations! And I told you that I would be the light of heaven, and no curse can exist in my light!” (Dr. Richard Eby)

.near-death.com/forum/nde/000/91.html

Revelation 21:1 ¶ And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

 

[lynnvinc]

Two other interesting ideas about the Eucharist.

In 1970 when we were in Seattle for a summer semester, the priest gave this story in his homily regarding their campus ministry. He had been explaining the Eucharist to a hippie, who said, “Wow, man, you believe it’s God? If I believed that I wouldn’t be entering the church casually, like swatting flies (making the sign of the cross); I’d be crawling up the aisle on my belly to God.”

Another thing I’ve thought of is how evolution could not have been invented by humans, only discovered in God’s other bible, written directly (creation), and it is a truly awesome process that makes one all the more awed by God, who (unlike a David Copperfield intelligent designer with magic finger-wand) chose to create creation thru the evolutionary process (the tiny & simple to the huge and complex). And there are these interesting parallels:

• From nothing to the tiniest particle unimaginable (only discoverable) thru the big bang to the creation of the huge universe and all forms of matter and energy, etc. (And we are all connected – it is stardust that cruises our veins.)
• From a teeny-tiny strand of atoms that came together and started reproducing (DNA, RNA) to single cells, to complex organisms to us.
• From a manger bed a tiny helpless babe to savior of the whole world.
• Why wouldn’t God come to us in a tiny piece of bread, helpless and silent? It just makes complete sense that He does.

 

[DennisTate]

Two other interesting ideas about the Eucharist.

In 1970 when we were in Seattle for a summer semester, the priest gave this story in his homily regarding their campus ministry. He had been explaining the Eucharist to a hippie, who said, “Wow, man, you believe it’s God? If I believed that I wouldn’t be entering the church casually, like swatting flies (making the sign of the cross); I’d be crawling up the aisle on my belly to God.”

Another thing I’ve thought of is how evolution could not have been invented by humans, only discovered in God’s other bible, written directly (creation), and it is a truly awesome process that makes one all the more awed by God, who (unlike a David Copperfield intelligent designer with magic finger-wand) chose to create creation thru the evolutionary process (the tiny & simple to the huge and complex). And there are these interesting parallels:

• From nothing to the tiniest particle unimaginable (only discoverable) thru the big bang to the creation of the huge universe and all forms of matter and energy, etc. (And we are all connected – it is stardust that cruises our veins.)
• From a teeny-tiny strand of atoms that came together and started reproducing (DNA, RNA) to single cells, to complex organisms to us.
• From a manger bed a tiny helpless babe to savior of the whole world.
• Why wouldn’t God come to us in a tiny piece of bread, helpless and silent? It just makes complete sense that He does.

I SO LOVE YOUR IDEA THAT THE CREATION IS GOD’S OTHER WRITTEN BIBLE!!!

YES!!! That is an astonishingly important insight!!!

 

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