THE ANTS
https://youtu.be/gWGzmzGMSnw [Nick on Guitar]
Tribute video for Scott Weiland- he died
last week- wrote songs for Stone Temple Pilots and Nick mentioned him on this
old video- enjoy.
ON VIDEO-
.Another cigarette?
.Henry the 8th- and his wives
.Is God fair?
.Isabella and Ferdinand
.Oxford
.Cambridge
.Extravagant grace
NEW STUFF- On the video I mentioned King Henry the 8th
and his first 3 wives- Catherine of Aragon, Ann Boleyn and Jane Seymour.
He had a total of 6- the other 3 were Kathryn Howard- Anne
of Cleves and Katherine Parr.
In 16th century England the realm broke away from
Rome, the primary reason was the Pope would not grant an annulment for King
Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
The king took the matter to the Christian scholars of the universities-
and had them decide on it- of course they would agree with Henry.
Often we read that Henry simply fell in love with Anne- and
that’s why he broke from Rome [Catholic Church].
On the video I get into some of the behind the scenes
reasons- lots of political reasons why the Pope did not want to grant the
annulment.
Catherine was the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand- king
and queen of Spain.
Eventually Charles v- the nephew of Catherine- would become
the prince [king] of Spain- he also held the title of Holy Roman Emperor.
So- it would not be good for the Catholic Church to rile up
Spain- at a time when England [And other European countries- Germany- etc.]
were on the verge of a break with Rome already.
Spain was a strong Catholic nation at a time when others
were not.
But yes- Henry did love Anne- and eventually got what he wanted.
He dumped Catherine of Aragon- and married Anne.
But she did not provide him a son as heir to the throne-
which he wanted.
She had a daughter instead- Elizabeth [who would later
become Queen Elizabeth].
He later married Jane Seymour- who gave him the son he
wanted- Edward.
Prince Edward did take the throne at one point [King Edward
the 6th].
But died young [he was called the boy king].
Henrys 1st wife did have a daughter- Mary.
Mary became Queen for a time- and got the title ‘Bloody
Mary’ [she became infamous for the executions of Protestants under her reign- thus
the title].
Elizabeth also ruled as Queen- and under her rule the
English church took on a sort of halfway compromise between Roman Catholicism
and Protestantism.
At first when England broke away from the Roman church- it remained
highly Catholic- the only real difference was they rejected Papal authority.
Later on it made more changes [under Elizabeth]- yet some
Protestants- the Puritans- felt the changes Elizabeth made did not go far
enough [thus the name- Puritans- they wanted a ‘more pure’ church- meaning less
Catholic influence in the church of England].
So we see there were both political- and religious reasons-
why some nations broke away from Rome.
And politics played a role- on both sides [catholic and Protestant].
PAST POSTS [verses below]-
. (1427) THE LORD GAVE THE WORD; GREAT WAS THE COMPANY OF
THOSE THAT PUBLISHED IT- Psalms 68:11 In
the 14th century you had the Oxford scholar, John Wycliffe,
challenge the church and publish an English bible that would be understood by
the common man. His view of the true church was that all those who believed in
Christ comprised the mystical Body of Christ thru out the ages; he held to the
same view that many believers would later embrace. His works would eventually
influence John Huss, the great Bohemian priest, and Huss too would preach a
doctrine of the universal church which transcended institutional boundaries. In
the 16th century William Tyndale would take up the charge to get the
bible into the hands of the common man; he longed for the day that the simple
plowman would know the scriptures as well as the trained clergy; Tyndale would
die for the faith [as Huss] but would pray/prophesy that God would touch the
heart of the king of England and make his word known. Henry the 8th
would eventually place an English bible into every church building thru out his
realm. The history of God getting his word into the hands of the common man is
great, many divine interventions [or inventions!] came along just at the right
time to aid in the efforts. Guttenberg would invent the printing press in the
15th century and Luther’s reformation would take off as his books
and tracts would get published by the boat loads [as well as many other great
teachers’ stuff- like Erasmus Greek New Testament bible]. The institutional
church would resist the free flow of these writings, they feared that the
people might teach wrong doctrine, or that the masses might interpret the bible
in a wrong way. Were these fears groundless? Not really. Many did mess up in
their reading of the bible, and others would start their own sects based on
faulty interpretations. But for the most part God was in the business of
getting his word out to as many people as possible. I have found over the years
that believers have a sort of blind spot when it comes to the ‘sacred’ modes of
transmitting the bible. For instance many well meaning men believe that the process
of meeting in a building on Sunday, and the bible being preached to as many as
you can get to come to the meeting; many feel that this expression [being only
one of many] is the actual God ordained way of getting the bible taught to the
people. Many who hold to this singular idea, to the point where they feel the
doing of this is actually called ‘the local church’ will look down upon other
means of getting the word out. The explosion of the internet has truly been the
printing press of modern times. Many average believers now have the ability to
reach the world from their computers; are their dangers with this process?
Sure. Will some teach wrong stuff? As Sarah Palin would say ‘you betcha’. But
all in all people should embrace the reality that we live in a day where once
again the average saint has the ability to get the word out to the masses with
little, or no cost. I don’t want people to get me wrong, going to ‘church’ to
hear the sermon is fine [most of the times!] but the bible does not teach the concept
that the meeting of believers in buildings on Sunday is actually called ‘the
local church’. For sure this is an expression of ‘local church’ it is a way
that many believers have come to practice their faith; but it would be wrong to
exalt this view of church to the point where we hinder others who are getting
the word out in many different ways. In the New Testament, the ‘local churches’
referred to communities of believers who lived in your city/region- the term
does not refer exclusively to meeting in a lecture hall environment to hear a
lecture! Psalms says God gave the word and great was the company of those that
published it; lets rejoice in the fact that we live in a time where a great
company of people can ‘publish it’.
[parts]
One day I received a Friends Request- to my surprise- it was
from a young Catholic priest- I did not know him but he must have read a few
posts of mine and liked them. He often gave me Thumbs Up comments on the posts-
and at times would tell me he loved the posts.
Most were my Theology/Church history posts.
Often times Catholics and Protestants can agree and enjoy
these types of studies. I love studying and teaching on the Church Fathers and
early Christian history- and these sources all have a very strong Catholic
flavor to them- so I see my fellow Catholics as being a part of a long
tradition of Christian history.
Many famous converts to the Catholic Church [Bishop John
Newman- converted from the Anglican Church] convert because they read the
Church Fathers- and when you read them- it’s obvious to see the catholic nature
of the early church in these men’s writings.
So anyway I was very happy to have a Catholic priest as one
of my ‘on line students’ [and honored].
But one day- during one of my studies [covering one subject
for a month or so] to my surprise I saw he was gone [yes- the dreaded block]. I
thought- geez- wonder why?
I realized it was right in the middle of a study I did on
Islam- and while I was doing the posts- I was also going thru a study on Islam-
by the same guy who teaches it to the U.S. govt. - yes- it was a prof. [I think
named Espinoza?] who teaches Islam to our govt. employees [sort of like a
tolerance type thing].
Though the teacher was Catholic- yet he was VERY much pro
Islam- I mean to the point where I had to reject some of the stuff he was
saying- and finish the study from my own education on Islam.
At one point- he taught that the spread of Islam thru out
the world had a wonderful- liberating effect on all the women in the lands
where Islam spread. I mean it was so obvious that the man had no idea what he
was talking about [in this area] that I realized he was not a good source [this
happens every so often].
And it was more troubling that this was the guy Obama picked
to teach Islam to our govt. employees [don’t get me wrong here- he teaches our
govt. workers- not to convert them- but more of an informative type thing- just
like you would teach any other course about sexual harassment- or whatever].
Anyway- in one of my posts while teaching on my site- I did
refer to Mohamed as ‘the prophet’- now- I don’t receive Mohamed that way
myself- but because I was teaching some Muslims who did recently join the site-
well I used the title in this way.
I think that might have been the ‘last straw’ for my
student/priest- he ‘went on Pilgrimage’ right after that post.
Okay- today’s point is we all should try our best to be
‘tolerant’ that is- we should give people as much grace/mercy as possible- but
at the same time we also need to be honest about the Christian faith.
Yes- as Christians we believe salvation comes thru Christ-
he was not just ‘one religious leader among many’ no- we believe he is the Way-
the Truth- the Life/light- no man comes to the Father- but by him.
Sometimes we do our best not to offend- we might even go out
of our way to receive people- other religions and systems that are not
Christian- that’s okay- I have Muslim and Jewish and all types of friends- I’m
glad they are my friends!
But we also have to be honest about our beliefs- and every
now and then that might- just might- earn you a BLOCK.
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