Emotions

Our emotional nature as also a part of God’s image

Where am I going next–and does it really matter?

About the shortness of my time remaining, the failure of my life thus far, priorities, how Don Quixote, the Serenity Prayer and Ponce de Leon fit, love is always passionate, and passion always hurts, and proudly wearing the craters on my heart.

Love Never Behaves Inappropriately, a personal aside

To understand how to love people in each specific situation, I must ask God and listen to His answer. This is particularly important for me because of my condition. I can’t fake it.

El Amor Nunca Se Porta Indecorosamente, un aparte personal

Para entender cómo amar a las personas en cada situación específica, debo preguntarle a Dios y escuchar su respuesta. Esto es particularmente importante para mí debido a mi condición.. Yo no lo puedo fingir.

My Introduction to Love

My lifelong struggle with love, exacerbated by autism, and how my attempts to show love have often been flawed. I realize authentic love comes from God and that I must rely on the Holy Spirit rather than my own wisdom to truly love others.

Mi Introducción al Amor

Un hombre reflexiona sobre sus siete décadas de vida y su incapacidad para entender completamente el amor debido a su autismo. Ha causado daño a otros a pesar de sus buenas intenciones y reconoce que todo amor verdadero viene de Dios. La clave es seguir la guía del Espíritu Santo y no depender de su propia sabiduría.

The Fruit of Righteousness and the Fruit of the Spirit

When Jesus says that he has chosen us to bear fruit that will last, the fruit he has in mind is the fruit of the Spirit–that is, the work the Holy Spirit does within us as we yield to him to make us like Christ. It is not our work, our “fruits,” at all–it is all his work.

Anger

I write this post to myself. I was once a very angry man. But I believed I now had anger under control. More recently, I’m not so sure. Manipulative people and manipulative institutions both deliberately goad the anger of those they want to control–anger is a great motivator. The media, celebrities, politicians, organizations and advertisers do the same thing. Other people, though, habitually but unconsciously manipulate by continually rehearsing their angry reveries for others to hear, wishing either to bring their hearers into their angry world or to intimidate by fear of what they might do in anger. And I am weak to all of these ploys. So I present the following study, which consists only of quotations from Scripture about human anger, its causes and antidote.

The “Curses” on Adam, Eve and the Serpent: Are Vexed Gender Relations, Meaningless Hard Work and Economic Oppression God’s Will?

God did not curse Adam and Eve when they sinned. He told them what the mostly natural evil consequences of their decision to live apart from him would be. In doing this, he did NOT decree any of these evil consequences as things as a part of his perfect will. Sexual and class inequalities are evil consequences of sin, not God’s will.

From Early Christianity to Islam and Back — 1. The Earliest Christianity

This post is the first in a series of six outlining a broad view of how things in the Church and the world got to be as they are now, including contributions early Christianity and Islam made to each other. This post attempts to outline the basic positions of early Christianity. Comments are invited!

About Racism

The ultimate solution to our national racisms lies in the Church, in who we are in Christ. We are not called to uncritically support the current social order, no matter how unjust. We are called to show how social divisions are overcome by the Holy Spirit among us.