Tag / Christianity

by James Ross Kelly

Stuff Exists—Harold Eberle


Harold R. Eberle

Harold R. Eberle

Stuff exists; therefore, there had to be a stuff creator. There comes a time when people should quit arguing and just laugh at stupid ideas— and this includes the atheists’ most cherished belief. I don’t want to be rude; I want to make the obvious obvious. The acceptance of God’s existence is not a blind leap. Just the opposite is true— to not believe in a stuff creator is to be blind to the obvious. It is absurd not to believe in a stuff creator. Of course, we have lost the Western atheists in this discussion because the Scientific Revolution (and the Enlightenment that followed) set up in their minds a dichotomy of faith versus reason. Their definitions of faith and reason exclude God from the realm of reason. In reality, those categories are pure assumptions— false assumptions. Indeed, we cannot prove the existence of God to the atheist who refuses to let go of those assumed categories. In like fashion, we cannot prove the existence of bacteria to a person who refuses to look through a microscope and see the bacteria for himself. If, however, a person is willing to look through a microscope, then we can prove to him the existence of bacteria. Similarly, if an atheist is willing to look at the world, outside of his present dichotomous framework, then we can prove the existence of God. Here it is: stuff exists, so a stuff creator exists (or at least existed in the past). Atheistic readers may object and quickly argue that this is no argument for the existence of the Christian God. Indeed, I have not yet stated anything about this creator’s nature, and to argue against the Christian God at this point is to change the subject. It is to dodge the bullet, to hide behind a smoke screen. So long as we define God as the stuff creator, it is absurd not to accept God’s existence.

Eberle, Harold (2009-12-28). Christianity Unshackled: Are You A Truth Seeker (pp. 81-82). Destiny Image, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

by James Ross Kelly

No greater Love–a memory


By James Ross Kelly
First North American Rights
Copyright 2013
About 2800 words

 

On the third of July, 1997 my friend of thirty-eight years, Steve Short, and his eighteen year old nephew were finishing a logging job on the Klamath River in Northern California. A weird thing happened on a particularly bad stretch of road and they lost three of their tires on the way back from a timber falling job. They had to return to finish up about two hours work and had started work at dawn and were on their way out. Because the side of the river they were on was so remote the three flat tires meant they faced a twenty-mile walk back to a phone.

Steve knew the river really well from drift-boat fishing  salmon, and found a place nearby where he thought could be waded across safely, to get to a phone at a lodge on the other side. Steve had on heavy caulk boots as they started across. Caulk boots, called “Cork boots,” by most of the men who wear them, have rows of tiny metal spikes to keep your footing while walking on downed logs, and work very good on slippery rocks as well. The younger man had on conventional vibram sole boots, that are like walking on banana peels, when used in a west coast river. The eighteen year old also had a heavy backpack with a Stanley thermos, and some logging gear. The young man was Steve’s wife’s, sisters son, and had been in trouble and Steve had taken him under his wing. He had been giving him good paying work and teaching him a trade. Steve saw the boy, twenty yards away and down river from him–loose his footing and then swept into the current and down towards deeper water.

Steve had been an All-American full back in 1967 at Del Norte High School, in Crescent City, California. He lost a scholarship to UCLA because of getting into some “trouble,” after high school was now near 50 years old. He went after the young man in the same manner he followed his blockers at those Friday night games all over Northern California.

Steve Short was my best friend at Eagle Point Junior High School in a small logging town in southern Oregon from the 5th to the 8th grade. His family moved to Crescent City, California in 1963. Bill, his dad, bought a fishing boat and quit logging for Steve Wilson logging Company in Eagle Point for the open sea.

Every summer after that I would go to Crescent City to visit, and he would return the favor and come to Eagle Point and stay with us on our little farm. We wrote letters and signed each other’s names as “Esquire” for our own adolescent self-appointed nobility and never with a thought of becoming lawyers because we thought we were appointed by virtue of adolescence to make up our own rules. We’d get in mild trouble every time we got together. At sixteen, I remember going to matinee in Crescent City California with Steve and seeing the Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, film a “Fist Full Of Dollars,” and afterward buying hard  and stale Paroudi cigars and choking them down and trying to look tough while driving through town in a 1955 Volkswagen.

After High School and when I’d been in the Army about three years of a 4 year enlistment I was in an outfit that made you enlist for the extra year which I was in the process of finishing up, I had to go to the Presido in San Francisco, and I went with another guy who then wanted to visit a friend of his in Letterman General Hospital, which is at the Presido. On our way up to him one of the giant Hospital elevator doors opened up there stood Steve in a hospital get-up. He saw me and broke into one of those big wide grins he used to have. He’d gotten Hepatitis in Vietnam, and got out of the country one month early. Steve had got drafted in 1969, was then married to his High School sweetheart Susan. He then enlisted to perhaps ease Susan’s fear of a Vietnam destination, and had a recruiter talk him into being a aircraft mechanic in the Army. In 1969, that eventually translated into the reality of being a door-gunner on a helicopter in Vietnam.
I got him out of the hospital and brought him, with his flight helmet, to our little apartment in Santa Rosa, where I lived with my new wife from Massachusetts. We were about 20 miles from the base I was stationed at, Two Rock Ranch Station. An Army Security Agency base that went under the cover of a communications facility. In reality we monitored the Russian Navy’s communication in the Pacific. Steve told me of some awful things he’d seen in Vietnam, his take on Vietnam was simply to explode a nuclear device on the DMZ and blow both countries, South and North into the ocean—it was a feeling that a lot of homecoming veteran’s shared after a bitter decade of war. Susan his wife and Steve’s mother Rosie, a lifelong Sunday school teacher, came down and picked him up at my place in a joyous homecoming. I saw him very irregularly over the years after that, I’d find myself stopping by in Crescent City every once in a while. After the army Steve became a  timber faller in pretty much the last effort to harvest  ancient redwoods.
“Yep, I chop down the great big-fat ones!” he’d say with wistful grin and his head cocked sideways. Steve had what was called a “pull show,” where they’d use two giant winches to lower the great trees without damaging any wood. Steve had each of his winches powered by powerful Ford V-8 engines. Steve would climb to the top of each great behemoth he was assigned, then attach cables from the winches and then he’d personally make an under cut the size of an American, middle class living room. And with his giant McCulloch chain saw he would sever the largest tree the Lord ever designed, and would gently lower each ancient giant down to the earth where we humans, like the eager Lilliputians we are, would go to work on them for the tiny pieces of wood that are now so valuable. In 1978 when they discontinued the model of chainsaw Steve used, the McCulloch company manufactured the most powerful saw ever made at that time, and had sold that model mostly for go-cart racing. Steve bought three of these engines before they became obsolete just for his special line of work. Susan and Steve had three girls. The last time I saw them altogether they were three little blond dolls toddling around a living room of suburban house a couple miles from the ocean in a rural area near the always misty Crescent City— all his girls are married with babies of their own now. Steve did well with his business and tried to get out of logging after he turned 40 or so, but eventually went back into it, although the pull shows were over, after all the “Great Big Fat Ones,” had been “chopped down,” and went onto the traditional timber falling that took him inland all over the Six Rivers National Forest, and farther away from home. He worked Hoot-owl logging jobs in the summer, starting work at 2:30 in the morning like he did that morning to drive inland to remote sections of an ever decreasing forested landscape to get started at dawn so enough work could be accomplished and the saws could be shut off, when the humidity began to plummet all to alleviate a fire danger because of the possibility that later in the day a tiny ember from a whirring piece of metal striking a rock like anger might smolder and then become a 500 to 5000 acre or even grater wildfire of wrath. The woods had been worked that way for half a century. With less and less being left with each passing decade and the millennium seeing this wide-scale livelihood that fed families and sustained local economies come almost to a halt.
When I came to the southern Oregon grade school in the 5th grade, I was an orphan, being raised by a maternal uncle and his saintly wife, my aunt. I came into a rough and tumble little school where most everybody’s Dad it seemed was a timber faller or a cattle rancher. I think God sent me Steve for a friend, I had no friends, and Steve became the best one I ever had to that point in my life. As the skinny little “four-eyed” kid I was, and because Steve was my friend, no one dreamed of picking on me. Somehow that allowed four years of breathing room that was incredibly important to who I am. Most everyone who has friends of this type are truly blessed. We had no particularly high art or hobbies, model cars, hunting and fishing and bike riding were the holiday arts that we practiced well. When we came of age things were less innocent, and neither of us at that time were regarded as saints but those exploit are other stories—this is the death of my close friend.
That July day, the day the before our independence celebration in 1997, a woman standing on a rock above the lodge side of the Klamath River, observed the two loggers trying to make it across the river. She saw Steve and his nephew’s attempt to wade the river, she saw the boy splash and struggle  and swept down stream to deep water with the current then  go under in swift water and saw Stevego after him. There was no sight of either of them for what she later described as several minutes, then the younger man came out of the water with a mighty force he made it to shore without his back pack. It is assumed that Steve got to the lad and got his pack off of him  on the river bottom and then took on water and the weight of his boots kept him from making it the extra feet to the surface for a burst of air. This happened around nine-thirty in the morning. Steve’s wife Susan heard about it and shortly got some one in a jet boat to roar up the Klamath river to the accident scene. The Sheriffs Department and Susan and Steve’s friends searched for his body until early evening, when they finally found him on the bottom of the river in twenty feet of water. The Deputies tried to make Susan leave, but she would not, and stood by while they recovered Steve’s body. Susan then cradled Steve her husband of thirty years in her arms in the Sheriffs jet boat all they way back down the river, with the sun setting down to darkness and passing by the great trees they’d loved and lived in, and took down until the boat stopped with its sad cargo and the tide water mixed with the fresh water from all north California and central Oregon.

“I know there was a hand that met him, I know there was a jubilee, I know that Jesus precious arms were waiting and I know they’ll be there for you I know they’ll be there me.”

Steve Short was the finest man, Christian or other wise I’d ever known. Sadly to knock my own religion the finest examples of humans in my own life have not always been Christians. But I truly know, I do truly know someday I’ll see him again and he will break into one of those big wide grins he used to always have. After my divorce, Steve and I exchanged a lot of phone calls. We’d talked about some future fishing trips that never happened, but mostly we talked of God a lot, and how He’d changed both of our lives and how He’d been there all along when, we were just struggling through life thinking it was something we were carrying on by our own strength. I do not know why he took Him home. But Steve used to talk about knowing that being in heaven as 100 million times greater than being here. But here he lived finally as an example of what Jesus described as, there being no greater love, than giving your life for your friends, few Christians think of it as a commandment in the manner He really gave it, “I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. And here is how to measure it—the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.” I know Steve would have done the same thing for me, “love each other in the same way that I love you.” There were those that grudged the loss of Steve’s life, for a lad that had been constantly “in trouble,” and who had a checkered past. Steve lost his scholarship to UCLA simply because the summer after graduating from High School, he had for very brief time hung with trouble, and ended up getting caught breaking into a liquor store and doing a month in jail for his efforts. Those same type of folks that were judging the boy’s future against the anguish and love they’d known for Steve, were the same kind of folks that wrote Steve off after his misadventure with the law. A mutual friend told me he would have done the same thing for any one he’d known for only five minutes..

His father, had a particularly hard time with Steve’s death. About two years after Steve had been gone I stopped by to spent some time with Steve’s Mom, Rosie and his Dad, Bill Short, Steve’s father. Bill had been a fishing boat captain, now retired who had as an infantryman fought his way over every bad inch of Americas second World War effort in Sicily and then over  most of the geographical boot of Italy.

After the war he logged until he bought his fishing boat, taking time off to fish every chance he got, when the first spring salmon was over the Gold Ray Dam, most of his friends assumed Bill Short had already set out to catch it, riding his pan-head Harley-Davidson, out into the brushy trails next to the Rogue River. When Steve and I were in the 6th grade Bill took us both to Diamond lake at the very end of the fishing season we’d skittered 60 through the patches of snow up from Eagle Point, in the ’55 VW to troll for huge rainbow trout the biggest trout I’d ever seen, giant silvery bullets all of them caught by Bill while Steve and I shivered in the boat, and got a tongue lashings when we got our lines entangled with Captain Bill’s. During that era the schools and logging companies and mills would close for the first week of deer hunting season. Bill would as quick as could, run out opening day and find a buck no matter how large or small, kill it, dress it and be able to get in four or five days of the summer run steelhead fishing while all of his friends were still in hunting camp. After Bill had been fishing for twenty year’s he’d still moor his boat and run up the slippery banks of the smith river when the salmon were running, with his pole catching them for the pure fun of what his commercial operation would not quite satisfy. I tried, several times to leave that evening but Bill Short and I talked for over two hours more out in front of my pickup, after Rosie had gone to bed, on that late summer evening. I told his father, that I’d been reading about the first few centuries of the Christian church, and if the event that cost his son his life had occurred in the days of the early Christian Church, Steve would have been made a Saint for this act of saving the boy’s life. The bland objective journal of the region just reported a death, by drowning that went largely unnoticed and never mentioned what had happened. But there were those who knew him that thought of Steve in that Holy manner already—maybe it is that there is no difference between the early Church and the real Church. Despite the way humans including Christians, have tried to organize our cultures without God, there have been great and good men who have walked with our precious Savior, in manner that he intended us to. I told his father the truth that night, that Steve was simply the finest man I’d ever known.

By James Ross Kelly
First North American Rights
Copyright 2013
About 2800 words

by James Ross Kelly

“Sunset at Montmajour” by Van Gough, once was lost, now it’s found.


Van Gough --"Sunset at Montmajour" July 4, 1888

Van Gough –“Sunset at Montmajour” July 4, 1888

by James Ross Kelly

Gospel within the Gospel — Luke 15:11-32


Return of the Prodigal son by Rembrandt

Return of the Prodigal son by Rembrandt

Luke 15 begins with Jesus speaking to the tax collectors and others, and then the religious elite happen by, and begin to grumble about the company the Saviour keeps, with the intent to disparage his authority. Jesus tells three parables that in ever ascending power demonstrates the power of God to seek the lost and forgive —culminating in the description of the loving Father that “ while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ” All men are at one time or another— either the elder brother, or the prodigal son. Each have a life problem that is self inflicted, each are forgiven, and each are beckoned to their proper place—the banqueting table.

Luke 15:11-32
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The Prodigal Son

11 And He said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his [a]wealth between them. 13 And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. 14 Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. 15 So he went and [b]hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the [c]pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. 17 But when he came to [d]his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and [e]in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ 20 So he got up and came to [f]his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and [g]embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. 29 But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never [h]neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your [i]wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you [j]have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

Footnotes:

Luke 15:12 Lit living
Luke 15:15 Lit was joined to
Luke 15:16 I.e. of the carob tree
Luke 15:17 Lit himself
Luke 15:18 Lit before you
Luke 15:20 Lit his own
Luke 15:20 Lit fell on his neck
Luke 15:29 Or disobeyed
Luke 15:30 Lit living
Luke 15:31 Lit are always with me

by James Ross Kelly

The Didache—TEACHING of the TWELVE APOSTLES


12 Apostles

The Didache (pronounced /ˈdɪdəkiː/; Koine Greek: Διδαχή, Didachē “Teaching”; Modern Greek [ðiðaˈxi]) is the common name of an early Christian writing (dated by some scholars to the late first/early second century although John Robinson argues that it is first generation, dating it c. 40-60 AD). The Didache is an anonymous work that was virtually lost until  a Greek manuscript of the Didache was rediscovered in 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of Nicomedia in the Codex Hierosolymitanus.

The Teaching of the Lord by the Twelve Apostles to the Gentiles (or Nations).

I.

1. There are two Ways, one of Life and one of Death; but there is a great difference between the two Ways.

2. Now the Way of Life is this: First, Thou shalt love God who made thee; secondly, thy neighbor as thyself; and all things whatsoever thou wouldst not have done to thee, neither do thou to another.

3. Now the teaching of these [two] words [of the Lord] is this: Bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you; for what thank is there if ye love those who love you? Do not even Gentiles the same? But love ye those who hate you, and ye shall not have an enemy.

4. Abstain from fleshly and bodily [worldly] lusts. If any one give thee a blow on the right cheek turn to him the other also, and thou shalt be perfect. If any one press thee to go with him one mile, go with him two; if any one take away thy cloak, give him also thy tunic; if any one take from thee what is thine, ask it not back, as indeed thou canst not.

5. Give to every one that asketh thee, and ask not back, for the Father wills that from our own blessings we should give to all. Blessed is he that gives according to the commandment, for he is guiltless. Woe to him that receives; for if any one receives, having need, he shall be guiltless, but he that has not need shall give account, why he received and for what purpose, and coming into distress he shall be strictly examined concerning his deeds, and he shall not come out thence till he have paid the last farthing.

6. But concerning this also it hath been said, “Let thine alms sweat (drop like sweat) into thy hands till thou know to whom thou shouldst give.”

II.

1. And the second commandment of the Teaching is:

2. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not corrupt boys; thou shalt not commit fornication. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not use witchcraft; thou shalt not practice sorcery. Thou shalt not procure abortion, nor shalt thou kill the new-born child. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

3. Thou shalt not forswear thyself (swear falsely). Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not speak evil; thou shalt not bear malice.

4. Thou shalt not be double-minded nor double-tongued; for duplicity of tongue is a snare of death.

5. Thy speech shall not be false, nor vain, but fulfilled by deed.

6. Thou shalt not be covetous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor malignant, nor haughty. Thou shalt not take evil counsel against thy neighbor.

7. Thou shalt not hate any one, but some thou shalt rebuke and for some thou shalt pray, and some thou shalt love above thine own soul (or, life).

 III.

1. My child, flee from every evil, and from every thing that is like unto it.

2. Be not prone to anger, for anger leadeth to murder; nor given to party spirit, nor contentious, nor quick-tempered (or, passionate); for from all these things murders are generated.

3. My child, be not lustful, for lust leadeth to fornication; neither be a filthy talker, nor an eager gazer, for from all these are generated adulteries.

4. My child, be not an observer of birds [for divination] for it leads to idolatry; nor a charmer (enchanter), nor an astrologer, nor a purifier (a user of purifications or expiations), nor be thou willing to look on those things; for from all these is generated idolatry.

5. My child, be not a liar, for lying leads to theft; nor avaricious, nor vainglorious, for from all these things are generated thefts.

6. My child, be not a murmurer, for it leads to blasphemy; neither self-willed (presumptuous), nor evil-minded, for from all these things are generated blasphemies.

7. But be thou meek, for the meek shall inherit the earth.

8. Be thou long-suffering, and merciful, and harmless, and quiet, and good, and trembling continually at the words which thou hast heard.

9. Thou shalt not exalt thyself, nor shalt thou give audacity (presumption) to thy soul. Thy soul shall not be joined to the lofty, but with the just and lowly shalt thou converse.

10. The events that befall thee thou shalt accept as good, knowing that nothing happens without God.

IV.

1. My child, thou shalt remember night and day him that speaks to thee the word of God, and thou shalt honor him as the Lord, for where the Lordship is spoken of, there is the Lord.

2. And thou shalt seek out day by day the faces of the saints, that thou mayest rest upon their words.

3. Thou shalt not desire (make) division, but shalt make peace between those at strife. Thou shalt judge justly; thou shalt not respect a person (or, show partiality) in rebuking for transgressions.

4. Thou shalt not be double-minded (doubtful in thy mind) whether it shall be or not.

5. Be not one that stretches out his hands for receiving, but draws them in for giving.

6. If thou hast [anything], thou shalt give with thy hands a ransom for thy sins.

7. Thou shalt not hesitate to give, nor in giving shalt thou murmur, for thou shalt know who is the good recompenser of the reward.

8. Thou shalt not turn away him that needeth, but shalt share all things with thy brother, and shalt not say that they are thine own; for if you are fellow-sharers in that which is imperishable (immortal), how much more in perishable (mortal) things?

9. Thou shalt not take away thy hand from thy son or from thy daughter, but from [their] youth up thou shalt teach [them] the fear of God.

10. Thou shalt not in thy bitterness lay commands on thy man-servant (bondman), or thy maid-servant (bondwoman), who hope in the same God, lest they should not fear Him who is God over [you] both; for He comes not to call [men] according to the outward appearance (condition), but [he comes] on those whom the Spirit has prepared.

11. But ye, bondmen, shall be subject to our (your) masters as to the image of God in reverence (modesty) and fear.

12. Thou shalt hate all hypocrisy, and everything that is not pleasing to the Lord.

13. Thou shalt not forsake the commandments of the Lord, but thou shalt keep what thou hast received, neither adding [thereto] nor taking away [therefrom].

14. In the congregation (in church) thou shalt confess thy transgressions, and thou shalt not come to thy prayer (or, place of prayer) with an evil conscience.

This is the way of life.

 V.

1. But the way of death is this. First of all it is evil and full of curse; murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, witchcrafts, sorceries, robberies, false-witnessings, hypocrisies, double-heartedness, deceit, pride, wickedness, self-will, covetousness, filthy-talking, jealousy, presumption, haughtiness, boastfulness.

2. Persecutors of the good, hating truth, loving a lie, not knowing the reward of righteousness, not cleaving to that which is good nor to righteous judgment, watchful not for that which is good but for that which is evil; far from whom is meekness and endurance, loving vanity, seeking after reward, not pitying the poor, not toiling with him who is vexed with toil, not knowing Him that made them, murderers of children, destroyers of the handiwork of God, turning away from the needy, vexing the afflicted, advocates of the rich, lawless judges of the poor, wholly sinful.

May ye, children, be delivered from all these.

VI.

1. Take heed that no one lead thee astray from this way of teaching, since he teacheth thee apart from God.

2. For if indeed thou art able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord thou shalt be perfect; but if thou art not able, do what thou canst.

3. And as regards food, bear what thou canst, but against idol-offerings be exceedingly on thy guard, for it is a service of dead gods.

VII.

1. Now concerning baptism, baptize thus: Having first taught all these things, baptize ye into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water.

2. And if thou hast not living water, baptize into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, then in warm (water).

3. But if thou hast neither, pour [water] thrice upon the head in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

4. But before Baptism let the baptizer and the baptized fast, and any others who can; but thou shalt command the baptized to fast for one or two days before.

VIII.

1. Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but ye shall fast on the fourth day, and the preparation day (Friday).

2. Neither pray ye as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, so pray ye: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily (needful) bread. And forgive us our debt as we also forgive our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (or, from evil). For Thine is the power and the glory for ever.”

3. Pray thus thrice a day.

 IX.

1. Now as regards the Eucharist (the Thank-offering), give thanks after this manner:

2. First for the cup: “We give thanks to Thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy servant: to Thee be the glory for ever.”

3. And for the broken bread: “We give thanks to Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy servant: to Thee be the glory for ever.

4. “As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and gathered together became one, so let Thy church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom, for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever.”

5. But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, except those baptized into the name of the Lord; for as regards this also the Lord has said: “Give not that which is holy to the dogs.”

X.

1. Now after being filled, give thanks after this manner:

2. “We thank Thee, Holy Father, for Thy Holy Name, which Thou hast caused to dwell (tabernacle) in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy Servant, to Thee be the glory for ever.

3. “Thou, O, Almighty Sovereign, didst make all things for Thy Name’s sake; Thou gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Thy Servant.

4. “Before all things we give thanks to Thee that Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever.

5. “Remember, O Lord, Thy Church to deliver her from all evil and to perfect her in Thy love; and gather her together from the four winds, sanctified for Thy kingdom which Thou didst prepare for her; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever.

6. “Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If any one is holy let him come, if any one is not holy let him repent. Maranatha. Amen.”

7. But permit the Prophets to give thanks as much as [in what words] they wish.

XI.

1. Whosoever then comes and teaches you all the things aforesaid, receive him.

2. But if the teacher himself being perverted teaches another teaching to the destruction [of this], hear him not, but if [he teach] to the increase of righteousness and the knowledge of the Lord, receive him as the Lord.

3. Now with regard to the Apostles and Prophets, according to the decree (command) of the gospel, so do ye.

4. Let every Apostle that cometh to you be received as the Lord.

5. But he shall not remain [longer than] one day; and, if need be, another [day] also; but if he remain three [days] he is a false prophet.

6. And when the Apostle departeth, let him take nothing except bread [enough] till he reach his lodging (night-quarters). But if he ask for money, he is a false prophet.

7. And every prophet who speaks in the spirit ye shall not try or prove; for every sin shall be forgiven, but this sin shall not be forgiven.

8. Not every one that speaks in the spirit is a Prophet, but only if he has the behavior (the ways) of the Lord. By their behavior then shall the false prophet and the [true] Prophet be known.

9. And no Prophet that orders a table in the spirit eats of it [himself], unless he is a false prophet.

10. And every Prophet who teaches the truth if he does not practice what he teaches, is a false prophet.

11. And every approved, genuine Prophet, who makes assemblies for a worldly mystery, but does not teach [others] to do what he himself does, shall not be judged by you; for he has his judgment with God (or, his judgment is in the hands of God); for so did also the ancient Prophets.

12. But whosoever says in the spirit: Give me money or any other thing, ye shall not listen to him; but if he bid you to give for others that lack, let no one judge him.

XII.

1. Let every one that comes in the name of the Lord be received, and then proving him ye shall know him; for ye shall have understanding right and left.

2. If indeed he who comes is a wayfarer, help him as much as ye can; but he shall not remain with you longer than two or three days, unless there be necessity.

3. If he wishes to settle among you, being a craftsman (artisan), let him work and eat (earn his living by work).

4. But if he has not handicraft (trade), provide according to your understanding that no Christian shall live idle among you.

5. And if he will not act thus he is a Christ-trafficker. Beware of such.

XIII.

1. But every true Prophet who wishes to settle among you is worthy of his food (or, support).

2. Likewise a true Teacher is himself worthy, like the workman, of his food.

3. Therefore thou shalt take and give all the first-fruit of the produce of the wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and sheep, to the Prophets; for they are your chief-priests.

4. But if ye have no Prophet, give to the poor.

5. If thou preparest bread, take the first fruit and give according to the commandment.

6. Likewise when thou openest a jar of wine or of oil, take the first-fruit and give to the Prophets.

7. And of silver, and raiment, and every possession, take the first-fruit, as may seem good to thee, and give according to the commandment.

XIV.

1. And on the Lord’s Day of the Lord come together, and break bread, and give thanks, having before confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.

2. Let no one who has a dispute with his fellow come together with you until they are reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be defiled.

3. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: “In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the Gentiles.”

 XV.

1. Elect therefore for yourselves Bishops and Deacons worthy of the Lord, men meek, and not lovers of money, and truthful, and approved; for they too minister to you the ministry of the Prophets and Teachers.

2. Therefore despise them not, for they are those that are the honored [men] among you with the Prophets and Teachers.

3. And reprove one another not in wrath, but in peace, as ye have [it] in the gospel; and with every one that transgresses against another let no one speak, nor let him hear [a word] from you until he repents.

4. But so do your prayers and alms and all your actions as ye have [it] in the gospel of our Lord.

 XVI.

1. Watch over your life; let not your lamps be quenched and let not your loins be unloosed, but be ye ready; for ye know not the hour in which our Lord comes.

2. But be ye frequently gathered together, seeking the things that are profitable for your souls; for the whole time of your faith shall not profit you except in the last season ye be found perfect.

3. For in the last days the false prophets and destroyers shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate.

4. For when lawlessness increases, they shall hate and persecute, and deliver up one another; and then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall commit iniquities which have never yet come to pass from the beginning of the world.

5. And then shall the race of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be offended and shall perish; but they who endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself.

6. And then shall appear the signs of the truth: first the sign of opening in heaven; then the sign of the voice of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead.

7. Not, however, of all, but as was said, “The Lord shall come, and all the saints with him.”

8. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.

This version of The Didache was originally published in 1885 by Funk & Wagnalls, Publishers (New York). The translation was made by Philip Schaff from the Jerusalem Manuscript of the Didache. The copyright has expired, so that this translation is now in the public domain. Anyone may freely copy, print and republish this document. No permission is needed.

by James Ross Kelly

Kingdom of God is at hand—from Christianity Unshackled


Prophets in the Old Testament spoke of a coming Kingdom that would endure forever and grow until it filled the earth (see 1 Chron. 17:12; Dan. 2:44) this was contrary to the thinking of all the ancient kingdoms, such as the Persian, Greek, or Roman, where people fatalistically believed that kingdoms rise and fall.

Jesus walked the streets of Israel declaring, “The kingdom of God is at hand”— which meant that the reign of God in the earth had begun. In several parables Jesus explained how the Kingdom of God is growing like seeds in the earth: first they sprout, then they develop roots, then they push upward, and finally they develop into mature plants (see Mark 4:2- 8; 26-29). In another parable He explained how the Kingdom of God continually growing in the earth like seeds in soil or yeast in dough. They believed the Kingdom of God would grow as the Church grows until it fills the whole earth.

Christianity Unshackled, Harold Eberle p.129-130

(see also Eberle and Trench, Victorious Eschatology, World Cast Publishing 2006)

by James Ross Kelly

G. K. Chesterton on Comparative Religion


G._K._Chesterton_at_work

Comparative religion is very comparative indeed. That is, it is so much a matter of degree and distance and difference that it is only comparatively successful when it tries to compare. When we come to look at it closely we find it comparing things that are really quite incomparable. We are accustomed to see a table or catalogue of the world’s great religions in parallel columns, until we fancy they are really parallel. We are accustomed to see the names of the great religious founders all in a row: Christ; Mahomet; Buddha; Confucius. But in truth this is only a trick, another of these optical illusions by which any objects may be put into a particular relation by shifting to a particular point of sight. Those religions and religious founders, or rather those whom we choose to lump together as religions and religious founders, do not really show any common character. The illusion is partly produced by Islam coming immediately after Christianity in the list; as Islam did come after Christianity and was largely an imitation of Christianity. But the other eastern religions, or what we call religions, not only do not resemble the Church but do not resemble each other. When we come to Confucianism at the end of the list, we come to something in a totally different world of thought. To compare the Christian and Confucian religions is like comparing a theist with an English squire or asking whether a man is a believer in immortality or a hundred-per-cent American. Confucianism may be a civilisation but it is not a religion.

Chesterton, G. K. (2012-12-19). Everlasting Man (Kindle Locations 1165-1176). . Kindle Edition.