Cards on the table: When I started the Original Church Community here on Locals, I thought that participation was only for supporters - in other words, supporting me here at $10 per month was the price of entry into the conversation - and I wanted that because I wanted a kind of closed community where the people in the conversation were serious about the Christian faith and we would not be distracted by antagonistic trolls or politics or other drama.
Also, I was really opposed to any kind of "tier" system (like how it works in other communities or similar platforms) where if you pay more you get more access to me. I wanted to avoid that at all costs, no pun intended, I just wanted everyone to be equal and we could all have some great conversation here in a place without the trolls and haters that would be there on YouTube or other social media sites.
I did not realize that it was possible to be a "follower" without being a supporter, and once it was too late to go back, I found out that there are all these things built into Locals to encourage followers to become supporters - for example - I could flip a switch in the middle of the Bible Study, and people who are not supporters would be kicked out. I never want to do that. But I admit I had tried other things like making the translations available only to supporters. But I'm done with that - from now on, everything I do here is available to everyone - whether or not you are a supporter for the $10/month.
Supporting is optional, and I'm leaving it at that. I'm done with anything that smells anything like marketing. So please become a supporter, if you want to, but if you don't, you are just as welcome here, and just as welcome to participate in everything as anyone else. I won't even look to see who supports and who doesn't. For those who do become supporters, I will work hard to keep the community active, and if you think of the Bible Study like a kind of course (but with no homework) that alone should be worth the ten bucks a month.
Full disclosure - 100% of the money I receive from supporters goes to fulfilling my commitment to help support my step-daughter, who is a single mom with two kids, ages 5 and almost 1. (The five-year-old is the one we are getting from the Philippines). With both of these sweet boys, when their mom was pregnant with them, there was a brief time when some people whispered the A-word, and I made a promise to help support her so she could keep them. So any money I get here goes toward keeping that promise.
Here's a short (about a minute) video I took going around the Holy Column in the church of Santa Prassede. This is the column that Jesus was tied to when he was scourged by Pontius Pilate. They don't always have the barrier down, so you usually don't get to see it from all the way around. I wanted to get video of the whole thing all the way around because I ran across a note in an ancient document that said that those who made a pilgrimage (at that time to the Holy Land, since it was still in Jerusalem) could visit the Holy Column, and could see marks left from the hands of Jesus where he gripped it as he was being whipped. I assume that this is pious legend, but I figured since the column has that dark & light marble, maybe there's a place where the dark parts look like hands. I did not see it, but if you do, let me know!
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
Here is our next set of texts - as we get into John chapter 6, we first encounter Jesus feeding the multitudes - in this case 5,000 families!
Now, as you know, there is also an account o Jesus feeding 4,000, and so you may also know that some scholars might speculate that these are just different versions of the same story that circulated and were handed down orally, until they were written down. Even the fact that both stories occur in the same gospel would not stop that kind of speculation. So I thought the first question I would have to ask was whether the Church fathers thought this was one event or two - BUT (and you see where this is going) I forgot that Jesus himself makes reference to two separate events (in Matthew 16 and in Mark 8) so there is no question for the Church fathers - these are two separate events. So it seems that Jesus performed this sign (miracle) of the feeding of the multitudes on two occasions. It's not just one event told two different ways, and it's also ...
My voice was still recovering from a bad cold, so not sounding my best, but this was a great conversation about pilgrimage, for the Jubilee year - more of this coming in other interviews! (FYI, I think I was the third of three guests that day, so you will have to fast forward to find me)
It seems that one way or another we need to talk about different kinds, or different levels of heresy. What I have been calling heresy vs. heterodoxy, others call heresy on fundamental doctrines vs. heresy on less fundamental doctrines. In other words, Heresy with a capital H (over fundamental doctrines like the Trinity and christology) are the kinds of heresies that move one outside the boundaries of what Christianity is, and that's because the very definition of Christianity is defined according to these fundamental doctrines. To refuse to sign the Creed at the Council of Nicaea in 325, or the Council of Constantinople in 381 - and indeed to reject any of the contents of the Creed today - means that a person is NOT a Christian.
So are the non-chalcedonians, such as the miaphysites (including St. Gregory of Narek, and today's Coptic Christians) - are they heretics? Well, like it is with a lot of things, that depends on your definition of heresy. If you include in your definition of ...
