So The Pope Says I’m Not a Christian…
2007-07-11 16:03:35
Well, the Pope didn’t physically pick up the phone and call me up to tell me “Hey Leonard, you’re not a Christian
,” but he might as well. In a document released Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI claimed that those ‘churches’ outside of the Catholic Church were defective and ‘wounded’. In addition to making these claims, he continued on to state that the Catholic Church has the only true means of turth and salvation.
Now this is nothing new, but after Vatican II and the progress made in inter-Christian dialouge, it’s a sad attempt at continuing talks with the reformed Christian families.
This is also the second time Pope Benedict XVI has attempted at ‘overriding’ decisions made during Vatican II in recent weeks. His theological implications linger around apolistic succession, and how the modern reformed and protestant churches are not part of the Church of Christ because we have no physical ‘link’ to the origina
Read more: hellip
Hi!
2007-07-11 14:48:31
Thanks for dropping by!
This is going to be the new home of my blog. Instead of focusing on the old livejournal, or the extremely bland myspace blog, I’ve decided to open one up here. You’ll find entries mainly discussing religion, Christian living, and politics. Enjoy and God Bless!
-Leonard O
What Is Life?
2007-07-11 11:38:12
What is Life?
This is an interesting question. I’m rather sure that all of you out there have had a moment of internal inquiry where you’ve questioned the very idea and purpose of life and living. You may have brooded over the question of life while sipping a cup of coffee, or maybe you’ve tossed the idea back and forth with friends.
It may very well be the most difficult and simplest question ever devised. I say difficult and devised because it’s probably the single most worked on question man has ever attempted to answer. A mathematical equation may be hotly debated, but at some point man finds an answer. In science, we find men making discoveries, and although things like the galaxy and evolution are hotly debated, I would say they are nowhere near the question of ‘life’.
Why is the question of life so different and difficult? Let us look at the ordinary man and the philosopher. Both may address the question of “What is the meaning of life?” and remain answerless. Ge
Argument Against Abortion
2007-05-11 11:39:03
Argument against Abortion.
At conception; life is born. I hold life to be sacred, so a framework of my argument must be based on a moral approach. To take this into consideration, and understand that human life is sacred, I must prove that a fetus/child is a human, a person and alive. Scripture supports the moral decision of taking innocent life, so instead of taking this morale argument (which would get nowhere with someone who does not agree with that morale standpoint), I’ll need to prove instead (without scripture) that it’s truly alive.
Protestant (Didache teaches against it), Catholic (Church states it to be a grave sin), Hinduism (One of 6 kinds of murder in Hindu culture. Teaches a fetus as being alive and needing protection), Islam (Teaches against murder, same 40 days and Judaism), And Judaism (Halakah, or Jewish law, states that a fetus is not alive until 40 days, so you could say Judaism is split on the issue)
That’s some kind of framework of a morale argu
Read more: Argument
Site Visit: Catholic Church
2007-02-23 08:02:00
Saint Richards Catholic
Church
7500 S.W. 152 St., Miami, FL, 33157(305) 233-8711
Before I started this assignment I had all these different ideas about going to strange and exotic places of worship. I first had my mind set on attending this Buddhist temple by the house. Then I changed it to taking a visit to the Islamic Academy by the Tamiami airport. Then it changed once again to the cultish following of Jose Miranda, aka ‘Jesus Christ Man’. This all got me very excited, and I couldn’t wait until I finally chose one of my many options. Yet oddly enough, I was to attend a place of worship that would be last on my list. Even though I obviously wanted to go somewhere completely bizarre, my girlfriend wanted to take me to a Catholic church. She herself used to be a Catholic and later converted. She would always tell me how completely different Catholicism was to my Baptist church, but I would always think that it couldn’t be that far apart. I mean, both remain under the bran
Site Visit: Buddhist Wat
2007-02-20 07:59:00
Wat Buddharangsi of Miami (Buddhist
Wat)PhramahaThanee Khonkla, Monk15200 SW 240th Street, Miami FL, 33032305.245.2702
As a religion major I have always been told that the absolute best way to learn about a religion is to plug yourself into the role of one who follows that religion. The best advice my first religion professor gave me was that the easiest and quickest way to learn about a religion is to attend one of their services. You cannot comprehend the beauty of any major religion by merely hearing about it in lectures, or viewing pictures in books. Religion itself is a concept that isn’t like mathematics or science. In appearance, it’s more like an art, and when I entered the grounds of the Wat Buddharangasi of Miami I felt as if I walked into an Asian painting.
To start with explaining my experience with the Wat I first must lay the ground-works of why the site is there and what they believe in. To begin the Wat Buddharangsi of Miami is of the Theravada branch of Bud
Observations on Science and God
2006-05-11 11:51:46
Just some observations and opinions.
So you’re probably wondering what quantum mechanics have to do with a religion and business major. I would have wondered the same thing.
I’m currently enrolled in a General Physical Science
education course at MDC, and I used to think I hated science. I mean, as a religion major, science is probably not your favorite subject to begin with, but for some reason I convinced myself that I would hate taking any science course, and that it would be entirely useless.
Ever since I started MDC, I thought that with several courses. I thought many of the courses I was taking were meaningless. I slowly began to learn how much of an impact such silly classes had on my life perspective. I’m utterly fascinated with the ability of my classes to relate to my religious thought, and my view on God.
I know this may sound weird, but every class I’ve taken has shown me something new about God. The bible wasn’t kidding around when it talked about knowledge and
Hillary and Edwards Caught On Open Mic
2007-07-13 23:54:24
Clinton: “We’ve got to talk, because they are just being trivialized.”
Edwards
: “They are not serious.”
Clinton: “No.”
Clinton: “I think there was an effort by our campaigns to do that. That got somehow detoured. We got to get back to it, because that’s all we’re going to do.”
Clinton: “Our guys should talk.”
SUMMARY: Hillary
“I am better than you other candidates, thus I need more light, camera, and action time!”
Read more: Caught
, Open Mic
Hindu Senate Prayer
2007-07-13 21:23:13
Here’s a video of the event I discussed earlier.
Read more: Hindu
, Senate
, Prayer
Oh Divine Brahma, Bless This Senate!
2007-07-13 13:55:31
What do Hindus, Harry Reid, and The United States Senate
have in common?
…Well honest, not much. BUT that didn’t stop Harry Reid (D. Mich.) from inviting Rajan Zed (Nevada), a Hindu clergyman, to open the Senate floor in prayer. Where the usual dress code on the senate floor is a suit, Rajan came flaunting his saffron orange robes, and a mala around his neck. He read from his Rig Veda, Bhagavad Gita, and then continued in his prayer:
“We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme, who is inside the heart of the earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of heaven. May he stimulate and illuminate our minds.”
“Lead us from the unreal to real, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality. May we be protected together. May we be nourished together. May we work together with great vigor. May our study be enlightening.”
However, the prayer wan’t as peaceful as one would guess. In the middle of the service, a few Fundamen
Read more: Divine
, Brahma
, Bless
I like these…
2007-07-23 16:01:17
Read more: hellip
2007-08-07 22:35:11
“One turtle asks the other, ‘Sometimes I’d like to ask Why God allows poverty, famine, and injustice when He could do something about it.’ The other turtle replies, ‘I’m just afraid God might ask me the same question.’”
Here’s a response to Adrian:
2007-08-30 12:38:42
Adrian claims ALL THE FOUNDING FATHER’S WERE DEIST AND HUMANIST:
Thanks for the correction. I must have confused the ‘In God we Trust’ with ‘One nation Under God’. Swapped the Pledge with that on the dollar. Either way, the results are the same. Simple mistake.
If anything, my quotation is probably better as a mistake. Although the coinage says ‘In God we Trust’, and was coined in the 1900’s, you reminded me of the Creators/God’s mentioning in the Declaration. Since I’m guessing your point of “This was coined only in the 1900’s and there’s nothing before to suggest a heritage of God in Government,” I guess I’ll leave you with a piece of the introduction and the preamble of the Declaration. Here, late 1700’s, God’s role in being the source of our civil rights and liberties is clear, as it’s used as the presupposition to what rights we’re entitled to and thus provide reasonin
Read more: Adrian
I’m proud of my Golden Panthers
2007-09-15 18:16:10
I know my football team is 0-3.
I know they lost their first game 0-59.
I know they just lost to UM 9-23
But I’m proud of them! I really am! I was there at their home games last year, and let me tell you it was depressing! They couldn’t score,, they couldn’t kick, they couldn’t rush, and they couldn’t keep me awake. The games were painstakingly boring, but thats beginning to change. I know ordinary people will look at our track record thus far, and say we suck, but from someone like me I see definate improvement!
I mean, our devision is tough to begin with. We did that on purpose. We want to play the bigger, harder teams out there. It’s good for our program, and it makes attendance exciting. To lose to UM by only 2 touchdowns is a great accomplishment. Compared with how we did last year, I’m very satisfied. We had a bunch of opportunities to score during the game, but at least we got some passing action! We made a nice 65 yard pass for a to
Read more: Golden
, Panthers
2007-09-13 09:57:05
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’
- Ronald Reagan
Just an essay on Islam I wrote for REL4205. I Like to store my papers on my Blog.
2007-10-01 17:57:42
The Qur’an, Islam
, Man, and God
When asked to define Islam to a non-believer, a Muslim may respond with a simple repetition of the shahadah: La ilaha illa Allah; Muhammad rasul Allah (There is no God but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God). The simple creed is quite telling: God is One, and there exists no other, and his message, whatever it may be, was revealed through a messenger named Muhammad. What forms the bulk of Islamic piety is this message, which is revealed to man as the Qur’an (“recitation”). By probing into the history and the role of the Qur’an and oral narratives of its messenger Muhammad, called Hadiths, we can find answers to keen questions concerning Islam: who God is, what role human nature and human responsibility have, and what relationship exists between mankind and God.
When a 40 year old man named Muhammad (570-632 CE) decided to take a religious retreat to Mount Hira for some prayer and meditation around 610 CE, he found him
Read more: essay
, wrote
, papers
The Question: “…why should anyone assume that God was around before the Big Bang.”
2007-10-15 18:21:15
The Question
:
&ldquo
;Secondly, why should anyone assume that God was around before the Big Bang
&rdquo
;
My Answer:
I think that would fall under the argument of cause and effect, or the idea of motion. As some philosophers argue, everything in the universe is in motion (circulation of the planets, stars, atoms, protons, etc). We understand through simple observation that in order for something to move in our physical world (exp: a ball), it must be moved. A ball sitting on an even floor does not start moving unless it is pushed (by a force, a person, the wind, etc).
With this movement (the effect) needing a push (a cause), a philosopher or Christian may come to the conclusion that the universe must have a Universal Mover/Pusher, or as some call, the First Cause.
That would be one role, and seeing that the Big Bang, if following these day-to-day observations of cause and effect, it would also need a first cause. We don’t witness anything material creating itself from non-existe
Read more: hellip
I’m Engaged!
2007-11-01 17:30:19
I’ll write about it later, but here’s my view on Age and Engagement:
The argument can be seen in reverse. If you have found that person, who has been nothing but a completion to yourself, then the argue, to me, would be silly not to marry.
If you found the person you love, and the person who you’re clearly supposed to spend your life with, what rational argument can one make NOT to get married? If you have that person, are you going to put them off because of what kind of experiences? Other relationships? Sex?
Life’s lessons and experiences are only enhanced with that person whom you’re supposed to be with. As I was telling my friend: In the bible, Christ calls us to be the salt in the world. What role does salt play? When salt is added to food, it brings out the foods true flavor. It brings out
As such, my fiance brings about lifes ‘flavor’. Experiencing life with her, is better WITH her. She brings out the richness in anything I do. From sil
Read more: Engaged
Kaufman, God, and Scripture
2007-10-30 12:33:53
Two short essays I wrote for my Methods in the study of Sacred Texts: God’s relationship with Man, course.
The topic if Kaufman, how he views Jesus in relation to scripture and importance, and how he defines God. Enjoy.
Leonard O Goenaga
Professor Alvarez
REL4205
30 October 2007
Kaufman, God, and Christ/Scripture
Question One: In the chapter on Jesus, Kaufman speaks about the role of the Scripture in our reconstruction of the life of Jesus and the extent to which Scripture remains authoritative for Christians today. What is Kaufman’s view? What is the source(s) of authority for Kaufman?
Question Two: What is Kaufman’s understanding of the concept of God, particularly in terms of the dual aspect of the concept of God. After presenting Kaufman’s position, to what criticisms is Kaufman vulnerable; both from the point of view the Christian tradition and from the point of view of the naturalistic worldview he is trying to a large degree to accommodate? To what extent do you
Funny Stuff
2007-11-20 18:19:47
Funny
stuff.
Opening Pandora’s Sandbox: The Lebanon 1958 Intervention
2007-11-19 13:13:36
Leonard O Goenaga
Professor Cox
INR3102
November 19 2007
Opening Pandora
’s Sandbox
In the spirit of addressing modern foreign policy dilemmas in the Middle East, it’s always important to trace histories footprints to find areas where current problems and attitudes were initially planted. It’s of grave interest to both students and those in high political offices to pay close attention to the starting point of the chaotic fire that has consumed the oil rich Arabic countries. As a fire detective deeply analyzes the remaining ash and charcoal to detect signs of a flames ignition, so do I as a student scholar look to the past to draw clues and lessons for current engagements and problems. In this spirit, I’ve drawn myself to analyze an intervention usually overlooked as a military victory, and a ‘finest hour’ in the use of U.S. strike-forces to quell rebellion and bring about western-friendly regimes. In this essay, I plan to analyze the causes of the
Read more: Lebanon
The Military Tradition in Ancient Israel
2007-12-01 13:20:33
Leonard Goenaga
Professor Larson
REL3280
27 November 2007
The Military
Tradition
in Ancient
Israel
In May of 1967, Egypt gathered over 1,000 tanks and 100,000 infantrymen while calling for a unified Arab attack against the newly formed Israeli nation. Israel, fearing such an engagement, launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt, and later muscled back the invading state of Jordan. In the end the Israeli nation gained control of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gohan Heights, the West Bank, and Eastern Jerusalem in what was considered a tremendous military victory. Although many historians and military strategist marvel at the Israeli display of supremacy and strength during the Six Day War, it is not something new to the Jewish people. A simple journey back into the Israelite’s past, and a dive into the Old Testament, can testify to this military voyage. This paper will explore the rich military tradition of the ancient Israelites, and follow their b
Tocqueville on Government, America, Morality, Democracy, Liberty and other Quotes
2008-02-26 18:37:51
A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.
Alexis de Tocqueville
All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
Alexis de Tocqueville
America
is great because she [...]
Read more: Government
, Morality
, Quotes
Blog’s Success
2008-02-25 19:10:23
With the 3,050+ mark having been exceeded today, I thought I’d let everyone know the successes of the Blog in terms of advertisement. My John Locke and the Declaration of Independence entry, which was a research paper I recently completed, has been extremely successful in garnering free top-located google-search spots. I’ve been getting about 10-20 [...]
Read more: Success
3000+ Visitors!!!
2008-02-25 14:17:08
Just congratulating the blog, as it’s achieved over 3000 hits today! I look forward to it growing in it’s future.
Read more: Visitors
Moral Absolutes, Life, and Law; A Scenario.
2008-02-25 13:18:00
The following is a quoted question and scenario a friend asked me regarding law and conflicting responsibilities regarding a man breaking the speeding law to get to his pregnant birthing wife:
“If your driving above the speed limit, but you have a legitimate reason for it, for example a distressing phone call that you need to hurry back [...]
Read more: Moral
Tocqueville on Religion and Law
2008-02-25 09:18:00
The religion which declares that all are equal in the sight of God, will not refuse to acknowledge that all citizens are equal in the eye of the law. Religion
is the companion of liberty in all its battles and all it conflicts; the cradle of its infancy and the divine source of its claims. - [...]
My Take on Castro’s Resignation
2008-02-19 16:48:03
It may, initially, appear to be nothing; however, totalitarian regimes (which Cuba certainly is), have a terrible tendency of running into severe leadership and state issues when power changes hands from the original charismatic founder of the movement.
As we saw with Russia after Stalin, and China after Mao, reformers within the single party begin [...]
Read more: Castro
, Resignation
Beautiful Piece by Annie John flint, Entitled ‘He Giveth More Grace’
2008-02-18 15:39:24
He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,When we reach the end of our hoarded resourcesOur Father’s full giving [...]
Read more: Beautiful
, Annie
, Grace
Quotes concerning salvation, Christ, and faith from our Founding Fathers and Patriots
2008-02-18 11:57:53
Notable quotes from our founding fathers regarding faith and personal salvation. Brought to you by
Samuel AdamsFather of the American Revolution, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
I . . . recommend my Soul to that Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ
[...]
Read more: Quotes
, Founding
, Fathers
, Patriots
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