Category: Uncategorized

Some of the 70 were at the Last Supper

‘Do this in memory of me’ and women at the Last Supper – proof that some of the 70 were at the Last Supper, not just the Twelve

Jesus chose twelve men for the role of ‘apostles.’ But Junia is also “apostle” (Romans 16:7 see Catholic NABRE). Now Mary of Magdala is considered ‘apostle to the apostles.’ No mention of Jesus making priests or any indication the apostles were priests. The 12 and the 70 (or 72) were both appointed to be missionaries, same Greek verb appointed.

You can see some of the 70 are present at the Last Supper (compare Luke 22:35 and Luke 10:1-4). The key is who is without “purse, bag, sandals.” It is the 70 (gender unknown – possibly some women). For the 12, it is a different set of accoutrements.  It is the Twelve who are identified in Matthew 10:9-10 as having “no gold, silver, copper in belts” . . . “no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff.” In Mark 6:8-9, the Twelve are told to have “a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.” Yes, a bit of contradiction there with the staff and sandals. Jesus’ description at the Last Supper “without purse, bag, sandals,” fits the Seventy exactly.

All four books of the Gospel place “disciples” at the Last Supper. So Jesus addressed a room full of people with him saying, “Do this in memory of me,” but he was really only talking to 12 men? Come on now. And which one of these 12 manly men was leaning on Jesus’ “bοsοm”? (Jn 13:23, 25 (KJ21)) The Church would have you believe it was the fisherman John, known as a “son of Thunder” who was cuddling with Jesus. No, I don’t think it was thunderous John.

Not likely that among the 70 and among the 120 (Pentecost) and at the Last Supper there were no women and these were strictly all-male groups. Women clearly are in the upper room in Acts 1:14. The apostle Junia, a woman who was in Christianity before Paul (Romans 16:7 Catholic NABRE), may have been one of the 70 apostles — in the Greek Orthodox Church the 70 are called ‘apostles.’ Junia is a saint in that Church.

Who cooked the Last Supper and served it and washed the dishes?

The Mass remembers Calvary and the Tomb also. Women were present at both.

Mostly NRSV

 

how to be feminine

September 20, 2013

Nowadays, women are doctors, lawyers, heads of state, CEOs, scientists, astronauts, theologians, and Roman Catholic womenpriests, etc.  I’m glad that women choose challenging, fulfilling careers and women excel.  I have not met a woman yet who needed a pope to tell her how to be feminine.

The priest is not the Lamb or the Bridegroom. The priest does not represent Jesus.  The celebrant has a gender-neutral role because (unlike Jesus at the Last Supper) the celebrant takes communion with the people and thus represents the people. A priest can be either male or female because the people represented are either male or female.

September 21, 2013

Nothing will have changed until I read – it is an official position at the Vatican and a woman has been appointed to the position.  ♀

September 22, 2013

The Catholic womenpriests may be post-Vatican (at least until the Vatican is reformed), but are still Catholic.

 

 

 

rabbits, lemmings, kudzu

September 12, 2013

Contraception:  It most certainly is “natural” for a species named homo sapiens [meaning wise man] to use its natural intelligence to manage fertility in order to maximize loving relationships, plan spacing and number of children, and to minimize environmental damage; unlike propagating rabbits, lemmings, kudzu, etc., which do not have this same natural capacity to manage and plan.

The great irony of celibate bishops refusing to produce children, while teaching that birth control is wrong, has not escaped me.  Fortunately, their teaching has been thoroughly rejected by US Catholic women.  Will the US bishops begin to listen to the people in the pews for once?

September 17, 2013

“Each and every marriage act must be open to the transmission of life.” Why not take that idea to its logical conclusion:  Each and every waking hour must be spent having sex.  Anyone who does not try to have at least one baby per year is in mortal sin.  Every family should have 20 children or more, etc. ???

Oh well, “natural” methods of birth control like taking your temperature every day are supposedly OK.  What’s natural about taking your temperature every day?  And it works like Russian roulette works.

Not much of a heavenly reward in my opinion

August 26, 2013

Of course, as you say, any Loving God would not send someone to eternal torture.

The question I want to ask is why would someone who professes to “love a neighbor” want to keep believing that their neighbors are bound for hell?  Do they secretly hate their neighbors?

Also, how is it possible that the “elect” are “saved” and then forced to witness the eternal torture of those they loved in life and be separated from them?  Not much of a heavenly reward in my opinion, if that’s the case.  Hell-advocates say that God erases the memories of those saved so they can no longer remember those they loved.  Not a reward I would relish.

subjected to a dictatorship?

August 7, 2013

There is no way there can be a “Sense Of The Faithful” without discussion.  The Church is not supposed to be a place where we all have to keep our mouths shut tight.

I don’t agree with your assessment, “heresy,” but I defend your right to say it.

You say the Church isn’t a democracy.  Do you think the people should be voiceless and subjected to a dictatorship?

Did Jesus tell his disciples to not say anything?  Disciples discuss and learn. Even the Pope can learn.

Let the kids have faith instead

July 26, 2013

What is needed now is reform of the Church’s governing structure, changing an “infallible” monarchy into something reasonable that works for the Church.

I don’t think all this adulation of the Pope by the children is a good idea because children should not be taught to idolize a human being.  It’s sad to think these kids are being taught that the Pope is infallible and that he cannot make a mistake while teaching.

Nobody knows God’s mind but God, and to know the mind of God is to be God.  If the Pope knew the mind of God, the Pope would be God.  To say that the Pope speaks for God is idolatry.  The Pope may be inspired by the Holy Spirit just as much as any other person, but the “Spirit blows where It will.”

Whoever fabricated the idea of infallibility did a disservice to faith.  Faith is not certainty.  Life is a journey of seeking.  Nobody has any definite answers, let alone infallible answers.  Let the kids have faith instead.

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/humble-pope-asks-permission-enter-brazil#comment-974020654

That would be fair wouldn’t it

November 1, 2017

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/why-do-we-still-tolerate-mass-stipends

So what! I don’t see anything wrong in having a Mass to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary or memorialize the passing of a loved one. Pay the priest for his overtime and overhead if you can afford it. Who thinks the objective is to get people out of a Purgatory? For crying out loud

Now here is an issue worth contemplating: Is it moral to pay a medical technologist to take a radioactive hit so that you may be scanned in a pt-scan? Even if the technologist has willingly made that his life’s work, still he has no other job and he has responsibilities, and he shows up for work each day and takes those radioactive hits.

Same for police officers. Is it moral for us to expect them to put their lives on the line every day for dollars?

What about the dangers in any job? Shouldn’t society be arranged so that all have safe jobs? That would be fair wouldn’t it

upright stones at Bruniquel Cave

September 26, 2017

It makes me think that all theologians are amateurs — If y’all know something about the Illimitable and Indefinable, raise your hands.

altar as table —

Vatican Catechism 1182

“The altar is also the table of the Lord, to which the People of God are invited”

Vatican Catechism 1383

“The altar, around which the Church is gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist, represents the two aspects of the same mystery: the altar of the sacrifice and the table of the Lord . . . and as food from heaven who is giving himself to us”

Vatican Catechism 1443

“Jesus receives sinners at his table”

September 27, 2017

Maybe flags beside the altar are an evolution of earlier symbols such as staffs (Aaron’s rod placed before / inside the Ark of the Covenant); also, what were “horns” of the altar in the Hebrew Bible? Does anyone know what are the ‘wooden asherah poles’ placed before Yahweh’s altar and considered idolatrous by the biblical authors (many references on Biblegateway (NIV)). Are these asherah a sort of staff (rod) or maybe young trees as in the Tree of Life, Her sacred tree?

At Stonehenge there are upright stones not part of the circle but within it, likewise there are uprights in the Göbekli Tepe circles in Turkey built thousands of years before Stonehenge, if I recall correctly. Likewise the upright poles arranged around the stone circles in Bruniquel Cave in France, constructed approximately 176,500 years ago by Neanderthals, it is claimed. Symbols such as poles, uprights, candles, (maybe a candle is just a candle, hehehe), have their history. But maybe a flag is just a flag.

Probably I should have said “posts” to describe the upright stones at Bruniquel Cave in France. The stone posts and two stone circles represent reproduction by a Bridegroom and Bride?? Enough said. So rods, poles, posts, uprights, candles, candles dipped into baptismal fonts, have symbolism and history. Likewise round baptismal fonts and other circles such as rose windows and round naves.

god as a prime mover

August 1, 2017

Is your God responsible for the evil that is evident in the supposed construction?

August 2, 2017

Evil does not triumph? In denial much?

There is a problem with a god as a prime mover, a problem Jesus avoids in the Gospel by having Abba as companion, provider, seeker, and leaven in bread, etc., except for one passage?? where Jesus talks about marriage as created. Science does not necessarily show “a beginning” — as big bangs are possibly cyclical?? Genesis says ‘in the beginning’ but actually does not say Yahweh creates out of nothing. Rather he arranges matter that already exists, separating light from dark, and drawing Adam out of pre-existent dust. Really no need for a god creating out of nothing and I don’t know where that idea comes from. No need to be blaming God for evil if God is not responsible, but more like a ‘good shepherd.’

Possibly no ‘beginning’ if time exists in bubbles or snapshots as it were. Not necessarily linear as we experience it.

. . . .

Your god makes evil because you invent him to be that way