Yet another on the infallibility in the Church
(written originally as yet another comment to the blogpost “How Many
Theologians Does it Take To Define Infallibility?” by Melinda Selyms)
First of all: thank you, these are very good questions, which actually made me
think (doesn’t happen that often on blog comments).
Certainly, some rules are necessary even unavoidable, “Ubi societas, ibi
ius” (“where there is society, there is a law”). However, these are rules
mostly about organizing the community, dispute resolution, etc., not what
people should believe (e.g., Immaculate Conception) or what they should do
outside of the group (e.g., no sex before marriage, unless sexual
intercourse is part of the community activity ;), yikes!).
There are probably some rules about what makes the group the Christian one.
They should not limit membership (I am strong believer in “belonging before
believing”, so even unbelievers should be members of the community, although
with some limited rights), but they should define the spirit and direction
of the community. I am a member of the international Protestant congregation
in Prague, Czechia, so members of our church come from a very wide
denominational background. We have members from American Episcopalians and
Norwegian Lutherans on one side to Pentecostals from Africa with people from
Philippines, all around Europe and many other types of Christians in
between. So for me the definition of who is a proper Christian is rather
loose. I guess I would keep the basic Creeds of the Church (Apostles’ Creed,
Nicene Creed, etc.), but not sure who further I would like to limit. I would
certainly welcome Roman Catholics and Orthodox, even to the celebration of
the Lord’s Supper and other sacraments, but I am afraid they prefer their
own communities.
I really don’t see, why I would have to have 100% trust in the human
leadership of the community. I do believe in leadership of the Holy Spirit
over whole Church (“gates of hell won’t prevail over it”), but I do not
identify this whole Church with any particular humanly-visible institution.
For any such institution (be it a denomination or particular congregation)
I don‘t expect more certain leadership than for my family. And it is more
important for me as a husband that I am willing to accept my mistake (or
sin), ask God for help, and retarget. That is more important (and more
useful) than having 100% certainty that I am always right (I am not, and
I believe pope/bishops/priests/etc. are not either). It is probably worthy
of emphasizing I believe in the Universal Priesthood of all believers, so
I don‘t see any substantial difference between so called priests and so
called lay people. Of course, pastor is somebody who has calling from God to
work as an authority in the Church and I expect him to have proper training
etc. However, he is no different than a brain surgeon in his job. Of course,
I wouldn’t question his expertise (without really strong reasons and
evidence, perhaps even second opinion) and if I was his subordinate, then
I should submit to his authority. Besides “[…] all things must be done
properly and in an orderly manner.” (1Co 14:40), so every rebellion in the
Church is prima facie suspicious.
Sorry, that was a bit tangential, but what I wanted to say is that I don‘t
expect from the Church leadership more certainty than in my decision as
a father of family. Of course, in the end, my trust in the Church not being
prevailed by the gates of hell is based on the mercy of God, not on 100%
infallibility of the Church leadership.
comments
The Holy Protestant Tradition?
(written originally as a comment to the blogpost “How Many
Theologians Does it Take To Define Infallibility?” by Melinda
Selyms)
I am a Protestant, so I am not entitled to bring much to this
discussion, but we were yesterday with my wife in Wittenberg, so
I cannot resist to add …
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On “A Painfully Familiar Reason for Using NFP”
Record of my comment to another nice article by Melinda Selmys.
This is one of those sad places where I am afraid my voice will
be completely ignored, because exactly the people who will most
dogmatically insist on NFP will be the ones who will be the least
likely to …
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Review of Aftershocks
Some thoughts on the fan fiction Aftershocks.
We need to know without a shadow of a doubt that Padma did not
kill Parvati before we can move on.
I am extremely confused about this whole work. On the one hand
there are some parts which are really trully excellent. Whole …
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What We Were Made For: Gratitude For Normal
(unfortunately, FanFiction.net allows only one review per
chapter, so I was not able to add this to my review of
chapter 90 of The Missing Moments by Ash-and-Vine).
When I was something like fourteen I was in hospital for surgery
which made me for a week unable to move …
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What is racism?
With relation to the current affair of kids running on their
father on live BBC News there was discussion on our the
internal email list of my employer. This is one side comment
I made there:
[…] Yes, it is a wrong idea, slightly racist, perhaps, but
these thoughts happen.
(Someday …
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The Problem of Neil Gaiman
So, it happened. I read “The problem of Susan” by Neil Gaiman and
I am completely disgusted by it. Not because Aslan did the White
Witch proper, or because he ate all those lovely little
children. Serves them well, and it is certainly the author’s
prerogative to decide that …
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1. září 1939
W. H. Auden
Původní překlad anglického originálu vytvořil Ivo A. Benda, upraveno.
Sedím v jedné z putyk
Na Dvaapadesáté ulici
Jsem nejistý a mám strach
Zatímco umírají chytré naděje
Ubohého, nepoctivého desetiletí:
Vlny hněvu a strachu
Cirkulují v jasných
I temných zemích světa
A tíží naše soukromé životy;
Nevyslovitelný pach …
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Láska nebo strach. Vyberte si.
Dan Drápal napsal do dnešních (7. února) Lidových novin velice
hezký článek „Co chybí Junckerovým scénářům.“ V zásadě mi
nezbývá, nežli s ním souhlasit, ale přece jenom bych rád přičinil
několik poznámek na jeho okraj.
Jednak je asi třeba zdůraznit, že je velice dobře, že nějaká Bílá
kniha vůbec vznikla …
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Harry Potter … poznámky jako odpověď
Argonantus napsal poměrně rozsáhlou recenzi všech románů Harryho
Pottera. Pokusím se zachovat starověce a dodat dostatečně dlouhé
citace, aby to dávalo smysl.
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Harry Potter as the teacher of DADA
I just want to shout loud agreement with many these negative
reviews of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”. It is really
a bad fan fiction signed off by J. K. Rowling for reasons I don’t
want to speculate about (yes, I guess, most her money go to
Lumos …
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Nezlořeč králi
(původně psáno jako odpověď příteli na podzim 2016, ještě před
zvolením pana Trumpa za amerického prezidenta)
V poslední době mnoho lidí zlořečilo zvláště v Praze panu
presidentu Miloši Zemanovi. A to nikoliv v soukromí, ale na
veřejných shromážděních.
Dovol mi abych se k tomuhle vyslovil, protože si myslím, že tohle …
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Post-Communist Conservatism
While listening to the episode 30 of the Eastern Border
podcast (a very touching one, thank you, Kristaps), I was touched
by his notion of the post-Communist conservatism. The idea is
that many nations in the former Eastern block seem to be a way
more conservative than people in the …
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Otevřený dopis katolickému příteli
Povídali jsme si trochu o ekumenismu a Večeři Páně (resp.
svátosti Eucharistie; pro zjednodušení dále „Večeře Páně“, ale
nechci se tím nijak evangelicky vymezovat) a když jsem se vrátil
na místo na zbytek programu, tak jsem si uvědomil, že bych Ti
chtěl říci ještě něco. Nechtělo se mi ale otravovat …
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Cycles of Christianity
I was just listening to the series of three podcasts by Dave
Schemlzer on the Hero’s Journey and Fresh Christianity (episode
one, two, and three).
I haven’t came with some opinion on the series itself, but Dave
also mentioned on the side a book by Phyllis A. Tickle …
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P. Halík na cestě ke zradě?
(původně komentář k článku P. Halíka k americkým prezidentským volbám)
Pane profesore, jakkoli si Vás velice vážím a jakkoli jsem
naprosto znechucen vítězstvím pana Trumpa v amerických
prezidentských volbách, a jakkoli zbytek příspěvku je naprosto
přesný, přesto Vás musím opravit v jednom bodě. Pan Trump sice
doslova řekl, že miluje …
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Stages of grief
I am just reading an interesting blog post by my Melinda Selmys
reflecting on her reaction to the Mr. Trump’s victory in the US
elections.
I am Czech, so I have a little experience with the similar
situation, which I would like to share. Since 2013, Mr. Miloš
Zeman …
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Missing socialism
While listening to the Decline of the West episode I was told
about this quotation when John Steinbeck was supposed to describe
the political landscape of the US 1930s’:
I guess the trouble was that we didn’t have any self-admitted
proletarians. Everyone was a temporarily embarrassed
capitalist.
—John Steinbeck …
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On Personal Truth
Our Senior Pastor John Mullen talked one Sunday during communion
about the distance between head and heart and that it is
absolutely crucial to transform the truths which we have only in
our head to those which are in our heart, and which are the only
ones which actually drive …
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Already and not yet
Reading about the Synod of the Bishops of the Catholic church,
and instead of thinking about the important matters of the
remarriage, divorce, and ordination of women, what comes to my
mind is what came through my mind when listening to the past
dialog about the so called “gay marriages …
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The Age of Irresponsibility
I was listening to the story on BBC how the British pensioners
are forced by the fear of Brexit to move from Spain back to UK,
because they are afraid Spanish government would stop paying them
their pension when (and if) UK leaves EU. And that’s just
because two …
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KChO konference 2016: Změním úděl svého lidu
Stále přemýšlím o přednášce „Změním úděl svého lidu“ na Katolické
charismatické konferenci 2016, kterou měli Kateřina Lachmanová
a Pavola Streža. Celou dobu co jsem tu přednášku poslouchal jsem
přemýšlel o Nehemiášovi. Ani Kateřina, ani Pavol, ho v přednášce
nezmínili (pokud se nemýlím, nebo rozhodně to nebylo dominantní
téma), ale myslím …
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Uncle Abner and Mr. Trump
(originally started as a comment on the article on First
Things).
Yours country used to be found on principles “to the end it may be
a government of laws and not of men”, and now the biggest concern of
everybody is which of the nine unelected guys (or gals) will …
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Tož tu Evropu už máme, teď potřebujeme ještě nějaké Evropany
V tomto okamžiku to vypadá, že absolutně všichni obyvatelé planety Země,
zejména pokud žijí někde v blízkosti Evropy, cítí potřebu se vyslovit
k příčinám, následkům a všemu možnému ohledně vystoupení Spojeného
(zatím :)) Království z Evropské unie. Vzhledem k tomu, že jsem sám
spíše zmaten nežli co jiného z celé situace …
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On Natural Law
(written as a comment on the blogpost by Melinda Selmys, “10 Reasons
Why Homosexuality is Not a Natural Law Issue”)
First of all, yes, the title of the blogpost is wrong. However, who of you
(especially a parent of couple of months old baby) never wrote a title, and
then …
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