Easter is Coming
This
paper is written in response to the following email, which was received from a
friend. This email is essentially a
quote, but several corrections were made to it and it was otherwise cleaned up
before passing it on to you. Pictures in the original were stripped off by Blogger, there is nothing to be done about that. Before you
begin to read, we must say that this email cannot be applauded.
Sola Gloria Dei
Christ is Risen
Quote.
How The
Apostles Died / The Death of Jesus
I’ve never,
ever seen this all in one place before! (This refers to the pictures which, unfortunately, Blogger would not copy.)
1 Matthew:
Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
2 Mark: Mark
died in Alexandria, Egypt , after being dragged by horses through the streets until
he was dead.
3 Luke: Luke
was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
4 John: John
faced martyrdom when he was boiled in [a] huge basin of boiling oil during a wave
of persecution in Rome. However, he was
miraculously delivered from death. John was
then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned
to serve As Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey.
He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
5 Peter:
Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross. According to church tradition, it was because
he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ
had died.
6 James: James
the leader of the Church in Jerusalem , was thrown over a hundred feet down from
the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall,
his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken
Jesus during the Temptation.
7 James the Great: James the
Son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus Called him to a lifetime
of ministry. As a strong leader of the church,
James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem.
The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his
faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked
beside James to the place of execution. Overcome
by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to
accept beheading as a Christian.
8 Bartholomew:
Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in
Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
9 Andrew:
Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras , Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers,
they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward
the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: ‘I have long desired and expected this
happy hour. The cross has been consecrated
by the body of Christ hanging on it.’ He
continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
10 Thomas:
Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish
the church in the sub-continent.
11 Jude: Jude
was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12 Matthias: Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then
beheaded.
13 Paul: Paul
was tortured and then beheaded by the evil emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured
a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles[1] to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman
Empire. These letters, which taught many
of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the
New Testament.[2]
Perhaps
this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor[3] compared to the intense persecution
and cold cruelty faced by the apostles and disciples during their times for the
sake of the Faith. And ye shall be hated
of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Matthew.
Faith is not believing that God can,
It is knowing that God WILL!”[4]
For the
next 60 seconds, set aside whatever you're doing and take this opportunity! Let's see if Satan can stop this.[5]
THE (SCIENTIFIC)
DEATH OF JESUS
At the
age of 33,[6] Jesus was condemned to death. At the time, Crucifixion was the "worst"[7] death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified.
Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus,
unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed
to the cross by His hands and feet. Each
nail was 6 to 8 inches long.
The nails
were driven into His wrist. Not into His
palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a
tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were
being hammered into the wrist that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to
use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breath.
Both of
His feet were nailed together. Thus, He was
forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross.
Jesus could not support himself with His
legs because of the pain so He was forced to alternate between arching His back
then using his legs just to continue to breath. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering,
the courage.
Jesus endured
this reality for over 3 hours. Yes, over
3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering?[8] A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding.
He was simply pouring water[9] from his wounds. From common images, we see wounds to His hands
and feet and even the spear wound to His side.... But do we realize His wounds were actually made
in his body. A hammer driving large nails
through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even large[r] nail hammered through
the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. But before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped
and beaten. The whipping was so severe that
it tore the flesh from His body. The beating
so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.
Most men would not have survived this torture. He had no more blood to bleed out, only water
poured from His wounds. The human adult body
contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood. Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; He had
three nails hammered into His members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond
that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest... All these without mentioning the humiliation He
suffered after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat
in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg[10] of weight, only for its higher
part, where His hands were nailed). Jesus
had to endure this experience, to open the gates of Heaven, So that you can have
free access to God. So that your sins could
be "washed" away. All of them,
with no exception!
Don't ignore
this situation. JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU! He died for you! It is easy to pass jokes or foolish photos by e-mail,
but when it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward to others because
you are worried of what they may think about you.
God Has
plans for you, show all your friends what He experienced to save you. Now think
about this! May God bless your Life! 60 Seconds with God.... For the next 60 Seconds, set aside what you're
doing and take this opportunity! Let's see
if Satan can stop this.... All you have to
do is:[11]
1.
Simply Pray for
the person who sent this message to you.
2. Then, send this Message to people. The more the better.
Unquote.
The Basic Question
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Herb, what are your thoughts about this information?
What
are my thoughts about the collection of icons, especially icons of the Apostles
in one place? What are my thoughts about
the stories of the Apostles outside of Scripture? What are my thoughts about Holy Tradition? What are my thoughts about details of the Crucifixion
outside of Scripture? What are my thoughts
about the use of emotion and guilt in a paper like this?
Sola Gloria Dei
Sola Gloria Dei
My primary thought about this information is Sola Gloria Dei;
not Sola Gratia, not Sola Fides, not Sola Scriptura. First and foremost, my thoughts are Sola Gloria
Dei. What I mean to say by this is not, praise
God for all this information about the saints; although, I certainly do want to
praise God for information about the saints, I do want to be grateful and thankful. Rather, what I mean is that when all is said and
done, and everything else has turned to dust, God remains, God is the center of
my faith, and when everything else fails, all that matters is God. God is the center of my Authority. God is my only final Authority.
In other words, I want to claim nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else than is claimed in the Psalms: namely, God is everything to me. Even Psalms that are dedicated to the Law of God
(Psalms 19 and 119) have their center, not in Scripture, but in God Himself. I’m searching, but I have yet to find a single
Psalm where this is not true.
So what are my thoughts about this information? I think we must fix our lives centrally and mainly
on God alone. Folks that have centered their
lives on their church, on a particular church structure, even on Scripture, on anything
other than God Himself, inevitably end up in the ditch. In Nazi Germany, folks who put their faith in
Lutheran authority, rather than in the God that Luther taught, watched the Lutheran
Church buckle under to Socialist Party pressure, and they lost their faith. In Russia, folks who put their faith in the local
priest, or Orthodox Church structure and authority, rather than in the God that
Orthodoxy taught, watched the same priests betray and become communist informants,
and they lost their faith. In America, folks
who put their faith in the Roman Catholic Church, in the authority of bishops or
priests, in the Magisterium, rather than in the God that Catholicism teaches, had
their faith shaken and many lost it completely when Kennedy was shot, and when one
scandal after another began to roll through their church. I think
Sola Gloria Dei
But What About Scripture and Tradition?
I certainly do believe that Scripture is primary within Tradition. What is Tradition? Tradition is 2 Timothy 2:2. Jesus, within the Trinity is the Author of the
Old Testament; He is also the fulfillment of it. We don’t like to talk about this, but had Jesus
not come we would not even have an authoritative Old Testament. The Israelites and Jews had frittered everything
away: what they did have was recovered from copies and memory, all in the flesh. When Jesus came, He restored all authority, and
passed it on to Apostles (Luke 24:44-49).
What the Apostles received, they passed on, as we do to this very day. This is Tradition, this is history. The most important single part of this Tradition
by far is the recovery of the Old Testament, and the writing of the New Testament. But the Old and New Testaments are not the whole
of Tradition or history. Many things were
passed on by word of mouth that were never written down (John 21:24-25).
We have other Traditions without which we cannot live: for example,
The Nicene Creed, which may have been published before the New Testament was published. One of the ironies of history is that it is difficult
to find early authoritative statements, which state plainly that the New Testament
consists of these exact books. Finding Old
Testament lists is not so easy either. What
we have, we have because of Tradition.
But Tradition has its problems. There have always been liars among men. The same Satan who sowed tares among the wheat
(unbelievers in the Church), also created false documents and artifacts among the
true documents and artifacts. Clever forgeries
existed, and are even being manufactured to this day. There is a lot of money to be made from artifacts,
and it is a lot more profitable to make a forged, document, tombstone, or burial
box than it is, accidentally, to find a true one by digging it up. The things that are not written down are frequently
embellished. Which one of us does not have
a sports hero who is eight feet tall, hit five homeruns in a single game, has a
60 second hang time in basketball, and leaps tall buildings with a single bound. The problem with Tradition is how do we ever sort
out the truth from the lies and even innocent exaggerations?
Tradition has other problems as well. There is so much of it, in so many countries,
in so many languages, around the world. There
are thousands of hymns, some of which have never been published in a single hymnbook. The Ancient Church started remembering the Ancient
Saints as we remember birthdays and marriages today. These things are parts of Tradition and they are
important, but they are not on par with the Tradition of Scripture itself. Soon the Ancient Church ran out of open calendar
days for remembering the Saints, so they started doubling them up, eventually there
were so many Saints that the settled on this device. Everybody named Augustine celebrates St. Augustine’s
day; so all the Augustines of this world celebrate their day together, etc. Grandpa’s old pipe is an important relic in somebody’s
house: this is an important and treasured tradition, but it should not be made into
an object of worship. Similarly, the Ancient
Church kept and venerated the bones and burial sites of their ancestors. These bones were reminders that the Saints were
not dead, but alive in Christ: the same reason that grave headstones are important
to us. But the worship of these bones and
other relics is wrong. That doesn’t mean
we should throw them all out. Nevertheless,
the whole world is full of these things: there is far too much for a whole army
of people to keep track of.
The Icons and Stories at Hand.
Are the icons and stories at hand important pieces of tradition. Well, yes, they are the same sort of thing. And I can drill down into the information at hand,
but when I have finished all the work of which I am capable, it will still be hearsay. I’m not capable of getting to the piece of art
in the picture, and even if I could, I wouldn’t have the competence to examine it
to determine if it were authentic or not.
I would never be able to say this icon of Matthew was painted in the fourth
century by so and so, using a mosaic of Matthew’s face from 52 AD found at Illyricum. The most that I would ever be able to say is,
I accept it, I receive it. When a teacher
grades thirty papers, he/she has prior mastery of the subject and assigns grades
accordingly. I have no such knowledge, and
no basis of comparison to say this is bad and that good, this is A and that F. I haven’t the skill to look at one hundred copies
of reports of Matthew's life and say this is good, this bad, and this is how they
fit together. I can only accept or reject
it as interesting, but I have no firsthand experience or knowledge.
This is the sort of stuff that high school and even college history
books are made of: second hand information, and not all that valuable. Until I’m able to work with the original stories
in their original languages, I must be content with what some historian writes in
statements like these. However, these summary
statements are often misleading, sometimes off-track, sometimes even frauds and
lies. Historians all have their own axes
to grind, their own hidden agendas, their own points to prove. Sometimes that which is proved has no relationship
to the evidence. I look and say, “Isn’t that
interesting,” but I don’t say, “I know,” because I don’t know, and most of it I
will never know. I’m just not strong enough,
smart enough, and don’t have enough time left.
Nevertheless, if there is no evidence, I throw it out, because it is
unsubstantiated.
The fundamental issue of iconography, as any Orthodox iconographer
would be happy to tell us is, “Is it faithful to Scripture?” Legitimate iconographers don’t paint, they write
with paint. They spend a lot of time in Scripture
and prayer before applying a single brush stroke to wood. So iconography is more than religious art, it
is a written commentary on Scripture. Without
iconography, our churches would be rather barren, and our children would grow up
believing that art had no spiritual purpose.
The same thing is true of hymnography. Hymns are more than religious music, they are
sung commentaries on Scripture and profound illustrations of Christian life. Often church music, musicians, and choirs will
remain faithful to the Gospel, long after the theologians have betrayed everything.
Then there is the issue of liturgy and litany. It would be very difficult, even impossible, to
reconstruct these things from Scripture.
What practice we have was mostly handed down outside of Scripture. The structure of our building and its altar was
largely taken from the Jewish Temple and synagogues. The service itself is a miniaturized version of
the first Holy Week. These practices are
at least as old as 325 AD. The first 300
years are difficult because Christians were running for their lives due to persecution.[12]
We have to believe at this point that the Holy Ghost did not
lead this Ancient Church astray, and that this Ancient Church was faithful in preserving
whatever it could preserve, then equally faithful, in passing it on to us. We do not need to listen to voices outside of
the Church such as Judaism and Islam. Judaism
forfeited its access to the Holy Ghost over 2,500 years ago. So all these voices outside of the Church are
voices of flesh. This does not mean that
these voices of flesh are entirely without wisdom: but they have no spiritual authority.
We need more ways to preach the Gospel than with books and lectures. Everything in life should preach Jesus, crucified
and raised from the dead: every sound, every smell, every sight, every taste, every
touch, everything (Psalm 150). As the Episcopals
used to say, every bell and every smell.
Coming home, observers would say, “You smell like church,” because the smell
of incense clung to their clothes.
It remains to be seen if these particular icons faithfully preach
Christ and Christian life.
What About the Crucifixion Science?
The science seems plausible, so what. I’ve given most of my life to the reading of science,
but very little of this is close to my field of expertise. Most of it, I’ve heard before. I’m not a physician. Again, I don’t know. This sort of stuff appeals to the human emotions,
but it is not the focus of Scripture. It
seems to me that the most we can say is, “Isn’t that interesting.” Then we forget it and go back to our Bibles.
Am I Interested in Areas of Tradition?
Sure I am. My baptismal name
is Augustine. I chose it because Augustine
is the lone dominant pillar of the Fourth Century Western Church. Luther and Calvin are both Augustinian. So If I ever get in a theological scrape, I want
somebody solid to hide behind, which is why I’m not ashamed to call myself Augie. It’s an honor your father and mother thing, and
Augustine is a prominent name among my spiritual ancestors. Am I an expert in Augustine? Not hardly.
I’ve got five of his books yet to read, dozens of others more to buy and
read, and that’s just scratching the surface in the study of one man. It’s more important that I read my Bible.
I’m interested in nailing down key dates. It’s important to me to know that Herod the Great
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great) lived between 74 and 4 BC, reigned
from 37 to 4 BC, killed the innocent children of Bethlehem, and would have killed
Jesus if he had ever laid hands on Him. It’s
important to me to know something about the Herodian family so I can sort out what’s
going on in the beheading of John the Baptist and in the book of Acts.
Where Should You Go with Tradition?
Go anywhere that’s of special interest to you. I certainly don’t want to discourage you from
studying. Sometimes the expression “Sola
Scriptura” really means, I’d rather be ignorant of history. In my case, I really am ignorant, but I do study
as hard as I am able. So, by all means, study
away.
You will note that I keep returning to the internet for resources. If I recommend an article, it squares with my
training, many theology books in my library, what I’ve been taught, and most of
all with what I see in Scripture. Here are
some of those recommended resources:
·
http://www.wikipedia.org/: Wikipedia catches a lot
of flack, most of it unjustified.
·
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Main_Page
·
http://www.biblegateway.com/
·
http://www.logos.com/
·
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/
I stick to the free stuff, because I don’t have money for the
rest. There are whole oodles of icon resources,
books of the lives of saints. I hope that
gets you started in whatever direction you want to go.
These Particular Icons and Stories
It’s good to know that the Apostles, except for Judas, were faithful
unto death. But I knew that already. Was Matthew the premier evangelist of the Ethiopians? No, Acts tells us that the Ethiopian Eunuch was. Did Matthew do follow-up work in Ethiopia? Judge for yourself.
·
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_the_Apostle
·
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Apostle_Matthew
·
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10056b.htm
Note that in this case, New Advent appears to provide the best
information. There is very little support
for a sword wound. My Latin is not good enough
to cope. From New Advent, Quote:
There is a disagreement as to the place of St. Matthew's martyrdom
and the kind of torture inflicted on him, therefore it is not known whether he was
burned, stoned, or beheaded. The Roman Martyrology
simply says: "S. Matthæi, qui in Æthiopia prædicans martyrium passus est".[13]
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/732458.html,
has this to say, Quote:
"Information concerning the life and death of Matthias is
vague and contradictory. According to Nicephorus
(Hist. eccl., 2, 40), he first preached the Gospel in Judea, then in Ethiopia (that
is to say, Colchis) and was crucified. The
Synopsis of Dorotheus contains this tradition: Matthias in interiore AEthiopia,
ubi Hyssus maris portus et Phasis fluvius est, hominibus barbaris et carnivoris
praedicavit Evangelium. Mortuus est autem
in Sebastopoli, ibique prope templum Solis sepultus (Matthias preached the Gospel
to barbarians and cannibals in the interior of Ethiopia, at the harbour of the sea
of Hyssus, at the mouth of the river Phasis. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there,
near the Temple of the Sun). Still another
tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the Jews, and then
beheaded (cf. Tillemont, "Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire eccl. Des six premiers
siècles", I, 406-7). It is said that
St. Helena brought the relics of St. Matthias to Rome, and that a portion of them
was at Trier. Bollandus (Acta SS., May, III)
doubts if the relics that are in Rome are not rather those of the St. Matthias who
was Bishop of Jerusalem about the year 120, and whose history would seem to have
been confounded with that of the Apostle."
So here is the first indication that the author of the
original email did not do all their homework.
Still it was interesting to chase down and read.
A Preliminary Conclusion
In the final analysis, we discover that what is important about
Matthew is that he wrote the Gospel of Matthew.
But of course, nowadays, that is exactly what evil people want to deny: the
Gospel of Matthew, they say, was written by somebody other than Matthew, it has
no Apostolic authority, so we can move on with our spiritual lives, since we don’t
have to obey it.
I say, away with all such foolish opinions. Matthew did write the Gospel of Matthew, that
is what I need to know.
Sola Gloria Dei
My Tradition was developed in time by the Holy Ghost (John 16:13-15). The promise in John is to “lead us into all truth;”
Christ did not promise to dump truth on us in a finished completed lump. The Holy Ghost continues to “lead us into all
truth.” This does not mean that there is
new truth out there, somewhere. It means
that there is always room for fresh insight into Scripture: we’re still learning.
The events that happen in the Church are important to me. My Bible came from God Who gave it. When all of these things turn to powder, My God
remains eternal. His Word is forever fixed
in heaven (Psalm 119:89). Earth just has
copies.
Sola Gloria Dei
What are my thoughts about:
· The collection
of icons? Interesting, I have a few paper
copies. These in the letter are not my favorites.
· Icons of the Apostles
in one place? Many such collections exist,
this one is not especially impressive. Impressive
collections can be found at various Orthodox churches.
· The stories of
the Apostles outside of Scripture? Not essential
to faith. Interesting if accurate. We’ve already found one blunder in this set.
· Holy Tradition? Absolutely essential; cannot live without it. Our music and worship depend on it.
· Details of the
Crucifixion outside of Scripture? Not essential
to faith. Interesting if accurate. Too much emphasis on physical suffering. No emphasis on spiritual suffering. No sense of victory.
· Use of emotion
and guilt in a paper like this? Bad News,
usually to be avoided.
Sola Gloria Dei
Christ is Risen
That is the Easter Message
Christ is Risen
Sola Gloria Dei
Yours in Christ,
Augie-Herb
[1]
Many of Paul’s epistles are not written
from Rome or from prison.
[2]
Actually, both Luke and John wrote more than Paul
wrote.
[3]
This statement is not especially true: for example,
many millions of Christians have been slowly starved to death; modern man has
invented instruments of cruelty that put previous generations to shame. None of this is relevant. We are in Christ, and He in us. In this God created relationship, sufferings
can no longer be distinguished, all are cast at the loving feet of Jesus. Not one of our physical sufferings can be
said to carry the weight of the world’s sin, or any one sin, for that matter. There is no place in Christian life for
comparing mere physical suffering: as though there were some sort of Christian
one-up-man-ship, I suffered more than you did.
[4]
This does not reveal a good understanding of faith.
[5]
This is pure guilt trip. Satan may not care to stop this, but perhaps
Christians should put a stop to it.
[6]
Jesus could easily been 37 at His death.
[7]
What about criminals who were beaten to death. The purpose of crucifixion was to create a
public spectacle. “Worst,” does not
provide and accurate understanding. All
the emphasis and focus is on the physical.
There is a far greater spiritual aspect and meaning (the bearing of sin)
to the Crucifixion, not to mention that Jesus conquers Satan by it.
[8]
Yes, I can imagine this kind of suffering. I cannot imagine the suffering of bearing the
sins of the whole world.
[9]
This is not scientifically accurate. The body has two liquid systems: blood and
lymph. Scripture invariably calls these
bloods, plural. There is no evidence
that Jesus died from exsanguination; He died from asphyxiation and heart
failure. It is entirely possible that
the stress ruptured His heart, and He literally died from a broken heart. The presence of lymphatic fluid indicates
this possibility.
[10]
Now how on earth can we know that?
[11]
Just more guilt trip. Christians should give careful consideration
to the Great Commission’s exact words before doing anything. Where is the freedom and joy of the
Resurrected Christ to be found in this message?
This is abeating of the sheep, rather than a feeding of them.
[12]
A possible exception is the liturgy of St. James, which was preserved among the
Gaelic tribes, especially Ireland. This
liturgy could date back to the era of the Apostles, when Paul himself was a
missionary to the British Isles.
[13]
Saint Matthew who in Ethiopia prophesied, endured martyrdom. It is impossible, from this statement alone, to
determine of the weight of martyrdom has already come to mean death, or if the
meaning is, “continued to witness.” Nor
is it possible to be certain that this “martyrium” was still in Ethiopia, or
subsequent to it. “Passus est” is the perfect
indicative of patior: http://www.informalmusic.com/latinsoc/verbs/patior.html and
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patior.
