The Cascade (00392)

Jesus, the radical love of God, is a cascade that flows from heaven like a dewfall (Hosea 14:5) (Eucharistic Prayer II) to a shell of flesh and blood, thence to shells of bread and wine, and, thence, into our loveless hearts. The cascade of the radical love of God fills our hearts with love. When filled to the brim, we have found God. We have hit the jackpot of Christianity. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery. Our hearts, however, are not love's final resting place. Love continues to our neighbors. "[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]" (Luke 6:45) we bear them the sweet fruits of love "... some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred" (Mark 4:20). The powerful current of the cascade sweeps us off our feet and carries us to our salvation. Few swim against its tide (1 Timothy 2:4).

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[¶ 00392 Updated: 04_16_2024]

The currency of love (00310)

The economy of paradise is based on the currency of love. With ordinary currency, the more we spend, the poorer we get. It is a paradox, but, by spending the currency of love, we grow rich. The more we spend, the richer we get. The most Holy Trinity dispatched the Son of God from heaven to earth to introduce us to the currency of love and to establish the economy of paradise here and now upon the earth.

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[¶ 00310 Updated: 04_17_2024]

Optimization (00400)

'Who is God?' was an unaswered question. Moreover, the absence of an answer was bringing about the destruction of humanity. Our God lamented: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Our God had become a stranger to us (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) (Isaiah 45:15) (Psalm 91:1). “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:5). God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth to fill the lacuna in our knowledge of God and, thereby, bring an end to our destruction. “I have come to set the earth on fire [with the radical love of God], and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12:49)! Jesus was dispatched from heaven to fill the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

We need to pull our feet out of the obiter dicta of Christianity that bogs down and derails the pursuit of God in order to optimize our understanding of the gravamen of Christianity. To optimize our understanding of the gravamen of Christianity, a distinction needs to be made between the delivery of the Good News of Great Joy and the verification of the Good News of Great Joy. Delivery took place during the Incarnation. Verification took place during the Crucifixion.

Before we can discuss delivery and verification, what, exactly, is the Good News of Great Joy? The Good News of Great Joy is the message that Jesus delivered to the children of Adam and Eve to answer the question, 'Who is God?'. The message tells us the God's love for us is radical - radical in size, radical in scope, and radical in tenacity - radical in all extremes.

'Who are you, God? Identify yourself. Friend or foe?' God could have answered the question, 'Who is God?', in many different ways. He had a variety of options. Yet, the answer that God settled upon was not a threat, a warning or some other type of ominous communication. God thought that the best way to answer the question, 'Who is God?', was to send us a Love Note. Jesus was the Love Note that God sent us. Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1), was the tangible expression of the radical love of God - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). Wow! Christianity is the religion that began with a Love Note - a Love Note from God to us. What an auspicious origin! We didn't deserve the Love Note. Yet, our God sent it to us anyway. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).

On the brink of battle with the monster of the Crucifixion, Jesus did something that no human general would do. He made a move that was radically counterintuitive. It was alien to rational human thinking. Some would consider it crazy. Jesus doffed his invulnerable armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He divested himself of his invulnerability. Jesus became the God who disarmed - the God who defortified himself. The almighty made himself weak and, in weakness, his strength was made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). By dressing like us in our frail uniform of flesh and blood, Jesus made the untestable God amenable to testing. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). By testing God, we could draw our own conclusions about the nature of God. We would be able to figure out the nature of God for ourselves without having to rely on hearsay from remote sources.

>>>>>Work in progress<<<<<

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[¶ 00400 Updated: 04_19_2024]

The Vocabulary of Salvation (00396)
Can we get the vocabulary of Salvation right? Can we distinguish the message, the messenger and the manner of the message's verification? The message a/k/a the Good News of Great Joy, the messenger and the manner of the message's verification are distinct from one another.

Jesus is not the Good News of Great Joy. He gets credit for being the Good News of Great Joy because he was the Messenger who delivered it to the children of Adam and Eve. Intimate association with it made his halo grow brighter. Notwithstanding the distinction between message and Messenger, in a sense, the message and the Messenger are one (1 John 4:7-8).

The message, that is, the Good News of Great Joy, is that God's love for us is radical in size, radical in scope and radical in tenacity. It is radical in all three of its dimensions - radical in the extreme.

Furthermore, God created two truths in addition to the truth that we call, the message, to bolster the message - to verify its validity. “And ye shall know the truth [about the radical love of God], and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The two additional truths are:

1) God understood that the status of the Messenger has a poweful impact on the recipients of the message. The importance of the message rises or falls according to the status of the Messenger. The higher the status of the Messenger, the higher is the credibiliy of the message. So God dispatched a high status Messenger as his herald (John 1:14) to deliver the message into the possession of the children of Adam and Eve (Luke 20:9-15). Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him (Luke 20:13). God dispatched an equal to himself, that is, his dearly beloved Son. A message delivered by the Son of God hilmself - whatever its contents - and not by one of God's flunkies must be important. Right? The time of the Son of God is too valuable to waste delivering trivia or gossip. Yes?

2) God understood that a verified message has a more poweful impact on the recipients of the message than an unverified message. Verification makes a difference. In the Incarnation, God sent us a Love Note. Jesus was the tangible expression of God's radical love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). God, however, wanted to do more for us than merely send us a Love Note. God want to prove to us that the Love Note he had sent us was authentic - genuine. So, in the Crucifixion, God verified the genuineness of the Love Note. God made the cost of delivery of the verification high - exorbitantly high. The higher the cost that was paid to verify the message, the greater is the importance of the message. So, the Messenger delivered the Good News of Great Joy at an exhorbitant cost to himself. Like Pheidippides (Pheidippides), the delivery cost him his life. He paid the cost of the message's verification in the coin of his flesh and blood - all of it. He spent all of his limited human resources. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. Wow! Jesus did not just suffer. Suffering was the mother that gave birth to the verification of the radical love of God. Glorious victory arose from his ignominious defeat as the dawn emerges from the darknesss. God wrote the verification of the Love Note in the indelible ink of radical forgiveness. Love survived the evils that we did to Jesus. The Messenger forgave the recipients of the message while they still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. Suffering did not verify the genuineness of the Love Note. The forgiveness following the suffering did. Radical forgiveness is a fair and accurate reflection - the palpable, tangible, concrete and comestible fruit - of the radical love of God.

If the content of the message, the status of the messenger and the exorbitant cost of the message's verification do not persuade the children of Adam and Eve to repent, nothing can or will. Therefore, preach the content of the message, the status of the Messenger and the cost of the message's verification and then get out of the way and let the radical love of God go to work. Content, status and cost manifest the persuasive genius of God. The persuasive genius of God is enough. More is too much.

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[¶ 00396 Updated: 04_18_2024]

Takeaway (00399)

God deposits Jesus, his radical love for us, into palpable, tangible, concrete and comestible packages of bread and wine. Jesus serves them to his enemies while they still have his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).

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[¶ 00399 Updated: 04_18_2024]

Preach the bipolar Cross then get out of the way to let God go to work (00355)
Do you see what I see?
The Cross was bipolar. Both hell and heaven hung from it. We supplied the hell. Jesus supplied the heaven. The energy gradient between heaven and hell powers the revelation of the radical love of God.

What was hung from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity? What we hung on the Cross was different than what Jesus hung - radically different. We hung a tortured and dying corpse of flesh and blood. Jesus hung the radical love of God. We hung hell; Jesus hung heaven. We took from him his flesh and blood. He, however, did not give us what we took. Instead of flesh and blood, he gave us bread and wine. We deserved punishment for what we did to Jesus. In lieu of punishment, Jesus substituted forgiveness. The Cross was bipolar. Both hell and heaven hung from it. Most, however, only see what we hung. Few see what Jesus hung. The hell of the Cross blinds them to its heaven. Jesus hung the radical love of God from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Salute the flag (Romans 14:11)! Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)!

When our blindness ends and we are able to see that there were two hangings from the Cross not just one, we will have become fully fledged Christians.

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[¶ 00354 Updated: 04_03_2024]

Forgiveness, not punishment, went on in real time (00398)

As we took from Jesus his flesh and blood, Jesus served us a meal of bread and wine. He satisfied our hunger with bread, slaked our thirst with wine, and, thereby, filled our bellies with forgiveness. He catered the banquet while we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands. We deserved punishment not forgiveness. Jesus forgave us anyway despite our unworthiness. Jesus defied the biblical injunction against doing so (Matthew 7:6). Jesus gave what was holy to dogs and cast pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). His hope was to inspire repentance - to instigate it. Jesus confronts the children of Adam and Eve with the radical love of God. He challenges us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it. So, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19).

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[¶ 00398 Updated: 04_17_2024]

The Symmetry of the Release of the radical love of God (00386)

As the Crucifixtion released the radical love of God from its shell of flesh and blood, our consumption of the most Holy Eucharist releases the radical love of God from its shell of bread and wine.

Note: There is no release of the radical love of God at Eucharistic Adoration or at live streamed Masses because there is no consumption. Consumption is a prerequisite for release as was the Crucifixion (Thomas Reese, Streaming the Eucharist should be banned, April 5, 2024, National Catholic Reporter, "an illusion of the Eucharist").

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[¶ 00386 Updated: 04_13_2024]

Unparalled expertise in the science of cause and effect (00397)

Our God is the master of the science of cause and effect. He subscribes to the principle that only love begets love. Therefore, the God who loves us dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth to put the principle into practice. Jesus brought a radical, prodigal, limitless love to confront the children of Adam and Eve. He makes us squirm under the overwhelming weight of the love of God. He challenges us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it. By loving us first (1 John 4:19), Jesus jump started the process of our conversion. He hit us with the defibrillator paddles of love. From Jesus' heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love (Romans 5:5). The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3).

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[¶ 00397 Updated: 04_17_2024]

The messenger and the manner of delivery enhanced the message (00395)
Can we distinguish the message, the messenger and the manner of the message's delivery?

God had a message for the children of Adam and Eve. The message was that God's love for them is radical. The open questions were who would be the messenger and what would be the method of the message's delivery. Both the messenger and its method of delivery could enhance or detract from the message.

As the messenger, God entrusted the message to his dearly beloved son, Jesus. He made Jesus the herald of the message (John 1:14) from heaven to earth (Luke 20:9-15). Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him (Luke 20:13). The message was important. The message puts us in possession of the knowledge of God (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and the knowledge of God brings our destruction to an end (Hosea 4:6) (John 10:5). The status of the messenger reflects the importance of the message. So, God did not delegate the job of delivering the message to his subordinates. He did not send a flunky. God dispatched an equal to God, his dearly beloved Son. The Son of God did the job of delivery himself.

The method used to deliver the message to the children of Adam and Eve was equally as important as the message and the messenger. A well chosen method of delivery could enhance the message in the same way as packaging can enhance or detract from a gift. The method of delivery could serve the message as a foil serves its payload. The method of delivery, as a foil, could highlight and emphasize and intensify and magnify and amplify and accentuate and underline the jewel of the message. The setting of the jewel makes the jewel. It can and did prove the importance of the message. God made the cost to deliver the message exorbitant. The messenger would pay the cost out of his own pocket in the coin of flesh and blood. He would pay all of the limited human resources in which God would endow the messenger. He would keep not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. Despite its exorbitant cost, Jesus delivered his message as Pheidippides did his (Pheidippides). Jesus got the job done. The cost did not deter him. Jesus delivered the message despite the cost. The prodigious size of his payment also reflects the importance of the message. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him” (Luke 9:35).

If the content of the message, the status of the messenger and the exorbitant cost of the message's delivery do not persuade the children of Adam and Eve to repent, nothing can or will.

The content of the message that Jesus delivered from heaven to earth that God's love for us is radical in size, radical in scope and radical in tenacity is the Good News of Great Joy. The status of the messenger and the method of the message's delivery verify the Good News of Great Joy.

The Good News of Great Joy, that is, the content of the message, the messenger and the method of the message's delivery are the gravamen of Christianity, superior to everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta. Jesus recruited an army to distribute the gravamen of Christianity from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14). "I have come to set the earth on fire [with the knowledge of God], and how I wish it were already blazing" (Luke 12:49)! Behold and believe!

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[¶ 00395 Updated: 04_16_2024]

THE AUDACIOUS PROCESS OF DEPETRIFICATION (00348)
Fleshifying Stony Hearts

Jesus took a risk. His high confidence in the belief that only love begets love made him audacious. He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us. He forgave us to bring about our conversion. He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope that we would take the next step of repentance. He planted the seed of love in the hostile soil of our stony hearts in order to depetrify them (Ezekiel 36:26).

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[¶ 00348 Updated: 03_25_2024]

The Dial that controls God's love for us (00248)

The dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God in the laboratory of the Crucifixion while he was human, tender, vulnerable and our guest upon the earth could budge it.

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(1) Index: The Dial (00222)
[¶ 00248 Updated: 04_16_2024]

The unusual and undeserved gift (00393)

Who gives a gift to his enemies who still have your flesh in their mouths and your blood on their hands? Jesus did. He served them a meal of bread and wine even though they took his flesh and blood from him. They deserved punishment not forgiveness. Yet, he satisfied their hunger with bread, slaked their thirst with wine and, thereby, filled their bellies with forgiveness. The gift was given to inspire repentance - to instigate it. He did not wait for our repentance to forgive us; he forgave us to bring about our repentance. It was unusual but God brought the bad to the wedding feast not just the good. (Matthew 22:8-10). "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Not all, however, feel the inspiration (Matthew 22:11-13).

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[¶ 00393 Updated: 04_15_2024]

Salvation is all about the release of Jesus, the radical love of God, from the shells constraining him (00390)

The Crucifixion released the radical love of God from his shell of flesh and blood so he could answer the evils that we had done to him. To answer the evils that we had done to him during the Crucifixion, the radical love of God returns to us in shells of bread and wine. Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist releases the radical love of God from his shell of bread and wine so he can build the kingdom of God within us. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21).

The seed of God is in us.
Given an intelligent
and hardworking farmer,
it will thrive and grow
up into God, whose seed
it is; and accordingly its
fruits will be God-nature.
Pear seeds grow into
pear trees, nut seeds
into nut trees, and
God seeds into God.
(Meister Eckhart)

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[¶ 00390 Updated: 04_14_2024]

A Two Stage Rocket carried the Payload of the radical love of God into orbit around humanity (00359)
Three components were used to launch the revelation of the radical love of God into orbit.

The payload that Jesus brought from heaven to earth was the apocalyptic revelation about the radical love of God. A rocket with two stages was used to launch the payload into orbit around humanity.

The first stage of the rocket was the evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion. We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The first stage of the rocket is called hell. Hell was our contribution to the construction of the rocket (Wisdom 2: 19).

The second stage of the rocket was Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion. His answer was asymmetric - radically asymmetric. Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation of "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on its head. He upset the apple cart (Matthew 21:12). He shifted the paradigm. He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to the biblical status quo. Instead of punishing us for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He substituted forgiveness for punishment. The second stage of the rocket is called heaven. Heaven was Jesus' contribution to the construction of the rocket.

The energy gradient, i.e., potential difference, between heaven and hell powered Jesus' revelation about the radical love of God. We brought hell to divinity. Divinity brought heaven to humanity. The asymmetry between heaven and hell gave the mechanism its powerful punch. The asymmetry made the revelation energetic.

The two stages of rocket and its payload are a single mechanism. They are the three components of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation. All three components are necessary for it to achieve orbit.

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[¶ 00359 Updated: 04_16_2024]

The two (2) shells in which Jesus, the radical love of God, has taken up residence while here on earth have served two different purposes (00391)
Before Jesus makes us like God, he showed us God. He showed us our potential. He showed us our potential by fulfilling his.

A shell of flesh and blood and shells of bread and wine have served as home-away-from-home while Jesus, the radical love of God, has sojourned here on earth. The two (2) shells have served two (2) different purposes. Released from his shell of flesh and blood, the radical love of God answered the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion. And, in so doing, ipso facto, Jesus showed us God. Released from his shell of bread and wine by our consumption of it, the radical love of God is building the kingdom of God within us (Luke 17:20-21). And, in so doing, ipso facto, Jesus is making us more like God. The radical love of God satisfies our hunger with bread, slakes our thirst with wine and, thereby, fills our bellies with forgiveness. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (Isaiah 55:1-2) (See also, John 6:48-58). Jesus, the radical love of God, invites us, his enemies, who still have his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands, to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort and joy of the family tent (John 6:53) (John 6:25-35). "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).

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[¶ 00391 Updated: 04_14_2024]

How is a Saint made? (00394)

We are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). He endowed us with the capacity to love (Luke 17:20-21). Our hearts are vessels that can be filled to the brim with love. The greater the love that we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God. A saint is a child of Adam and Eve who bears an uncanny resemblance to God. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another“ (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). Deification is the process of increasing our resemblance to God. Only love deifies us.

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[¶ 00394 Updated: 04_16_2024]

The monumental journey of Jesus illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God (00388)

Jesus went on a monumental journey that cost him his life. Despite its exorbitant cost, Jesus arrived at his destination and delivered his message as Pheidippides did (Pheidippides). Jesus got the job done. The cost did not deter him. Doesn't the cost that Jesus paid in the coin of his flesh and blood to deliver the message suggests the importance of the message?

A segment of Jesus' life sticks out in high relief above the rest. The outstanding segment is a journey that Jesus made at exorbitant cost to himself. It is so outstanding that Jesus himself erected monuments to mark the start of the journey and its end. The journey begins at the Crucifixion. We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The monument that marks the beginning of the journey of Jesus is the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17). The journey ends at the answer that Jesus gave to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion. The monument that marks the end of the journey of Jesus is the meal of bread and wine. The meal of bread and wine is the answer that Jesus gave to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion. Jesus announced and prepared the meal of bread and wine on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper. He served it to us at his Crucifixion on Good Friday while we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). The monumental journey undertaken at exorbitant cost to himself stands out because it is the unambiguous answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. It definitively reveals God to us. The Crucifixion and the the Meal of bread and wine are the two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation that delivers to us a better understanding of God. The monumental journey is the gravamen of Christianity - superior to everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta. Christian are the children of Adam and Eve who follow Jesus' journey on the trail that he blazed from monument to monument. They have upgraded their understanding of God by studying and scrutinizing the monumental journey. They have figured this thing called God out for themselves. They appreciate the exoribitant cost that Jesus paid in the coin of his flesh and blood to make the journey. He spared no expense. He emptied the treasury. He kept not a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never paid a higher price to deliver a message than he did to pay for the monumental journey. The exorbitant cost that Jesus paid to deliver the message is irrefutable proof of the message's importance. When Christians come to appreciate the significance of what Jesus' monumental journey is telling us about our God, we are gobsmacked. Our new understanding of our God knocks us off our horses (Acts 9:4-6). Indeed, Jesus' monumental journey unfolded during Holy Week - the holiest of weeks in the Christian year. Jesus' journey makes the week holy.

The monumental journey was the gift that Jesus gave us at an exorbitant cost to himself. It enables us to figure out this thing called God for ourselves. Have you tried to use it? It catapults us into the mind of God. It is the key that unlocks a high fidelity, first class understanding of God. It refreshes our understanding of God. "I have come to set the earth on fire [with the knowledge of God], and how I wish it were already blazing" (Luke 12:49)! Behold and believe!

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[¶ 00388 Updated: 04_16_2024]

Jesus wrote the revelation about God that is the treasure of Christianity in the ink of suffering (00265)

Only one universal language survived the great tongue-twisting of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), that is, the language of suffering. Jesus did not speak to us in the language of divinity. As creatures of flesh and blood, we do not understand the language of divinity. Jesus did not speak to us in the language of the angels. As creatures of flesh and blood, we do not understand the language of angels. Jesus answered the question, 'Who is God?', in the language of suffering because he wanted to make sure that all of the children of Adam and Eve understood the nature of God. Suffering is our native tongue. All creatures of flesh and blood understand it. It is a simple language. It works like this. Nobody signs up to dive headfirst or, for that matter, even dip his pinky toe into a boiling cauldron of suffering unless they are insane or something important outweighs the high cost of suffering. We understand that suffering is an exorbitant price we only willingly pay for something that is extremely dear to us. Jesus paid the exorbitant price because we are extremely dear to Him (Matthew 10:29-31). "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24). The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering - so we could become an equal to him in his divinity - a partner with him in his glory (Romans 8:17) (John 1:12).

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[¶ 00265 Updated: 02_15_2024]

What is the capacity of your tank? (00389)

To understand the mystery of God a tank with the capacity of three gallons is required.

1) One gallon of capacity is needed to hold the Crucifixion. We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. In short, we baptized Jesus in a gruesome dunghill of evils The Crucifixion was Jesus' ignominious defeat.

2) One gallon of capacity is needed to hold the Meal of bread and wine that Jesus announced and prepared for us at the Last Supper and served to us on Good Friday during his Crucifixion. The Meal is Jesus' glorious victory that emerged from his baptism in evils. It is his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him.

3) The first two gallons, ignominious defeat and glorious victory, are the vehicle that carries the message They carried the payload that Jesus delivered to us at an exorbitant cost to himself. Delivering the payload cost Jesus his life. Ignominious defeat and glorious victory are the odd couple of epiphany. Their progeny is the apocalyptic revelation about God. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9). Ignominious defeat is the foil in which Jesus set the jewel of his glorious victory. The foil highlighted and emphasized and intensified and magnified and amplified and accentuated and underlined the jewel of glorious victory. glorious victory erupted from ignominious defeat as the dawn erupts from the darkness. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). The combination of ignominious defeat and glorious victory illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. At what conclusion do we arrive when we reverse engineer the fact that Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45)? What does his radically asymmetric answer to the gauntlet of evils through which we dragged him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19) tell us about the mystery of God? Is not a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)? Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love? Can we not reverse engineer the process from forgiveness back to a heart filled to the brim with radical love for us?

So, pray tell, what is the capacity of your tank?

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[¶ 00389 Updated: 04_13_2024]

Who is God? (00387)

Who is God? Jesus deposited the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' into a short segment of his life on earth. He deposited it into a journey that he made between two monuments. How Jesus revealed the answer to us gobsmack us. It knock us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). The segment of Jesus' life that holds the answer is short - very short. The answer is found in Jesus' journey from the Cross to the Meal of bread and wine. The Cross is the monument to the evils that we did to Jesus. The Meal of bread and wine is the monument to his answer to them. Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation of "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on its head. He upset the apple cart (Matthew 21:12). He shifted the paradigm. He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to the biblical status quo. Instead of punishing us for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He substituted forgiveness for punishment. To answer the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion that evicted him from his shell of flesh and blood, Jesus took up residence in a shell of bread and wine. His new residence was the answer of Jesus, the radical love of God, to to the question, 'Who is God?'. He satisfied our hunger and slaked our thirst with a meal of bread and wine. He filled our bellies with forgiveness while we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands. Jesus' monumental journey is the backbone of Christianity. Upon his journey, the edifice of Christianity is built. If we do not understand the origin and destination of his journey, we do not possess the revelation. Our claim of being a Christian is invalid.

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[¶ 00387 Updated: 04_13_2024]

Jesus, the Real Presence of God, is a commuter from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven. The radical love of God is the Easy Pass that greases the wheels of his commute. (00384)

Jesus, the radical love of God, is mobile. He does not sit still. He is a commuter from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven. The radical love of God is the Easy Pass that greases the wheels of his commute.

While away from his home in heaven, Jesus takes up temporary residence in transient quarters here on earth. How and why he enters and exits his temporary residences here on earth tells the story of our salvation.

Jesus, the radical love of God, has been present with us since the Incarnation (Matthew 1:23). First, in a shell of flesh and blood (John 1:14). Subsequently, in a shell of bread and wine (John 6:25-59). Since the Incarnation. the presence of the radical love of God has been real, palpable and tangible. However, a tweak was made to the real, palpable and tangible presence of God. In the most Holy Eucharist, the real presence was also made comestible. The real presence became a palatable proposition.

In the Incarnation, Jesus, the radical love of God, made his debut on the workd stage in a shell of flesh and blood. Jesus brought his shell of flesh and blood into the picture of Christianity before he introduced us to his shells of bread and wine at the Last Supper.

The Crucifixion evicted Jesus from his residence in the shell of flesh and blood. The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion released the radical love of God from its shell of flesh and blood.

In the Resurrection, Jesus reclaimed his shell of flesh and blood (Luke 24:39) (John 20:17)

In the Ascension, he and his shell of flesh and blood ascended upwards back into heaven.

Jesus brought the shell of bread and wine into the picture of Christianity at the Last Supper. In his Reincarnations, He descends from heaven to take up residence again on the earth in shells of bread and wine.

The movement of Jesus, the radical love of God, (Genesis 1:2) tells the story of our salvation. The edifice of Christianity is built on and around its story. Are you privy to the story of Christianity? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words? Your claim of being a Christian is baseless unless you know and can tell the story of Christianity - unless you are fluent in it.

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[¶ 00384 Updated: 04_10_2024]

The most Holy Eucharist is not a Russian Matryoshka nesting doll (00385)

When we understand the concept of shells in which the real presence of God nests while on earth away from heaven, we realize that viewing the most Holy Eucharist as a Russian Matryoshka nesting doll is absurdly complex. The real presence of God does not nest in a shell of flesh and blood that nests in a shell of bread and wine - a shell within a shell - a nest within a nest. Such a convoluted fantasy is cognitive legerdemain - it carries no meaning. In the most Holy Eucharist, the real presence of God nests in a shell of bread and wine. Indeed, there is a tight relationship between the flesh and blood combination and the bread and wine combination. The flesh and blood combination was the coin that Jesus paid to confect the bread and wine combination. Jesus sacrificed his shell of flesh and blood so he could take up residence in the shells of bread and wine. The sacrifice was how Jesus paid the cost of forgiving us for the evils that we did to him. Jesus paid for the creation of shells of bread and wine in the coin of his flesh and blood. No payment; no forgiveness; no illumination of the darkness of our understanding of God.

The most Holy Eucharist is a shell of bread and wine in which nests Jesus, the radical love of God. By consuming it, we release the radical love of God as the Crucifixion released the radical love of God from its shell of flesh and blood. The most Holy Eucharist is not a shell of bread and wine in which nests a shell of flesh and blood in which nests Jesus, the radical love of God. Such convolution adds nothing to the story of our salvation.

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[¶ 00385 Updated: 04_10_2024]

The Incarnation (00149)
In the Incarnation, the radical love of God took up residence on earth in a shell of flesh and blood

In the Incarnation, Jesus, the radical love of God, took up residence on earth in a shell of flesh and blood. Jesus pitched his tent among us (John 1:14) and his tent was like our tents, a shell of flesh and blood (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Word of God (John 1:1) became flesh (John 1:14). The almighty made himself weak and, in weakness, his strength was made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against his enemies. Our God is courageous. He did not flinch or falter. He put himself in harm's way. Weak like us, he confronted evils. He showed us our potential by fulfilling his. He showed us strength made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

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[¶ 00149 Updated: 04_09_2024]

Where did Jesus, the radical love of God, go after the Crucifixion evicted him from his residence in his shell of flesh and blood? He took up residence in shells of bread and wine. Why? In this way, Jesus answered the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion. His new residences were his answer. He satisfied the hunger and slaked the thirst of his enemies with a delicious meal of bread and wine who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. He filled their bellies. He gave them something into which they could sink their teeth. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).

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[¶ 00383 Updated: 04_09_2024]

The Eviction (00382)

The Crucifixion was an eviction. The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion evicted Jesus, the radical love of God, from his residence in the shell of flesh and blood into which he was deposited during the Incarnation. The Crucifixion made Jesus homeless. During the Crucifixion, we baptized Jesus in hell (Wisdom 2: 19) (Mark 10:37-38). We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The Crucifixion, however, was only the first half of the interrogation. We interrogated him with lash, thorns, nails and Cross. We gave him the third degree. Jesus answered us. Jesus did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to the Cross. He did not take the fifth. Jesus did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and blood as we took from him. He did not exact "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation of "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on its head. He upset the apple cart (Matthew 21:12). He shifted the paradigm. He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to the status quo. Instead of punishing us for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He substituted forgiveness for punishment. To answer the evils that we did to him, Jesus took residence in a shell of bread and wine. His new residence was the answer of Jesus, the radical love of God, to the evils that we did to him. Jesus gave us his answer in the Reincarnation.

The Crucifixion released the radical love of God from his shell of flesh and blood. Consumption of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass releases the radical love of God from his shell of bread and wine. The symmetry of our salvation is preserved in the Mass.

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[¶ 00382 Updated: 04_10_2024]

The Reincarnation (00375)
At the Last Supper, Jesus, the radical love of God, announced his reincarnation, not in another shell of flesh and blood, but in a shell of bread and wine.

The Last Supper (Luke 22:14-20) was the preparation for the jump of Jesus, the radical love of God, from his shell of flesh and blood into his shell of bread and wine. It was time for him to move on (John 14:3) and, at the Last Supper, he made the announcement of his relocation. Jesus registered his change of address. He made the address of his new residence here on earth public. Jesus published his new address at the Last Supper so we would know where to find him and how to reach him.

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[¶ 00375 Updated: 04_09_2024]

By depositing the radical love of God in a shell of bread and wine during his Reincarnation, Jesus erected a monument to it (00381)

By depositing the radical love of God in a shell of bread and wine during his Reincarnation, Jesus erected a monument to it. Only the meal of bread and wine that Jesus made for us during the Reincarnation at the Last Supper and served to us during the Crucifixion satisfies our hunger and quenches our thirst. During his Reincarnation, Jesus made the radical love of God palpable, tangible, concrete and comestible. We sunk our teeth into it. It filled our bellies. Moreover, he paid cost of the construction project out of his own pocket with the coin of his flesh and blood. He paid all of the coin of his flesh and blood. He emptied the treasury. He did not keep a penny in the bank in reserve for himself. He had never paid more for anything else. Doesn't the size of his payment confirm the importance of the monument?

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[¶ 00381 Updated: 04_09_2024]

On what foundation does Christianity rest? (00380)

Behold with your eyes flesh and blood! Behold bread and wine! Believe that Jesus, the radical love of God, was present in the shell of flesh and blood. Believe that he is now present in the shell of bread and wine. This is Christianity - no more, no less. The encapsulations of Jesus, the radical love of God, in a shell of flesh and blood (the Incarnation) and in a shell of bread and wine (the Reincarnation) are the foundation of Christianity. Upon this foundation, the edifice of Christianity is built.
Behold and believe (John 14:1)!

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[¶ 00380 Updated: 04_09_2024]

Praying with God (00376)

We can have a conversation with God in person, that is, face-to face or remotely via the telephone. God is flexible. He has long ears. At the Last Supper (Luke 22:14-20), God registered his new address. He gave out his new address so we would know where to find him and how to reach him. I prefer to talk with God in person, face-to-face.

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[¶ 00376 Updated: 04_07_2024]

The power to relocate the radical love of God (00378)

If we believe that our God exercised the power to load his radical love for us into a shell of flesh and blood, it is easy to also believe that God exercised the power to load his radical love for us into a shell of bread and wine. "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).

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[¶ 00378 Updated: 04_08_2024]

The Relocation of the Radical love of God (00374)
Why did Jesus, the radical love of God, relocate his residence from a shell of flesh and blood to a shell of bread and wine?

Jesus, the radical love of God, relocated his residence from a shell of flesh and blood to a shell of bread and wine because our God wanted to satisy our hunger and quench our thirst. Words alone do not do this. To satisy our hunger and quench our thirst something a bit more substantial is needed than words - something into which we can sink our teeth. The most Holy Eucharist is the lagniappe of forgiveness that Jesus gave us in addition to giving us the words of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). Words of forgiveness do not satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst in quite the same way as bread and wine do. We can't fill our bellies with words but we can sink our teeth into a meal of bread and wine. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:25-59). The most Holy Eucharist makes the radical love of God palpable, tangible, concrete and comestible. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (Isaiah 55:1-2) (See also, John 6:48-58).

The most Holy Eucharist makes the radical love of God palpable, tangible, concrete and comestible. We can sink our teeth into a meal of bread and wine. It is the only thing that satisfies our hunger and quenches our thirst. Nothing else does.

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[¶ 00374 Updated: 04_08_2024]

Reincarnation, re-Crucifixion, and the re-Release of the Radical Love of God takes place de novo during the Mass (00379)

The Mass redoes the story of our salvation de novo.

At Mass during the consecration of the most Holy Eucharist reincarnation is taking place. However, instead of being incarnated into a shell of flesh and blood, Jesus, the radical love of God is 'incarnated' into a shell of bread and wine - reinarnation all over again except in a different shell.

At Mass during the serving of the most Holy Eucharist to the congregation, re-Crucifixion is taking place. We take from Jesus his flesh and blood as we consume his shell of bread and wine. Our consumption of his shell of bread and wine is the Crucifixion de novo.

The hell in which we baptized Jesus during the Crucifixion releases de novo Jesus, the radical love of God from his shell of bread and wine. Hell sets him free. “And ye shall know the truth [about the radical love of God], and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) as it made free the radical love of God. Hell opened the door to heaven. Through the opened door we see that the face of God is forgiveness.

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[¶ 00379 Updated: 04_08_2024]

Which is the superior form of liturgy: The Mass or Eucharistic Adoration? And why? (00377)

The most Holy Eucharist at Mass is a superior form of liturgy compared to Eucharistic Adoration because, at Mass, preparation (Holy Thursday), service (Good Friday) and consumption (Good Friday) take place. Neither preparation (Holy Thursday), service (Good Friday) or consumption (Good Friday) happen during Eucharistic Adoration. Through preparation, service and consumption of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass the story of our salvation is told. The story of our salvation is not told during Eucharistic Adorarion. Jesus said to do this in remembrance of him (Luke 22:19). He did not say hang out with me. Close proximity to the real presence of God does not transfer the knowledge of God to us. Osmosis does not work. The onomatopoetic-like flow of the radical love of God from preparation (Holy Thursday) to service (Good Friday) and onto consumption (Good Friday) is needed to convey the knowledge of God to us.

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[¶ 00377 Updated: 04_07_2024]

The face of God (00352)
The glorious face of God erupted dramatically from the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. Behold the face of forgiveness - the sweet, sweet face of forgiveness!

From the utter darkness of the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19), the radical love of God erupted dramatically as the sun dawns from the darkness (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). God showed us his face (Num 6:25-26) (1Chr 16:11) (Ps 4:6) (Ps 31:16) (Ps 67:1) (Ps 80:19) (Ps 105:4) (Ps 119:135) (Ezek 39:29) (Matt 18:10) (Rev 22:4). “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Isaiah 9:2) (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).

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[¶ 00352 Updated: 04_06_2024]

The sun at the center of Christianity (00373)
Cozy up to the Sun!

The radical love of God is the sun at the center of Christianity. Its powerful gravity pulls Christians into orbit around it. The closer is the orbit, the greater is the holiness. Evangelization is the attempt to entangle the children of Adam and Eve in the gravity of the radical love of God. Only a close encounter with the radical love of God results in entanglement. Only the radical love of God maintains the entanglement. Why? Only love begets love. And radical love begets love radically.

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[¶ 00373 Updated: 04_06_2024]

Hell opened the door to heaven (00368)
Christianity follows the movement of the radical love of God from its shell of flesh and blood to its shell of bread and wine. Christians follow the bouncing ball.

In the Incarnation, the radical love of God was deposited into a shell of flesh and blood. At the Last Supper, Jesus, the shell of flesh and blood, became the shell of bread and wine. How this was done is a mystery. Why it was done is not. The substitution of shells was the perfection of the Word of God's non-verbal expression of forgiveness (Matthew 4:4). It was the tangible, palpable, concrete and comestible lagniappe that Jesus gave to us in addition to giving us words of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). Words do not satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst in the same way as a meal of bread and wine does. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:25-59). There is no better or more persuasive way to express forgiveness non-verbally than by satisfying the hunger and quenching the thirst of the enemies who still have your flesh in their mouths and your blood on their hands. In the Crucifixion, the evils that we did to Jesus released the radical love of God from its shell of flesh and blood so it could take up residence in the shell of bread and wine. Evils were the nutcracker. Hell opened the door to heaven.

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[¶ 00368 Updated: 04_06_2024]

Is light a particle, a wave or both? Is the radical love of God held in a shell of flesh and blood, a shell of bread and wine or both?

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[¶ 00369 Updated: 04_06_2024]

The taking and giving were not the same (00354)

We took from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, did not give us exactly what we took. He gave us bread and wine. At the Last Supper, Jesus had made a substitution. The miracle is that both the taking and the giving occupied and co-existed in the same time and space. The taking was hell; the giving, heaven.

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[¶ 00354 Updated: 04_06_2024]

How do we access the love of God? (00028)

How do we access the love of God (Matthew 2:1-2)? How do we tap into the treasure chest that holds it (Matthew 13:44-46)? The Only way to access the love of God is to love. Yes. When we love, we experience for ourselves the love of God (1 John 4:7-8).

"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21). Love is the kingdom of God. Upon our creation, God implants embryonic love into us - the seed of divinity. [Because we carry the seed of divinity in us from our creation, we are worthy of respect from greatest to least and from beginning to end.]

The seed of God is in us.
Given an intelligent
and hardworking farmer,
it will thrive and grow
up into God, whose seed
it is; and accordingly its
fruits will be God-nature.
Pear seeds grow into
pear trees, nut seeds
into nut trees, and
God seeds into God.
(Meister Eckhart)

When we love, we cultivate the embryonic seed of divinity causing it grow and flourish. By loving, we find God's love (1 John 4: 7-12). God's love abides in our love (John 15:4) (ON CONTEMPLATING GOD, William of Saint Thierry, Preface #2). By loving, we gain access to the love of God here and now. When we love, we meet God - we ascend to the sublime level of our loving God from the squalid level of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition with one another in the rubble of the ruins of Eden! When we love, we establish a connection between heaven and earth through which God meets us and we meet God. When we love, we open a door between heaven and earth through which we step up into heaven and God steps down into earth. When we stop loving, we sever the connection between heaven and earth - we shut the door. Jesus showed us the way. Jesus gave us the directions to our destination. To find the kingdom of God, the map points within us. Jesus is the map (John 14:6). We know how to get there.

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(1) Jesus' Magnum Opus
(2) Discovering the Love of God by loving


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[¶ 00028 Updated: 04_05_2024]

"And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name".
(Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1)

God gave his radical love for the children of Adam and Eve a shape, a local habitation and a name when, in the Incarnation, he encapsulated it in a shell of flesh and blood. Jesus was the 'poet's pen' (John 1:1) who made 'airy nothing' tangible - concrete - real. By pitching his tent with us (John 1:14), Jesus became able to show us God (John 14:8-9) in a graphic demonstration that unfolded in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him during his Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19). By shedding his shell of flesh and blood in the Crucifixion, Jesus unboxed the enigma of God. The evils that we did to Jesus during his Crucifixion stripped God of his disguise (Isaiah 45:15) (Psalm 91:1) to reveal his radical love for the children of Adam and Eve.

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[¶ 00303 Updated: 03_16_2024]

The most Holy Eucharist is the comestible confirmation of the radical love of God (00370)
The Word of God (John 1:1) was the master of the art of non-verbal communication.

The most Holy Eucharist is the comestible confirmation of the radical love of God. It is perfection in the non-verbal expression of forgiveness. There is no better or more persuasive way to express forgiveness non-verbally than by satisfying the hunger and quenching the thirst of the enemies who still have your flesh in their mouths and your blood on their hands. The Word of God (John 1:1) was the master of the art of non-verbal communication.

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[¶ 00370 Updated: 04_06_2024]

Jesus had a sense of humor. Food brought about our downfall. Food rehabiltates us. The apple brought us down. On the bread and wine of forgiveness, we rise. Our bellies determine our fall and our rise.

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[¶ 00371 Updated: 04_06_2024]

Jesus made the ingredients for the meal of forgiveness out of himself (00367)

Why did Jesus turn his flesh and blood into bread and wine at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday? He had already brought flesh and blood into the picture during the Incanation. Why did he bring bread and wine into the picture at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday? Jesus anticipated the evils that we would do to him (Matthew 16:21-23) and he knew what his answer to them would be. The Word of God (John 1:1) wanted to prepare and serve us a meal of forgiveness in addition to the words of forgiveness that he had given to us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). Words do not satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst in the same way as a meal does. However, there were no supermarkets at which he could shop for the ingredients for the meal of fotgiveness. So he made them himself. He made them out of himself. Satisfying the hunger and quenching the thirst of his enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands is perfection in the non-verbal expression of forgiveness. In so doing, the Word of God (John 1:1) demonstrated his total and complete mastery over the expression of the radical love of God.

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[¶ 00367 Updated: 04_06_2024]

Coalescence (00366)
We came for flesh and blood; we left with bread and wine.The punishment that we deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood was transmuted into undeserved forgiveness.

On Holy Thursday at the Last Supper, Jesus caused the abstract concept of forgiveness to coalesce into something palpable - tangible - concrete, that is, into a meal of bread and wine. We can sink our teeth into it. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:25-59). Serving a meal of bread and wine to us while we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands was his asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him. It put meat on the bones of the ethereal concept of forgiveness. It was the shell that encapsulated forgiveness. Serving a meal of bread and wine to us while we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands was the proof of forgiveness. It was the verification of the radical love of God. It was its comestible confirmation. By preparing (Holy Thursday) and serving (Good Friday) a meal of bread and wine for his enemies, the Word of God (John 1:1) gave us something in addition to giving us words of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). Jesus gave us a forgiveness bonus - a forgiveness lagniappe. He gave us a deed of forgiveness. Jesus did forgiveness; he did not just say it. Furthermore, at each most Holy Eucharist, a priest repeats Jesus' deed of forgiveness. "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). During the most Holy Eucharist, a priest prepares (Holy Thursday) and serves (Good Friday) a meal of bread and wine to us guilty of taking from him his flesh and blood. We consume it. A meal is made to be eaten not to hang out with.

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[¶ 00366 Updated: 04_07_2024]

Waging unconventional warfare against evils (00364)

Evil was driven out of heaven and precipitously cast down (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). Evil was evicted but not defeated. The war against evil was incomplete - unfinished. The coup de grâce had yet to fall. Only the venue had changed from up there to down here. God dispatched Jesus from heaven to show the children of Adam and Eve on the earth how to wage and win the war against evil. His mission was to demonstrate to them what victory looks like. Jesus is the model soldier - the archetype of the opposition to evil. Jesus, however, did not invade the hostile desert of godlessness at the head of a powerful army of angels (Matthew 26:53), riding a tank and armed to the teeth. He had a different, more subtle methodology than the use of brute force. Like a guerilla, Jesus infiltrated behind enemy lines into hostile territory alone, riding a cross, and armed with no weapon but love. His purpose was to recruit, train and equip an army of the children of Adam and Eve to wage unconventional warfare against evil by resisting evil not with evil but by resisting evil with love (Matthew 5:38-48).

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[¶ 00364 Updated: 04_04_2024]

In weakness, Jesus made the strength of God visible (00365)
Defortification on the brink of war is so contrary to human logic that it boggles the mind. What rational human general does this? Even a military novice would reject a strategy of disarmament. Only an insane combattant would rig himself for defeat, right?

The almighty made himself weak and, in weakness, his strength was made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Evils were driven out of heaven and precipitously cast down (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). Evils were evicted but not defeated. The war against evils was incomplete - unfinished. The coup de grâce had yet to fall. Only the venue had changed from up there to down here. To continue the war against evils here on earth, Jesus did not invade the hostile desert of godlessness at the head of a powerful army of angels (Matthew 26:53), riding a tank and armed to the teeth. Like a guerilla, Jesus infiltrated behind enemy lines into hostile territory alone, riding a cross, and armed with no weapon but love. Our God disarmed. He defortified himself. He doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. Jesus became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered the scrum. He had a different, more subtle methodology than the use of brute force against our enemies. His methodology was radically unconventional (Isaiah 55:8-9). Defortification on the brink of war is so contrary to human logic that it boggles the mind. What rational human general does this? Even a military novice would reject a strategy of disarmament. Only an insane combattant would rig himself for defeat, right? But not our God. Jesus made himself vulnerable in order to make himself the bait for the trap of our salvation. The children of Adam and Eve took the bait hook, line and sinker. And the trap sprung thereby releasing onto the battlefield the revelation of the radical love of God. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45). Forgiveness, not punishment, was his answer to the evils that we did to him.

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[¶ 00365 Updated: 04_04_2024]

Jesus was a warrior who brought an unconventional weapon to the war against evils (00363)

How did Jesus deal with the monster of evils that attacked him during the Crucifixion? Jesus was a warrior who brought an unconventional weapon (Isaiah 55:8) to the war against his monster (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). From the scabbard of his love for us, Jesus drew the sharp sword of sweet forgiveness. With it, he slayed the monster (Isaiah 27:1) (Revelation 19:11-21). Forgiveness killed the monster of the Crucifixion dead (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45).

We unleashed a monster of evil against Jesus. Jesus released the Angel of Forgiveness.

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[¶ 00363 Updated: 04_04_2024]

The Energy Gradient (00356)

The energy gradient, i.e., potential difference, between heaven and hell powered Jesus' revelation about the radical love of God. We brought hell to divinity. Divinity brought heaven to humanity. The asymmetry made the revelation energetic. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). It catapults us into the mind of God (Isaiah 55:8). The high-energy revelation is the gravamen of Christianity - superior to everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta.

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[¶ 00356 Updated: 03_31_2024]

The Translation (00362)
The meal of bread and wine is the verification of the truth that he forgave us. It is the comestible confirmation of forgiveness - more substantial than mere words of forgiveness. We can sink our teeth into it.

Jesus prepared (Holy Thursday) and served (Good Friday) a meal of bread and wine to his vicious enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). The translation of flesh and blood into bread and wine took place on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper. On Good Friday, despite the biblical injunction against doing so (Matthew 7:6), Jesus gave what is holy to dogs and cast pearls before swine. The translation made his answer to the evils that we did to him tangible - comestible - more than mere words of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). We can sink our teeth into it. The radical love of God satisfied our hunger with bread, quenched our thirst with wine and filled our bellies with companionship. Jesus had invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort and joy of the family tent (John 6:53) (John 6:25-35). By preparing and serving a meal of bread and wine to his vicious enemies, Jesus eliminated ambiguity from his answer to the evils that we did to him. The meal of bread and wine is the verification of the truth that he forgave us. It is the comestible confirmation of forgiveness. The translation made the abstract concept of forgiveness concrete. It made his answer to the evils that we did to him clear. Is their a better way for the Word of God (John 1:1) to express forgiveness? Entertain no doubts - none whatsoever. He is risen and we are forgiven.

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[¶ 00362 Updated: 04_03_2024]

Calibration (00322)
Against what do we calibrate our understanding of God?

Let us calibrate our understanding of God against the revelation of the radical love of God that erupted from the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of his Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19). Calibration puts us in possession of the knowledge of God (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and the knowledge of God brings our destruction to an end (Hosea 4:6) (John 10:5). "I have come to set the earth on fire [with the knowledge of God], and how I wish it were already blazing" (Luke 12:49)! God decided to resurrect the knowledge of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3), affix it prominently to the flagpole of Christianity, and recruit an army to distribute it from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14).

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[¶ 00322 Updated: 04_03_2024]

What is the Church holiday that celebrates Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63)? What is the solemnity? Where do we find Jesus' answer in the liturgical calendar? Where does the Church stop us to reflect about his answer? Does the Church even take notice of its significance? Or, like the priest and the Levite (Luke 10:31-32), does the Church pass Jesus' answer by?

The appropriate feast is Good Friday. The day that we did evils to Jesus is the day that Jesus answered them. Yet, the focus of Good Friday is on the evils that we did to him not on his answer to them. We reflect on only one of the hangings not on the two. We reflect on the first part of the revelation not on the second. We reflect on the hell that we brought to the Cross and not on the heaven that Jesus brought to it. This monocular view of Good Friday distorts our understanding of the revelation of the radical love of God. Our view of Good Friday needs to become binocular. We need to understand the bipolarity of the Cross. Without an understanding of the bipolarity of the Cross, we empty the Cross of its meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17).

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[¶ 00360 Updated: 04_02_2024]

Bipolarity (00361)
The Bipolarity of the Cross = the Bipolarity of the most Holy Eucharist

The Bipolarity of the Cross = the Bipolarity of the most Holy Eucharist. Both hold heaven and hell. We supplied the hell. Jesus supplied the heaven. We hung from the Cross a tortured and dying corpse of flesh and blood. Jesus hung the radical love of God. We took from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus gave us bread and wine. We deserved punishment. In lieu of punishment, Jesus forgave us. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).

The Cross is bipolar. It consists of a rocket and a payload. We brought the Rocket. Jesus brought the payload.

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[¶ 00361 Updated: 04_02_2024]

The house of heaven is built from bricks of love.

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[¶ 00357 Updated: 03_31_2024]

The Crucifixion (00355)

In the Crucifixion, the evils that we did to Jesus freed the radical love of God from its shell of flesh and blood.

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[¶ 00355 Updated: 03_29_2024]

The Centerpiece of Christianity (00349)
Jesus' Magnum Opus is the revelation of the radical love of God. Jesus hung his Magnum Opus from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)!

The centerpiece of Christianity is the Masterpiece of love that Jesus created with the brush of forgiveness on the canvas of Hell during his Crucifixion. Jesus embellished hell with heaven. It was his finest work - his Magnum Opus. It captured the energy of the precipitous gradient - the potential difference - between heaven, the highest of points, and hell, the lowest. We brought hell to Jesus. Jesus brought heaven to us. The radical asymmetry between hell and heaven is precisely what packs overwhelming power into the punch of Jesus' revelation about the radical love of God.

Our job is to duplicate the artistry of Jesus. Christianity is a colony of artists who try to embellish the hells of earth with heaven - to decorate earthly hells with the sweet and exquisite fruits of love.

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[¶ 00349 Updated: 04_02_2024]

Superimposition (00353)

We baptized Jesus in hell (Wisdom 2: 19) (Mark 10:37-38). We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Jesus superimposed heaven onto hell. Jesus embellished the hell in which we baptized him with the blessing of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63).

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[¶ 00353 Updated: 03_29_2024]

Into the foil of evils that we did to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19), Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness. The greater were the evils, the sweeter is the forgiveness. The sweet syrup of forgiveness diluted the toxicity of the foil of the Crucifixion in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evils. Our superpower is that we, too, can dilute our evils as Jesus diluted his. Our superpower makes us godlike.

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(1) Index: Juxtaposition (00159)
[¶ 00182 Updated: 02_09_2024]

Are you a Passerby? (00062)
Have you ever stopped to reflect about Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion? Or do you just pass by? Have you missed the best, the juiciest, the most delectable part of Christianity?

Are you a passerby like the priest and the Levite (Luke 10:31-32)? Have you ever stopped to reflect about Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion? Or do you just pass by? Have you missed the best, the juiciest, the most delectable part of Christianity (Luke 10:42)? The hell in which we baptized Jesus elicited an answer. Jesus did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to the Cross. He did not take the fifth. With lash, thorns, nails and a Cross, we gave him the third degree. We interrogated him. 'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself. God or fraud? Friend or foe?' Are you privy to his answer? Jesus' answer was designed to produce a specific effect. Jesus answered the evils that we did to him in the way that he did to provoke a specific reaction in us. Jesus was highly confident in the theory that love begets love - only love begets love. Did it? Was his confidence justified? Did his theory work?

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(1) Index to blurbs about Transferring the knowledge of God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00062 Updated: 03_28_2024]

The validity of the theory that Jesus brought from heaven to earth was tested in the Laboratory of the Crucifixion (00128)

Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to test the theory that only love begets love. Highly confident in the theory that only love begets love, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). Jesus initiated the process of our salvation by planting the seed of love in the toxic soil of our stony hearts. He began our rehabilitation. His love for us jump started the process of depetrification (Ezekiel 36:26).

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(1) Index: Only Love Begets Love (00129)
[¶ 00128 Updated: 01_12_2024]

Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us; he forgave us to bring about our conversion (00290)

Jesus took the first step of forgiveness in the hope that we would take the second step of repentance (Matthew 22: 11-13). Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) by forgiving us for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). Jesus did not wait for our conversion to forgive us; he forgave us to bring about our conversion. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Our God is the master of the science of cause and effect. He subscribes to the principle that only love begets love. Therefore, the God who loves us dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth to put the principle into practice. Jesus brought a radical, prodigal, limitless love to confront the children of Adam and Eve. He makes us squirm under the overwhelming weight of the love of God. He challenges us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it. By loving us first (1 John 4:19), Jesus jump started the process of our conversion. He hit us with the defibrillator paddles of love. From Jesus' heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love (Romans 5:5). The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3).

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[¶ 00290 Updated: 03_28_2024]

The High Art of Dilution (00358)

Jesus is the artist who perfected the high art of dilution (Matthew 5:48). He embellished the canvas of hell by pouring the sweet syrup of forgiveness into the toxic foil of the evils that we did to him. The sweet syrup of forgiveness diluted the toxicity of the evils that we did to him in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evils. Jesus hung from his Cross in order to teach us how to hang from our crosses. His methodology was not to eliminate evils. His methodology was to dilute them. God wants us to perfect for ourselves the high art of dilution. He wants us to rise to our potential. He wants us to ascend to the sublime level of our loving God (Matthew 5:43-48). "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48)

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[¶ 00358 Updated: 04_02_2024]

The launch of the revelation of the radical love of God? (00346)
Salute the flag (Romans 14:11)! Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)!

Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to publish the revelation of the radical love of God. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth [about the radical love of God]" (John 18:37). What was the launching pad at which publication took place? The revelation of the radical love of God erupted dramatically from the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19). Jesus impaled bloody and alive like a worm on a sharp hook was hung from the gantry of the launchpad. There he died. His death initiated the countdown Matthew 16:4 Jonah 1:17 . Liftoff followed ignition. From the launchpad, Jesus ascended like a shooting star into the night sky. He streaked through the darkness to illuminate our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Isaiah 9:2) (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). Jesus was the rocket whose payload was the revelation of the radical love of God.

We, via the evils that we did to him, hung the revelation of the radical love of God from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. Salute the flag (Romans 14:11)! Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)!

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[¶ 00346 Updated: 03_28_2024]

The Taming of the Shrew
What tamed Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him? (00351)

Jesus did not answer the evils that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not take from us the coin of our flesh and blood as we took from him. He did not exact "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation of "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on its head. He upset the apple cart (Matthew 21:12). He shifted the paradigm. He did the revolutionary instead of conforming to the status quo. Instead of punishing us for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He substituted forgiveness for punishment. Why? What tamed Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him? His radical love for us tamed his answer to the evils that we did to him. Radical love subdued it. It gentled it (1 Kings 19:11-13). Is not a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)? Can we not reverse engineer God from the fruit to the tree?

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[¶ 00351 Updated: 03_28_2024]

Jesus is the CEO of the enterprise of revealing the radical love of God to us (00316)

God entrusted Jesus with the job of running the enterprise of revealing the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve. God appointed Jesus the CEO of the revelation. The CEO of the revelation discharged his responsibility by creating a Masterpiece of Love with the brush of forgiveness on the canvas of hell during his Crucifixion. Hell was an absurd venue for the production of his best work, yet Jesus created his Magnum Opus there. Furthermore, Jesus established a Church to propagate the radical love of God from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. If we are not confronting the children of Adam with the radical love of God and challenging them to come to grips with it, we are not doing our job - we are not doing Christianity.

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[¶ 00316 Updated: 03_28_2024]

A Christian Trivialist (00350)
The radical love of God is the Sun of Christianity. Christians are the planets that orbit around it. The closer is the orbit, the greater is the holiness.

A trivialist is a Christian who is trapped in a silo of Christian minutiae and, like a Platonic cave dweller, cannot see the bigger Christian picture. A trivialist is lost in the small stuff. A trivialist obsesses over the obiter dicta of Christianity but devotes none of his resources to its gravamen. In fact, a trivialist cannot distinguish the gravamen of Christianity from the obiter dicta. He cannot see the gravamen because the obiter dicta get in his way. The obiter dicta are the red herrings that lead the trivialists astray along petty tangents, down dead ends and away from the radical love of God. Pluto is a planet cold, dark and dead because it is far from the sun. A trivialist resembles Pluto because he is far from the radical love of God. The radical love of God is the sun of Christianity. Christians orbit it. But, the radical love of God is not the 'be-all and end-all' of a trivialist. A trivialist is out of sync with the radical love of God. He revolves around minor matters - petty thing. A trivialist avoids the gravitational pull of the Sun. He hitches his wagon not to the stars but to little things.

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[¶ 00350 Updated: 03_28_2024]

The Triple Crown of Divinity (00347)

Jesus showed us the Triple Crown of Divinity. The size, scope and tenacity of his love for us are without limits - love prodigious in size, inclusive in scope and intransigent in tenacity. Jesus showed us our potential. From the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity, Jesus set the bar high. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)!

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[¶ 00347 Updated: 03_25_2024]

The Distillation of Christianity (00317)
What is the blessed byproduct of the distillation?

What do we get when we boil down Christianity? What do we get when we reduce Christianity to its essence? From the Masterpiece of Love that Jesus created with the brush of forgiveness on the canvas of life during his Crucifixion in the hell of the evils that we did to him, we discover the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. Hell was an absurd venue for him to give us the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', yet Jesus made hell the venue of his apocalyptic announcement. What did Jesus do there? He forgave us for the evils that we did to him. Despite our Crucifixion of him in the hell of the evils that we did to him, Jesus forgave us. Does not forgiveness points to a heart filled to the brim with love for us (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)? Forgiveness in hell enabled us to distill the truth about the nature of God. The byproduct of the distillation is that God's love for is radical in size, scope and tenacity. We discovered by baptizing Jesus in a dunghill of evils (Wisdom 2: 19) that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to Jesus could budge it. The radical love of God is the gravamen of Christianity - superior to everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta. Beware the saboteurs of Christianity who dilute the radical love of God. Beware when "Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water" (Isaiah 1:22),

Let us safeguard the radical love of God from the saboteurs!

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[¶ 00317 Updated: 03_24_2024]

The ladder of knowledge (00327)
God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth not to form a government to rule us but to open a school to teach us.
Climb the ladder of knowledge from the squalid level of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competion against each other in utter poverty among the ruins of Eden to the sublime level of our home with the radical love of God.

To acquire knowledge, we go to school. At school, the knowledge is arranged in the form of a ladder. Each rung of the ladder holds a unit of knowledge that is a 'stepping stone' for the next rung. As we climb the ladder, we acquire the knowledge. Our ascent up the ladder gives us a well-developed understanding of the curriculum of the school. Our God opened a school for us. He sent Jesus to be our teacher. And, he wants us to enroll. In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, Jesus built a ladder of knowledge for us to climb (John 1:51) (Genesis 28:12) to acquire the knowledge of God (Hosea 4:6) (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34). "[Was] he not the carpenter" (Mark 6:3)? The ladder consists of two rungs: 1) We baptized Jesus in hell and 2) Jesus baptized us in Heaven. The radical asymmetry berween hell and heaven is precisely what packs overwhelming power into the punch of Jesus' revelation about God. We made hell for Jesus with the evils that we did to him during our Crucifixion of him. Jesus made heaven for us by forgiving us for the evils that we did to him during his Crucifixion. Embellishing hell with heaven is Jesus' greatest work - his Magnum Opus. The ladder of knowledge that Jesus left us in the laboratory of the Crucifixion is the gravamen of Christianity - superior to everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta. The journey up the ladder illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Isaiah 9:2) (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). The two rungs of the ladder are the odd couple of epiphany. God joined them together. Jesus used their combination - their marriage - to reveal to us the radical love of God. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9). By climbing the ladder, we upset our classical understanding of God as power and discover that God is also love - radical love. Power begets respect but love begets love - only love begets love - and radical love begets love radically. God is not just father; God is also mother - a mix - the perfect alloy of power and love.

Go home! Go home, children of Adam and Eve (Luke 15:11-32)! You are not scarabs - midden dwellers. Climb out of the dunghill! Bring your self-imposed exile to an end. In exile, you do not belong. There is nothing there for you. So, tarry there no longer! Ascend the ladder of knowledge! Depart to your home with the radical love of God! The radical love of God eagerly awaits your return (Luke 15:11-32).

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[¶ 00327 Updated: 03_20_2024]

Jesus broke the mold for kingship (00343)

God dispatched Jesus from heaven to earth not to form a government to rule us but to open a school to teach us. Jesus is not a tyrant but a teacher. His appeal is not to our faculty of obedience but to our faculty of rationality - to our self-interest. Indeed, Jesus is our king (Matthew 21:5). However, Jesus did not come to rule us as a typical king rules us (Matthew 20:25-28) (John 18:37). Jesus is not the typical king and his kingdom is not the typical kingdom. Jesus broke the mold for kingship. He is the king who loves us. In place of a constabulary to enforce the Christian rules of the road, the means by which Jesus governs us is love - radical love. When we become privy to the revelation that Jesus released into the world in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion and, thereby, discover the radicalness of the love of God, Christians become self-regulating. In the kingdom of the king who loves us even though we tortured and killed him, the citizens govern themselves. We desire to please him. We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness to please him (John 18:36).

The multitude rejects the leadership's claim of a hotline between it and God and looks upon claims of governmental legitimacy by virtue of the "divine right of kings" as an anachronism meant to frighten the multitude into submission. These religious fictions no longer work. They no longer instill docility into the multitude (1906 “Vehementer Nos“). The threat that, if we do not obey, God will get us, in modern times, is a toothless threat, risible to the multitude. To succeed in the modern world of a literate and skeptical multitude who have access to a variety of sources of information, leadership must learn to do what it has disdained to do, that is, compete in the marketplace of ideas. Its ideas are being challenged - their legitimacy cast into doubt. The question yet unanswered is, without a culture of dialogue and discussion, can the Church successfully compete in the marketplace of ideas?

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[¶ 00343 Updated: 03_20_2024]

Jesus opened a school where the knowledge of God is taught (00329)
The legacy that Jesus left behind was a mnemonic - a thinking aid - a cognitive assistant - to help us figure out this thing called God for ourselves. The purpose of the Church is to distribute the thinking aid from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) - not to govern us as a king but to continue our education about God as a teacher. Good teachers do not form us by rote memorization but by inspiring us to to figure out this thing called God for ourselves. The appeal of a good teacher is to our faculty of rationality not to our faculty of obedience. Our faculty of obedience is broken and has been broken since the age of Adam and Eve. Hence, evangelization, done right, is a rational endeavor. We are disobedient not irrational.

Jesus opened a school where the knowledge of God is taught. Its core curriculum is his demonstration of forgiveness that was the result of the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19). The core curriculum is the foundation of a Christian education. It enables the children of Adam and Eve to figure out for themselves this thing called God. It is a public school not a private, religious or parochial school. Jesus open sourced its core curriculum. Jesus hung the core curriculum of his school from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity in the middle of the public square. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)! Jesus gave no Church a monopoly over it. He gave no Church exclusive ownership of it. It is independent of religion. It transcends their artificial boundaries. The gruesome experiment belongs to all of the children of Adam and Eve - not just some - not to just some religious elites. It belongs to anyone and all who can read, write and think for themselves. Keeping the gruesome experiment out of private hands and in the public domain safeguards it from distortion. Are you privy to its core curriculum? Can you articulate its significance? For example, what does its core curriculum tell us about the radical love of God?

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[¶ 00329 Updated: 03_19_2024]

The revelation about God erupted from the encapsulation / decapsulation process with a miraculous twist (00345)
Midstream, the radical love of God substituted a shell of bread and wine for a shell of flesh and blood to interact with our world differently - not for his benefit but for our benefit. The substitution was the miraculous twist. We thought that we were taking from him his flesh and blood. However, we got more than we bargained for. He did not give us what we took. He gave us bread and wine.

The path from the Incarnation to Holy Thursday to the Crucifixion to the most Holy Eucharist is the path of Salvation. It is the gravamen of Christianity, superior to everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta.

Lock your focus on the radical love of God that Jesus delivered to the children of Adam and Eve. To get to us, the radical love of God followed the path from the Incarnation to Holy Thursday to the Crucifixion to the most Holy Eucharist. Follow the bouncing ball (TV Tropes)!

The purpose of the encapsulation / decapsulation process was revelation - the apocalyptic revelation of the radicalness of God's love for the children of Adam and Eve. "I have come to set the earth on fire [with the knowledge of God], and how I wish it were already blazing" (Luke 12:49)!

In the Incarnation, encapsulation took place. God deposited the radical love of God into a shell of flesh and blood. A shell of flesh and blood was the treasure chest that held the treasure of Christianity. It was the palanquin that carried the radical love of God. In the Incarnation, Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against his enemies. Jesus put himself in harm's way.

At the Last Supper, the radical love of God changed shells. Jesus made a substitution. In the miracle of substitution, Jesus transformed his shell of flesh and blood into a shell of bread and wine. The radical love of God changed containers. At the Last Supper, there was a confusion - a mixing together - a merger - of flesh, blood, bread and wine. Is light a particle, a wave or both? Is the radical love of God held in a shell of flesh and blood, a shell of bread and wine or both?

During the Crucifixion, decapsulation took place. The hell of evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixions stripped away the shell to expose the radical love of God within. Instead of imposing the punishment upon us that we deserved for taking from him his shell, he blessed us with the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). The punch of the revelation about the radical love of God derives its power from the potential difference - the energy gradient - between heaven and hell. We brought hell to the encapsulation / decapsulation process. Jesus brought heaven.

--- to be continued ---

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[¶ 00345 Updated: 03_22_2024]

Two encapsulations, one name (00344)
"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;" (Philippians 2: 8-10)

The radical love of God encapsulated, at the Incarnation, in a shell of flesh and blood, we have given the name, Jesus. The radical love of God encapsulated, at the Last Supper, in a shell of bread and wine, we have given the name, Jesus. The shells are different but the radical love of God that the shells hold is the same. Both are called Jesus. Two encapsulations, one name. The two shells serve different purposes but both convey the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve. The Word of God (John 1:1) knows how to express himself. Jesus (John 1:1) is not limited to only one means of expression. The undressing of Jesus in the Crucifixion (Matthew 27:35) after he was dressed in a shell of flesh and blood in the Incarnation loaded the revelation about the radical love of God with the power of the potential difference - the energy gradient - between heaven and hell. Putting the radical love of God into a shell of food and drink at the Last Supper informs us how vital it is to us. Without food and drink, we hunger, we thirst, we die. Without the radical love of God, we suffer the same fate. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:25-59). "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6:53).

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[¶ 00344 Updated: 03_20_2024]

The Shell Game (00341)
The Palanquins that carry the radical love of God

The radical love of God is too ethereal to 'move' in our reality. Movement requires the placement of the radical love of God into a 'shipping container', a palanquin. The radical love of God is encapsulated into shells. The shells add a particular meaning to the radical love of God. To enable it to enter our world and interact with it, the radical love of God was deposited into a shell of flesh and blood. It received its palanquin during the Incarnation. During the Crucifixion, the evils that we did to the radical love of God stripped it of its shell to reveal the blessing of forgiveness. The shell of flesh and blood was the curtain that evil drew open as part of the revelation. The shell of flesh and blood was not the only shell that our God used. To demonstrate its existential value to us, Jesus deposited the radical love of God into a shell of bread and wine. Jesus made the radical love of God comestible. We can sink our teeth into it. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:25-59). Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6:53). The radical love of God received its palanquin of bread and wine on a Thursday at the Last Supper. Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they justly deserved for taking his flesh and blood, the radical love of God blessed them with the priceless gift of forgiveness. His enemies did not deserve it, but Jesus gave the gift of forgiveness to them anyway. Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). The radical love of God satisfied our hunger with bread, quenched our thirst with wine and filled our bellies with companionship. Jesus served a meal to the enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. Jesus had invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort and joy of the family tent (John 6:53) (John 6:25-35).

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[¶ 00341 Updated: 03_19_2024]

The Packaging, Unpackaging and Repackaging of the Radical love of God (00342)

The radical love of God was packaged, unpackaged and repackaged and, when repackaged, became essential food and drink for the children of Adam and Eve. To make the radical love of God substantial and enable it to intereact with our reality, it was first packaged in a shell of flesh and blood. In a shell of flesh and blood, the radical love of God entered our world. This miracle took place in an event that has come to be known as the Incarnation. The packaging of the radical love of God in a shell of flesh and blood was done in anticipation of its unpackaging. During the Crucifixion, the evils that we did to the shell of flesh and blood unpackaged the radical love of God. The hell of evils that we did to it smashed the shell into smithereens to reveal its contents to the children of Adam and Eve. Its contents appeared in the form of forgiveness, one of the sweet fruits of love. On a Thursday at the Last Supper, Jesus repackaged the radical love of God into a shell of bread and wine so the children of Adam and Eve could consume it. Consumption of the radical love of God is essential for our survival - a sine qua non of life and living (John 6:25-59). Without consuming the radical love of God, we have no life within us (John 6:53). The repackaging of the radical love of God into a shell of bread and wine allowed the radical love of God to persist upon the earth after the destruction of the shell of flesh and blood. The radical love of God was able to continue here albeit in a new shell. The shell of flesh and blood became the shell of bread and wine on a Thursday at the Last Supper. Between the creation of the shell of bread and wine on a Thursday at the Last Supper and the destruction of the shell of flesh and blood on a Friday during the Crucifixion, both shells co-existed. The shell of flesh and blood and the shell of bread and wine served the same purpose. They hosted and still host the radical love of God here on earth.

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[¶ 00342 Updated: 03_19_2024]

Like Moses, let us turn aside to see the great sight
The radical duration of the love of God

We burned the bush but the conflagration did not consume his love for us. His love for us survived the conflagration. Jesus is the burning bush. The gruesome ordeal that we put Jesus through did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. It did not stop Jesus from continuing to love us nonetheless. It still burns but is not consumed. Infinite is the love of God. It is a love without limits, radical in size, scope and intransigence. The dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to the Son of God could budge it. The burning bush is the only thing that makes us turn aside, like Moses, to see the great sight (Exodus 3:1-3). It excites our curiosity in God. It is the engine that energizes the pursuit of God.

To achieve ignition, Jesus rubbed two sticks together (00288)
One Stick = the radical love of God encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood
The other stick = the evils that we did to Jesus that stripped him of his shell of flesh and blood
Ignition = the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'


Jesus pitched his tent with us in the ruins of Eden to ignite the light of forgiveness in the darkness of evils. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Isaiah 9:2) (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3). To achieve ignition, Jesus rubbed two sticks together. The friction between the evils that we did to Jesus and the radical love of God encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood ignited the blaze. “I have come to set the earth on fire [with the radical love of God], and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12:49)! Ignition illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany.

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[¶ 00288 Updated: 03_17_2024]

The Boxing and Unboxing of the Radical Love of God (00340)
Our fragile shell of flesh and blood was the box that held the radical love of God.

The miracle of the Incarnation was the boxing. In the Incarnation, the radical love of God was boxed in a shell of flesh and blood. The Crucifixion was the nutcracker that opened the shell and released its contents. The miracle of the Crucifixion was the unboxing.

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[¶ 00340 Updated: 03_18_2024]

How did God make the abstract concept of the radical love of God concrete - tangible? (00328)

The radical love of God was encapsulated in food and drink - bread and wine - that Jesus made out of his flesh and blood to depetrify our stony hearts and fleshify them (Ezekiel 36:26).

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[¶ 00328 Updated: 03_16_2024]

forgiveness and repentance are partners in the symbiotic dance of salvation (00321)
Forgiveness is God's invitation to join him in the dance. By repentance, we accept the invitation. Forgiveness and repentance dance their way into paradise.

Lord, help me to repent and to stay repentant (Luke 9:62). Let the symbiotic dance between forgiveness and repentance commence and continue. Let me not mar the beauty of the dance by dancing in fits and starts. When I falter (Matthew 14:22-33), thank you for picking me up where we left off (Matthew 18:21-22).

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[¶ 00321 Updated: 03_16_2024]

Reciprocal Baptisms (00326)

We baptized Jesus in hell (Wisdom 2: 19) (Mark 10:37-38). Jesus baptized us in forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63).

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[¶ 00326 Updated: 03_15_2024]

Hell (00324)

Hell is a place marked by the absence of the sweet fruits of love.

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[¶ 00324 Updated: 03_15_2024]

The punch of Jesus' Revelation about God derived its power from the Gradient between heaven and hell (00325)
How do we pack the most power into the punch of Jesus' revelation about God?

The hell of the evils into which we baptized Jesus during his Crucifixion and his forgiveness of us for baptising him in hell were asymmetric - radically asymmetric. The radical asymmetry is precisely what packs power into the punch of his revelation about God. The gradient between hell and heaven gives the relevation its extraordinary energy. Its extraordinary energy gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6).

Jesus plugged into the potential difference between heaven and hell to power the revelation about God that he released in the hell of the evils that we did to him during his Crucifixion.

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[¶ 00325 Updated: 03_15_2024]

Jesus completed his Magnum Opus when he brought heaven to hell (00323)
Jesus is the artist who embellished the canvas of hell with the ink of forgiveness. In the hell of the evils that we did to him during his Crucifixion, Jesus completed his Magnum Opus. If we are not embellishing the canvas of hell with heaven as Jesus did, we are not doing Christianity - we are not following Jesus.

Jesus is the vehicle that transported heaven to hell to reveal God to us. In the hell that we made for Jesus by the evils that we did to him during his Crucifixion, Jesus delivered to us the perfect expression of the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. Jesus forgave us. Jesus testified to the fact that forgiveness is God. He gave his testimony in hell. Hell was an absurd venue for his testimony. Yet, the asymmetry of the venue and the testimony is precisely the punch that gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Furthermore, Jesus launched a fleet of vehicles that carry the same load and whose purpose is to deliver heaven to the children of Adam and Eve incarcerated in hell. Are you part of Jesus' fleet? Are you delivering heaven to hell? Doing so brings about the golden age of Christianity upon the earth.

We bring heaven to hell when we give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, companionship to the stranger, clothes to the naked, care for the ill and make visits to prisoners (Matthew 25:33-40). Jesus did not say to throw the codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole at the heads of those not in compliance with it. Being out of compliance is not one of the 'hells' of human existence that Jesus had in mind nor was turning the rulebook into a weapon a solution that he embraced.

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[¶ 00323 Updated: 03_15_2024]

Convergence (00270)
The radical love of God is the point of convergence. When we come too close to it, we spiral into it.

All of the threads of Christianity converge on one point, to wit, the radical love of God. The radical love of God is the backbone of the universe - the substrate of Creation. It is the glue that holds all of the elements of the world together. The radical love of God is the dynamic agent that does the work in Christianity. It does the heavy lifting. The radical love of God is the catalyst of our conversion. The gravity of the radical love of God pulls us ineluctably into the tender embrace of the vortex of divinity. It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists, who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it, the power to change the world. When the gravity of the radical love of God captures us, we have hit the jackpot. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery. The radical love of God is the rock (Matthew 7:24-27) on which the wise build their lives. As a foundation for living, it is robust. Immerse yourself in it. Meditate on the radical love of God day and night (Joshua 1:8). Figure out for yourself how it works. The radical love of God is the smack of Christianity. It is habit forming and addictive. We who have tasted the radical love of God cannot get enough of it. Therefore, more of the radical love of God; not less. Always. No exceptions.

Do you have an addiction to the radical love of God? Are you dependant on it? How can you not? It is our lifeline. The radical love of God is the air that we breathe. Tap into it! Fill your lungs with it! Avail yourself of it!

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Convergence (00273)
(2) Index: The Radical Love of God (00167)
(3) Index: The Glue of Christianity (00274)
[¶ 00270 Updated: 03_04_2024]

Love accelerates the discovery of God. God accelerates the discovery of love.

The asymmetry between the venue and what Jesus did at the venue gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). The venue was the hell of evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion. What Jesus did at the venue was to forgive us. While we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands, he forgave us. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Imagine two Jesus'. One of them curses his enemies who forced him into the venue. The other blesses his enemies (Luke 6:28-30). Both were martyrs. Both were wronged in the same way. Which is the authentic Jesus and which is the counterfeit? Is the Jesus whose answer was asymmetric to the evils done to him the authentic Jesus? Or is the Jesus who answered us in kind - who gave us a taste of our own medicine - who required "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48) - the authentic Jesus? Who is the real Jesus and who is the phony? Which of the two is like us and which is unlike us (Isaiah 55:8)?

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[¶ 00320 Updated: 03_06_2024]

Cracking Open the Egg of Epiphany (00319)

Evil immured the details about God behind a shell of pernicious illusions (John 8:44). "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isaiah 45:15) (Psalm 91:1). God became a one-dimensional, enigmatic, cardboard cut-out. After Adam and Eve, their children gradually stopped giving God a role in their lives and deprecated his importance. They rejected the notion that they existed in a symbiotic relationship with their God. We came to disregard God. Out of sight; out of mind. But God waited. God waited for the right moment. At the right moment, God exploited evil to undo the damage that it had done. Evil pushed and Jesus pulled the nature of God out of the shell of pernicious illusion. Together they extracted the details of God from the enigmatic black box. Jesus shattered the shell of pernicious illusion with a revelation of God as a blow of a sledgehammer shatters a pane of glass. “And ye shall know the truth [about the radical love of God], and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Evil and Jesus cracked it open. Our understanding of the nature of God escaped through the cracks in the shell. Our understanding of the nature of God hatched. Jesus answered the evil that we did to him. His answer revealed the nature of God to us. His answer is the Good News of Great Joy.

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[¶ 00319 Updated: 03_06_2024]

Sacrifice, suffering and forgiveness worked together in the same enterprise. But, sacrifice and suffering worked for forgiveness. Forgiveness did not work for them (00308)
Forgiveness, suffering and sacrifice were not equal partners in the enterprise entrusted to Jesus of revealing the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve

Jesus did his most important work during his Crucifixion in the hell of the evils that we did to him. Hell was an absurd venue for the production of his best work, yet Jesus created his Magnum Opus there. Yes, he suffered. Yes, he sacrificed his flesh and blood. But he also did something else. What else exactly did Jesus do? He forgave his enemies while they still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. While we were unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6), Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). Why? Only love begets love. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). A life without love is salt without flavor (Matthew 5:13). Love is audacious. Jesus was audacious. The audacity of his radical love gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). He did not wait for our conversion to love us; he loved us to bring about our conversion. He took the first step of forgiveness in the hope that we would take the second step of repentance. The radical love of God initiated the process of our conversion. It is the agent that has caused the conversion of humanity to go viral.

Those who have not adequately contemplated the relationships that connect suffering, sacrifice and forgiveness together into a coherent whole exaggerate the role that suffering and sacrifice play in the formula of salvation. They overweigh suffering and sacrifice and underweigh forgiveness. They develop a morbid obsession with suffering and sacrifice together with a pathological disdain and dismissal of forgiveness. The fail to understand how salvation works.

In the ghoulish ambience of the Crucifixion, forgiveness was the counterpoint that Jesus set against the foil of suffering and sacrifice. Suffering and sacrifice were the venue for the performance not the performance; forgiveness was the performance. Suffering and sacrifice were the servants of forgiveness. Forgiveness was their master. Forgiveness was the boss. Suffering and sacrifice were were his assistants. They worked for forgiveness. Forgiveness did not work for them. They bent their knees and saluted the banner of forgiveness that flew from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. Like a pointer, they pointed, shouting, 'Look!' 'Look!', to show the children of Adam and Eve where to focus their attention. 'Behold the bush that burns but is not consumed' (Exodus 3:1-3)! They highlighted the glory of forgiveness and illuminated its beauty. In combination with forgiveness, they unboxed the enigma of God to expose the radical love that his most Sacred Heart holds for the children of Adam and Eve.

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[¶ 00308 Updated: 03_05_2024]

Are you privy to the story of the creation of Jesus' Magnum Opus? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words? Can you propagate it from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now? Progagate it. Get out of the way. Let God do the rest.

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[¶ 00309 Updated: 03_02_2024]

A meal of bread and wine is the avatar that Jesus created to make the abstract concept of forgiveness concrete - tangible. Of note is that He created the avatar from his flesh and blood. At the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, he created it. At Calvary on Good Friday, he served it. He prepared the meal of bread and wine for us in advanced before he served it and we consumed it.

Forgivenesss = a meal of bread and wine.

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[¶ 00318 Updated: 03_06_2024]

Jesus' Magnum Opus (00306)
Jesus is the artist/martyr who created beauty in horrible circumstances, that is, during his Crucifixion in the hell of the evils that we did to him. The purpose of his creation was to unbox the enigma of God for us. His creation holds the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'.

Are you privy to Jesus' Magnum Opus? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words? If you cannot, you do not yet understand Christianity. You are not there yet.

Jesus' Magnum Opus is the Masterpiece of Love that he created by applying the brush of forgiveness to the canvas of life in the foil of the evils that we did to him. His creation holds the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' Love can take many forms - manifest itself in many ways. Its fruits convey its beauty. The sweet fruit of God's love for us was forgiveness. He embellished the canvas of life with love in the form of forgiveness. Jesus was many things, but, above all else, he was a beautician of love. With love as his medium, Jesus made beauty. Furthermore, Jesus was not just an ordinary artist. He was a heroic artist - a martyr. His heroism arose from the grisly circumstances in which his artwork was done. Jesus made beauty with love even in the hell of the evils that we did to him during his Crucifixion. Hell was an absurd venue for the production of his artwork, yet Jesus did his best work there. Jesus paid the cost of creating his Magnum Opus out of his own pocket. He paid in the coin of his flesh and blood. He emptied his treasury. He spent all of his limited human resources. He kept not a penny of them in the bank in reserve for himself. Isn't the size of his payment a good proxy for the size of his love for us (John 15:13) (John 12:24)? His Magnum Opus revealed to us the radical love of God. It unboxed the enigma of God to disclose the Good News of Great Joy within, to wit, a heart filled to the brim with love for us.

Our God loves us with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength. He loves us as he loves himself (Mark 12:30-31). There is no double standard, one for humanity and a different one for divinity. God is not a hypocrite.

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[¶ 00306 Updated: 03_06_2024]

Jesus demonstrated in the laboratory of the Crucifixion in the hell of the evils that we did to him that the technology of love works (00212)
Jesus field tested the technology of love himself in the gauntlet of evils. He took it for a spin. And he proved that it works.

The technology of love that Jesus transported from heaven and demonstrated here on earth in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion is not pie-in-the-sky, head-in-the-clouds technology. Jesus transported and demonstrated down-to-earth, practical technology. We can use it today, not just tomorrow, profitably. The technology of love is relevant to this world not just to the next. The technology of love enables us to pick up and carry our crosses (Matthew 16:25) (Matthew 5:38-48) as we make our escape through the gauntlet of crosses - the minefield of crosses - on our journey to the promised land.

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[¶ 00212 Updated: 03_04_2024]

The Exhibition of Jesus' Magnum Opus (00315)

The most Holy Eucharist is an exhibition of Jesus' Magnum Opus - the masterpiece of love that Jesus created by applying the brush of forgiveness to the canvas of life during his Crucifixion in the hell of the evils that we did to him. Hell was an absurd venue for the production of his artwork, yet Jesus did his best work there. Jesus substituted forgiveness for the punishment that we deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood. We came for his flesh and blood. We left with bread and wine. Jesus turned the altar of sacrifice into a banquet of forgiveness. He satisfied the hunger of his enemies with bread, slaked their thirst with wine and filled their bellies with companonship. While we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands, Jesus served us a meal at the family table, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort and joy of the family tent. We feast with Jesus at the banquet of forgiveness. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).

"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (Isaiah 55:1-2) (See also, John 6:48-58).

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[¶ 00315 Updated: 03_05_2024]

The Imbalance in the allocation of resources between the operating system of Christianity and its applications (00311)

A useful distinction can be made between the operating system of Christianity and its applications.

The operating system of Christianity is the radical love of God as revealed to us by the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. It deals with the Magnum Opus that Jesus created during his Crucifixion in the hell of the evils that we did to him.

The applications of Christianity are different from its operating system. When we try to figure how the radical love of God works in a particular set of circumstances, we are dealing with applications. Abortion, sexual morality, the death penalty etc. are examples of the applications of Christianity. The Christian applications are the hotbeds of disagreement and the flashpoints of controversy. Various opinions are held with regard to extrapolating the radical love of God into a particular set of circumstances.

The operating system is the foundation of Christianity. Get the foundation right and everything falls together. Get it wrong and everything falls apart. In other words, the more resources that we devote to the operating system of Christianity, the more successful will be the applications of Christianity. Furthermore, because resources are limited, it is important to strike the proper balance in allocating resources to the operating system of Christianity and its manifold applications. Lastly, let us keep in mind that the pursuit of God ebbs and flows according to the energy that its engine supplies it. The energy that drives the pursuit of God is the radical love of God - the operating system of Christianity.

Unfortunately, the leadership of Christianity has failed to make the distinction between operating system and applications and, thus, out of ignorance of the distinction, has failed to allocate resources appropriately. Leadership has mismanaged its portfolio. It is out of balance. Leadership has invested too much into the applications of Christianity and not enough into the operating system of Christianity. As a result of leadership's failure, the pursuit of God is sputtering and stalling. It is flagging. Fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve are going to Mass. Nobody goes to Confession. Vocations are drying up. Marriages are crumbling. Churches are withering and dying. The only sacrament holding its own is the sacrament of extreme unction and this is so only because the dying do not have much of a choice. The trend is downward and accelerating. The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. By this measure, the patient is moribund - a few breaths away from death.

The usefulness of the distinction between operating system and applications can be emprically tested. Let us try to devote the bulk of our resources to the operating system. Let us see how such a portfolio rebalancing works out. Therefore, more of the radical love of God; not less. Always. No exceptions.

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[¶ 00311 Updated: 03_05_2024]

THE WAR AGAINST EVILS CANNOT BE WON WITHOUT CAPTURING, TAKING CONTROL OF, AND HOLDING THE HIGH GROUND OF CHRISTIANITY (00312)

We must capture, take control of, and hold the high ground of Christianity before we can sally forth into the trenches of Christianity to contest its applications. We cannot win the war against evils in the trenches without first seizing and owning the high ground. What is the high ground of Christianity? It is the lradical ove of God, prodigious in size, inclusive in scope, and immortal in duration. Christian crusaders must sally forth from Christianity's stronghold into the trenches of its applications. There is no other way. There is no other path to victory. Retreat, regroup, reenergize and reflect on the high ground of Christianity. Coalesce around the radical love of God. The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) is the monument that Jesus built to mark the high ground of Christianity. Rally 'round the Cross! "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea" (Psalm 46:1-2).

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[¶ 00312 Updated: 03_03_2024]

The Mindset of the Church has Stymied a Culture of Dialogue and Discussion (00313)

Leadership of the Church has failed to develop a culture of dialogue and discussion. Why? The mindset of leadership is that information flows downstream from God to the Church and, thence, to the multitude. Therefore, monologue is leadership's preferred form of discourse not dialogue. Think of the sermon or homily. Information flows only one way. Leadership doesn't take feedback from the multitude John 1:46 . Leadership's disdain of feedback from the multitude is unfortunate because feedback is a proven error correction device and some of the best ideas come from the bottom-up instead of the top - down. The multitude can now read, write and think for themselves. Many are the sources of information available to the multitude. Now, the merits and demerits of an idea must stand on their own two feet. That the Church supports an idea is no longer enough. The multitude rejects the leadership's claim of a hotline between it and God and looks upon claims of governmental legitimacy by virtue of the "divine right of kings" as an anachronism meant to frighten the multitude into submission. These religious fictions no longer work. They no longer instill docility into the multitude (1906 “Vehementer Nos“). To succeed in the modern world of a literate and skeptical multitude, leadership must learn to do what it has disdained to do, that is, compete in the marketplace of ideas. Its ideas are being challenged - their legitimacy cast into doubt. The question yet unanswered is, without a culture of dialogue and discussion, can the Church successfully compete in the marketplace of ideas?

Note: Pope Francis' synodality initiative is an attempt to develop a culture of dialogue and discussion within the Church.

For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00313 Updated: 03_04_2024]

The dogged pursuit of the radical love of God heals the rift between heaven and earth. The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect. Like bloodhounds, we follow the scent of the radical love of God on the trail to paradise.

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7).

Ride the wave of the radical love of God to paradise. It's thrilling. Be not afraid of the thrills.

For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00307 Updated: 03_03_2024]

Our God threatened to forgive us. Jesus is how our God followed through on his threat (00305)

In the Incarnation, the radical love of God was encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood. Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against his enemies. Jesus courageously put himself in harm's way.

In the Crucifixion, the evils that we did to Jesus freed the radical love of God from its shell. We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.

The Crucifixion did not go unanswered. It elicited a response. The radical love of God replied to the evils that we did to him. Asymmetry is the hallmark of the answer. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Instead of doling out the punishment that we deserved for taking from Jesus his flesh and blood, the radical love of God doled out forgiveness. The radical love of God made a substitution - a propitious substitution from the perspective of humanity. The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus, the more audacious and astonishing is his gratuitous and unconditional substitution of forgiveness for punishment (Isaiah 11:6). "For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63) (Isaiah 55:7). Our God had threatened to forgive us (Ezekiel 16:62-63) (Isaiah 55:7). Jesus is how our God followed through on his threat. From the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity, by the substitution of forgiveness for punishment, Jesus presented to us the knowledge of the radical love of God. It was an apocalyptic presentation - an awesome demonstration of the potential of humanity. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)! The knowledge of the radical love of God invites repentance, reconciliation, and reunion. It is our God's gratuitous and unconditional invitation to us to return to our home with him in paradise. Everybody gets the invitation. But, unfortunately, not everybody accepts (Luke 9:59-63). Repentance is how we accept the invitation (Luke 3:8) (Matthew 22: 11-13) (Luke 15:11-32).

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[¶ 00305 Updated: 02_29_2024]

The Nestling (00285)
Lamb = the radical love of God encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood
Wolf = the evils that we did to Jesus that produced his sacrifice
Miracle = The revelation of the radical love of God

Jesus, 'the little child', gently nestled the radical love of God encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood against the evils that we did to him. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them" (Isaiah 11:6). The asymmetry of what Jesus did was audacious. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus, the greater is our astonishment at his gentle answer to them (1 Kings 19:11-13). His gentle answer to the evils that we did to him marks the day that our God "set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people" "like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt" (Isaiah 11). The radical love of God as expressed by his gentle answer to the evils that we did to him is the ensign for the nations that Jesus set up to assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:12). The evils that we did to Jesus affixed the revelation of the radical love of God to the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)!

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6), our God lamrnted. Jesus, 'the little child', by the nestling, supplied the knowledge that ended our destruction. The nestling filled the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The nestling is rich in revelation. The knowledge that the nestling released into the world upgraded our understanding of God. It enables us to figure out for ourselves this thing called God.

For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00285 Updated: 02_27_2024]

The encapsulation of the radical love of God in a shell of flesh and blood, a/k/a, the Incarnation, initiated the process of our salvation. The process of our salvation concludes with our repentance. Between encapsulation and repentance are the Crucifixion and Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him during the Crucifixion. The Crucifixion did not go unanswered. The radical love of God replied. During the Crucifixion, his enemies scraped away the enscapulation as insouciantly as barnacles are scraped away from the hull of a boat. The evils that we did to Jesus during the Crucifixion freed the radical love of God from its shell. In answer to the Crucifixion, a substitution took place. The radical love of God substituted forgiveness for the punishment that his enemies deserved for taking from him his shell. Ipso facto - by virtue of the substitution- , the radical love of God is revealed to the children of Adam and Eve who have no knowledge of the nature of God. Their ignorance was killing them (Hosea 4:6). Jesus was assigned the job of bringing the children of Adam and Eve the knowledge that would end their destruction. By his answer to the evils that we did to him in the Crucifixion, Jesus filled the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Encapsulation a/k/a Incarnation -> Crucifixion -> Answer to the Crucifixion -> Repentance

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[¶ 00304 Updated: 02_29_2024]

On a Collision course (00289)

What is the fallout from the collision between the evils that we did to Jesus and the radical love of God made tangible by encapsulation, during the Incarnation, in a shell of flesh and blood? The collision was bigger than the Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider. What was the byproduct of the collision? What were the results of this test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20)? "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2: 19). What did we find out? What did we discover?

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[¶ 00289 Updated: 02_27_2024]

The gist of Christianity (00302)
What is the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' and what evidence do we explore to discover the answer? Let's explore the interaction between divinity and humanity that took place when Jesus paid us a visit.

Terrorists launched a rocket of evils at the radical love of God encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood. The rocket hit its target. It destroyed the shell. Nothing happened to the radical love of God. Jesus continued to love the terrorists nonetheless. He continued to include them within the scope of his love. His radical love for us survived the evils that we did to him - intact - undiminished. Wow! What a miracle!


Can you not feel the overwhelming weight of the radical love of God? Are you insensitive to it? Jesus confronts the children of Adam and Eve with the radical love of God. He makes us squirm under it. He challenges us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6).

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[¶ 00302 Updated: 02_28_2024]

Forgiving us while his flesh was still in our mouths and his blood was on our hands is the giving of what is holy to dogs and the casting of pearls before swine. God said don't do it. Yet, despite his admonition against it, Jesus did it anyway (Matthew 7:6). He broke his own rule to catalyze our conversion. Our God was audacious. He took the initiative because he was highly confident in the proposition that love begets love. Love transforms the dogs and swine from loveless beasts into loving creatures.

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[¶ 00304 Updated: 02_28_2024]

the sequence of salvation in a nutshell (00300)

In the Incarnation, the radical love of God was encapsulated in a shell of flesh and blood. Our God transmuted a shell of flesh and blood into a treasure chest that held the radical love of God. Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1), became the tangible expression of the radical love of God - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). The radical love of God begot the Incarnation. The Incarnation was the event that made the Crucifixion possible. The Crucifixion cracked open the shell of flesh and blood to reveal the radical love of God to us. The radical love of God is our treasure (Matthew 13:45-46). "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isaiah 45:15). In a "secret place", the most High dwells (Psalm 91:1). The Crucifixion unboxed the enigma. The Crucifixion rent the veil in the temple in twain from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-54) to reveal the radical love of God to us. Via the Crucifixion, Jesus released the Good News of Great Joy into the world. This is a summary of the sequence of salvation in a nutshell. Are you privy to the sequence of salvation? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words? If you cannot artfully summarize the sequence of salvation, you do not yet understand Christianity.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Incarnation (00107)
[¶ 00300 Updated: 02_27_2024]

The validity of a claim that a person is a proxy for God or a successor to the apostles can be tested (00314)
The credibility of an advocate of a position rises and falls according to the bloody wounds that it cost the advocate to support the position. The greater the cost, the greater the credibility.

The validity of a claim that a person is a proxy for God or a successor to the apostles can be tested. We do not have to take their word for it. The claimants to the halo of divine superiority cannot heal the sick, feed five thousand or raise the dead to life as Jesus did. They fail this test (Matthew 23:4). Their failure proves that their claim is false and them to be counterfeits (Matthew 17:20). But perhaps this test is unfair for ordinary human beings with no unlimited divine resources at their beck and call? Perhaps there is a better test? Perhaps there is a test that instead of challenging them to draw from their unlimited divine resources, challenges them to draw from their limited human resources? As a matter of fact, there is. Jesus spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood to purchase for us the gift of forgiveness. Jesus created a Masterpiece of Love by applying the brush of forgiveness to the canvas of life in the hell of the evils that we did to him. During the Crucifixion in the hell of the evils that we did to him, Jesus created his Magnum Opus. Jesus paid the cost of his creation out of his own pockets in the coin of his flesh and blood. The serpent spent nothing. How much have the claimants to the halo of divine superiority spent? This is a better test. They have the power to pass it as Jesus passed it. Jesus showed them their potential by fulfilling his. Jesus earned his bloody wounds. The serpent had none. What about the claimants to the halo of divine superiority? Show us your bloody wounds (John 20:24-29) (Matthew 20:20-23). "The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (John 20:25). It ain't easy for a claimant to the halo of divine superiority to prove his bona fides. Don't just claim it. Show us your bloody wounds (John 20:24-29). This is the hard test that reveals the impostors.

Do not be deceived. Most claimants to the halo of divine superiority are frauds. They claim to be proxies of God or successors to the apostles. Yet, they can produce no evidence to support their claim (Matthew 3:9). They cannot heal the sick, feed five thousand or raise the dead to life as Jesus did. They have spent none of their limited human resources - not a penny of the coin of their flesh and blood - on love. Beware of the frauds. They say but do not do. They are hypocrites. They pass the collection basket around to others but they do not contribute anything themselves. They tell us to wash our neighbor's feet, yet they do not condescend to wash their neighbor's toe (John 13:1-17). Frauds and hypocrites. Beware of them!

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[¶ 00314 Updated: 03_04_2024]

Freelance Christianity (00070)
Does freelance Christianity, that is, Christianity done outside the structure and hierarchy of official Christianity, work?

When the gravity of the radical love of God captures us, we have hit the jackpot. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery. Our God wants us to hit the jackpot. The only way to do so is to engage in the dogged pursuit of the radical love of God (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7). Like bloodhounds, we follow the scent of the radical love of God on the trail to paradise. The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect.

How much progress can be made in the pursuit of the radical love of God outside the structure and hierarchy of the Church? Why does the hierarchy frown on freelancing? What effect does freelancing have on their monopoly? Is their monopoly good or bad for the consumer of their version of Christianity?

What do we do when the structure and hierarchy of official Christianity dilute the radical love of God with obiter dicta?

The practice of Christianity has become perfunctory - cursory. We just go through the motions. It needs a refreshing.

What was Jesus' take on freelance Christianity? We know it from (Luke 9:49-50). And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us (Luke 9:49-50).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Pursuit of the Radical Love of God. (00132)
[¶ 00070 Updated: 02_27_2024]

Each of us is the pilot of our own soul
All Christianity is, in a sense, freelance

Each of us is the pilot of our own soul.  We cannot subcontract the job to another. We cannot delegate it. No one else can do it for us not even our Church. It cannot be done vicariously. Seeking God is a unique, idiosyncratic, personal experience. There is no substitute for going through it. Why?  In the process of seeking God, God transforms us. Unless we do it ourselves, we cannot be transformed. 

"As opposed to what happens in the technical or financial fields, where today's advances can be added to those of the past, no similar accumulation is possible in the area of people's formation and moral growth, because the person's freedom is ever new. As a result, each person and each generation must make his own decision anew, alone. Not even the greatest values of the past can be simply inherited; they must be claimed by us and renewed through an often anguishing personal option"
Pope Benedict 2008 LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO THE FAITHFUL OF THE DIOCESE AND CITY OF ROME ON THE URGENT TASK OF EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE (Website).

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[¶ 00301 Updated: 02_27_2024]

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7). Jesus blazed the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness, defined it with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the leadership of the Church a mission. The mission is to facilitate our escape - not to frustrate it, not to filter it and not to foul it up. Leadership is the grease for the wheels of the escape not an obstacle in its way (Isaiah 57:14). If leadership gets in the way of the escape, the children of Adam and Eve go around them, over them, under them and through them. Leadership make themselves irrelevant. They are failures. So, we pursue God without them. The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect. Like bloodhounds, we follow the scent of the radical love of God on the trail to paradise.

We, the children of Adam and Eve, are the consumers of religion. What do we want from it? What is it that we need? Is it a religion that tells us how to behave? Or is it a religion that helps us figure out for ourselves this thing called God? How does it weight its portfolio? Is its portfolio overweighted to morality and light on theology? Does it focus on revelation or regulation? Does it give prority to helping us figure out for ourselves this thing called God or does it pathologically obsess with trying to govern our behavior? Do we want a religion that tells us what it found or a religion that shows us where to look? Better that the freedom of our behavior be oppressed by our loving God (Matthew 11:28-30) than oppressed by counterfeit proxies who claim, without credible substantiation, to be acting on his behalf (Matthew 23:4). Can these self-annointed, sanctimonious proxies heal the sick, feed five thousand or raise the dead to life as Jesus did? Jesus spent all of the coin of his flesh and blood to purchase for us our salvation. The serpent spent nothing. How much have the counterfeit proxies spent? Our God is wonderful because his love for us is radical and his radical love drives him to bless us with many gifts including his first gift, the gift of life! "… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Only Love Begets Love (00129)
[¶ 00131 Updated: 02_27_2024]

Diluting the radical love of God (00150)

The leadership of Christianity is diluting the radical love of God with obiter dicta. They have watered it down. "Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water" (Isaiah 1:22), As a result, the pursuit of God is sputtering and stalling. The pursuit is flagging. Fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve are going to Mass. Nobody goes to Confession. Vocations are drying up. Marriages are crumbling. Churches are withering and dying. The only sacrament holding its own is the sacrament of extreme unction and this is so only because the dying do not have much of a choice. The trend is downward and accelerating. The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. By this measure, the patient is moribund - a few breaths away from death.

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[¶ 00150 Updated: 01_21_2024]

Jesus did not regulate us first. He loved us first. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19) (Matthew 22:37-39). Hint. Hint.

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[¶ 00298 Updated: 02_26_2024]

Reverse Engineering God from the fruit to the tree (00297)
How do we figure out this thing called God for ourselves?

Is there an antidote to the poison of evils? Love neutralizes evils. The seeds of evil do not grow in the soil of love. Love is toxic to evil. Love smothers evil as water smothers fire. Jesus showed us. Jesus put on a demonstration of the power of love. Jesus is the Prometheus who 'stole' the fire of love from Olympus and gave it to humanity (Wikipedia). “I have come to set the earth on fire [with the radical love of God], and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12:49)! From the tree of Christianity (Acts 5:30) (1 Corinthians 1:17), Jesus gave us the antidote to the poison. He forgave us for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). Is not a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)? Can we not reverse engineer God from the fruit to the tree? Can we not extrapolate? From what God did we know who God is. His deeds, not his words, God done not God said, reveal to us the nature of God.

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[¶ 00297 Updated: 02_27_2024]

Our first impression of God (00299)

Forgiveness is the first impression that God made on us. Forgiveness is our introduction to God. Forgiveness illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love? Is not a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)? When we reverse engineer forgiveness, are we not taken back to a heart filled to the brim with love?

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[¶ 00299 Updated: 02_26_2024]

Glorious Victory was achieved when Jesus maintained the integrity of the yolk despite the destruction of its shell (00293)

The yolk of humanity is the container that holds our love of neighbor. In our incarnations, God deposits the yolk of our humanity into a shell of flesh and blood. In Jesus, his love filled the yoke to the brim. His love for the children of Adam and Eve was radical in all of its dimensions, size, scope and durability. In the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19), the evils that we did to Jesus cracked the shell of his flesh and blood. Evils shattered it into smithereens. Yet, the destruction stopped there. The evils that we did to Jesus progressed no farther. They proved impotent beyond the shell. The yoke of his humanity remained intact - its integrity undisturbed. It suffered not the slightest nick nor blemish (John 19:36).

The greater was the shattering of the shell, the more astonishing is the undisturbed integrity of the yolk.

Our job is to maintain the integrity of the yolk despite any damage to or destruction of the shell. All of the King's horses and all of the King's men could not put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. But Jesus can. Have faith! Trust in the radical love of God! On it, pin your hope (Isaiah 40:31)!

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[¶ 00293 Updated: 02_27_2024]

Love is the metformin that downregulates the glucose of evils (00296)

Evils are the hormones that upregulate the circulation of evils in the bloodstream of humanity. Evils beget evils. The multiplication of evils is a cascade of disaster (Matthew 12:43-45) (Matthew 24:12). They overload the system bringing morbidity and mortality to the body of humanity. From the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity (1 Corinthians 1:17), Jesus showed us how to downregulate evils. He showed us that love neutralizes evils. In the case of Jesus, the evils that we did to him triggered a receptor on the membrane of his radical love for the children of Adam and Eve. The receptor activated his defense mechanism. Through the bloody wounds that our evils opened in his flesh, Jesus secreted the sweet syrup of forgiveness, one of the fruits of his radical love (Luke 3:8). "[O]ut of the good treasure of his heart" (Luke 6:45), Jesus poured forth one of the sweet fruits of love, to wit, forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). "… Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10).

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[¶ 00296 Updated: 02_26_2024]

Unscrambling the egg (00294)

The catastrophe of Adam and Eve at Eden scrambled our understanding of God. Jesus unscrambled it. He put Humpty Dumpty back together again (Wikipedia) - a project that all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't do.

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[¶ 00294 Updated: 02_25_2024]

The renaissance in our understanding of God

Jesus brought about a renaissance in our understanding of God. He did so by virtue of his radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him. His answer illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).

His victory earned him the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity - not his presence.

Like Zeus, priests hold the lightning in their hands (00295)
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning" - Mark Twain

Most priests think that by holding Jesus' presence in their hands that they are holding the lightning. Not true. They have confused the lightning bug and the lightning. The lightning is Jesus's demonstration of the radical love of God during his mortal combat with the monster of the Crucifixion. The lightning bug is his presence. Like Zeus, they hold the lightning. But the lightning is not presence. Indeed, he is present. What would a celebration be like without its hero - its cause célèbre? But, we commemorate and celebrate his victory not his presence.

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[¶ 00295 Updated: 02_27_2024]

X-ray Vision (00292)
By the substitution of forgiveness for punishment, Jesus inaugurated the new covenant between divinity and humanity. The substitution marked the beginning of the process of our salvation. Repentance marks the end.

We do not have X-ray vision. The outside blocks our view of the inside. We did evils to Jesus. We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The evils that we did to Jesus scraped away his outside so we could have a view of what was going on inside. We scraped away his flesh and blood. Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him. We deserved punishment for the evils that we did to Jesus. However, he did not inflict punishment on us. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Instead of the punishment that we deserved, Jesus forgave us. By forgiveness, Jesus re-established his covenant with us (Ezekiel 16:62-63). "For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63) (Isaiah 55:7). The re-establishment of the new covenant delights us. We behold with our own eyes the Good News of Great Joy. From the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity, by the substitution of forgiveness for punishment, Jesus presented to us the radical love of God. It was an apocalyptic presentation - an awesome demonstration of divinity. Divinity stepped up to the plate. Divinity did its part in the process of salvation. It is humanity's turn. The ball is now in our court. Let us bring the process of our salvation to an end by greeting it with repentance. Let us bring the process of our salvation to a happy conclusion. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17)!

"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance..." (Luke 3:8).

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[¶ 00292 Updated: 02_27_2024]

The evils that we did to Jesus and his asymmetric answer to them are the odd couple of epiphany. Jesus submitted himself to this divinely choreographed dance to dump the knowledge of God into the Valley of Tears. Jesus used their combination - their marriage - to reveal to us the radical love of God. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9).

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[¶ 00288 Updated: 02_02_2024]

Can you not hear the bugle of forgiveness? (00081)

Forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63) is the bugle that Jesus blows on the battlefield of the Crucifixion (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16) to summon the children of Adam and Eve to return home to their God. Forgiveness is the signal to retreat - to make our escape to the land of our loving God from the land of the loveless beasts who scavenge for scraps in cutthroat competition against one another in utter poverty at and about the ruins of Eden. Are you listening? Do you hear it (Matthew 13:9)? Hearken, now, unto his voice (Proverbs 4:20-22)!

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Bugle of Forgiveness (00223)
(2) Index: Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
(3) Index:The Battlefield of the Crucifixion (00085)
(4) Index: The Escape (00086)
(5) Index: The Summons Home (00087)
(6) Index: Scavenging for Scraps (00088)
(7) Index: Paradise: the Land of Milk and Honey (00089)
[¶ 00081 Updated: 02_02_2024]

THE FREIGHT TRAIN OF EVILs (00291)

We launched a freight train of evils at Jesus. He saw it barreling toward him. Remarkably, he stood in its path. He did not flinch. He did not cower. He did not jump out of the way. Jesus and the freight train collided. It was a violent collision . The violence of the violent collision was bigger than the Big Bang (Big Bang) and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The byproduct of the violent collision revealed to us the nature of God. The violent collision bore fruit. It produced an apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God. Because Jesus saw our atrocity coming, he called an audible as he approached the line of scrimmage. He changed the play before entering the scrum. At the Last Supper, Jesus did the unexpected (Matthew 5:38-50). He performed the miracle of substitution. At the Last Supper (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59), Jesus made a switch. By divine fiat, he did a swap. He substituted bread and wine for flesh and blood. In the battle of the Crucifixion, his enemies took from him his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, did not give us what we took. Instead, he served us bread and wine. He turned his sacrifice into a banquet at which he himself satisfied the hunger and quenched the thirst of his enemies with food and drink even though we were utterly unworthy of his largesse (Matthew 5:43-45). Who does this? Who else besides our God treats vile and insolent torturers and murderers as treasured and beloved dinner companions - especially unrepentant sinners? Who includes not just friends within the scope of his love but enemies with his blood still on their hands as well? Who doesn’t exclude the goats (Matthew 25:31-33)? Is the scope of my love as broad as Jesus’? Is yours? Where do we draw the limits on the scope of our love? Where do we set the limits? Do we include the goats as well as the sheep? Or are only the sheep welcome within the scope of our love?

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[¶ 00291 Updated: 02_23_2024]

Fixing a Broken World (00130)

Evils break the world into pieces. Forgiveness is the cement that binds the pieces of a broken world together. Repentance is the accelerant that speeds up the healing process.

“One part of Judaism called tikkum olam (Wikipedia). It says that the world has been broken into pieces. All this chaos, all this discord. And our job – everyone’s job – is to try to put the pieces back together. To make things whole again ... Maybe we’re the pieces. Maybe what we’re supposed to do is come together. That’s how we stop the breaking.”
― Rachel Cohn, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

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(1) Index: Forgiveness and Repentance (00082)
[¶ 00130 Updated: 02_22_2024]

Rubbernecking at the suffering and dying God (00228)
Like Moses, let us turn aside to see the great sight. The bush burns but his life and his love for us are not consumed! They survived the evils that we did to him.

Conventional wisdom takes the position that a god does not suffer and does not die. Suffering and dying are human weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:8-10) that do not afflict divinity. Divinity is immune. So, when we behold a suffering and dying God, we behold a paradox - an oxymoron - something that should not exist but does - that challenges the conventional wisdom. It is an earthquake that disturbs the status quo of our understanding and, thereby, shifts the paradigm. Is not the paradoxical notion of a suffering and dying God extraordinarily strange? The strangeness of the paradox piques our morbid curiosity in the same way as a car crash does. We cannot take our eyes off such a profound disaster. We rubberneck. We gawk. Like Moses, let us turn aside to see the great sight (Exodus 3:1-3). The strangeness of the paradox calls us to explore it to figure out for ourselves its meaning. Does it not merit further investigation - additional scrutiny?

P.S. The drama of a suffering and dying God was designed to capture our attention. The million dollar question is why did God want to capture the attention of the children of Adam and Eve? What did God want to show us? How did our God get himself into such a miserable state? What was the origin of it. How did it develop? More importantly, Why? Why did Jesus need to become the suffering and dying God? What advantage did suffering and dying give him?

Hint: The point of suffering and dying was forgiveness. Suffering and dying made it possible for God to forgive us for the evils that we did to him. The greater were the suffering and the dying, the more astonishing is the forgiveness.

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[¶ 00228 Updated: 02_04_2024]

The wheels of salvation (00286)

The radical love of God begot the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19) which, in turn, begot the most Holy Eucharist. Sacrifice begot forgiveness which, in turn, begets repentance. The elements of the sequences define the preconfigured pathways over which the wheels of salvation turn. Getting the order of the elements of the sequences right enriches our understanding of salvation.

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[¶ 00286 Updated: 02_22_2024]

The layers of reality are the substrate for their own stories (00287)

Reality is not thin. It is thick. It is thick because it does not consist of a single layer. Multiple layers give reality its thickness. They form a stack. Furthermore, different stories unfold on the different layers of reality. Each layer of reality is the substrate for its own story.

Adjacent layers of reality are related to each other. The radical love of God occupies its own layer of reality. Stacked on top of it is the layer of reality that holds the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance" (Wisdom 2: 19). On top of the gruesome experiment sits the layer of reality that is the substrate for the most Holy Eucharist. The three layers of reality are stackable because they are related to each other. How are the three layers of reality related to each other? The top layer is the expression of the layer beneath. The gruesome experiment is the expression of the radical love of God. The most Holy Eucharist is the expression of the gruesome experiment.Voila!

Warning: the links between the three layers of reality have been understudied.

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[¶ 00287 Updated: 02_22_2024]

The Most Holy Eucharist (00284)
The most Holy Eucharist is a proxy for the radical love of God.

God invented Christianity and established it on the earth so the children of Adam and Eve could experience for themselves the radical love of God. Christianity distributes the radical love of God from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14). The vehicle for distribution that Jesus conceived, designed and built is the most Holy Eucharist. The most Holy Eucharist is the dynamic restatement of the radical love of God. It repeats the apocalyptic demonstration of the radical love of God that Jesus orchestrated in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The most Holy Eucharist is a proxy for the radical love of God.

There is a one to one correspondence between the most Holy Eucharist and the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The most Holy Eucharist references the gruesome experiment. The most Holy Eucharist arises from the gruesome experiment and commemorates it (Luke 22:19). The radical love of God begot the gruesome experiment which, in turn, begot the most Holy Eucharist. Love begets love. Only love begets love. So, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). And his love bears fruit. We love him because he loved us first.

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[¶ 00284 Updated: 02_21_2024]

Did God leave us any clues to help us figure out this thing called God for ourselves? (00276)
Not all clues are equal. Some clues are bigger, better and richer in revelation than other clues.

Did God leave us any clues to help us figure out for ourselves this thing called God? Yes, he did. And God left the biggest clue in the care and custody of Christianity. The biggest clue was this: Our God let us put his dearly beloved Son to the test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20) in a gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance " (Wisdom 2: 19). The test and its result help us to figure out for ourselves this thing called God. They are rich in revelation - far richer than any other clue that our God left us. From them, we can extrapolate to a high fidelity understanding of God. The knowledge that the test and its result released into the world upgraded our understanding of God. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth [about the radical love of God]" (John 18:37). The radical love of God is the testimony of Jesus. Our God loves us with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength. He loves us as he loves himself (Mark 12:30-31). There is no double standard, one for humanity and a different one for divinity. God is not a hypocrite.

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[¶ 00276 Updated: 02_18_2024]

The four (4) components of the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' (00275)

Four (4) conponents constituted the single unit of apocalyptic revelation that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears from the gruesome experiment that we administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The four (4) components are flesh, blood, bread and wine. Not fewer - not more. Precisely four (4).

The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', that Jesus brought from heaven to earth consists of four (4) words. Jesus was clear not ambiguous - neat not sloppy. Jesus knew what he wanted to say and how to say it. The Word of God (John 1:1) was succinct. He did not mince words.

'Who is God?' was an unaswered question. Moreover, the absence of an answer was bringing about the destruction of humanity. Our God lamented: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Our God looked down from heaven upon the children of men and saw little to no understanding. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7). So God dispatched his Son to bring the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' from heaven to earth. He was dispatched not to tell us about God in words but to show us God in a demonstration of God - God done, not God said. In the Incarnation, our God endowed his Son with flesh and blood. They were two (2) of the four (4) building blocks of the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', consisted of four (4) building blocks. The Incarnation gave Jesus two (2) of them. The other two (2) building blocks were bread and wine. Jesus brought bread and wine into the picture at the Last Supper (Luke 22:14-20). The Incarnation and the Last Supper put the four (4) elements of the the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' into play. The Incarnation and the Last Supper put them at Jesus' disposal. Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1), orchestrated the four (4) elements into a coherent compositition in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). His orchestration was his magnum opus. Jesus created his Magnum Opus on the canvas of life in the foil of the evils that we did to him. In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, Jesus presented a beautiful demonstration of the radical love of God for the children of Adam and Eve. Besides being the choeographer of the demonstration, Jesus was also the star of the show. He was the showstopper. We approached Jesus to take from him his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, did not give us exactly what we wanted to take. Between our arrival and our departure, Jesus made a substitution. We left him with bread and wine. For the flesh and blood of sacrifice, Jesus substituted the bread and wine of forgiveness. He did not give us the punishment that we deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood. In lieu of punishment, Jesus gave us forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). By the substitution, the Son revealed the Father to the children of Adam and Eve. The substitution supplied the knowledge of God to us. The knowledge of God brings our destruction to an end. Flesh, blood, bread and wine are the Vocabulary of Salvation. With precisely four words - flesh, blood, bread and wine - Jesus constructed his message about the radical love of God. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).

'Brevity is the soul of wit’ - Shakespeare

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[¶ 00264 Updated: 02_19_2024]

The technology of love was tested in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). It passed the test with flying colors. Its glorious success drives the narrative of Christianity.

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[¶ 00215 Updated: 02_21_2024]

The confrontation between divinity and humanity (00039)

If we are not confronting the children of Adam and Eve with the radical love of God - if we are not challenging them to come to grips with it -, we are not doing Christianity. Sinners squirm under the overwhelming weight of the radical love of God. Does the overwhelming weight of the radical love of God make sinners squirm in your version of Christianity or do you substitute something else in your attempt to persuade sinners to repent and return to God? Only the radical love of God is persuasive. The Church, its saraments, blessings, clerics and members are designed to be access points to the radical love of God. Are we functioning according to our design?

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Right and Wrong Methodologies (00072)
(2) Index: The Confrontation between Humanity and Divinity (00092)
(3) Index: Access points to the radical love of God (?????)
(4) Index: Repentance and the Return to God (?????)
[¶ 00039 Updated: 01_29_2024]

Burning our fingers in the flames is much more persuasive about the heat of the fire than words of warning that the fire is hot. The difference is the same as the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning (Mark Twain). By submitting himself to the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucixion (Wisdom 2: 19), Jesus is providing us with the opportunity to experience for ourselves the radical love of God. "I have come to set the earth on fire [with the radical love of God], and how I wish it were already blazing" The gruesome experiment burns our fingers in the fire of the radical love of God. (Luke 12:49)! “And ye shall know the truth [about the radical love of God], and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

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[¶ 00278 Updated: 02_18_2024]

Harsh but effective Medicine

Our baptism in the evils of the ruins of Eden is harsh but effective medicine. It puts iron in our grip. When the gift of paradise is delivered to us, we will keep it. We will not fumble the ball. We will not repeat the catastrophe of Adam and Eve. The prodigal son will never go back to the pig sty. Neither will we. Our baptism in the pig sty makes us know better. Once burned; twice shy. We are disobedient not irrational.

The Radical Love of God is the bait that Jesus used to fish for the children of Adam and Eve (00227)
The radical love of God catches fish hook, line and sinker. Why fish with any other bait?

The love of God is radical in all of its dimensions. In size, it is prodigious. In scope, it is inclusive, and in durability, intransigent. Radicalness is the sweetner. It raises the love of God to a higher, more sublime level of sweetness. Jesus cast the sweet bait into the hostile desert of godlessness to fish for the children of Adam and Eve. When you fish for the children of Adam and Eve, bait your hook as Jesus baited his. Bait your hook with the radical love of God. The radical love of God catches fish hook, line and sinker. Why fish with any other bait?

"As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:18-19).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Bait (00228)
(2) Index: The Pursuit of the Radical Love of God (00132)
(3) Index: The Radical Love of God (00167)
(4) Index: The Dimensions of the Love of God (00234)
(5) Index: The Size of the Love of God (00230)
(6) Index: The Scope of the Love of God (00231)
(7) Index: The Durability of the Love of God (00232)
(8) Index: The Sweetness of God (00233)
(9) Index: Fishing for the Children of Adam and Eve (00235)
[¶ 00227 Updated: 02_08_2024b]

Christianity, done right, confronts us with the radical love of God. We squirm under the weight of the radical love of God. The radical love of God challenges us to come to grips with it - to reconcile ourselves to it.

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[¶ 00280 Updated: 02_19_2024]

The Hammer of Christianity (00271)

The hammer was not hung from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity for mere display. It is the power of Christianity. It is the tool that God gave us to bludgeon the nails. With it, we confront the children of Adam and Eve with the radical love of God. We challenge them to come to grips with it. The hammer is the agent that does the work in Christianity. It does the heavy lifting. Don't bury it with the other tools in your toolbox. Use the tool that God gave us. Get to work! Bludgeon the nails!

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[¶ 00271 Updated: 02_16_2024]

No Abation

The love of God showed no signs of abating even though we tortured and killed Jesus - even though we made him suffer and die - even though we impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. We discovered by baptizing Jesus in a dunghill of evils (Wisdom 2: 19) that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to Jesus could budge it.

Hear ye him (00264)
The most Holy Eucharist is a restatement of the radical love of God. It is the treasure of Christianity.

Jesus is present in the most Holy Eucharist. His presence is real. The big deal of the most Holy Eucharist, however, is not that Jesus is present in it. The big deal of the most Holy Eucharist is that Jesus is articulate in it. Articulation, not presence, is the point of the most Holy Eucharist. Both are real. But, articulation is the point. So, What did Jesus say? How did he say it? "While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matthew 17:5) (Matthew 11:15) (John 18:37) (John 10:5). Through the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus speaks to us about the radical love of God. And he repeats his testimony to the radical love of God over and over and over again. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth [about the radical love of God]" (John 18:37). The radical love of God is the testimony of Jesus. Our God loves us with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength. He loves us as he loves himself (Mark 12:30-31). There is no double standard, one for humanity and a different one for divinity. God is not a hypocrite. And God wants us to love as he loves. Jesus showed us that such love is possible. Jesus showed humanity our potential. He demonstrated to us how to fulfill our potential by fulfilling his.

Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1), was the tangible expression of the radical love of God - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45).

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[¶ 00264 Updated: 02_16_2024]

The most Holy Eucharist is the dynamic articulation of the radical love of God - more than the static host of his mute, enigmatic presence - much more. It is the glorious pantomine - the reproduction of Jesus' Magnum Opus - that demonstrates the radical love of God as it was demonstrated in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). Are you privy to what Jesus is saying and how he is saying it? If not, you do not yet understand Christianity.

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[¶ 00281 Updated: 02_19_2024]

Blessed are the poor (Matthew 5:3). The poor who have nothing have room to possess the only wealth that matters, that is, the radical love of God. The rich who have everything have no room to possess the radical love of God (Matthew 19:24) (Mark 10:17-31). The hearts of the rich are filled to the brim with the scraps that they have scavenged in cutthroat competition against the other loveless beasts among the ruins of Eden. The scraps avail them not (Luke 12:16-21) (Matthew 6:24). Make room! Make room! Make room in your hearts for the radical love of God (John 15:4-11) (Ephesians 1:18-19)! Discard the old to make room for the new (Leviticus 26:10) (2 Corinthians 5:17)! Jettison the scraps (Acts 27:18)! Lighten your load (Acts 27:18) (Matthew 11:28-30)! Survive the storm!

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[¶ 00279 Updated: 02_20_2024]

What kept Jesus afloat in the storm? What kept Peter (Matthew 14:22-33)? The radical love of God was their flotation device. It lifted them up from and out of their dire predicament. It can lift us up and out too! Powerful is the radical love of God.

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[¶ 00282 Updated: 02_20_2024]

Pope Benedict XI (00283)

"If a person bears great love in himself, this love gives him wings, as it were, and he can face all life’s troubles more easily because he carries in himself this great light; this is faith: being loved by God and letting oneself be loved by God in Jesus Christ. Letting oneself be loved in this way is the light that helps us to bear our daily burden." BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 16 February 2011

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[¶ 00283 Updated: 02_20_2024]

Doing martyrdom leaves an impression; preaching martyrdom does not (00277)
Christianity is done not said. It is a practice not a theory. It is the exerience of the radical love of God.

Love is not love that does not pay the cost. The greater is the cost, the greater is the love. Love is a function of cost
(Luke 21:1-4 - The widow paid the cost)
(Luke 10:30-37 - The Samaritan paid the cost but the priest and Levite refused)
(Mark 10:17-31 - The rich, young man was unwilling to pay the cost)
(John 15:13 - Jesus paid the cost).
Beware the hypocrite who proclaims sacrificial love but is unwilling to pay the cost - who is unwilling to bear the sacrifice. Beware him who wants others to adopt a policy of sacrificial love but does not adopt it himself. Beware the coward who wants others to be martyrs but not himself. The only way to teach martyrdom is to be a martyr. Doing martyrdom leaves an impression; preaching martyrdom does not. Preaching is sterile; martyrdom is fertile. We learn better by example than by words bereft of example. Preaching martyrdom - advocating death to self - without doing it - without paying the cost - only leaves the stanky taste of hypocrisy in our mouths. The taste is so foul - the hypocrisy is so vile - that we regurgitate the preaching. We vomit it up. Why? Why can martyrdom only be taught by martyrs? Only love begets love. Preaching does not. So, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). And his love bears fruit. We love him because he loved us first. Jesus became a martyr to invite us to become martyrs. The invitation is challenging - daunting - so Jesus assured us "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30). Let us not flinch at the challenge but trust in the God who loves us even though we tortured and killed him. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24). Who better to trust - our instinct for self-preservation or Jesus?

“Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words” - attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.

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(1) Index: Paying the cost of love (00064)
[¶ 00277 Updated: 02_20_2024]

Safari (00147)
Don't tell us; show us. Don't tell us about Christianity; show us Christianity. Do Christianity; don't just talk about it. We learn far better by example than by words bereft of example.

The difference between reading about safari and going on safari is, as Mark Twain said, as large as the difference between a lightning bug and lightning. Christians do not just read about safari. Christians go on safari. The Church is the tour guide. The Church takes the children of Adam and Eve on expeditions to the holy places - the access points to the radical love of God - that define the escape route from godlessness to paradise during which we explore for ourselves the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God.

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(1) Index: Safari (00146)
[¶ 00147 Updated: 02_19_2024]

Ushers (00148)

Our clerics are the ushers who show us to our seats so Jesus can put on the show. They are not the stars of the show. Jesus is the star of the show. The Christian religion goes off the rails when the ushers think that they are the stars of the show.

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[¶ 00148 Updated: 01_20_2024]

Hang as Jesus hung (00272)

Evils challenge us in big and little ways. Success in life is maintaining our position on the level of our loving God. We resist evil's attempts to depose us into the dire predicament of scavenging for scraps in cutthroat competition against the other loveless beasts in the ruins of Eden. Avoid the catastrophe of Adam and Eve! Do not be dislodged! Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Therefore, do as Jesus did. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung. Cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go. Love is inexorable evil's implaccable foe.

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[¶ 00272 Updated: 02_17_2024]

The worst sin is to make Christianity dull. Subtracting the radical love of God from Christianity makes it dull.

Ours is not a God who loves us just a little bit (John 15:13) (John 12:24). Ours is not a God who loves us for just a little while (Lamentations 3:22-23). Ours is not a God who loves just a few of us (Matthew 20:1-16).

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[¶ 00068:01_01_2024]

In the Incarnation, God sent us a Love Note. Jesus was the tangible expression of God's radical love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). In the Crucifixion, God wrote the verification of the Love Note in the indelible ink of radical forgiveness. Radical forgiveness is the reflection of the radical love of God. Radical forgiveness is the intrusion of divinity into our godless world.

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[¶ 00142 Updated: 01_20_2024]

God's recipe for Salvation: stuffing (00269)

God's recipe for Salvation is stuffing. Jesus stuffed forgiveness down the throats of his enemies. In lieu of the punishment that we deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus substituted forgiveness. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Forgiveness gave them a mulligan, a do-over, a second chance, a fresh start. Forgiveness wiped their slate clean. Via forgiveness, we are born again (John 3:3) (Luke 15:32)! "For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63). They came for his flesh and blood. They left with his bread and wine. He did not give them quite what they came for. They got more than they bargained for - much more. Wow! Brutally merciful is our God!

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[¶ 00269 Updated: 02_16_2024]

The origin of Christianity (00268)
God blessed us with a Love Note and its Verification -two gifts not one

'Who are you, God? Identify yourself. Friend or foe?' God could have answered the question, 'Who is God?', in many different ways. He had a variety of options. Yet, the answer that God settled upon was not a threat, a warning or some other type of ominous communication. God thought that the best way to answer the question, 'Who is God?', was to send us a Love Note. Jesus was the Love Note that God sent us. Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1), was the tangible expression of the radical love of God - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45). Wow! Christianity is the religion that began with a Love Note - a Love Note from God to us. What an auspicious origin! We didn't deserve the Love Note. Yet, our God sent it to us anyway. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Moreover, God did not stop his gift giving at the Love Note. The Love Note was not the end of the story. God also blessed us with a Verification of the Love Note. The verification is the cherry that God put on top of the Love Note. It is the icing on the cake. Jesus verified the genuineness of the Love Note. The Love Note was verified in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. Are you privy to the gruesome experiment? Instead of giving his enemies the punishment that they justly deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus blessed them with the priceless gift of forgiveness. His enemies did not deserve it, but Jesus gave the gift of forgiveness to them anyway. Jesus forgave his enemies for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He forgave his enemies even though we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands. Who does this? What does this tell us about our God? God wrote the verification of the Love Note in the indelible ink of radical forgiveness. Radical forgiveness reflected and confirmed God's radical love for the children of Adam and Eve. A Love Note and a Verification of its genuineness - two great gifts not one - were provided by God to us. By sending them to us, God jump started the process of our conversion. He did not wait for our conversion to forgive us; he forgave us to bring about our conversion. Love begets love. Only love begets love. So, Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). We love him because he loved us first.

Isn't God's explanation of himself surprising? He defines himself by expressing his radical love for us. Our God is the God who loves us. He explains himself much differently than we try to explain him, no?

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[¶ 00268 Updated: 02_16_2024]

The Vocabulary of Salvation (00266)
In the most Holy Eucharist, the Word of God is articulate not merely present. What did Jesus say? How did he say it?

With flesh, blood, bread and wine, the Word of God (John 1:1) spoke to the children of Adam and Eve. Flesh, blood, bread and wine are the Vocabulary of Salvation. Flesh, blood, bread and wine are the building blocks with which Jesus constructed his message. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). What did Jesus say? How did he say it?

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[¶ 00266 Updated: 02_14_2024]

Encapsulation (00267)
Jesus encapsulated the radical love of God into a seed. He plants it into our stony hearts to depetrify and fleshify them (Ezekiel 36:26). The seed is the bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist. From it, the flower of love germinates, sprouts and grows

Bread and wine are the tangible reality, the treasure chest, into which Jesus deposited the radical love of God. Jesus made the radical love of God comestible. We can sink our teeth into it. The most Holy Eucharist is the earhtly perfection of the radical love of God. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:25-59). Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6:53).

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[¶ 00267 Updated: 02_15_2024]

Jesus is the altar (00242)
We approach the altar for flesh and blood; we leave the altar with bread and wine. Between our arrival and our departure, a substitution is made. The substitution reveals God to us.

Jesus is the holy altar that honors his Father (The Altar is Christ). We approach the altar to take from Jesus his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, does not give us exactly what we want to take. Between our arrival and our departure, Jesus makes a substitution. We leave the altar with bread and wine. For the flesh and blood of sacrifice, Jesus substituted the bread and wine of forgiveness. By the substitution, the Son revealed the Father to the children of Adam and Eve. The substitution supplied the knowledge of God to us. The knowledge of God brings our destruction to an end

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[¶ 00242 Updated: 02_07_2024]

The most Holy Eucharist captures Jesus in the performance of the act of forgiveness

The give and take of the most Holy Eucharist captures Jesus in the performance of the act of forgiveness. In the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus makes the abstract concept of forgiveness concrete. How? He satisfies the hunger of his enemies with bread, slakes their thirst with wine and fills their bellies with companonship. While his enemies still have his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands, Jesus serves them a meal at the family table, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort and joy of the family tent. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:25-59). By capturing the performance of the act of forgiveness, the most Holy Eucharist fills the Cross of Christ with its meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs about the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00030 Updated: 02_15_2024]

Let us lift the embargo on discussing what Jesus is doing in and with the most Holy Eucharist? (00246)
The monopoly that presence has over the discussion of the most Holy Eucharist needs to end.

What is Jesus doing in and with the most Holy Eucharist? The question needs to be asked and answered. Presence monopolizes the conversation about the most Holy Eucharist. Including what Jesus is doing in the most Holy Eucharist in the conversation seems to have been placed under an embargo. Nobody talks about it. Once asked, however, the question can no longer be avoided. Once asked, the cat is out of the bag. Once asked, what Jesus is doing in the most Holy Eucharist can no longer be ignored.

Presence is the impoverished way that we talk about the most Holy Eucharist. Its richness is how Jesus harnessed it to mightily proclaim the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve. Let us rediscover its richness!

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[¶ 00246 Updated: 02_14_2024b]

The venue of the revelation that is the treasure of Christianity (00265)
What is the venue at which Jesus made his greatest investment?

The venue of the revelation that is the treasure of Christianity is the gauntlet of evils through which we pushed Jesus while cruelly conducting a gruesome experiment on him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). At this venue, Jesus made his greatest investment. Here, he spent the coin of his flesh and blood - he spent them prodigally. He emptied the treasury of all of his limited human resources.

In only one unique, sui generis place did Jesus spend the coin of his flesh and blood. One. Jesus did not spend the coin of his flesh and blood to give the sermon on the Mount. He did not spend the coin of his flesh and blood to walk on water. He did not spend the coin of his flesh and blood to feed the five thousand. There is only one venue at which Jesus tapped into and drew from his limited human resources. Does not this suggest the importance of the venue and the superiority of the revelation that Jesus released there?

Moreover, to pinpoint the location of his greatest investment, Jesus erected a landmark. The Cross of Christ is the landmark that marks the location of his greatest investment (1 Corinthians 1:17). The evils that we did to Jesus affixed the revelation of the radical love of God to the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. Let us salute the flag and rally ‘round the Cross!

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[¶ 00265 Updated: 02_14_2024]

The heroic demonstration of the power of love (00261)
The exorbitant cost that Jesus paid in the coin of flesh and blood to underwrite the demonstration made it heroic. The higher the cost, the greater the heroism.

The heroic demonstration of the power of love that Jesus put on from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity (Wisdom 2: 19) (1 Corinthians 1:17) is the gravamen of Christianity - superior to everything else. It occupies the pinnacle of the hierarchy of truths (Par. 11 UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO) that defines Christianity. It is the treasure of Christianity. There is only one treasure. Everything else is obiter dicta, important and interesting but not the crux. God endowed Jesus with the coin of flesh and blood in the Incarnation so he would have the wherewithal to finance the heroic demonstration of love. The Incarnation made the Crucifixion of a God possible. We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The evils that we did to Jesus made us ineligible for God's love. They disqualified us. They made us eligible for punishment not forgiveness. Yet, he chose forgiveness and rejected punishment (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). The evils that we did to Jesus did not extinguish the love for us that burns like a bonfire in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. His love for us survived the evils that we did to him. The greater were the evils that we did to him, the greater is our astonishment at his love for us. Wow! Our God does not just love us. He loves us even though we tortured and killed him! Now, that's love! We burnt the bush - we ignited the conflagration that turned Eden into ruins - but the bush was not consumed. We gawk. We rubberneck. Like Moses, we turn aside to see the great sight (Exodus 3:1-3). We arrive at a new understanding of God (Revelation 21:5) (2 Corinthians 5:17) (Isaiah 43:18-19) and, because of our new understanding, we seek him (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7). The pursuit of the radical love of God becomes our priority. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect. Like bloodhounds, we follow the scent of the radical love of God on the trail to paradise.

The heroic demonstration of the power of love illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. It filled the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

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[¶ 00261 Updated: 02_13_2024]

Jesus paid all of the coin of his flesh and blood for us. He paid until there was nothing left. The serpent paid nothing. Have you made the comparison? Do you see the difference?

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[¶ 00262 Updated: 02_18_2024]

The miracle of God's love for us (00253)
The survival of Jesus' love for us is the verification of its genuineness. It is the proof. The Love Note that God sent us in the Incarnation is real.

Jesus set his love for us in circumstances that made it extraordinarily difficult for him to love us. The circumstances in which Jesus set his love for us made us ineligible for his love. They disqualified us. In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we subjected Jesus to a gruesome experiment. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Don't the circumstances make it highly unlikely that Jesus would love us? Wouldn't any love for us have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed him? Love does not grow in the toxic soil of evils. It is a sterile matrix - utterly barren - hostile in the extreme. So when love in the form of forgiveness germinated, sprouted and grew, we beheld a miracle. It was completely unexpected - an utter surprise. The greater were the evils that we did to Jesus, the more glorious is the miracle.

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[¶ 00253 Updated: 02_09_2024]

The Sequence of Salvation (00257)
Jesus put on a heroic demonstration of the power of love from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. The aftershocks of the demonstration are still being felt today

"We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). Jesus took the initiative. He was audacious. He was the aggressor. He fired the first shot. He landed the first blow. Why? Jesus understands that Only love begets love. [Do we?] Jesus' heroic demonstration of the power of love that took place while he was affixed to the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity (Wisdom 2: 19) (1 Corinthians 1:17) resurrected from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) the life we lived before we scavenged for scraps in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts in the ruins of Eden. Jesus' demonstration of the power of love transformed the landscape of our lives. Sacrifice came first. Forgiveness next. Repentance follows. This is the sequence of salvation. Get the sequence of salvation right. Don't mix it up. Don't put the cart before the horse. Sacrifice and forgiveness are the two elements that combust together to produce the revelation about the radical love of God that is the treasure of Christianity. Sacrifice and forgiveness are the odd couple of epiphany. Jesus used their combination - their marriage - to reveal to us the radical love of God. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9). Leave one element out and the knowledge of God does not get delivered - there is no combustion - our God stays a stranger to us. “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:5). The knowledge of God erupted as the dawn emerges from the darkness (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3) from the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19). "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). The laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19) is ground zero of the revelation. It is the launching pad for the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God that arises from the gruesome experiment invites repentence, reconciliation, and reunion. It is our God's unconditional invitation to us to return to our home with him in paradise. Everybody gets the invitation. But, not everybody accepts (Luke 9:59-63). The job of the Church is to distribute the invitation from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14). ["Please Mr. Postman don't pass me by. Can't you see the tears in my eye" (Marvelettes - Please Mr Postman)? ] The vehicle for distribution that Jesus designed and built is the most Holy Eucharist. The Church not only delivers the invitation to us, it also pitches its merits. It is the travel agent that tries to sell us our ticket to the journey home. Repentance is how we pay the cost of the ticket. God's invitation is RSVP. Repentance is how we accept the invitation. Repentance is how we signal to God that we understand and are headed home (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7). Our baptism in the evils of the ruins of Eden is harsh but effective medicine. It puts iron in our grip. When the gift of paradise is delivered to us, we will keep it. We will not fumble the ball. We will not repeat the catastrophe of Adam and Eve. The prodigal son will never go back to the pig sty (Luke 15:11-32). Neither will we. Our baptism in the pig sty makes us know better. Once burned; twice shy. We are disobedient not irrational.

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(1) Index: The Sequence of Salvation (00260)
(2) Index: Only Love Begets Love (00129)
[¶ 00257 Updated: 02_13_2024]

God decided to resurrect the knowledge of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3), affix it prominently to the flagpole of Christianity (1 Corinthians 1:17), and recruit an army to distribute it from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14). The vehicle for distribution that Jesus designed and built is the most Holy Eucharist.

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[¶ 00258 Updated: 02_10_2024]

Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt (00184)

Coloring book Christianity gives the children of Adam and Even crayons and a coloring book whose drawings are divided into parts and numbered. They admonishes us to follow the numbers, to color within the lines, or, to go to hell. Coloring book Christianity is a cartoonish caricature of Christianity - primitive, puerile and immature. Coloring book Christians grow apoplectic and stamp their feet when we color outside the lines or use a crayon that does not match the number on their infantile picture of Christianity. Coloring book Christians deputize themselves into a sanctimonious posse of traffic cops zealously issuing tickets to sinners who violate Christianity's rules of the road. Jesus, however, does not want us to be ticket writing traffic cops (Matthew 7:3-5) (Matthew 7:1). He wants us to be detectives, not traffic cops, who investigate the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God. He wants us to figure out this thing called God for ourselves. To help us do so, he buried the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', into the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19). The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', is the treasure of Christianity. Our God wants Christianity to guide us to where the treasure is buried, hand out shovels, and let us dig it up for ourselves (Matthew 13:44-46). When we dig it up for ourselves. we discover that the treasure is the radical love of God (Matthew 6:19-21) (Luke 17:20-21). The radical love of God energizes our pursuit of him. In God's eyes, Christianity is not a trivial adminstrative exercise in strict compliance with a byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole enforced by zealous ticket writing traffic cops. Christianity is more than this - much more. In God's eyes, Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. Let us keep our eyes on the prize! Let us continue the hunt for the treasure. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7).

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(1) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00184 Updated: 02_10_2024]

God is no longer a stranger to us (00255)

Since Eden, our understanding of God had faded with the passage of time. God had become a stranger to us (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) (Isaiah 45:15) (Psalm 91:1). “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:5). "Men have forgotten God" Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn complained (1983 Templeton Address). "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to fill the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34). "I have come to set the earth on fire [with the knowledge of God], and how I wish it were already blazing" (Luke 12:49)! God decided to resurrect our understanding of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3), affix it prominently to the flagpole of Christianity, and recruit an army to distribute it from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14).

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[¶ 00255 Updated: 02_10_2024]

Is there only one way to repent? (00259)
"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance..." (Luke 3:8).

The knowledge of God was released into the world from the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19). The knowledge of God invites repentence - reconciliation - reunion. It is our God's unconditional invitation to us to return home. Everybody gets the invitation. Not everybody accepts (Luke 9:59-63). The job of the Church is to distribute the invitation from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14). Repentance is how we accept the invitation? Is there only one way to repent?

To be continued...

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[¶ 00259 Updated: 02_11_2024]

What distinguishes the Christian God from other gods? (00249)

The God of the Christians is the God whose love for us did not fade as we tortured Jesus and did not die when we killed him. He is the God whose love for us survived the evils that we did to him.

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[¶ 00249 Updated: 02_08_2024]

The bonfire of love that burns for us in God's most Sacred Heart (00250)

The evils that we did to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion where we put him to the test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20) did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). We did. We did indeed. What we discovered from the gruesome experiment was the Good News of Great Joy.

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[¶ 00250 Updated: 02_08_2024]

Jesus is the Love Note that our God wrote for us and delivered to us in the Incarnation (00251)

What a poet is our God! And the pen with which he scribbled his poetry of love on the canvas of life in the ink of suffering was the Word of God (John 1:1).

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[¶ 00251 Updated: 02_08_2024]

In the foil of the evils that we did to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19), Jesus set the jewel of forgiveness.

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(1) Index: Juxtaposition (00159)
[¶ 00156 Updated: 02_09_2024]

The Serpent and his minions oppose our engagement in the process of seeking God (00256)

The serpent and his minions try to minimize our engagement in the process of seeking God. They want to keep the children of Adam and Eve out of the process. If we engage with God, we come to know him. Engagement in the process of seeking God enlightens us about the nature of God. The serpent and his minions don't want us to get to know God. They want God to remain a stranger to us. "And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers" (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22). Only a topsy-turvy Christianity with a confused focus - a focus fixated on results instead of on the process - tries to stop the children of Adam and Eve from seeking God.

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[¶ 00256 Updated: 02_10_2024]

By betting the farm, Jesus introduced our God to us (00254)
Jesus bet the farm to jumpstart the process of our conversion.

Our salvation was not free. It came at a cost. And the cost was exorbitant. Jesus paid the exorbitant cost of our salvation out of his own pocket. Jesus paid by spending the coin of his flesh and blood. He spent all of his limited human resources. He kept nothing in reserve in the bank for himself. He emptied the treasury. He has never spent more on anything else. Is not the size of his payment a good proxy for the size of his love for us? Is it not a fair and accurate reflection? Is it not said: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24)?

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[¶ 00254 Updated: 02_10_2024]

What is the Power of Christianity? (00239)
Have you identified and isolated the power of Christianty? Have you taken ownership of it? Is it yours to command?

The power of Christianity is the radical love of God that Jesus revealed to us in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. Have you learned how to wield the power of Christianity? Are you confronting the children of Adam and Eve with it? Are you challenging them to come to grips with it? In wielding, confronting and challenging, we fish for the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew 4:18-19).

The radical love of God is the agent that does the work in Christianity. It does the heavy lifting. The radical love of God is the catalyst of our conversion. The gravity of the radical love of God pulls us into the vortex of divinity. It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists, who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it, the power to change the world. When the gravity of the radical love of God captures us, we have hit the jackpot of Christianity. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery. Therefore, more of the radical love of God; not less. Always. No exceptions.

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[¶ 00239 Updated: 02_06_2024]

The right bait gets us to head in the right direction. The radical love of God gets us to head in the direction of God. Let us bait the hook accordingly.

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[¶ 00252 Updated: 02_06_2024]

Jesus is shooting for conversion not compliance - direction not progress - process not results (00247)

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). He did not look down to see who was in compliance with the rules of the Christian road. Compliance is not conversion. Our God is interested in conversion not compliance. The road to compliance passes through conversion. Our God's methodology, therefore, addressed the disease of sin not its symptoms. Our God is highly confident that if we get the process right, the results will take care of themselves. To induce conversion, Jesus confronted sinners with the radical love of God that he released into the world during the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). Jesus challenges us to come to grips with it. We are judged not on our progress but on our direction. "The direction of the [soul] is more important than its progress" (Joseph Joubert) (Joseph Joubert 2). "In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but rather on how much we have loved" (John of the Cross) (Luke 7:47). Compliance is a human success; direction is a success of the divine.

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[¶ 00247 Updated: 02_10_2024]

The Method and Mission of Christianity (00236)
Method = Tactics = Dangling the right bait (to wit, the radical love of God). Mission = Strategy = Getting us to head in the right direction (to wit, in the direction of God).

The mission of Christianity is getting the children of Adam and Eve to head in the right direction, that is, to head in the direction of God. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). "The direction of the [soul] is more important than its progress" (Joseph Joubert) (Joseph Joubert 2).

Therefore, what is the method by which we accomplish the mission of Christianity? The method by which we accomplish the mission of Christianity is to fish for the children of Adam and Eve with the right bait (Matthew 4:18-19). Fishing alone is not enough (Matthew 4:18-19). We must fish with the right bait. The right bait gets the fish heading for the hook - that is, heading in the right direction. The bait with which we fish is the agent that catylizes the turnaround of the children of Adam and Eve. Turnaround is our salvation. What is the bait? What is the bait that gets the children of Adam and Eve to head in the right direction? God told us. God revealed the bait. (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6) our God lamented. Understanding. Knowledge. A proper understanding of God is the bait. Before we head in the direction of God, our understanding of God needs an upgrade (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to upgrade our understanding of God - to bring us the knowledge of God. How did he do it? Jesus let us experience for ourselves a close encounter with the radical love of God by participating in the gruesome experiment that we administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. In the gruesome experiment, we discovered God. Jesus introduced God to us in the gruesome experiment. In the gruesome experiment, Jesus released the radical love of God into the world.

Great things happen when the children of Adam and Eve, in the company of the new Exodus, head in the right direction. God declared, "... they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" (Psalm 34:10). As we pursue God, God fills our hearts with love. When our hearts have been filled to the brim with love, we have found God. We have hit the jackpot of Christianity. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery. "[O]ut of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]" (Luke 6:45) we can produce the sweet fruits of love "... some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred" (Mark 4:20).

The right bait catches fish hook, line and sinker and also keeps them. The right bait is the key to Christianity's recruitment and retention policy. Get the bait right and recruitment and retention are a success. Get it wrong and the pursuit of God flags, sputters and stalls. Fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve go to Mass. Nobody goes to Confession. Vocations dry up. Marriages crumble. Churches wither and dye. Get the bait wrong and the downward trend accelerates. The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. Get the bait wrong and the thermometer registers that the patient is moribund - a few breaths away from death.

How good are we at dangling the bait? The gold standard that measures the skill of Christians in doing Christianity is how well we are dangling the bait. The only way to become good at dangling the bait is to become fluent in all of the details and aspects of the gruesome experiment. If we are not dangling the right bait, we are not doing Christianity. Plain and simple.

P.S. Are you trying to catch fish by other means besides dangling the bait? A word to the wise: other bait doesn't work.

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[¶ 00236 Updated: 02_09_2024]

How do you fish for sinners (Matthew 4:18-19)? What bait do you use? Is your bait condemnation? Criticism? Ostracism? Threats of hell? Do you point out to sinners that they are in violation of the rules? Do you cast stones (John 8:7)? What is your methodology for dealing with sinners? What is your protocol for catching sinners and keeping them? What is your recruitment and retention policy? Jesus baited his hook with the radical love of God. Do you? Do you bait your hook as Jesus baited his? Do you use better bait than Jesus used? Pray tell, what is the bait that you use?

Which is more important? Engaging sinners in the pursuit of God or getting sinners to comply with the rules of the Christian road? If increased compliance is the fruit of the pursuit of God, the answer is the pursuit of God.

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[¶ 00245 Updated: 02_08_2024]

There is no glory in being rulers of fish only embarrassment (00237)
The fish do not listen to our commands. Why bother to rule them as their king. Trying to do so only makes us look like clowns.

God did not call us to be kings who rule over the children of Adam and Eve (1906 “Vehementer Nos“). As a practical matter, the fish do not obey our commands - never have, never will (Proverbs 6:6-7). The fish cannot be commanded to take the hook or to jump into the net (King Canute and the tide). It is the height of folly to expect them to do so. God called us to be fishers of men (Matthew 4:18-19). Instead of burnishing our crowns, let us refine our fishing skills. Let us bait our hooks with the radical love of God. Let us perfect our mission as fishers of men.

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[¶ 00237 Updated: 02_07_2024]

What does Jesus do in the most Holy Eucharist? (00240)
How did Jesus harness the most Holy Eucharist to project the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve here and now?

It is conceded that Jesus is present in the most Holy Eucharist. But, pray tell, what does he do there? Nothing? Something? Anything? Is he just there? Or is he doing something there? Are you privy to what Jesus does in the most Holy Eucharist? Can you articulate what he does? Do you have the words? Can you tell us? Please?

Answer: The most Holy Eucharist rebroadcasts the radical love of God that Jesus revealed to us in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The most Holy Eucharist is a relay station that takes the radical love of God from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, and propagates it to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.

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[¶ 00240 Updated: 02_07_2024]

Singers are known by their songs; artists are known by their art; trees are known by their fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8); and storytellers by their stories - not by their presence. We go to a concert to hear a singer sing or a band play not to see them standing mute on a stage. Their performance, not their presence, draws us to them. So, too, it is with Jesus. Jesus is no different. Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1), the consumate storyteller, tells us the story of his glorious victory and his ignominious defeat in the most Holy Eucharist. Ignominious defeat yielded to glorious victory. Glorious victory erupted from it as the dawn erupts from the darkness. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: the most Holy Eucharist
[¶ 00035 Updated: 02_06_2024]

The message of Jesus in The most Holy Eucharist is so important that it bears repeating until it sinks in and after it sinks in to encourage us (00244)
Repetition of the radical love of God is the reason for the most Holy Eucharist. The most Holy Eucharist is the sledgehammer that pounds the message of God's radical love home.

Jesus says only one thing in the most Holy Eucharist. In the most Holy Eucharist, the Word of God (John 1:1) expresses the radical love of God as he revealed it in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. What the most Holy Eucharist is saying is not open to interpretation. It does not vary from person to person. It is not a matter of opinion. Jesus repeats what he is saying with the most Holy Eucharist over and over again. He drones on like a broken record stuck in the same groove. He does so because his message is vital. The radical love of God is the Good News of Great Joy. Let it sink in!

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[¶ 00244 Updated: 02_08_2024c]

The most Holy Eucharist is the vehicle that Jesus designed and built to propagate the radical love of God (00243)

Jesus harnessed the most Holy Eucharist to project the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. The Word of God (John 1:1) had originally expressed the radical love of God in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The gruesome experiment, however, took place in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space. Our God needed a vehicle to propagate the expression of the radical love of God from the point and place of its obscure origin, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. The most Holy Eucharist is the vehicle of propagation. Bt virtue of the most Holy Eucharist, the radical love of God is repeated for the current audience.

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[¶ 00243 Updated: 02_07_2024]

Problems arise when we focus on the wrong truth (00241)
Our focus on his presence in the most Holy Eucharist eclipses how Jesus harnessed the most Holy Eucharist to project the radical love of God.

Leadership's tunnel vision about and focus on Jesus' presence in the most Holy Eucharist has blinded them to what Jesus is doing in the most Holy Eucharist. Their blindness is self-inflicted. It is handed down from generation to generation in a risible procession of skewed tradition. Leadership are the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14). They have fallen into the pit of presence that they have dug for themselves and do not know how to climb out (Psalm 9:15). Deep is the pit of presence and steep are its sides. From within it, leadership does not see Jesus proclaiming the radical love of God in the most Holy Eucharist. To leadership, Jesus is there but they are blind to what he is doing there.

Let us lift our eyes from the presence of Jesus in the most Holy Eucharist to what Jesus is doing there. Let us lift them to a higher truth. Let us elevate them from his presence to his performance. No change in doctrine. Just a change in emphasis. A tweak, nothing more.

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[¶ 00241 Updated: 02_08_2024]

How does Catholicism dangle the bait? (00238)

How does Catholicism dangle the bait? The making, giving and taking of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass is how Catholics dangle the bait. Unfortunately, too few Catholics can explain how the most Holy Eucharist is the bait that God uses today to fish for the children of Adam and Eve. They do not understand that the most Holy Eucharist is more than mere presence - much more. Presence does not tell a story. It has no tongue. It is mute. The leadership of the Church does not understand the power that God put into their hands. Their power is their knowledge of the radical love of God that Jesus revealed to us in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The most Holy Eucharist is the expression of the knowledge of the radical love of God. It is Jesus revealing the radical love of God not Jesus merely being present for us. Leadership has dumbed down the most Holy Eucharist from bait to presence. Leadership has made the most Holy Eucharist inert. Leadership has buried the radical love of God in the graveyard of obscurity under the pall of presence. They have stripped the most Holy Eucharist of the story that it tells. In so doing, they have robbed the most Holy Eucharist of its vitality. In short, leadership is doing a poor job at fishing for the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew 4:18-19) - a very poor job. They are not catching fish. Furthermore, they are not keeping the fish that were caught.

God is not dead. Indeed, God is very much alive. However, the conversation about God is dead. Killing the conversation about God is tantamount to killing God. The enemies of the Church know this. The Church does not. Allowing the conversation about God to go silent poses an existential threat to Christianity.

The most Holy Holy Eucharist is the bait that God uses today to fish for the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew 4:18-19). It is the bait because it tells the story of the radical love of God. It demonstrates it. Presence alone does not tell the story of the radical love of God. Jesus demonstrated the radical love of God by saying and doing things in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. Things happened in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The most Holy Eucharist is a reflection of what happened in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The most Holy Eucharist is not trying to reflect Jesus' presence. It has more important things to do. It is trying to tell the story of the radical love of God.

Is there a better, more persuasive way for the Word of God (John 1:1) to express the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve than by prodigally spending the coin of his flesh and blood - all of it - to purchase a meal of bread and wine for his unrepentant enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands?

Jesus invites his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent (John 6:53). Jesus satisfies our hunger with bread, quenches our thirst with wine and fills our bellies with fellowship (Isaiah 55:1-2) (See also, John 6:48-58). Jesus does not wait for our conversion to feed us. He feeds to bring about our conversion. It is important to get the sequence of salvation right. Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19). Jesus took the initiative. He was audacious. He was the aggressor. He fired the first shot. He landed the first blow. Why? Jesus understands that Only love begets love. Do we?

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[¶ 00238 Updated: 02_06_2024b]

Is there a better, more persuasive way for the Word of God (John 1:1) to express the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve than by prodigally spending the coin of his flesh and blood - all of it - to purchase the benefit of forgiveness for his unrepentant enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands?

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[¶ 00229 Updated: 02_04_2024]

The King of Love (00218)

“O Jesus, King of Love, I trust in Thy loving mercy” (From Jesus to Mother Yvonne-Aimée de Jésus). "Thy loving mercy", a/k/a the radical love of God, is the rock (Matthew 7:24-27) - i.e., the robust foundation - on which the wise build their lives. It is the mast to which Christians bind themselves as we make our escape in the company of the new Exodus (Exodus 13: 17-18), through our dire predicament in the hostile desert of godlessness between Scylla & Charybdis, across the Red Sea of death (1 Corinthians 15:26), over the finish line (2 Timothy 4:7), and into the promised land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm, together as one family to the rhythmic beat of the loving heart of our living God. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord (Psalm 27:14) (Isaiah 40:28-31)

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: King (00219)
(2) Index: The Rock (00220)
(3) Index: The Mast (00221)
(4) Index: The Escape (00086)
(5) Index: The New Exodus (00224)
[¶ 00218 Updated: 02_02_2024]

The Escape (00208)

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). God declared, "... they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" (Psalm 34:10). Are you insisting that God make good on his promise? If you are not actively engaged in the pursuit of God - if you are not making your escape -, you are not insisting. Now is a good time to start insisting! Jesus blazed the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness, defined it with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the leadership of the Church a mission. The mission is to facilitate our escape - not to frustrate it, not to filter it and not to foul it up. The pursuit of the radical love of God is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect. Like bloodhounds, Christians follow the scent of the radical love of God on the trail to paradise.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Escape (00086)
(2) Index: The Pursuit of the Radical Love of God (00132)
(2) Index: The Map (00226)
[¶ 00208 Updated: 02_02_2024]

Through the Incarnation, Jesus entered the Paradox. He became the Oxymoron (00227)
Forgiveness perfected the paradox. Forgiveness completed the oxymoron. Forgiveness clarified their meaning and explained their purpose.

Jesus entered the paradox - he became the oxymoron. What was the paradox - the oxymoron? A suffering and dying God - a suffering and dying God put through the ringer by the creatures he created. How? How did Jesus step into the paradox? How did he become the oxymoron? The Incarnation. Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against his enemies (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). The almighty made himself weak and, in weakness, his strength was made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). Why? So he could introduce God to us. Forgiveness was the introduction. Forgiveness was the vehicle that Jesus used to make God known to us. Forgiveness was the answer that Jesus gave to the question, 'Who is God?'. In Jesus' answer lives our hope. Our hope is that, with God's help, we can escape the monster of suffering and the monster of death. Jesus showed us how to escape. He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. He demonstrated to us how to fulfill our potential by fulfilling his. Jesus demonstrated for us on the battlefield of the Crucifixion the truth that God is our friend not are foe. He proved it. He proved it by demonstrating the intransigence of his love for us, its huge size and its broad scope. God's love for us is radical in all of its dimensions. Radical love is the proof. Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him. We came for his flesh and blood; we left with bread and wine. He did not give us quite what we came for (Isaiah 55:1-2) (See also, John 6:48-58). Instead of giving us the punishment that we deserved for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus substituted forgiveness for punishment. The exotic substitution supplied the knowledge of God to us. The knowledge of God brings our destruction to an end (Hosea 4:6).

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[¶ 00227 Updated: 02_03_2024]

Background and Foreground: The Two Layers of a Single Unit of Apocalyptic Revelation (00217)

The story of our salvation was presented to us on two 'screens', a/k/a layers, not one: a background and a foreground. The background and the forground are different layers of reality that overlap. Hence, reality is not thin. It is thick. It is thick because it does not consist of a single layer. Multiple layers give reality its thickness. They form a stack. Furthermore, different stories unfold on the different layers of reality. Each layer of reality is the substrate for its own story.

The background projects the evils that we did to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. We put Jesus to the test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we cruelly administered a gruesome experiment to Jesus. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The evils that we did to Jesus thrust him into the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. They arrested Jesus and unceremoniously marched him to the center of the stage. The evils pushed the extraordinary spectacle of a suffering and dying God into the spotlight. They brought the suffering and dying God - the Creator tortured and executed by his creatures - into the bullseye of the frame of our focus. Jesus was more than merely present in the spotlight at the center of the stage of the story of salvation. Something special was taking place there. Something special was being said and being done. To discover what happened, we must travel to a different but overlapping layer of reality. We must shift our focus from the background to the foreground of the story of salvation.

The foreground projects Jesus' answer to the evils that we did to him in the laboratory of the Crucixion. His answer surprised us. What was surprising about his answer was its asymmetry (1 Kings 19:11-13). If we zoom in and drill down, we discover that its punch comes from the radicalness of its asymmetry. The impact of the radical asymmetry of his answer gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Conventional biblical wisdom created the expectation of "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48). Jesus, however, turned conventional biblical wisdom on its head. He upset the apple cart (Matthew 21:12). He shifted the paradigm. He did the revolutionary. Instead of punishing us for taking from him his flesh and blood, Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He substituted forgiveness for punishment. By substitution, Jesus revealed God to us. Unexpected substitution illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of apocalyptic epiphany. It filled the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

God joined together background and foreground to project the story of salvation. Both layers of reality are needed to accurately tell the story. To understand the story of salvation in its fullness, one must look at the stories that unfolded on both layers of reality - the background and the foreground. Doing otherwise, distorts the story of salvation. The background and the foreground constitute two layers of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9).

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[¶ 00217 Updated: 02_05_2024]

The sharp teeth and sharp tongues of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces. They put us through hell. We pray that God would rescue us from our crosses. God's notion of rescue, however, is different than ours. God wants us to learn how to rescue ourselves. God dispatched his Son from heaven to earth, not to tell us, but to show us how it is done (John 14:6). To show us, Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Dressed like us, he entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evils, cheek to jowl with us, toe to hoof against his enemies (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). The evils that we did to Jesus thrust him into the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity. The evils were the center of the stage. Jesus put on a demonstration of how to pick up and carry our crosses by picking up and carrying his. (Matthew 16:25) (Matthew 5:38-48). With his own Cross and by his own example, he showed us.

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[¶ 00214 Updated: 02_01_2024]

Where did Jesus find the strength to pick up and carry his Cross (Matthew 16:25) (Matthew 5:38-48)? It did not come from his unlimited divine resources. It came from his limited human resources. Otherwise, we who lack unlimited divine resources could not duplicate the feat. Picking up and carrying our crosses would be an exploit beyond our capabilities. Jesus showed us our potential by fulfilling his. He did not hold the evils that we did to him against us. He did not develop a grudge. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). A heart capable of forgiveness is a heart capable of picking up and carrying a Cross (Matthew 16:25) (Matthew 5:38-48). The strength that can do the former is the strength that can do the latter. It is heroic strength.

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[¶ 00216 Updated: 01_31_2024]

Jesus led by example (00210)

Progress cannot be made on the escape route from godlessness to God until we learn how to pick up our crosses and carry them (Matthew 16:25) (Matthew 5:38-48). Jesus did not merely tell us how to hang from our crosses; he showed us how. Jesus led by example. He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! In so doing, Jesus showed us our potential. We, too, can fly (Colossians 1:24)! When we hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go of love. Love is inexorable evil's implaccable foe. Jesus blazed the trail (John 14:6) from the starting line to the finish line. Follow him. Do as he did. Hang as he hung.

Evils are the weeds of life. Don't get bogged down in the weeds. Don't allow the weeds to stymie your progress on the esacape route. Pull them out by their roots.

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[¶ 00210 Updated: 01_30_2024]

Rescue (00211)

There is a misunderstanding. Our understanding of rescue is different than God's understanding of rescue. God is not interested in making godlessness a better, more hospitable place for godless people to live. God wants to transform godless people into People of God. God wants us to become hospitable regardless of the hospitability of our circumstances. Becoming hospitable is how we repent and return to God.

To God, rescue does not mean taking away our crosses. It means teaching us to pick them up and carry them. We want God to rescue us. God wants us to rescue ourselves. The process of learning how to pick up and carry our crosses transforms us. It dignifies us. It deifies us.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

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[¶ 00211 Updated: 01_30_2024]

How to become a Christian (00213)

We become Christians when we learn how to pick up our crosses and carry them (Matthew 16:25) (Matthew 5:38-48). To learn, we need to go through the process. We need to go through the gauntlet of crosses - the minefield of crosses. No crosses; no learning; no deification. Each of us is the pilot of our own soul.  We cannot subcontract the job to another. We cannot delegate it. No one else can do it for us not even our Church. It cannot be done vicariously. Seeking God is a unique, idiosyncratic, personal experience. There is no substitute for going through it. Why?  In the process of seeking God, we learn to how to pick up and carry our crosses (Matthew 16:25) (Matthew 5:38-48). God transforms us. Unless we go through the process ourselves, we cannot be transformed. 

Our superpower is the ability to pick up and carry our crosses. To develop our superpower, we need to practice it. Life is the opportunity to develop our superpower. In life, we are given plenty of practice. In life, we are given many ways to learn. Life is a cornucopia of learning opportunities. If we don't learn one way, we surely will be presented with another way, over and over again. Death is our final learning opportunity. The technology of love is so powerful that it enables us to pick up and carry death itself over the finish line and into the promised land. So let us embrace the technology of love as Jesus embrased it in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. Let us do as he did. Let us hang as he hung. Let us cling as he clung to love - inexorable evil's implacable foe.

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[¶ 00213 Updated: 01_30_2024]

Can you put your finger on the Treasure of Christianty? Can you point to it? (00204)

When you are asked for directions (Matthew 2:1-2) - when you are asked to point to the treasure of Christianity - to what do you point? This is not a question with multiple answers. There is only one treasure and it is not Jesus in general - it is not the entire gospel - it is not everything that bears the Christian logo - it is not everything that sports the Christian brand. It is not an opinion that varies from person to person. There is only one treasure that is the gravamen of Christianity - superior to everything else. Everything else is obiter dicta, important and interesting but not the crux. Pray tell, to what do you point? Are you pointing in the right direction?

Hint: Where did Jesus make his biggest investment? The location of his biggest investment is a good clue about where to point. Where did Jesus deposit the knowledge of God in the highest concentration? If you cannot pinpoint the precise circumstances of his biggest investment - if you are not privy to these particular details about Jesus, you do not yet understand Christianity.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Pointing to the Treasure of Christianity (00203)
(2) Index: The Treasure of Christianity (00202)
(3) Index: Counterfeit Christianity (00200)
[¶ 00204 Updated: 01_28_2024]

The Highest Concentration of the Knowledge of God (00205)

Jesus dumped the highest concentration of the knowledge of God into the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19).

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[¶ 00205 Updated: 01_29_2024]

The Weaponization of the Knowledge of God (00206)

The armory into which Jesus deposited the knowledge of God was the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). The knowledge of God is the weapon that Jesus provided to us to fortify and defend ourselves in the war against evils (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). To war! To war! Get thyself to the armory and familiarize thyself with the weapon! Arm thyself! It is how we take the war against evils to the enemy. It is the only way for a Christian to become the aggressor. Let us hang from our crosses as Jesus hung from his (Matthew 5:38-48). Jesus did not merely tell us how to hang from our crosses; he showed us how. Jesus led by example. He donned the jet pack of love and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! In so doing, Jesus showed us our potential. We, too, can fly (Colossians 1:24)! When we hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go of love. Love is inexorable evil's implaccable foe.

Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt (Psalm 35:2-4).

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[¶ 00206 Updated: 01_29_2024]

In the Library of Christianty one book stands out head over heels above the rest (00207)

In the Library of Christianty one book stands out head over heels above the rest, to wit, the book about the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). The book is about the robust foundation of Christianity. It contains the origin story. It is the literary masterpiece that the Word of God (John 1:1) wrote for us not in words but in an apocalyptic interaction between humanity and divinity. Are you privy to the masterpiece? Is it on your reading list? Has your book club taken it up? Have you read it? Do you understand it and appreciate the knowledge of God that it reveals to us?

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[¶ 00207 Updated: 01_29_2024]

The Gravity of Christianty (00209)

We came for his flesh and blood; we left with bread and wine. We wanted to satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst with his flesh and blood. Jesus, however, had a different idea. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8-9). Jesus invited his enemies to take a seat with him at the family table and to sup with him, out of the sun and the rain, under the comfort of the family tent (John 6:53). Jesus satisfied our hunger with bread, quenched our thirst with wine and filled our bellies with fellowship. Jesus served a meal to the enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. Why? Doesn't this make the abstract concept of forgiveness concrete - tangible? Doesn't this make the abstract concept of God real? Is there a better way to express the radical nature of the love of God than by including not just friends and family within the scope of one's love but enemies as well? Jesus forgave his enemies for the evils that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). He turned his executioners into dinner companions. Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love? Is not a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) (Matthew 3:8)? Radical forgiveness was the vehicle that Jesus used to express God's radical love for us. The reality of a God who loves us is the gravity of Christianity. Who would want to miss such a delightful reality? The reality of a God who loves us pulls us into a centripetal orbit around Jesus.

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[¶ 00209 Updated: 01_29_2024]

A Counterfeit Christianty (00199)
Are we pointing to the treasure of Christianity?

If what we are doing does not point to the treasure, we are not doing Christianity. It is something else disguised as Christianity but not Christianity. It is a masquerade - a charade - a counterfeit Christianity (Matthew 7:15). True Christianity - Christianity done right - points to the treasure as Jesus pointed to the treasure. If the leadership of Christianity has not found the treasure themselves, isn't it foolish to expect them to point us to it? Therefore, to become able to point to the treasure, we must first discover the treasure of Christianity for ourselves - its details including its origin, nature, location, purpose, etc. Christians are treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt who use the treasure map of Christianity to locate and discover the treasure. The answer to the question, 'Who is God? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?', is the treasure of Christianity. It is the treasure because it is the knowledge of God that brings our destruction to an end (Hosea 4:6). Jesus buried the treasure in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). Therefore, grab your shovel. Make your way to where Jesus buried the treasure. Dig it up for yourself. Upgrade your understanding of God. Make yourself rich! "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). God declared, "... they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" (Psalm 34:10).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Counterfeit Christianity (00200)
(2) Index: Crayon Christianity (00201)
(3) Index: The Treasure of Christianity (00202)
(4) Index: Pointing to the Treasure of Christianity (00203)

Crayon Christianity (00188)
Have you joined Jesus in the great firewall of Christianity?

Those who do Crayon Christianity put crayons and coloring books, whose drawings are divided into parts and numbered, into the hands of the children of Adam and Eve together with the admonition to follow the numbers, color within the lines or go to hell. It is Christianity for infants. Crayon Christianity turns Christianity into a trivial child’s game. True Christianity is a much bigger adventure than Crayon Christianity. It is a place for heroes - for people who 1) do good and 2) absorb evil - who stop evil from reproducing. In this way, we take our place beside Jesus - stand by his side - cheek to jowl - shoulder to shoulder - as comrades-in-arms in the great firewall of Christianity. Unless we stand with Jesus, the contagion of evil will reproduce, spread and consume the world.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Crayon Christianity (00201)
(2) Index: Counterfeit Christianity (00200)
[¶ 00188 Updated: 01_28_2024]

The Model of God that Jesus Made by splicing together the evils that we did to him and his asymmetric answer to them (00157)
Blessed are the carpenters who build models of God as Jesus did.

Jesus made a model of God in the laboratory of the Crucifixion from the evils that we did to him and his asymmetric answer to them. "[Was] he not the carpenter" (Mark 6:3)? A carpenter builds things (Mark 6:3). Jesus leveraged our familiarity with the symbiotic structure of question and answer to build his model of God. The symbiotic structure of question and answer conveys its own meaning above and beyond the details that it contains. By following the well-understood pattern of question and answer, Jesus welded the evils that we did to him and his asymmetric answer to them into two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9). The model of God that Jesus built in the laboratory of the Crucifixion is a fair and accurate substitution for God. It is a proxy for God - a surrogate for him. Jesus made the model to upgrade our understanding of God. It revealed that God's love for us is radical in all dimensions - radical in size - radical in scope - and radical in intransigence. It filled the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Are you privy to the model of God that Jesus built in the laboratory of the Crucifixion? Do you understand it and appreciate its meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17)?

Christianity's main job is to propagate th model of God that Jesus made from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to you here and now. Is Christianity doing its job?

Jesus wants confirmation from us that we understand the model of God that he built. What is confirmation? We confirm that we understand the model of God that Jesus built when we build, with our own hands, models of God ourselves - when we become model makers as Jesus was. Christians engage in experimental theology. They do not merely speculate doing theoretical theology. Christians fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ (Colossians 1:24). Christians deal with their afflictions as Jesus dealt with his. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Therefore, do as Jesus did. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung. Cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go. Love is inexorable evil's implaccable foe.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Model of God (00161)
(2) Index: The Proxy for God (00165)
(3) Index: The Laboratory of the Crucifixion (00102)
(4) Index: Upgrading Our Understanding of God (00166)
(5) Index: Confirmation of Our Understanding of God (00170)
(6) Index: The Radical Love of God (00167)
(7) Index: Propagation (00169)
(8) Index: The Job of Christianity (00168)
(9) Index: Modelmakers (00171)
(10) Index: Dealing with our Afflictions as Jesus dealt with His (00172)
(11) Index: Hanging as Jesus Hung (00173)
(12) Index: Inexorable Evil's Inplacable Foe (00174)
(13) Index: A Carpenter Builds Things (00175)
(14) Index: Theology (00176)
[¶ 00157 Updated: 01_29_2024]

The irrefutable verification of the radical love of God (00135)

In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we put Jesus to the test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. In the gruesome experiment is found the answer - an asymmetric answer - an answer whose radical asymmetry flabbergasts us. The impact of the radical asymmetry of his answer gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). When we become privy to the gruesome experiment and discover the asymmetric answer, we have hit the jackpot of Christianity. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery. The edifice of Christianity is built upon the gruesome experiment. The gruesome experiment is the irrefutable verification of the radical love of God. It is the gravamen of Christianity. Everything else is obiter dicta.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Answer to the Question, 'Who is God?' (00192)
(2) Index: The Verification of the Radical Love of God (00193)
(3) Index: The Radical Love of God (00167)
(4) Index: The Treasure Hunt (00134)
(5) Index: Destruction Ending Knowledge (00194)
(6) Index: The Laboratory of the Crucifixion (00102)
(7) Index: The Gruesome Experiment (00101)
(8) Index: The Edifice of Christianity (00195)
(9) Index: The Gravamen of Christianity and Obiter Dicta (00196)
[¶ 00135 Updated: 01_28_2024]

In the darkness of the ruins of Eden, Jesus ignited the light of forgiveness. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Isaiah 9:2) (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Juxtaposition (00159)
(2) Index: Scavenging for Scraps (00088)
[¶ 00008 Updated: 01_27_2024]

The seeds of evil do not grow in the soil of love. Love is toxic to evil. Love smothers evil as water smothers fire. Build a firewall against evil with the building blocks of love. To the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil, bring love.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Seed of Evils (00197)
(2) Index: The Soil of Love (00198)
[¶ 00190 Updated: 01_29_2024]

Exogenous Evils (00191)

How should we deal with exogenous evils, that is, the evils outside of us - evils that attack us and do harm to us as we make our escape through them to the promised land? How do we handle the evils that are not bound by Christianity's rules of the road - who routinely disregard them - who pay no attention to them? Jesus shared with us his solution as he hung from the flagpole of Christianity. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Love. Fill your hearts to the brim with love. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung to love, hold tight and refuse to let go. Love is inexorable evils implacable foe. P.S. love is also the solution to endogenous evils. "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little" (Luke 7:47).

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[¶ 00191 Updated: 01_27_2024]

The Great Firewall of Christianity (00189)
The great firewall of Christianity decouples the fuse and the bomb. It turns the bomb into a dud.

As we make our escape through the hostile desert of godlessness on the trail that Jesus blazed, evils challenge us. Jesus showed how to handle them. He built a firewall between himself and them from the building blocks of love. The firewall stopped the evils that we did to him from accomplishing their mission. They did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. When the fuse is lit, the bomb ordinarilly explodes. Not so with our God. Not so. The firewall of love disconnected the fuse from the bomb. Love turned the bomb into a dud. Jesus wants us to take our place beside him - cheek to jowl - shoulder to shoulder - as comrades-in-arms in the great firewall of Christianity. By doing so, we stop the contagion of evil dead in its tracks. It cannot reproduce, spread and consume the world. Do you have the courage to be a hero?

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: King (00219)
(2) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00189 Updated: 01_26_2024]

Jesus broke the mold for kingship (00187)
He is not the king who rules us; he is the king who loves us

The leadership of the Church tries to lock the children of Adam and Eve into a Procrustean straight jacket of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole by means of vigorous enforcement. No leeway is given. The straight jacket is never relaxed. Leadership deputizes sherrifs to enforce their rules of the Christian road to make sure that the straight jacket is worn. Their deputized sherrifs constitute the police force of their loveless brand of Christianity. Uncoupled from love, their loveless brand of Christianity has become "irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid" [Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, A Philosophy of Judaism (New York: The Noonday Press, 1955) in the amen effect by sharon brous]. The deputized sheriffs issue tickets in various guises for violations of Christianity's rules of the road. Everyone who is not a fully fledged Christians with no Christian feathers missing and none out of place gets a ticket. Through vigorous enforcement, leadership tries to churn out cloned robots with CPUs that slavishly follow the algorithms of supposed orthodoxy - homogeneous, lobotomized, conforming, superficial, spiritless and perfunctory. Leadership expects unquestioning compliance and homogeneous conformity. Leadership, however, does not understand how Christianity, when done right, is supposed to work. Compliance is not conversion. Enforcement is no substitute for love because only love begets love - only love begets conversion. In their clerical arrogance, leadership annoints themselves kings who rule us. Indeed, Jesus is our king (Matthew 21:5). The leadership of the Church, however, is not. Moreover, Jesus did not come to rule us as a typical king rules us (Matthew 20:25-28) (John 18:37). Jesus' brand of Christianity does not have a police force. It does not need one. It has rules of the road but does not issue tickets to violators. Typical kings appoint deputies to enforce their rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Jesus, however, is not the typical king and his kingdom is not the typical kingdom. Jesus broke the mold for kingship. He is the king who loves us. In place of a police force to enforce the Christian rules of the road, the means by which Jesus governs us is love. When we become privy to the revelation that Jesus released into the world in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion and, thereby, discover the radicalness of the love of God, Christians become self-regulating. In the kingdom of the king who loves us even though we tortured and killed him, the citizens govern themselves. We desire to please him. We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness to please him (John 18:36).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: King (00219)
(2) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00187 Updated: 01_26_2024]

Enforcing Christianity's Rules of The Road (00186)

Christianity, when done right, does not deputize us to serve in the posse that issues violations to sinners who disobey Christianity's rules of the road (Matthew 7:3-5) (Matthew 7:1). Because Christianity is not a government, it does not have a police department. It does have a byzantine codex of rules, regulation, red tape and rigmarole but compliance is, by and large, voluntary. Compliance is only enforced by God. Those who want more than a self-regulating Christianity - who want a draconian police department and effective law enforcement - do not yet understand how Christianity works. They themselves have not yet squirmed under the weight of the radical love of God. They have not yet been gobsmacked by it. They have not yet been knocked off their horse by the radical love of God (Acts 9:4-6). They are not yet privy to the revelation about God that Jesus released into the world by the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. In the gruesome experiment, Jesus deposited the treasure of Christianity. The treasure of Christianity is the answer to the question, 'Who is God? Friend or foe?'. When we become privy to the gruesome experiment and so discover the radicalness of the love of God, Christians become self-regulating.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Regulation of Conduct (00075)
[¶ 00186 Updated: 01_26_2024]

Have you appointed yourself as a sheriff who issues tickets to violators to enforce Christianity's rules of the road? Christianity's rules of the road are like a kiss. Imposed by force against the will of their recipient, they become an abomination.

It is irrational to expect the children of Adam and Eve to behave as a Christian behaves and to believe as a Christian believes until after they have become a Christian. Becoming a Christian is the cause of believing and behaving as a Christian. Believing and behaving are the effect of becoming. Let us not confuse cause and effect. We become Christians when we become privy to the revelation that Jesus released into the world in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. Only close encounters with the gruesome experiment make us privy to it.

The Definition of a Christian (00136)

Christians are a subset of the children of Adam and Eve who understand that the radical love of God is the treasure and they seek it (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). They go on safari to hunt for the treasure (Matthew 13:44-46). They possess an upgraded understanding of the nature of God that drives them to pursue him. The radical love of God is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise (and flee the sourness of godlessness). It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise. We are disobedient not irrational. Like bloodhounds, Christians follow the fragrant scent of the radical love of God on the trail to paradise. Meanwhile, those who do not yet understand are abjectly scavenging for scraps in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts in utter poverty in the squalid ruins of Eden. They are treading water. They are going nowhere. They are stuck in their dire predicament. They have not yet been hired (Matthew 20:6-7). Isn't it the moment to give the scavengers the opportunity to understand? Isn't it time to share with them the knowledge of God that Jesus shared with us during the demonstration of forgiveness that took place from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity? Instead of telling them what we found, isn't it the moment to show them where to look so they can discover the treasure for themselves?

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: What is the definition of a Christian? (00137)
(2) Index: The Treasure Hunt (00134)
(3) Index: An Upgraded Understanding of God (00143)
(4) Index: Paradise: the Land of Milk and Honey (00089)
(5) Index: Scavenging for Scraps (00088)
(6) Index: Rationality (000121)
(7) Index: Evangelization (00139)
(8) Index: The Flagpole of Christianity (00144)
(9) Index: The Demonstration of Forgiveness (00145)
(10) Index: Don't tell us what you found; show us where to look (00117)
(11) Index: The Pursuit of the Radical Love of God (00132)
(12) Index: Safari (00146)
[¶ 00136 Updated: 01_21_2024]

The announcement that Jesus made over the Loudspeaker of the Cross (00183)

From the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity, Jesus made an announcement whose impact gobsmacked us. It knocked us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). Jesus announced the radical love of God for the children of Adam and Eve. The announcement filled the Cross of Christ with meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17) and the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Rally 'round the Cross! The announcement came in the form of forgiveness for the evils that we had done to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). Is there a better, more persuasive way for the Word of God (John 1:1) to express the radical love of God than by prodigally spending all of his flesh and blood to purchase the benefit of forgiveness for his unrepentant enemies who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands?

Can the size of his love get any more radical than by spending all of his limited human resources (John 15:13) (John 12:24)? He kept not a penny of them in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never spent more for anything else.

Can the scope of forgiveness get any more radical than by including unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) enemies (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) within it?

Can the intransigence of his love for us get any more radical than by it persisting despite the evils that we did to him. The dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to the flesh and blood of the Son of God could budge it.

The announcement is the God News of Great Joy.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Flagpole of Christianity (00144)
[¶ 00183 Updated: 01_25_2024]

Jesus exploited the evils that we did to him and used them to express the radical love of God (00158)
Evils were the tongue that the mouth of God used to Express the radical love of God. They enabled the articulation of the revelation.


The evils that we did to Jesus were a miscalculation on the part of the serpent. Jesus exploited the miscalculation to reveal God to the children of Adam and Eve. Jesus commandeered a Cross, the instrument of our woes, and repurposed it to express to the children of Adam and Eve, as only the Word of God (John 1:1) had sufficient credibility to express (Matthew 11:27) (John 3:11-13), the radical love of God. The extraordinary event - Jesus' turning of the tables on evil - neutralizes the serpent's anti-God propaganda. Evil was double-crossed. Ignominious defeat yielded to glorious victory. Glorious victory erupted from it as the dawn erupts from the darkness. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) (Luke 1:78-79) (1 John 1:5) (Isaiah 60:1-3).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Exploiting Evil (00178)
(2) Index: The Expression of the Radical Love of God (00179)
(3) Index: The Mouth of God (00180)
(4) Index: The Serpent's Miscalculation (00181)
[¶ 00158 Updated: 01_24_2024]

Like Ulysses, the mast to which Christians anchor themselves as they pass between Scylla & Charybdis is the revelation that Jesus released into the world by participating in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The gruesome experiment verified that the Love Note that God had sent us in the Incarnation was genuine and that God's love for us is radical in all dimensions - radical in size, radical in scope and radical in intransigence. The dial that controls God's love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evils that we did to the flesh and blood of the Son of God could budge it.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Mast (00221)
(2) Index: The Dial (00222)
[¶ 00152 Updated: 02_02_2024]

Jesus showed us our superpower

Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to put on a flamboyant demonstration of our superpower. The Son of God became a superstar - a giant of love - to show us - not to merely tell us - that we, too, ordinary humans, can become godlike superstars. Like God, we can become creators of the sweet fruits of love. Creating the sweet fruits of love is the superpower that we have in common with our God. We can become prolific factories that dynamically mass produce the sweet fruits of love "out of the good treasure of [our] heart[s]" (Luke 6:45) "... some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred" (Mark 4:20). Christianity is creative. Jesus created a Masterpiece of Love on the canvas of life in the midst of adversity. By spending the coin of his flesh and blood - all of his limited human resources - Jesus became a heroic artist of love. We can too.

Jesus came to liberalize us

At our incarnation, we are endowed with limited human resources (Matthew 25:14-29). Our instinct for self-preservation makes us naturally conservative. We are hardwired to conserve our limited human resources. Conserving our limited human resources, however, is contrary to our self-interest. When we place limits on the size of our love, the scope of our love and the duration of our love, we do injury to ourselves. Jesus came to liberalize us.

Jesus deciphered the enigma of God (00154)
The Word of God expressed a proxy for God that is the equivalent of God.

God was "[a] riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" [Winston Churchill]. Jesus deciphered the riddle, mystery and enigma for us. He did so by giving birth to a high fidelity avatar of God in the laboratory of the Crucifixion - a living and breathing proxy for God - a high fidelity, first class representation of the reality of God. What was it? How did Jesus show us God? Jesus prodigally spent all of his flesh and blood to purchase the gift of forgiveness for his unrepentant enemies who tortured and killed him and who still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands. This is how the Word of God (John 1:1) expressed the reality of God to us. In Jesus' mind, his expression was the equivalent of God - a fair and accurate substitution. Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him cracked open the enigmatic black box in which God was hiding (Isaiah 45:15) and filled the earth with the knowledge of God as water covers the seas (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Radical forgiveness is the intrusion of divinity into our godless world. Radical forgiveness is the reflection of the radical love of God. Jesus made God transparent. Radical forgiveness was the means that Jesus used to bring transparency to God.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Model of God (00161)
[¶ 00154 Updated: 01_23_2024]

The radical love of God is the life preserver that Jesus threw to us who are drowning in a cantankerous sea of evils. Grab it. Cling to it. Hold tight. Don't let go. Not only will it keep you afloat, it will help you to do great things.

For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00153 Updated: 01_22_2024]

Pivoting from presence to victory (00155)

For Christianity to succeed, we must pivot from thinking about the Mass as a presence party to thinking about the Mass as a Victory Party. We have allowed presence to eclipse victory to the detriment of Christianity. Official Christianity no longer understands Jesus' victory anymore. No change in doctrine. Just a change in emphasis. A tweak, nothing more.

For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00155 Updated: 01_22_2024]

By running the Race from the starting line to the finish line, Jesus gave us the Revelation (00140)
The race that Jesus ran was the vehicle that transported the knowledge of God to the children of Adam and Eve.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented --- but not anymore. Not since Jesus ran the race. By running the race, Jesus ended our destruction.

Jesus 'ran the race' from the starting line to the finish line. He did so to give us the knowledge of the truth about God (John 8:32) (1 Timothy 2:4). “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Christians follow Jesus. Christians are fanatics of the race that Jesus ran. They are more zealous about the race that Jesus ran than rabid soccer fans. Christians bear witness to Jesus at the starting line. They root for Jesus along the course of the race. And they cheer his glorious victory at the finish line. Christians understand the significance of the race that Jesus ran and appreciate the revelation about God that it gave them (John 8:32) (1 Timothy 2:4). The 'race that Jesus ran' revealed the radical love of God. Christians understand that the radical love of God that Jesus revealed by 'running the race' is the treasure and they seek it (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). The 'race that Jesus ran' becomes the rock (Matthew 7:24-27) on which they rest their understanding of God and the robust foundation on which they build their lives

The starting line is the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. In the laboratory of the Crucifixion, we put Jesus to the test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). "Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. " (Wisdom 2: 19). We tortured and killed Jesus. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on the flagpole of Christianity as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death.

During the course of the race, Jesus forgave us for the evils that we did to him. His answer to them was asymmetric. While we still had his flesh in our mouths and his blood on our hands, he forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Wisdom 12:19) (Acts 10:43) (Matthew 6:12) (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 7:47) (Matthew 5:45) (Ezekiel 16:62-63). "For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63).

The finish line is the radical love of God - radical in size, radical in scope and radical in intransigence. Is there a better, more persuasive way for the Word of God (John 1:1) to express the radical love of God than by prodigally spending all of his flesh and blood to purchase a benefit for the unrepentant enemies who tortured and killed him? Radical forgiveness of his enemies is a reflection of the radical love of God.

At the starting line is Jesus' ignominious defeat. It is the foil for the jewel. At the finish line is his glorious victory. Both the starting line and the finish line - the ignominious defeat and the glorious victory - are necessary to convey the revelation that revealed the truth about God (John 8:32) (1 Timothy 2:4). They are two parts of a single unit of apocalyptic revelation. They are the odd couple of epiphany. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9).

By running the race, we win the prize. The prize is an upgraded understanding of God (John 8:32) (1 Timothy 2:4). Running the race is the only way to upgrade our understanding of God.

Are you a fan? Have you run the race with Jesus? Are you a Christian?

Note: We revisit the race that Jesus ran in the taking, making, and giving of the most Holy Eucharist at Mass.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: What is the definition of a Christian? (00137)
(2) Index: The Treasure Hunt (00134)
(3) Index: Running the Race that Jesus wants us to run (00140)
[¶ 00140 Updated: 01_22_2024]

No. Jesus does not love us. This is not accurate. These words do not reflect the fullness of the truth. They do not capture it. In fact, they obscure it. It is akin to calling Albert Einstein smart or Adolf Hitler bad. The words are litotic (Wikipedia) - a gross and flagrant understatement. We demean the radical love of God by just saying that he loves us. We reduce it. We debase it. We make the extraordinary ordinary - the humongous, tiny. We make the Love Note that our God sent us a banal, trite message and its Verification in the laboratory of the Crucifixion meh. Jesus loves us even though we tortured and killed him. Wow! Now, that's love! Get the formula right!

For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00152 Updated: 01_22_2024]

Forgiveness gave Jesus' enemies a mulligan - a do-over - a second chance - a fresh start - a clean slate (Matthew 18:21-22). His enemies had made themselves inelegible for forgiveness on account of the evils that they did to Jesus. They had disqualified themselves. They were unworthy of forgiveness. Yet, Jesus did not care. He forgave them nonetheless. Now, the ball is in our court. Do we take advantage of the blessing of forgiveness - or not (Matthew 22: 11-13)?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Forgiveness came first. Forgiveness invites repentence. Get the sequence right. Don't mix it up. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19).

Botching Christianity (00041)

Many botch the job of Christianity by getting the sequence of salvation backwards. The sequence is not repentance -> forgiveness. The sequence is forgiveness -> repentance. Jesus struck the first blow with forgiveness. He initiated the process of our conversion. Forgiveness was the catalyst. Jesus did not wait for the conversion of his enemies to serve them a meal. Jesus was audacious. Even though his enemies still had his flesh in their mouths and his blood on their hands, Jesus served them the bread and wine of forgiveness to bring about their conversion. Let's get it right! Let us keep cause and effect in their proper order!

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to blurbs that belong to the framework dealing with Getting Christianity wrong
[¶ 00041 Update: 01_21_2024]

Paying the cost of love (00066)

What is the most accurate measure of love? Shall we measure love by the benefit to the beneficiary? No. The most accurate measure of love is the cost to the benefactor. Love is a function of cost
(Luke 21:1-4 - The widow paid the cost)
(Luke 10:30-37 - The Samaritan paid the cost but the priest and Levite refused)
(Mark 10:17-31 - The rich, young man was unwilling to pay the cost)
(John 15:13 - Jesus paid the cost).
The payment of the cost verifies the genuineness of love. The greater is the payment, the greater is the love. Jesus paid all of his flesh and blood to purchase for us the gift of sweet forgiveness. He kept not a penny of his flesh and blood in the bank in reserve for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. Is there a better, more persuasive way for the Word of God (John 1:1) to express the radical love of God than by prodigally spending all of his flesh and blood to purchase a benefit for the unrepentant enemies who tortured and killed him? The cost was not trivial. Yet, Jesus did not pay it by drawing from his unlimited divine resources. He paid the cost by drawing from his limited human resources. To pay the cost of the blessing of sweet forgiveness, Jesus sacrificed his flesh and blood in the crucible of the Crucifixion.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index to Blurbs: Paying the cost of love.
[¶ 00066 Updated: 01_21_2024]

Historians not Magicians

Catholic clerics are not magicians who, by virtue of mysterious ontological hokus-pokus, astonish us by pulling the invisible rabit of Jesus (a/k/a Harvey) out of their magical hat (The Emperor's New Clothes). Catholic clergy are historians not magicians. They are tour guides who help us explore and discover for ourselves the mystery, majesty, and magnificence of God. They are the ushers who show us to our seats so Jesus can put on the show. Jesus is the star of the show. The Christian religion goes off the rails when the ushers think that they are the stars of the show. They have a specialty - a particular area of focus and, hopefully, some expertise. Their speciality is the gruesome experiment that took place in the laboratory of the Crucifixion and its result. Like Jesus, they are witnesses who testify about it. Their job is preserve and propagate the Magnum Opus that Jesus created on the canvas of life in the foil of the evils that we did to him. They are the custodians, guardians and curators of the glorious victory that Jesus won in mortal combat with the monster of the Crucifixion. Into the foil of evils, Jesus poured, through his bloody wounds, the sweet syrup of forgiveness. The sweet syrup of forgiveness diluted the toxicity of the evils that we did to him in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evils. As historians, Catholic clerics retell the tale of Jesus' Magnum Opus with the instruments of flesh, blood, bread and wine, imagery that Jesus created for them and taught them how to use at the Last Supper.

The Conversation about God is Dead! (00151)

God is not dead. Indeed, God is very much alive. However, the conversation about God is dead. Killing the conversation about God is tantamount to killing God. The enemies of the Church know this. The Church does not. Allowing the conversation about God to go silent poses an existential threat to Christianity. By prioritizing regulation over revelation, morality over theology, politics over religion, the applications of Christianity over its operating system, the nitty-gritty of Christianity over the pizzazz, the Church has killed the conversation about the nature of God. It is guilty of its own tragic self-destruction. Can we devote 50% of the conversation to God? Is 50% too much to ask?

For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00151 Updated: 01_21_2024]

More of the radical love of God; never less. Always. No Exceptions (00067)

The radical love of God was revealed to us in a gruesome experiment that took place in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. Our job is to propagate it from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Propagation is all we have to do. Get them to the starting point of evangelization and let their curiosity take over. From the starting point, they can figure out this thing called God for themselves. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The radical love of God is the liberating truth. It is the Good News of Great Joy. The radical love of God is the agent that does the work in Christianity. It does the heavy lifting. The radical love of God is the catalyst of our conversion. The gravity of the radical love of God pulls us into the vortex of divinity. It is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. The radical love of God gives Christianity its magic, Jesus his charisma, us, our joy, and evangelists, who exclusively devote themselves to propagating it, the power to change the world. When the gravity of the radical love of God captures us, we have hit the jackpot of Christianity. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We have won the lottery. Therefore, more of the radical love of God; not less. Always. No exceptions.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Right and Wrong Methodology.
[¶ 00067: Updated: 01_19_2024]

The radical love of God is the rock (Matthew 7:24-27) on which Christians build their lives The reality of the radical love of God was proven beyond any doubt in the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The gruesome experiment verified the radical love of God. Christians rest their understanding of God on the revelation that Jesus released into the world in the gruesome experiment.

For more, click on the link[s] below
[¶ 00141 Updated: 01_21_2024]

Politics and Christianity (00163)

Political Christianity is an oxymoron. "Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21). When we are busy doing politics, we have no time to do religion. Christianity's main job is to propagate the gruesome experiment that we administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion from the point and place of its obscure origin in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of time and space, across history and geography, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. In this way, Christianity helps the children of Adam and Eve to figure out for themselves this thing called God and provides them with a pathway to pursue him. How much propagation are we going to get done while we are doing politics? Chrisianity informs politics but Christianity has too much on its plate to embroil itself in politics. Get the religion right and the politics will take care of itself. Let the politicians do politics and the clergy do religion. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Politics and Religion (00164)
[¶ 00163 Updated: 01_23_2024]

The Professionals of Christianity cannot find their way to the starting line of evangelization (00138)
"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3-8).

Nearly all of the professionals who 'do' Christianity cannot find their way to the starting line of evangelization. Hence, they never arrive at the finish line. They haven't a clue about where the location of the starting line is and the race that Jesus wants us to run from starting line to finish line. If they cannot find the starting line, isn't it foolish to expect them to take us there? Incompetancy and malpractice are rife. This is not an exageration. This is not hyperbole. Incompetancy and malpractice are everywhere - endemic to evangelization. Moreover, the professionals who do stumble upon the starting line dilute it, i.e. water it down, with obiter dicta. They deflate its importance. They undervalue it.

Note: The starting line of evangelization is the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion. The finish line is the radical love of God - radical in size - radical in scope - and radical in intransigence. Jesus created the starting line so we can get to the finish line. Jesus blazed the trail (John 14:6) from the starting line to the finish line so we could follow him to the revelation. Therefore, let us find the starting line for ourselves and run the right race. We cannot "persevere in running the race that lies before us" (Hebrews 12:1-2) unless we first find the starting line.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Evangelization (00139)
(2) Index: The Race that Jesus wants us to run to the Revelation (00140)
[¶ 00138 Updated: 01_19_2024]

The Professionals of Christianity have mismanaged Christianity's portfolio

The Professionals of Christianity have mismanaged Christianity's portfolio. It is out of balance. The Professionals have invested too much into the nitty-gritty of Christianity and not enough into its pizzazz. They have allowed Christianity to become hackneyed - trite. They have allowed the ratio between the nitty-gritty and the pizzazz to get out of whack. The ratio is lopsided. The Professionals need to rebalance Christianity's portfolio. They need to get the ratio under control.

Christianity has a big problem. The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. By this measure, the patient is moribund - a few breaths away from death. Fewer and fewer Christians are practicing Christianity. Moreover, the practice of those who do has become perfunctory - cursory. They just go through the motions. They practice, but, they no longer know why they practice. What was once inspired has become a meaningless, trite routine. The inspiration that generates the the practice of Christianity is fading from our understanding. No inspiration; no practice.

The blame belongs to the Professionals of Christianity. They have let us down. They have allowed the nitty-gritty of Christianity to dilute its pizzazz. What is the pizzazz of Christianity? The pizzazz is found in the answer to the compound question, 'Who is God and how do we know it?'. Therefore, please introduce us to your God - not to your Church - not to your byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. First, introduce us to the God who revealed himself to us in a demonstration of forgiveness from the position of prominence on the flagpole of Christianity, to wit, the Cross - to the God who loves us even though we tortured and killed him. Tell us about him. Give us the details. 'Who are you, God? Identify yourself. Friend or foe?' Then, together, we can figure out the best way to pursue him.

The pursuit of God is the train of salvation. Christianity is the tracks. The gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to Jesus in the laboratory of the Crucifixion (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20) is the locomotive.

The key that unlocks the mystery of God

Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion is the key to unlocking the mystery of God. Use the key. Meet your God.

More and better theology (00177)

Jesus poured more and better theology into the gruesome experiment that we cruelly administered to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion than he poured into the heads of every apologist, theologian, Doctor of the Church, monk, abbot, mystic, priest, monsignor, bishop, Cardinal, Pope, hermit and saint who has ever lived or will ever live.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: Theology (00176)
[¶ 00177 Updated: 01_24_2024]

The transfer of the knowledge of God from Jesus to us sizzles (00051)

Jesus' radically asymmetric answer to the evils that we did to him in the laboratory of the Crucifixion gives Christianity its sizzle. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4-6). "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6),
our God lamented --- but not anymore. By his answer, Jesus transferred the knowledge of God to us. Jesus had said, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father..." (John 14:9). When the children of Adam and Eve discover the sweetness of paradise, we pursue it. We are disobedient not irrational. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (Matthew 13:44-46). The only way to evangelize the children of Adam and Eve is to help them discover for themselves the sweetness of paradise then get out of the way and let God go to work! Don't tell them what you found. Show them where to look. Point them to Jesus' radically asymmetric answer. Their rationality will do the rest. From the starting point of Jesus' radically asymmetric answer, they will figure this thing called God out for themselves. Just get them to the starting point. This is all you have to do.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index:Transferring the knowledge of God from Divinity to Humanity.
[¶ 00051 Updated: 01_18_2024]

The Treasure Hunt (00133)
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) (1 Chronicles 16:10-12) (Isaiah 55:6-7).

CHRISTIANITY IS A TREASURE MAP FOR TREASURE HUNTERS ENGAGED IN A TREASURE HUNT (Matthew 6:19-21) (Luke 17:20-21). The radical love of God is the treasure (Matthew 6:21). Jesus is the treasure chest that holds, conveys and presents the radical love of God to the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew 13:44). On the map, an 'X' marks the spot of the treasure. (1 Corinthians 1:17). At the 'X' on the treasure map stands the flagpole of Christianity, the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17). There, the radical love of God was put to the test (Wisdom 2: 19) (Malachi 3:10) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) (Wisdom 2: 17-20). “LET US TEST HIM WITH INSULT AND TORTURE, THAT WE MAY FIND OUT HOW GENTLE HE IS AND MAKE TRIAL OF HIS FORBEARANCE" (Wisdom 2: 17-20). The test irreutably verified the genuineness of the love of God and proved, beyond all doubt, that the love of God is radical in the extreme - radical in size, radical in scope and radical in intransigence.

Christianity, done right, makes us squirm under the overwhelming weight of the radical love of God. Who can weather the intensity of the radical love of God when it is focused on us? If we are not preaching the treasure hunt - if we are not confronting the children of Adam and Eve with the radical love of God - if the children of Adam and Eve do not understand that the Cross is the verification of the radical love of God - if we are pathologically obsessed with trying to govern the behavior of the children of Adam and Eve to the exclusion of everything else -, we are not doing Christianity.

'Tis better and more effective to be prophets of the revelation than kings of regulation. Can we devote at least 50% of our time to being prophets? Is 50% too much to ask?

Note: Participation in the treasure hunt is open to all of the children of Adam and Eve regardless of their compliance with any byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Nobody is excluded not even snners. The treasure hunt is not reserved for saints. The participation of both the good and the bad is encouraged and welcome (Matthew 22: 8-10). Why? Close encounters with the radical love of God are the catalyst of conversion. Only love begets love. So, Jesus loved us first. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19). Only close encounters with the radical love of God depetrify our stony hearts and fleshify them (Ezekiel 36:26). Close encounters with a byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole do not produce the same result. By loving us first (1 John 4:19), Jesus jump-started our transformation into children of God (1 John 3:1). No participation in the treasure hunt; no transformation.

For more, click on the link[s] below
(1) Index: The Treasure Hunt (00134)
[¶ 00133 Updated: 01_17_2024]

Everyone is invited to The Pursuit of God

"Please, may the Church not have a “border control” to select who enters and who does not. No. Everyone, everyone. Entry is free. And then, may each person feel Jesus’ invitation to follow Him, to see how one feels before God; and for this path there are the teachings and the Sacraments. Let us remember the Gospel: when the master of the banquet sends people out to the crossroads, saying: Go and invite everyone” (cf. Mt 22:9). Do not forget this word: everyone. The Church is for everyone: young and old, healthy and sick, the righteous and sinners. This is what Jesus meant: everyone, everyone, everyone." (Pope Francis, 25 August 2023) !