Intellectual Cowardice
Plus the true story of a Christmas Carol and a Wonderful YouTube Series
So Open Minded Their Brains Fell Out
The trans-ing of the world continues apace. There is no person free from the hyper-sexualization of the cultural and theological Left, and no idea is too asinine for expression or publication. Enter a recent sermon at Trinity College, Cambridge. First, the headline tells you most of the story:
Dean of Trinity College says Jesus Christ could have been transgender
The Dean was supporting a sermon given by a research fellow, and the reasoning is worse that you thought:
The sermon was given by junior research fellow Joshua Heath at Trinity College last week, The Telegraph reports. Heath's supposition was based on his observation that the Renaissance and Medieval paintings showing the wound on Christ's side looked like female genitalia.
This is a classic case of a couple of academics with little to no interaction with history, theology, reality, or the common man. In place of all that rabble, there is wild, sexualized speculation of the most specious sort. I’m with the congregant who shouted “Heresy!” as he left the service. Then there is this common man:
One congregant told The Telegraph that "I left the service in tears. You offered to speak with me afterwards, but I was too distressed. I am contemptuous of the idea that by cutting a hole in a man, through which he can be penetrated, he can become a woman. I am especially contemptuous of such imagery when it is applied to our Lord, from the pulpit, at Evensong. I am contemptuous of the notion that we should be invited to contemplate the martyrdom of a ‘trans Christ’, a new heresy for our age."
The cultural and theological Left may or may not understand what it has done by letting the proverbial snake in the house over the last few years. They have tethered themselves to an ideology that has no bottom floor.
Brave Cardinal, Silent Pope
The Catholic Cardinal in Hong King, Cardinal Zen, was found guilty of “colluding with foreign forces” by the CCP. The Cardinal had established a humanitarian fund that the CCP deemed a threat, so they convicted him in a political trial.
The cardinal was arrested in May, along with other pro-democracy activists, on suspicion of “colluding with foreign forces”—a charge that could lead to life imprisonment. Further investigation into that allegation is pending, but for now, Cardinal Zen is to be penalised for failing to register in time a fund to which he and the other defendants belonged.
Pope Francis remains silent and distant (not even visiting the Cardinal when they were both in Hong Kong). According to one column:
Meanwhile Pope Francis faces his own judgment, in the court of public opinion, for his failure to defend Cardinal Zen—or, for that matter, to criticize the regime that is prosecuting him. When questioned about the trial, by a reporter who accompanied him on his flight home from Kazakhstan, the Pontiff gave this utterly unsatisfactory reply:
Cardinal Zen is going to trial these days, I think. And he says what he feels, and you can see that there are limitations there. More than qualifying, because it is difficult, and I do wish to qualify, they are impressions, and I try to support the path of dialogue.
Despite wishy-washy denials, Pope Francis is a man of the Left. And men and women of the Left are constitutionally unable to criticize communist dictatorships. One of his Cardinals faces real persecution for fulfilling his duty as a leader in the Catholic Church, and Pope Francis, seemingly, cannot bother himself with the details.
The future belongs to the Cardinal, and not to men like the Pope.
There Was A Real Good King Wenceslaus!
King Wenceslas was a real person, though not a king and not really named Wenceslas. He was Václav (pronounced Vaht-slaf), duke of Bohemia, and he lived from about 907 till his martyr's death in about 935. At a time when paganism was fighting a losing but vigorous battle against Christianity, Václav was raised a Christian because his grandparents had been converted by Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the "apostles to the Slavs." Though his brief reign was marred by rebellion and foreign invasion, Václav was famous for his piety, asceticism, and compassion towards the poor. His younger brother plotted to take the throne and had Václav murdered on his way to church on the feast of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. Miracles almost immediately began to be attributed to Václav. He is the patron saint of the Czech people and the Czech Republic.
No Free Lunch
There is an old acronym in economics, TANSTAFL, meaning, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”. It is a pithy way of remembering that nothing in this world is truly free. There is always a trade-off, a cost.
David Bahnsen, economist and Wall Street financier, wrote a wonderful book about this concept that acts like a daily reader helping us understand the overall power of the free market. Bahnsen, a Christian, believes that the free market is the best economic vehicle for human flourishing we have. His vision of sound economics is far from a simplistic, hard-baked capitalism. It is a theologically robust and well-reasoned system with the good of the human being in mind.
From his book sprung a wonderful series of YouTube talks and interviews. I highly recommend you spend some time with them and spread the word.
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Wow…so outrageous and blasphemous to even consider Jesus was transgender. Scary that someone would even think that much less write their thoughts about it. Sigh. Thanks for your research and wisdom, Pastor Phil! Love this blog.