tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post4305932098560566791..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Catechesis needs community. . . Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-32782552449035233602022-11-25T14:49:31.886-06:002022-11-25T14:49:31.886-06:00The community needs catechesis. The two are wedded...The community needs catechesis. The two are wedded as Christ and His church are. The Church cannot be (exist) without Christ, and He will never let go His Bride. The bride who does not know or want to know her husband will not long stay with him. Wurmbrand, I agree. That which we see and to such give our attention will become us. We are what we consume. The reality of demons all working to distract us and make our thoughts/actions turn to evil is a tell on ourselves. We don’t believe that what we hear, see, read, think upon, etc can change us, or that there are unseen powers manipulating them to our good (angels) or sin (demons). We indeed need catechisis that focuses on Truth and Scripture, but also on what is good, virtuous, and beautiful. <br /><br />If we are well catechized mentally, audibly, and visibly, we will be a cohesive community. Janis Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02947508427040251166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-80268638105246922702022-11-23T16:18:17.575-06:002022-11-23T16:18:17.575-06:00Yes, yes, yes. As a layman, I also think that the...Yes, yes, yes. As a layman, I also think that the Faithful need to be told, explicitly, that you are a member of the "community" to which you give your attention habitually. It sets for you what feels like Normal. So if you habitually give your attention to various mass media, to electronic games, and so on, it is at least quite possible that that is the community to which your imagination belongs; you need to question the assumption you may have that your attitude is "neutral," and that what your eyes see and your ears hear habitually is something detached from yourself. What you see and hear habitually colonizes your imagination. Even if you feel that, now, you are quite well able to turn your thoughts away from un-Christian imaginings, you should consider that if your are eventually in a debilitated state due to illness, medications, anxiety, or advanced age, you may not have that control that you think you have now. <br /><br /><br />Perhaps the 17th-century Anglican Isaac Ambrose went beyond what we can say certainly from Scripture; but he said that angels good, and angels evil, are close to us, and they can't impart to our imaginations novel imagery -- but they can work with what we have chosen to dwell on. This may be an advantage that the Orthodox have over the Protestantized church interiors familiar to many of us Lutherans. That is, "church" may have little imagery, the worship space may be almost bare; at the same time that our minds are teeming with imagery supplied by mass media. If Isaac Ambrose is right, God's angels might have little to work with as regards our imaginations, while the evil angels may have a preposterous abundance of imagery suitable to their purposes. (Just consider the difference in available imagery between Ambrose's time and ours!)<br /><br />Dale NelsonWurmbrandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17345523517796356674noreply@blogger.com