Wednesday, October 31, 2012

1987 - "lay it in that River of Pain, and watch it move away toward the kingdom of Christ."
1988 - "'If I Baptize you,' the preacher said, 'you'll be able to go to the Kingdom of Christ. You'll be washed in the river of suffering, son, and you'll go by the deep river of life.'"
1989 - When the preacher tells Harry that he won't be the same, that he'll count, he's referring to this concept of dual santification and renewal.
1990 - "you can lay your pain in that river and get rid of it because that's the river that was made to carry Sin."
1991 -  When the preacher speaks of the River of Fath, Life, and Love, the rich red river of Jesus' Blood, he is encouraging us to dive in to this river, or accept God's righteousness. Through this, we will inherit the river's qulaities. The catechism names them as faith, hope, and charity. The preacher says faith, life, and love. Same concept.
1992 - "The same blood that makes this River red" mirrors the "blood [that] has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men."
1993 - The preacher asks the crowd to testify to either God or the devil, one or the other. This shows how man has freedom to reject God's grace. Harry's parents exemplify this choice.
1994 - The preacher calls the crowd to participate in this "most excellent work of God's love" when he says "you people with trouble, lay in that river of blood."
1995 - "I know frm it that this preacher can heal. My eyes have been opened! I testify to Jesus!" By opening her inner person to God and accepting him, this woman has started on the path to full justification and eventual sanctification.
1996 - The river itself is God's grace. It's the opportunity that he offers us so that we may obtain justification.
1997 - "This old red suffering stream goes on, you people, slow to the Kingdom of Christ." If we participate in God, or follow the river, we will be led to a closeness with him or an intimacy of Trinitarian life.
1998 - When Bevel preaches that loving Jesus an testifying to him is the only way to be healed, he is implying that it is only God that can reveal and give himself.
1999 - When Bevel says, "You'll count now," he's talking about this deifying grace received in Baptism.
2000 - Bevel implies the habituality of this grace when he says the river does not end here, but goes on to the Kingdom of God slowly. He means that we must habitually stay true to His will.
2001 - When the woman talks about how she knows this man can heal through her own self experience, she is exemplifying this work of grace that arouses and sustains our collaboration in justification through faith.
2002 - The man sitting on his car with the cancer above his ear displays the ability to dissent with the preacher, or not choose God. It is not coincedence, then, that he has not been healed: he has not offered God his free response.
2003 - The preacher possesses the charism of knowledge of Christ and his goodness at such a young age, coupled with the eloquence and enthusiasm needed to convince others of His truth.
2004 - Bevel is clearly embracing his grace of state by enthusiastically preaching the mercy of God.
2005 - When Harry went swimming in the river to seek admission into the Kingdom of Christ, he didn't receive any sign or make any noticeable progress. Instead, the river pushed back at him. This represents our struggle with faith and God. We cannot know and we will receive no sign that we are on the right track. Instead, the world will resist us. But, we musn't grow cynical and give up like Harry did. He died.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Definitions

Science - the empirical study of how our world operates
Evidence - observations that either support or reject a hypothesis
Fact - an argument or statement derived from an observation
Truth - A fact that is indisputably, always the case, regardless of point of view
Opinion - A fact that is dependent upon point of view; a subjective thing
Value - the degree or magnitude of something
Logic - the use of valid arguments to prove truths about our world

Tuesday, October 2, 2012


When we come to know something, we are not creating an original thought, but rather we are recognizing an existing fact. For example, I know that I am white. My knowledge of this fact did not make me white; I would be white whether I knew it or not. This can be taken further, stating that we are entirely dependent on our surroundings for all of our knowledge. Knowledge, then, can only come through interaction with the world.

So, knowledge is external. But, how do we get it? I think one can only attain knowledge through firsthand experience. I know my keyboard has 26 letters on it because I just counted them. I experienced this, so I know it. You might say, however, that I could know it without experiencing it. I could know it if, say, my brother told me that there are 26 letters. However, I would not really know that there are 26 letters, instead I would only know that Shane SAID there are 26 letters. I can trust him and believe and be totally sure of that fact's verity, but I still do not really know it.

This explains why we could not "convince" you in class the other day that our mothers loved us. We have experienced our mother's love, so we know of it. However, no many how many times we tell you about that love, you cannot experience it, so you can only know that we claim that our mother's love us.

In summation, I would say to know something is to experience it in reality.