Planets, Dr. Seuss and Snowflakes—Combined Proof That There is a CREATOR*

3 Comments

Earth  vs  Keplar 452b                                                       public domain

From 2015;    In honor of our Creator

By Larry Peterson

Horizon spacecraft left our humble, little planet and began its voyage to to the edges of our solar system and beyond. After traveling 3 billion plus miles New Horizon finally passed Pluto, the furthest planet from our sun. I don’t know about you but I find it so humbling and awe inspiring that we human beings, using the perfection that surrounds us, can mange to find a planet that is so far away. Yet, within our universe, it would be as close as a neighbor down the street.

Let’s move past Pluto. It seems NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, launched in 2009, has found a possible ‘exoplanet’; something worlds beyond our puny solar system. This exoplanet could be similar to our hometown, Earth. Hello sister planet, Kepler 452b.  The Kepler Telescope has identified close to 5000 exoplanets since it started scanning the deepest parts of space. But this is the first one that could be just like Earth. Now, get this–it is one thousand and four light years away. Our closest star system is Alpha Centauri, a mere 4.3 light years away. That means our closest star system is trillions of miles from our solar system and would take us tens of thousands of years to get there. Kepler 452b is 200 times further than that. My question is–how can  we know these things?

How can we possibly know how to measure distance and location and density and climate relating to places that are so unimaginably far away? The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. Who figured that out? How do you measure the speed of light? Assuming the number is correct, that means in one minute light travels 11+ million miles. That would be almost 16 billion miles in one day. Multiply that number by four and a half years. Do you see where I’m going with this? The light from our own sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth. Yet Kepler 452b is more than  a thousand “light years” away and our scientists know it revolves around its sun in 385 days vs our 365 days. WHEW!

What about Earth? How much of what Earth does do we take for granted? Well, here is one thing it does that we never think about but without its never ending accuracy we would have chaos. That is TIME. There are 24 hours in a day. Not 25 or 23 or 24.8, but 24. Imagine if there were random hours in a day. Yeah, right. So how did we get 24 hours in a day? Enough—let’s just take it for what it is. MIND BOGGLING.

What about explosions? (Please bear with me–I do intend to make a point.) Explosions are destructive and, for the most part, maim, kill and destroy. This past Fourth of July a guy in Maine, in a festive frame of mind, brilliantly set a rocket off from the top of his head. He died instantly. Jason Pierre Paul,  the all-pro defensive star for the NFL’s N.Y. Giants, blew several fingers off his hand with fireworks. He will be out indefinitely.  C. J. Wilson, of the Tampa bay Buccaneers, retired because he blew several fingers of his hand with fireworks. We can go back 70 years and remember that on August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb blew the Japanese city of Hiroshima to smithereens. It also killed about 80,000 people. It follows that if I set a bomb off in my car the chances of the result being a nicer car are–well, ZERO.

So now–to the point.  The Big Bang Theory of Creation has become the favored explanation of how our seemingly infinite universe came into existence. Scientists do agree that the universe did, in fact, have a beginning.  They also know that the universe is expanding and changing and dying, just like we do.  To the question: At the moment of creation when the unimaginable explosion took place or whether it was something like a giant balloon expanding and expanding until it “popped” spewing matter outwards, it all had to be controlled. Who did that?

Random explosions do not and cannot result in perfection. Twenty-four hours in a day is perfect for us imperfect species to depend on, including the animals.  It is a contradiction to believe otherwise. Everything around us is perfect. We can predict the rising and setting of the sun to the second, the new and full moons to the minute. We know when the tides rise and fall and can predict their lowest and highest points to the minute. We know when an eclipse, whether solar or lunar will occur and where. We have learned how to use the world around us to maintain our very existence or, in many cases, destroy it.

Bottom line: because the universe is so vast and expansive (and apparently infinite) and all of it is moving and changing within a perfectly ordered system proves someone bigger and smarter than any of us put this in place. We cannot understand this. We cannot scientifically prove it. But, no matter what, we live in it and survive by it every second of every day of our lives. Perfection does not come from chaos. Perfection can only come from someone who is PERFECT. I know who that  Person is even though  I cannot see HIM or touch HIM. All I have to do is see a rising sun, a blooming rose, a full moon, a rainbow…or hear the cry of a newborn baby or ponder the magic of one snowflake, unique unto itself.

Maybe Dr. Seuss nailed it in his famous book, “Horton Hears a Who”. Maybe our planet Earth is really no bigger than Horton’s, “Whoville”. Maybe we are specks on the end of a ball of dust. Maybe we are not as big and as smart as we think we are. We had to have a Creator. It is common sense. It is ultimately all in HIS hands.  I am also sure HE subscribes to the famous sentence in Dr. Seuss’s book; “a persons a person no matter how small”. Maybe those very “smart” people who reject what must be so, need to breathe in a deep dose of humility and realize that this all did not just happen as the result of some random explosion or expansion. It is illogical and makes no sense (to me).

This was carried in ZENIT on May 11, 2016*

©2015 Larry Peterson All Rights Reserved

 

Euthanasia: The Catastrophe of Honoring "Non-Life"

Leave a comment

IT MAKES SENSE TO ME

By Larry Peterson                                                                                    

from nypost.com

Euthanasia is upon us. And, like an insidious, unstoppable virus it spreads and spreads. And it kills. And the true vaccine that can conquer this madness has been rejected by those who embrace this practice. Yes,  God is not in that syringe. How far we have come as a civilized people.

Life and its creative mystery and beauty was officially relegated to second place back in 1973 when the United States Supreme Court voted 7 to 2 that women had the right to abort their pre-born children. The Roe vs Wade ruling by the SCOTUS was the rock dropped in the pond of Sacred 

Life that created ripples so intense that they became waves of  death for millions of the pre-born.  The decision was all clinical and legal. The fact that the country which they were chosen to represent was founded on the Judeo-Christian principle and Natural Law never entered into their deliberations. The tsunami that followed their decision now has given birth to a false wave of ‘pretend’ compassion and dignity. Camouflaged inside that relentless and deadly wave was something called euthanasia.  

Back in 1787, our Founding Fathers adopted a Constitution. It was going to be different. It was going to respect individual life. People would come first and the government would be subservient to them. (see Tenth Amendment) It took time and the nation suffered through a bloody and horrific Civil War and two World Wars. But we did do better. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s came and  transformation  began in race relations. That took time too, but it truly began to work. It was never perfect but it was always a work in progress showing improvement. 

The years passed by and we became smarter. More years passed by and, as we grew even  ‘smarter’, we decided it was smarter to be more “more-free”. Then there were those who decided they wanted to be “me-free”. Meism grew and self-gratification became the rallying cry for the ‘meists’. Religion became an albatross around the necks of many. Why? Because religion had rules and among those rules the word “NO” was used. Freedom was being transformed from self-sacrifice into self-gratification.  Eliminating respect for others began to wane and freedom was hijacked by the self-serving.

As time went by, those who dared say they objected to the world of the ‘meist’ were classified as haters. bigots, racists, and even homophobes. Today we have become so civilized and sophisticated that the courts in Oklahoma have ruled that the Ten Commandments must be removed because they violate the Constitution (doublespeak for “offending non-Christians”). The original rules used by the Founders in their American creation were tossed out by the same court system they had started. Ah yes, there is some serious “tolerance” going on in America.

Today the word “freedom” is missing its most vital ingredient. The freedom that made us truly free was filled with a common respect for others and especially for the lives of others. The primary ingredient within that respect is a love and honor for our Creator, who gave us all of this to begin with and without whom there would be nothing. Our Founding Fathers knew this. They were not adherents to any particular religion but they were Deists. They understood that we did, in fact, have a Creator. And to Him they showed all the respect they could muster.

Image result for brittany maynard
Brittany Maynard  1984-2014    cbsnews.com
So the great American experiment, where people would be free and government would be subservient to the people has become a “reverse” experiment where even the most vulnerable lives are subject to the mindset of others. Without the God factor, (and God had to be removed from the equation to accomplish these goals), individual freedom has become an illusion. Over 50,000,000 pre-born children have been killed in utero. Think of the doctors, and scientists and musicians and great writers and leaders and others who never saw the light of day. And now, with the need to be ‘compassionate’ we are embracing the ‘dignity’ of euthanasia. 
Belgium passed their euthanasia law back in 2002. Last year they passed a Childhood Euthanasia Law with NO AGE LIMITS. A predominantly Catholic country, Belgium’s bishops railed against this law. Two-thirds of the population ignored them and approved. What does that tell you about “meism”? Of course, in the Netherlands, doctors euthanized 650 babies in 2013.  I mean babies and even toddlers who were alive. Why?  The parents could not “deal with their suffering”. Whatever does that mean? There is so much quality palliative care available today. How can doctors go along with this? 
Brittany Maynard (pictured above) lived in California and had a brain tumor. California did not have a euthanasia law and could not get one passed. Brittany moved to Oregon where they have the Oregon Death with Dignity Law. With her family wishing her “adieu” she ended her own life. Compassion & Choice made a video showing her last days and promoted it all over California TV. California then passed a euthanasia law and Governor Jerry Brown, a Catholic and former seminarian, signed it into law last week. (go here for euthanasia laws nationwide)

Today, California, Oregon, Vermont, and Montana have euthanasia laws. Yes folks, you can go there and end it all. First it was Roe v Wade and now it is euthanasia. Belgium is killing children, living children, who are ill. All they need is their “permission” along with the parents. How hard is it to convince a child that dying is a “good thing” because you won’t hurt anymore. 

This is what happens when you take God and His love and goodness out of life. You wind up with NOTHING. “Non-Life” becomes a dignified goal to seek. People like myself, who are against the assault on the sacredness of God given life, are now deemed “intolerant” and “hateful”.  How sad this all is.

                               ©Larry Peterson 2015 All Rights Reserved

Euthanasia–Celebrating the Destruction of God's Greatest Gift–Life

1 Comment

IT MAKES SENSE TO ME

Milou de Moor, dead at 19

By Larry Peterson       
Euthanasia (aka assisted suicide), is a pathetic concept promoted under the guise of compassion, mercy and kindness. It is no such thing. Euthanasia is not compassionate. It is not merciful. And—it is not kind. It is an abomination because it celebrates  the destruction of the greatest gift each and everyone of us has been given by God, the gift of life. 
Enter the glorification of this process via legalization. The “muckety-mucks” and sophisticates who know what is best for everyone have succeeded in having this practice legalized in Belgium, the Netherlands, the states of Oregon, Washington and Vermont and one county in New Mexico. In the state of Montana they have what we would call “de facto’ euthanasia. There is no law on the books. They “just do it”—no problem. The twisted logic in this narrative called euthanasia or assisted suicide is nothing more than egotism and meism stretched to its secular limits. The fact is this; every human life is sacred unto itself. It is a gift from our Creator and we are each responsible for how we treat this gift. It is NOT up to governments and people to decide who should live or die.

Look at the photo above. Her name was Milou de Moor. Milou was stricken with lupus when she was 12. The course of the illness caused her not only pain but also mood swings, blackouts and depression. By the time she was 16 she requested to be euthanized. Life had become too hard and painful to bear any longer. And her own mother and father and sister, encouraged her to do it.

It makes sense to me that if a teenager is afflicted with an auto-immune disease and is severely depressed and requests to end her life, all she might need is the encouragement of her parents and sibling(s) to push her to finalize that request. If her doctors are telling her how painless her non-life will be and how easy it is to arrive in non-life, how easy does it become to go there. People who encourage another who is weak and vulnerable to begin with, to take his or her own life and help them to do it,  have entered into a dark celebration of nothingness. They have joined forces with others who rejoice in choosing death over life. How utterly sad that is.

There is such a thing as palliative care which  includes end of life care rather than the option of ending life. There are medications, and counselors and treatments for all types of illnesses and disabilities, Drugs for depression and severe pain are available. But what is always most important is the great intangible that you cannot see or swallow or touch. This I can attest to from experience; that  the love and support of family and friends combined with an abiding faith in the Creator of life.is the true power that transcends any celebration of nothingness.

There is a strange irony in the tragic saga of Milou de Moor. Apparently her date to be euthanzied had been set. Then at the last minute her general practitioner decided that he could not go along with her dying. When Milou heard this she ran off to her family’s apple orchard and hanged herself. The parents are outraged at the doctor and are suing him for NOT killing their daughter. Think of the long term ramifications of such a thing. Will doctors now be told that they MUST take lives to spare their own careers and futures?   California is next up to bat. Their euthanasia law has been passed and it awaits Governor Brown’s signature. Whatever have we wrought?

                          ©2015 Larry Peterson All  Rights Reserved

The "Shameful Silence"—It Honors Evil

2 Comments
IT MAKES SENSE TO ME

by Larry Peterson                                                         

“Silence in the face of evil is evil itself.”   Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran theologian in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler.  His book, “The Cost of Discipleship”, has become a classic.  Focusing on the “Sermon on the Mount”, the book more or less spelled out what Bonhoeffer thought was the true way to follow Christ.  In addition to his theological writings and teaching, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a staunch, anti Nazi dissident.  He spoke out vigorously against Hitler’s euthanasia and genocidal persecution of the Jews and, in so doing, became a hated enemy of the Third Reich. As such, he was arrested in April, 1943. Accused of the ambiguous crime of “plotting against the Nazis”, he was hanged on April 9, 1945.
                                                                
Moving ahead to the year 2014: The following is a statement from His Grace, Bishop Suriel of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Diocese of  Melbourne from one year ago:
“The world watches in silence as the last Christians are expelled from Mosul, Iraq, in one of the most merciless and barbaric acts of genocide we have seen in the 21st  Century.”

We are absolutely fascinating creatures, we humans are.  Many of our species can be so kind and compassionate, loving and gentle, sweet and understanding.  Many people will save a tiny bird with an injured wing or a cat stuck up in a tree. There is a world-wide outrage going on directed at a dentist who killed a lion. There are  so many people who  will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and give drink to the thirsty. One thing about the animal kingdom: the different species are predictable. One thing about we human beings: we are not. 
 You flip the coin and you have many of the very same species who are filled with a self-gratification which culminates in a hate and disdain for others of their own kind.  These include those who will torture and kill their fellow humans because they HATE their:  religion, skin color, birthplace,  political beliefs or whatever other self-serving, hate-filled reason a murderer may come up with.  Many kill and torture saying they were “only following orders” and had no choice. Others kill because of pride fueled by envy and greed. 

Planned Parenthood, a non-profit, government funded organization, employs people who  perform over 320,000 abortions a year on babies of ALL sizes. They even sell their body parts for profit and say “it is LEGAL”. Barely a word is said by many folks who are part of the main stream media (print & broadcast). The leading Democratic candidate for President of the U.S. says that those reports are “disturbing”. Are you kidding me! Disturbing! How about heinous, hateful and/or murderous.  So I ask why? Why the “Shameful Silence” from so many?
 Why are we, all of the same species, so different in our hearts?  How can some of us kill and others forgive them for doing so?   Why do some of us willingly and joyfully give of ourselves for people we may not even know?  Why do some of us  hate others they may not even know?  Why are there those who love their fellow human being unconditionally?  And why the “Shameful Silence” from so many? The answer has to be because of the very existence  of  “Good vs Evil” that is always trying to invade our very souls. Many people fight back and conquer the invader. Many others give in and welcome him and embrace his twisted deception. 

What is “Good vs Evil”?  I can tell you what it is and I do not care if you disagree. It  is the war waged by Satan and those that follow him against the God of Love that created him and all of his followers.  If you take a breath and look at the world of today and then glance back at yesterday and the centuries before, what has changed in the hearts of man? Apparently, not very much. Love and Hatred have danced “toe to toe” since Cain slew his brother Abel.  Why did that happen? Pride and envy. What drives the evil of today? Pride and envy.

God is real and Satan is real. God is the Creator of the Universe and the Master of Goodness and Love.  His most beautiful creation, Satan (aka Lucifer) thought he was greater than God and turned against Him. He was cast from God’s presenc
e by those angels that stayed true to their Creator. Filled with an unimaginable hatred for all that is good, Satan and his minions prowl the earth fomenting lies and deception to all who will listen. He and his fallen angels have used their cunning to gain entrance into the hearts of those who, before all else, love themselves. These are the easy prey for the king of deceit. And, there is a gaggle of easy prey available, especially in today’s secularly charged world dominated by ‘meism’. 
Mosul,  the very cradle of Christianity, can trace the followers of Jesus back to the first century.  As of today it seems that the entire Christian population of Mosul has been purged from this ancient and historic city.  Murder, including the beheadings of civilians and the wanton murder of women and children, has virtually eradicated the city’s Christians.  And what did we see and hear from the print and broadcast media a year ago?  We heard the sound of almost nothing. What do we hear today about the atrocities of killing pre-born babies and selling their body parts under the guise of “savings lives”?  We hear the sound of almost nothing. A “Shameful  Silence” from many seems to reverberate throughout world when persecution is running rampant.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it, “Silence in the face of evil is evil itself.”  He was hanged by the Nazis for his “crimes” over 70 years ago.  What has changed? The press was quiet then as the Nazis purged the world of the “hated Jew”.  Most of the main stream media (print and broadcast) has been quiet as theIslamists purge the world of the “hated Christian”.  There are many people in the United States of America, who go to work every day and kill living babies in utero and sell their body parts and have no problem whatsoever doing it because, as the Nazi workers said so many years ago, “it was legal”. 

Josef Goebbels was the propaganda minister for Adolf Hitler and made sure the press and broadcast media kept news of the Nazi Final Solution quiet. There existed a Shameful Silence. That Shameful Silence among  many is apparently alive and well in 2015, right here in the USA. Nothing has changed, nothing at all. 

                                               ©2015 Larry Peterson All Rights Reserved

When Thinking Family Consider That Two Teenagers Set The Standard for Us All

Leave a comment

IT MAKES SENSE TO ME

by Larry Peterson

From the Book Of Sirach Ch 3: 2-4

For the Lord sets a father in honor over his children;
A mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.
Those who honor their father atone for sins;
They store up riches who revere their mother.


N.B: In this essay the use of the word PRIDE refers to Negative Pride

The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family on the Sunday following Christmas. If you are among the millions of folks who never pay an iota of attention to this family, maybe you should. Why? Because this is the family that “set the bar” for all families. Comprised of two teenagers, Mary and Joseph and their boy, Jesus, their unconditional love for God and each other cannot be surpassed.  The birth of Jesus is the greatest act of humility imaginable.

This was God, the Creator of all that there is, becoming like one of His creations. He could have come in a majestic way, surrounded by armies and servants and glitter and pomp. He chose to come in the simplest way of all, among the animals in a cave. As He began His earthly life His body was wrapped in cloth and then placed on straw. Why would He do this?

 He did this because he loved us unconditionally and wanted us to learn that Pride, the greatest of the deadly sins and the root cause of all the evil in the world,  must be kicked to the curb at all costs. Pride was the reason He came to us. From the first sins of Adam and Eve to the very present, Pride is the villain. Pride is why He had to redeem and save us. Incredibly, he became as HUMBLE as humanly possible to teach us that humility is what conquers Pride. Amazingly, He chose teenagers to set the example for everyone from that very night onward. They showed us that  the love between a man and a woman  will always conquer negative pride if tempered with Humility. For marriage is about loving and sharing and giving of oneself to another–totally. Humility is the virtue that effects that giving.

We know so little about the lives of Joseph and Mary, yet they are an integral part of the Salvation story.  Mary’s acceptance of a pregnancy that might have resulted in her being stoned to death as an adulteress, was another act of monumental humility. Joseph, a good man and a faithful Jew true to the law, accepted a woman who was pregnant as his wife, another act of extreme humility. The Holy Family was the complete and perfect embodiment of Humility. It remains so to this very day .

 Isn’t God  amazing in the way He does things? This is the story of our Salvation and the rebirth of Hope. This Salvation became available to all people for all time and its success was entrusted to a couple of have-not teens whose humility and love of God enabled them to conquer the seemingly impossible. They married against incredible odds and traveled to Bethlehem while Mary was full term, a three to five day journey on the back of a donkey. Joseph walked guiding the donkey. Mary gave birth in a cave  surrounded by smelly animals and filth and then they managed to escape the soldiers of King Herod who were trying to kill their newborn Son. Oh yeah, lest we forget, they also  made it to Egypt, about three hundred miles away. We know the rest of the story.

If you take a moment to ponder all that happened and how it happened and why it happened, it will leave you breathless. And then we remember it was all done for all of us. There was nothing done for themselves, not one thing. We need to get back to “Family” and the Holy Family is the model to build on. We must never forget that within that family it was the husband and father who protected his wife and Son from the evils of the world. The Son humbled Himself  and gave his life for us all.  And the Mom, the most humble of all women ever, crushes the head of the evil serpent with her heel. In so doing she is protecting all of her “children” (which includes you and I) for all eternity. Humility conquers pride. Just look to the Holy Family.

"Peace on Earth" Humility is the Key and the Christ Child is the Answer

Leave a comment

IT MAKES SENSE TO ME

by Larry Peterson

Peace on earth? Where is it? Is it in Syria? How about Pakistan? It is not in Sudan or Iraq. It is definitely not hanging out in Afghanistan or Iran. Pakistan?—God help us. How about Russia and Ukraine and Ferguson, Missouri? What does “Peace on Earth” mean? Well my friends, it means exactly what it says: PEACE on EARTH. However, has there ever been Peace on Earth? From the beginning of the human race until today, I think not. We might ask, “and why not?”
The answer is actually simple and straightforward. True Peace on Earth can only come about by the destruction of the great demon, Pride. Yes, Pride destroys Peace. It also destroys love between people, within families, among friends and co-workers. How often does Pride bring forth its seedy companions of wrath and envy? Pride prompts murder and mayhem and wars. It has done so from time immemorial. It is probably the most destructive force on the planet and we all have it within us. How can so many of our species conquer this malignant force while others succumb to its devilish grasp? The answer is some people have what is called Humility.
How do we find our Humility? How can we kick the power of Pride to the curb? The answer came to us in the form of a newborn baby on Christmas and we celebrate that day in one week. Humility exploded on Christmas Day.  God Himself, the Creator of all that we have, including free-will, came to us and lived with us. Hey folks, this act was HUMILITY SUPREME. All we have to do is look into a pile  of straw at a newborn baby.  Therein lies our answer to finding Humility.
This story is so amazing that our simple common sense will tell us it was never fabricated or made up. The most creative writers who ever lived could not have conjured up such a preposterous tale. Imagine, a King being born in a smelly, dirty, animal stall to a simple teenage girl whose husband was a struggling carpenter with no money. Then the couple have to take the baby King and run for their lives because the reigning king, Herod, feared the baby might grow up and overthrow him. His Pride seizes him so he sends his soldiers to kill the baby King. They kill hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent children in their heinous bloodletting yet never find the child they were looking for to begin with. 
As preposterous as this story may seem, more than two thousand years later more than two billion people still believe it. For over two millenium this belief has continued to transform the world. Millions upon millions of us will celebrate this miraculous birth a week from now. How can that be? 

It is due to that great intangible we call FAITH. You can’t see it, you can’t touch it and you cannot smell it. However, if you open yourself up to it, it can grab you in a life-long embrace that might take your breath away. Faith in God and all He has done is the greatest of all the gifts we will ever receive. It spawns kindness, and temperance and patience. And Faith breeds Humility. Humility will lead to love, true love of others, not ourselves. This is fact.
Peace without love is an illusion. It cannot exist. It can never come from our own agenda. That is because the deadly toxin, Pride, is inside us and Satan prowls the world dripping his venom into our hearts using Pride as the gateway “drug”. Many of us reject his “empty promises”. Many do not and their egos are commandeered so easily that they sometimes explode with hatred. 
This hatred is quite visible throughout the world today. Christianity is actually on the verge of being wiped out of the Middle East as Christians are being killed and tortured every day simply because they believe in this baby and who He grew up to be. The Good News is we have been given the antidote. It is Humility.
Our greatest of all gifts, FAITH, allows us to believe that God, the Creator of all that is, shared Himself with us through  His Son. To accomplish this He  humbled Himself in the most profound act of selflessness that was and will ever be. This was God become man for us. He came as a helpless, innocent newborn, barely able to grasp the finger of his Mom. He allowed himself to be born surrounded by the squalor and filth of a stable. Poor shepherds from the hillside were His first visitors. Humility lay in a pile of straw and looked up into the beautiful face of His weary Mom.
A few small pot fires provided enough light for the man of the family, Joseph, to see the two people that he had to care for and protect. No bells were ringing, no trumpets were blaring and no cymbals were smashing. The deafening quiet made this the greatest of Silent Nights.  Thirty-three years later, booming thunder would echo His death and three days after that brilliant sunshine would announce our redemption. It is the most beautiful of all truths.
FAITH is a gift that many people have seen fit to grab onto. They have responded to God’s graces and listened. They have grabbed the ‘brass ring’. There are many more who cannot escape the all-consuming Pride that keeps telling them they are so much smarter than all those ‘believers’. 

How sad this is because this Pride is Satan’s portal that will allow him to take them on a road that leads to complete misery dominated by an all-consuming hatred of anything that is Good. If only they would reach out and allow that little hand to squeeze their finger, just for a moment. It will not hurt one bit and they might find out that respecting and honoring Humility can do a person wonders. It could even lead to Peace on Earth.
During this Christmas Season let us all consider asking  for an extra dose of Humility and then pray for Peace on Earth and that Good Will be in ALL people, everywhere. 
                    &nbs
p;                         
                                   Copyright Larry Peterson 2014 

"Silent Night"– when Humility crushes Pride

1 Comment

by Larry Peterson

Peace on earth? Where is it? Is it in Syria? How about Pakistan? Maybe Sudan or Iraq? It is definitely not hanging out in Afghanistan or Iran. How about Cuba?  What does “Peace on Earth” mean? It is not a cease fire between warring factions. It is not a complicated or even simple agreement between nations. True Peace on Earth can only come about by the destruction of the great demon, Pride, and there is only one true weapon that can go head-to-head with Pride and crush it. That weapon is more powerful than all the weapons in all of the arsenals in the world put together. That weapon is Humility.

The weapon of Humility came to us in the form of a newborn baby on Christmas.  This story is so amazing that our simple common sense will tell us it was never fabricated or made up. The most creative writers who ever lived could not have conjured up such a preposterous tale. Imagine, a king being born in a smelly, dirty animal stall to a simple teenage girl whose husband was a struggling carpenter with no money. Then the couple would have to take the baby King and run for their lives because the reigning king, Herod, feared the baby might grow up and overthrow him. Herod’s Pride seizes him so he sends his soldiers to kill the baby King. You are  familiar with the rest of the story. As preposterous as this story may seem more than a billion people believe it. For two thousand years this belief  has continued to transform the world. Millions upon millions of us  celebrated His birth the world over the other night. How can that be? It is due to that great intangible we call FAITH. You can’t see it, you can’t touch it and you cannot  smell it. However, if you open yourself up to it, it can grab you in a life-long embrace that might take your breath away.

Peace without love is an illusion. It cannot exist. It can never come from our own agenda. That is because the deadly toxin, Pride, gets inside us and drips its venom into our hearts filling our egos so much that they sometimes explode with hatred. This hatred is quite visible in the Middle East where Christians are being killed and tortured every day because they believe in this baby and who He grew up to be. The Good News is we have been given the antidote. It is Humility.

Our greatest of all gifts, FAITH, allows us to  believe that God, the Creator of all that is, shared Himself with us through  His Son and, in so doing,  humbled Himself in the most profound act of selflessness that was and will ever be. This was God become man for us. He came as a helpless, innocent newborn, barely able to grasp the finger of his Mom. He allowed himself to be born amidst  the squalor and filth of a stable. Poor shepherds from the hillside were His first visitors. Humility lay in a pile of straw and  looked up into the beautiful face of His weary Mom. A few small pot fires provided enough light for the man of the family, Joseph, to see the two people that he had to care for and protect. No bells were ringing…no trumpets blaring …no cymbals were smashing. The deafening quiet made this the greatest of Silent Nights.  Thirty-three years later, booming thunder would echo His death and three days after that brilliant sunshine would announce our redemption. It is the most beautiful of all truths.

Seventy-three years ago the story of Our Lady of Lourdes was presented in the movies under the title “The Song of Bernadette”. Franz Werfel, the author, had a prologue appear on screen before the movie began. It said, “For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe no explanation is possible.”  That is not exactly true. FAITH is a gift that many non-believers have seen fit to grab onto. They have responded to God’s graces and listened. They have grabbed the ‘brass ring’. Many more cannot escape the all consuming Pride that keeps telling them they are so much smarter than all those ‘believers’. I only wish they would reach out and allow that little hand to squeeze their finger, just  for a moment. It will not hurt one bit and they might find out they were not so smart after all..

THANK YOU Lord, for Christmas

Leave a comment

by Larry Peterson

 We Catholics have our “Catholic Hall of Fame” (I call it that) which is filled with people we call saints. The Blessed Virgin Mary is undoubtedly the greatest of all saints and, as the Mother of God, she is highly honored above all others.  But it is important to remember that when they were alive  they did not walk around with glowing orbs wrapped around their heads for all to see. They walked and talked and ate and slept and got sick and even woke up “on the wrong side of the bed” at times…just like the rest of us. They were people like we are. But they had made a choice to open their hearts to God’s grace and once they did  there was no turning back.  No matter what they were confronted with, whatever hardship, obstacle, injustice or whatever it might have been, they were determined to serve God before all else even if it meant giving up their very lives. This is how certain people are able to rip their “pride filled egos” from inside themselves and leave it  in the pile of dust of what once was.

Christmas and the great lessons it teaches in giving of oneself to others is once again upon us. A young girl named Mary would listen to a message from the Angel Gabriel and unhesitatingly accept  being  the Mother of God. She would now be pregnant and unmarried. She did not understand any of it. She knew that under Jewish law this could mean her possible execution when people found out. It did not matter. Filled with the grace of God she gave all of her being to Him. She trusted Him completely. Her espoused, Joseph of Nazareth, a carpenter and “righteous” Jew,  kicked  his manly pride to the dusty curb and accepted the  pregnant woman as his wife. He would love her with all  his heart, protect her, provide her a home and be her best friend until the day he died. This was, indeed, a Holy Family.

We Christians believe that the infant born on that first Christmas night so long ago was and is the Son of God. The Creator Himself  sent His only Son to teach us and to save us. What did He have to teach us? He had to first and  foremost teach us how to love one another. Then we needed to learn that Pride leads to all sin. It is the parent of jealousy and greed, envy and anger, lust and gluttony. We needed  to know how to conquer the great sin of pride. So the baby grew and became the Man that preached love and forgiveness. He was kind and caring and cured sick people. He taught us about the evils of “pride”. After He finished teaching us how did He save us? He allowed us to kill Him. His Mom was there, watching and feeling the searing pain of Simeon’s  prophesied sword pierce her tender, loving heart. She gave Him to the world and watched as the world took Him away from her.

Jesus died for us. He poured out every last drop of His blood so we could once again have access to heaven. He did this out of pure love for each and every person that ever lived or will live. “We come to know and believe that God is Love and he who abides in Love abides in God and God in him”   1 John 4:16

Christmas begins the “Greatest story ever told”. It is about love and forgiveness and kindness and sharing. It is about peace and joy. For children it can be about a man in a red suit with a “broad face and a little round belly, that shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly—“. It is a beautiful thing, Christmas, a beautiful thing. How can you not love the goodness and peace it represents.  God IS Love.  I would like to join the millions of others around the world and say THANK YOU Lord for Christmas and all it represents.

Evangelii Guadiam is about Dignity for ALL Men & Women; It Cares NOT for Politics

2 Comments

by Larry Peterson

When Pope Francis released his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, he also  inadvertently released  a swarm of pseudo experts on Catholicism and the Papacy. Why even Rush Limbaugh, who acknowledged his own non-catholicity, has decided that the Pope  is nothing but a “pure Marxist”. Those on the left have assumed that the Catholic Church’s teachings on abortion,  contraception, women priests, and homosexual behavior and other issues are about to be changed. These folks, left & right,  are living in their own personal world of ‘relatavism’. Caught up in the secular world of ‘meism’ they cannot grasp for one tiny moment that the primary purpose of the Catholic Church is the salvation of souls. First and foremost, the Church is here to guide ALL of us to an eternal life with God, our Creator. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,  founded the Church and appointed its first leader, the apostle Peter who was the first Pope. Pope Francis is #266. Their mission, which they graciously accepted, has always been the same, to lead the flock to Salvation. Nothing has changed.

Okay now, listen up all you clever pundits who have allowed yourselves to become  unknowing prisoners of the secular Age of Relatavism. Pope Francis has done no different than Pope Leo XIII who gave the world Rerum Novarum in 1891 and Pope Pius XI who gave us Quadragesimo Anno in 1931. These documents were papal encyclicals and they dealt with capitalism, socialism, labor, fair wages, working conditions etc. (Please feel free to see for yourself. Just ‘google’). We need to remember that Catholic social doctrine deals with the DIGNITY of man/woman because they are made in the image and likeness of God.  Poor and rich alike have responsibility to each other because they are all part of the human equation. There is nothing evil in being rich. There is nothing wrong with workers wanting a better wage and improved conditions. Evil enters when the deadly sin of greed is embraced by people when  they begin thinking of themselves first instead of God. Consequently they want more for themselves at the expense of others. Employers and employees have a responsibility to each other to be fair and just at all times. As Leo XIII addressed the social order so did Pius XI wherein he wrote about the dangers of “unrestrained capitalism” and “totalitarian communism”. John Paul II addressed the dignity of man in Centesimus Annus in1991 and  Benedict XVI followed with  Caritas in Veritate in 2009. Pope Francis has connected the dots with the Popes over the last 112 years. The dignity of all people from the lowest to the most exalted is considered. The Pope(s) wants all people to understand that justice must come from all of us not just from some of us.

The Catholic Church is primarily a ship navigating the turbulent and often times violent waters of pride and envy and greed. As the church forges through these deadly waters the ship’s captain, (Pope), his officers, (bishops) and  crew (priests and religious)  are supposed to work together to  keep the ship safe and on a true course to Salvation . They are responsible for the millions of souls that are their passengers. They are supposed to be teaching them how to remain safe and secure as they travel along and how to be ready to confront any and all emergencies. Many times an experienced crew member ignore’s his/her training. Often times untrained passengers do not listen. Sadly, they are lost. Pride, greed, envy, lust, anger, gluttony and even sloth combine to stretch their tentacles over the ship’s railings and grab the indifferent pulling them over the side and down into the blackness. And to think, all they had to do was listen. In the meantime the ship’s captain MUST stay the course even though at times he must adapt to changes in the weather. There is one thing he will not do, change the primary mission. No matter what, he will always move forward and never retreat from the goal of reaching the shores of Salvation.

I think we must remember that the Catholic Church is here to guide us to a reward greater than we can ever imagine. It is not here to make everyone feel good about indulging in their own “feel good” world. Just as a parent must say ‘no” to their children the Church must say “NO” to ideas, behaviors and personal whims that violate the commandments. In today’s world many people do not like being told NO. There seems to be an idea that if  “I’m not bothering you I can do what I want.” Well, “NO”–none of us have that luxury. Pope Francis has embraced the people, the common people. It is a beautiful thing and God has done all of us a great favor in giving this man to the world. But make no mistake, he is the captain of the great ship and he is trying his best to guide it to “Salvation”. That will always be his primary goal and the ship’s ultimate destination.

Hey Atheists, Guess What? We are a Judeo-Christian Nation, Like it or Not.

Leave a comment

by Larry Peterson

I consider myself a tolerant man. I have always tried to understand, to the best of my ability, the other side. You know the old cliche, “there are two sides to every story”? Well, guess what. Not this time.

So, here it is. When it comes to one topic it seems the tolerance I always prided myself on has somehow evaporated.  I am so over the atheists, these non-God people, who are trying their utmost to have the name of God removed from everything possible in the country. And I am also sick to death of all the ignorant judges who acquiesce to their foolish demands and to school administrators who cater to the slightest little non-God rant by even one person.Our children deserve better (I digress). Anyway, here is what I do not  understand: since the existence of God and freedom of religion are two separate things how do they get away with all their nonsense?

I guess my tipping point came when the “American Atheist” movement sued Bradford County, FL because it had a monument to the Ten Commandments outside the court house. The County “agreed” (such wooses) to take it down but the people who donated it refused to remove it. So the county compromised and allowed the atheists to erect their own non-God monument next to the Ten Commandment monument. Isn’t this absolutely ludicrous. Remember–the existence of God and freedom of religion are two different things.

The beginnings of  the United States had rooted long before the eighteenth century. By 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed,  the words “we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights” were included in that document. The acceptance of a Creator, aka God, was unquestioned.  The Constitution of the United States was ratified on September 17, 1787 and the Bill of Rights on September 25, 1789. The very first Amendment was that which we know as freedom of religion, speech and press.  There was never a question of whether or not God existed. The question was how were we to worship Him. The answer was; any way you choose. The government would make no law establishing or prohibiting any religion. How beautiful is that.


Here is the unvarnished truth: The Constitution of the United States of America was established  based on Judeo-Christian principles. The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing. The very foundation for the Constitution was “Natural Law”. What is that? Natural law  is God’s law. Ever hear of the Ten Commandments? The Jewish law began with Abraham, moved to Isaac and then to Jacob.  Simply said, Jewish law recognized the individual family as the nucleus of their society. This nucleus developed and grew  into the 12 tribes of Israel and by the time of Moses these 12  tribes had numbered over 600, 000. Then Christianity, rooted in Judaism, merged together and Anglo-Saxon law followed. Along came the Magna Carta in 1215 and 572 years after that our Founding Fathers rooted our Constitution into that unbelievably fertile soil. The tree that grew from that soil was the greatest nation ever seen, the United States of America. Sometime the fruit was not perfect. Sometimes it was downright rotten. But for the most part, the tree grew and flourished. Interestingly, it is rooted in Natural law. I know that this is a simplistic explanation of the Judeo-Christian principle but this information is available to anyone who wants to check it out. 

Our Founders believed in God. They KNEW HE existed. There was no doubt. And these were pretty smart guys. Natural Law, which is included in the Ten Commandments, was the very foundation for our Constitutional republic. That is why the Commandments are in so many court houses around the country including the Supreme Court. They do not tell us what religion to belong to. They do not tell us how to worship God. They just tell us what comes Naturally to all of us. You should not kill, you should not steal, you should not lie, etc. We know these things without being told. How we worship the God who gives us Natural Law is up to us. 

For people to fight against the existence of God as unconstitutional or for judges to agree with that premise is absurd.  I for one am sick of it. I do not care if a person does not believe in God. I do not care if a person worships a rock. Knock yourself out–but leave me alone. I am not bothering you, am I? If  I am, get over it. We are a Judeo-Christian nation, like it or not. We must always remember that a magnificent tree cannot survive if you rip out its roots. Rather, it will wither and die.