17 May 2013

Notes - (early) spiritual [character] life - austere Presbyterianism / rascal wit


            Sandwiches for lunch as you watched a DVRing of "Elementary" from a week ago with only last night's two-hour spring conclusion to go.

            We both enjoy the Holmes shows though I like the BBC productions better. This one grows on you though. You have to pay attention, which is a good part of the fun.

            Late afternoon and you have a thunder sky overhead as you are sitting looking west at Pine Hill Park just above the dam. Carol has her medium McD no sugar vanilla ice coffee and you have a large diet Coke with light ice. Carol is on page 72 of Nancy Gibb's and Michael Duffy's The President's Club a book recommended by Alta. Rain has commenced and the sky has a tinge of light green cast but not so dark and threatening as it looked a half hour ago. Again you two talked about a new car and Carol wanted to know the dimensions -- you had this memorized and told her the Avalon is a half-inch wider and five inches longer (and an inch taller) than the Honda Accord.

            I did spend time on the Consumer Report website and found (after Carol asked last night) that it is recommended and has a 'very good' for reliability, the same as the new Honda Accord. It seems rather silly going over these things when we have a couple of months yet but Carol is getting used to the idea that we might choose an Avalon over an Accord. She loves the heated seats in Winter and the Avalon has heated and cooled seats in the front and heated seats in the rear. It would be a pretty fancy car for the likes of us conservative-with-your-money-schoolteacher-types. Frugality is the part of a schoolteacher's entire adult life.

            Spiritual life too? - Amorella

            I don't know. I learned an austere Presbyterianism along the way either through church or family I suppose. I was young and had little choice but to listen and to learn.

            The rain is lessening. Since you are searching "Presbyterianism" in Wikipedia Offline let's go through what was important to the development of your character. - Amorella

            I don't need to know this.

            You are being arrogant. Remember Socrates’ "Know Thyself".

             I know my family heritage but not the words to articulate it.

            Well, boy, they are right here in front of you so let's go through it and be done. - Amorella

            People don't go through the religion of their youth and sort these things out when they are of retirement age. Here are some general historical facts from Wikipedia that strike my memory.

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The Presbyterian Church USA has adopted the Book of Confessions, which reflects the inclusion of other Reformed confessions in addition to the Westminster documents. These other documents include ancient creedal statements (the Nicene Creed, the Apostles' Creed), 16th century Reformed confessions (the Scots Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Second Helvetic Confession, all of which were written before Calvinism had developed as a particular strand of Reformed doctrine), and 20th century documents.
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Presbyterians traditionally have held the Worship position that there are only two sacraments:
Baptism, in which they hold to the paedo-baptist (i.e. infant baptism as well as baptising unbaptised adults) and the Aspersion (sprinkling) or Affusion (pouring) positions, rather than the Immersion position
The Lord's Supper (also known as Communion)
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Architecture.

The pulpit, often raised so as only to be accessible by a staircase, was the centerpiece of the building. In the late 19th century a gradual shift began to occur. Prosperous congregations built imposing churches, such as Roman Catholic church. In a Presbyterian (Reformed Church) one will not usually find a Crucifix hanging behind the Chancel. However, one may find stained glass windows that depict the crucifixion, behind a chancel.

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            The focus as I remember it was on Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox.

             Include what you remember being taught, that is, what made an impression on you in those days. - Amorella

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Martin Luther (10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German monk, former Catholic priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of a reform movement in sixteenth century Christianity, subsequently known as the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor.
Luther taught that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge. . .
His translation of the Bible into the vernacular (instead of Latin) made it more accessible, which had a tremendous impact on the church and on German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the writing of an English translation, the King James Bible. His hymns influenced the development of singing in churches. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant priests to marry.

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John Calvin: (10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. After religious tensions provoked a violent uprising against Protestants in France, Calvin fled to Basel, Switzerland, where he published the first edition of his seminal work The Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536. . . .
Calvin was a tireless polemic and apologetic writer who generated much controversy. . . . Calvin was influenced by the Augustinian tradition, which led him to expound the doctrine of predestination and the absolute sovereignty  of God in salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation.
Calvin's writing and preachings provided the seeds for the branch of theology that bears his name. The Reformed, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches, which look to Calvin as the chief expositor of their beliefs, have spread throughout the world.

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John Knox (c. 1514 – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination in Scotland. . . . While in exile, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he rose in the ranks to serve King Edward VI of England as a royal chaplain. He exerted a reforming influence on the text of the Book of Common Prayer. In England he met and married his first wife Marjorie. . . . Knox moved to Geneva and then to Frankfurt. In Geneva he met John Calvin, from whom he gained experience and knowledge of Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. He created a new order of service, which was eventually adopted by the reformed church in Scotland.
On his return to Scotland he led the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Protestant nobility. The movement may be seen as a revolution, since it led to the ousting of Mary of Guise, who governed the country in the name of her young daughter Mary, Queen of Scots. Knox helped write the new confession of faith and the ecclesiastical order for the newly created reformed church, the Kirk. He continued to serve as the religious leader of the Protestants throughout Mary's reign. In several interviews with the Queen, Knox admonished her for supporting Catholic practices. When she was imprisoned for her alleged role in the murder of her husband Lord Darnley, and King James VI enthroned in her stead, he openly called for her execution. He continued to preach until his final days.

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Excepts from Wikipedia Offline - Prebyterianism // (Online) Martin Luther / John Calvin / John Knox

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            I will help you edit the above to what is important in heartansoulanmind. - Amorella

            Why is this important? I don't know what has been important and what has not.

            What do you think the Dead do, boy, in these books. They retrace their lives to see what is still important, what is embedded in their character and how to use this to be civil and empathetic to other Dead. Everyone has different shoes or no shoes boy but when dead everyone has feet. And it is better if one walks a mile in everyone else's feet that sheanhe meets. No punishment so great, no humility too small . . . that's the way it is -- sinner or savior, everyone bears every friend's cross until sheorhe learns something about herorhimself. - Amorella

            What about enemy meeting enemy?

            This is not done until both are ready to meet on equal ground, so to speak. Souls first, then hearts, then minds. Both learn something about themselves first. - Amorella

            This all seems so arbitrary. Who sets these rules?

            Who sets the rules that human beings have to breathe air to survive? It is the environment of the Dead that sets the conditioning for survival after physical death. - Amorella

            I don't like the arbitrariness. It doesn't seem just.

            There's the rub, boy. Do with it what you may. In here people survive physical death to learn from life. Did you ever think that the Living may not know what justice is? - Amorella

            I am built small when viewing such a singular thought honestly.

            Seeds are smaller still my laddie. When the editing is done above. Post. Tomorrow you and Carol are to Westerville in the morning to work on the memory of family at Otterbein Cemetery. - Amorella

            I cannot imagine how any of the above can be important to the Dead in the Merlyn books.

            If you think this is a waste of time why do you continue? -  Amorella

            I chose to do so for personal reasons by my own free will. I do not believe in predestination.

            In here, orndorff, I don't care what you believe. How would 'all this exist' if I did?  - Amorella

            The above statement is such a dark-humored state-of-affairs that I find myself in. You squeeze the humor into a smile. No matter what, I love you and your rascal wit, Amorella. You put me in a cage I do not wish to leave. Such contentment grows from your very words.

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