Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study
Christian Fellowship Announcement: Long-term member, Jason, has started an online Catholic fellowship group for those who are interested in praying and sharing together. It is called “Catholic Prayer, Fellowship, and Spirituality” and everyone is invited to join/connect on Meetup at https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/.
Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study house rules/notes…
1. Meetup is https://meetu.ps/c/4mYPW/F6KR3/a, Zoom Meeting Logon information is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952
2. The notes/recaps from our meetings are posted on our Catholic Catacombs Light website https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/blog, usually within a day.
3. See The Chosen. Knowing Jesus Christ means being able to better relate to God. Check it out: The Chosen at https://thechosen.link/1Y1R7.
4. Respectfulness. Of course we will discuss differences between religions and even between Christian denominations, but we agree to use respectful words and tones in doing so. Specifically, Protestants are our friends and brothers in Christ (I myself owe part of my return to the faith to them).
5. No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct; however, that’s not our goal. Our goal is to learn the Bible, explain the Catholic faith – what it means and especially its origins in Scripture and Jesus Christ – and helping people develop a closer relationship with Jesus Christ in their daily lives.
6. Questions encouraged. If you have questions about anything, you can email the group via Meetup, or me directly at ron@hallagan.net.
Bible Study Format
10 min prayer, 20 min Catholic topic, 30 min (below):
Week 1: Feb 1 – Gospel Week: Jesus is Baptized by John; Jesus engages Satan in the Desert; The Wedding at Cana
Week 2: Feb 8 – Bible Timeline Gen2Rev: Gen13-14 – Covenant w/Abraham; Sodom & Gomorrah; The Binding of Isaac
Week 3: Feb 15 – Topic of Choice – Particular vs General Judgement; Hell
Topics Survey Results
Ö 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables
Week 4: Jan 25: Open Mic
2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven
3) Christian Comparisons
4) Great Women in the Bible
5) Why is there suffering?
6) World Religions
7) Book of Revelation
Opening Prayer
Glory Be to You, My Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Tonight, Lord, we will begin the year with a reflection on our Fall from You
as it begins the journey that takes us to your Last Supper – The Mass – the earthly ante-room to Heaven.
We then open up our discussion to any and all here tonight who wish to discuss whatever is weighing on his/her mind.
Listen to us, Lord, and grant us the wisdom to hear and understand.
We ask you to bless everyone here tonight, hear their deepest needs, and grant their requests according to Your Will
– silent prayer/special requests –
May we know Your will and may Your will be done.
And as you taught us to pray:
Our Father Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily Bread;
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, forgive me for I am a sinner. Amen.
I have a brief comment. In the past, I have made the statement that I have come to view that all good things that happen in my life are God’s doing and everything bad that happens is my doing. Ademola’s wife, Monica, I think felt sorry for me and said I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. I replied that it was something I needed to do because of my humongous ego, which helped to keep it in check. Upon some reflection, I would now like to revise my statement slightly, which may better reflect my intent.
All the good things that I do is God working through me – I am cooperating with Him; and all stupid or selfish things I do have nothing whatsoever to do with Him.
Upcoming Catholic Holy Days
Ordinary Time: Jan 10 to March 2. Lent: Wed, March 2 to Holy Thursday, April 14.
Upcoming Jewish Holy Days: Purim (March 16-17) 14th of Adar.
Hebrew months:
1-Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah)-Sept
2-Marcheshvan - Oct
3-Kislev (Hanukkah) – Nov/Dec
4-Tevet - Jan
5-Shevat (5 ½ AA*)
6-Adar – March (+leapx3)
7-Nisan (Passover/Easter)
8-Iyar – May
9-Sivan (Shavuot/Pentecost)
10-Tammuz – June/July
11-Av – July/Aug
12-Elul – Aug/Sept
The Mass/The Fall
Given it is Ordinary Time again, rather than jumping back into the Mass where we left off at the beginning of Advent started, I thought we might review the Fall of Man briefly since provides the foundation for the rest of the bible, and why God decided to come here. This is especially relevant since we spent last week talking about Justice and later in February we will be tackling Judgement after this life.
Q: Who remembers the Fall? What triggered it?
They ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil.
Q: But the “apple” they ate represented something bigger, which is tied to what the serpent promised them. What was it?
He promised them that they would be like God, except without God. They could be masters of own destiny.
Q: Who can remember why is it called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?
1) Knowledge is power. 2) Power over what?
Power over good and evil! Without God, you can decide what is right and wrong, because you don’t answer to anyone! That's what being Master of your own destiny means.
Q: Who remembers what God called himself when Moses asked him?
Yahweh, or “I AM.” Unlike the other gods who are of this universe or part of it, Yahweh is the cause of existence/being itself. He created the universe, so He is beyond it and also in it, somewhat like an artist is in his painting.
Since God breathed his spirit into humans, we are thus in his image. It’s why we comprehend some of his qualities that do not come from material nature, such as love, justice, truth, freedom, beauty, and joy.
One of the greatest qualities we just discussed is God is “I AM.” What is the biggest thing human beings desire? “To be” something/anything, to be more, to be better, to be respected by everyone, to be appreciated, to be perfect. To not be disrespected, and if we are, it’s cause enough for violence. This desire for “high identity” is unique to humans. Where do you think it came from?
Therefore, the Fall of Man is, in a sense, our claim to God’s “I AM.” We want to be I AM without God. By choosing to go after the title I AM for ourselves - to elevate Self to Master - we followed Satan's fall from God's grace. That’s exactly what he did.
Q: Surely, God didn’t need to see a repeat. If He knew humans were going to make the same mistake, why would he bother with us?
Agreed, He would have had another plan.
But then Satan seems to have won. Surely Satan saw it that way!
Q: Satan would have expected that humans would be given over to him. What was Satan counting on?
God is perfect justice. What else could God do? Satan had him boxed in.
It's always interesting how God's rules apply even to evil beings themselves. Members of mafia, Hitler's concentration camps, even street gangs demand the highest loyalty and truth from their members – or else they die. No different than Satan.
So, Satan expects justice to be met, or else God cannot be perfect justice, and then God is no longer God. And Satan knows better.
Q: God indeed had another plan: to give humans another chance – and also that justice would not be compromised. How?
Welcome to mortality, our second chance.
Q: But Satan would say, “Hold on right there, what is this? Where is YOUR justice, Sir?
God doesn't feel the need to answer Satan, which is another way of saying, “wait and see.”
Meanwhile, evil (the choice Man made) follows him into his mortal life. (Notice, evil doesn’t exist in the material nature. It only surrounds humans because a) they are also spiritual and b) they chose it.
So this much justice is given – which means Satan follows man into the world, too. Humans and Satan will have another round in the ring with the devil. Perhaps this is where the saying comes from that both will "get another bite at the apple."
Q: Man will find out that no matter how much help God gives him, he can’t stop being selfish long enough to make much progress. They – and we – come up short time and time again. But man must satisfy his own justice. Satan is looking good! How will God pull this off?
He will come here as a man, show us what love looks like, and then, as a man, reverse the fall and take the punishment.
Week 4: OPEN MIC NIGHT
FIVE QUESTIONS WERE RAISED BY OUR GLORIOUS MEMBERS
1. Intercessory Prayer – what is it, is it okay?
Do not confuse prayer with worship. Prayer is a form of communication. Worship is for the Trinitarian God only. The root of the word “pray” is “to ask or beg.” When we ask a friend to pray for us, or a friend asks us to pray for them, that prayer we make is called “intercessory prayer.” When we ask anyone within the Body of Christ to pray for us, this is called intercessory prayer. We are asking them to intercede with the Lord on our behalf. The “Body of Christ” is also called the “Church” and the “communion of saints,” which is all Christians (including deceased Christians), Saints, Mary, and the angels.
2. Aren’t we only supposed to pray to God?
God is the only one who can grant prayers, if that’s your question. However, anyone can ask anyone within the Body of Christ to pray to God on their behalf; and, of course, we should do this. Why? Because the Body of Christ is founded on love (God is love) and we are supposed to emulate His love by loving others – the highest form of which is prayer – and this love does not end just because we die. 1) Love and prayer are the most unifying themes of the Body of Christ. 2) Love reaches outwards – it is all about others, community, and unity. 3) The Holy Spirt, Himself, is the Love and Unity of the Trinity. The Trinity, itself, is a kind of community of love, which we are all called to imitate. Love is never an individual thing. Neither is salvation.
3. Were Platonists on the right track in describing the truth about man – without Christ?
Platonists were (are) impressive in how they approximated the heights of truthabout humanity, at least as far as man might accomplish by himself. However, where Platonists came up short is significant, as Augustine points out. On the amazing side, Platonists determined that man had a soul and that the soul was superior to and independent of the body; unfortunately, they determined the body, since it was the instrument of all our greed and selfishness, was kind of an evil, shadowy pseudo-reality that only got in the way of our true happiness; which, by the way, is similar to many eastern and gnostic beliefs that see the material world as being depraved if not outright evil. Platonists also believed that “the One” (God?) was kind of a detached, uncaring – perhaps even non-sentient (yet perfect) entity from which all material existence “emanated”; and as this materialexistence emanated further and further away it became more and more depraved. The Judeo-Christian God, on the other hand, is quite different – He is not only interested in His creation, he loves it; and all creation is therefore good and desirable – not depraved and evil. The body is a divine creation! Therefore, our goal should not be to deny the body but rather to manage and control it. All this said, the Christian God does teach about moral depravity, and how far man can degrade himself and the world if he is not careful. So, you can see major differences, and there are more. Without God’s help, man alone can only go so far. But they did go far, given what information they had.
Now, quite aside from these differences is the fact that Platonism and many other religions indeed do seek “truth” and the “good.” In fact, this is why they had come so far. Why is this? Not because “man” is so brilliant but because God breathed His spirit into all of us; not just Christians, but all humans. All humans are thus made in the image of God, which is where we humans get our spiritual ideas/qualities from: love, truth, freedom, justice, perfection, happiness, etc. Or, better yet, put the words “pursuit of” in front of all those qualities. And because all humans desire these things and are searching for them, many philosophies and most of today’s major religions pursue true and goodness with a passion. In this way, they all move closer to God in many ways – because we are all drawn to Him. This is the answer to Gina’s question.
As an aside, the only reason Christians have any more of the truth than others is not because the Jews or Christians did anything superior, but because God did. Without what God did, Judeo-Christian beliefs would be on par with the rest, or nonexistent. There is simply no way for humans to reach beyond their finite existence to investigate the truth about God. The only way we can know any real truth about God is if God reaches into our finite existence and reveals Himself. And that is exactly what He does. Whether it was Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David or the prophets, God comes after all of them, relentlessly; even at times against their wishes. Then God gives them this set of standards that all the surrounding religions would sneer at, because they are all inconvenient as hell – honor the Sabbath, no swearing, honor your parents, no lying, no stealing, no coveting your neighbor’s wife or goods – good grief, in comparison the pagan gods had it made (except for human and child sacrifice!). So, not only did God reach into the finite and come after us relentlessly, but no man in his right mind would ever have created a religion such as this.
4. Are there other Jewish holidays besides Hanukkah that are not found the Jewish cannon (inspired scripture)?
Yes: Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), 15 Shevat (new year for trees), and a half-dozen holidays that were created well into the Common Era (after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD). Common Era). Other holidays commemorate events that are in the bible but are not mentioned in the bible, such as Tish’aB’Av, which commemorates the destruction of both Temples (the First Temple in 586 to the Babylonians; the Second Temple to the Romans in 70 AD).
5. What was the origin of the rosary?
Pretty rich history. The best synopsis is found here: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/history-of-the-rosary-1142
Closing Prayer
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Hail Mary…
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, forgive me for I am a sinner.
Amen.
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