Stephen K. Ray's Blog, page 59

On Catholic Answers Live today at 6 PM Eastern

Today I am on Catholic Answers Live to discuss Jesus, John the Baptist and all the typology and intrigue surrounding them in the Wilderness of Judea.

Why was John martyred? Why did he choose that location along the Jordan River to baptize? How was he prophesied about in the Old Testament? What did John eat and why? Why did the Pharisees think he was Elijah?

What was the meaning of God’s voice and message at the river? Why did Jesus get baptized if he was without sin? How does this relate to a Christian being “born again”?

Lots of fun and I am looking forward to it! Listening options.

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Not all Nations are as Insane as the USA when it comes to Gender-transitioning with Teens

7 NATIONS RESTRICTING ‘TRANS’ AGENDA  President Joe Biden is voicing staunch opposition to Republican-led legislatures restricting so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors. The president has called laws banning such procedures “outrageous” and “immoral.” European countries, however, are moving in the opposite direction to the Biden administration. Here are seven nations that are currently “following the science” of gender dysphoria more closely than the United States is.  READ

The countries are truly “following the science” related to gender-bending and are resisting and banning this horrible movement, mainly promoted by the USA. Some of these countries might surprise you: Great Britain, France, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Finland, Poland and Hungary.

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Janet Ray’s Moving 2-Minute Challenge to the Students Final Challenge

Today we said goodbye to the full bus of students. Janet gave them a rousing and moving 2 1/2 minute challenge.

I think you’ll enjoy it and be challenged too!

JANET’S CHALLENGE

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Students Ract and Comment on their time in the Holy Land — very eloquent

Spontaneous interviews with the students from Ave Maria University who went on our Inheritance Pilgrimage through the Holy Land.

I think you’ll enjoy their comments and forthright reactions.

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Last Day: Mass at Gethsemane, Mt. of Olives, Upper Room, Free Time, Blessings & Departure Home

We didn’t start today as early as we did yesterday! We started the day with a visit to Gethsemane. This is always a very special place for Pilgrims seeing trees over 2000 years old that would have seen and heard Jesus that Holy Thursday night. Mass at the rock where Jesus sweat drops of blood.

Then we went to the top of the Mount of Olives to visit the Church of Paternoster, where Jesus told the disciples to pray the Our Father, and from which he ascended into heaven. We prayed that mystery of the rosary while on top of the mount.

Then we had falafel sandwiches because it’s Friday and we couldn’t eat meat. Nice restaurant overlooking the whole city of Jerusalem. A special lunch for the kids.

Then to Mount Zion to visit the Upper Room and St. Peter in Gallicantu and to see the prison where Jesus was kept over Holy Thursday night.

Then 15 of the students had arranged to get religious tattoos in Jerusalem, and the rest of them had free time to wander around in the Christian Quarter of the Old City before we returned to our hotel in Bethlehem for a nice dinner. All our religious items were blessed before packing.

Great breakfast in the morning, smooth operation with packing and boarding the bus and the planes left on time for the USA. A great time was had by all!

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Jesus was NOT Crucified or Killed: Quran, Sura 4

by Fr. George W. Rutler

“That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-  Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;- —Qur’an, sura 4 (An-Nisa) ayat 157-158.

Saint Paul knew from personal experience how difficult it would be for people of various cultures to understand why Jesus had to be crucified.

For the more religiously disposed, whose most inspired matrix of belief was Judaism, the very suggestion of a crucified Messiah would be a scandal, while the more theoretical thinkers, none of whom were greater than the Greek philosophers, simply mocked the proposition.

The reality of Roman crucifixion – they don’t come out alive!

Centuries later when the Koran was written, subtleties were abandoned altogether, and Sura 4 plainly says of Jesus: “They slew him not nor crucified him.” The hard trials that our world is facing right now can, in large part, be traced to this denial of the Cross and Resurrection, for it replaces Christ’s atonement for human sin with a primitive understanding of salvation.

Exactly 229 years ago this month, when the Barbary pirates were menacing ships of the newborn United States off the coasts of Tunis and Algiers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met in London with a Muslim diplomat representing the Dey of Algiers to inquire why his religion made his people so hostile to a new country that posed them no threat.

They reported to Congress through a letter to John Jay, then Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the ambassador’s explanation that:

Islam was founded on the Laws of their prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to paradise.

Not Crucified? Really? Thanks for that update Islam

Islam believes that Jesus was raised bodily to heaven and will return to earth at the end of time. It holds that if Jesus had been crucified, he would have died, and that would have been his end.

The consequences of not understanding God’s love, crowned and enthroned albeit with thorns on a cross, are vivid now in the horrors being inflicted on Christians in many places. For if God is pure will without reason, whose mercy is gratuitous and has nothing to do with any sort of moral covenant with the human race, then irrational force in his name is licit, and conscience has no role in faith.

This is not the eccentric interpretation of extremists; it is the logical conclusion of the assertions in the Koran itself.

The true Word of God confounds any crude dismissal of the crucifixion as though it were a denial, and not a proof of divine power. Jesus spoke of himself as the true Temple that, if destroyed, would be raised in three days. “Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken” (John 2:22).

ISLAM: Koran Sura 4, “Jesus Was Not Killed or Crucified” by Fr. George W. Rutler

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Students Eat A Whole Lamb and Dance with Local Dabka Dancers — they had a blast!!

The dancing went on for a long time. An energetic Arabic dance that left everyone exhilarated and exhausted. Enjoy!

Students dancing start about 5-8 minutes point.

if embedded video does not play, click HERE

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Renewal of Baptismal Vows in the Jordan, and an Absolute Blast in the Dead Sea!

We ended the day by wading in the Jordan River to renew our baptismal vows, and the students absolutely loved floating in the Dead Sea. Back up to our hotel in Bethlehem for conversations and sharing and dinner.

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Camels and Biblical Jeep Ride thru the Deserts

We were with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — and Jesus!

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Via Dolorosa, Calvary, High Mass in Holy Sepulchre and Entering the Tomb

Early morning today but the students loved it!

Day 6 parts 2 and 3 soon.

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