So you call yourself a Christian?

What does it mean to be a Christian? Jesus cared about people. That’s why he died. Christians are called to be like him, so why don’t the majority of people who call themselves Christians care enough to do something about the people around them who are dying. How do we dare ignore what is going on all around us? We whine about abortions, but what are the majority of us doing to ensure that women have no need of an abortion? It is not enough to try to ban it. We have to make it unnecessary. We have to get involved in the nitty-gritty everyday fight to reach girls before they get pregnant out of wedlock, to reach them when they are pregnant with no idea what to do next, when they have no money to feed another mouth, when they are so strung out that they are not capable of caring for a child.

It is not enough to feel pity. It is not enough to pass laws, although laws are important. It is not enough to bicker about who is to blame. We have to do something. Unless you are willing to make a difference, you do not have the right to complain.

We have to get out on the streets and give the kids with nowhere to go somewhere to call home, someone to look up to. We have to show those who know nothing but death that life is possible beyond the painkillers. We have to step beyond propaganda and into people’s lives. We have lives to save. And it starts with one. When you see that homeless person asking for money, get them some food. When you see a need, get involved. You don’t have to start a movement; you just have to start moving. Our faith demands nothing less.

The Slave Trade

And no, I am not talking about something that ended long ago. I am talking about something that is very real in our world today.

We just had a chapel on human trafficking. The guy who talked to us gave us information and statistics about the problem, and then played the film Fields of Mudan, a heart-wrenching tale of a girl forced into that world. A five-year-old in a brothel. In America. And this is the story of millions. This is not something that happens to a few people or that only happens in third world countries. This is something that is huge here in the US. Most people have no clue.

On the right under Make a Change is a list of links for more information. Get involved!!!

Last night I went to my TA tutor's house along with a bunch of his other students. It was so nice to be in a small group of people who I had a lot in common with discussing things not because we had to, but because we wanted to. That is the one thing that I regret about college right now. I am in Torrey, so I get a lot of discussion time in, but sometimes it seems like we are just there because we have to. It's just another class. Lets get it over with so we can go do something fun. That is hard for me to deal with. I want our discussions to be fun, to be what we look forward to and don't want to end. But instead I find myself wanting to do the least amount of work and preparation possible so I can do something 'fun'. grrrr. I don't seem to be able to find a way around that, though I hope and pray that I can. I want to find my way back into the joy of the intellect.

Dante's Divine Comedy: Purgatory

The soul is divided into three parts: the mind, the emotions, and the desires, and there are three categories of people: God, others, and self. The order of the soul should be mind in control of the emotions and desired. The proper order of persons is God, others, self. Purgatory is arranged according to the level of disorder of the souls, or of their disordered view of themselves, others, and God. The two main sections of purgatory are Love Perverted and Disordered Love of Good.

Those in the Love Perverted levels of purgatory have put themselves above others. They have also put their emotions over their minds. This is why they are on the lower levels of mount purgatory. They have a disordered view of others, and their souls are disordered. They must learn to see their sins for what they are, and to love others as they should, as they love themselves.

The Love Deficient and Love Disordered levels of purgatory are full of those who love God first, others second and self last, but have disordered souls. In the case of those whose love is deficient, they do not have the will power to do what they ought. Their minds are not in control enough to make them do as they aught. Those whose love is disordered love strongly, but love the wrong things. They love the things that feed their appetites, and are therefore controlled by their appetites. The penance that they are given in purgatory spurs the mind to further control, and subdues the desires by showing the souls what exactly their desires were in reality.

Unlike the souls in Hell, however, none of the souls in purgatory have put self over God intentionally. True, self indulgence is a form of idolatry, but due to the disorder of the soul, not to having intentionally put oneself over God. Purgatory is a place where order is restored to those who have sought it. Hell is a place where disorder is revealed for what it is, and the souls that chose it on earth dwell there continually wallowing in their horribleness.

New Paper and Topic

I am currently writing a paper this semester on whether religion is necessary to society, and whether or not Christianity is particularly necessary, and for whom. I would love to discuss this, so comment please. The two texts that I am particularly looking at are The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell

The soul is divided into three parts: the mind, the emotions, and the desires. These three sections seem to fit nicely with Dante’s divisions of hell: the incontinent, the violent, and the fraudulent. The incontinence level is full of people who act based on their desires, the violent level is full of people controlled by their emotions, and the fraudulent level is full of people who are controlled by their intellect.

The incontinence section of hell is full of the lustful, the gluttonous, the greedy, and the wrathful. Lust, gluttony, and greed are by very definition, desire. People characterized by them are people characterized and controlled by desire. Wrath does not fit into the category of runaway desire so easily. Wrath, however, is a desire to exact vengeance. To be controlled by wrath is then to be controlled by desire. The circle of hell devoted to the incontinent is full of people driven by their desires, who refused to allow their minds to control their desires.

The violent circle of hell is contains those who were violent against others, against themselves, and against God and the things of God. Violence is the outward expression of emotion, the result of a failure to control emotions, namely hatred. Some might ask what the difference is between those in the wrathful part of hell and those in the violent part of hell. Hatred is the emotion that violence most often stems from. It is differentiated from wrath in that wrath is a desire for revenge, while hatred is a step beyond that into hating there person for who they are. Wrath can be satisfied when the other person gets what is coming to them, but hatred never dies. No matter what happen to the other person, the hatred will only grow. Hatred can grow out of wrath, but is much worse.

The fraudulent circle of hell is a bit more difficult to characterize. At first glance, there seems to be nothing wrong with the order of the souls here. Mind is in control, with the emotions and desires submitted to it. That, however, is why these souls are in the deepest part of hell. There are three categories of people: God, others, and self. The proper order of persons is God, others, and lastly, self. Those who are in hell have put self first above God and above others. This is why hell is organized with the most disordered soul at the top, and the ordered soul at the bottom. Sin is the result of disordering the order of persons, and the more order a soul, the more efficient it is at sinning, and the worse the sins. The fraudulent, then, are ordered souls who have chosen to make themselves their god, the very thing that condemned Lucifer.