The Political Divide: Use Jargon Not Argument

The source of political and religious divide in America is wonderfully illustrated in Uncle Screwtape's first letter to Wormwood. (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters)

It sounds as if you supposed that argument was the way to keep [your target] out of the Enemy's clutches. That might have been so if he had lived a few centuries earlier. At that time the humans still knew pretty well when a thing was proved and when it was not; and if it was proved they really believed it. They still connected thinking with doing and were prepared to alter their way of life as the result of a chain of reasoning. But what with the weekly press and other such weapons we have largely altered that. You man has been accustomed, every since he was a boy, to have a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn't think of doctrines as primarily 'true' or 'false', but as 'academic' or 'practical', 'outworn' or contemporary', 'conventional' or 'ruthless'. Jargon, not argument is your best ally in keeping him from [the truth].

The Incarnation

Here is Part 3 of Lecture 4 from Stan Walters's BASIC CHRISTIANITY: FACTS-EVIDENCES-REASONS. In the post immediately below, you'll find the whole lecture from which this video is excerpted.

Book available at: http://www.stanwilliams.com/NINEVEHSCROSSING/BCInfo.php

This lecture series on the Facts, Evidences, and Reasons for the authenticity of Christianity is a foundational course for all Christians and is good for adult Sunday School, small group study, home school, college, and advanced high school students.  For content outline and to purchase copies. http://www.stanwilliams.com/NINEVEHSCROSSING/BCInfo.php

Basic Christianity Documentary (WATCH BELOW)

In an effort to promote Dr. Stan Walters's book, Basic Christianity: Facts-Evidences-Reasons, (available here: http://www.stanwilliams.com/NINEVEHSCROSSING/BCInfo.php) I ventured into a video recording of me presenting Dr. Walters's Lecture 4: Getting Information About God.  (I mean our initials are the same "SDW" as are our first two names, Stanley David...) Now, I say that with a bit of sarcasm and deep respect for my mentor, Dr. Walters.  I do wish he was still on the lecture circuit, because his stage presence was very engaging, as the writer of the book's Foreword, Dwight Gregory so well articulates in his Foreword and in the video testimonial on the book's website. So, because I am not the assured, confident, and posed Walters, I have supplemented his words (from the edited book) with lots of graphics and pictures.

Now, that is not really why I added the images and animation. I did such to make Walters's words accessible to the huge audience of young people who don't read so well, or who would have trouble following the logic without visual support. A lot has changed in communication media in our culture since these lectures were last presented by Master Walters in 1968.  I guess, I also added all the visuals and music because when he delivered these, as good as he was, I was a very poor student. It still is hard, although not as much, to listen to a sophisticated talk and understand much of what is being said. I prefer books which allow me without cost, except for time, to re-read a sentence or paragraph many times in order to grasp its meaning. Videos are good too because I can play a section over and over until I get the joke—thick I am.

Also, the meaning behind Dr. Walters' talks are significant in the realm of Christian apologetics. They were very helpful to me, and I want them to be helpful to others.  So, I hope you enjoy the video documentary of his talk (presented by me with the help of Final Cut Pro and a bunch of technology) and remember, you can play a section over and over until it puts you to sleep.

I doubt that I will do more than this one lecture. It is taking a long time, and it's not earning my any money to pay for the software updates. (smile)

Blessings,

Stanley D. Williams

Prayer and Life Workshop (PLW) - A Critical Review

LATER ADDITION and WARNING: An insightful associate (J.S.) who follows this blog, asked for a photograph of the Imprimatur page for The Prayer and Life Workshop (PLW) material. We have a number of PLW publications, including all their workshop materials, study guide, leaders guide, and a large document that traces the history of the organization. THERE IS NO IMPRIMATUR. The organization has a very large presence on the web, with workshops in dozens of countries. But when you ask Google to find the term IMPRIMATUR in connection with PLW, NOTHING COMES UP.

PLW

The Prayer and Life Workshop, which is presented in many parishes around the world and in many different languages, has a noble goal and evidently has helped thousands develop an authentic prayer life. This is commendable.

My wife, Pam, has taken the PLW leadership training, which is extensive although a bit repetitive, but has successful produced confident workshop leaders.

The workshop is an authentic "workshop" in that it meets once a week for 2 hours for 15 weeks and interactively involves the participants. Participants learn to pray in a variety of ways and are immersed in the Christian Scriptures. Interactively, during the workshop sessions, there are exercises for relaxation in an effort to disengage from the worries of the day and to focus on God, especially by invoking the Holy Spirit. There are Bible readings, songs, quiet reflections, times of silence, times of sharing in the small group that meets, and two fairly long talks in two parts of each session, presented via CD by a slow speaking, serious, male voice.

I have started taking the workshop, mostly because Pam has asked me to. But, normally, we have always prayed a lot together, and when the kids were around we conducted daily devotions of Bible readings and prayers. Even today, privately, I will spend easily an hour day in some form of prayer. I start before I rise from bed by listening to the Divine Office's Office of Readings. After dressing and before breakfast I will write in a prayer diary, which I've kept since I was a teen, my meditations on Bible passages (sometimes contemplations) and a list of intercessory prayers. At noon my iPhone alarm reminds me to stop and pray the Rosary. Before Pam and I start in on our daily activities, we will pray together extemporaneously, and at night before bed we will do the same. At the end of our evening prayers we will recite the Our Father, a Hail Mary, the Fatima Prayer, the Prayer to the Archangel Michael, a Glory Be and finally Bless ourselves. Then, finally, as I go to sleep my iPhone will play the Divine Office's Night Prayer.  Prayer and related times of reflection, meditation and contemplation, are invaluable in communicating with God and the saints. They are important forms of therapy, and irreplaceable tools for accomplishing things out of my control.

I write all of that to reinforce that the PLW is something I easily support. But, I have....

Some Criticism

The Smell of Smoke was Not on Them

Posts by this author now appear at her own blogsite: NoSmellofSmoke.blogger.com.

The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s counselors gathered around them and saw that in regard to these men the fire had no effect on their bodies—their hair was not singed, their clothes were not scorched or damaged, even the smell of smoke was not on them.
DANIEL 3:27 AMP

https://bible.com/bible/1588/dan.3.27.AMP

Dear Stan & Pam,

I am writing this to remind myself that God's salvation is not just surviving but surpassing, surreal and supreme. 

After the interview yesterday, roaming aimlessly in the small downtown shopping center in the chilly autumn weather, I felt undeniably and unprecedentedly old...I definitely have entered into the middle age. Shopping attracts me no more and not even distracts me. 

What's the point of a middle-aged woman with no prospect of relationship spending money and energy on looks? And I told myself even if life goes on I will be forever scarred and look permanently different. And imagine I was thinking in this direction even before I learned that my interview didn't quite seal the job for me. 

This morning I thought I couldn't get out of bed...I have to make decisions about a number of interlinked logistic issues...my own return, my parents accommodation and my own and if I would live with them in city, etc...

And if Pam still remembers, the Croatian guy in whom I placed a certain vague hope... Nothing came out of it... despite the good laugh and talk each time we saw each other at the dance classes or parties. He asked about my latest and I politely said goodbye. He wished me well. 

All these small bits and pieces are eating away my strength and resilience.

I will have no job or love here or back home. I'm just an old useless woman. I felt I couldn't get out of bed to face today.

To deafen the "all wise" pessimistic voice I keep on listening to sermons... I find in my case some of the so called prosperity preaching is really like sugar for hypoglycemia patient...life saving. Although, it is maybe not so for those who suffer from obesity and diabetes... But me...oh, messages about how God loves us and will do the best and never will leave us... is never going to be an overdose.

I told myself..my Father will not just save me, but will restore my youth and energy... that in the end no one not even myself will be able to tell the hell I have gone through... 

There will be no smell of smoke about me.

Amen.

I love you.. To be able to share these with you is such a blessing.

Your friend.

Invest in a Short Catholic Dramatic Film

Listen up, folks! Stan Williams here coming at you with a brand-new, exciting film project sure to touch hearts and move the soul. You know those classic kind of good-and-evil stories we rarely see anymore, set in the real world, about real people, but maybe a little different? Well, I've got one here that gets pretty intense, and - here's the best part - it's small scale enough that it won't break the budget.

So, what's it about? I'm glad you asked. Here's the scoop. Meet Sister Clare, a nun-in-training. You like nuns, right? Well, this one's a little too attached to, let's just say, the comforts of her convent. She's tasked by her Mother Superior to go shepherd a group of orphans in East Los Angeles - kind of a rough area, if you aren't familiar - for the night. Needless to say Sister Clare is a little out of her comfort zone here. What follows is not only a fish-out-of-water story, where Clare has to be a 'mother' of sorts (something she'd NEVER thought she'd be), but also a confrontation with the dangers of the real world, with Clare as the protector, when a gang war erupts outside. Through strength and will and that handy little thing called prayer, she and the children are able to make it through the night. Happy ending and hugs all around, but we were scared there for a bit.

It's a short movie with what I think is a really powerful message. And seriously, when was the last time you saw a movie with a nun* as the main character that wasn't all kinds of preachy? This film is fun and cute and has a lot of heart. At the end of the day it's about a young woman discovering that there's more than one way to make a difference in the world. I cry every time I read it.

I'd love it if you could help out. This film would only be about 30 minutes long, and there's serious upside if we can make it right and license it to streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime. But I need your help first! They won't even look at it until it's done. The budget? $164,000. Very doable!

If you'd like to get involved in this 5-day production, please contact me! We have the script, we just need the investment dollars.

* Why a nun? It just makes sense. Catholic nuns have been doing this kind of service work for centuries. They teach school, care for the homeless, and in this film's case, help a group of orphans get through a night during a gang war. It's an application of real world stories and people. And this one's a little different than what we're used to seeing, but hey, that's what makes it interesting, right?

And remember what Mother Theresa said, "You can do no great things, only small things with great love."

Stan Williams, Executive Producer

248-344-4423

Stan@StanWilliams.com

Greenville University to Accept Donations for Printing of BASIC CHRISTIANITY Lecture Series

Dear Friends,

Greenville University has offered to collect TAX DEDUCTIBLE donations for the overseas printing of: BASIC CHRISTIANITY.  

We're well on our way with $4,500 of the $12,500 needed donated.  This will dramatically lower the price of the hard copy editions for worldwide distribution.

This book will bolster the faith of many minds, if we can get it printed and distributed, like we have with thousands of other books and DVDs around the world. 

If you want to help, write out a check to: "Greenville University," and on the Memo Line write "BC Printing Sponsor." 

Mail your check to:

Office of Advancement 

Greenville University

315 E. Main

Greenville, IL  62246 USA.  

This opportunity is not explained in the video below, since it just happened. 

If you want to SPONSOR the printing and get your name, website, and logo advertised inside the book, download this PDF FILE and follow the instructions. 

Hardback copies are available (now) for those of you who can't wait for us to get the price down. And PDFs can be downloaded within minutes. Dive in. This is rich, faith building material. What are we talking about? CLICK HERE.

A few of the chapter titles ( great for homeschooling):

• Thinking for Yourself in Religion
• Getting Information About God
• By Word of Mouth
• Source Criticism & The Synoptic Gospels
• Authenticity of the Fourth Gospel
• Outside Independent Evidences
• The Resurrection of Jesus
• Can Miracles Happen at All?
• Arguments Explaining Miracles
• Text Criticism
• Canon of the New Testament
• The Geopolitical Background of Mark
• Greek and Roman Civilization
• What Made Jesus Different
• Jesus's Power
• Jesus's Last Week and Pilate
• Right vs. Wrong as Evidence of God
• Concepts of God
• Why Believe in God (Parts 1 & 2)
• The Character of Christ
• Sin in the New Testament
• What is a Christian?

and more

Please help us change the culture with this beautiful book filled with goodness and truth. 

Dr. Stan Williams

GOD, THE GREAT "SADISTIC" STORYTELLER

Posts by this author now appear at her own blogsite: NoSmellofSmoke.blogger.com.

GOD, THE GREAT "SADISTIC" STORYTELLER

(on how our lives are much like Sarah's)

by Yvonne W. Bao

For the last 14 years, Yvonne worked in Asia to fight against hunger and human trafficking. She has recently moved to Germany in pursue of a new life and career. I have had the privilege of getting to know her via email and Skype. She may guest blog here from time to time.

It dawned on me that God is a great storyteller. By that, I mean, he certainly has the ability to spare us all the setbacks and suspense we normally experience as humans. He could just hand out to us whatever he has in mind in a blink of the eye. Didn’t he once simply utter: “Let there be…” and lo, there they were, the heaven and the earth and all that is in between.

So, any delay in the deliverance of his promise is obviously not a matter of competency. Could it be one of discretion then? Perhaps he could have refrained from stirring our heart with a vision or dream from him just before its immediate fulfillment, in case the Enemy who is diligently “patrolling the earth” would surely try to undermine the little faith we humans do have.

No sacrilege is attempted but as my walk with God prolongs, I couldn’t help noticing and being alarmed that he seems to "sadistically" enjoy the emotional havoc that the waiting process wreaks in the fickle human heart...and body, too. Or, to say the very least, he's perhaps, well, just stoically indifferent to our suffering.

Basic Christianity Printing Sponsorship and Donation Pitch

With the completion of Stan Walter's Basic Christianity book w'ere now asking businesses, nonprofits, and families for sponsor contributions so we can print the book in a large enough quantity to reduce the price to make it widely available worldwide.

Additionally, Greenville University, where the lecture series was delivered, is willing to receive tax deductible donations of any amount to assist in the printing.  To give to GU on behalf of this printing project, make your check out to "Greenville University" and write in the Memo Line: "BC Printing Sponsor". Then mail it to: Office of Advancement, Greenville University, 315 E. Main, Greenville, IL  62246 USA. 

New Sanctuary at Our Lady Of Good Counsel - Plymouth, MI USA

Here is a fabulous explanation by Fr. John Riccardo of the new sanctuary at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, MI. USA. This must be unique in Catholic sanctuaries. Riccardo is at his best here.

The Passion of The Christ Analysis

Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel in THE PASSION...

This is a long post. You can save it as a PDF and print  it out for study. Use the green PRINT PDF tool in the right column, just below the fold.

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004)

Director: MEL GIBSON
Writers: BENEDICT FITZGERALD, MEL GIBSON
Stars: JIM CAVIEZEL, MONICA BELLUCCI, MAIA MORGENSTERN



CHARACTER TRAITS

In my Moral Premise Secrets of Successful Screenplay workshops I illustrate five (5) key traits of protagonists found in successful stories. In brief, the protagonist must: (1) be IMPERFECT, (2) STRIVE TO CHANGE, (3) pursue an OUTER, VISIBLE GOAL, (4) be impeded in reaching that goal by a PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED, which has (5) created INSURMOUNTABLE PHYSICAL OBSTACLES.

THE "PERFECT" PROTAGONIST

Regarding the first trait, I warn writers not to write stories about perfect protagonists, because audiences can't identify with perfection. Audiences subliminally know: (a) they are personally far from perfect and (b) everyone has a weakness or vice. It's also (c) hard to root for the perfect to be better, although (d) audiences will root for characters who fall into bad circumstances beyond their control, or who don't deserve ill treatment heaped on them.

By definition, protagonists typically struggle with some vice or weakness, and through the circumstances of Act 2, transform that vice/weakness into a virtue/strength, return from their Special World of Act 2 with the discovered elixir in hand, and save their village from annihilation. Ironically, the "perfect" protagonist, is perfect only because in Act 1 she is imperfect, and by the end of Act 3 is a little less imperfect.

Finally, because the audience was on the sidelines cheering-on the protagonist throughout the struggle, the audience is made part of the journey...and they too are transformed. Such is the magic, the miracle, and the great attraction of a story well-told.

HEROES ARE NOT PROTAGONISTS

There are, however, successful movies (and novels) about near perfect protagonists.

Don't Chicken Out Because It Gets Hard

Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: CODE OF SILENCE

Sexual Abuse of Children in the Catholic Church.

In dearly February 2019 I listened to one of my favorite priests delivery a homily.  He encouraged us to love others, and to hold the dignity of other high because, as St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 , "Love bears all things." Father said, "Our dignity runs deeper than our failures," and, "Love hopes all things."

But the theme he reiterated several times (a quote attributed to Pope Benedict 16) has haunted me since that homily. I wondered, as the bishops convene in Rome to talk about what and how the church should respond to this massive scandal, now of many, many years, this Benedict 16 theme hasn't been the worldview of our bishops and Pope Francis:

Love covers with a cloak of silence what is displeasing in others. 

Each time our priest repeated the phrase and put it on the wall for us to consider, I felt as if I was being hit in the chest. Is that what the Catholic Church does systematically to hide its problems with sexual immorality?    Do they call it love?  Love for whom?   So, they are hiding behind a cloak of love a great evil...the displeasing evil behavior of priests? Sorry Father, what you may allude to is not love, it's evil. 

We may be living through one of the great scandals of the Christian Church, 

and yet it will stand...hopefully reformed.

Tonight I watched a great documentary. I'm a filmmaker. I've produced many documentaries, but everything I've done is sterile compared to this masterpiece. I urge all to watch it. Not only is it objective, it is obviously written and produced by those who love the church and long to see it heal. It is also a masterpiece of documentary journalism. The lengths they go to are amazing. Hats off to whoever funded this, and the talent (Martin Boudot) behind it. Crisscrossing the globe they find and talk to people the police have yet to apprehend. And they even reach Pope Francis in the final minutes. Simply amazing.

It's free, I think on Amazon...although I have PRIME, so maybe it's not. But it's worth some loose change.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0718SMTRY/ref=atv_wtlp_wtl_10

I also offer this link of local investigation here in Michigan from The Daniel Coalition
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/c761da_459d804532c944a28c619a08bdb9d71a.pdf

Christianity: Facts-Evidences-Reasons

CLICK HERE for more Information

We are in the final throes of proofing our up-coming book, which we have retitled, yet again to more closely match the content—CHRISTIANITY: FACTS-EVIDENCES-REASONS — 33 college level lectures by ancient language scholar Dr. Stan Walters from Yale, Princeton and Oxford. 

The more we read these lectures, the more convinced we are, and excited we become about the exemplary material it contains for Christians and Christian apologists. 

So, we're going to tease you with a few passages and quotes.

From Lecture No. 1: Goals of the Course

One of the things that gets omitted even in the best public high school programs is the development of a sophisticated understanding of religion. There are good and sufficient reasons for it. But this means that even though you may arrive at college with something like an adult understanding of many facets of life’s experiences, most of us come to college with what is basically a grade school or a junior high school or a Sunday school understanding of the Christian faith. This has a lot of disadvantages, from my point of view. For one thing, all the time that you are learning new concepts, new ideas in matters of science, history, literature, and language, you are not learning anything new in the matter of religion. Everybody knows that grade school science has to give way to a high school understanding, and, in turn, high school understandings, say, in science, have to give way to college-level understandings. 

Wouldn’t this also be true of our understanding of the Christian faith? It seems to me a kind of demoralizing thing when a person is learning new and perhaps exciting ways of looking at everything except religion—and religion he keeps on looking at in the same old Sunday school way. Now that’s nothing against Sunday school. It’s nothing against grade-school understanding. That’s fine for grade-school people. When you become a college person, you want to develop a college-level understanding of the Christian faith.  

Evidence Based 

This is one of the reasons that I try to center the class on evidences rather than on dogmatic affirmations. What you can’t explain to a child you may be able to explain to a college student. I will talk to you differently than I talk to my boy. I would like to explain some things to him and go in deeper than I do, but I know that he can’t follow those things, and he has to take my word for a lot of things.  

Well, part of developing an adult-level understanding of the Christian faith will involve us, then, in the consideration of the evidences for the plausibility of the Christian faith. And this, I hope, will help your religious thinking and, your theological thinking, keep pace with the development of your scientific and other thinking.