Skip to main content

Practical Wisdom for Living in a Pagan Culture - Steve Wood

Image
By
+
JMJ

The truth is the truth and Mr. Wood speaks the truth.

One of these days I need to get his approval to re-publish his newsletters ... mea culpa.

P^3

Source: Practical Wisdom for Living in a Pagan Culture




Dads.org January 2016, Volume 22, Number 1

Practical Wisdom for Living in a Pagan Culture

With the arrival of 2016 we can safely affirm that we reached the bottom of the cultural waste-dump. If you want to see what a pagan culture looks like just read the “lifestyle” section of your newspaper, or simply turn on your TV. Here are just three of the many indicators:
  • Another January anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade ruling concocting a constitutional right to slaughter innocent babies through abortion
  • The high court and the president of the United States of America openly supporting fictitious same-sex marriage
  • The secular media going gaga over the tragic deformation of Bruce Jenner

With our cultural slide, fathers are asking, “How can we keep our kids faithful and moral in today’s world?” Parents need to remember that this isn’t the first time that Catholics have faced living in a pagan culture.

Catholics living in ancient Rome faced challenges similar to what we are experiencing. Today’s parents need to recover the ways they successfully taught practical Christian living in the midst of a pagan empire. Looking back will reveal a proven way to navigate in the days ahead.

One of the earliest Christian writings is called the Didache (lit. “Teaching”). One of the reasons why the Didache was effective was because it didn’t use religious wordiness. It simply taught the truth without the distraction of fancy rhetoric.

Here is the first unforgettable sentence of the Didache.
“There are two Ways: a Way of Life and a Way of Death, and the difference between these two Ways is great.”

Today, many Christians think there’s just one broad way to heaven that everyone is following, even pro-abortion politicians. Many in America might believe that there is a hell, but only Hitler, Stalin, and Judas go there. Some Catholic teachers allege that many may go to hell, but folks only stay there for a temporary visit. I suppose these false prophets imagine that Jesus really didn’t mean it when he talked about “eternal punishment by fire” (Mat 18:18, 25:41, 46).

In addition to the Didache, early Catholics used the book of Proverbs to teach about the way of the fool leading to death and the way of the wise man resulting in life and blessing.

There’s no “just be nice” type of flabby moralism in Proverbs. Instead it communicates muscular truth that men in every age need to hear. Is it any surprise that the saints and doctors in the early Church used Proverbs?

Listen to what St. Ambrose (340 -397) said to newly baptized Catholics about the value of Proverbs:
“Every day we have come to talk to you about how you ought to behave. We have read to you the acts of the patriarchs or the counsels in the book of Proverbs so that, instructed and formed by these teachings, you may become accustomed to following the same path that our ancestors walked before us, and to obeying all the divine messages; thus, made into new people by baptism, your behavior will befit your position as baptized people.”

St. Basil (329 – 379) said, “The book of Proverbs is read to give an order to our actions and as a corrective to our passions: in summary, it is a discipline or guide to life.”

In addition to St. Ambrose and St. Basil, we find St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, St., Venerable Bede, St. Clement of Alexandria, Pope St. Gregory the Great, St. Jerome, and St. Athanasius using Proverbs in their teaching and writing.

Proverbs was a book that the saints and doctors of the Church used to teach godly living in the midst of the Roman Empire. Today’s Catholic families would be wise to follow their example.

Faith & Family Radio
Want to learn more about Proverbs? Faith & Family Radio is featuring a teaching series on the book of Proverbs entitled, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Families. There are two ways to listen.

First, request that your local Catholic station carry the series (free of charge).

Second, Dads.org offers free listening to an assortment of the Proverbs radio shows.

Each week during January we will post a new Proverbs show along with the previous week’s show. To listen click here.

Family Life Team
The Family Life Team is our circle of supporters. This month we are offering team members a special collection of four Proverbs radio shows on an mp3 CD, allowing for an easy transfer to your smartphone.

To request a free no-obligation letter describing this mp3 CD: (1) send an email to: team@familylifecenter.net, or (2) click here.

Conferences
February 6th, Tampa, FL – 6th Annual Tampa Bay Catholic Men's Conference

February 20, Menlo Park, CA - 8th Annual Spiritual Warfare Conference: The Family Under Attack

Steve Wood Conference Topics: click here

Personal
I want to express my deep appreciation to each of you who sent an end-of-year gift. Your generosity made a big difference. Thanks also for the many kind notes of encouragement.

At Christmas I was treated to this picture of my youngest grandson, Caleb James Kohl (8 months).

Yours in His Majesty’s Service,

Steve Wood
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

De Veritate - St. Thomas Aquinas - What is necessary to believe explicitly?

By
I was recently introduced to a work of St. Thomas De Veritate ( Source ) in the course of an argument concerning the minimum content of explicit faith.  When I submitted the following quote as proof: Theological faith, that is, a supernatural faith in Revelation, is necessary, and this is an effect of grace (D 1789); nemini unquam sine ilIa contigit iustificatio (D 1793). As far as the content of this faith is concerned, according to Hebr. 11, 6, at least the existence of God and retribution in the other world must be firmly held, necessitate medii (by the necessity of means) with explicit faith. In regard to the Trinity and the Incarnation, implicit faith suffices. The supernatural faith necessary for justification is attained when God grants to the unbeliever by internal inspiration or external teaching a knowledge of the truths of Revelation, and actual grace to make the supernatural act of faith. Cf. De verite 14, I I.Ott - Fundamentals of Dogma p241 In response my opponent ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Comparision of the Tridentine, Cranmer and Novus Ordo Masses

By
+ JMJ I downloaded the comparison that was linked in the previous article on the mass (here) . ... a very good reference! P^3 From: Whispers of Restoration (available at this link) . CHARTING LITURGICAL CHANGE Comparing the 1962 Ordinary of the Roman Mass to changes made during the Anglican Schism; Compared in turn to changes adopted in the creation of Pope Paul VI’s Mass in 1969 The chart on the reverse is a concise comparison of certain ritual differences between three historical rites for the celebration of the Catholic Mass Vetus Ordo: “Old Order,” the Roman Rite of Mass as contained in the 1962 Missal, often referred to as the “Traditional Latin Mass.”The Ordinary of this Mass is that of Pope St. Pius V (1570) following the Council of Trent (1545-63), hence the occasional moniker “Tridentine Mass.” However, Trent only consolidated and codified the Roman Rite already in use at that time; its essential form dates to Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604), in whose time the R...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rome and the SSPX - Version 2026 Part 5b - How Did We Get Here??? ... A Continued Anlaysis using ChatGPT.

By
 + JMJ Part 5b How Did We Get Here??? So in the previous ChatGPT analysis the LLM ‘concluded’ that there was continuity in doctrine. So now we’re going to explore this element. There is some repetition but I don't have time right now to do a lot of editing.  I think instead we'll have a Part 5c where I try to pull it all together with some old fashioned human sense making. At the end point, I think the LLM collects an interesting if somewhat skewed perspective: The SSPX mapping hinges on this claim: That Vatican II affirms (at least implicitly) propositions that the Syllabus of Errors explicitly condemned. The broader Church response is: The same propositions are still rejected—but Vatican II is addressing different categories (political, pastoral, anthropological) rather than reversing doctrine. While the summary of the SSPX position seems close, that of the broader Church seems to be either an outright AI hallucination or a consensus point from the literature that it used...
Post a Comment
Read more

News Roundup: April 30, 2026

By
 + JMJ I just realised that I haven't posted the latest Roundup ... and there is a lot in the roundup as the media storm around the SSPX continues! I also just noticed this article: European Conservative: Why the SSPX Bishop Decision Matters Far Beyond Church Politics (link) .  P^3 === Popes Past Present and Future Papal News and Views Cardinal Fernandez maintains that Francis is not dead- metaphorically Pope Leo XIV Reopens Amoris Laetitia File | FSSPX News Pope Leo: “We Do Not Agree with the Formalized Blessing of …Homosexual Couples” - OnePeterFive RORATE CÆLI: How Pope Leo is Reshuffling the Curia: Musical Chairs and Power Games RORATE CÆLI: A Giant Leap: The meaning of Cardinal Eijk’s Pontifical High Mass and the Rebirth of Dutch Catholicism RORATE CÆLI: A Sign of Continuity with the Pre-Francis Papacy: Pope to Wash Feet of Twelve Priests RORATE CÆLI: Vatican Blocks Continuity of Procedure of Beatification and Canonization of Argentine Bishop -- no new Satanellis Pope Leo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rome and the SSPX - Version 2026 Part 5 - How Did We Get Here???

By
 + JMJ This is the fifth in this series and I think it may require a part b to show the controversial documents and teachings of the Pope post V2. P^3 Part 5 How Did We Get Here??? Introduction My family became ‘Traditional’ in early 1980’s and I didn’t realise until years later how early we entered the Fray. So the SSPX was slightly over a decade old when we started going to Mass. That is a young organization, as someone said at the consecrations “Aren’t you a little young to be a bishop?”, the response was, “That is something that time will change.” 1970: SSPX founded with diocesan approval (Abp. Marcel Lefebvre) 1974–1976: Vatican II disputes escalate; Lefebvre suspended a divinis 1988: Illicit episcopal consecrations → excommunications declared 2000: SSPX Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome (signals openness to talks) 2009: Excommunications lifted by Pope Benedict XVI 2011–2012: Doctrinal talks with CDF collapse 2015–2017: SSPX granted faculties for confessi...
Post a Comment
Read more