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

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

SSPX and the Resistance - A Comparison Of Ecclesiology

By
Shining the light of Church Teaching on the doctrinal positions of the SSPX and the Resistance. Principles are guides used to aid in decision making.  It stands to reason that bad principles will lead to bad decisions. The recent interactions between Rome and the SSPX has challenged a number of closely held cultural assumptions of people in both sides of the disagreement. This has resulted in cultural skirmishes in both Rome and the SSPX. Since it is the smaller of the two, the skirmishes have been more evident within the SSPX.  The cultural fault-line that Bishop Fellay crossed appears to be linked to two points of Catholic Doctrine: Ecclesiology and Obedience.  The cultural difference of view points is strong enough that it has resulted in the expulsion of a number of members.  It should also be noted that some other priests expelled since the beginning of the latest interactions (starting in 2000) held the same view points and have joined with the l...
8 comments
Read more

If Pope Francis is bad - what about Pope St. John Paul II et al?

By
+ JMJ So here we are on the apparent cusp of yet another post conciliar Papal canonization. This time we have Pope's John-Paul I and Paul VI canonizations to 'look forward' to. This follows, obviously, on the heels of Pope St. John Paul II's canonization? So the first question that I usually encounter is: How is it possible, keeping in mind the doctrine on infallibility of canonizations (note doctrine not dogma), that Pope St. John Paul II is a Saint? First, what does it mean???  According to the doctrine of dogmatic facts - it is the universal opinion of Theologians that canonizations are infallible.  It means that they enjoy the beatific vision.  ... that's it.  That is the doctrine and it is at the level of universal opinion of theologians.  It is called a 'dogmatic fact'. That they made mistakes is obvious.  That the miracles seem to not be very miraculous is also a bit of an issue. Here's something to consider: The rush that surrou...
16 comments
Read more

Spiritual Journey Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre - Extracts

By
+ JMJ I have posted these two chapters to provide context for the quote of: It is, therefore, a strict duty for every priest wanting to remain Catholic to separate himself from this Conciliar Church for as long as it does not rediscover the Tradition of the Church and of the Catholic Faith. P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.ca Chapter II The Perfections of God We ought to remember during this entire contemplation of God that we must apply all that is said of God to Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God. We cannot separate Jesus Christ from God. We cannot separate the Christian religion from Jesus Christ, Who is God, and we must affirm and believe that only the Catholic religion is the Christian religion. These affirmations have, as a result, inescapable conclusions that no ecclesiastic authority can contest: outside of Jesus Christ and the Catholic religion, that is, outsi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (de fide) - Expanded Listing: Answer for Reader

By
 + JMJ  A reader asked the following question in the 2015 version of the article on the Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (link) : 117: "In the state of fallen nature it is morally impossible for man without Supernatural Revelation, to know easily, with absolute certainty and without admixture of error, all religious and moral truths of the natural order." Where can you find this in the documents of the Church? ( Link to comment )  Here's the reference from Ott: The citation that Ott provided was Denzinger 1786 and the source document is Dogmatic Consitution Concerning the Faith from the First Vatican Council (Papal Encyclicals - link) : Chapter 2 On Revelation, Article 3: It is indeed thanks to this divine revelation , that those matters concerning God, which are not of themselves beyond the scope of human reason, can, even in the present state of the human race, be known by everyone, without difficulty, with firm certitude and with no intermingling of error. Here's ...
Post a Comment
Read more