Mark A. Kilmer (the weblog)

Shortly before Face the Nation aired this morning, I received a phone call from a good friend, Bill. After having watched a week of Pope Benedict in America, Bill called from Yankee Stadium to tell me about his seats and the experience. You cannot relate much in a few minutes, but I could hear the excitement, both in the background and in his voice.

Pope Benedict XVI is childlike in Jesus. You can see it in his impish smile, in the twinkle of his eye. This man, the most intellectually gifted Pope in a long time, if not ever, is able to touch people , anyone, like he and they are fellow servants, and to that end, they are.

I’m not a Catholic, but I am happy for Bill. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and it is only the third Papal Mass celebrated in the House that Ruth Built. (The two others were by Pope John VI in 1965 and Pope John Paul II and 1993. Which Pope will celebrate the first Mass in the new one? I think maybe this one, since he’s since the Catholic church in America and knows its pain and its joy.

I’d address Bill Maher’s comments, but he is not a serious person.

This is the most holy day on my calendar, as with my brothers and sisters who follow The Way.

It is all here:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

It is not as exclusive as it might appear at first glance. This is for all of us.

This AFP story speaks for itself:

High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week.

Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

“As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don’t believe, or a legend, which I don’t believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics,” Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the “burning bush,” suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

“The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a clasic phenomenon,” he said citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to “see music.”

He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil’s Amazon forest in 1991. “I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations,” Shanon said.

He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree, that is frequently mentioned in the Bible.

Professor Drug Addict scrambles his brains and thinks he sees God, therefore this must be what happened to Moses? He developed the Ten Commandments while stoned? The entire religion of Judaism (thus Christianity) is based on a drug-induced fantasy?

The Bible mentions the tree, professor, but not getting strung out on its bark.

That’s quite an hypothesis, now prove it or run off and kill the rest of your brain cells.

Luke 2:1-15

1 But it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census should be made of all the habitable world. 2 The census itself first took place when Cyrenius had the government of Syria. 3 And all went to be inscribed in the census roll, each to his own city: 4 and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city Nazareth to Judaea, to David’s city, the which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 to be inscribed in the census roll with Mary who was betrothed to him as his wife, she being great with child. 6 And it came to pass, while they were there, the days of her giving birth to her child were fulfilled, 7 and she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him up in swaddling-clothes and laid him in the manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were shepherds in that country abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock. 9 And lo, an angel of the Lord was there by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they feared with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people; 11 for to-day a Saviour has been born to you in David’s city, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this is the sign to you: ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men.

That’s a translation which is probably not as familiar, from the Darby Bible. You see, my wife gave me some Bible software with quite a few translations and commentary, and I’ve always enjoyed Darby. I’ve always considered the translations used by Catholics (NAB, etc.) to be contrarian, different from the ones with which I’m familiar (KJB) just to be so. I had that backwards, perhaps.

Today, I celebrate the birth of my Savior, and I do so with quite a few other Americans. I know in my heart, and I believe, that what I follow is the right way. If you believe differently, I shall not declare jihad and kill your family. I promise. And I do not think that you’re going off to hell to be tortured for eternity, either. (If Christians got seventy virgins, I’d keep my wife, but Christ said that marriages will not matter in heaven because we’ll be like unto angels.)

There’s a bit of anger and resentment about a Disney/Promenade pictures commercial for their Ten Commandments film. It’s nothing. The animated movie is about God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses and the story surrounding it. The commercial dropped a bit which sounded like it told us that the actors with the voices had been chosen by God and replaced it with the name of the studio.

It’s a great story from the Hebrew scripture, as are any of the epic Biblical tales. It is something I wish the kids were able to learn everywhere, but boycotting this cartoon serves no purpose but to turn off God because you’d sooner have the commercial tell you that the actors were chosen by God.

Narrator: With Ben Kingsley, Christian Slater, Alfred Molina and Elliott Gould. … chosen by God.

The “chosen by God” was replaced by “from Promenade Pictures.”