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Meet an Activist Member
Name: Luther G. Weeks. (The "G" stands for Gaylord, long ago translated from the French "Gaillard." Who knows if a descendant of some common ancestors dropped the "d.")
Where I live: Glastonbury, Conn., in a condo on the banks of the Connecticut River. Although our state constitution claims "the good providence of God, in having permitted them to enjoy a free government," at least three of the members of the Connecticut Hall of Fame are atheists: Mark Twain, Paul Newman and Katharine Hepburn, all greatly appreciated and admired here.
Where and when I was born: Bristol, Conn., 1946.
Family: Wife Denise, adult descendants Madeleine and Aaron.
Education: Mathematics B.S., Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y., when computers were huge and their memories were small. A senior course on automata and a seminar on brain theory set me on a path to career and lifelong interests, leading to an M.S. in computer science.
I'm also a master fellow of the Life Management Institute. (That's life insurance management, no actual life management!) I read voraciously on issues in democracy, history and science, especially evolution, brain science and how we think.
Occupation: Retired computer scientist in business — building, buying and selling software for large companies and startups. Now I'm a full-time volunteer (unpaid) political activist/watchdog for election integrity.
Two or three times a year, I organize voters to observe and independently report on the results of Connecticut's post-election audits. I organized volunteers in 2010 for a citizen recount of 25,000 ballots in Bridgeport. Every spring, you can find me taking a rational approach to lobbying and testifying to the legislature, promoting better election laws and trashing risky schemes.
In my spare time, I have a large community garden plot and serve as president of my condo board, which keeps me sympathetic in relating to elected officials.
Military service: Drafted. After jungle infantry training, I served as a company clerk in Korea during the Vietnam War. There is no need to thank me for my service; it was all like the movie "MASH," without the blood.
How I got where I am today: Continually improving by learning something new, jumping carefully, yet quickly, at opportunities and learning from many of my mistakes. I recently took a personality assessment and learned among other things that I am an "activator." That fits pretty well. I am always looking at things differently, often amusingly.
Where I'm headed: Crematorium, hopefully then to produce some leaves of grass near family and familiar places.
Person in history I admire: Robert Ingersoll. I wish we could hear some of his lectures and speeches. Many are great, but all would be better in person than on paper. I'm currently reading volume 8 of the 12-volume "Works of Robert G. Ingersoll."
A quotation I like: "Whatever comes, this too shall pass away." — Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Whatever bugs us, whatever we love, whatever we oppose, whatever we cause, human life, and the Earth, are all temporary. That realization can be depressing or freeing, it is your choice.
These are a few of my favorite things: Walking, reading, thinking, blogging and debating. Cats.
These are not: Rigid, irrational individuals. Robocalls. Most dogs.
My doubts about religion started: I was raised Methodist, yet none of it actually set in. My mother was not pleased when I made jokes about grape juice after my first communion. I chose "no preference" on military dog tags when inducted, so there would be no question, just in case.
In the early '90s, I started reading more and more books on atheism and decided to really determine if there was any basis for believing any religion, then confirmed myself as atheist. In 2002, I Googled "Freedom from Religion" and guess what link came up on top?
Before I die: I intend to keep living, learning and having fun.
Ways I promote freethought: I do not hesitate to tell people I am atheist. I endeavor to set an example for others, especially children, that it is fine to be an "out" atheist. You never know who might be watching or listening, or when it will make a difference for someone.
When a devout friend learned that I was atheist, he said, "There is still time for you." That is my attitude toward everyone I know that is not yet atheist, "There is still time for you." When appropriate, I tell them that. I have it all be friendly and fun. Once, a neighbor said that the priest wanted to talk to me about conversion. I declined. I told her to tell him, given his age and likely pension, that it would be better if he stayed Catholic.
I occasionally attend local or national atheist meetings, it never fails to inspire, educate, and be an opportunity to meet new friends and discover that other friends are also atheist. I save my copies of Freethought Today and give them to atheist friends.
I wish you'd have asked me: My epitaph — "Please join me as one who has lived."
In the News
Faith-healing parents get prison terms
Herbert Schaible, 45, and Catherine Schaible, 44, a faith-healing husband and wife from Philadelphia, were sentenced Feb. 19 to 3½ to seven years in prison for the 2013 death of their son, the second child they have lost to pneumonia. Brandon Schaible, 8 months, died of of treatable pneumonia but was never taken to a doctor.
Instead, the couple, who pleaded no contest to 3rd-degree murder, and other members of First Century Gospel Church, prayed for God to heal him.
In doing so, they defied a court order to get medical care for their children after their son Kent, 2, died of bacterial pneumonia in 2009. They were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years' probation.
"April of 2013 wasn't Brandon's time to die," said Judge Benjamin Lerner said. "You've killed two of your children. . . . Not God. Not your church. Not religious devotion. You."
Their pastor, Nelson Clark, blamed Kent's death on a "spiritual lack" in the parents' lives, reported The Associated Press. The eldest of their seven surviving children is 18.
Ulster council reverses bible play ban
The Newtownabbey Borough Council in Northern Ireland reversed a controversial decision made Jan. 22 to ban the comedy play "The Bible: The Complete Word Of God (Abridged)" by the Reduced Shakespeare Company as blasphemous. The board backed off on the ban five days later.
Mayor Fraser Agnew supported the ban "because they are poking fun at the bible, they are poking fun at Christ."
The ban was the "worse type of censorship," said Councillor Gerry O'Reilly. "This is clearly an example of certain councillors forcing their religious views onto everyone else in the constituency. What the councillors are basically saying is that they can dictate what type of dramas people can view."
Given the worldwide publicity the ban garnered, several dates on the U.K. tour are sold out, the Belfast Telegraph reported Jan. 29.
'Messiah' judge loses Tennessee job
Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew of Newport, Tenn., has been fired in the wake of her court order last August to change a toddler's name over the parents' objection. Ballew threw out the child's birth name of Messiah and ordered his first name to be Martin, which is his mother's surname. Another judge overruled Ballew's order as unconstitutional.
"The word 'messiah' is a title, and it's a title that has only been earned by one person, and that one person is Jesus Christ," Ballew told a TV reporter in August.
O. Duane Slone, Fourth Judicial Circuit presiding judge, terminated Ballew's appointment Jan. 31 without giving a reason, Reuters reported. Ballew was cited earlier by the state Board of Judicial Conduct for inappropriate religious bias. A hearing is set March 3 on that.
FFRF filed a formal complaint with the board Aug. 14.
Orlando church goal: Overcharge city?
A Florida judge ruled Jan. 31 that the Orlando City Council can use eminent domain to acquire the property of Faith Deliverance Temple if negotiations with the church fail. The church is the last parcel needed to build an $84 million Major League Soccer stadium, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
City officials tried to negotiate the purchase without going to court and offered $1.5 million, more than twice the appraised value. When the family that owns the church countered by asking for $35 million, the council voted to file eminent domain.
U.N. clergy abuse report stings Vatican
In a Feb. 5 report, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child accused the Vatican of "systematically" adopting policies and a "code of silence" that let clergy molest tens of thousands of children over decades.
The Associated Press reported that the panel also severely criticized the Holy See for its attitudes on homosexuality, contraception and abortion. It recommended changes in canon law to ensure children's rights and access to health care. The Vatican promptly objected.
Austen Ivereigh, coordinator of Catholic Voices, said the report was a "shocking display of ignorance and high-handedness."
'Science guy' meets
'pie in the sky'
About 900 audience members watched Bill the "Science Guy" Nye debate Creation Musem founder Ken Ham on Feb. 4 at the museum in Petersburg, Ky
Misty Brewer of Tulsa, Okla., told USA Today she has "traveled my journey to atheism" and drove 12 hours to bring her son to the event. "I think the believers will stay believers," Brewer said. "No one's going to walk out of here saying, 'I changed my mind.' "
"The bible says God created man. It doesn't say evolved," said Diana Yokum, Akron, Ohio. "I really believe those who believe in evolution will have their eyes opened tonight."
"Your assertion that there is some difference between the natural laws that I observe today and the natural laws of 4,000 years ago is extraordinary and unsettling," Nye told Ham, noting kangaroos don't live in the Middle East, where Noah's Ark supposedly ran aground.
Ham focused on "observational science" [how do you know if you weren't there?]. "The battle is really about authority. It's about who is the authority, man or God," said Ham, who wants to build a $60 million Noah's Ark theme park in Grant County, Ky.
Religious freedom bill falters in Virginia
A Virgina House subcommittee in Richmond tabled a student religious freedom bill Feb. 5 that had passed the Senate 20-18, the Lynchburg News & Advance reported. No subcommittee member favored advancing the bill to the full House.
The bill "[c]odifies the right of students to (i) voluntarily pray or engage in religious activities or religious expression before, during, and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression; (ii) organize prayer groups, religious clubs, 'see you at the pole' gatherings, or other religious gatherings before, during, and after school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other activities and groups; and (iii) wear clothing, accessories, or jewelry that display religious messages or religious symbols in the same manner and to the same extent that other types of clothing, accessories, and jewelry are permitted."
The bill would have required every school division to let students express religious views at any school event in which students are allowed to publicly speak, said the Roanoke Times.
Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, said the bill would create "a patchwork quilt" of local policies. "If this bill is passed, it almost guarantees litigation. Do we really need to spend time and money and effort litigating different school districts' policies that are established under this bill?"
Missouri bill allows evolution opt out
Missouri Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, has introduced a General Assembly bill to make schools notify parents about the "basic content" of any instruction students are getting about evolution. It would also let students opt out, with parental consent, of "any part" of that instruction.
Brattin told KCTV that public schools teach Darwinian theory as fact and that students who question it are ridiculed.
"I definitely think parents should be notified if evolution is taught because I believe in creation," said Tina Decavale of Drexel.
Brandon Eastwood, of Harrisonville, went further. "Evolution is not taught in the bible so it shouldn't be taught in the class. Even if I had to spend some time in jail, I wouldn't subject my kids to that nonsense."
The Daily Beast online publication said Oklahoma, South Dakota and Virginia have similar bills circulating, from "teaching the controversy" to including so-called "intelligent design' theory in biology courses.
On "The Daily Show," host Jon Stewart referred to the Missouri bill and called state legislatures "the meth labs of democracy" for even considering such legislation.
Gay discrimination
bill dies in Senate
The Kansas House approved a bill 72-49 on Feb. 5 that would let individuals, groups and businesses discriminate against same-sex marriage or civil union couples by refusing to provide services. Anti-discrimination lawsuits also would be barred.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Charles Macheers, R-Shawnee, responds to the possibility that a federal court ruling could invalidate the state constitution's ban on same-sex marriages, the Wichita Eagle reported. Government agencies would still be required to provide services, but individual clerks could refuse to participate based on their religious beliefs.
Then on Feb. 18, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King, R-Independence, said the bill won't advance in the Senate. "We're not working House Bill 2453," King told The Associated Press. He said he will still have hearings on whether Kansas needs to enact other "religious liberty" protections.
[Fr. Benjamin Kneib] had called me the day of the rosary and said he wouldn't be able to give us communion because of our same-sex relationship.
Carol Parker, Chillicothe, Mo., on a Catholic priest's phone call the day before her mother's funeral
The Raw Story, 2-7-14
Ariz. gov vetoes bill singling out gays
In a room packed with media Feb. 26, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed Senate Bill 1062 in the wake of national outcries, including some from Republicans and business interests, over a bill that would allow discrimination against gays for religious reasons.
The Legislature gave final approval Feb. 20 to a bill that lets businesses and individuals refuse to provide goods and services to gays. Similar "religious protection" legislation has been introduced in Ohio, Mississippi, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee and Oklahoma, but Arizona's plan is the only one that has passed, The Associated Press reported. Similar efforts are stalled in Idaho, Ohio and Kansas.
The law "could divide Arizona in ways we cannot even imagine and no one would ever want," Brewer told a room packed with media.
Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, a Religious Right group, said that "by vetoing this bill, Governor Brewer is saying she supports government discrimination against people's religious freedoms."
Brewer denied such claims. "As governor, I have protected religious freedoms when there is a specific and present concern that exists in our state. Senate Bill 1062 does not address a specific and present concern related to religious liberty in Arizona. I have not heard of one example in Arizona where a business owner's religious liberty has been violated."
Before the 33-27 vote in the House, Democrats called the bill "state-sanctioned discrimination." Democratic House Minority Leader Chad Campbell said the law would be "horrible for our economy." Opponents predicted the law would also bring boycotts of the 2015 Super Bowl in Glendale.
Republican Rep. Steve Montenegro defended the bill, commenting, "Please, I will accept you because you are a child of God, I love you because you are a child of God. But please don't ask me to go against my religious beliefs."
According to the Arizona Republic, enough lawmakers oppose the bill now that it's certain there will be no veto override.
Rattler bite fatal for Pentecostal pastor
The ninth time was not the charm for Jamie Coots, pastor of Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus' Name in Middlesboro, Ky., who died at home Feb. 15 from a rattlesnake bite that night at church.
Coots refused to be taken to the hospital or get treatment at home. His son Cody said he'd been bitten eight times before. "We're going to go home, he's going to lay on the couch, he's going to hurt, he's going to pray for a while and he's going to get better. That's what happened every other time, except this time was just so quick and it was crazy, it was really crazy," Cody Coots told WBIR-TV.
Coots was profiled on the National Geographic show "Snake Salvation."
Cody Winn, Full Gospel co-pastor, and Andrew Hamblin, another "Snake Salvation" participant, saw the rattler bite Coots on the hand. "Andrew said he looked at him and said 'sweet Jesus' and it was over," Winn said. "He didn't die right then, but he just went out and never woke back up." Church members took him home.
Uganda anti-gay bill signed into law
On Feb. 25, a day after Uganda passed even harsher anti-gay laws, the Red Pepper tabloid newspaper printed a list of 200 people it called the country's "top homos," according to CNN.
President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill, telling CNN, "They're disgusting. What sort of people are they?"
Homosexuality is illegal in 38 African nations, CNN reported.
NPR reported statements that the bill was composed with the help of American evangelicals with close ties to its Ugandan sponsors. "There are these factions of the evangelical community in the U.S. that believe they've more or less lost the fight against 'the homosexual agenda,' " said Malika Zouhali Worrall, co-director of the documentary "Call Me Kuchu." (Kuchu is a word for "queer" in Uganda.) "Therefore, they're trying to preempt it in other countries."
More states fight marriage discrimination
Oregon officials notified a federal court Feb. 20 that the state will no longer defend a ban on same-sex marriage. Similar switches in Nevada and Virginia were announced recently.
Pennsylvania is still officially defending its ban, but some officials see it as unconstitutional.
The Oregon filing came in one of two consolidated cases challenging the 2004 voter-approved ban that passed by 57% to 43%.
Scotusblog.com reported 17 states and Washington, D.C., now allow same-sex marriage. Federal judges have struck down bans in Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia, but those rulings are on hold pending appeals.
A lawsuit, Wolf v. Walker, was filed Feb. 3 in U.S. District Court in Madison by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and the law firm Mayer Brown on behalf of four same-sex couples from Milwaukee, Eau Claire and Madison.
"These families simply want the security and recognition that only marriage provides," said Larry Dupuis, ACLU of Wisconsin legal director.
The suit also seeks a permanent injunction to block a state law that makes it a criminal offense for a Wisconsin resident to leave the state to obtain a marriage that would be prohibited in Wisconsin. Maximum punishment is nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Also in Wisconsin, Democrats have introduced a bill to repeal the state's constitutional gay marriage ban. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told WISN that he doesn't expect it to even get a hearing.
"Unfortunately, I think at the end of the session, people are doing this much more based on a political answer than trying to find anything else," Vos said.
Wisconsin Family Action, a socially conservative evangelical group, is vigorously lobbying against the bill as an assault on "religious freedom."
FFRF compiles state/church victories
Wash. school benches praying 'All Pro Dad'
FFRF stopped White Bluffs Elementary School in Richland, Wash., from promoting religion. Meetings in the school sponsored by All Pro Dad, a private group focusing on religious programming, were advertised in fliers sent home with students.
The fliers failed to indicate the event was not school-sponsored. The meetings were also noted in the calendar along with official school events.
"The circumstances surrounding 'All Pro Dad' events would lead a reasonable observer to view it as school-sponsored," wrote Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel in his Jan. 14 letter to Superintendent Rich Schulte. "Because of the religious aspects of the programming, Richland School District must take measures to address parental concerns regarding school involvement in this event."
The district responded in late January, calling the promotion a clerical error and saying it would be removed from the school calendar. Staff will also be informed on the policy barring distribution of religious materials and announcements.
Teachers' religious symbols removed
FFRF was informed that a teacher at Southside Elementary School in Pulaski, Tenn., prominently displayed several religious images in her classroom. Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel sent a letter Dec. 17 to Giles County Schools Superintendent Timothy Webb:
"When a teacher puts up crosses and images of Jesus, they have unconstitutionally entangled the school itself with a religious message, specifically a Christian message. To avoid continuing to violate the Establishment Clause, we ask the teacher to remove the crosses and images of Jesus from her classroom."
Webb responded two days later with a copy of the memo he sent to principals and supervisors: "The situation mentioned in the complaint has been addressed. Please remind your staff of the federal requirements in matters such as this."
• • •
A teacher in Rusk, Texas, will no longer be displaying religious iconography after FFRF was contacted by a concerned parent of a Rusk High School student. A classroom poster read, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God the salvation of everyone who believes. Romans 1:16." At the bottom it said, "This poster is illegal in 51 countries."
Staff Attorney Elizabeth Cavell wrote the district Dec. 13 to note the constitutional violation while adding that a public school teacher has no free speech or free exercise right to proselytize.
Superintendent Scott David replied Jan. 9: "All campus principals and department directors will be reminded of our constitutional duties as public school employees with regard to the separation of state and church."
• • •
A local complainant alerted FFRF that a classroom in Bernard Campbell Middle School in Lee's Summit, Mo., displayed a religious poster prominently on the wall facing students. The poster read, "Blessed are the people who know the joyful Sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance. Psalm 89:15."
Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott sent a letter Feb. 20 to Superintendent David McGehee about the egregious, obvious violation. "When a school teacher places religious posters in the classroom, she unconstitutionally entangles the school with a religious message. It is also a usurpation of parental authority — parents have the right to direct the religious, or nonreligious, upbringing of their children."
McGehee called FFRF the next day to say he agreed that the poster shouldn't be allowed in the classroom and that it had been permanently removed.
School Good News Club gets bad reviews
After Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel's Jan. 24 letter of complaint, FFRF was informed that an elementary school secretary in Sanford, Fla., will no long-er be involved with Good News Club permission slips.
Child Evangelism Fellowship of Central Florida had distributed registration forms to Geneva Elementary students to promote the club. The form told students to return forms to the secretary.
Seidel said, "Despite the appropriate disclaimer, students might presume that Good News Club is sponsored by the school because of the apparent role of school personnel in facilitating the club's activities by collecting registration forms. While the Child Evangelism Fellowship of Central Florida is entitled to host meetings, there are limitations on adult involvement."
The Seminole County School Board's attorney responded Jan. 28 that the district agreed that the club, not public school employees. was responsible for collecting forms,
Charter school's church graduations end
The Academy for Academic Excellence in Apple Valley, Calif., will no longer hold its graduation ceremony in a church. According to the complainant, AAE, a K-12 public charter school operated by the Lewis Center for Educational Research, held graduation in churches where crosses, bible verses and other religious symbols were displayed.
AAE reportedly held a baccalaureate at a second church, advertising it on AAE's calendar and listing the school's vice principal as "coordinator." Many school officials, including the principal, attended.
Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel sent a November letter to Superintendent Thomas Hoegerman: "Religious faith and worship are an intensely personal choice. The government cannot make attendance at a secular school's graduation ceremony contingent on entering the holy ground of a particular religion." He also lodged objections to mandatory baccalaureate attendance.
Gordon Soholt, chief academic officer, responded Nov. 20: "It is anticipated that both ceremonies will be held in the new gymnasium in the future, thus removing any potential First Amendment issues. The previously named 'baccalaureate' has been renamed to reflect its intent, which is issuance of senior awards and scholarships."
No more forced pledge for Florida student
A student at Southwest Middle School in Orlando, Fla., will no longer be coerced into reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
After refusing to stand for the pledge, the student was taken aside by a teacher and was told by the school's attendance dean to stand and recite it or face reprimand.
Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote a letter Nov. 20 to object: "Faced with the choice of either reciting the pledge or being punished by the school, this student has relented, but now only recites the pledge out of fear of being punished. Students should not be singled out, rebuked, told they must stand, or otherwise penalized for following their freedom of conscience. It is illegal to reprimand a student for choosing not to stand during the recitation of the pledge."
The student sent an email response on Jan. 25, "I am so thankful for your help. Thanks to you, I'm now able to sit during the pledge without punishment!"
FFRF has a lawsuit against the Orange County School District regarding literature discrimination.
To make things worse, the accuser claims Burrell used anointment oils during the act. After the incident, they then worked on [installing bathroom] tiles for a few hours before Burrell took him back to the home, saying, "What happens at the church stays at the church."
Teen's testimony at the trial of Pastor Bobby Burrell, whom he accused of masturbating in front of him in Lawton, Okla.
I am facing my imminent death. [Why are people in other states] able to die with dignity and I am not? This should be a basic human right.
Robert Mitton, 58, a Denver man with a terminal cardiac condition, favoring a proposal to authorize prescriptions for lethal doses if two doctors agree a patient will die within six months
New York Times, 2-8-14
At present the Religious Right has a tremendous amount of power, but they are getting older. Surveys show young Americans are rejecting institutional religion because they identify it with the Religious Right and values that they find off-putting, and frankly, immoral.
Dan Linford, Virginia Tech Freethinkers president and graduate student in the philosophy of religion
The Telegraph, 2-10-14
An ordained psychotherapist who has treated many pedophile priests in Britain wrote to me: "In all those cases of clerical abuse I dealt with, the sacrament of confession was used by the molester to discover vulnerability and groom candidates for abuse."
John Cornwell, author of The Dark Box: A Secret History of Confession
The Daily Mail, 2-8-14
Not all prisoners are religious, and I wanted them to know that to turn your life around and be a good and productive member of society does not require a belief in God.
Leslie Zukor, Seattle, founder of the Freethought Books Project, which distributes reading material to inmates across the U.S.
USA Today, 1-25-14
Just as gay marriage is not a threat to straight marriage, atheism is not a threat to religion.
Column by atheist journalist Cindy Hoedel, "Let 2014 be the year we start accepting atheists"
Kansas City Star, 1-18-14
Just as there are laws guaranteeing the division between church and state, there must be national guidelines to separate education and religion.
Op-ed by Veronica An, sophomore narrative studies major, "Prayer should be left out of public schools"
USC Daily Trojan, 1-27-14
I feel very sorry for teachers when the children who come here start guessing if what they're being taught is wrong.
Phil Jardine, a paleobiology graduate student touring the Creation Museum, Petersburg, Ky.
phys.org, 1-30-14
This is exactly what I was concerned about. Maybe the only thing that hasn't happened yet is any particular group saying, "We haven't been represented here and now we want to sue you." That's the only thing that hasn't gone wrong yet.
Mark Senmartin, Marathon [Fla.] City Council, refusing to stand for pre-meeting prayer and objecting to a pastor's "creationist" invocation
Florida Keys Keynoter, 2-5-14
The new generation of Iraqis are tired of religious extremists and politicians, who are responsible for the ongoing sectarian divide in the country.
Nawaf Al-Kaabi, 23, Basra, on how violence is turning young Iraqis away from religion
Al Bawaba, 2-5-14
Megachurch will settle with FFRF plaintiffs
Holly Huber and Mitch Kahle at the 2011 FFRF annual convention in Hartford, Conn., where Kahle received the Freethinker of the Year Award.
New Hope Church agreed to pay $775,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Hawaii FFRF members Holly Huber and Mitch Kahle. Three branches of the international megachurch apparently were getting sweetheart deals for years on rentals of school space from the state.
The suit was filed under the state's False Claims Act, which rewards whistle-blowers for exposing fraudulent billing.
The payments were disclosed in court filings by New Hope's parent organization, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Hawaii News Now reported in early February.
Most of the money will go to the state Department of Education, but as much as $200,000 will go to the plaintiffs, who allege that New Hope shortchanged the state $4.6 million over six years.
Kahle noted that state rules setting rent amounts were undermined by Board of Education Chairman Donald Horner.
Honolulu Civil Beat reported Feb. 14 that Horner declined to comment except to say the board was not a party to the case. Horner is a licensed pastor with ties to New Hope, the paper reported.
The plaintiffs' attorneys plan to file an amended suit against One Love Ministries and Calvary Chapel Oahu, alleging that the two churches' underpayments total about $1.1 million. An earlier claim was dismissed in January.
FFRF'er in talks to settle prayer suit
Attorneys representing the city of Eureka, Calif., and Eureka resident Carole Beaton (an FFRF Lifetime Member) are working on a settlement of Beaton's prayer lawsuit against the city.
At a case management conference Feb. 18 at the Humboldt County Courthouse, City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson told Judge Bruce Watson that she and Beaton's attorney Peter Martin are "currently negotiating a settlement," which is expected in about 60 days, the Times-Standard reported.
Martin filed the suit on behalf of Beaton in January 2013, asking the council to stop holding invocations before meetings and for Mayor Frank Jager to stop promoting the annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast.
Watson ruled Dec. 24 that nonsectarian invocations at council meetings are legal but said Beaton can still pursue her claim against Jager's prayer breakfast.
Neither party is discussing potential settlement details. "I want to say that the lawsuit was not against prayer and was not against religion," Beaton told a reporter. "It was against the mixing of church and state. A city or any other government entity should not be sponsoring a religious event."
The suit alleges use of city resour-ces in promoting the breakfast. Jager downplayed the city clerk's involvement.
The next case management conference is set for April 30.
FFRF appeals Montana mountain Jesus to 9th Circuit
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has asked the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a federal district court decision approving a shrine to Jesus on public land near Whitefish, Mont.
"A permanent Catholic shrine on public land is prohibited by the Establishment Clause, every bit as much as a Catholic church would be," asserts FFRF's appeal brief, filed Jan. 28.
The 6-foot-tall shrine sits on a 7-foot pedestal on Big Mountain in the Flathead National Forest, which is owned by the U.S. Forest Service. Since 1953, the Forest Service has issued a permit at no cost allowing the Knights of Columbus, a conservative Catholic men's group, to place a "Shrine overlooking the Big Mountain ski run," whose purpose is "to erect a Statue of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In response to initial objections to the shrine, the Knights of Columbus claimed "that our Lord himself selected this site."
FFRF wrote the Forest Service in 2011 to object to permit renewal. When Chip Weber, forest supervisor, agreed, determining it was "an inappropriate use of public land," he faced blistering criticism and renewed the permit in January 2012.
FFRF is suing on behalf of its 100 Montana members, including three who have come into unwelcome contact with the shrine. William Cox, who has long been personally opposed to the shrine, has frequent and unwanted exposure to it when he skis on Big Mountain many times each winter. FFRF member Doug Bonham found the shrine "grossly out of place" when first encountering it, and his 15-year-old daughter, who often skis on the mountain, considers it "ridiculously out of place."
Likewise, FFRF member Pamela Morris, a third-generation Montanan, first encountered the shrine as a teenager in 1957 at age 15 as part of a ski team, when she found the statue "intrusive" and "startlingly out of place." She has since avoided the area, choosing to backpack, fish and camp where nature has not been violated.
The record shows a decision by the Forest Service to emphasize the shrine's "historic" ties to development of the ski hill over its religious nature. The government argues that because the violation is longstanding, the shrine has become "historic." FFRF counters that if courts followed such logic, segregated public schools and bans on interracial marriage would still prevail.
"The Government's argument, reduced to its essence, otherwise would mean that religious iconography on public land is acceptable if supported by popular interest groups. The Establishment Clause, in other words, would be subject to majoritarian or popular demand. That, however, is not the lesson of our Constitution — nor a paradigm for historical success, as worldwide religious conflict attests. Religious icons on public land cannot be constitutionally salvaged by local celebrity status."
Richard L. Bolton, of Boardman and Clark, Madison, Wis., is litigation attorney, with Martin S. King and Reid Perkins of Worden Thane, Missoula, serving as local counsel.
Sign up to receive FFRF news releases and action alerts by request at . Read more about the case at ffrf.org/legal/challenges.
Church intervenes in FFRF pulpit politicking suit
A court decision allowing an obscure Milwaukee-area church to intervene in FFRF's nationally significant lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over church politicking has placed the litigation "on the front line," said FFRF's litigation attorney, Richard L. Bolton.
"This will put everything in play, including the churches' argument that the politicking restriction violates the First Amendment — using the Citizens United argument," he added.
Although FFRF and the government defendants opposed the intervention, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman in Milwaukee ruled Feb. 3 that Fr. Patrick Malone and the Holy Cross Anglican Church of Wauwatosa, Wis., could intervene. (The congregation left the Episcopal Church in 2008 in reaction to a series of decisions, most prominently the ordination of a gay bishop, and joined the more conservative Convocation of Anglicans of North America.)
"The intervention by the clergyman and church, which openly admit in their brief that they don't obey the electioneering restrictions applying to tax-exempt organizations, puts all the cards on the table," said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.
The church argues it has a "legal right to participate in political campaigns without forfeiting their tax-exempt status," and cites the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as well as the free speech, free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment. Incidentally, FFRF calls RFRA unconstitutional in its amicus brief, written by attorney Marci Hamilton, in the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
FFRF filed its suit in November 2012, taking the IRS to court over its failure to enforce electioneering restrictions that require 501(c) tax-exempt entities to refrain from endorsing political candidates.
FFRF recently prevailed in its federal challenge to an IRS policy that benefits clergy. The government has appealed that ruling on the parish exemption to the 7th Circuit.
FFRF has a third challenge of the IRS in federal court over the fact that churches are exempt from filing the same financial accountability reports, the Form 990, required of all other 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
FFRF ousts bibles at 2nd public university hotel
Building on its success removing bibles from University of Wisconsin hotel rooms in December in Madison, the Freedom From Religion Foundation scored another victory for secularism on an Iowa public college campus.
The Memorial Union at Iowa State University in Ames agreed to remove Gideon bibles from its hotel rooms on March 1.
FFRF received a complaint about the religious propaganda on state property. "If a state-run university has a policy of providing a Christian religious text to guests, that policy facilitates illegal endorsement of Christianity over other religions and over nonreligion," said Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott in a Jan. 29 letter to the university. "Permitting members of outside religious groups the privilege of placing their religious literature in public university guest rooms also constitutes state endorsement and advancement of religion."
Elliott added, "Individuals, not the state, must determine what religious texts are worth reading."
Union Director Richard Reynolds responded Feb. 13: "The concern you raised about the availability of bibles in the guest rooms of the Memorial Union has been taken under advisement and, effective March 1, 2014, the bibles will be removed from the hotel rooms."
"We're delighted to see reason and the Constitution prevailing. We can all sleep easier knowing secularism is being honored at our public universities," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
"Many nonbelievers greatly object to its primitive and dangerous instructions to beat children, kill homosexuals, atheists and infidels and that it sanctions the subjugation of women, who are scapegoated for bringing sin and death into the world," Gaylor added.
"Imagine the uproar if someone found a Quran or atheistic literature such as Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion in their state-supported hotel room. Government can't take sides on the religious debate."
FFRF's victory received widespread Iowa and national coverage. Elliott appeared on national Fox News coverage and Gaylor was invited to debate Sean Hannity on Fox. (View the video on YouTube with the search terms "Gaylor FFRF Hannity.")
John McCarroll, executive director of university relations, told WCCI News 8 in Des Moines: "It's a public institution and we do have certainly responsibilities on the separation of church and state. We thought it was appropriate to put the bibles in the browsing library."
Gaylor noted that as long as there are a variety of books of varying views, and the library is not solely religious, that is a satisfactory resolution. FFRF, which has more than 20,000 members, represents nearly 150 in Iowa.


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A bright purple crab and four other species were found on the Philippine Island of Palawan.
This neon colored crab was discovered by Hendrik Freitag, of Germany's Senckenberg Museum of Zoology reported News 24.
These crabs are hard to miss in that their bodies are a bright purple color and claws are almost a florescent orange reported National Geographic.
According to News 24, these crabs lay their eggs in fresh water, and the eggs emerge into already young crabs. They normally forge for food at night.
Freitag told National Geographic that these crabs evolved by a fluke and that there is no real use for the color except for show.


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He holds the keys to Jacumba's future
David Landman owns 220 acres of land in a remote desert town. Can he transform it into a place that people want to visit?
Funny things happen when you buy a town.
Strangers start waving at you. You get a feudal nickname you may not be totally comfortable with.
You're faced with endless decisions: What to name the signature sandwich at the restaurant you're renovating? Put in a clinic or a variety store? How to use all that land?
You have to get yourself a really big key ring.
David Landman's is a carabiner with a cluster of keys hanging from it that's larger than his fist. As he lifted it up on a recent afternoon, a key fell off. He picked it up and put it back. Another key dropped.
"I don't know where all these go to. Not a clue. They just keep handing me keys," Landman, 66, said. "All I know is that the square ones open the hotel doors. The silver ones open the front door. My construction people say, 'Here. Here's more keys.' Some of these go to the buildings downtown."
A year ago, David and Helen Landman bought 220 acres in Jacumba Hot Springs, a town in the high desert about 70 miles east of San Diego.
Jacumba Hot Springs is a nub of civilization — market, school, senior group, library — that pops up between stretches of highway in a pocket of the county where winds buffet the dusty hills and the U.S.-Mexico border fence is a hawk squawk away.
They don't own the whole town, exactly, just the 30 or so parcels they purchased in March 2012 for almost $1.5 million. The sale included about 70 percent of the commercial properties on the main drag, Old Highway 80, Landman said. The key attractions were the rundown resort, a lake and the mineral spring, which gushes out at 102 degrees a quarter mile away.
The Landmans have experience reviving languishing vacation spots: In 1997 they bought a nearby RV park and turned it into a nudist resort, and for a few years they had shares in an Arizona resort.
After more than a year of work, the 24-room hotel in Jacumba Hot Springs, its restaurant and its two mineral-water pools and Jacuzzi will open by May 1, the Landmans hope.
The resort is just the beginning.
Developers have swept through Jacumba before, promising big things for the former railroad town that lost its pep, and the majority of its population, when Interstate 8 opened in the 1960s. Is this time any different?
Longtime Jacumba residents and newcomers said they're confident in the Landmans because they have tourism know-how, a personal stake in their community and the money to do the job right.
"I wish him the best. I think he's got the experience. I think he knows what he's doing," said Richard Anderson, 59, who moved to Jacumba about a year ago and drives a tow truck. He echoed the sentiments of other Jacumba residents.
Landman hopes they're right. "I've never owned a town before!" he said. Because of his new status, some have started calling him the Duke of Jacumba.


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Albert (Albrecht; Albertus; 16 May 1490 – 20 March 1568) was the 37th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and, after converting to Lutheranism, the first duke of the Duchy of Prussia, which was the first state to adopt the Lutheran faith.
Because Albert was a member of the Brandenburg-Ansbach branch of the House of Hohenzollern, it had been hoped that his election as Grand Master would reverse the decline of the Teutonic Knights since 1410; Duke Frederick of Saxony of the House of Wettin had been elected for the same reason. Instead, Albert's secularization of the Prussian territories of the Order eventually led to the inheritance of the Duchy of Prussia by the Margraviate of Brandenburg.
Albert's titles (on his proclamation of 1561 in Königsberg) were: Albert the Elder, Margrave of Brandenburg in Prussia, Stettin in Pomerania, Duke of the Kashubians, and Wends, Burgrave of Nuremberg, and Count of Rügen etc.
Turning to a more active life, Albert accompanied Emperor Maximilian I to Italy in 1508, and after his return spent some time in the Kingdom of Hungary.
The new Grand Master, aware of his duties to the empire and to the papacy, refused to submit to the crown of Poland. As war over the Order's existence appeared inevitable, Albert made strenuous efforts to secure allies and carried on protracted negotiations with Emperor Maximilian I. The ill-feeling, influenced by the ravages of members of the Order in Poland, culminated in a war which began in December 1519 and devastated Prussia. Albert was granted a four-year truce early in 1521.
The dispute was referred to Emperor Charles V and other princes, but as no settlement was reached Albert continued his efforts to obtain help in view of a renewal of the war. For this purpose he visited the Diet of Nuremberg in 1522, where he made the acquaintance of the reformer Andreas Osiander, by whose influence Albert was won over to Protestantism.
The Grand Master then journeyed to Wittenberg, where he was advised by Martin Luther to abandon the rules of his Order, to marry, and to convert Prussia into a hereditary duchy for himself. This proposal, which was understandably appealing to Albert, had already been discussed by some of his relatives; but it was necessary to proceed cautiously, and he assured Pope Adrian VI that he was anxious to reform the Order and punish the knights who had adopted Lutheran doctrines. Luther for his part did not stop at the suggestion, but in order to facilitate the change made special efforts to spread his teaching among the Prussians, while Albert's brother, Margrave George of Brandenburg-Ansbach, laid the scheme before their uncle, Sigismund I the Old of Poland.
The Estates of the land then met at Königsberg and took the oath of allegiance to the new duke, who used his full powers to promote the doctrines of Luther. This transition did not, however, take place without protest. Summoned before the imperial court of justice, Albert refused to appear and was proscribed, while the Order elected a new Grand Master, Walter von Cronberg, who received Prussia as a fief at the imperial Diet of Augsburg. As the German princes were experiencing the tumult of the Reformation, the Peasants' War, and the wars against the Ottoman Turks, they did not enforce the ban on the duke, and agitation against him soon died away.
In imperial politics Albert was fairly active. Joining the League of Torgau in 1526, he acted in unison with the Protestants, and was among the princes who banded together to overthrow Charles V after the issue of the Augsburg Interim in May 1548. For various reasons, however, poverty and personal inclination among others, he did not take a prominent part in the military operations of this period.
The early years of Albert's rule in Prussia were fairly prosperous. Although he had some trouble with the peasantry, the lands and treasures of the church enabled him to propitiate the nobles and for a time to provide for the expenses of the court. He did something for the furtherance of learning by establishing schools in every town and by freeing serfs who adopted a scholastic life. In 1544, in spite of some opposition, he founded Königsberg University, where he appointed his friend Andreas Osiander to a professorship in 1549. Albert also paid for the printing of the Astronomical "Prutenic Tables" compiled by Erasmus Reinhold and the first maps of Prussia by Caspar Hennenberger.
This step was the beginning of the troubles which clouded the closing years of Albert's reign. Osiander's divergence from Luther's doctrine of justification by faith involved him in a violent quarrel with Philip Melanchthon, who had adherents in Königsberg, and these theological disputes soon created an uproar in the town. The duke strenuously supported Osiander, and the area of the quarrel soon broadened. There were no longer church lands available with which to conciliate the nobles, the burden of taxation was heavy, and Albert's rule became unpopular.
After Osiander's death in 1552, Albert favoured a preacher named Johann Funck, who, with an adventurer named Paul Skalić, exercised great influence over him and obtained considerable wealth at public expense. The state of turmoil caused by these religious and political disputes was increased by the possibility of Albert's early death and the need, should that happen, to appoint a regent, as his only son, Albert Frederick was still a mere youth. The duke was forced to consent to a condemnation of the teaching of Osiander, and the climax came in 1566 when the Estates appealed to King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland, Albert's cousin, who sent a commission to Königsberg. Scalich saved his life by flight, but Funck was executed. The question of the regency was settled, and a form of Lutheranism was adopted and declared binding on all teachers and preachers.
Virtually deprived of power, the duke lived for two more years, and died at Tapiau on 20 March 1568. He had married Dorothea, daughter of King Frederick I of Denmark, in 1526 and, following her death in 1547, he married Anna Maria, daughter of Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
Albert was a voluminous letter writer, and corresponded with many of the leading personages of the time.
In 1891, a statue was erected to his memory at Königsberg.
|- |}


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The Children's Environmental Health Center
At the Children's Environmental Health Center (CEHC), we conduct groundbreaking research to identify the environmental causes of childhood disease. We translate these findings into solutions that protect children's health — using research to educate families and change public policy.
Since our founding in 2007, philanthropic donations have allowed the CEHC to generate $11 million in grants, recruit world class scientists and make important policy changes, including banning the chemical BPA from baby bottles, sippy cups, and cash receipt paper in Connecticut and Suffolk County, New York
We also provide free consultation for parents who have questions about environmental exposures. To contact the Mount Sinai Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU), please call 1-866-265-6201 or e-mail email@example.com.
Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, FAAP, the Ethel H. Wise Professor and Chairman for the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai. He is a pediatrician and an international leader in public health and preventive medicine.
Learn more about the mission, work, and legacy of the Children's Environmental Health Center.
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Why does New York need a statewide network of Centers of Excellence in Children's Environmental Health?Read Our Report [PDF]
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Lost Planet 3 developer Spark Unlimited Shutting Down -- Report
Spark Unlimited has laid off all employees and all current projects have been canceled.
Spark Unlimited has laid off all employees and all current projects have been canceled.
Lost Planet 3 among those that will remain playable online, while Age of Booty is not.
Capcom reveals worldwide sales expectations for upcoming Xbox One zombie game; Lost Planet 3 fails to meet commercial expectations at 300,000 units sold to date.
Chris Watters talks about the good, the bad, and the shotgun in Lost Planet 3.
Kevin VanOrd braves the cold to bring you this review for Lost Planet 3.
Grapple your way to the bottom of a huge ravine and get ready to fend off a four legged Akrid.
Jim wanders through a cave filled with eggs and strange orifices in search of an audio log.
Defend the equipment from Akrid before you attempt to make repairs to the Utility Rig.
After shooting eggs, Akrid, orifice doors, and four legged hound like bugs, Jim finds the PC terminal he's been searching for.
Jim uses his utility rig to swat some flies before securing the area.
This week Lost Planet 3, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Killer is Dead, Madden 25, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
Take a look at what's in-store for you in Lost Planet 3.
We find out more about multiplayer modes, first-person views on mechs, and Dead Space 3 similarities with Capcom's upcoming shooter prequel.
This latest video from NEVEC gives a chilling account of the reactions to severe cold, including mental and body responses to harsh environments in Lost Planet 3.
Discover E.D.N III through the eyes and ears of Jim Peyton with the Coronis Diary.
Maxwell McGee describes some of the tedium to be found in Lost Planet 3.
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* * * * *
The exact opposite is true, of course: the abolition of the sacrifice of the mass is the abomination and harmful lie. It is no "invention" in the sense Calvin means (made up out of the blue by men with no apostolic sanction). Calvin's rejection is the invention. Let's look at the arguments he makes for that end (or -- as I have come to expect -- lack thereof).
But the head of this horrid abomination was, when he raised a sign by which it was not only obscured and perverted, but altogether obliterated and abolished, vanished away and disappeared from the memory of man—namely, when, with most pestilential error, he blinded almost the whole world into the belief that the Mass was a sacrifice and oblation for obtaining the remission of sins.
Yes; since it is a re-presentation of the one sacrifice on the cross at Calvary, it does remit sins, because its sole power derives from He Who wills to do that by the redemptive blood of His Son.
I say nothing as to the way in which the sounder Schoolmen at first received this dogma. I leave them with their puzzling subtleties, which, however they may be defended by cavilling, are to be repudiated by all good men, because, all they do is to envelop the brightness of the Supper in great darkness.
The Sacrifice of the Mass is well-established as a patristic doctrine, with extraordinary consensus during that period. As with the doctrine of the Eucharist in general, Calvin will have to (since he claims to be following the fathers) ignore a huge amount of historical of data proving this to be the case.
Bidding adieu to them, therefore, let my readers understand that I am here combating that opinion with which the Roman Antichrist and his prophets have imbued the whole world— viz. that the mass is a work by which the priest who offers Christ, and the others who in the oblation receive him, gain merit with God, or that it is an expiatory victim by which they regain the favour of God. And this is not merely the common opinion of the vulgar, but the very act has been so arranged as to be a kind of propitiation, by which satisfaction is made to God for the living and the dead. This is also expressed by the words employed, and the same thing may be inferred from daily practice. I am aware how deeply this plague has struck its roots; under what a semblance of good it conceals its true character, bearing the name of Christ before it, and making many believe that under the single name of Mass is comprehended the whole sum of faith. But when it shall have been most clearly proved by the word of God, that this mass, however glossed and splendid, offers the greatest insult to Christ, suppresses and buries his cross, consigns his death to oblivion, takes away the benefit which it was designed to convey, enervates and dissipates the sacrament, by which the remembrance of his death was retained, will its roots be so deep that this most powerful axe, the word of God, will not cut it down and destroy it? Will any semblance be so specious that this light will not expose the lurking evil?
Eloquent denunciations indeed. I now await to see what arguments Calvin will make. He can't argue anything down or refute opposing opinions merely with a bunch of insults.
The future universality of the priesthood is clearly indicated in the Old Testament:
Isaiah 66:18, 21 For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, . . . And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. (cf. 56:3-8)
Zephaniah 3:9-10 Yea, at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord. [10] From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering.
Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. (cf. Jer 33:14-22)
St. Paul also casually assumes that priests are still operative under the New Christian Covenant, by referring to the table of the Lord (or altar) and contrasting it with the table of demons, in a eucharistic context:
1 Corinthians 10:14-21 Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols. [15] I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say. [16] The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? [17] Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. [18] Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? [19] What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? [20] No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. [21] You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. (cf. 9:13)
He is in the same priestly thought-world in another utterance of his:
Romans 15:15-17 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God [16] to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. [17] In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.
"Offering"? Offering of what? "Priestly service"? The word for "priestly service" is hierourgeo: Strong's word #2418. It is defined by Strong (my hardcover copy from Riverside Book and Bible House) as "to be a temple-worker, i.e., officiate as a priest (fig.): -- minister." The online version (linked above) has "to minister in the manner of a priest, minister in priestly service." It also notes (from Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon) historical etymological definitions of "to be busied with sacred things; to be perform sacred rites" (from Philo), and "used esp. of persons sacrificing" (from Josephus). Compare Baptist Greek scholar A. T. Robertson for the basic definition: "to work in sacred things, to minister as a priest."
Marvin Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament states (for Rom 15:16):
Ministering (ierourgounta). Only here in the New Testament. Lit., ministering as a priest.
Offering up (prosfora). Lit., the bringing to, i.e., to the altar. Compare doeth service, John xvi. 2.
Gerhard Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (abridged one-volume edition, p. 354) defines it as "'to perform sacred or sacrificial ministry.' In Josephus and Philo it always means "to offer sacrifice" and often has no object. (hierourgia means "sacrifice" and hierourgema the "act of sacrifice.")"
A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd., 1953, Dom Bernard Orchard, General Editor), provides further helpful analysis:
The essential point in every explanation is to realize that the sacrificial terms used here are metaphorical, and that therefore this verse cannot be quoted against the existence of a specially consecrated priesthood in the Church when Paul wrote . . . The difficulties lie in the analysis of the metaphors. . . . To bring the Gentile world as a worthy sacrifice to the altar of God is probably all that Paul meant to say. For the same idea cf. Is. 66:19 f.
The Eerdmans Bible Commentary (Protestant, p. 1044) concurs:
Paul describes his divine commission in terms of the priesthood: a minister (Gk. leitourgos; lit. a 'priest'; cf. Heb. 8:2), in the priestly service (Gk. hierourgon) and offering (Gk. prosphora) are three sacerdotal terms.
Thus, Paul has called himself a priest -- using two different terms. We get the word liturgy from litourgos (Strong's word #3011; cf. 3008, 3009, and 3010). Strong's online, for word #3008 (litourgeo) applies it to, among other things, "priests and Levites who were busied with the sacred rites in the tabernacle or the temple." The author of Hebrews applies one of these terms to priests in the Old Covenant sense in Hebrews 9:21; 10:11 and to Jesus as high priest in 8:2.
Given the central motif in the New Testament of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb, it stands to reason that the Sacrifice of the Mass would be associated with the Eucharist, as the central rite of Christian worship.
To the contrary, the cross and passion of Christ are the very essence and focus of the Mass. It is beyond strange that Calvin cannot grasp this. Apparently his either/or mentality simply can't handle such a sublime concept.
This much, indeed, is most certain,—the cross of Christ is overthrown the moment an altar is erected.
How odd, then, that Paul casually assumes the continued existence of altars among Christians (1 Cor 10:14-21), and that altars are mentioned in the New Testament in other places (apart from the many mentions of altars in heaven), as well:
Hebrews 13:9-12 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is well that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited their adherents. [10] We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. [11] For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. [12] So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
Therefore, if the cross is overthrown by an altar, then the New Testament is against the cross. Far more plausible is a state of affairs whereby Calvin has grossly misunderstood New Testament teaching; otherwise, Christianity (all Christianity: not just Catholicism) and the Bible alike are a mess of abominations and contradictions.
For if, on the cross, he offered himself in sacrifice that he might sanctify us for ever, and purchase eternal redemption for us, undoubtedly the power and efficacy of his sacrifice continues without end.
Otherwise, we should not think more honourably of Christ than of the oxen and calves which were sacrificed under the law, the offering of which is proved to have been weak and inefficacious because often repeated.
They are not hearkening back and making present one supreme, sublime sacrifice, as the Mass does.
Wherefore, it must be admitted, either that the sacrifice which Christ offered on the cross wanted the power of eternal cleansing, or that he performed this once for ever by his one sacrifice.
We agree that He performed it once, forever. That is Catholic teaching. We believe that the sacrifice is eternally present, because it was an act of God, Who is outside of time, as well as an act of man. That's why Jesus appears even in heaven as a slain lamb.
Accordingly, the apostle says, "Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Again: "By the which act we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Again: "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." To this he subjoins the celebrated passage: "Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." The same thing Christ intimated by his latest voice, when, on giving up the ghost, he exclaimed, "It is finished."
Catholics disagree with not one iota of this. Calvin is simply ignorant, and mistakenly thinks that we do. Again, he quixotically wars against a straw man. One would think he would get tired of all that wasted energy after a while. But the demands of sophistry and misrepresentation overcome any possible fatigue for him.
We are accustomed to observe the last words of the dying as oracular. Christ, when dying, declares, that by his one sacrifice is perfected and fulfilled whatever was necessary to our salvation. To such a sacrifice, whose perfection he so clearly declared, shall we, as if it were imperfect, presume daily to append innumerable sacrifices?
They are not innumerable sacrifices, but one and the same, brought to us, transcending time (as God does). But there is indeed a NT motif (above all, in Paul) of our participating in His sacrifice, too, which is not dissimilar to the notion of the Mass:
Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
2 Corinthians 1:5-7 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. [6] If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. [7] Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
2 Corinthians 4:10-11 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. [11] For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 6:17 Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Philippians 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,
2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come.(cf. 2:10)
1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Calvin himself elsewhere applies the above teachings to a type of participation in the cross: a thing not all that different from what Catholics believe regarding the Sacrifice of the Mass:
. . . by fellowship with him he mortifies our earthly members that they may not afterwards exert themselves in action, and kill the old man, that he may not hereafter be in vigour and bring forth fruit. An effect of his burials moreover is that we as his fellows are buried to sin. For when the Apostle says, that we are ingrafted into the likeness of Christ's deaths and that we are buried with him unto sin, that by his cross the world is crucified unto us and we unto the world, and that we are dead with him, he not only exhorts us to manifest an example of his death, but declares that there is an efficacy in it which should appear in all Christians, if they would not render his death unfruitful and useless. Accordingly in the death and burial of Christ a twofold blessing is set before us—viz. deliverance from death, to which we were enslaved, and the mortification of our flesh (Rom. 6:5; Gal. 2:19, 6:14; Col. 3:3).
(Inst., II, 16:7)
Calvin also shows that he comprehends a large part of the Catholic understanding of the importance of the Mass: the centrality of the cross and Jesus' sacrifice:
Nor is this to be wondered at; for, as another Apostle declares, Christ, "through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God," (Heb. 9:14), and hence that transformation of the cross which were otherwise against its nature. But that these things may take deep root and have their seat in our inmost hearts, we must never lose sight of sacrifice and ablution. For, were not Christ a victim, we could have no sure conviction of his being . . . our substitute-ransom and propitiation.
(Inst., II, 16:6)
Since the sacred word of God not only affirms, but proclaims and protests, that this sacrifice was once accomplished, and remains eternally in force, do not those who demand another, charge it with imperfection and weakness?
Certainly. But since we don't "demand" another, we are not guilty of this outrageous presumption.
But to what tends the mass which has been established, that a hundred thousand sacrifices may be performed every day, but just to bury and suppress the passion of our Lord, in which he offered himself to his Father as the only victim? Who but a blind man does not see that it was Satanic audacity to oppose a truth so clear and transparent?
More nonsense based on the same tragically clueless understanding of the Catholic doctrine . . .
I am not unaware of the impostures by which the father of lies is wont to cloak his fraud—viz. that the sacrifices are not different or various, but that the one sacrifice is repeated. Such smoke is easily dispersed.
Yes, exactly (to the last sentence). So we have the spectacle of Calvin setting up the straw man of Catholics supposedly sacrificing Jesus over and over. He bashes that, then he steps back and admits that Catholics don't actually believe what he has just (rightly) demolished. But then he dismisses the Catholic explanation with virtually no argument, as "smoke" deriving from the devil. Rather than bash a straw man and dismiss the actual Catholic argument, Calvin ought to interact with our real arguments. But he'd rather "refute" fictional opponents. It looks more impressive -- to the inattentive reader, that is, who hasn't perceived the folly of his disgraceful methods of "disputation."
The apostle, during his whole discourse, contends not only that there are no other sacrifices, but that that one was once offered, and is no more to be repeated.
We agree! What is so difficult for Calvin to grasp in this? There is either one sacrifice or there are many. We agree with Calvin and Protestants that there is but one. We contend that the Sacrifice of the Mass is included in the one: it transcends time. It is not an additional sacrifice. That means (agree with us or disagree) that we do not hold to "many" sacrifices. Calvin claims that we do because he defines our self-understanding according to his cynical, prejudiced, anti-Catholic pseudo-understanding of what we believe. But we can't redefine other people's positions. We can honestly disagree, of course, but that gives us no right to caricature other beliefs and pretend that the caricature is held by those with whom we disagree. That is what makes a mockery of true dialogue.
Calvin's problem remains having to explain the references to the "table of the Lord" in Paul: to altars. Altars make no sense in his paradigm, because he thinks they are opposed to the cross of Christ. He also has to explain why Jesus is described repeatedly in Revelation as a "Lamb" -- long after His crucifixion and resurrection and ascension and glorification (once, even as "a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain" -- Rev 5:6). He has to explain also how it is that an act of God (the crucifixion: an act of Jesus Who is God as well as man) could be in time. So how does he explain all this? Or does he even try? Once again, the Catholic view takes in and incorporates all of the Bible: not just the passages that teach one aspect of a multi-faceted truth or state of affairs.
But Calvin, when various of his arguments are taken together (along with related Scripture), actually proves by his own reasoning the possibility and plausibility of the Sacrifice of the Mass. It can be demonstrated as following, or at least not being at all inconsistent with, his own premises. Here is how it works:
1) What God decrees, and His acts (and one may contend that for God, these are one and the same), are from God's perspective outside of time, or decreed from eternity, because He is outside of time. They may intersect with history and be in time in that sense, from our perspective, but for God they are timeless and "present":
When we attribute prescience to God, we mean that all things always were, and ever continue, under his eye; that to his knowledge there is no past or future, but all things are present, and indeed so present, that it is not merely the idea of them that is before him (as those objects are which we retain in our memory), but that he truly sees and contemplates them as actually under his immediate inspection. This prescience extends to the whole circuit of the world, and to all creatures.
(Inst., III, 21:5)
Should any one object, that in this there is nothing to prevent the same Christ who redeemed us when condemned from also testifying his love to us when safe by assuming our nature, we have the brief answer, that when the Spirit declares that by the eternal decree of God the two things were connected together—viz. that Christ should be our Redeemer, and, at the same time, a partaker of our nature, it is unlawful to inquire further. He who is tickled with a desire of knowing something more, not contented with the immutable ordination of God, shows also that he is not even contented with that Christ who has been given us as the price of redemption.
(Inst., II, 12:5)
Isaiah 46:9-10 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, [10] declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, `My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'
Lamentations 2:17 The LORD has done what he purposed, has carried out his threat; as he ordained long ago,
Lamentations 3:37 Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
2) It was God Who died on the cross, since Jesus Christ is true God and true man; therefore, the sacrifice of the cross was undertaken by God (the Son) Himself, and God (the Father) decreed this from eternity:
It deeply concerned us, that he who was to be our Mediator should be very God and very man. If the necessity be inquired into, it was not what is commonly termed simple or absolute, but flowed from the divine decree on which the salvation of man depended. What was best for us, our most merciful Father determined. Our iniquities, like a cloud intervening between Him and us, having utterly alienated us from the kingdom of heaven, none but a person reaching to him could be the medium of restoring peace. But who could thus reach to him? Could any of the sons of Adam? All of them, with their parents, shuddered at the sight of God. Could any of the angels? They had need of a head, by connection with which they might adhere to their God entirely and inseparably. What then? The case was certainly desperate, if the Godhead itself did not descend to us, it being impossible for us to ascend. Thus the Son of God behoved to become our Emmanuel, the God with us; and in such a way, that by mutual union his divinity and our nature might be combined; otherwise, neither was the proximity near enough, nor the affinity strong enough, to give us hope that God would dwell with us; so great was the repugnance between our pollution and the spotless purity of God.
(Inst., II, 12:1)
Finally, since as God only he could not suffer, and as man only could not overcome death, he united the human nature with the divine, that he might subject the weakness of the one to death as an expiation of sin, and by the power of the other, maintaining a struggle with death, might gain us the victory. Those, therefore, who rob Christ of divinity or humanity either detract from his majesty and glory, or obscure his goodness.
(Inst., II, 12:3)
Ephesians 3:8-11 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, [9] and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; [10] that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. [11] This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago,
3) The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was decreed from eternity:
We know well why Christ was at first promised—viz. that he might renew a fallen world, and succour lost man. Hence under the Law he was typified by sacrifices, to inspire believers with the hope that God would be propitious to them after he was reconciled by the expiation of their sins. Since from the earliest age, even before the Law was promulgated, there was never any promise of a Mediator without blood, we justly infer that he was destined in the eternal counsel of God to purge the pollution of man, the shedding of blood being the symbol of expiation. Thus, too, the prophets, in discoursing of him, foretold that he would be the Mediator between God and man. It is sufficient to refer to the very remarkable prophecy of Isaiah (Is. 53:4, 5), in which he foretells that he was "smitten for our iniquities;" that "the chastisement of our peace was upon him;" that as a priest "he was made an offering for sin;" "that by his stripes we are healed;" that as all "like lost sheep have gone astray," "it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief," that he might "bear our iniquities." After hearing that Christ was divinely appointed to bring relief to miserable sinners, whose overleaps these limits gives too much indulgence to a foolish curiosity.
(Inst., II, 12:4)
Acts 4:26-28 The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed' -- [27] for truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
[28] to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place.
1 Corinthians 2:2, 6-8 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. . . . [6] Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. [7] But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. [8] None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Ephesians 1:5-12 He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace [8] which he lavished upon us. [9] For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ [10] as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. [11] In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, [12] we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory.
1 Peter 1:18-20 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, [19] but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. [20] He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.
4) The future can be made, in a sense, "present" to us in prophecy, and in a broader sense, in written revelation itself, since the God Who communicates it to us through a prophet is outside of time, and the future is already present to Him:
Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Isaiah 44:7-8 Who is like me? Let him proclaim it, let him declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. [8] Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? . . .
Isaiah 45:21 . . . Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? . . .
Isaiah 48:3 The former things I declared of old, they went forth from my mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them and they came to pass.
Isaiah 48:5 I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you,
Sirach 42:19 He declares what has been and what is to be, and he reveals the tracks of hidden things.
Sirach 48:25 He revealed what was to occur to the end of time, and the hidden things before they came to pass.
Acts 2:17 And in the last days it shall be, God declares, . . .
Acts 3:21 whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.
Acts 15:18 says the Lord, who has made these things known from of old.'
5) Moreover, God has the ability to allow human beings to be "present" at events from another time, such as St. John's revelation (the entire Book of Revelation). Therefore, He can just as easily decide to make the cross present to Christians, even though to us it is a past event.
6) Therefore, the sacrifice of the cross can be made present to us in the Sacrifice of the Mass, by God's design and power, and this all follows from explicit arguments from Calvin himself, following his own premises. The timelessness of the Mass is indicated by continued biblical references to the "table of the Lord," altars, and the Lamb (Jesus). Continued sacrifice in the New Covenant can only refer to Jesus' death on the cross (especially in light of the book of Hebrews).
7) Moreover, references to Jesus as a perpetual high priest (not just a temporary one at the time of His crucifixion: see especially Heb 7:23-25 below) suggest that the sacrifice is timeless or ongoing: the same notion entailed in the Sacrifice of the Mass:
Hebrews 2:17-18 Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. [18] For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly call, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
Hebrews 4:14-15 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 5:5-6 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, "Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee"; [6] as he says also in another place, "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchiz'edek."
Hebrews 5:10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchiz'edek.
Hebrews 6:17, 20 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, . . . [20] . . . Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchiz'edek.
Hebrews 7:14-17 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. [15] This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchiz'edek, [16] who has become a priest, not according to a legal requirement concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life. [17] For it is witnessed of him, "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchiz'edek."
Hebrews 7:21-28 Those who formerly became priests took their office without an oath, but this one was addressed with an oath, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, `Thou art a priest for ever.'" [22] This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant. [23] The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; [24] but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever. [25] Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. [26] For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. [27] He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself. [28] Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever.
Hebrews 8:1-3 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, [2] a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord. [3] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
Hebrews 9:11 . . . Christ appeared as a high priest. . .
Hebrews 10:21-22 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [22] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The more subtle try to make their escape by a still narrower loophole—viz. that it is not repetition, but application. But there is no more difficulty in confuting this sophism also. For Christ did not offer himself once, in the view that his sacrifice should be daily ratified by new oblations, but that by the preaching of the gospel and the dispensation of the sacred Supper, the benefit of it should be communicated to us.
But the "oblations" are not new; that is the whole point. Calvin hasn't refuted anything: he has caricatured, and then asserted circular propositions without argument. He hasn't seriously considered all of the relevant Bible data to be brought to bear.
Thus Paul says, that "Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us," and bids us "keep the feast" (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). The method, I say, in which the cross of Christ is duly applied to us is when the enjoyment is communicated to us, and we receive it with true faith.
Right there is the Sacrifice of the Mass in a nutshell, yet Calvin misses it!:
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. [8] Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
John Wesley commented on 5:8 (Wesley's Notes on the Bible): "Here is a plain allusion to the Lord's supper, which was instituted in the room of the passover." That is the essence of the Mass: "Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the [Lord's supper]."
Fair enough, but I would reply by asking, "what are they offering?" It is true that metaphors and symbols are often used in Scripture, but this instance does not appear to be an instance of that. The surrounding context seems quite literal. If so, it doesn't work very well to all of a sudden go to a metaphorical interpretation of verse 11. Malachi 1:7 is about "offering polluted food upon my altar." Verse 8 condemns offering blind, lame, and sick animals. This is real stuff; real corruptions of religious rites, not metaphor. Malachi 1:10 continues in this vein:
Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire upon my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.
Malachi 1:12 contrasts a bad offering with a good one:
But you profane it when you say that the LORD's table is polluted, and the food for it may be despised.
Verses 13 and 14 continue on with the theme of the Lord's displeasure over improper offerings. Therefore, I submit that Calvin's lame counter-interpretation falls flat: a victim of the context and type of literature involved.
Thus they use going up to Jerusalem for conversion to the Lord, the bringing of all kinds of gifts for the adoration of God—dreams and visions for the more ample knowledge with which believers were to be endued in the kingdom of Christ. The passage they quote from Malachi resembles one in Isaiah, in which the prophet speaks of three altars to be erected in Assyria, Egypt, and Judea. First, I ask, whether or not they grant that this prophecy is fulfilled in the kingdom of Christ? Secondly, Where are those altars, or when were they ever erected? Thirdly, Do they suppose that a single temple is destined for a single kingdom, as was that of Jerusalem?
No, we suppose that a single sacrifice on the cross is made present by a Last-Supper-derived observance of the Sacrifice of the Mass, wherever it occurs.
If they ponder these things, they will confess, I think, that the prophet, under types adapted to his age, prophesied concerning the propagation of the spiritual worship of God over the whole world. This is the answer which we give them; but, as obvious examples everywhere occur in the Scripture, I am not anxious to give a longer enumeration;
Too bad: all of those scriptures (so Calvin claims) but alas, they are so "obvious" that Calvin withdraws from us the unutterable joy of being fed his infallible oracles. What a huge loss . . .
although they are miserably deluded in this also, that they acknowledge no sacrifice but that of the mass, whereas in truth believers now sacrifice to God and offer him a pure offering, of which we shall speak by-and-by.
There are other offerings beside the Mass. We don't have to deny that, but of course Calvin has to play the tiresome "either/or" game and deny the Mass, in the face of much biblical indication.


text:
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