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Reasons and Habits of the Heart
Robert P. Imbelli January 19, 2013 - 8:31am
I recently met a young man from an Evangelical Christian background who is in an RCIA program, preparing to be received into the Catholic Church. I asked him what attracted him to Catholicism and his response was twofold. First, he found that Catholicism set his relationship to Jesus in the deeper and fuller foundation of Trinitarian theology. Second, he found great sustenance in the sacramental life of the Church, especially, of course, the Eucharist.I was reminded of my conversation with him when I read a review (subscribers only) in the current "Commonweal." The author of the review, Nathaniel Peters, is a doctoral student in theology at Boston College. The book under review is a sympathetic study by a psychologist of the evangelical movement known as the Vineyard churches. This part of the review I thought especially worthy of note. Peters comments:
For Christians who grew up thinking that God was distant and irrelevant to their lives, a Vineyard church may offer a kind of intimacy theyve never experienced. For some Catholics who feel burdened by church doctrines or bored by stale liturgies, this may seem an attractive option. But Vineyard churches also show the danger of do-it-yourself religion, of private religious experience undisciplined by a largerand deepertheological tradition. You cant simply name it and claim it if you take your cues from St. Francis. Yes, both Ignatius of Loyola and the Vineyard stress an affective spirituality that engages the imagination, and both value intimacy with God and a sense of his presence in the little things of life. But Ignatius also believed firmly in sacraments whose efficacy did not depend on emotional response. Faith was not reducible to feeling, and the way to intimacy with God was not by diminishing the role of doctrine, but by rediscovering its source. For Ignatius, it was a mistake to try to tether God to ones own desires; discipleship required radical availability to Gods will.
"Rediscovering its source" -- or, as I've suggested before: a radical re-Sourcement. In this, we can all continue to learn from Dorothy Day (with many thanks to Patrick Jordan for his splendid remembrance). Jordan writes:
For her faith, she had given up friends and what she called a life of natural happiness with the man she loved, Forster Batterham, the father of her daughter. He had refused to marry Dorothy and derided her conversion to Catholicism. Still, years later Dorothy was able to say, It is joy that brought me to the faith, joy at the birth of my child thirty-five years ago; and that joy is constantly renewed as I receive Our Lord at Mass. As a result of her wrenching personal sacrifice, she considered the loss of faith the greatest of disastersthe greatest unhappiness. She found daily Mass to be an antidote to apostasy, calling it the most important work of the day. If I can just remember to do that wellas well as I am ableeverything else will take care of itself, she said.
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Thanks, lots of interesting ideas packed into this post. Certainly Peters' comments are on track with the sort of things I hear at an evangelical church (not Vineyard) where I help out a friend and her church ladies with a charitable activity occasionally. Jesus is truly their personal "friend," and they often talk about their daily devotional time as "crawling up in Jesus' lap" to be comforted and to feel better. Their take on Christian marriage is very interested (and seems to involve the "feel good" rituals of the all-important weekly "date night" on which a couple "ministers" to each other with dinner, a movie, and sex). I wonder if Peters comments on that.
For Christians who grew up thinking that God was distant and irrelevant to their lives, a Vineyard church may offer a kind of intimacy theyve never experienced. For men who want to "lead" women and for women who want to "submit" to men, a Vineyard church could be a place to find validation.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wimber
I poked around over on Vineyard's Web site.Director Phil Strout has a rather rambling two-minute video on "Experiencing God" that might be germane to the discussion here: http://www.vineyardusa.org/site/about/vineyard-values/experiencing-godI don't want to be overly critical (as I have a tendency to do when it comes to these types of Protestant movements). But it seems to me that emphasizing a personal knowledge of God through emotive activities (singing and driving, if Strout is to be taken seriously) engages creates a kind of "high" in worshipers that does not encourage much contemplation that might deepen one's understanding of faith and belief.In the video Strout also rejects conventional liturgical worship (stand up, sit down, put your money in the plate, duty done) without really understanding the meaning of the sacraments.Yes, often Mass does feel arid and uninspired. Yes, often driving around and singing with Mahalia Jackson on the CD player does feel better. But, if I understand one of the points of this post, God's presence transcends feeling. You may not feel forgiven after Confession or feel nourished spiritually after Communion. But you have faith that they've done some good, no matter how you feel. I think this is hard to get your head around, and I think it's something many Catholics do struggle with.
I don't see that an intellectual understanding of the faith, doctrine and tradition needs to compete with the "feeling" element. For me and I suspect many others, I could not have grasped what the Eucharist meant if I hadn't regularly attended Mass. All the Catholic school classes I had in my first 12 years of education would not have been sufficient to provide me with a good reason to go to Mass on the weekend. It clearly wasn't for so many of my peers who couldn't get away from the ritual soon enough. For many years now, I attend Mass because I love it and I find a depth and a truth there that it grounding, not because I fear some medieval Hell like I did when I was a kid. And I think it's a real pity if people attend the Eucharist only to get their ticket punched. When I pray for others, my first prayer is that they will feel the presence of God in their lives. Intellectual assent is okay, but not very nourishing if that's all there is.
For some Catholics who feel burdened by church doctrines or bored by stale liturgies...Faith was not reducible to feeling, and the way to intimacy with God was not by diminishing the role of doctrine, but by rediscovering its sourceThese fragments of Nathaniel Peters' review were, for me very relevant. I've found that by thinking about the meaning of those "boring" parts [of the liturgy], brought that liturgy to life in such a way that it was as if a light had gone on in my head, no longer boring, no longer stale, but incredibly liberating and giving me a significant chunk of gratitude.Lord, we thank thee for the light... T.S. Elliot?
I don't have any arguments with Holloway's comments, but I think faith is larger than feeling.Our current priest is fond of urging people to "feel" their faith in their hearts, and I don't hopefully know how you flog that into someone. As our friend Ann Olivier says, metaphors can be dangerous, but it's like telling someone to "feel love" for their spouse. During those dry periods every marriage goes through, you fake it, to be blunt. And you have faith that choosing to stick with it and hope for the best makes a difference.
Yes, T.S. Eliot, "Choruses from the Rock." Here's the stanza relevant to Bob's post. I'd forgotten what a long poem it is:We thank Thee for the light that we have kindled,The light of altar and of sanctuary;Small lights of those who meditate at midnightAnd lights directed through the coloured panes of windowsAnd light reflected from the polished stone,The gilded carven wood, the coloured fresco.Our gaze is submarine, our eyes look upwardAnd see the light that fractures through unquiet water.We see the light but see not whence it comes.O Light Invisible, we glorify Thee!The whole poem is here: http://www.tech-samaritan.org/blog/2010/06/16/choruses-from-the-rock-t-s... I think Bob makes a good point that if the liturgy becomes boring and dry, don't we have an obligation to try to renew it through our own meditations?OK, I'm hogging, and should beat it.
Echoing Bob Schwartz's comment, in a recent thread Mollie Wilson O'Reilly wrote: " it always deepens my experience of praying the Mass to learn more about it. " Same here.
I am struck by the answer to Father Imbelli's question. The Eucharist is no surprise. It is the first thing that comes out of the mouth of so many returning Catholics as well. It is unique to Catholicism, and the more you think about it, the more important it gets even if the whole rest of the Catholic Church turns you off. (Incidentally, I think the Pew study that found so many Catholics who said they didn't believe in the Real Presence either has a flaw or has been over-misinterpreted since it came out. They may not know it as "real presence," but they seem to believe in it.)But the Trinity left me gob-smacked. I can't remember anyone getting excited about that since the kid with the bucket of ocean water straightened out St. Augustine (or St. Patrick, depending on who tells the story) about the chances of understanding the Trinity.
I am struck by Fr. John Pilch's explanation of "faith" in the Semitic context, where it is almost a synonym for loyalty. This is an interesting thought. Faith in Jesus means loyalty to Jesus. Faith in the Church means loyalty to the Church. That last point has sustained me during these days with the sex abuse crisis and a Roman hierarchy that is trying to dismantle Vatican II. I am upset, sad, depressed...but my loyalty is to the Church, with its ancient traditions, its sacraments, its saints, its local community. And so I stick around.
Jean --I agree wholeheartedly (whatever that means) about problem with "feeling" and "loving". Very, very muddled concepts. In the first place, "feeling" sometimes seems to mean relatively simple subjective reactions, like anger and lust, to real physical things. These primitive ones are shared with other animals. But there are more complex ones, e.g., revenge and hope, which are about that things that are yet to be, not actual ones. Then there's the big question of "love" and associated yearning. "Love" has so many meanings, and there are so many different kinds of love that although its referents are vast, its sense is often muddy.So where does "faith" fit in with all this? Is it a kind of feeling? A wanting of some kind? Or maybe an approval kind of feeling? Or is it more a *knowing*? Or both a knowing and a feeling? Are all of these problems mere semantic ones? Would defining the terms make the problems go away completely? I doubt it, but how to start unravelling the question? (Contemporary philosophers seem to agree that solving problems need to begin by eliminating whatever semantic problems are involved, no matter how boring a chore that can be. Sigh)What compounds the problems of feeling, faith, and love is that we're talking (I think) about spiritual realities -- things we can't see, hear, touch, taste, smell, etc. They are the most difficult experiences and concepts to grasp clearly. I suspect we should go for help to the poets first. They seem best at describing spiritual experiences. So go I do to George Herbert's "Love bade me welcome" which, I think, reveals by indirection much of the essence of what love of God is. (We could spend a thread on this poem alone.) LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning 5 If I lack'd anything. 'A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here:' Love said, 'You shall be he.' 'I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, I cannot look on Thee.' Love took my hand and smiling did reply, 'Who made the eyes but I?' 'Truth, Lord; but I have marr'd them: let my shame Go where it doth deserve.' 'And know you not,' says Love, 'Who bore the blame?' 'My dear, then I will serve.' 'You must sit down,' says Love, 'and taste my meat.' So I did sit and eat.Is there is an equivalent poem about faith, as in "faith, hope and charity"?
Tom ==Don't you think that God the Father is a crucial part of Christian belief? He's 1/3 of the Trinity. As to the Holy Spirit, I agree that not nearly enough attention has been given to Her historically by the official teachers. Maybe that's because the bishops have never really appreciated the female as such. Not their fault -- culture affects them too. But it seem to me that their lack of appreciation of the female has distorted or, rather, impoverished their concept of the Trinity. Any way, get to know the Holy Spirit by your individual prayer. No doubt you will find Her fascinating.Yes, yes, yes, I know that in some sense God is sexless, but in another way He is *all* sexes. (and maybe even a few we don't find reflected in this cosmos? Hmmmm.) Anyway, there should be no problem with viewing the Holy Spirit as female and lots of advantages to doing so.
Ann, I didn't mean to imply disbelief in the Trinity, only that the affective content of that doctrine isn't exactly at white-hot levels most of the time. In our men's group, the question of "Whom do you pray to?" comes up from time to time. Most of us were taught at some point that we should pray to the Father, through the Son in the Holy Spirit. But a plurality of these males, 40s to 80s, pray to Jesus as Lord, Savior or Brother because he is internally the most personal connection.Yeah, yeah, when we say the Our Father, we get it right, but consider the source. When we pray on our own many of us are consciously or unconsciously counting on Romans 8:26 where we are told that if we mess it up the Spirit will intercede with "inexpressible groanings." That's good. And, by the way, if the Wisdom of the Hebrew scriptures is the Holy Spirit, she is better than he, imho.
Thanks, Tom. So often men react in horror or with laughter to the notion that the Holy Spirit is female. Sometimes I think that the reason that there is still a "cult of the Virgin" is because the theological concept of the Holy Spirit has not been developed sufficiently. I think our nature compels us to need a God with the virtues traditionally assigned to women (understanding, gentleness), and so they try to turn Mary into a goddess. Even popes do that sometime. But i they could just see the Holy Spirit as Sophia/the Mother-Who-Understands they might avoid such heresy.
I wonder if Jesus had that same lack of appreciation for the female since He repeated refers to the Holy Spirit as "He" and "Him"?Then again, it is only logical to refer to the Spirit as "He," even though God is neither male nor female, since it was by the Spirit that Mary the female became pregnant and it is by being filled with the Spirit that Mother Church has children.
Ann,As you know, the Herbert poem you quoted was a favorite of Simone Weil who would pray it in the midst of her affliction and find relief.Since much could be considered as relating to "faith," without invoking the term, let me offer another poem by Herbert, "Redemption:"Having been tenant long to a rich lord, Not thriving, I resolvd to be bold, And make a suit unto him, to affordA new small-rented lease, and cancel th old.In heaven at his manor I him sought; They told me there that he was lately gone About some land, which he had dearly boughtLong since on earth, to take possessin.I straight returned, and knowing his great birth, Sought him accordingly in great resorts; In cities, theaters, gardens, parks, and courts;At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth Of thieves and murderers; there I him espied, Who straight, "Your suit is granted," said, and died.
Fr. Imbelli --Beautiful! Indeed, I'd say it's about faith -- how belief takes a certain boldness and a certain rejection of old assumptions, with the third quartrain showing that the tenant finds no solution to his problem in a hedonistic way of life. Last we're shown that the that key is Christ's death and promise, an unlikely and thoroughly bold story.I wonder if this poem inspired the phrase "new lease on life".
I think Peters misrepresents Ignatius. An interesting article on Ignatius and the tension between personal religious experience and church authority .... 'Ignatius and Church Authority', The Way Supplement, 70 (Spring 1990), 76-90 ... you can find it at Fr. Endean's website.If prayer is a personal relationship with Jesus/God (as spiritual director William Barry SJ says) then it does seem to me that it is about feelings. That's what the Spiritual Exercises are about, - fostering a relationship with Jesus and learning to trust your feelings, your desires, so that you can discern.
Crystal,Peters expressly states that Ignatius stresses "an affective spirituality that engages the imagination, and . . . value[s] intimacy with God and a sense of his presence in the little things of life"So he's not denying the place of "feelings" (or as I prefer "affections").You go on to say: "Thats what the Spiritual Exercises are about, fostering a relationship with Jesus and learning to trust your feelings, your desires, so that you can discern."But isn't a crucial task of discernment, during the "Exercises" and beyond, precisely to identify what are the "feelings" which flow from the self being transformed in Christ, and what are the "desires" that truly liberate?As it happens, I'll be having lunch with Philip Endean this week and will raise the question with him.
"... it was a mistake to try to tether God to ones own desires; discipleship required radical availability to Gods will."I have been watching, more than I'd like to admit, the "confession" of Lance Armstrong this week, and I find myself again marveling at the human ability for self-justification and -deception. Deny you're a doper long enough and you a) either believe it or b) persuade yourself that it is justified and it is therefore justified that you lie about it and have reached a moral detente.Moreover, a confession like Armstrong's may be sincere. But, like so many self-deceivers who abuse substances, he may be hoping to cast himself in a new role as "survivor" and "hero" for coming clean. Is he truly trying to change? Or is this new media circus merely his way of seeking more attention, even validation or rewards for his "courage" in coming forth with what he says is the truth?I am skeptical, but charity requires me to assume Armstrong is sincere.In watching this week's clips, it strikes me that the only two feelings you can trust to indicate that God (in any of the Three Persons) is nearest to you are guilt and shame. Catholics believe the Sacraments nourish the soul and mitigate those sins for which we feel true repentance. But do they always "feel" all is forgiven the moment they receive? I doubt it.
Jean,I too "find myself again marveling at the human ability for self-justification and -deception."I probably have mentioned this before, but one of the articles that has had a lasting impression on me was written by Stanley Hauerwas and David Burrell. The title speaks for itself: "Self-Deception and Autobiography: Reflections on Speer's 'Inside the Third Reich'."It can be found in a book of Hauerwas' essays: "Truthfulness and Tragedy."Was it Lionel Trilling who wrote a book: "Sincerity Is Not Enough"?
Ann: It's been noted before that among theologians there seems to be an inverse proportion between emphasis on the Holy Spirit and emphasis on the Blessed Virgin. I noticed it in a book by David Schindler that I reviewed for Commonweal some years ago. Whether this has anything to do with maternal images for the divine I don't know but am inclined to doubt. The great theologians of the Holy Spirit don't emphasize the maternal.I have seen in the tradition maternal images of the divine ascribed to God the Father and to Christ himself. St. Anselm wrote a prayer that addressed Christ and St. Paul as "mother." The great theologians knew enough not to get trapped inside any single image of God.
There's plenty of maternal or otherwise feminine imagery used to describe the Spirit in earlier Syriac theology (Aphrahat and the like), and even in Greek, some like Hippolytus did the same. So I suppose it depends on where/.when you want to locate the "great theologians of the Holy Spirit."
Father Imbelli, are you thinking of "Sincereity and Authenticity" by Trilling? Snip that might be germane to this thread: Our culture tends to regard the mere energy of impulse [as prompted by feeling?] as being in every mental and moral way equivalent and even superior to defined intention. Instead we should consider an idea that once was salient in western culture: the idea of making a life, by which was meant conceiving human existence, one's own or another's, as if it were a work of art upon which one might pass judgment.... This desire to fashion, to shape, a self and a life has all but gone from a contemporary culture whose emphasis, paradoxically enough, is so much on self.
This relates to the ancient discussion in the church of which is most important. Do I believe so that I can understand or Do I understand so that I might believe. (For Gene Palumbo: "Credo ut intelligam" or "Intelligo ut credam.") Why not both. The lack of embrace by the faithful for the Trinity shows how this high christology is for those triumphant Catholics. But no one denies the power of the Eucharist and the RCC (tho it blew it with the vernacular)kept the Eucharist in tact. Rightly does Day regard it as her center. At the same time we touch over too lightly Day's acute understanding of helping the downtrodden as being the key to Jesus. Great article by Jordan. How above all, in a church which still pushes the privileges and power of the hierarchy, that we should still "hear the voice of suffering people, starving while billions are being spent for armaments." Day pointed out the vacuity of the bishops before it became fashionable. But they are feeling it now as they push for her canonization. Imitation would be preferable.
I had a high school teacher who said about sincerity: "Oh, they'll say, 'But he's so sincere!' Well, get out the censor and give him three swings of incense, and then hit him over the head with it." A great novel about the evil that can be caused by innocence and sincerity is Graham Green's The Quiet American.
Fr, Imbelli,Peters writes ...[For Ignatius] Faith was not reducible to feeling, and the way to intimacy with God was not by diminishing the role of doctrine, but by rediscovering its source. For Ignatius, it was a mistake to try to tether God to ones own desires; discipleship required radical availability to Gods will.I may be wrong, but it seemed to me that Peters was trying to say with this is that Evangelical Protestantism is all about warm feelings and being friends with Jesus, but that Catholicism, notwithstanding Ignatius, is about doctrine and sacraments and reason, which is better because feelings are all about what *we* selfishly want, but doctrine is all about what God wants.This seems so mixed up in a number of ecumenically challenged ways ;)Maybe I'm wrong, but if I understand Ignatian spirituality correctly, our feelings (consolation, desolation) are like signposts helping us to know if we're going in the right direction - they are not only just coming from us with no connection to God. And while our desires do need to be ordered, what orders them is love (a feeling), not doctrine or reason or even the sacraments. I think the Spiritual Exercises is about getting to know Jesus so we can love him and then that love is what makes us want to follow him. Love is what makes people care enough to do the right thing.Oh at least, that's what I think, but I'd be interested to hear what Fr. Endean has to say.
No one would consider saying "it" for the Holy Spirit?
discipleship required radical availability to Gods willIsn't that the zombie image? We should all let God live within us, emptying ourselves to make room for him, becoming zombies propelled solely by his will. And his will is expressed by the voice of the superior, once suitably decanted. That's the Jesuit ideal of obedience.Two great threads discussing that from 2008:http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=1599http://www.commonwealmagaz..., I am unclear about the relation between the Jesuit idea of obedience and the Jesuit spiritual exercises. I am surely wrong, but I see no connection, and those seem to me to be independent features. As for sincerity, I have not seen it discussed before on dotCommonweal other than as a lens through which to criticize politicians.
Crystal,From the section titled "Prelude for Making an Election" in the Spiritual Exercises:
In every good election, as far as depends on us, the eye of our intention ought to be simple, only looking at what we are created for, namely, the praise of God our Lord and the salvation of our soul. And so I ought to choose whatever I do, that it may help me for the end for which I am created, not ordering or bringing the end to the means, but the means to the end: as it happens that many choose first to marry -- which is a means -- and secondarily to serve God our Lord in the married life -- which service of God is the end. So, too, there are others who first want to have benefices, and then to serve God in them. So that those do not go straight to God, but want God to come straight to their disordered tendencies, and consequently they make a means of the end, and an end of the means. So that what they had to take first, they take last; because first we have to set as our aim the wanting to serve God, -- which is the end, -- and secondarily, to take a benefice, or to marry, if it is more suitable to us, -- which is the means for the end. So, nothing ought to move me to take such means or to deprive myself of them, except only the service and praise of God our Lord and the eternal salvation of my soul.
This method stands in stark contrast to the approach some Evangelicals, including members of the Vineyard churches, refer to as "Name It and Claim It." Our affections are important, yes, but not all of them come from God. Learning to distinguish those that do from those that don't is one of the purposes of the Exercises.
Claire,I don't think the Jesuit idea of trying to discover God's will for us is "obedience" .... we would indeed just be zombies if that were so. The word "will" has some bad connotations modernly, but I think the way Ignatius meant it was more "desire" or "hope" ... I think the idea is that our deepest desires for ourselves and our lives are actually God's desires or hopes for us too. The Spiritual Exercises help people learn discernment - help them figure out how to make good choices and decisions, how to trust their feelings and to trust God wants for them what they truly want for themselves. If the Jesuit idea was that we be obedient zombies then there would be no need for discernment - we wouldn't be moral agents making choices, we'd just go to the CDF every morning to receive our programming - -yikes! ;)At least, this is how I understand Ignatian spirituality.
Matthew,I don't know much about what the Evangelicals believe, but yes, Ignatius was all about discernment, trying to figure out if one's desires are influenced by the good or the bad spirit so one can make a good choice. But you can't even start to discern until you take your feelings, all of them, seriously.
Crystal,I think we are probably coming at the same reality from slightly different perspectives. I appreciate your point when you say:"And while our desires do need to be ordered, what orders them is love (a feeling), not doctrine or reason or even the sacraments. I think the Spiritual Exercises is about getting to know Jesus so we can love him and then that love is what makes us want to follow him. Love is what makes people care enough to do the right thing."One question I would raise concerns your seeming reduction of "love" to a "feeling." For feelings come and go (as they did for Mother Teresa), but commitments can transcend "feeling."It's for this reason I prefer the term "affection" (which is the term Jonathan Edwards used in his treatise on "Religious Affections"). Love and joy are affections that do not depend on (in my understanding of the word) the more superficial feelings. Another issue I would raise is whether you yourself in effect see more of a reciprocal relation between knowledge and love. You speak of "getting to know Jesus so we can love him." But isn't one way we get to know him through the sacraments: hence Day's commitment to daily Eucharist. The Eucharist is, at heart, a school of love.I think John Henry Newman is a good guide in these matters in that he strove to do justice to both the demands of the heart and the head, devotion and doctrine. It's under his inspiration (and, of course, that of Pascal) that I titled the post: "Reasons of the Heart."
Bender --First, the Church does NOT teach that God is neither male nor female, it teaches that God is BOTH male and female, though neither of those concepts exhaust what God is, of course. And, as JAK points out, Jesus is explicitly described in Scripture as "Mother". All this makes it plain that whenever we start to describe God with our poor little limited concepts we get into great trouble. But insofar as creaturely perfections are like God we can use their concepts to analogize what God is. Note: it really gets complicated when we start talking about our likeness to God. Aquinas said that while we are like God, we can't truly say that He is like us.At any rate, God is called "Sophia", a feminine noun. And- ta dah! -- the Holy Spirit is said to be wisdom. So there is an explicit reference even in Scripture suggesting that the Spirit is feminine. If God the Father is both Father and Mother, it would seem quite possible that the Spirit is both female and male with emphasis on the female. We know that they are different, and given Jesus as Son, the pair (Father and Son) strongly suggests that there must be a Mother (Spouse) involved in the Godhead. Though it is true that certain pronouns are generally (not always) used, Maybe the different uses are determined by the kind of action the Person is doing when described as "He" or "She". (I wish I knew the languages so I could check this out.)I would also imagine that the Second Person, the Logos, is both male and female. Why not? Jesus is described as both. In sum, it seems that all three Persons are male-like and female-like but each is preponderately one or the other. The main assumption behind all of this is that when we use any term to describe God we are using it only analogically, metaphorically, and hence deficiently. In other words, there is always something else left to say about Him-Her. (Sorry that this is so painful for your male ego, but you need to broaden your ideas of God.)
Abe Rosenzweig, Thank you very much for the information about the Eastern theologians. Hmmmm. Any more light thrown on this would be appreciated. But I suppose that would require another thread. Won't hold my breath (no pun intended).
Is everyone on the same page re "name it and claim it" theology? I can't quite tell here."Name it and claim it" theology--embraced by no means by all evangelicals--refers to the belief that God made promises to "His" people in the Bible that "His" people are entitled to claim. Eternal life is one such promise. But "name it, claim it" can extend into more material realms. A subset of "name it and claim it" theology is the prosperity gospel, which says that God will "prosper you" (i.e., give you money) to show his approval, an idea that few evangelicals I know subscribe to.
Crystal --For Aquinas and Scotus the will is the rational appetite. That is, it is the spiritual ability which desires and loves on the spiritual level of life, and it causes the self to act to achieve what it desires on both the physical and spiritual levels. Being an "appetite" might tempt us to call it a "feeling", but in everyday use I think that "feeling" is mostly associated with lower level appetites like hunger, sexual feelings, and that affection produced by ocytoxcin. For the Scholastics, intellect and will are separate powers, but they are not independent in their actions. The intellect knows an end and grasps it as being good in some way. The will desires the end, chooses whether to seek and to attain it, and loves the end when achieving it.We also have physical, animal appetites for physical goods, and in man these can be governed by the intellect and will.I think that especially since Neitzsche "will" has gotten bad press because of how he describes its ends and actions. But his concept of it is worlds apart from the classic Christian notion. These words -- "love", "will", "feeling", have been given many meanings in Christian theology, and it seems to me that in any discussion of them we should make an effort to say which meaning is our own in that discussion. Otherwise it's too easy to go round in circles.
I confess that I know little of Vineyard churches, or "name and claim it" or even very much about Ignatian Spirituality and Spiritual Exercises - I know what they are, but very basically through reading a book or two. I have never "done" the Spiritual Exercises. So the only comment I can make is that I am surprised that a group of people who appear to be both very educated and very literate seem to believe that God has a gender. In what sense? Since as far as we know, God does not possess a human body (the human being named Jesus had a human body but not God), how can God have gender?
Ann -Thank you for your comments on the female identify of the Holy Spirit, something I very much believe is true. Your post is the first place I've ever seen the view expressed, a pleasant surprise. Also appreciate Tom Blackburn's comment that, "if the Wisdom of the Hebrew scriptures is the Holy Spirit, she is better than he, imho."
Fr. Imbelli,I've seen that idea mentioned elsewhere on s not a feeling but something else kind of like duty or committment? For instance, it's mentioned that Jesus commands people to love each other, but how do you command a feeling? You can command acts, though, and I guess some people see love as action. And Ignatius says that love is best shown in deeds. But I can only say that for myself, love is a feeling, not a duty, not an act (per se). My acts that are loving seem to flow from my pre-existing feeling of love. And as Paul said, acts without love are empty (I think?). Maybe the idea that feelings can change and that you cannot rely on them being constant is scary. I'd say yes that's true and maybe that's as it should be. About getting to know Jesus through the sacraments .... I wasn't raised a Catholic and I started going to communion after RCIA class but I didn't know Jesus at all - communion didn't inform me about him. But later I took an Ignatian retreat - the 19th annotation of the Spiritual Exercises - and then I did start to get to know Jesus, through reading the gospel stories, through imaginative prayer, so I guess I come at it from a different place than Day and Newman. I'm not sure how the Eucharist can give a person experience of Jesus in the same way interactive prayer does.
Sorry - that should be "idea mentioned elsewhere that love s not a feeling"
Ann,That's interesting about the will and feelings and desire ... I guess the scholatics borrowed much from Plato and Aristotle on that? I do think that what Ignatius meant by "God's will" is more nuanced than most of us would assume. My past spiritual director said that in Ignatius' time "will" was the aspect of the soul associated with love and desire - he saw God's will as what God desires for us.
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galileeand so revealed his glory,AND HIS DISCIPLES BEGAN TO BELIEVE IN HIM.
Crystal, to get more nourishment from Mass, I bet it helps to be aware of the numerous scriptural echoes embedded in the prayers. For someone who comes from an Ignatian perspective, who knows if it might not also be productive to do Lectio divina on the Eucharistic prayers themselves?
John Page,Indeed . . . intriguing . . . but where do you want to orient the discussion with it?e buona festa di Sant'Agnese!
Ann: You wrote: "At any rate, God is called Sophia, a feminine noun. And- ta dah! the Holy Spirit is said to be wisdom. So there is an explicit reference even in Scripture suggesting that the Spirit is feminine."I think it is a very weak link to base affirmations about sex on grammatical gender. In many instances in many languages there is no correlation. George Tavard's discussion of similar issues is still worth reading: http://www.ts.mu.edu/readers/content/pdf/36/36.4/36.4.7.pdf
I guess I understand the "love is not a feeling" notion through family life. There are some days your kid or spouse can drive you to thinking about getting out a baseball bat. Love stays your hand and allows you to try to work out a reasonable compromise, solution, detente--or to accept that there are some things you cannot change about a person, and you pretty much just have to deal.I think it's pretty common for family members to go through periods when they do not feel the love. Christ expects you to act as if you did for his sake.I have never thought of any member of the Trinity, except Jesus, in gender terms. Having been raised a Unitarian in which God was an abstract, I'm entirely comfortable with "Father" being a metaphor and the Holy Spirit as a kind of holy brain wave from God and Jesus. The Spirit has no more gender than a wireless connection. I realize this may be poor Catholic theology, and I apologize in advance.
Jean's addition to Herbert's poem:LOVE bade me welcomeand love stays your hand!I second both George and Jean.
Crystal --I'd say that development of the idea of the will as a distinct faculty/power/ability with many functions was largely a Scholastic accomplishment, though it incorporates a lot of Greek thinking. Plato, of course, had a great deal to say about "the Good" and various forms of good. He also made a clear distinction between the rational and sensory faculties, and he at least recognized that we are capable of controlling ourselves at least somewhat. See his famed "myth of the charioteer". Aristotle distinguished truth and goodness, and posited cognitive faculties which are concerned with truth and appetitive faculties which are concerned with goodness. He distinguished two types of appetites, sensory ones which produce feelings such as hunger, lust, etc., and the rational appetite, which is the will which seeks all kinds of good, and chooses and enjoys goods on a spiritual level. Sensory feelings can distort and even over-power the operations of the intellect and the will. He rejected Socrates' notion that simply to know good is to be good, that "knowledge is virtue". He saw that willing a good is also necessary if persons are to be virtuous.Aquinas incorporated a lot of Aristotle's faculty theory in his ethics, but he articulated the relationships between intellect and will. Aquinas' theory is very sophisticated in that he clearly sees the many different operations/movements of the will, including desire of both physical and spiritual realities, choice, enjoying an attainment of a good, and willing the good of other beings (loving them). (Note: "loving" can mean either simply being inclined to a good or the enjoyment of a good, or both.) As with Aristotle, sensory feelings can distort and overpower the rational powers, and the will can overpower the intellect at times.which in turn can affect the culpability of evil choices, etc. Scotus' theory is just as elaborate, but for him the will is the most important human power leading to and enjoying happiness, not the intellect. For both Scotus and Aquinas man's own greatest good was to know and love God, with Aquinas saying that knowledge of God was the greatest good and Scotus saying that willing -- loving -- God is the greatest good. But the Beatific Vision is both vision, i.e., knowing, and loving of God.I'm not sure whether Ignatius was a Thomist or not. Jesuits used to be Thomists, but, of course, maybe their founder hadn't established the policy of Jesuits studying Thomas. However, Ignatius did study in Paris, so I'd guess he was at least influenced by Thomas.If you're interested in Aquinas' view of human nature, try George Klubertanz' "The Philosophy of Human Nature". It's very clear but mostly doesn't oversimplify. But it is complex and tries to consider some of the theory in relation to contemporary psychology.Sorry to go on so long about this, but it's all very complex -- like it or not -- people are very complex beings, which explains in part why spiritual directors can be a very big help in analyzing our interior, mental processes. And, sadly, one of the things that contemporary psychologists are discovering is that we humans have a vast capacity for self-deception -- including deception about our own desires, choices, etc., etc. Ain't easy being human.
About the Author
Rev. Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is Associate Professor of Theology Emeritus at Boston College.


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By Adam Greshin
Unless you live deep underground – very deep – you surely know Vermont's health care exchange, known as Vermont Health Connect, is launching this week. The state's $9.5 million promotional campaign (paid for by the federal government) has left few stones unturned in its effort to reach out to the roughly 100,000 people who will be required to purchase health insurance through the exchange in January. I attended six different forums, listened to dozens of questions and spent a few choice hours on the exchange website – all in a quest to understand the future of Vermont health coverage. Here are a few general impressions.
The happiest people with Vermont Health Connect are likely to be moderate income Vermonters with household incomes too high to qualify for subsidized care (Dr. Dynasaur, Catamount, VHAP) but not high enough to purchase adequate coverage. A combination of federal and state subsidies through the exchange will make high-quality health care much more affordable. The simplicity of the exchange is also a plus. Eighteen choices, laid out side by side in an identical format – as long as your eyes are good, comparison shopping is easy. Add in the comfort of knowing each plan in the exchange must meet minimum benefit requirements and have adequate reserves to pay claims. If you do your homework, or seek assistance from state-trained navigators or your local insurance broker, surprises will be kept to a minimum. Vermont Health Connect goes a long way towards simplifying and commoditizing a complex product.
The unhappiest people with Vermont Health Connect are likely to be those who want choice. With such a heavy emphasis on price, the two carriers have had to sharpen their pencils and wring out costs. This they've done by narrowing their plan benefits. To cite just one example, my son is in college in Colorado. His care is currently provided by a Colorado physician in the MVP network. Unfortunately, none of the MVP plans offered through the exchange will have out-of-state coverage, except in the case of an emergency. It brings to mind Henry Ford's dictum on cars: "People can have the Model T in any color – so long as it's black." My son can have any color health plan he wants, so long as it's Blue (Cross). People with unique needs are unlikely to be pleased with the exchange. The same holds for people with particularly generous plans or people who only want catastrophic coverage. The system only works if uniformity is enforced.
Vermont Health Connect does offer 18 plans, but a closer inspection reveals very little real choice. Blue Cross Blue Shield and MVP each offer nine substantially similar plans. You can purchase a BCBS plan, or you can pay more and purchase the same plan from MVP. I'm left wondering whether anyone will purchase an MVP plan. The plans have minor differences (as my son's example illustrates) and MVP tells me they expect to keep existing happy customers who will stay with the company despite the price disadvantage. Good luck with that. At the end of the day, we may have de facto if not de jure single (private) payer in the small group and individual market.
None of this would matter if Vermont had followed the lead of the other 49 states and made the exchange optional. The fact that every small group and individual health care consumer in Vermont will be required to seek coverage through the exchange in the next three months magnifies the importance of every defect, every change and every deadline. If the exchange were optional, perhaps for the first two or three years, the state would have had time to work through the problems, fine tune the offerings and – ultimately – succeed by acclaim rather than by mandate. The lack of choice created an uneasy feeling at the forums I attended.
To its credit, the Department of Vermont Health Access, the state agency overseeing the exchange, has thrown substantial resources into public education. Many people at the public forums had already been in contact with Vermont Health Connect. Almost without exception, they reported prompt attention to their phone calls and emails. I can report the same. Happy or unhappy, Vermont Health Connect is going to happen and the state is doing what it can to smooth out the speed bumps.
Greshin is the state representative for Washington 7 and lives in Warren.

subset: commoncrawl


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- News
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High school sports: Nearly 650 athletes taking talents to next level
More than 640 high school athletes from the 2015 graduating class are moving on to play college sports on either an academic or athletic scholarship. Read more »
Class of 2015: Utah high school athletes with college scholarships
Here's a look at the 645 high school seniors from the 2015 graduating class who received an athletic and/or academic scholarship to play college sports. Read more »
High school softball: 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A All-State teams
The 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A All-State softball teams as voted by the coaches. Read more »
Gallery of champions: All 94 state championship teams from the 2014-15 school year
Photo gallery of every Utah high school state champion. Read more »
High school sports: Spring sports Academic All-State
Here's a rundown of the Academic All-State teams for the spring high school sports. Read more »
High school sports: Tuesday's roundup
Baseball 4A PLAYOFFS SKYLINE 11, MAPLE MOUNTAIN 8: Brock Kennick, Hunter Wack, and Abe Yagi each had two RBIs for the Eagles in the victory over Maple Mountain. MOUNTAIN CREST 11, KEARNS 10:... Read more »
High school sports: Tuesday's roundup
Baseball REGION 1 FREMONT 7, LAYTON 3: Fremont pulled away from Layton in the fifth inning to pick up the win. Logan Walton tripled twice to lead the way. VIEWMONT 11, DAVIS 1: Alex Rodriguez struck out 10 batters in the... Read more »
2A state softball playoffs should be a wild ride with plenty of contenders
This year's 2A state softball tournament starts Thursday with games at 11 a.m. at the Spanish Fork Softball Complex. Among the favorites: Top-ranked Enterprise, defending champ Manti, Region 16... Read more »
High school sports: Wednesday's roundup
Baseball 2A PLAY-IN MILLARD 4, ROWLAND HALL 3: With the Eagles trailing by a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, Sebastian Garcia hit a double with the bases loaded to bring home Carson Teeples and Skyler Cranney, giving... Read more »
High school sports: Tuesday's roundup
Baseball REGION 1 FREMONT 6, DAVIS 3: Kyle Thacker was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Hunter Maxfield finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Silver Wolves on the road. NORTHRIDGE... Read more »
High school sports: Saturday's roundup
Boys soccer REGION 1 WEBER 3, SYRACUSE 1: Nate Gordon scored twice and Caleb Wight added a third goal as the Warriors earned the region victory. REGION 12 RICHFIELD 4, JUAB 0: Kayde Morgan knocked in two gals as the Wildcats... Read more »
High school sports: Monday's roundup
Baseball REGION 5 MOUNTAIN CREST 8, BOX ELDER 5: Mountain Crest out-hit Box Elder 12-5 Monday night, successfully handing the visitors just their second region loss of the season. SKY VIEW 13, BONNEVILLE 10 REGION 6 EAST 8,... Read more »
High school sports: Saturday's roundup
Baseball REGION 2 TAYLORSVILLE 7, WEST 0: Nathan Hess and Chase Huff each blasted homers to lead the Warriors over West. WEST 6, TAYLORSVILLE 4: The Panthers scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning and West took the second... Read more »
High school sports: Thursday's roundup
Baseball REGION 1 NORTHRIDGE 5, FREMONT 3: Northridge scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie it up before holding off Fremont in the final inning to secure the region win. REGION 4 PLEASANT GROVE 12, HERRIMAN 2... Read more »
High school sports: Tuesday's roundup
Baseball, boys soccer and softball results from Tuesday. Read more »
- LDS Church announces publication of the...
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- Alex Boye to make second appearance on NBC's...
- Why the message behind 'The Book of...
- Heavy rains slam Davis County, cause...
- Morning links: Former BYU player Paul Lasike...
- 'Ambushed' officer: God told me...


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Julio Jones (ankle) missed Friday's practice and is listed as questionable for Week 11 against the Cardinals.
Dolphins placed WR DeVante Parker (foot) on active/PUP.
Redskins signed OLB Ryan Kerrigan to a five-year, $57.5 million extension through 2020.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, second-year RB Tre Mason is expected to get the "lion's share" of the Rams' carries "early in the season."
CSN Bay Area's Matt Maiocco expects the 49ers to replace Frank Gore with "more than one person."
ESPN Saints reporter Mike Triplett threw "cold water" on Josh Hill's "fantasy buzz" Wednesday, saying Hill won't be playing the old "Jimmy Graham role."
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports Seahawks SS Kam Chancellor "wants more money" and is considering a training-camp holdout.
WSOCTV Charlotte reports Panthers WR Stephen Hill was cited for a drug paraphernalia charge after a routine traffic stop.
Bengals OC Hue Jackson said, "We're going to open it up a little bit more this year and be who I think we can be."
Suspended QB Tom Brady wrote on Facebook Wednesday morning, "I am very disappointed by the NFL's decision to uphold the 4 game suspension against me. I did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either."
Chiefs SS Eric Berry (lymphoma) is cancer-free and will practice with the team at training camp Wednesday.
PFT's Mike Florio reports the NFL offered suspended QB Tom Brady a two-game reduction on his four-game suspension in exchange for a guilty admission.


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Formula 1 - 4 things we learned from the Hungarian Grand Prix
After a dramatic and emotional race in Budapest, Will Gray picks out four talking points from the Hungarian Grand Prix. More »Eurosport - 2 hours 35 minutes ago
Football - Karim Benzema sparks Arsenal transfer frenzy with cryptic Instagram post
Karim Benzema has sparked speculation about his future at Real Madrid after posting a cryptic Instagram message while on a private jet. More »Eurosport - 1 hour 38 minutes ago
Bundesliga - Bayern Munich sign Arturo Vidal in £28m deal
Bayern Munich have completed the signing of Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal and he will be presented to the media later on Tuesday. More »Eurosport - 1 hour 35 minutes ago
Premier League - Paper Round: Berahino and Bolasie on Tottenham wish list
Tottenham Hotspur are ready to kick-start their transfer work with a double swoop. More »Eurosport - 7 hours ago
Euro Papers: Barcelona's pursuit of new wonderkid hots up
One Catalan newspaper today reports that suits at the Camp Nou have beaten Juventus to the signature of the 'new Neymar' - and it's all because Pedro wants out. More »Eurosport Videos - UK - 3 hours ago


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Here's What's Not Going on with BioLogos
Cornelius Hunter's claim that BioLogos advances the "Warfare Thesis" between science and religion is wholly unfounded.
The Resource Finder has powerful filtering features — check out the tutorial to learn more.
Cornelius Hunter's claim that BioLogos advances the "Warfare Thesis" between science and religion is wholly unfounded.
Ninety years is a long time, and so much has changed all over the world. But have the cultural perceptions about science and religion changed since the Scopes Trial in 1925?
American thinking about religion and science before the Civil War was substantially informed by the powerful "concordist" metaphor of God as the "author" of two "books," nature and Scripture, which ultimately must agree.
I am growing in my appreciation for a diversity of ears to hear Scripture and a diversity of cultures to interpret God's call on our lives.
If, according to evolutionary theory, the human species has evolved from non-human ancestors over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, how might we understand humans as uniquely bearing the image of God?
In none of these cases was Newton inserting God into a "gap" into our knowledge that science would someday fill. Rather, his prior belief in God helped him arrive at attitudes and ideas that have unquestionably advanced our understanding of nature.
Historian Peter Harrison argues that harmony between faith and science is not as simple as it seems, and some versions of "harmony" can do damage to the Christian faith.
St. Thomas Aquinas helps us understand how the image of God in man might have developed through evolution.
Studying the basis of life's design cannot meaningfully be separated from the character of the One responsible for it. By living in relationship with him through whom all things were created and in whom all things have their being, we experience the purpose and meaning with which this universe is infused.
John Calvin really believed that the sun revolved around the earth, but we shouldn't dismiss the rest of his theology because of this error.
Written by BioLogos Fellow of Biology Dennis Venema, this series of posts is intended as a basic introduction to the science of evolution for non-specialists.
God invites us to understand his power and nature through studying what has been made.
From science and religion blogs: quantum uncertainty and God, the remarkable fact that we have come to understand our place in the created order, and the role of theology in making wise choices about the use of technology.
From a Judeo-Christian perspective, all of these curiosities dovetail into a profoundly meaningful explanation: Being made in God's image helps to explain our creative and investigative skills, particularly when we consider that God has specially engineered this universe to reveal himself to human beings.
Conflicts occur when people argue one worldview against another. They may be arguing Atheism versus Monotheism, then pull out science as a weapon saying, "science proves I'm right because of this or that..." In my view, science is rather more limited than this. Science has a lot of interesting resonances with the big questions, and can inform them, but I don't believe it can answer them.
There is often a worry that working in or studying science is a threat to faith, but stories of scientists who are Christians in the top ranks of academia show that this is not the case.


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March 5, 2010
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Northridge Track & Field is hoping Saturday's predicted storm will hold off long enough for the Matadors to host the final All-Comers Meet of the 2010 season at the Matador Track Complex.
The Matador Track staff plans to run the meet as scheduled including the hammer throw event.
The gates will open at 9:45 a.m. Saturday morning.
The Track and Field Office will have hourly updates on the status of the meet beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. Fans and participants can call (818) 677-3608 for hourly updates.
Due to recent inclement weather, Northridge has had to cancel three previous All-Comers Meets this season.


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According to the Brazos County justice website, Texas A&M Defensive Lineman Kirby Ennis from Huntsville was arrested last night on charges of disorderly conduct/displaying a firearm.
He posted a $2,000 bond.
Texas A&M Associate Athletics Director Alan Cannon released a statement this afternoon:
"Texas A&M officials have been made aware of the arrest of football player Kirby Ennis and according to athletics department policy he is immediately suspended from all team activities pending further investigation."
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Thursday, September 19, 2013
There's a baby on board at Summerville Evening Rotary Club. Membership in Rotary International creates an instant bond both locally and world-wide. When Amanda Taylor, wife of Dr. Thomas A. Taylor III, found out she was expecting their first child, she wanted to share the excitement with her Rotary family and also break the news to her husband in a unique and special way. With the help of club members, the announcement of her pregnancy was made with the presentation of a "Baby on Board" sign at a club meeting. Baby Taylor is due in the Spring of 2014. Dr. Taylor, owner of Alignment Specific Chiropractic Clinic is a long time member of the Summerville Evening Rotary Club.
The Summerville Evening Rotary Club is the newest Rotary club in District 7770 and meets at Montreux Bar & Grill Restaurant, 127 West Richardson Avenue in Summerville on Monday's at 5:30 p.m. All are welcome.
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Program, test, and deploy your web applications more easily and efficiently with a Grunt.js development workflow.
Learn to work with the most common Git commands, and use GitHub to clone, explore, and create templates from existing projects.
Learn how to install and work with NPM, the Node Package Manager that allows JavaScript developers to share and reuse code.
Explore solutions to common JavaScript programming challenges, and then compare the results with other programming languages in the Code Clinic series.
Learn to build native-style applications that leverage your existing knowledge of HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS by using AngularJS and the Ionic framework.
Build web apps that can handle multiple users, registration, and real-time data, with AngularJS.
Find out how Bootstrap can transform your standard HTML websites into inspired single-page designs.
Learn how to build responsive single-page websites (with animation and scrolling effects) using frameworks like Compass, Susy, and Breakpoint.
Bring your data to life with D3.js. Create interactive, visually exciting infographics and visualizations with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and SVG graphics.
Learn how to generate a workflow that makes it easier to build your own websites, track and share project files, and leverage JavaScript and jQuery code libraries.
Find out how to develop server-side JavaScript applications with the Node platform that you can then easily publish as websites with the Express framework.
Learn about CoffeeScript, a language that compiles into JavaScript and allows you to write fast, efficient, and beautiful JavaScript code.
Get a fresh look at AngularJS, a framework for building single-page web applications fast.
Get a first look at Edge Code, the impressive new code editor from Adobe, and its open-source cousin Brackets.
Learn how to build dynamic jQuery Mobile web applications that read data from services like Flickr, YouTube, WordPress, and Twitter.
Learn about the new features, the minor pitfalls, and the best migration path for jQuery Mobile 1.4.
Learn the different ways of declaring and invoking JavaScript functions, the "subprograms" that power your code.
Learn how Compass (powered by Sass) can help you build a responsive layout workflow that is easier, faster, and more compatible than CSS alone.
Learn to use JavaScript events to respond to clicks, form input, and touch gestures in your web applications.
Generate an interactive website from scratch with Bootstrap.
Learn about the new CSS classes, mobile-first approach, and other enhancements in Bootstrap 3.
Learn to use Emmet's abbreviated shortcuts to write full-fledged HTML, XML, CSS, and code faster and more efficiently.
Learn to modify the DOM (Document Object Model), one of the core components of every HTML page, with JavaScript.
Learn how to ensure the data submitted to your web forms is complete, accurate, and nonmalicious with HTML5, JavaScript, jQuery, and PHP form processing and validation.
Explore how the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format works and how you can use it to read and share data in your web projects.
Explore how to load dynamic content from JavaScript and jQuery using AJAX methods.
Introduces the EaselJS framework and the HTML5 Canvas element, and shows how to create interactive web content with this open web standard.
Introduces developers and designers who are already familiar with HTML and JavaScript to Facebook app development.
Teaches Shows web developers how to leverage their existing CSS and HTML knowledge to create content that displays on iOS devices.
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CONCORD, N.C. – The second round of the 2013 WKA RLV Tuned Exhaust Products Gold Cup Series is this May 24-26 at JET Karting, formerly Michiana Raceway Park, in South Bend, Indiana.
Pre-registration is currently open for the Michigan Kart Supply Nationals. Click here to view and print the entry form.
The early-tier pre-registration prices are available through Wednesday, April 17. Fees will increase to the second-tier prices April 18 and run through the end of pre-registration on May 10.
The event will be highlighted by the new version of Friday's Animal Money Race, which boasts a $2,500 purse and a new Briggs Animal engine for Pro Gas entrants. Methanol Animal engines are still eligible to compete and will be awarded their regular 75 percent payback from entry fees.
Friday night will also include Pro Gas Junior and Sportsman racers vying for brand-new Briggs Animal engines in special 10-lap shootout races.
South Bend will also mark the beginning to the "Road to Rockingham" for Sportsman Pro Gas racers. Rockingham Sportsman Pro Gas feature winners will be awarded five free class entry fees to the 2014 Gold Cup Series (one per event) and five sets of Bridgestone tires (one per event), but to be eligible the driver must enter at least one points class at four of the five 2013 Gold Cup nationals.


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Double Rafter Cattle Drives
Ranch Headquarters:
Phone: -1-800-704-9268
Phone: -1-307-655-9539
Email address: email@example.com
Alternate email address: email@example.com
An Authentic 1880's cattle drive.
This is the real deal.
We promise you the trip of a lifetime.
Compared to us, City Slickers is a pony ride!!!!
This is reality. We don't schedule phony stampedes, cloudbursts, blizzards, rodeos, wagon wrecks, or brush fires. They happen all on their own!
Welcome to the Double Rafter. Check us out. You will come to find that we are the real deal. We are a real family-owned and working cattle ranch. To get a feel for what the cattle drives are all about, check out our video. We don't use paid actors. The footage on that video has come from past cattle drives using real people like you.
Facebook Page
Come help us as we promote the cattle drives on our Facebook page. You can click below to go directly to our new facebook page. If you are a past guest, feel free to like this page, add your comments and/or pictures. If you are an upcoming guest, also feel free to like and ask any questions. Be sure and watch for upcoming news from the ranch. Also feel free to join our open group on facebook under groups at "Double Rafter Cattle Drives Inc" and jump into any ongoing discussions. Enjoy the interaction and conversation as Trent brings the group up to date on daily ranch happenings.
Click here to visit our Facebook Page or join our group page at "Double Rafter Cattle Drives Inc" under groups in your Facebook account.
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We have been written about in several different media outlets. We have included several links here for your reading pleasure.
New Article
Cattle Drive Vacation Travel Tips From the Experts
Equitrekking has done an article on cattle drive vacation travel tips from the experts and interviewed the Doublerafter's very own Dana Kerns. Click on this link to read the full article.
New Article
Western Farmer Stockman Magazine
Western Farmer Stockman Magazine wrote an article on "Real Life City Slickers" and featured the Doublerafter Cattle Drives.
New York Times Interactive article on Doublerafter Cattle DrivesPrime Living Magazine
Click on the Parkman icon on the map
Prime Living Magazine, billed as "The Luxury Lifestyle Magazine of Texas" did a bucket list article on Doublerafter Cattle Drives
You should also go to the Newsletter and Trip Reports pages and check out the previous cattle drives and life at the ranch. If you are interested in a trip, contact us via our 'contact us' link.
If you choose to join us on a trip, you will not be disappointed. We promise this will be the trip of a lifetime. The following picture depicts one very happy guest..
However, you don't have to take our word for it. See what past guests have said on our 'testimonials' page. The following is an example of one testimonial:
Top Ten Reasons Why Camping with Double Rafter is Better than Staying in a Hotel. by H.J. Siegel, July 2010
You can register online by clicking on the Online Registration link below. Come join us for the trip of a lifetime and write your own top ten list. Again, thank you for visiting us and we hope to see you soon on a cattle drive.
Click here to fill out the Guest Registration form for a Doublerafter Cattle Drive.
Dana and Alice
Doublerafter Cattle Drives
© Copyright 2015 Dana Kerns , All rights reserved.
© Copyright 2015 Dana Kerns , All rights reserved.


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No, I wouldn't. Simply because there is literally to no reason to say that. What does telling someone a baby is ugly accomplish? Its best to keep your opinion to yourself.
No, I wouldn't. Simply because there is literally to no reason to say that. What does telling someone a baby is ugly accomplish? Its best to keep your opinion to yourself.
Noooo! Why would I do that Thats just mean! Or well, maybe only if I don't like them very much and they fish compliments about their baby all the time or shove the pictures or the baby in my face at every opportunity.
No, but i've definitely seen some ugly babies.
"It hath been found by experience that no matter how decent, intelligent or thoughtful the reasoning of a conservative may be, as an argument with a liberal is advanced, the probability of being accused of 'bigotry', 'hatred' or 'intolerance' approaches 1." - Cranmer's Law
Maybe in hindsight, looking back at baby pictures, we could laugh at it together, but if the baby was right there in front of me, I'd be simultaneously insulting the baby, and the parents who birthed the little ogre. That's a solid 3 people now mad at me because I blurted out something stupid.
I think all babies are ugly little monsters. I wouldn't be honest about it though.
For one of my cousins newborns I made the mistake of commenting that he looked a lot like a Gremlin (from the movies). She was seriously unimpressed. I didn't mean it to sound as insulting as she took it - was meant to be more of a joke because he was so wrinkled and looked super grumpy (was just a few days old). In hindsight I can see how it was taken the wrong way. Must keep mouth closed.
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Unless I knew the person well enough for us to joke about such stuff, what other reason would I ever have to tell someone their baby was ugly?
I won't tell someone "YOUR baby is ugly". But I would tell someone that all babies are ugly should he/she ask me what do I think about them.
When someone is fat/chubby for example and they ask you, if they look fat people generally tell the truth? i think.
But people do feel the need to lie about babies if they don't find them to look cute or pretty
Well... I find pretty much all babies to be ugly. They look like aliens. But no, I won't say that, unless I know the parents very well so I can "joke" about it without them taking it seriously.
Disclaimer: Not the Mojo Risin of MMO-Champion.
bias pictures are bias
If the picture of the 3rd baby was of the quality of the other 2, it might be a bit harder of a question.
OT though:
If it was a very close friend, I'd probably tell them. As for people that I don't know, or only keep at "arms distance," no. I wouldn't tell them they had an ugly kid.
"Do not only practice your art, but force yourself into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine." -- Ludwig Van Beethoven
No, why would I? I wouldn't call a grown up person ugly, so I don't see why I would with babies.. just because they can't understand me?
<Anakso> I'd fuck yonghwa because he's so dreamy but that doesn't make me gay
~my lips, my titties, my hips, my pussy~
"when women wear makeup they're basically lying to us"
Well, I don't see why women are being blamed if man is stupid enough to really think they have red and gold eyelids.
Wouldn't do anyone any good, however; It would make the parents of said baby think you're an ass. If you critizise people for things they either don't want to change, or can't change, they'll just get sad or angry with you.
"The north still reeks of undeath. Our homelands lay in ruin. Pandaria oozes our hatred and doubt. What hope is there for this world when the Burning Legion again lands upon our shores?" - Eric Thibeau
I think all babies pretty much look the same :I
This thread made me laugh so hard! As evil as I am I would not tell someone that their baby is ugly. I don't find babies to be cute anyways
Anyhoo, I'll just leave this video here, I can't believe no one has posted it yet!!!
So good to be an ant who crawls atop a spinning rockCurrently playing: Bioshock 2,Far Cry 3
Every time I look in the mirror.
edit: lol thought it read "body".
No I won't tell some one that their baby is ugly because it is a moot point to make.
this is my signature... jealous?


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The Feds are at it again. Their relentless attempt to shut down the largest medical marijuana shop in the world, Harborside Health Center, continues.
After losing a recent court judgement that said they couldn't evict Harborside under federal forfeiture, the Feds are now making the argument that the state and city cannot stand in their way of seizing the dispensary.
Back in July, the federal government filed forfeiture proceedings against the property that Harborside rents. Although Harborside has not violated any state laws, action by the Feds essentially forced the landlords Anna Chretien and Concourse Business Center to file eviction charges with the Feds.
On Friday November 30th of this year a superior court ruled that Harborside cannot be evicted from their location simply because their product violates federal law. The granted stay of forfeiture was seen as a huge victory for Harborside and for state sovereignty in a never-ending battle by the Feds.
"We are heartened by the robust support provided to Harborside by our elected officials and the California courts," said Harborside's co-founder Steve DeAngelo. "The decision makes it clear that organizations that comply with state law deserve the protection of that law."
"For years, in medical cannabis cases, California state courts have followed a principle that cities should not be able to ask a state court to 'indirectly' enforce federal controlled substance laws in a way that disadvantages cannabis patients and caregivers," said Harborside's lawyer, Henry Wykowski. "However, this is the first opinion that extends that principle to private actors, such as landlords."
However, that small victory for Harborside was short lived. The Feds have now challenged the ruling saying that they have the power over states and cities because they have no ownership in the property being seized, and federal law supersedes state law.
In a brief, Justice Department attorney Kathryn Wyer writes:
Plaintiff, the City of Oakland, has initiated this separate action in an attempt to halt forfeiture proceedings that the United States has initiated against an Oakland property housing a marijuana dispensary. Plaintiff's lawsuit was filed after the time to assert a claim in the forfeiture action itself had passed. And in any event, Plaintiff lacks any ownership interest in the property. Plaintiff therefore lacks standing to participate in the forfeiture actionThe brief further notes that the Controlled Substance Act applies to all states no matter if they have changed their own laws or not:
Plaintiff argues that the United States is stopped from seeking forfeiture of the Oakland property because it had adopted a 'policy of nonenforcement' of the CSA against all those in compliance with state law. Even assuming that the marijuana dispensary operating at the Oakland property – which is alleged to be the largest on the planet, with annual gross sales revenue of $20 million – were in compliance with California law, this claim cannot succeed.
...the United States has never misrepresented the fact that marijuana distribution, possession, and cultivation remain illegal under federal law...Wyer even takes a swipe at the state and city for only sticking up for Harborside because "it has received a windfall of millions of dollars in tax and sales revenues through the operation of illegal marijuana dispensaries within its borders."
Indeed, Harborside has been a major benefit to the state of California and Oakland, as it's estimated $20 million in annual sales operating as a non-profit have generated over $3 million is local and state taxes. Yet, apparently Wyer thinks that is a bad thing.
Clearly the Feds have little respect for state rights, property rights, medical rights, and local sovereignty -- all of which are being tried in this case. Meanwhile, one of the most respected, lawful, and successful medical marijuana treatment centers is facing closure.
Learn more about the Harborside Health Center by watching their video:
A recent Gallup poll showed that 64% of Americans want the federal government out of state marijuana laws:
Even 43% of people who think marijuana should not be legalized believe that the Feds should leave the states alone.
If you're interested in sending your thoughts to DOJ attorney Kathryn Wyer regarding this case, please contact her below:
Tel. (202) 616-8475/Fax (202) 616-8470
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"Working in D-SIP I was exposed to so many aspects of fundraising and the role it plays in non-profits. I enjoyed the opportunity to work with the Law School and see the importance of strong Alumni relations and annual giving to the Law School Fund." —Chatoris Jones (AB '13), D-SIP '13
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"My D-SIP experience has greatly increased my awareness and appreciation of my University and community. While it has inspired me to continue working in development, D-SIP also provided me with the knowledge and skills to make me a successful young professional in any field."
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Research & Policy Junior Analyst, Workforce Intelligence Network, Detroit
"Before D-SIP, I was unaware of the fundraising profession. Now that I have a rich understanding of philanthropy I am looking forward to spreading my knowledge to my student organizations to better my community and campus."
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Police probe shooting, stabbing in DanbyJune 17,2013By Josh O'Gorman
Staff Writer
Vermont State Police responded Sunday night to a reported shooting and stabbing in Danby.
The incident was first reported around 7:30 p.m. on John Corey Road. According to scanner reports, a man had been shot in the leg and a woman had been stabbed.
Police at the scene declined to comment on the incident, but a police report released early this morning said that a man found at the scene was suffering from "gunshot wounds" and a woman was suffering from "stabbing wounds". Both of them were transported to Rutland Regional Medical Center for treatment.
Scanner reports indicated that police tried to get a medical helicopter to fly to the scene from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., or Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center. However, due to weather conditions a helicopter could not fly to the scene.
At least one person injured was taken to Rutland Regional Medical Center by ambulance with a police escort.
John Corey Road is about one mile from Danby Four Corners. Police had yellow crime scene tape across a driveway leading up to the home.
The home is set back about 100 yards from the road.
Officers could be seen investigating and snapping photographs as the sun set.
A constable from Pawlet also responded to the scene as well as firefighting personnel from Danby and emergency responders from Wallingford and Manchester.
A gathering of bystanders watched at the end of the driveway as police investigated.MORE IN This Just InThe family of a Connecticut man who was killed in a car accident on Route 4 last Friday night is... Full StoryAssociated Press Full StoryIt seems like I just started to warm up from last winter and I see back-to-school displays. Full Story
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- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1878, JOHN TUNSTALL murdered near Lincoln, New Mexico, by the outlaw JESSE EVANS; in 1930, ELM FARM OLLIE first cow to fly in aircraft, first to be milked airborne; 1955, nuke test WASP; '79, snow in Sahara.
- TOMORROW'S HEADLINES TODAY: Rutland Herald News Editor Alan J. Keays and staff writer Gordon Dritschilo discuss stories planned for the February 18, 2015, edition of the newspaper: Winter budgets maxed, legal marijuana, Springfield bank job, USPS slowdown
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1249 AD, ANDRE of LONGJUMEAU is dispatched by LOUIS IX of France to meet the KHAGAN, ruler of the Mongol Empire; in 1804, during 1st Barbary War, STEPHEN DECATUR scuttles the pirate-held USS Philadelphia in Tripoli.


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Home » Australian Wagyu Beef
Whole tenderloin is elegant, and when it comes from DeBragga's Australian Wagyu selection, from well-known Australian Wagyu breeder, Nick Sher, it makes the finest meal you can offer family and friends. Sher's Australian Wagyu has a marble score of 9 out of a possible 12 on the Japanese grading scale, making this one of the world's great values, as well. The whole tenderloin makes a perfect centerpiece for every occasion, because it's easy to roast, slice and serve. Australian Wagyu whole tenderloin offers everyone - especially the host - an exquisite eating experience. Incomparable quality and flavor, our whole tenderloins arrive to you fully trimmed and ready to cook. Also included in this package is a whole, fresh foie gras for you to slice into medallions, quickly sauté over high heat, and serve over slices of beef. Alternate with slices of truffle butter for deluxe variety. Make a quick, luscious sauce from the Glace de Viande veal stock and water to top it all.
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The Cider Press: 7 Cherry Ciders to Extend Your Summer
Cherries tend to grow where apples do, but geographical conveniences aside, there is still something incredibly satisfying about cherry cider. The acidity of a well made cider can elevate common sweet cherries from bland to brilliant, while cider's complexity and tannic structure can give weight to tart cherries and bring out their flavor. We sampled several cherry ciders from around the country to find some favorites to recommend. More


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Dink Flamingo's Active Duty Hot American Soldiers Having Wild Gay Sex
These six troopers quickly get down to business with Brock, Kaden and Christian sucking in the shower and Adam, Zack and Reese going at it in the Jacuzzi. Christian gets the ball rolling first in the shower as he goes down to service Brock's cock. It isn't long before he's making his rounds and is sucking on Kaden's cock, too. Christian goes back and forth between Kaden and Brock's cocks while Adam and Zack keep up the pace on Reese. The boys turn off the shower and come out to join Adam, Reese and Zack beside the tub as Brock sprawls out for Christian to work his cock and Kaden jerks himself as he watches. It doesn't take long though for Kaden to find his own wet mouth with Adam and get his cock sucked as well.
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If you had to give up your internet or your home phone, which would it be? Without hesitation I'd give up my phone—in fact I did that over a decade ago. I'm not alone either. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, more than one third of American homes no longer have a landline. Conversely, Nielsen recently reported that over 212 million Americans were active online last September with close to 300 million with access—a number that has continued to grow.
As our country has developed, the U.S. government has recognized the importance of keeping our large swath of land connected. Public utilities such as railroads and electricity grids were put in place and became the envy of the world and the foundation of many innovations. Today, the FCC has put together a National Broadband Plan to help us maintain a competitive edge. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we're shooting for the moon on this one.
The plan has set a goal of 4 Mbps (megabits per second) download of universal coverage around the country by 2020, which it says would support the basic usage of e-mail, downloading web pages and simple video conferencing. Really? Maybe for today's web pages and video conferencing, but I'm guessing that by 2020 a lot more data will be going back and forth to our ultra HD screens and cameras. Besides, even if our web pages and video conferences don't progress as quickly as I anticipate, that doesn't mean the rest of the world will wait for us.
According to the latest State of the Internet report from Akamai Technologies, the U.S. ranks 9th in the world for connection speed with an average of 7.2 Mbps. That means the U.S. just needs to double its average speed to get close to South Korea at 14.7 Mbps. You might think that the 7.2 Mbps sounds pretty good, but remember that this is an average, not a baseline.
The Internet Is More Than Kitten Videos, Really!
In Germany, where Akamai ranks their average speed at 5.9 Mbps, The Federal Court of Justice granted a person the right to claim compensation from their service provider if their internet access is disrupted because the Internet is an "essential" part of life. Germany obviously has different laws than the U.S., but if their courts are beginning to recognize the importance of the internet as an "essential" right, it might not be too long before domestic legislation begins to reflect that same reality here.
The internet is how most of us communicate today. The internet is how we job search, how we get our news, how we invite someone to our party, how we find the weather forecast, to see what movies are playing, to check if the local restaurant offers a gluten-free menu. The internet is how we now do business, from stock trades to video conferences. A survey by recruiting and employment service website, Weddle.com found that just 6.1 percent of respondents were not posting their jobs online. If you're looking for a job, 50.8 percent of them are now hiring over half of their new employees online and 25.4 percent were hiring 9 out of 10 workers from the internet. If that weren't enough, a report by the The Boston Consulting Group found that 21 percent of Americans would give up sex to keep the internet on for a year; in Japan that number jumped to 56 percent, which isn't surprising since they rank 2nd in the world for internet speed with 10.5 Mbps.
There Is Hope
Last week FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, announced the Gigabit City Challenge, which is aiming for at least one gigabit (equal to 1,000 Mbps) community in all 50 states by 2015. Today, the FCC reported that just 42 communities in 14 states have access to that kind of speed.
One place you will find 1 Gbps speed is in Kansas City, Kansas. Last year Google awarded their service to the city after many months of courting by other municipals. As a result, entrepreneurs from across the country have been moving to the city so they can tap into that sweet digital highway. In fact, some programmers are shacking up in "hacker homes" with other like-minded digital pioneers.
What's shameful is how quickly Google was able to roll this out and how slow other internet service providers have been to put the U.S. back on top. There's obviously a cost associated with putting down new wire, but there's also an economic return. Remember how moving from dial-up to generic broadband helped push the Web 2.0 movement, launching such sites as YouTube and Netflix. Imagine what an internet 100 times faster could offer! So far, the economic return in Kansas City hasn't been overwhelming, but with only 42 other communities within the U.S. able to connect at full capacity it's hard to know what could be possible.
In the 20th century, it was our goal as a society build one rocket to get a man on the moon. In the 21st century, we all need our own 1 Gb rockets so we can explore the next frontier of cyberspace—we're currently sitting on the launchpad while eight other countries are taking off.
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