Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Casualty Report on the Gender War

My emphasis.
My comments. (sarcasm intended)

(Daily Mail) A pre-school in Sweden has decided to stop calling children 'him' or 'her' in a bid to avoid gender stereotypes.

The Egalia preschool, in the Sodermalm district of Stockholm, has made the decision as part of the country efforts to engineer equality between the sexes from childhood.

As well as the decision to stop using the words, the taxpayer-funded school also carefully plans the colour and placement of toys and the choice of books to assure they do not fall into stereotypes.

The school opened last year and is on a mission to break down gender roles - a core mission in the national curriculum for Swedish pre-schools.

The option to implement the rules is underpinned by a theory that society gives boys an unfair edge.

'Society expects girls to be girlie, nice and pretty and boys to be manly, rough and outgoing,' says Jenny Johnsson, a 31-year-old teacher. (You're right. That is odd...)

'Egalia gives them a fantastic opportunity to be whoever they want to be.' (No, it gives you the chance to warp innocent children to your perversion.)

At the school, boys and girls play together with a toy kitchen, waving plastic utensils and pretending to cook. One boy hides inside the toy stove, his head popping out through a hole.

Lego bricks and other building blocks are intentionally placed next to the kitchen, to make sure the children draw no mental barriers between cooking and construction. (Have you ever seen a kid's room that's been played in? Toy placement is meaningless.)

Meanwhile, nearly all the children's books deal with homosexual couples, single parents or adopted children. There are no 'Snow White,' 'Cinderella' or other fairy tales. (Allowing the kid's to be who they want to be, I see.)

Director Lotta Rajalin notes that Egalia places a special emphasis on fostering an environment tolerant of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Rajalin says the staff also try to help the children discover new ideas when they play. 

'A concrete example could be when they're playing 'house' and the role of the mom already is taken and they start to squabble,' she says. 'Then we suggest two moms or three moms and so on.' (Because a natural family, the building block of society, is unnatural and destructive...)

Egalia's methods are controversial, with Rajalin claiming the staff have received threats from racists apparently upset about the preschool's use of black dolls.

But she says that there's a long waiting list for admission, and that only one couple has pulled a child out of the school. (If she's telling the truth, this is sad. Either only one family is paying attention, or everyone else is too warped to care.)

Jukka Korpi, 44, says he and his wife chose Egalia 'to give our children all the possibilities based on who they are and not on their gender.' (That's called higher education! Not subjecting your kids to experimentation.)

Staff at the school try to shed masculine and feminine references from their speech, including the pronouns him or her – 'han' or 'hon' in Swedish. Instead, they've have adopted the genderless 'hen'.

'We use the word "Hen" for example when a doctor, police, electrician or plumber or such is coming to the kindergarten,' Rajalin says. (Orwell just cried.)

'We don't know if it's a he or a she so we just say "Hen is coming around 2pm"; then the children can imagine both a man or a woman. This widens their view.' (Or confuses the daylights out of them.)

Jay Belsky, a child psychologist at the University of California, Davis, said he's not aware of any other school like Egalia, and he questioned whether it was the right way to go. (Understatement of the year...)

{'The kind of things that boys like to do - run around and turn sticks into swords - will soon be disapproved of,' he said.

'So gender neutrality at its worst is emasculating maleness.'}  (Exactly)


That last sentence says it all. The efforts of this "school" are an attempt by overzealous feminist ideals to remove the 'strong man' from society. Don't forget, this is also one of the most de-Christianised countries in the world.


You might be be tempted to call this femi-nazi propaganda and experimentation. You'd be right. This stems from the idea that all boys get an unfair advantage from society for being boys. Therefore, the correction is to transform a boy into a girl, and of course, vice versa. This a perverted ideology with mass human experiments and relentless child indoctrination!


Gender stereotypes like calling a child HIM and HER, are no longer acceptable. After all, this will empower the kids to become gay normal. Even"dis-educational, proto-Fascist, chauvinistic literature aimed at consolidating the male supremacy like 'Cinderella' or 'Snow White'" are unacceptable and a 'hindrence' to their 'natural' development. 


Don't be fooled by the change of face, this is still the symptom of an ideology that  Lenin and Hitler used to strike such evil on humanity.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Fr. Michael Rodriguez defends Catholic Teaching in El Paso



Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Michael Rodriguez, defends the Christian faith and position on homosexuality at an El Paso City Council vote to repeal medical benefits from 'unmarried partners'. He maintains that homosexual behavior is unnatural, and not a valid basis for an identity that opposes the Christian faith handed down from God. We should all desire the care for all people, however, sinful behavior is not a basis of that love.


There is a deep rooted belief that implies and instructs that separation of church and state means completely ignoring any reasoning that is religiously derived. This, however, is not the purpose of a separation of Church and State. The Church cannot control the State, but out well-founded and true beliefs are still the valid source of our earthly reasoning.


For the full video, go to the link below, and select under City Council Meetings "6/14/2011".
http://www.elpasotexas.gov/realplayer.asp

Wages of Sin: Are Sexual Sins the Worst Sins?

by Fr. Ted

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”  (Romans 6:23).

There is no doubt since Christianity began it taught its members to be holy as God is holy.  This has sometimes been reduced in people’s minds to referring only to morality, but holiness is not just proper external behavior, it also has to do with the state of a person’s heart, and in fact their very being including their relationship with God.  Sometimes Christians reduce the sense of holiness to sexual activity, something which was influenced by ideas presented early on in Christianity by dualists who despised the body and marriage, treating any sexual desire as a disease (St. John Cassian calls it such in his Institutes, though admittedly he is writing for monks not to all Christians).  This abhorrence of anything sexual ultimate denies the goodness of creation and is at odds with the Genesis story of God creating humans male and female as well as with the Gospel truth of the incarnation where Jesus is a male not an androgynous being).  Today, as in every generation of Christianity, we see these ideas manifesting themselves, in our times especially in claims which make homosexuality to be veritably THE unforgivable sin.   In the book IN THE WORLD, OF THE CHURCH, Paul Evdokimov notes:

Berdiaev [Nikolai Berdiaev, a 19th century Russian religious and political philosopher] stressed with reason that the Gospel is infinitely more severe toward wealth, exploitation, and social disorder than toward any sexual failing. The real problem of social obligation has been repressed and replaced by a veritable obsession with matters sexual, even up to our time.  According to the Gospel, it is the rich who will not enter the Kingdom, while repentant prostitutes enter ahead of the righteous and their influence.  ( pg. 87)

We are so often concerned with or obsessed by the sins of others, while holiness tells us when it comes to sin to specifically look at ourselves.   Christianity is a self-denying religion, but only when it comes to sin does it traditionally tell us to look at ourselves and judge rather than looking at and judging others.

Patriarch Kirill: European population will die without Christianity


Moscow, June 22, Interfax - Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill urged European religious leaders to make collective efforts to pursue the revival of Christianity within the continent.


"The Russian Orthodox Church proposes that European Christian communities unite to become partners of the states and European civil community in pursuing the revival of tangible connection between the human rights concept and the pan-European spiritual heritage," the Patriarch said at the Moscow meeting of the European Council of Religious Leaders.


According to him, only economic and political ties in Europe cannot be "a sustainable basis for the well-being of European community" and existing social values of human rights and rule of law and democracy may remain just "the forms which are unlikely to benefit in the conditions of moral relativism and sometimes may even cause harm."


Patriarch Kirill quoted "the decline of family values causing depopulation in Europe" as an example.


"How can family values be less important than the above ones, if the destruction of family causes physical reduction of the European population? Who will benefit from political developments, if European peoples cease to be or reduce to such number that their role will fail to have any significance?" he asked.


The Patriarch believes that the Soviet human rights concept involves no "clear and reasonable definition of the term human dignity" which is recognized in religious world view, therefore, Patriarch urged representatives of traditional religious communities of Europe to "make the term human dignity meaningful and establish its relation to virtue and seeking perfection."


"This is going to be our investment into generating ethical standards of both personal and social development. Currently, public environment is almost deprived of any moral models or ideals. Mass culture may only offer an image of a prosperous and successful person who can afford to meet every his or her wish," he noted.


The Patriarch expressed hope that the European Council of Religious Leaders will make its contribution to "intellectual enrichment of the European community with traditional religious values which have for centuries encouraged Europeans to seek justice and life under ethical norms generated by this tradition."


Saturday, June 18, 2011

A Prayer Rule for a Busy Life from St. Seraphim

The Simple Rule 

       Many among the simple people told St. Seraphim that on account of their illiteracy or lack of time they could not read the appointed rules of prayer. To such people Fr. Seraphim gave a rule which cold be carried out quite easily.

       Let every Christian on rising from sleep, stand before the ikons and say the following:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
(3x, in honour of the Trinity)


Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast born the Saviour of our souls.
(3x)


The Creed
 I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
 Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
 the Only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages;
Light of Light, true God of true God;
begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made;
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man;
And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;
And He arose again on the third day according to the Scriptures;
And ascended into heave, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father;
And He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead;
Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life; Who proceedeth from the Father;
Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;
Who spake by the prophets.
In One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life or the age to come.
Amen.


      Having performed this rule, let every Christian go to the work to which he has been appointed or called. But during his work, at home, or on his way to some place, let him say softly, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. But if he is surrounded by people, while doing whatever he has to do, let him say mentally only, Lord, have mercy! and continue till lunch-time.

      Before lunch let him again perform the above-mentioned morning rule (three times).

      After lunch let every Christian while going about his business say softly; Most holy Mother of God, save me a sinner, and let him continue that until bedtime.

      If he happens to spend his time alone, let him say: Lord Jesus Christ, through the Mother of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

      At bedtime let every Christian read again the above-mentioned morning rule. Then let him go to sleep, having protected himself with the sign of the cross.
   
      By keeping this simple rule, it is possible to reach a measure of Christian perfection and divine love. -St. Seraphim

From An Extraordinary Peace: St. Seraphim, Flame of Sarov, p. 327-328

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Egyptian Christian Monk Persecution

Unfortunately, the poster of the video does not allow embedding. The link is here:

http://vimeo.com/22239744

The video is a 15 minute 'documentary style' recording of the monks in Egypt who are being persecuted by the Egyptian government. Well worth your time if you are unfamiliar with the situation.
CAUTION: The last five minutes show some injuries.

This is not an isolated event:
Assist News Service: The Egyptian uprising has left Coptic Orthodox monasteries exceedingly vulnerable, as the police who normally guard the monasteries have either deserted their posts or been redeployed to the cities. Exploiting the security vacuum, Arab raiders, jihadists and prison escapees have attacked and raided several monasteries. When the monks requested protection at the 5th Century Monastery of St Bishoy in Wadi al-Natroun, some 110km north of Cairo, they were told they would have to fend for themselves. So they built a surrounding security wall, inside their boundary. However, Islamic law mandates that Christians may neither build nor repair churches. (See last week’s RLPB 096 for some examples of consequences.)

On 21 February soldiers arrived at the monastery of St Bishoy in tanks and bulldozers. They had not come to protect the community, but to demolish the security wall. After arguing with the monks and workers, the soldiers opened fire with live ammunition, including rocket-propelled grenades. Father Feltaows was shot in the leg and Father Barnabas in the abdomen. Six monastery workers were also wounded, one critically. The wounded are being treated in the Anglo-Egyptian Hospital in Cairo. The army also attacked the Monastery of St Makarios of Alexandria in Wady el-Rayan, Fayoum, some 130km south-east of Cairo. This monastery likewise had erected a security wall after an attack by armed thugs and Arabs left six monks wounded, one critically. Not only did the military demolish the security wall, they ‘confiscated’ the monastery’s building materials. 
Full Article

What is Divine Mercy?

Divine Mercy: More Than Mercy
By: Andrew Youssef 


Abstract: 
As a group of Armenian women are publicly humiliated, tortured, and ultimately burnt to death by Turkish soldiers on account of their Armenian identity, they are heard invoking the short yet profound prayer that features most regularly in Oriental Orthodox worship: "Lord, have Mercy." They thereby bear powerful witness to the all-encompassing spirit of Divine Mercy which resonates with its conception in the Oriental Orthodox Tradition as well as the Hebrew Scriptures.





Source

Monday, June 6, 2011

Why Humility is So Important

In our modern world culture, humbleness is not something that is given a high value.  More common is the encouragement to become self assertive, forceful, to act independently.  Yet Scripture and the Church Fathers continually emphasize the need for humbleness for our spiritual growth.

We know God loves us and wants to protect us.  He knows our problems. He is omnipotent so there is no problem that he cannot help us with, except for one.  That is overcoming our lack of humbleness.

Elder Paisios says,
The difficulty God faces, and I repeat, it is the only one, is the He “cannot” help us when our soul is not humble.  God “feels sad” because, while he sees His creature suffer, He “cannot” offer any help.  What ever help He offers, it will harm the person because he lacks a humble mind.

This is when we are overtaken by our passions and God allows this to happen.  He cannot help us because our soul is filled with pride and self-centered thoughts.  In a sense, in these moments we have rejected God and instead put all our trust in our own being.  We are intent on gaining whatever it is we desire.

The Elder says,
God will not give us what we are asking for, no matter how hard we try, unless we humble ourselves.  If our aim is humility, then God will give us everything for free. God desires only one thing from us: our humbleness.  He does not need anything else; just humble ourselves, so He can actually make us partakers of his divine grace, which was granted to us through the mystery of Holy Baptism.... He is only asking from us to humble ourselves and respond out of gratefulness and appreciation of His love.  Thus, divine grace, will make us love God and get to know Him; it will do everything for us, if we only humble ourselves and allow for it to act.

Saint Peter advises us,
Cloth yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.
(1 Peter 5:5-7)


Source: Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, pp 88-89
H/T: Orthodox Way of Life

Sunday, June 5, 2011

An exhortation to humility.

Pope St. Clement I
        Let us therefore, brethren, be of humble mind, laying aside all haughtiness, and pride, and foolishness, and angry feelings; and let us act according to that which is written (for the Holy Spirit saith, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness”), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.” By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word saith, “On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and that trembleth at My words?”
 -St. Clement, Third Bishop of Rome after St. Peter (Died, 98 AD)

Source.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel

The Chaplet of St. Michael is a wonderful way to honor this great Archangel along with the other nine Choirs of Angels. What do we mean by Choirs? It seems that God has created various orders of Angels. Sacred Scripture distinguishes nine such groupings: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Virtues, Principalities, Archangels and Angels (Isa. 6:2; Gen. 3:24; Col. 1:16; Eph. 1:21; Rom. 8:38). There may be more groupings but these are the only ones that have been revealed to us. The Seraphim is believed to be the highest Choir, the most intimately united to God, while the Angelic Choir is the lowest.

The history of this Chaplet goes back to a devout Servant of God, Antonia d'Astonac, who had a vision of St. Michael. He told Antonia to honor him by nine salutations to the nine Choirs of Angels. St. Michael promised that whoever would practice this devotion in his honor would have, when approaching Holy Communion, an escort of nine angels chosen from each of the nine Choirs. In addition, for those who would recite the Chaplet daily, he promised his continual assistance and that of all the holy angels during life.

The Chaplet of St. Michael
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, etc.

[Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys after each of the following nine salutations in honor of the nine Choirs of Angels]

1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity.
Amen.

2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin and run in the paths of Christian perfection.
Amen.

3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility.
Amen.

4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominations may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and overcome any unruly passions.
Amen.

5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into temptation. Amen.

6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and temptations of the devil.
Amen.

7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience. Amen.

8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven.
Amen.

9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven.
Amen.

Say one Our Father in honor of each of the following leading Angels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael and our Guardian Angel.

Concluding prayers:

O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.

Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.

Almighty and Everlasting God, Who, by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most glorious Archangel St. Michael Prince of Your Church, make us worthy, we ask You, to be delivered from all our enemies, that none of them may harass us at the hour of death, but that we may be conducted by him into Your Presence.This we ask through the merits of
Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Source.