“Lord, Lord”

A reader writes:

A question I have long wondered about.

In the Gospels (which are historical –as noted by the Church)  various persons refer to Jesus as "lord’ and he himself refers to people saying "lord lord" but not doing what he teaches.

The question is — how are we to understand the usage of these people –who I think for the most part are Jews?  Do they mean ‘lord’ the same way as did the Church later in its profession "Dominus Jesus!"  Jesus is Lord!?

Some thoughts have been:

A. They were inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Thus they really profess that he is God.

B. The Greek they use must mean (in most cases) something else –some title of respect but not a calling Jesus –God.

C. Something else entirely.

Any help would be great!

What people meant in these cases is probably a mix of different things. For some the New Testament references to him as "Lord" are confessions that he is God. We know this because in the Greek text the word kurios is often used of Jesus when giving a quotation from the Old Testament, and when you look up the original in Hebrew it has Yahweh–the divine name–where the Greek quotation has kurios referring to Jesus.

These quotations tend to be later, though, and aren’t in the voices of people who were talking to him during his ministry (e.g., they’re in the mouth of a later author as narrator or epistle-writer), so what consciousnessness there was of Jesus as God during his ministry is not entirely clear.

Certainly there are references by people during the Gospels referring to him to his face as "Son of God," and this is certainly to be understood as reference to him as a supernatural and even a divine figure. Something similar applies (paradoxically) to the title "Son of Man," which is not simply a straightforward reference to Jesus’ humanity. (In some literature of the person "the Son of Man" was also a supernatural figure.)

How much of this conscoiusness is loaded into their use of "Lord," though, is unclear. They certainly weren’t walking around referring to him as "Yahweh" to his face. We know that in this period the divine name had already become taboo, so people showed their reverence for it by not pronouncing it (except on special occasions). That’s a big part of why we have kurios so much in the New Testament–because people used it as a Greek substitute for the divine name instead of writing Yahweh in Greek letters.

So if people didn’t call Jesus "Yahweh" to his face, what did they call him?

Maran.

Or at least Mar.

Mar is the Aramaic word for "Lord," and when you put the –an suffix on it it means "Our Lord." This is where we get Maranatha = Maran athe ("Our Lord comes").

The thing about Mar, though, is that it has a pretty broad semantic range, just like "Lord" does in English. "Lord" can mean God, but it can also be a title of nobility.

There’s also the possibility that in first century Palesting Mar functioned like the Spanish word Senor, which can not only be a title of Christ but also simply a term of polite respect, meaning "Sir" or "Mister."

I don’t know if we know precisely how broad the semantic range of Mar was in the first century, but it had significant flexibility and could certainly be used as a term of respect that did not presuppose either nobility or divinity.

This means that when we’re dealing with people who call Jesus "Lord" in the Gospels that we can’t say with certainty what was in their minds. Some of them (at least some of the core disciples after a certain point in his ministry) may have meant it to have divine overtones, but for many it was more likely undrestood as a term of respect.

I also suspect, though, that the Evangelists may have intended us to understand divine overtones even when the person using the term wouldn’t have had them in mind. In other words, when people called Jesus Maran (or Mari, "My Lord") they were in some fashion acknowledging his divinity without even realizing it. At least it’s possible that the Evangelists want us to hear the word with these unintentional overtones (the same way that the high priest prophesies about Jesus without realizing it in John 11).

In case you’re curious, Mar is still used with several different meanings in contemporary Aramaic. Today it is used sometimes distinctively of God (as in the term Maran for "Our Lord" or as in the greeting Mar hubba, or "The Lord is Love"–used by Maronites) but also of humans, as when it is used as the Aramaic equivalent of the title "Saint" in a name (e.g., Mar Toma = St. Thomas) or as the equivalent of the title "Bishop" in a name (e.g., Mar Ibrahim Ibrahim and Mar Sarhad Jammo = Bishop Abraham Abraham and Bishop Sarhad Jammo, the Chaldean bishops for the eastern and western United States, respectively).

Incidentally, whenever I’ve spoken to a Chaldean or Assyrian bishop, I’ve always greeted him as Mari ("My Lord" = Monsignor, a title used for bishops in Europe) and I’ve never had one blink when I used the term (except over the fact that it was an American cowboy so greeting him).

Tales From The Freezer

In the never-ending quest to Have It All, young women who want to put off having a family until they’re finished playing Career Barbie can freeze their eggs for future use.

"Young career women will soon be routinely freezing their eggs so they can have children after their fertility has declined, experts are predicting.

"Fertility pioneer Dr. Simon Fishel said coming technological developments in the embryo-freezing process would allow women to effectively delay motherhood.

"Unless there was a ‘sea change’ in social attitudes the practice would be common within 10 years, said Dr. Fishel."

GET THE STORY.

My crack about young women "playing Career Barbie" shouldn’t mislead you: I am not against a young woman choosing to remain single and have a career rather than get married and have a family. If she later changes her mind and decides to marry and try for children, that’s great. If she continues working while married until children arrive, that’s fine too.  And if financial necessity demands that she combine motherhood with an outside job, that is the business of her and her husband. 

But what this article appears to suggest is a young woman remaining "childless by choice" for the sake of her career, presumably through use of contraception, and then trying for a family once she can no longer hit the snooze alarm on her biological clock. The foul procedure reported by the article simply confirms such a woman in her selfishness rather than challenge her to accept that she cannot Have It All.

Wearing Rosaries

A reader writes:

I’ve noticed it’s becoming increasingly popular amongst women and girls, pious or otherwise (e.g. Brittany Spears). Is it considered irreverent for a person to wear a rosary around the neck? I thought I read a statement from Pope John Paul II on this a couple of years ago (asking women not to wear rosaries as adornment), but am at a loss to find it.

I’m pretty sure that there isn’t such a quote. Certainly, I have never run across one, and it does not sound to me like the kind of thing that John Paul II would say.

The reason is that–as pope–he had to oversee a Church spanning countless cultures, with different sensibilities, and with numerous different spiritualities.

How one shows reverence for something is largely a cultural matter. One can show it, among other ways, by proximity or by distance.

For example, we show devotion to the saints, and many people show it by wearing small blessed pictures (medals) of them. This is a way of showing devotion to the saints by keeping reminder of them on our person and–in some cases–where other people can see the pictures (medals), making this devotion also a form of public testimony.

But I can imagine a culture in which people want to do the opposite. "No blessed object should be worn on the body," they might say. "The only role for a blessed picture of a saint is as an icon hanging on a wall–not on one’s person!" These people would be attemting to show their devotion by distance.

Neither of these positions would be wrong. Showing devotion by proximity or by distance are both ways of showing devotion. Unless the Church weighs in to mandate a particular devotion, it remains a matter of culture and personal preference.

In the case of the liturgy, the Church has mandated certain forms of showing devotion. We are to stand for the reading of the gospel and kneel for the consecration, for example. In the liturgy–in part because it is a communal activity (one where we all participate in the liturgical action as a group)–how we show our devotion is significantly regulated by the Church’s liturgical law.

But the Church hasn’t been anywhere near that specific when it comes to non-liturgical matters, like the sacramentals and the Rosary.

Whether it is to one’s personal taste that some people want to show their devotion to Mary by wearing a Rosary, this is a matter that–so far as I can tell–the Church has left up to individuals.

Those who favor the practice could also argue that wearing a Rosary–even a blessed one–as a way of showing one’s devotion to Mary is not different in principle than wearing a picture (medal) of Mary–even a blessed one.

My inclination, therefore, would be to take a Pauline approach to this and note it as a matter of Christian liberty. People on both sides of the Rosary-wearing divide should recognize that others’ sensibilities are not the same as theirs, that different people have different ways of showing their devotion, and neither should look down on the other.

Adventures In Adventist Land

Michelle here.

Loma Linda, California, is not quite the same for Adventists as Salt Lake City is for Mormons — more important meccas of Adventism can be found in the Midwest and East Coast — but it is predominantly an Adventist city. I spent some time there over a decade ago and was amused that there was postal delivery on Sunday but not Saturday.

"The city is best known for Loma Linda University Medical Center, where in 1984 doctors performed the world’s first infant cross-species heart transplant: ‘Baby Fae’ was given the heart of a baboon.

"Less known is that the university and medical center are run by Adventists. Loma Linda, home to at least 7,000 Adventists, one of the largest concentrations in the world, has been governed exclusively by church members since it incorporated more than three decades ago.

"Adventism, a conservative Christian denomination, and the church’s holistic devotion to people’s health and spiritual well-being dominate daily life in Loma Linda, where biblical creationism and cutting-edge medicine exist side by side.

"The city has a Ronald McDonald House to shelter the families of ailing children — but no Golden Arches. Most Adventists are vegetarian."

GET THE STORY.

(Nod to Bill Cork for the link.)

Late in 2004, when my father was dying of terminal illness, we managed to have him admitted to the hospice nursing unit of Loma Linda’s Veterans Administration Hospital. (San Diego’s VA did not have any openings.) Despite the difficulties for us in visiting him, we were pleased for him that he could be at the Loma Linda VA because that meant he would have access to Adventist chaplains. The Loma Linda VA had three chaplains, two Adventist and a Catholic priest.

Although early in his stay at the VA Dad did get one visit from the Adventist chaplain and another visit from an Adventist pastor who was a friend of the family, as the end approached the chaplain who responded to my calls for chaplain’s visits was the priest. (I did not request him; I only requested whoever was available.) At the end, it was the priest who visited Dad just before he died and who prayed with us afterwards. I never met either of the Adventist chaplains.

Which goes to show that even in an "Adventist city" I guess it is possible for Adventists to be prepared for death by a Catholic priest.

Okay, This Makes Me Really Nervous

Comet_wild_2_nucleusThis is a picture of the nucleus of a comet known as Wild 2.

The picture was taken by a spacecraft that we sent out to take pictures of it–AND retrieve samples of its tail.

That mission–known as Stardust–passed through Wild 2’s tail and collected samples of the particles that were blowing off the comet.

Now those samples are scheduled to be returned to Earth, when Stardust is supposed to drop its sample capsules in Utah.

I always get nervous whenever NASA tries to get samples of extraterrestrial materials down to Earth.

They’ve already established that there are loads of organic molecules in space, and we have reason to think that there may be extremeophile bacteria–including some here on Earth–that could withstand conditions in space.

Of course, tons (literally!) of space dust falls on Earth every day, but our atmosphere provides a protective shield in that a lot gets burned up and sanitized before it makes its way down here.

But that doesn’t happen if NASA puts space dust and rocks in a nice, protective capsule to shield them in the re-entry process.

I know that the odds of anything harmful getting out may be low, but still . . . it makes me nervous.

If you hear of any mysterious diseases suddenly starting in the Utah area next week, start praying really hard.

In the meantime,

GET THE STORY.

P.S. If you’ve never thought through the associated problems here, try renting and watching The Andromeda Strain in anticipation of the event.

Is God Dead?

… or are rumors of his death greatly exaggerated? An American visitor to Europe has written an intriguing editorial on the state of religion in Europe:

"’Common wisdom has it that alcoholics outnumber practicing Christians and that more Czechs believe in UFOs than believe in God — and common wisdom may be correct,’ wrote Nate and Leah Seppanen Anderson in a Prague Post commentary; he’s a freelance writer, and she’s a political science professor at Wheaton College in Illinois and a specialist in Czech politics and society. Surveys show a sharp decline in church attendance and religious practice in most European countries. A series of Eurobarometer surveys since 1970 in five key countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy) shows that regular church attendance fell from about 40% of the population to about half that figure. Declines were sharpest in predominantly Catholic nations.

"Even so, how do we account for the extraordinary outpouring of grief at Pope John Paul II’s death in April and the enthusiasm that his successor seems to evoke? Are these mere public spectacles, signifying nothing about Europe’s drift from its religious roots, or are they signs of yearning for something more than peace, prosperity and la dolce vita?"

GET THE STORY.

Cy, The Cyclops Kitten

AP regional photo editor Tom Stathis said he took extensive steps to confirm the one-eyed cat was not a hoax.
Stathis had Allen ship him the memory card that was in her camera. On the card were a number of pictures — including holiday snapshots and four pictures of a one-eyed kitten. The kitten pictures showed the animal from different perspectives.
Fabricating those images in sequence and in the camera’s original picture format, from the varying perspectives, would have been virtually impossible, Stathis said.
Meanwhile, Cy the one-eyed cat may be dead, but it has not left the building.
Allen said she’s keeping the cat’s corpse in her freezer for now, in case scientists would like it for research.
She said one thing’s for certain: “I’m not going to put it on eBay.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181447,00.html

Cy_kittenThis is a picture of Cy, short for "cyclops."

He’s a kitten that, as you can see, was born with only one eye.

He’s also really cute–in a slightly disturbing way.

What’s amazing to me is how good he looks despite his deformity. I mean, cyclops beasts don’t usually look that good in movies, much less in real life.

Unfortunately, Cy, as cute as he was, did not stay with us long. He lived only one day from his birth.

But his image touched millions via the Internet after Drudge picked up the story.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CY.

Gluten-Free Noodles?

Shirataki_bundleA reader writes:

My husband is gluten intolerant do you know if the yam flour in the shirataki is gluten free? I also did the low carb and lost 100 lbs. but now putting it back on and have to get it off health reasons. so new year new life again. Please let me know if you know about this thank you. Have a wonderful New Year and every day.

I did some checking and there are a bunch of sites on the Net that indicate that shirataki is gluen free.

This would make sense. A dictionary I checked defined gluten as "A mixture of plant proteins occurring in cereal grains, chiefly corn and wheat, used as an adhesive and as a flour substitute." Since the kind of yam from which shirataki is made isn’t a grain, it shouldn’t have gluten.

Just to be sure, though, I’d probably have your husband test a small bit (assuming that’s safe for him) to see if there’s any reaction.

It hadn’t occurred to me before, but folks who are gluten-intolerant (celiac) must sometimes have a difficult time finding noodles that are safe. I assume rice noodles would be okay, but not if you’re trying to do low-carb.

MORE INFO ON THE PLANT FROM WHICH SHIRATAKI IS MADE.

Note that this article refers to the "corm"–C-O-R-M–from which shirataki is made. A corm is a large underground root (hence: "yam"), not to be confused with "corn" (C-O-R-N), which means a grain. (Here in America we call "Indian corn" (i.e., maize) "corn," but in England the word is used for other grains, like wheat.)

INFO ON THE LOW-CARB ASPECT OF SHIRATAKI.

MORE ON THAT.

BTW, I really like the little, shrimp-sized bundles of shirataki noodles (like the bundle pictured above). They’re called musubi-shirataki in case you want to try them.

Bill Gates Introduces Fantastic New Technology!

Billgates_readCHT to the reader who e-mailed the following story.

As many of you know, the CES was kicked off yesterday with
Bill Gates heading the CES Game Power Showcase and Forum.
A technological breakthrough will be introduced today that
will be a must have for everyone in 2006.

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device,
trade named: BOOK

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no
wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be
connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use, even a child
can operate it.

Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere — even
sitting in an armchair by the fire — yet it is powerful
enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc. Here’s
how it works:

BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper
(recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of
information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit
device called a binder, which keeps the sheets in their
correct sequence.

Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use
both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density
and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for
further increases in information density; for now, BOOKs
with more information simply use more pages.

Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information
directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to
the next sheet. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used
merely by opening it.

Unlike other display devices, BOOK never crashes or requires
rebooting, and it can even be dropped on the floor or
stepped on without damage. However, it can become unusable
if immersed in water for a significant period of time. The
"browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet
and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an
"index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of
selected information for instant retrieval.

An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open BOOK to
the exact place you left it in a previous session — even if
the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design
standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by
various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKmarkers can
be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous
views at once. The number is limited only by the number of
pages in the BOOK.

You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries
with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib
Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (PENCILS).

Portable, durable, and affordable, BOOK is being hailed as a
precursor of a new entertainment wave. Also, BOOK’s appeal
seems so certain that thousands of content creators have
committed to the platform and investors are reportedly
flocking. Look for a flood of new titles soon.