Father Orthoduck will make this post very brief. The comic above illustrates an attitude that is all too common in USA history. Beginning in the 1950’s, USA political doctrine was that it was safer to support friendly dictators than it was to take a chance on unknown freedom movements. Thus, in the post-World War II […]
Archives for 2011
When politics gets ahead of Christian truth
Up until yesterday, Father Orthoduck was a subscriber to a pro-life newsletter that kept him up with pro-life oriented news. No, it was not Right-to-Life. But Father Orthoduck had been growing increasingly uncomfortable with the newsletter because more and more it would keep running anti-government articles, specifically anti-Obama articles. That is, rather than concentrating on […]
The makeup of the Christian community in Israel
Father Orthoduck is an Antiochian priest. That means that he has many friends who are either Arab immigrant or descended from Arabs. This is part of the reason why he questions strongly some of the all-too-common American attitudes towards “Arabs.” Father Orthoduck would wish to remind readers that until the Islamic conquests the largest part […]
Matthew 5 and practical holiness
Yesterday Father Orthoduck pointed out that both Matthew 5 and Leviticus 19 are holiness codes. Father Orthoduck should have said that the Matthew 5 passage continues over into Matthew 6. Remember that the chapter divisions are not found in the original manuscripts, but were added centuries later. Father Orthoduck asked you to look at the […]
Leviticus, the New Testament, and New Testament social concern
Father Orthoduck was sent the following e-mail four days ago, and finally has time to begin a reply: I wanted to get your take on possible applications of Lev 19:9-10 to state welfare systems today. A friend and I have a friendly disagreement over whether the passage has application today, and whether it implies that […]
Houston, we have a liturgical problem
Father Ernesto had meant to do a different post than this one, but he has been very busy the last 48 hours, and so he asked Father Orthoduck to do an emergency fill-in. As you may remember, on Monday, Father Orthoduck posted on a small liturgical problem that he had this past Sunday. In answer, […]
Everyone knows that, Father
Father Orthoduck has previously chronicled his various, uhm, missteps. Well, Father Orthoduck did it again. You see, every parish to which Father Orthoduck has been assigned has its own way of dealing with the directions that come from a higher authority. In this case, Father Orthoduck was ready to read the Gospel for Morning Prayer […]
Sorcerers, adulterers, and bad employer
Yesterday we looked at a “devotional” e-mail that was full of bad Scriptural interpretations and junk science, but in the process I quoted from the Book of the Prophet Malachi. However, I did not quote the next verse that followed the verses I quoted earlier. Yesterday I quoted these verses: “I will send my messenger, […]
Refiner’s fire and us
Watch this video to the 2:40 (two minutes forty seconds) mark. You need not watch the rest of it, but you may if you wish. Have you ever received the e-mail below? Malachi 3:3 says: ‘He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and […]
Too much dang cold in the South
Dagnabit! It has been much too cold here in the Deep South. This Friday it is supposed to drop into the low 20’s, maybe even into the upper teens. Father Orthoduck wonders how one is supposed to go skinny dipping and fishing in this dang weather. Why my feathers are getting chilblains! Seriously, all the […]
