Welcome to the Catholic Fundamentalism website.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

An Important Point

about Catholic Fundamentalism: Instead of always reducing our idea of God's power by believing that His accomplishments must be based on what we think His abilities are, Catholic Fundamentalists believe that it's better to do the opposite.

When we hear people saying "God could not have created the universe in six days.", we reply, "He could if He had the power to program in three dimensions. If, with the help of angelic programming assistants, who are, themselves, programmed entities, God programmed particles and energies, compiled them into systems and beings, and downloaded them in what appear to be solid, moving forms, He could have programmed and downloaded The Creation Program, or the necessary part described in Genesis, in six days."

Catholic Fundamentalism does provide a little wiggle room. There are a couple of places in Scripture that say "To God, a thousand years is like a day." So, we could say that writing and downloading The Creation Program could have taken six thousand years, which may be easier to believe than that He programmed and downloaded it in six days of twenty four hours. But, why? If we just accept Scripture as it was written and handed down to us, we don't need to waste a lot of time on a detail that isn't very significant.

If nothing else, believing Scripture rather than the ongoing generations of experts and our own desires is a lesson in humility that, in itself, helps us draw closer to He Who lovingly programmed us to do just that.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

A Better Way to Keep Track of Our Birthdays

When someone asks "How old are you?", they're obtaining information that's basically history. When we are asked about how old we are, we usually answer conventionally, saying that "I am ___ years old." We expect others, when we ask, to give similar answers.

It is more productive to do the best job we can of keeping a perspective on ourselves and our progress to be more concerned with, "How many years do I have left?"

This requires some actual, and actuarial, thinking. We figure out our parent's and grandparent's life spans, average them together, leaving out any accidental deaths, and apply that to our own life expectancy. Then, when someone says "How old are you?", we can reply "The more important information is that I have approximately ___ birthdays remaining. What I do with those years determines how I spend all eternity. How many birthdays do you have left?"

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Jupiter.

Jupiter, the largest of the planets, is now easily visible an hour or so after dark. At ten at night, it's about where the sun was at ten o'clock in the morning. You can see it clearly, it's the brightest thing in that part of the sky. A small telescope, one with 40x or so magnification, such as those used by hunters or bird-watchers, is easy to set up on a stable tripod. Then, aim it at Jupiter and focus carefully.

If you should be prompted to do so, you will see the same magic thing that Galileo saw on a clear night: a few of Jupiter's moons hanging magically in the sky as they circle around it. Remember where the three or four moons were, and look again a night or two later. You will see that the moons have moved. It's very similar to what the planets look like, revolving around the sun.

Making it all the more fascinating: Jupiter's moons are all on the plane of the ecliptic, the fairly flat plane on which the planets revolve around the sun. When we see three or four moons revolving around Jupiter, we are seeing what the three or four nearest planets look like as they circle around the sun. We are seeing a reflection of the huge forces going on in our own lives, duplicated in miniature, hundreds of millions of miles away.

Galileo confirmed the Copernican conclusion that the earth went around the sun by seeing how Jupiter's moons revolved around it. Suddenly, we can see right before us how his mind worked. We are made aware that we, too, can make similar conclusions from things that we see. Getting in the habit of doing so may not make us geniuses, but it will extend the reach of our minds.

That's why we should look at Jupiter's moons. The tiny, tiny orbs can have a disproportionately large effect on improving our ability to think and imagine. Seeing those miniscule dots of light can bring our own minds to the lofty orbit of a brilliant scientist even as reflecting on the experience expands our own horizons.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Veins

Getting older causes us to think more about our veins and arteries. They appear to be utterly different in structure. Arteries are tougher, veins are looser. If we let our hands hang down, we can often see our veins fill with blood. Then, after raising them higher than our heads for a few minutes, they're immediately back to normal size, almost like emptying a bag. Try it. Sometimes, the vein empties so quickly it's almost audible.

Smoking constricts veins and arteries. When we stop smoking, it takes awhile for them to get back to normal, if, in fact, they do.

Sitting, standing, or sleeping in odd positions cuts off circulation. Most of us ignore that most of the time, but we shouldn't. If we think about the endless miles of blood-filled tubes inside, we may become more conscious of the need to stand, exercise, and straighten out more frequently. If we don't, we end up will "bags" full of blood. These can strain and stress our vessels, causing weak points that break.

We've seen garden hoses kink, and know what sharp bends do to flow. The same thing happens to our vessels. It stresses and weakens both the "kink" area and that portion of the blockage immediately upstream. It happens most frequently with veins. They're nearest the surface, so they end up being blocked more readily by bending, constriction, and uneven compression caused by sitting in ways that impede circulation.

In the same vein, there are very good reasons to stand up straight, not the least of which is stopping the bad effects of blocking blood vessels. Standing in a swimming pool puts pressure on our veins, and keeps them compressed. When we get out of the water, they quickly sag back to normal.