Past Postings

Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
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[ch. 13]
...But when He is said to be a “consuming fire,” we inquire what are the things which are appropriate to be consumed by God. And we assert that they are wickedness, and the works which result from it, and which, being figuratively called “wood, hay, stubble,” God consumes as a fire...But what work can be spoken of in these words as being “burned,” save all that results from wickedness? Therefore our God is a “consuming fire” in the sense in which we have taken the word; and thus He enters in as a “refiner's fire,” to refine the rational nature, which has been filled with the lead of wickedness, and to free it from the other impure materials, which adulterate the natural gold or silver, so to speak, of the soul. And, in like manner, “rivers of fire” are said to be before God, who will thoroughly cleanse away the evil which is intermingled throughout the whole soul. But these remarks are sufficient in answer to the assertion, “that thus they were made to give expression to the erroneous opinion that God will come down bearing fire like a torturer.”
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book IV

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In an entertaining, yet useful and helpful, dialogue from his Latina Colloquia, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) presents a summary and attempted justification of Christian belief. I share it here, in .pdf, for such who might need or want a catechetical review off the beaten path as we get nearer Easter.

Erasmus-on-Christianity.pdf

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[ch. 7]
...To which we answer, that there never was a time when God did not wish to make men live righteous lives; but He continually evinced His care for the improvement of the rational animal, by affording him occasions for the exercise of virtue. For in every generation the wisdom of God, passing into those souls which it ascertains to be holy, converts them into friends and prophets of God. And there may be found in the sacred book (the names of) those who in each generation were holy, and were recipients of the Divine Spirit, and who strove to convert their contemporaries so far as in their power.
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book IV

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[Posted on Face Book]

REQUIRED for those who (for one reason or another) don't get around to reading the original.)

https://archive.org/details/ClassicsIllustrated062WesternStories/mode/2up
"Classics Illustrated -062- Western Stories" by Bret Harte (in .pdf)

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["Buddy Holly - Everyday"]

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[ch. 6]
...What argument, then, proves that it follows from our views that God, according to our representations, is “like those of mankind who have recently come into the possession of riches, and who make a display of their wealth?” For God makes no display towards us, from a desire that we should understand and consider His pre-eminence; but desiring that the blessedness which results from His being known by us should be implanted in our souls, He brings it to pass through Christ, and His ever-indwelling word, that we come to an intimate fellowship with Him. No mortal ambition, then, does the Christian doctrine testify as existing on the part of God.
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book IV

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[ch. 5]
...but we say that the soul of the bad man, and of him who is overwhelmed in wickedness, is abandoned by God, while we mean that the soul of him who wishes to live virtuously, or of him who is making progress (in a virtuous life), or who is already living conformably thereto, is filled with or becomes a partaker of the Divine Spirit. It is not necessary, then, for the descent of Christ, or for the coming of God to men, that He should abandon a greater seat, and that things on earth should be changed, as Celsus imagines when he says, “If you were to change a single one, even the least, of things on earth, all things would be overturned and disappear.” And if we must speak of a change in any one by the appearing of the power of God, and by the entrance of the word among men, we shall not be reluctant to speak of changing from a wicked to a virtuous, from a dissolute to a temperate, and from a superstitious to a religious life, the person who has allowed the word of God to find entrance into his soul.
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book IV

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"The play's the thing..."

For the benefit of those who've never seen it, the 1927 version of Hamilton Deane and John l. Balderston's (revising Deane's 1924 original) "Dracula" (on which the 1931 film is based.) While not without its shortcomings, all in all a pretty decent production; with of course some tellingly timeless and memorable lines. (If you prefer, click over to YouTube to watch full screen.)


["Dracula"-at Largo’s Eight O’Clock Theatre. September 2005]

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