Fr. Paul's Thoughts

Unfortunately, in many cases, the New Testament has been translated with a legalistic theology rather than one of Grace. A good Greek-to-English translator without any theology might do a better job of translating the New Testament than the theologian, because they are not burdened with rational theological agenda. A good example of this is how the Beatitudes are translated legalistically rather than gracefully in almost every biblical version.  Read more

Our human nature is based on, "our thoughts create our feelings of God's Love about what happens to us." When what happens to us goes well, we feel at Peace. If what happens to us does not go well, we must change the event to feel at Peace. The problem arises because if we cannot change the event, we will feel upset. The good news is, while we cannot change human nature, we can transcend it.   Read more

This is one of the few times New Years is on a Sunday. Everyone has a pole in front of them as they start their yearly journey. My pole says 80. It means I have been traveling this life for eighty years. It tells us how long we have been traveling, but not how long it will be. That is why each New Year needs to be celebrated. It is a precious time for us all. What is the answer to this coming year?  Read more

Life is made up of three things, our rational thoughts, our conscious sensing and our spiritual Presence. How we deal with these three, about or in what happens to us, creates our life. We can choose to depend on our rational thoughts to create our feelings about life or we can consciously find the feeling of our inner Presence which will create the thought in the problem.  Read more

Over 3,000 souls died on September 11th, 2001. The grief not only was for their friends and relatives, but also for this country. There are those who found closure and have moved on in life. There are many others who are still seeking closure from this tragedy. Some have found it in the death of Bin Laden. Many others have not found it even at the news of his death. Some never will find closure. Closure for them is impossible. It is a fairy tale.  Read more

Christianity may not be considered as being PC (politically correct) and Christians may not know it. At a conference on comparative religions, theologians from all faiths discussed the uniqueness of their faith. They questioned the uniqueness of Christianity's doctrine of the Incarnation and the Resurrection. Other religions have had different versions of gods born in human form and accounts of their return from death. They asked C. S. Lewis what was the uniqueness of Christianity? Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."  Read more

What we believe determines the kind of life we will live. How we believe is the determining factor of what we believe. There are an infinite number of things about what we can believe. There are only two ways that determine how we believe.  Read more

Jesus is a transformer. He transformed the Old Testament from a Book of Laws to a Gospel of grace.  Read more

It is always amazing to some that there are those who believe in the resurrection. It is also amazing to others that some do not believe in the resurrection. Who are you to believe? The bottom line is, it is up to you.  Read more

It was darkness. The four figures are silhouetted against the evening background of the City's highest mountain. They are dealing in a high stakes game of life or death. Judas opens. He is known as one of the Apostles who believed Jesus to be the Anointed One, God’s Messiah, Christ the King. The belief in the Kingdom was that God would send His Messiah into Israel. The Messiah would defeat all the enemies of Israel including the hated Romans. He would restore the boundaries of King David and bring everlasting peace and prosperity to His chosen people.  Read more