not consult with opinionated knuckleheads. They’ll volunteer plenty of opinions regarding religion and God, but consider the feeble quality of that advice. A Muslim seeking guidance concerning a religious pilgrimage should consult with a mainstream cleric, not a fringe radical. Questions regarding the Torah should be directed to a rabbi, not a goof who calls himself Jewish but who’s never seen the inside of a synagogue. Catholics should consult their priests for guidance on confessing sins, and not their opinionated neighbor, who flunked out of parochial school and still has an axe to grind with Father McCarthy. Leave the nit-wits to their ways. Consult the professionals. In other words, read the instructional manual of your faith. Know that this manual was written and refined, over the course of many centuries, by many great minds—minds far-greater than our own.
Consider, for example, the question of whether or not a Catholic should go to confession.
The opinionated person might say, “I can confess to God directly…I don’t think I should have to…I’ve asked my friends and they don’t see the point…I don’t want to…Who says I should have to?…God doesn’t care either way.”
A wiser person might do a little research and find something interesting: Jesus gave his apostles (John 20:23) the authority to forgive or retain people’s sins… “Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”…St. Augustine, in the 5th Century, warned against the direct confession to God…As St. Francis de Sales says, “In confession you not only receive absolution from the… sins you confess, but also great strength to avoid them in the future, light to see them clearly, and abundant grace to repair whatever damage you have incurred. You will also practice the virtues of humility, obedience, simplicity, and charity. In the single act of confession you will exercise more virtues than in any other act whatsoever.”…St. John Vianney said, “When you go to confession you un-nail Our Lord.”… The Catholic Catechism is very clear about confession using the priest as an intermediary: “Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution remains the only ordinary means of reconciliation with God and with the Church.” (Church canon #1497), Anyone conscious of grave sin must receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion (Church canon #1385), “After having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year.” (Church canon # 1457)
You may not be Catholic, but that’s okay. You can still compare the two. One assumes divine permission while the other does the research and actually proves it. One has nothing to back it up, while the other has centuries of tradition behind it. One has a few feeble minds thinking in unison, while the other has great minds feeding its logic. Only a Catholic who is woefully misinformed or is completely consumed by hubris would ignore the arguments of a well-thought and researched position with centuries of tradition behind it. Only a person consumed with arrogance can, with a casual and careless wave of the hand, dismiss centuries of great thinking. Pardon me, but I will try my best not to be that person. Honestly, I don’t boast of such hubris. But on a more practical basis, I don’t have the guts. And I don’t have any problem admitting that, either. I would no more dismiss a young Jew’s call to the Torah than I would wave off a dentist’s opinion of what should be done with the rotting tooth inside of my mouth.
I think it would behoove all of us to remember the following when it comes to making religious or faith assumptions: Check Holy Scripture and make sure the interpretation is solid. Free agents find all kinds of ways to twist and distort what has been written. Research what many of the great theologians and philosophers have said about a given topic; after all, they’ve dedicated their lives to finding the truth. Respect that. Speak with your priest, minister or rabbi for official church doctrine. Avoid religious ministers and institutions that operate on the fringe or under questionable pretenses. Don’t seek advice from free-wheeling religious free agents. Don’t seek religious advice from angry, disenfranchised or ignorant people. Have enough humility to seek advice apart from your own personal opinions. View with great suspicion, any religious advice that advocates violence, glib condemnations to hell or direct disobedience and dismissal of well-established doctrine and dogma. Finally, and most importantly, do not assume that God agrees with your line of thinking.
There’s a fair chance He may not. And if that turns out to be the case, then what?
The Spotlight Fallacy
“I’ve watched how successful Kim Kardashian became and I think a lot of it was due to the release of her sex tape.” Montana Fishburne, Laurence Fishburne’s daughter, on why she is appearing in her own X-rated video.
23 Minutes to Midnight…
There’s no question she was a talented pop artist who captured the imagination of millions, most especially impressionable teens and pre-teens. Following her first marriage, which lasted an astounding 55 hours, she married a struggling rap artist whom she let impregnate her just as another woman was giving birth to one of his babies. Shortly after having her second child, the pop diva informed her unworthy man (by text message, no less) that she wanted a divorce. Then, leaving her underwear behind, the diva hopped into a limousine with Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, and gallivanted about L.A. for the next couple of nights—the paparazzi snapping photos of her bare crotch just as fast as their little shutters would click. The whole escapade prompted the New York Post to fire off a front page photo of the three, along with this caustic headline:
BIMBO SUMMIT1
Brandy Navarre, of the Celebrity rag X17, appeared on Fox News in January of 2008. “I think it’s like the best reality show going,” she said. “It’s an A-list celebrity with the most drama you can imagine…You see this inconceivable drama unfolding in front of your eyes. No one can believe, every day, what she does. And no one can predict what she’s going to do next.”
Navarre was right. There was more to come. The individual in question checked herself into a rehab facility, but left after one day. Hours later, she turned up in a San Fernando Valley tattoo joint and shaved her head. Soon it was back to rehab and then out again—all the while sporting a Star of David necklace. (A quick note to my Jewish friends: 1. It’s your turn. You can have her. 2. You guys may as well take her because the rest of us have been unable to do anything with her. 3. Zol zion mit Mazel— For those of you that aren’t Jewish, that’s Yiddish for Good Luck). Then it was back to rehab and out again. She slammed her car into a parked vehicle while visiting a pet store one afternoon. She didn’t even pause to consider the damage she’d caused to the other car before she sauntered off. Finally, she stole a cigarette lighter from a convenience store in plain view of the ravenous paparazzi. Her divorce attorney gave up on her. Her publicist promptly followed suit. The custody of her two children went to the washed-up rapper.
The story of Britney Spears is very real. One hundred of the top fiction writers our country has to offer couldn’t concoct a story like this. But while we’re at it, I think we’d better have a look at Spears’ cohorts during those Los Angeles nights in question: Lohan and Hilton.
Lohan is a notorious party girl who’s done a few Disney films. We do know a thing or two about this young woman: 1. She has asthma. 2. Excessive partying makes the condition worse. 3. When the asthma acts up she must seek medical assistance at the ER. 4. She continues to party anyway. 5. She could probably party in her sleep. 6. She admitted to having an alcohol problem and entered rehab—all before she’d even reached the legal drinking age. While there, however, she decided she missed two things: McDonalds and sex. 7. She continues to party. 8. She was taken to the woodshed, by one studio executive, over her late night escapades and tardiness to work—a pattern that has continued while she was playing the role of Elizabeth Taylor in a made-for-television production. 9. She
