Vatican weighs in

The Vatican weighs in, against Advanced Cell Technology and their so-called ethical Embryonic destruction for stem cells.

VATICAN CITY — A Vatican official criticized a new method of making stem cells that does not require the destruction of embryos, calling it a "manipulation" that did not address the church's ethical concerns.
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/143855

No cell left behind

Confirmation of Dr. Robert Lanza’s manipulation of an easily led mainstream media comes from the Deputy Director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Richard M. Doerflinger.

“Initial news reports have misrepresented a study published August 23 in the online version of the journal Nature. The study, conducted by researchers at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts, has been described as showing that a single cell can be obtained from an 8- to 10-celled embryo, and used to create an embryonic stem cell line without harming the original embryo. Some even speak of each child receiving his or her own 'repair kit' of stem cells upon birth.

“The reality is very different. Researchers did not safely remove single cells from early embryos, but destroyed 16 embryos in a desperate effort to obtain an average of six cells from each one. This experiment left no embryos alive, and solves no ethical problem. From the resulting 91 cells, they still only managed to make two cell lines. Their study shows nothing about the safety of removing only one cell, which in fact is something they never did – partly because their own earlier experiment in mice indicated that 'co-culturing' several cells together might be needed to develop a cell line.

… “As our fellow human beings, embryonic humans should not be manipulated, harmed or used solely for possible benefit to others, even if this would not always kill them. In any event, further efforts to find a 'safe' way to take cells from these embryos would surely require more experiments like this one that are clearly destructive and unethical.

“A better path, already endorsed by President Bush and an impressive bipartisan majority of Congress, is to fund avenues for discovering or creating cells with the abilities of embryonic stem cells without exploiting human embryos at all. The Catholic bishops’ conference has supported this effort and looks forward to advances that are both scientifically and ethically sound.”

http://www.coloradocatholicherald.com/display.php?xrc=202

ACT Natural

In a story in today's Worcester Telegram, by Lisa Eckelbecker, the last paragraph confirms more than my worst suspicions about Dr. Lanza and Advanced Cell Technology or ACT. Their main product appears to be marketing.
From the T&G:
"Critics said the research remained unethical. Yesterday, Nature posted additional information online showing that Advanced Cell plucked multiple cells from 16 embryos for 10 experiements and that none of the embryos remained intact."

ACT's act

The recent news that there may be an ethical way to produce embryonic stem cells should give us all pause - to consider its source. The news indicates that when an Embryo reaches 8 cells, a single cell is 'peeled' off, and used to create embryonic stem cells, while the Embryo is left and can be implanted into a Mother's womb. Disregarding the fact that most of these Embryos are never implanted into anyone's womb, and that the in Vitro fertilization and genetic screening is against Catholic Church teaching, there really is still an unanswered question: What really happens to this single 'peeled' off cell from the Embryonic Blastocyst?

If this single cell were left alone, would it develop into an Embryo, exactly like the first Embryo which supposedly will be implanted into a Mother’s womb? Isn't this just a variation on what happens with Identical twins, where the cells split, and two individuals who have identical DNA are born 9 moths later? So are we creating a twin, only to destroy him, so that we can claim that we did not kill the first twin?

That's why I wrote to consider the source of the story - Dr. Robert Lanza from Advanced Cell Technology. He has a history of questioning and misrepresenting Church teachings on Stem Cells. As the Editors at National Review stated today, ACT is "a commercial firm with a publicity apparatus" whose goal "appears to be devising a flimsy excuse to get around restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research." The end game here - to get the Government to pay for immoral research on Human Embryos.

His only Begotten

Jehovah Witness update; only Paul showed this Saturday, and we all talked for 2-hours.

Paul quoted Col. 1:15 where Jesus is called the firstborn of creation or of all creation, which might show the JW belief that Jesus was created, not Divine. But reading Scripture while at Eucharistic Adoration is powerful – that’s where I found that the reference to ‘firstborn’ actually comes from the Psalm88 verse 28, “And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth” or in some translations, “Most High”, a reference that up to this point was only used for God, but is now being applied to King David.

So this reference does not limit Jesus to being a creature, it is a development of the understanding of His human Nature. Jesus is not simply the firstborn of God, He is “the only begotten of the Father” there are no others like Him. This reference to firstborn does two things; it ties Jesus’s human nature back to His 27^th-x-Great Grand Father, King David, the firstborn this Psalmist reference, and it indicates the first fruits nature of the Messianiac sacrifice of Jesus in atonement for man’s sins.

Looking closer at Col1:15, notice that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God” not just “the Firstborn of every creature”, and

“For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by [through] him and in him. And he is before all: and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may hold the primacy: Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell:”

So in context, a reference to Jesus’ Human Nature does not deny His Divine Nature, and a fuller understanding comes from reading the whole passage, that Jesus is the firstborn of the Resurrected, and that in Jesus the fullness of the Godhead or Divine Nature dwells. Jesus also participates “in” creation, God does not simply create “through” Jesus, that’s why St. Paul, repeating St. John, references that all things “were created by [through] him and in him.” Translating the Greek word ‘dia’ as ‘through’ instead of ‘by’ does not answer why St. Paul added ‘in’, unless St. Paul wanted to confirm the Divine Nature of Jesus.

So remember, Always read 2 verses before and 2 verses after any Scriptural challenge to Catholic teaching and, in context, you will find the Catholic doctrine.

You can't get there from here to Eternity

One simple but significant error we Christians make in understanding “Eternity” is to assume that it is like Time, only it goes on forever and ever. A better understanding is that Eternity is outside of time, there is no time there, and as a result, it is more like everything happens at once. Our simple minds could not comprehend this apon our death and judgement without help from God, but by example, consider Satan and his dark angels. Satan made a decision, ‘in Eternity’, not to serve, so Satan’s decision is ‘for Eternity’. Fortunately for us, God has given us the gift of time, which is a way to prevent us from making a rash judgment that would have Eternal consequences – we are given time to repent before that happens.

Now consider God. God the Father begat God the Son, Jesus, in Eternity. God the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father (and God the Son for us non-Orthodox), and He proceeds in Eternity. So even though we time-based humans consider begetting and proceeding to be a sequence with a before and after, that simply is not the case in Eternity because there is no before and after in Eternity. Before and After are outside of Eternity.

This is why the Catholic Encyclopedia can say that the three persons of the Holy Trinity are “are co-eternal and co-equal: all alike are uncreated and omnipotent.” This is also why the Athanasian Creed has the words; "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God." This is because begetting is an eternal generation, not a time-based generation.

Given up for Dead?

"We never lost hope because up there there’s God Almighty and I have a lot of faith in Him, and I knew He was going to help us... We prayed together all the time."

Jesus Vidaña, who with Lucio Rendon and Salvador Ordoñez survived 9 Months adrift at Sea in their Meixcan Fishing boat. They survived on raw fish, raw seagulls, and rain water – miraculously it rained every day, and kept their spirits up by reading the Bible daily. Once they went 15 days without food. Their boat ended up half way between Hawaii and Australia. They had been given up for dead.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2315617,00.html

figure, express image, most perfect resemblance

Hebrews1:1. God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all,2. In these days, hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.3. Who being the brightness of his glory and the figure of his substance and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high: The figure... that is, the express image, and most perfect resemblance. Making purgation... That is, having purged away our sins by his passion.4. Being made so much better than the angels as he hath inherited a more excellent name than they. 5. For to which of the angels hath he said at any time: Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee? And again: I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?6. And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the angels of God adore him. 7. And to the angels indeed he saith: He that maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. 8. But to the Son: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 9. Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 10. And: Thou in the beginning, O Lord, didst found the earth: and the works of thy hands are the heavens. 11. They shall perish: but thou shalt continue: and they shall all grow old as a garment. 12. And as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shalt be changed. But thou art the selfsame: and thy years shall not fail. 13. But to which of the angels said he at any time: Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool?

In the Name of...

Mt28:18. And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. 19. Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

Another question for the Jehovah Witnesses: Why baptize in the name of all three, if only God the Father is Divine?

Jesus declares He is God

Another Scripture for our Jehovah Witness brethren, so that they may know we seek to follow Scripture by worshiping Jesus as God.

In John's Gospel, Jesus confirms that He is God, in among other verses, Jn9:35-39.

35. Dost thou believe in the Son of God?
36. He answered, and said: Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?
37. And Jesus said to him: Thou hast both seen him; and it is he that talketh with thee.
38. And he said: I believe, Lord. And falling down, he adored him.
39. And Jesus said: For judgment I am come into this world

Adoration, as well as Judgement, was always reserved for God alone in the Jewish Covenant.
The Athanasian Creed so asserts this belief: "The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God"

Logos up!

As a follow up to Fran and my discussion with Paul and Patrick the Jehovah Witnesses, and their demotion of Jesus the Word in Jn1:1, from “God” to “a god”, I checked out some more Greek for the Scriptures, at Strong’s Concordance,

http://www.sacrednamebible.com/kjvstrongs/index.htm

Basically I was looking to see if there was any Gospel verse that clearly referenced God, yet had that definite article o, pronounced ‘ho’ that the Concordance says can mean the, this, that, one, he, she, it, etc…, yet is sometimes omitted in English idiom. In other words, if I found a verse that used o qeoV, which might be translated as “a god”, but is in a verse that clearly indicate “God”, then the Jehovah Witness translation of Jn1:1 becomes a big question. How about Mt 3:9?

kai mh doxhte legein en eautoiV patera ecomen ton abraam legw gar umin oti dunatai o qeoV ek twn liqwn toutwn egeirai tekna tw abraam
Mt 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

So we have the Greek phrase 'o Theos' in Mt3:9 and clearly the meaning is God. So where did the Jehovah Witnesses get 'a god' when the 'o' is not even there and must be assumed to be there from the Logos?

Greek to me

Fran W. and I recently engaged two Jehovah Witnesses; Paul and Patrick, in conversation – or was it attempted conversion? JWs don’t believe in the Trinity, and therefore don’t believe that Jesus is God at all. JWs affirm Holy Scripture though, so Fran and I figured all we had to do was present John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Imagine our chagrin when Paul presented us with his Bible, where John 1:1 read almost, but not quite, the same as ours, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” Notice the demotion of Jesus the Word!

Discounting the fact the Paul thought we should not refer to other sources outside of Scripture, such as the Catechism, or the Church Fathers, and that Paul was actually doing so by asking us to accept his Bible Translation, there are two questions here:

1. Who do you Trust to translate Scripture once you’ve come to the conclusion it is the inerrant word of God?

2. If in debate you both accept Scripture as the inerrant word of God, is there some way to approach the original Greek or Hebrew though one is not a Greek or Hebrew Scholar?

Here is the original Greek of John 1:1, you can somewhat match the English and Greek. Unfortunately the Blogger word processor does not accurately present Greek Letters, but here goes:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was [a] God.

en arch hn o logoV kai o logoV hn proV ton qeon kai qeoV hn o logoV

If you remember some of your Chemistry, the l, lambda, you’ll recognize the three occurrences of the word, logoV for Logos or the Word. You Earth Day devotees should recognize the q, theta, which is the letter that starts qeoV or Theos, that is God.

But the big question here is, the definitive article, ‘the’ or ‘a’ as in “a god”. The Greek word for this is o, pronounced ‘ho’. It comes before Logos, as in ‘the Logos’ or even ‘a Logos’, but it does not come before Theos. Definitions are below, but I get the following literal word for word translations:
kai qeoV hn o logoV

a copulative force also Theos/God was the or a or one Word

or

kai qeoV hn o logoV

and God was the Word

I just don’t get the Jehovah Witness translation, nor do I think should any of you.

hn en ane=imperfect of eimi - eimi 1510; I (thou, etc.) was (wast or were):--+ agree, be, X have (+ charge of), hold, use, was(-t), were.

tou tou too=properly, the genitive case of o - ho 3588; sometimes used for toutou - toutou 5127; of this person:--his.

o ho ho, including the feminine=he hay, and the neuter to to in all their inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom):--the, this, that, one, he, she, it, etc.

kai kai kahee=apparently, a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also a cumulative force; and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words:--and, also, both, but, even, for, if, or, so, that, then, therefore, when, yet.

Eschatology of killing Jews

CNN Interview with Former PLO Terrorist, WALID SHOEBAT, AUTHOR, "WHY I LEFT JIHAD"

PHILLIPS: Well, I mean, I'm going to ask you the obvious. Why were you involved in terrorism and who recruited you?

SHOEBAT: Well, you have to understand the recruitment doesn't start at recruitment centers, basically. They start from the mosque. You go daily to pray or to the Friday prayers, whether you go to the Temple Mount, whether you go to the local mosque. And this is not only in the Palestinian areas, this is all throughout the Middle East. It has been going on from the eons of time.

And it is eschatological teaching regarding the destruction of the state of Israel, regarding the destruction of the Jewish people and basically an Islamic country that considers Israel as an Islamic country and once an Islamic foothold was there before in the past, it must never be occupied by a non-Muslim country. The eradication of the Jewish people is top in the eschatological norm, in the schools, in the mosques, in the centers, everywhere you go.

So, from all aspects of life, if you go walk in the streets and see the graffiti around you, things like we knock on the gates of heaven with the skulls of Jews, this is the kind of mentality they have. And I always ask myself the question, what does knocking on the gates of heaven with the skulls of Jews have anything to do with the political desire to establish a state called Palestine?

PHILLIPS: But when you were a teenager, I mean, you didn't know all this as a teenager. You were, what, 16 when you joined the PLO. Why did you want to join this organization and did you realize that you were about to get involved with a group that was going to kill innocent people?

SHOEBAT: Well, you have to understand, you join at 5 years old. Going to school, we sang the song -- all the schoolchildren sang, (Speaking in Arabic) which means "Arabs are beloved, and Jews are dogs."

So, right, even going to a Christian school we learned that Jesus was a Palestinian revolutionist. So from the Biblical perspective and the Koranic perspective, all the religion was used as a base for teaching revolution. This is the dogma that they teach.

So when you go -- by the time I went to high school, that's when we learned the eradication of the Jewish people...

SHOEBAT: We have to understand, terrorism is a cult-like education to convert masses of people to become remorseless killers. And it's like a drug addiction. It feeds on frenzy-like speeches. It galvanizes people in a euphoric fashion, where an Israeli, when he's killed, they come out with the blood and thy carry guts and hearts and kidneys and, you know, parade them in the streets of Ramallah.

…We don't solve the problem by simply destroying Hezbollah only, but we solve the problem by going to the mosques where they're manufacturing of these -- this education is going on. We need to fire the clergy.

…We need to understand that this type of Islam that's being taught in the Middle East and being taught in America, as well, is not a religion. Once it goes beyond that boundary, it becomes a government system. It becomes a civil code that wants to establish itself universally throughout the whole world. Once we understand that, we understand to deal with it just as we deal with drugs.

http://www.seraphicpress.com/archives/2006/07/cnn_interview_w.php

Moloch's Children

Destination: Barbados:
The Institute for Regenerative Medicine

The Treatment: Anti-ageing stem-cell injections made from aborted foetal tissue, £15,000 The past 12 months have seen this popular holiday resort become the stem-cell capital of the developed world, treating hundreds of patients in a year.

The upmarket clinic opened last year in one of the island's most luxurious hotels - Villa Nova - after Ukrainian stem-cell researchers, who have been secretly pioneering stem-cell studies with aborted human foetuses for 20 years, teamed up with U.S. investors backed by the Caribbean tourist industry.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?
in_article_id=399376&in_page_id=1879&ico=Homepage
&icl=TabModule&icc=FEMAIL&ct=5

An Article by Hilary White in LifeSiteNews has the follow up:

“Concerned Women for America says that poor women are being paid up to $200 dollars to have their unborn children killed between 8 and 12 weeks gestation when the foetuses are “harvested” for their stem cells, which are then sold to exclusive cosmetic clinics.”

This practice takes place in Barbados, Moscow, Dominican Republic and in Rotterdam.

Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Senior Fellow of CWA’s Beverly LaHaye Institute, said “This savage and repulsive ‘brave new world’ of human sacrifices in the quest for eternal youth is a prime example of the end results when all moral boundaries are destroyed.”

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06080805.html

kaw-dashe'

1st Kings (alias 3rd Kings) Elias [Elijah] was sent by G_d/Yhwh to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, to announce to King Achaz that Yhwh would avenge his apostasy. Achaz built a temple to Ba’al for his Tyrean wife Jezabel, and doubtless offered sacrifice to this idol. But Achaz also brought back another ancient practice.

14 23. For they also built them altars, and statues, and groves, upon every high hill, and under every green tree: 24. There were also the effeminate [catamites] in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the people, whom the Lord had destroyed before the face of the children of Israel.

The newer translations may not use the note 'catamite', but the King James translates the same word as sodomite instead of effeminate.

Catamites/Sodomites: qadesh, (kaw-dashe') from 'qadash' (6942); a (quasi) sacred person, i.e. (technically) a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry:-- sodomite, unclean.

http://www.sacrednamebible.com/kjvstrongs/STRHEB69.htm#S6945

This really should be understood as King Achaz brought back homosexual Temple Protitutes along with idolatry to Ba'al. Food for thought considering what has been going on for the past 40 years.

Beating up a Bishop

Lawyer and Worcester County District Attorney Candidate Daniel Shea's most famous client, Sime Braio, passed away recently. David Clohessy of Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP wrote a letter to the Worcester Telegram Editor this morning eulogizing Braio and calling him "brave" for reporting "the sexual abuse he experienced by a Catholic Bishop."

Considering that;
1 - no criminal charges were ever even filed, let alone prosecuted,
2 - Braio himself withdrew his civil suit against Bishop Rueger without prejudice and without even telling his lawyer D. Shea and
3 - absolutely no one else has come forward with any similar charges against the Bishop,
I think Clohessey speaks too much.

But then again, the fact that even the T&G, no friend of the Worcester Diocese, relegated Clohessey’s letter to Saturday - the day of lowest circulation, aka "Pro-Life" letter to the Editor Day, speaks for itself.

Thank God for small miracles.

The Militia with a Country

Could even the Almighty Himself be still, or hold His peace, while the enemies of the Israelites make their Katushya rocket noise from Tyre in Lebanon? How long could Israel be expected to let its people die as these Katushya missiles from Southern Lebanon rain down on Tel Aviv? Missiles fired by that Militia with a country, Hezbollah – whom the impotent United Nations says, under resolution 1559, must disarm while in Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, acting on his loathing and hostility towards Israel, essentially has said let us destroy Israel, that they be not a nation. Nasrallah has taken a malicious counsel with the Iranians, who build the Katushya rockets, and with Syria, whose airports serve as conduits for a steady stream of these Iranian rockets. Nasrallah, the Syrians and the Iranians do this so that the name of Israel might be remembered no more. A 1992 Hezbollah declaration vows that, “It is an open war until the elimination of Israel and until the death of the last Jew on earth.”

Yet Israel is a legal country, reconstituted when the British, under United Nations auspices, divided the Trans-Jordan in 1947, and coordinated compensation for the displaced land owners within Israel. Yet Hezbollah will not rest until they have conquered the sanctuary of Israel for their own inheritance. The main reason there is no peace in the Middle East is because men like Nasrallah, Assad and Ahmadinejad won’t allow peace until Israel is destroyed and all Jews are dead or dispersed.