Right off the bat, the analogy and parallels in The Rings of Power, to the theology and stories in the Bible had me really excited for this show. I watched the show because I'm a Lord of the Rings fan. I didn't expect to find a great discussion between good and evil sprinkled throughout the show. There is theology in here hidden in a high fantasy story.

It must be noted that there is a lot of hate for this show online. I'm not quite sure why though. Yeah there were some head-scratching moments, but none that were enough to deter me from finishing the whole season. My wife who is not a big Lord of the Rings fan like me, actually liked it and keeps asking when Season 2 is going to come out. So there's that.

Anyway, below are some of my thoughts and notes on the pilot episode. Maybe it will sway you one way or another to give the show a chance.

A ship does not look down, but looks up to the light that guides her. It is always fighting off the darkness from the water/sea that is wanting to pull her under. ~ Finrod

This reminds me of Bishop Barron saying that bodies of water are a symbol of danger, fear or darkness in the Bible.

The ship here represents us humans. Darkness and evil, represented by water/sea, is always trying to pull us under. And so we must look up to the source of light (God) to guide us and keep us afloat.

You can take this analogy even further. While I'm not a Bible scholar, I remember a few stories that shows God's mastery over bodies of water.

• In the start of the book of Genesis, in the story of creation, you read of God “hovering above the waters” after he created Heaven and Earth.
• In the book of Exodus, you read about Moses parting the red sea with God's help.
• In the Gospel stories, you read of Jesus walking on water.

All of these examples are meant to show that God is above darkness and evil. And that is why I find that quote about the ship looking up to the light that guides her, so satisfying.

The beginning of the story in The Rings of Power, is like the beginning of the story of man in the Bible. The Elves joyfully roamed their own version of paradise, just like how Adam and Eve were free to walk alongside God in Eden. However, corruption snaked its way in and the Elves fell, just like Adam and Eve fell when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The discussion on good and evil in the pilot episode is so riveting.

Where there is love, it can never truly be dark. ~ Elrond

Since God is love, you can re-write the quote above to say, “Where there is God it can never truly be dark.” And that is such an apt analogy, because God is love, and God is light. And so where God is, darkness cannot prevail.

Tags: #TheRingsOfPower #LordOfTheRings #Theology #Christianity #TVShow

Tags: #Christianity #Spirituality #Theology #WordOnFire

The Three-City Problem of Modern Life — interesting read and social commentary about the lives we live today. We either live in the city of reason, of faith, or of technology. Living in one city isolates us from the rest of the world and that makes us feel incomplete.

7 Tips to Stand Out And Land The Job — has great advice for job interviews.

A Roth IRA is one of the most powerful wealth building tools that the average person can use to become extremely wealthy... — good info on ROTH IRA accounts.

^ This is probably only applicable to US readers, as a ROTH IRA is a specific tax-advantaged account offered by the government. But if your country has a similar offering, then some of the info might still be useful.

On Social Media

Social media is like a sandbox where you can observe mimetic theory and mimetic desires in full display.

Staying off social media while you know all your family and friends are there, is like missing out on a party that you're invited to, a party that goes on 24/7, every day of the week and year.

Some people, actually most people, can't resist the urge to join the party. That's because we humans have this need to connect and to belong to a tribe. That's what the creators of social media figured out and made use of. It is one of their crowning achievements. They've fabricated this need, this desire, to be online all the time, to browse the news feed and like and comment on every single interesting post that comes our way.

Parenting

My kid just texted me 🌭 — great tip on the use of family code and passwords. I didn't even know this was a thing.

Perhaps the reason teens isolate themselves when they're overwhelmed instead of coming to us... — seems like great parenting advice on not shutting out your toddler when they're having a tantrum.

The Research Behind Picky Eating — it looks like, the more you pressure a child to eat something (like say veggies), the more they will not want to. And it doesn't just stop there. Research seems to indicate, that if you continue forcing this issue, the kids will end up not liking the food even when they turn into adults.

Quotes

Sometimes to touch the light, you must first touch the darkness. ~ Galadriel, Rings of Power, Season 1 – Episode 5

This might just seem like a good quote to be shared online, but I think it is a deep theological observation. Have you ever wondered why wherever there's good, there's evil? Wherever there's light, there's darkness?

It's because evil is a parasite that latches on to the good.

Now read that quote again and hopefully you'll gain a new appreciation of it.

Spirituality

Choosing to follow Christ means choosing exile, but the flip side to it is that the key to living a joyful and happy life, is to follow God’s will. So by choosing exile, you still ironically find the path to living a joyful and happy life.

Feeling stressed out? Feel like you can't keep up? Feel like you're drowning in anxiety? Talk to God and lay it all out on Him. If you put God first, then everything else will fall into place.

Misc

I finally have a reason as to why walking in nature is better than say, walking in a parking lot, even if that parking lot is surrounded by trees.

Before you read my reason, just know that I am a car guy.

Taking walks in a parking lot makes me look at cars, which then gets me thinking about my car, and wondering why is it that I'm driving an old car, when I could be driving something new like this one over here, or that one over there. Walking in a parking lot basically has the potential to distract me with thoughts of wanting to buy a new car. That goes away when I do my walks in nature, because well, what am I going to think about, wanting to buy a new tree?

One of life's mysteries is this itch, want, need, to buy new books even while the number of unread books in my bookshelves keep on increasing.

This is why I'm putting a lot of effort into clearing out my online to-read list, as well as dropping a lot of the RSS feeds I follow. If I want to make progress with reading all the unread books in my bookshelf, I need to let go of reading all these interesting articles and blog posts on the internet.

Tags: #JournalEntry #Bookmarks #PersonalFinance #SocialMedia #Parenting #Quotes #Theology #Spirituality #Christianity

There are two premises for this argument:

• The first one is that everything that begins to exist, has a reason for existence. This is also known as the principle of causality.
• The second premise is that the universe began to exist.
  • Therefore, there must be a cause for the universe’s existence.

To say that the first premise is false seems very hard in the world we are living in today. How can something come out of nothing? If that were true, then we should at least notice this occurring around us.

Oooh, a car just showed up on my driveway. I wonder how that happened?

But we don’t, because something does not just come out of nothing. There is always a cause for something that exists. So how then do we explain the universe we live in? Did it come out of nothing or did something or some higher power cause it to exist?

Of course, being a religious person myself, the answer for me would be, that God created the universe we live in and everything in it. But I'm not writing this to force my beliefs on you. I just thought that this was a very compelling argument for the existence of a creator.

Does it unequivocally prove the existence of God? No. But it does make you wonder, right?

Tags: #Bookmarks #Theology

In case you didn't watch the video, the answer is, the presence of the church today.

Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, as the story goes, 2,000 years ago. Again, 2,000 years ago. Had the story of resurrection been fake, had it been fabricated, how come the church still exists today?

Surely some smart people should have been able to dispel the myth. I mean 2,000 years is a long time to come up with an explanation for it. But that also presents something interesting. A number of smart people actually believe the story...

And here's another question I have that is related to this. If His apostles just made up the story, then why go through the trouble of proclaiming what they witnessed and end up dead in the process?

Okay, so maybe they were fools to believe the story. In that case, I would have expected one, or two, or three of them to have gone on proclaiming the story and end up dead. But that's not what happened. History claims that ten of the apostles died as martyrs. They either truly lost their minds or they truly believed what they witnessed.

Tags: #Spirituality #BishopBarron #Christianity #Theology #Bookmarks

To give some examples, he explains why the priest or bishop say what they say. And why the clergy responds the way they do. Most of it is based on the Bible of course, and he cites specific passages as it relates to them.

He explains the offertory and what is really being offered during that time — spoiler, we are offering ourselves.

He explains why the sign of peace is offered to your neighbors before communion. It is related to the offertory and he mentions the Bible passage related to this. It has to do with making peace with yourself and your neighbors, before you can fully offer yourself to God.

He explains why during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the priest or bishop speak in persona Christi — speaking as if he is Christ himself.

He explains why the Liturgy of the Eucharist exists in the first place. Spoiler, it is a command from Jesus himself. He quotes the Bible passage where Jesus gives out the command and says, “Do this in memory of me.”

He explains why the bell is rung during consecration. And this one is not something Bible related, but was for a practical reason. Back in the olden days, when people would gather in large numbers — sometimes even outdoors — there were no mics or speakers around to let people know what is happening during the Mass. So a bell was rung to let people know that the body of Christ is being shown to everyone.

He also briefly touched on some Catholic traditions. Traditions like how or why we pray to the saints. The key being, we do not pray to the saints, but we pray through them. It's the same thing as asking for prayers from other people. You don't pray to them, you pray through them.

There's also the tradition of lighting candles whenever we go to church to pray. One of the explanations for this practice is interesting, and is something I've never heard before. The lighted candles stand in vigil for us before the Lord. And so our prayers continue, even as we leave the church to go about our day. Wonderful.

For someone like me, who hasn't thought about it in a long time, it was a great refresher. The last time I really poured through the rites of the Mass, was when I was in elementary. For those interested in the Mass or Catholicism, this homily from Bishop Burns provides a glimpse into why Catholics do what they do.

This post is Day 76 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Visit https://100daystooffload.com to get more info, or to get involved.

Tags: #Bookmarks #Catholicism #Spirituality #Theology #100DaysToOffload

The narrative that science and Christianity are enemies is false. Not only are they not enemies but Christianity helped science develop beyond the limits imposed on it by ancient cosmologies.

I know, right? The title seems absurd, even for me as a Christian. But, keep an open mind and listen to Dr. Stacy Trasancos make her case. In this free sample lesson from Word on Fire, she discusses ancient culture and the history of science. Culminating in how it all led to the modern science that we have today.

Link: WOF 240: Science was Born of Christianity

While Catholic teaching maintains that God operates within the universe, it does not go all the way to saying that God is the universe. Rather, we say that God created the universe and holds everything in existence. The universe is not God, it is God's creation — God's handiwork. This nuance puts science in its place, as the study of the handiwork of God.

That is the first time I've heard someone say, that science is the study of the handiwork of God. If you think about it though, it makes sense. If God really does exist, then science is definitely the study of His work. From this perspective, science is not in conflict with belief in God. It is not in conflict with faith.

This post is Day 22 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Visit https://100daystooffload.com to get more info, or to get involved.

Tags: #Bookmarks #WordOnFire #Theology #100DaysToOffload

Last week I received an advanced copy of the beautiful Word on Fire Bible in the mail. I tried to do it justice, but I'm not that good with a camera.

I'm not quite sure how to describe it either. It's like a Bible but with commentary.

You have questions? This book has answers.

It's often been described as a Cathedral in print.

Maybe it's best to quote the description on the back cover.

The Word on Fire Bible is a groundbreaking new book introducing readers to the strange, colorful world of the Bible. It was designed to appeal not to just Christians, but to nonbelievers, searchers, and those with far more questions than answers. It doesn't presume any experience with the Bible; in fact, it was created for people reading the Bible seriously for the first time, who may be unsure what to make of its many events and characters.

So, there you go. It sounds like a Bible that everyone can read. Also, I've never been more excited to read the Bible than I am today.

Tags: #WordOnFire #Spirituality #Theology

One of the most enlightening parts of this first episode for me, was when Bishop Barron talked about the duties of a baptized Christian. As a baptized Christian, we are priest, prophet and king. What does it mean to be a priest? How do we live out our prophetic duties in today's world? And what are our kingly duties in modern society? All those are covered in this episode.

Here is a trailer to the first episode.

And if you're still interested, here is the link to the first episode that you can watch for free: The Sacraments – Lesson One: Introduction and Baptism

Tags: #Spirituality #Theology #BishopBarron #WordOnFire #Bookmarks