A Few Odds and Ends on Christianity: June 2005

About Me

Location: Missouri, United States

This will be a real challenge to fill out! I see myself as a rather complex person who enjoys the simple things in life and who also enjoys a simple life. I like to think that I have a low threshold for satisfaction (meaning, it does not take too much to make me happy) except in one key area: I am very judicious and choosy about the women who I spend my quality time with and I readily admit that, rightly or wrongly, I possess the 'flaw' of allowing only attractive, intelligent women to get close to me. Although my preferred way of being is humorous, I can be serious with the best of them. Conversely, although people who know me well know that I am bright and somewhat intelligent, I'd much rather be silly! As I told my family doctor a few years ago, "When I look back on my life, I see that I've had a charmed life, with a few stresses." Also, I can tell a lot about a person from what newspapers and magazines they subscribe to. In my case: The Wall Street Journal, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, NEWSWEEK, U.S. News & World Report, ASTRONOMY, Sky & Telescope, The Planetary Report. Today, I am adding a blog of my favorite poem, 'Desiderata', which I believe was inspired.

Friday, June 24, 2005

Some Personal Thoughts on Christianity

I was the only Catholic in my class from my first grade class in 1960 through my senior year in high school, in which I graduated with 17 Protestants in May, 1972. Because I did not see myself as being a 'better' person than my Protestant classmates simply because I was a Catholic, at the age of 17, I developed and embraced the following perspective:

There are many denominations in One church with different but equal roads of salvation through Christ.

On the subject of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Christian Godhead was often referred to by the Catholic clergy but He was still seen as a mysterious entity that was not supposed to be fully understood by human beings. On the other hand, I observed that many Protestant denominations placed a great emphasis on the Holy Spirit, which I found to be fascinating.

In 1990, I developed the following belief concerning the Holy Spirit based on my own experiences. Many scientists and engineers will readily see that this belief is an interesting twist on the Second Law of Thermodynamics concerning the property of entropy which states that in any closed system, the 'quantity' of disorder (or chaos) never decreases.

Kindnesses towards others converts personal chaos into personal order through the Holy Spirit.

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