Why did Christ have to die?

In Church today I found myself asking “why did Jesus have to die?” This is an incredibly important question central to Christianity. I know I should have been listening to the sermon, but to be truthful I often do not find our rector’s sermons particularly interesting or thought provoking.

After some some internet searching I came up with the following answers.

Romans 5:12
¹²Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (KJV)

God’s holiness and justice demand that sin and rebellion be punished. The only penalty or payment for sin is eternal death.

Romans 6:23
²³For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (KJV)

Our death is not sufficient to atone for sin because atonement requires a perfect, spotless sacrifice, offered in just the right way. Jesus, the one perfect God-man, came to offer the pure, complete and everlasting sacrifice to remove, atone, and make eternal payment for our sin.

1 Peter 1:18-19
¹⁸Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

¹⁹But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (KJV)

Then the question arises did Christ die for all peoples of this world? The internet is truly a rewarding place to search for answers. I found the Catholic Church teaches that Christ indeed died for all of us sinners. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

1260   “Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.”⁶² Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

Makes sense to me, “Christ died for our sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God…” Calvin

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 32 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

BCP Morning Prayer

Liked the BCP morning song service this morning at Church. Pat and I have stopped going to BAS services at our church because we dislike them intensely including the bouncy modern music that seems to go with them. We do not like BAS because it does not respect the poetry and cadence of the English language nor the traditions of Anglicanism including English plain song. BAS is rather common and gives little importance to tradition; it carries the ‘common’ in Common Prayer too far.

Name Tags in Church

The Caring Community Ministry at my church wants the congregation to wear name tags every Sunday morning as part of an objective “to create a greater sense of community within parish membership”.  I am repelled by the idea. Name tags are not for church services. Name tags in church are, in my opinion, a prideful form of public display. Christ says prayer is a private act, involving God and the penitent one (Matthew 6:6).  God knows who I am; he doesn’t need a name tag.

in church we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others. By having some identified as members by means of name tags, we are not welcoming visitors, but saying they are not a part  of this particular part of Christ’s body. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4-6

The church service is a time to be still and know God.  ”Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22)  It is not a time to socialize.

Name tags are for social and corporate assemblies, not services of worship. Name tags and socializing belong after the service in the parish hall during coffee hour.  I for one am not eager to embrace the idea and I will not be wearing a name tag at a church service.

Something I’m going to consider before voting October 6th, 2011

From Jack Layton’s Manifesto for Canada:

“And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world. “

Thank you, Jack Layton. You brought dignity, hope and optimism back to politics. I will vote for any party that adopts Jack’s final message to all Canadian as its manifesto.

Before you vote May 2nd

Stephen Harper  is asking Ontarians to remember the Bob Rae years. Fair enough. But Ontarian’s should also remember the Harris years of cuts to  social programs and labour unrest. This is particularly important when Harper is talking about cutting $11 billion in government expenditure over the next few years.  Key members of the Harper cabinet including his finance minister, are ex Harris cabinet  ministers.

Harris cut social assistance rates by 22%. The Ontario Conservatives stated that too many people were taking advantage of the program, and that it acted as a disincentive for seeking employment; no matter that the cuts increased the hardship of Ontario’s poorest residents. Harris also introduced “Ontario Works,” frequently referred to as ” workfare” a program that required able-bodied welfare recipients to participate in either training or job placements.

The Harris government laid off several hundred nurses to cut costs in the health sector and  implemented a series of hospital closures on the recommendations of a Harris appointed Health Services Restructuring Commission. He cut health spending to record levels and introduced a Fair Share Health Levy (tax) that applied to high-income earners to help pay for mounting health care costs

The Harris government cut funding of major urban infrastructure projects and municipal services. These cuts resulted in Walkerton. In the name of municipal government efficiency Harris eliminated many smaller communities by amalgamating them into larger units.

Harris was responsible for major changes to Ontario’s educational system which reduced the quality of education in Ontario. He eliminated the fifth year of high school in Ontario (known as the OAC  year). He reduced the powers of school boards.

The results of all these cuts: the Ontario deficit rocketed an additional $20 Billion.

Ontarians, before you vote Monday please think about what the Harris Conservatives did to Ontario.

Harper’s Canada is not my Canada.

My Canada’s government is called “the Government of Canada,” not “the Harper Government”. It is government of the people, for the people and by the people. Harper needs to be reminded that Canada’s Government is of all the people, not just of those who vote for the Conservative Party of Canada. The people have the ultimate right to make the decisions. That means Parliament is supreme and the Government and prime minister are responsible to it. The government of Canada is for all the people of Canada and  will do things that are beneficial to all, rather than just the things that are good for those who voted CPC.

Harper was so contemptuous of Parliament that he prorogued Parliament rather than face a vote of confidence. He invoked national security and cabinet privilege to deny Parliament access to information it needed for its deliberations. His party was found guilty of contempt of Parliament. The CPC is making light of this, saying this election is about the budget.  Yet their budget did not come to a vote.

The CPC was defeated because it lost the confidence of the House, the ultimate authority in our parliamentary system. MPs representing nearly 60% of the people of Canada found Harper and his CPC in contempt of Parliament. This is very serious, yet the CPC is trying to say it is only a matter of procedure and the people don’t care about procedural issues. It is not just procedure, it is an attack on our parliamentary democracy.  Our democracy is definitely not safe in Harper’s hands.

The CPC/Harper campaign lacks integrity. The campaign ads misrepresent the truth, taking things out of context – and, as Gilles Duceppe says, Harper lies. The CPC campaign is one big disinformation campaign, not unlike the disinformation campaigns run by the U.S. during the Cold War.  It was Paul Martin and Ralph Goodale, not Harper, who got our economy in shape so it could weather the recession. Harper’s contribution is the largest deficit in over a decade. Harper and the CPC obviously believe if you repeat a lie over and over, voters will come to believe it is the truth.

Economists and the statistics show that the CPC tax cuts to our wealthiest corporations are not working to create jobs or to get them to innovate.  The corporations are banking the tax savings. While there are jobs – one corporation, as the NDP pointed out, used its tax cuts to create jobs in Memphis – they are often part-time, at lower wages, with fewer benefits and less job security. Harper has no respect for parliamentary democracy, for the voters or  for his opponents. In fact, he wants to destroy the Liberals utterly.

Harper has nothing but disdain for Canada outside of Alberta. Voters in eastern Canada need reminding that in 2000 Harper co-signed a letter to Ralph Klein urging him to “build firewalls” around Alberta. It was Harper who accused the Maritimes of having a “culture of defeat” and said that Canada “appears content to become a second-tier socialist country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status.”

This is what he really thinks about Canada; this is Harper’s Canada.

Harper’s Canada is not my Canada.