Use of Reason . . .

Just last night I was blessed to see how inter-religious dialogue can be conducted in a frank, yet gentle manner!

At the Clearwater Campus of St. Petersburg College, a United Methodist Professor of Theology (ordained elder) and a Jewish Rabbi (undergraduate degree from Harvard), and finally a respectable Islamic Leader from Tampa, FL, ALL joined together for accurate, descriptive, yet peaceful dialogue!

The Methodist Theologian stressed the necessity for Christ Jesus to be at the CENTER of all Christian discussions, and even (much to my delight as a "Charismatic Catholic") abided by the Classical Christian doctrines of the Trinity, and the Chalcedonian definition of Christ Jesus as BOTH fully human and fully divine.

The Islamic Leader, similarly stressed how although gender differences do exist within Islam, that ALL Muslims are required to faithfully abide by Islamic teaching, to include true worship of the One God (as opposed to idolatrous polytheism), and also care for those who are less fortunate.

Finally, the Jewish Rabbi stressed how the GOD of ISRAEL (Yahweh) is concerned with concrete moral instructions such as Justice, equity, etc. He cleared up the false view of GOD as being overly judgmental, and said how "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" rather than being vengeful, instead showed how equal crimes deserved equal punishment, and was thus not a sign of vengeance, but rather of justice.

What united these three leaders, ironically enough, was a shared ability to use the intellect.

All three of the 'monotheistic' religions must use RATIONALITY as a means of shared dialogue.

Religious belief CANNOT be readily reduced to some false "lowest common denominator."

Regarding Christ Jesus, EITHER Christ Jesus is a 'prophet' like Islam says, or a 'rabbi' like Judaism says, OR "FULLY GOD and FULLY HUMAN" as Christianity says. Similarly, EITHER God is only "One" as Islam teaches, or only "One" in Covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as Judaism teaches, or "One-and-Three" the Holy Trinity as Christianity teaches.

Fortunately, however, at the end of the night, all three men were in shared agreement that PEACE is what should unite such interaction.

In fact, the three leaders, and different Faculty, Staff and Students of the College (and community members) all shared fruit punch afterwards!

Truly a sign of the 'Messianic Age' to come when Christ Jesus RETURNS, and the lion shall lie down with the lamb and swords shall be turned into plowshares. Come LORD JESUS CHRIST, Come . . .

Blessings & Shalom,
Rob J. King

Wunderkinds, Rationality and the so-called Age of Reason . . .

Yesterday at Catholic Mass, I heard the Father speak of the so-called "Age of Reason" by which the Roman Rite in Catholicism recognizes the division in so-called childhood development.

Although the focus on 'reason' is a medieval concept (as it is rooted in the Aristotelian-influenced St. Thomas Aquinas of the 13th century A.D.), when coupled with the largely agnostic modern "human stage developmental psychological theories" upon which our entire society has been built, the distinction between 'theory and 'fact' becomes ever the more acute.

For example, although ten years old (or so) is normally considered to be the 'Age of Reason' (not so in Greek Orthodoxy), when one considers child geniuses, this so-called modern stage developmental psychology falls apart. Chopin, the great Polish piano composer actually published his first piece at age 7! Similarly, Mozart, of world-renowned acclaim, wrote his first composition at age 5!

Any scholar of history can testify to childhood genius.

Yet, when Rationality is shorn from its Judeo-Christian roots, the end result is a proliferation of so-called "personality disorders," "mood disorders," etc.

ANYTHING that can be labelled, our society tries to label, analyze, and then come up with some financially lucrative drug remedy to fix!

So, if your child is creative, just get a shrink to label him "A.D.H.D." and get him to start popping pills!

That'll quench ALL childhood creativity!

As for me, I will continue to listen to CLASSICAL MUSICAL GREATS such as Chopin and Mozart who exhibit GENIUS!

As for the shrinks, well I hope that they start getting nailed with malpractice lawsuits for stifling the creativity of our best and brightest minds!

LOVE IN JESUS CHRIST, Rob J. King, Mozart Lover

Being 'Conservative' AND Democrat . . .

Generally when one thinks of the word 'conservative' one immediately begins to label one a Republican. But is this necessarily the case?

I am pro-life, and against the homosexual agenda infiltrating our school systems and society at large, but when 'tested' on a Facebook political test, I came out as a 'liberal . . .'

Pope Benedict XVI and Nelson Mandela were the two closest world political figures to me on the supposed 'left' side of the spectrum.

But does this mean that it is 'liberal'?

Well, the Pope is Pro-Life and obviously any Catholic is against homosexuality as a violation of the Natural Law (men and men or women and women are not supposed to 'mate' with each other--even the lizards and the dogs know this!). But the Pope was listed as a 'liberal . . .'

BUT, having noted Facebook's propensity to come up with clever tests for anything from Movie Trivia to even putting me in touch with Howard Dean (Democratic Party Chair and a Faecbook 'Friend' . . .), here I am a CONSERVATIVE Democrat who is BOTH LIBERAL (Worker's RIGHTS . . .) while also being CONSERVATIVE (Pro-Life, anti-socialist governments, etc. . . .).

But, people like putting labels on me, and as such, how about just calling me "Mr. Wildcat . . ." Davidson College did, after all, end up as the top Cinderella story in this year's basketball tournament (eventually losing to Kansas, a #1 seed in the Elite Eight, and ONLY by two points . . .). From a Davidson College Offensive Lineman to Methodist Pastor to now a Political Activist and Professor of Applied Ethics and World Religion, I owe it ALL to the LORD GOD's PROVIDENTIAL ORDERING of my life, and a quite formative part of which was at Presbyterian-related Davidson College. Yes, yes, I am a Pope Benedict XVI Catholic through and through, but it was the small, basketball gem of a school called Davidson College that taught me to write, to research, and to pull ALL-NIGHTERS to meet a deadline . . .

FOR CHRIST, FOR TRUTH . . . Rob J. King (Davidson College Class of '94 and HUGE basketball fan . . .)