Monday, September 29, 2008

"No Longer Lonely"

The Lutheran Hour sent me this little booklet in the mail: "No Longer Lonely". I'll probably give it away. There are scripture selections and at the end some other quotes.

The scriptures are: Psalm 118:4-9, Psalm 23, Hebrews 13:5, Psalm 139:7-10, Psalm 27: 4-5, Isaiah 43:2, and Psalm 18:2-6.

The other quotes are new to me. I'll post them here, so I have them to keep.

Saint Augustine: "O holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there thy cheerful beams."

Arthur W. Pink: "Afflictions are light when compared with what we really deserve. They are light when compared with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. But perhaps their real lightness is best seen by comparing them with the weight of glory which is awaiting us."

John Milton: "Loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named, not good."

Saint Augustine: "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us."

Thomas Watson: "God sweetens outward pain with inward peace."

Charles Kingsley: "It is not darkness you are going to, for God is Light. It is not lonely for Christ is with you. It is not unknown country, for Christ is there."

Dag Hammerskjold: "Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for."

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Reading Tim Kimmel's "Raising Kids Who Turn out Right"


A quote from the book that resonated with me:

"Add to any list (of pressures) the pressures of rearing kids in a media-oriented environment that can deprogram and reprogram our children's values faster than ever, and we find ourselves fighting a well-armed opponent."

First there was the radio... and then TV... But now there is also the computer and the internet, and the cell-phone and the text-messaging and all of it around the clock...

Things have changed. And it is harder to raise kids who turn out right, I think. There is indeed a well-armed opponent (sounds like a line out of "A Mighty Fortress")

Kimmel's answer is to be very deliberate about the activities you engage in with your children and what about you want to instill in them, to the point of providing detailed planning sheets to go through with your spouse on a special planning weekend away from the children. I think he is correct. It probably is a useful exercise. There is a lot of food for thought here, yet we realize without God's help nothing will turn out right.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Thankfulness

"This is the virtue characteristic of real Christians; it is their worship of God at its best. They thank God and do it with all their heart. This is a virtue unattainable by any other human being on earth... to thank with all your heart is an art--an art which the Holy Spirit teaches. And you need not worry that the man who can really say Deo gratias (to God be thanks) with all his heart will be proud, stubborn, rough, and tough, or will work against God with His gifts."
(from Luther's exposition of Psalm 111:1)

"To begin with, we must rejoice at the less important good things (exiguis bonis) which we enjoy according to the Second Table of the law in that our bodies an possessions are protected. For these gifts are of minor importance when compared with those which we enjoy according to the First Table: that God has revealed Himself, has made known what He intends to do with us, gives His Word, grants faith and the Holy Spirit, hears prayers, daily increases His church, etc. These things are so great that no tongue is able to amplify and praise them as they deserve.. to this David turns his eyes; on this he meditates, and so he is moved to gratitude... For only those are truly thankful who receive the gifts of God joyfully and rejoice in the Giver." (on Psalm 122).

Financial Crisis 08

One million homes in the US are in foreclosure. On TV we see weeping mothers stand in their back yards with their husbands holding them and the children playing nearby. Retires have lost their savings. Heart-breaking.

And yet, in my horrible selfishness, it is my own retirement portfolio losses that bother me the most. I've been feeling sick and depressed and now I have the flu.

And now we're not sure we are getting the oil upgraders in Alberta. The bitumen is going to Texas (where they need to work, too, we guess). However, today Stephen Harper said that the bitumen can't just be sent out like that. We still wonder about the projects that had been announced for our area.

When are the Americans going to do something about their oil dependency? When are their elections going to be about issues instead of personalities? When will common sense prevail instead of partisan politics? We will pray for the elections here and there.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

More Magnificat


"He has put down the mighty from their seats."

"The learned, saintly, mighty, great and rich, and the best that the world has must fight against God and the right, and be the devil's own. As it is said in Habakkuk 1:16: "His food is rich and choice"; that is to say, the evil spirit has a most delicate palate and is fond of feasting on the very best, daintiest, and choicest morsels, as a bear on honey. Hence the learned and saintly hypocrites, the great lords and the rich, are the devil's own tidbits. On the other hand, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:28, those whom the world rejects, the poor, lowly, simplehearted, and despised, God has chosen, causing the best part of mankind to bring suffering upon the lowest part, in order that men may know that our salvation consists not in man's power and works but in Gods' alone, as St. Paul also says (1 Cor 3:7). Hence there is much truth in these saying, "the more men know, the worse they grow"; "A prince, a rare bird in heaven"; "Rich here, poor yonder." For the learned will not surrender the pride of their hearts, nor the mighty their oppression, nor the rich their pleasures. And so it goes." (Luther's commentary, vol. 21)

Monday, September 22, 2008

man-made "Bubbles"


Still finishing Luther's Works, Volume 21: Sermon on the Mount and Magnificat, p. 340.

Mary says: "He has shown strength with His arm, He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts."

"On the other hand, God lets the other half of mankind become great and mightily to exalt themselves. He withdraws His power from them and lets them puff themselves up in their own power alone. For where man's strength begins, God's strength ends. When their bubble is full blown, and everyone supposes them to have won and overcome, and they themselves feel smug in their achievement, then God pricks the bubble, and it is all over. The poor dupes do not know that even while they are puffing themselves up and growing strong they are forsaken by God, and God's arm is not with them. Therefore their prosperity has its day, disappears like bubble, and is as if it had never been."

For Giovanni on the "church"

In case a conversation from i-monk comes here, I'm making a spot for it.

Here is something on the church from Luther's sermon (July 12, 1539) on John 3:29.

"The devil is alert and not only rages openly against Christ but also comes to seduce people in the form of the Lord Christ. Therefore let the church beware lest she be deceived by the form of the voice of the Bridegroom, the Lord Christ. For if He will not have the prophets or Moses or John, who really are of God, far less can He endure those who preach something without, or contrary to, the voice of the Bridegroom and who under the semblance of the divine word speak something else. Therefore we should see to it in the church that we preach or hear nothing but the voice of the Bridegroom--not an artificial or imitative voice. For Christ alone is to be He who takes away sin and overcomes death. Therefore believe no one, whether he comes in impressive majesty against Christ or without Christ or for Christ."

I don't want to be rude, but it is of essence to be grounded on Christ and his Word, and not on something else.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

God and Mammon/ Jesus and the Stock Market

What a week in the stock market! How is your retirement nest egg looking? How is our heart looking?

It amazes me how many financial newsletters are out there, how many people need make sure they have the right fund manager. If the right fund manager leaves the fund, the fund is in trouble. They are the financial "saviors". We will follow whoever makes us money, to the end of the earth.

I have to watch this, too. We have to manage our finances, and save for the future, our children's education... We know it too well.

Yet, it is incredible how we can be so serious about this, and yet not realize we need another "Savior". What about not just following the stock market, but following the Lord? Should one not be much more serious about that!? The stock market does what it wills. The government does what it wills. For sure, we will die and leave it all behind.

We don't want to win the world and loose our souls.

"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew: 16, 26)

I don't want to be too pious about this. I did not sleep well this week. In fact, I woke up every hour, even during what's usually your three first deep hours. But as the whole world saw the stock market pretty much crash, the whole world will see Him come in glory. That event will be incomparably more momentous.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Duerer exhibit




On Sunday, we went to see the Albrecht Duerer exhibit downtown Edmonton. Of course, the art gallery is under construction and you had to find the exhibit a few blocks away on Jasper Avenue. What can I say about the exhibit? Some of the really famous pictures were not there: the "Praying Hands" and the "Young Hare", for example. There were the woodcuts and what I noticed most was the Devil and Death lurking everywhere. Death has this hour glass with him, always reminding, that your time is running out, no matter what station you are in. There is the beautiful young couple and there is Death and his hour glass. The Knight, in the picture above, however, is not deterred from his road with his dog at his side, which is his faith, as a dog is faithful (that's what the the gallery's description said),-- no matter the Devil and Death.

It does put one in a different mood and perspective to be so made aware of the fact that life is brief and fragile.

One could say that it was a lovely diversion to go downtown on a glorious fall Sunday, but it was no diversion, at all. :)

Medical Dental Mission to China



On Saturday, we went to a dinner put on by the CMDS (Christian Medical Dental Society).
A number of Edmonton area physicians and dentists go to China once or twice a year to perform needed services and teach local medical/dental staff and give evangelistic presentations (many of them are ethnic Chinese).

In China, Christians get up daily at 5:00 AM to go to church to pray. It's a good time, that early, because the police is not up, yet. So they are not molested or prohibited. (Perhaps we should not be putting that on the internet. Presumably the police know this, but rather not get up, yet.) The mission teams are also under "surveillance", but still seem to get their work done.

We also learned that in Tibet, you cannot become a Christian without getting into severe persecution, getting expelled or killed. (I find that ironic, since Tibet is so vocal about its own rights under the Chinese.)

I would not mind going on such a trip, if I knew I would not wilt from the heat and other conditions.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Birthday

It's my birthday, today. And my thoughts center around how little control we have. We did not chose to be born. We did not chose to become who we are. We did not chose to get older with sagging faces and other parts. And looking at others, they did not chose to get old and be in a wheelchair. We have no idea how and when we will depart.

We are creatures. Finite, practically impotent.

But God saw us. God knows us. When others could care less, he cares. Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. He sees us still. He is at our right hand. He will carry us through. He is our entire help and comfort.

Friday, September 12, 2008

In relation to the previous post



Regarding what good fruits really are--not self-invented, self-chosen, self-righteous, un-mandated, unhelpful works, I started to wonder: how does this apply, today? Who promotes those kinds of works, today? Maybe, this does not happen any more.

Truly good and kind works are always called for. Loving work begins in one's station in life, one's calling. That's not what's being criticized.

Then I saw the pictures of Pope Benedikt visiting France. On an historic occasion, trying to mend fences with an entire nation,--it was imperative to visit Lourdes!

I find that really sad. Why? It seems like so much medieval non-sense. Are we not in a different era?

That, plus the Pope meeting with the Sarkozys. Bruni does not believe in monogamy and the Pope believes in celibacy. Neither is right. Neither is biblical or following Christ's teaching. Would it be too much to hope for that they all return to the Bible?

Finishing up Luther on the Sermon on the Mount--Fruits



You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Luther connects this to the previous section, applying it to false teachers.

"Having warned His followers to hold fast to His teaching and to be careful that they are not seduced by others who are ravenous wolves under sheep's clothing, Christ, the Lord, now uses another warning to teach them how to recognize such people by their fruits. He cites an example in plain and simple words that even a child can understand. The most important thing is to understand what he calls a good or a bad tree and good or bad fruit. It is easy to say that this is a fig tree or a thistle or a good apple tree or a sour plum tree... But what Christ is pointing to here cannot be located except by a spiritual understanding on the basis of the Word of God. We heard earlier that these same false teachers put on such an appearance and are so glib in their speech that reason is not capable of evaluating them or of defending itself against them. As a matter of fact, this sort of teaching springs from reason and is completely compatible with it. Naturally it pleases us, for it teaches about our own actions and works, which lie withing our understanding and our capacity.

A brief definition of "a sound tree that bears good fruit" is this: one who conducts his life, existence, and behavior according to the Word of God, pure and unadulterated...

Thus the words "You will know them by their fruits" are set down as a distinguishing mark and a standard for judging and recognizing these prophets. If we are taken in, that is no one's fault by our own... You may say: "all right, but how do I recognize these? they may fool me too." Answer: You know what God's commandments are. See whether they agree with them. I will guarantee that no schismatic spirit will come without making his own special mark and leaving a stench behind so that you can tell that the devil has been there. No false teaching or heresy has ever arisen without bringing along the distinguishing mark He points to here: that it has set forth works different from the ones which God has commanded and ordained. The world is seduced simply because it follows insane reason and leaves the Word of God lying under the bench. It does not notice what He commands, and meanwhile it stares at the masks in the hope of seeing something special."

Luther wants to make the point that any of these false preachers will set up rules/commands/works that are not commanded. They will always go beyond God's word and ignore it, doing their own thing. This is their bad fruit: doing things they themselves invented to set themselves apart.

"It all depends, therefore, on really knowing and maintaining the definition of what Christ calls good works or fruits: a good work is one that is required or commanded by the Word of God and proceeds on the basis of that commandment. So a wife who is pious and faithful in her marriage can claim and boast that her station is commanded by God, that it is supported by the true, pure, and unadulterated Word of God, and that it heartily pleases God. Hence her works are all good fruit... Since they despise the real fruit and works for their lack of any special show, He despises the rotten works that they undertake so ostentatiously in their presumption that they are improving on what He has done...

If you measure them up against the commandment of God and ask whether God has commanded and required such works and whether they have served and benefited the neighbor, it is clear that they are valueless and only a hindrance to the genuine good fruit. The other stations, by contrast, put on no special outward appearance by glittering and glistening. Still they yield the finest and best fruit and are the most useful things on earth--but in the sight of God and of those who are illumined with spiritual vision so that they can see correctly and judge correctly... The regrettable thing is that this ghostly invention of the devil deceives and seduces even the sharpest mind that does not have the Word of God and a sound understanding. It follows its own supposition and devotion, and it imagines that if it find these pleasing, God must find them pleasing too. But this should be reversed so that I find pleasing what I hear is pleasing to Him, even though all of God's stations have their annoyances and many bad people in them who corrupt this fruit, just the way the bad worms do.

... The purpose of Christ's saying is to comfort and strengthen people who are in the stations that conflict with the feelings and attitudes of reason--stations which have many annoyances and evil incidents in them so that people are taken aback and regard them as dangerous and as unsuitable for the service of God.

Nothing but good fruit can come from the station that God has created and ordained, and from the man who works and lives in this station on the basis of the Word of God. With this you can now comfort your heart against thoughts like these: "Oh, it was this person or that who got me into this station. It causes me nothing but disgust and trouble." I have often been tempted this way in connection with my own office, and still am. If it had not been for the Word of God, I would have stopped preaching a long time ago and would have said farewell to the world, the way the monks used to do. It is the devil himself doing this and making everyone's station hard for him. Though God has assigned this office and work to us and is heartily pleased with it as the good fruit of a good heart, the devil so confuses foolish human reason that it fails to recognize this and thus destroys its own station and fruit. Because it does not see that this is a good tree and a good station, it is an obstacle to itself and therefore cannot yield good fruit.


And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.

The outward masks of special works and worship are so dazzling that an ordinary Christian life seems pale by comparison. So they have no shortage of doing, teaching, and believing. "The difference is,' Christ says, "that they hear My teaching, but all they want to do is what they themselves have invented. I cannot keep them on the track of doing what I teach them." If we Christians were as diligent in our works as they are in theirs, we would be nothing but saints. Still neither side really gets anywhere: we are lazy and indolent; they are entirely too active, but never in doing genuine works. And so, thank God, we still have the advantage, in that we have started believing and loving a little and are on the right track, however weak our progress may be.

Now He closes this with a beautiful analogy, showing the final outcome of both: "Everyone who hears and practices My teaching is a fine, smart builder, who does not build on sand but first finds a strong rock as a foundation. Once he has this, he builds on it so that his house may last and stand firm. Then when the storms and rains strike around it and above it, and when the floods and wind strike beneath it to wash away the ground and upset the house, it stands immovable against all of them as though it were defying them. But everyone who erects his building on sand will discover that it will stand only until the rain and the floods wash it away and the wind upsets it, so that it lies in a heap or collapses by itself." With this analogy He intends to give us faithful warning to be careful that we hold tight to His teaching and do not let go of Christ in our hearts, as our only sure Foundation (1 Cor. 3:11) and the Cornerstone of our salvation and blessedness (1 Peter 2:6), ans St. Paul and St. Peter call Him on the basis of Isaiah 28:16. If we stand grounded and built on that, we shall remain impregnable."

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Sources of stress identified


Last night in catching up with some newspapers, we learned about two sources of stress.

One study found that women working for women bosses have more stress than women working for male bosses. The reason for this is, as yet, undiscovered. Probably, any answer to that will be politically incorrect. If you like, you may speculate here.

The other study showed that in winter we have more of a protein that inhibits serotonin, which makes us feel better. Hence, we feel worse in winter.

Some people around here experiment with lamps to lift what they deem light deprivation and resultant depression. Personally, I find that the day is so short, that with commuting and going to work and school, you can go for long stretches without seeing light. Going outside for walks at noon should be mandatory, maybe, where ever possible. Maybe I will mandate myself, this winter, to walk outside more. We were ill with flus all January, last winter.

It's a beautiful day today, but it has already been cold, giving you the idea that winter is not too far off.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Fatima

Read the story and poem of Fatima, here.

She was killed by her own family for believing in Christ, in Saudi Arabia. What loveless oppression. My prayer is for all Muslim Arabs. I pray along with Fatima.
Read her poem/prayer.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Pipelines


My 18 year old packed up his bags and left to go work on the pipelines, hoping to make tons of money.

He did not want our opinion or our advice. He was just going to go, no matter what. We've never heard of the company he is working for.

Now, I am grateful for cell phones, for a change. It seems he has already passed his "B pressure welds", whatever that is. He sounds happy. Say a prayer for him.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Luther on judging, my thoughts, 3



Some kinds of sermons! The Lord Christ's succinct and short and Luther's going on and on.

That was indeed mostly law. Here we can see an example of how the law is preached to Christians, also. And do we not need to hear this lesson over and over? These are not silly man-made rules. (On another blog we had a heated discussion about the third use of the law/ see Book of Concord).

We do judge, just as described. It sure hit home with me. Guilty as charged. There is this despicable judging everywhere: in homes, in extended families, schools, work places. It is terribly unfair and unbecoming. May we become gracious people as we have received grace.

Luther on the Sermon on the Mount , part 2


on judging...

"This warning, therefore, is highly necessary. Once we have discharged our office--be it public preaching and rebuking or brotherly admonishing, as Christ teaches it in Matthew 18:15-17--we can learn from this warning and get used to tolerating, concealing, and adorning our neighbor's transgressions. If I see something in him that does not please me very much, I should pull back and take a look at myself. There I will find many things which do not please other people either and which I want them to pardon and tolerate. This will soon relieve the itch that tickles itself and enjoys someone else's transgressions... Thus you will be happy to square things with the other person. First you will say: 'Lord, forgive me my debt'; and then you will say to your neighbor: 'If you have sinned against me, or if i have sinned against you, let us forgive each other.' But if you see that he is the kind of coarse person who will not stop unless you rebuke him, then go to him and tell him so by himself, as we have often pointed out on the basis of Matthew 18:15; this may cause him to improve and desist. This should not be called passing judgment on him and condemning him, but admonishing him in a brotherly way to improve. Such admonition should proceed in a fine and peaceable fashion, according to God's commandment. Otherwise, if you are tickled and if you poke fun at your neighbor and ridicule him, you only make him bitter and stubborn against you. By withdrawing your love from him and finding enjoyment in his sin, you become much worse than he and twice as big a sinner. You also fall under the judgment of God by your condemnation of one whom God has not condemned. Thus you load an even heavier judgment on yourself, as Christ warns here, and you deserve even greater condemnation from God...

I shall not discuss the fact that this miserable judging makes you damnable not only on account of the deed itself, but also because the person who does the judging is usually stuck deeper in sin and vices than other people. If he went back and read his own diary and account book, telling how he has lived since his youth, he would hear a story that would make him shudder and that he would like to suppress from other people. Now everyone would like to pretend that he is pious and to forget the whole past and to criticize and condemn some poor man for sinning just once. Such a person brings double trouble on himself...

You do not imagine, do you, that God is unable to spread out an account book before your very nose and to cite not only your transgressions and the sins of your youth, but also your whole life, which you thought was very precious, as the monks think about their cloistered life?...

Thus you see why Christ is speaking out so harshly against this vice and pronouncing such a severe sentence: 'Whoever judges will be judged.' This is as it should be.. By meddling into God's judgment and condemning one whom God has not condemned, you are giving Him just cause to do the same to you in turn. He will condemn you and all your work to hell, in spite of all your piety. He will elevate to a position of honor the neighbor whom you have judged and condemned, even making him a judge over you and having him find ten times as much in you that is damnable as you have found in him. So you have done very well indeed. You have angered and alienated both God and your neighbor. thus you lose both the grace of God and the christian life simultaneously, and you become worse than a heathen who knows nothing about God."


WHEW! Anyone ever hear sermon's like that?

Luther on "Judge not, that you be not judged"



Instead of Witherington's commentary, I find myself occupied by Luther. Currently, I have pastor's book out: Luther's Works volume 21, on the Sermon on the Mount. I should finish reading it and return the book.

Just quoting parts of "Judge not, that you be not judged".

After some qualifications about applicability in the secular realm and warning against sects who think they know the gospel better than qualified preachers, the "schismatic spirits", he goes on to apply the sermon to the Christian life and attitude.

OK, here we go.

"The other kind of judging or passing judgment deals with maters of life, when one person criticizes and condemns the life and works of someone else and is not pleased with what anyone else does. This vice is very widespread and common. Now, as in matters of doctrine we should be of one accord, with one mind and understanding and faith, so we have the command to be of one mind and heart in our external affairs. Since there are many stations in society, their works must be dissimilar and varied. Then, too, in this varied life there are also various kinds of faults; for example, some people are odd or short-tempered or impatient. This is inevitable in Christendom, since our old Adam is not dead yet and the flesh continually strives against the Spirit.

What is needed here is the virtue called tolerance and the forgiveness of sins, by which one person bears with another, pardons him, and forgives him, as St. Paul teaches in beautiful words (Rom 15:1): 'We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not please ourselves.' this is the same thing that Christ says here: 'Judge not.' there are some in Christendom whose gifts are greater and better, and there must be, especially among the preachers. But such people should not put on a superior air or take the attitude that they are better than those people who do not have these gifts. In the spiritual sphere, therefore, no one should lord it over others. Outwardly there ought to be some difference. A prince should have a higher and a better position than a peasant, a preacher should be more learned than an ordinary manual laborer. A lord cannot be a servant, a lady cannot be a maid. Yet in all these distinctions of position the hearts should have the same attitude and pay no attention to the dissimilarity. This happens when I make allowances for my neighbor, even though he may occupy a lower station and have fewer gifts than I. When he is a groom taking care of a horse, I am just as pleased with his work as with my own work when I preach or govern land or people, though my work is better and accomplishes more than his. I must not look at the outward masks we wear, but at the fact that he lives in the same faith and the same Christ as I, that he has grace, Baptism, and the Sacrament as much as I, though my work and my office are different and higher. For it is the same God (1 Cor. 12:6) accomplishing and giving all this. He is as pleased with the tiniest as with the very biggest.

What is prevalent in the world, however, is the exact opposite of that commendable and beautiful virtue about which St. Paul speaks. Everyone is pleasing to himself. A man will come along in the name of the devil, unable to look at his own vices, but only at other people's. This clings to all of us by nature, and even though we are baptized, we cannot get rid of it. We love to beautify and decorate ourselves and to see what is good in us, tickling ourselves with it as if it belonged to us. In order to maintain our exclusive claim to beauty, we ignore and leave out of sight the good there is in our neighbor. If we notice the least little pimple on him, we fill our eyes with it and so magnify it that on its account we see nothing good, though the man may have eyes like a hawk and a face like an angel. That would be like seeing someone in a garment all of gold except perhaps for a seam or a white thread drawn through it, and then acting shocked, as if it were worthless on that account. Meanwhile I would be precious in my own sight on account of the gold patch sewn on my shabby smock frock. So it is that we overlook our own vices, which are all over us, while we fail to see anything good about other people. Now, once this natural inclination appears among Christians, then the judging begins. Then I am ready to despise and condemn a man as soon as he stumbles a little ore makes some other mistake. He treats me the same way, giving me the same measure I give him, as Christ says here. He searches out and he criticizes the worst things he can find about me. By such behavior love is suppressed, and all that remains is a biting and a devouring back and forth, until they have consumed each other and lost their Christianity."

Not finished, yet, have to go.