Profound Truth in Simple Baltimore Catechism

The old Baltimore Catechism asks this question: “Why did God make you?” The correct answer is: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.”

Millions of Americans who attended parochial schools in the 1940s and ‘50s memorized this answer and could spout it out on demand, although to be honest, many did so just to avoid the wooden ruler wielded by Sister Mary Margaret Knucklewacker.

Nonetheless, the correct answer does contain profound theological truths. This weekend is the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, when we celebrate the mystery of one God in three Persons. Let’s look at the Baltimore Catechism’s three key verbs regarding God: know Him, love Him, and serve Him.

KNOW HIM

The very idea that we can know the eternal, Almighty Creator of the Universe is mind-boggling. Throughout much of recorded history, mankind has considered the Divine Creator to be too powerful and too mysterious and too distant to be known.

The fact is, unless God actively reveals Himself to us, our understanding of Him will be at best very general and vague. At the heart of Christianity is the idea of divine revelation. God has clearly revealed to us the mysteries of who He is, what He is like, why He created us, and what He expects from us. God most definitely wants us to know Him, and He has made sure that we can.

LOVE HIM

We human beings already know that we are capable of love. Most of us have loving relationships with our family members and our friends. To love God means that He also must be capable of entering into loving relationships. In fact, He can. This is because God is a Person. He has a personality, just as we do. God’s very nature is love. That is why He created the Universe in the first place. Sadly, many people nowadays reject God’s love because they don’t even realize He is offering His love to us.

SERVE HIM

Based on the simple facts of the situation—God is God and we are not—we have a duty to serve Him. After all, He is the one who gave us life. He is the Creator; we are the created beings. Despite what we often think, we are not in charge. When we understand this, the most logical and rational conclusion is that we should serve God, whether we like it or not. And nowadays, most people most definitely do not like it.

Modern Americans hate the idea of serving someone else. What a shame it is that we have such a selfish, “It’s all about me” attitude, when the fact is, serving someone else is the key component of a truly loving relationship. Take a minute to think of a married couple that you would describe as “happily married.” Most likely each spouse takes time to serve the other. Each spouse is less concerned about his or her own needs and more concerned about the needs of the other spouse.

Serving God is the exact same thing—only better. It is not a dreary obligation. It is a joyous opportunity.

Although the Baltimore Catechism has been all but forgotten these days (along with most other forms of sound doctrinal instruction, just sayin’), we can learn a lot from this simple and yet profound lesson. God made us to KNOW Him, to LOVE Him, and to SERVE Him. These three actions are indeed possible. There is no threat of the wooden ruler anymore. Just the opportunity to understand why we exist, and what we need do to fulfill the fantastic plan God has for our lives.

Pentecost and ‘The Da Vinci Code’

[Note: this essay was originally published ten years ago, when the movie “The Da Vinci Code” was released.]

This week we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, commemorating the event that took place 50 days after the Resurrection, when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and infused them with the power and courage they needed to spread the Good News in a hostile environment.

It has been about two weeks since the new Tom Hanks movie, “The Da Vinci Code,” was released, and this is a good time to discuss both the movie and the Holy Spirit, as one is being hyped to the max right now while the other has all but been forgotten. (If you’re not sure, the Holy Spirit is NOT the one receiving tons of media hype these days.)

The movie, based on Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, makes some rather outlandish claims about the history of Christianity, including: Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a daughter; in the year 325 A.D. the emperor Constantine declared Jesus to be divine, an idea that had not occurred to anyone prior to the 4th century; Constantine rejected dozens of other gospels and rewrote the four that are in the Bible; and the Catholic Church has for centuries suppressed the truth about Jesus, using lies, deception, and murder.

In my mind, the most disturbing aspect of “The Da Vinci Code” is not that Brown wrote a story that is sacrilegious and blasphemous toward Christianity. Archbishop Angelo Amato, a top Vatican official, noted that if “such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust, they would have justly provoked a world uprising.”

But as anyone following the news in recent years knows, it is perfectly acceptable in our culture to trash traditional Christian beliefs—and especially Catholic beliefs—with impunity. Brown states in the book, “everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false,” and then spends the rest of his novel trying to convince readers it is true. Ho hum, another Christian basher. It’s getting rather routine.

And in my mind, the most disturbing aspect of “The Da Vinci Code” is not that Brown portrays fiction as if it is historical fact. Brown coyly tries to have it both ways, asserting at times that his book is a novel, while at other times claiming that he is presenting the truth. For example, when the book was first published in 2003, Brown told National Public Radio that his characters are fictional but “the ancient history, the secret documents, the rituals, all of this is factual.” That same year he told CNN that “the background is all true.”

There is a wealth of historical evidence that demonstrates beyond a doubt that Brown’s version of history is simply ludicrous. Even secular historians are in agreement that the early Christians, from the 1st century onward, believed that Jesus was divine. Ho hum, another modern relativist who thinks “truth” can be whatever someone feels it is. This too is rather routine these days.

No, in my mind, the most disturbing aspect of “The Da Vinci Code” is the fact that so many faithful Christians have no clue about the history of the early Church, and as a result are accepting Brown’s fantasy as plausible. Most Christians are quite ignorant about the early centuries of Christian history, and dare I say, virtually ALL Catholics—my own people—are completely in the dark about the fascinating story of the growth and development of the early Church.

It’s almost as if some people—people who identify themselves as Christians—really WANT the “Da Vinci” story to be true. Author James Hitchcock points out, “Millions of people read The Da Vinci Code not because they necessarily believe its absurd story, but because it creates a myth that serves certain emotional needs and allows them to be ‘religious’ without submitting to the demands of faith.”

Hitchcock explains that the story “is not merely another ‘liberal’ revision. It is nothing less than the claim that Christianity has been a deliberate fraud almost from its beginning, that the true story of Jesus was suppressed, and that only now are we finally learning what it was all about.”

The philosophical worldview of “The Da Vinci Code” is a mixture of New Age spirituality, neo-gnosticism, and radical feminist goddess worship. It tells us to look for God not above and beyond us, but rather inside of us. Instead of God coming down to meet mortal humanity—most obviously at the Incarnation, when the Second Person of the divine Trinity took on human flesh—the “Da Vinci” view claims that people already have the “divine spark” within. To paraphrase Mel Brooks, “We don’t need no stinkin’ Savior, we can save ourselves.”

Combined with our culture’s intense distrust of all authority—especially Church authority—and our culture’s rampant narcissism, “The Da Vinci Code” is the perfect vehicle for this new wave of feelings-based spirituality.

What does all this pop culture stuff have to do with Pentecost and the Holy Spirit? Ah, I thought you’d never ask. Let’s review what Jesus told us about the Holy Spirit. In John’s gospel Jesus said, “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” A little later Jesus also said, “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”

From the very beginning the Church has firmly believed that the Holy Spirit—who Jesus called “the Spirit of truth”—has been guiding the faithful, keeping the Church from embracing erroneous doctrines. It was the Holy Spirit who inspired the authors of the New Testament documents to write the truth about God; it was the Holy Spirit who guided the Church to choose which documents belonged in the Bible; it was, and is, the Holy Spirit who makes sure the Church teaches the truth about the life of Christ and God’s plan of salvation for the world.

As mentioned last week in our discussion of the so-called “Gospel of Judas,” the National Geographic Society (NGS) firmly believes that historical events are ultimately the result of human politics, power, and public relations. The sensationalistic TV special produced by the NGS claims that the people with the most power and influence, the early Catholic leaders, forcibly suppressed another version of the story of Jesus, a version that makes Judas the good guy.

“The Da Vinci Code” has the same view, claiming that the organization with the most power and influence, the Catholic Church, has suppressed the truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and the true Gospel of the “sacred feminine.”

In both cases the religious beliefs that have emerged down through the centuries are based solely on human efforts. The group with the most power—the Catholic Church—ended up “winning” the PR battle. God was not a factor.

But in the views of both the “Gospel of Judas” and “The Da Vinci Code,” God is a silent, powerless wimp. Sinister men were able to squash God’s true message.

Well, I don’t know about you, but the God I worship is not a powerless wimp. And He is not silent. He didn’t go to all the trouble of creating mankind in the first place and employing a wonderful plan of salvation after mankind rebelled, to then just sit back idly as His plan was being suppressed. The God I worship is not that impotent.

The only “version” of history that makes any sense at all is that God employed His wonderful plan of salvation, and then insured that the plan would be known to all the world by sending the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth,” to “guide [us] to all truth.” 

The other “versions” of history may give people a warm fuzzy feeling, and make them think that they possess secret, special knowledge—not to mention allowing them to focus on themselves rather than the much more difficult requirement of denying themselves. However, the Good News of Jesus Christ, preached beginning on the Day of Pentecost in the year 33 A.D. and continuing unchanged to this very day, is the true Truth. And it is the only “version” of the story, guided and preserved by the Holy Spirit, that can get us into Heaven.

Carbs cause lung cancer? Oh my!

When I was a young man, I often proclaimed, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!” Ironically, during the time in my life when I frequently uttered that statement, I was an atheist who had a severe drinking problem. Apparently, my metaphysical worldview and a notable absence of happiness did not prevent me from latching onto a clever comment.

Years later, when I became a sober Christian (not to be confused with a somber Christian), I had to modify the statement to: “Doughnuts are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!”

So imagine my chagrin when I read the following headline recently: “Are CARBS the new cigarettes? Experts warn carbohydrates may increase the risk of lung cancer by 49%.”

Good grief. The food nannies are at it again.

I know that too many carbs will cause weight gain, but lung cancer? C’mon, I only wolf down doughnuts and bagels and cake, I don’t smoke them. (Cue the Wizard of Oz song: “Doughnuts and bagels and cake, oh my. Doughnuts and bagels and cake, oh my!”)

This story about carbs reminds me of one of my favorite comedians, the late, great John Pinette. John struggled with weight problems most of his life, and he often talked about the various diets he tried and the personal trainers he employed. One time a personal trainer told him if he went on a low carb diet, the carb cravings would subside after a week. John explained that even after many weeks, the carb cravings were still strong: “When you drive by a bakery and jump out of a moving vehicle, I’d call that a craving!”

Yeah, I can relate to that. Although I have to say my carb cravings aren’t nearly as bad as John Pinette’s, since I have the willpower to wait until the car comes to a complete stop before jumping out and sprinting into the Dunkin Donuts store. (Oh, and if you see that elderly lady I accidently knocked to the floor the other day, umm, tell her I’m sorry.)

According to a report I read online (and my motto is: “If it’s on the Internet, it must be true!”), a new study conducted at the Anderson Cancer Center in Texas found a correlation between lung cancer and “high glycemic index” foods. In layman’s terms, the glycemic index is a measure of how quickly blood sugar levels are raised after eating. High G.I. foods include white bread, bagels, Russet potatoes, rice, and doughnuts.

Another statistic listed in the report: more than 150,000 Americans will die of lung cancer this year, with 12-percent of them, or 18,000, being non-smokers. Whoa, something is causing cancer to form in the lungs of those non-smokers. Could it really be carbohydrates? Darn! Why is it everything that’s good turns out to be bad? The next thing you know the health nannies will publish a report that claims the greatest cause of death is life. (“The data indicates 100-percent of those people who experience a bout of life will eventually die. We’re working hard to find a cure.”)

The report offered a list of foods with a low G.I. rating, which therefore means they are not a lung cancer risk: whole wheat and pumpernickel bread, oat bran, sweet potatoes, yams, lima beans, and lentils. 

OK, I think we can work this out. When I go to Dunkin Donuts — and first, I’ll try my best to walk into the store slowly — I’ll just order a glazed pumpernickel doughnut and a sweet potato cruller. That sounds tasty (sort of). And then I’ll sing the Wizard of Oz song: “Oat bran and lentils and yams, oh my!”

Holy Spirit Makes Us God’s Children

This weekend we celebrate Pentecost, the feast that marks the birthday of the Church. On the first Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus’ Resurrection, The Holy Spirit came upon the small, frightened band of believers in a spectacular and powerful way. We hear about this amazing event in the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles.

While gathered together indoors, the disciples were startled by “a noise like a strong driving wind.” Then tongues of fire appeared, “which parted and came to rest on each one of them.” The Holy Spirit then filled each of the disciples, giving them the power to speak in many different languages. They went outside and began to proclaim the message of the Gospel to a multi-ethnic crowd.

The display of power by the Holy Spirit is certainly spectacular, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Back on the night of the Last Supper, about two months earlier, Jesus promised that the Father would send the Spirit to the disciples. He said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.” A bit later Jesus explained, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.”

Nowadays many people assume the spectacular power displayed by the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost was only for that moment in history. The thinking goes that after waiting a gazillion years to make His appearance, the Holy Spirit came and empowered the early disciples in a special way. Then when enough Christian communities were established a few decades later, He went back to Heaven for another prolonged vacation.

The fact is, the Holy Spirit is still present and active in the lives of believers. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul made it clear that a person cannot even be a follower of Jesus unless the Holy Spirit is present in his or her life. Paul wrote, “But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (emphasis added).

To be genuine disciples of Jesus, the Holy Spirit must dwell inside our hearts. With the Holy Spirit inside of us, we become the children of God, and not in the sterile, generic sense of the word. We’re not God’s “children” in the way some people view it: “Well, yes, since God is the creator of everything, that makes us technically His offspring, His children.”

Paul said, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God….You received a spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’”

The word Abba literally means, “Daddy!” or “Papa!” This is not some sterile, generic acknowledgment of a distant and impersonal creator. This is a close and intimate relationship. Paul’s message is absolutely stunning: God Almighty Himself has adopted us. We are no longer lowly peasants cowering in fear before the king. We are now members of the royal family!

All this is made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why the feast of Pentecost is such an important event. We commemorate the day the Holy Spirit was first poured out onto the disciples, changing forever the nature of the relationship between God and His followers. Pentecost is not just the official end of the Easter season and a day to wear something red to church. It is a day to remember that God has adopted us into His family. 

Because of Pentecost and the power of the Holy Spirit, we don’t have to kneel in fear before God waiting for His punishment. We can instead, with childlike enthusiasm, jump into His lap, give Him a big hug, and exclaim, “Abba! Daddy! I love you!”

Jesus’ Prayer for Unity

In the 17th chapter of John’s gospel, which we hear at Mass this weekend, Jesus offered up a passionate prayer to God the Father. On the night before He sacrificed His life for the sin of the world, He prayed that His followers “may all be as one.” Jesus desired that all those who believe in Him throughout history would be of one heart and one mind, so that by their obvious unity, unbelievers would be drawn to the saving truth of the Gospel.

Well, let’s see if Jesus’ prayer was answered. We currently have the Orthodox churches, split mostly along national lines, such as Greek, Russian, Serbian, etc.

We have in excess of 30,000 different Protestant denominations (it’s impossible to get an accurate count as new ones are being formed daily), each one convinced its particular interpretation of Scripture is right.

And of course, we have the Catholic Church, which may appear to outsiders as somewhat unified, but trust me, as a member, I know it too is wracked with splits and divisions. Unlike Protestants, these Catholic factions don’t leave to form new denominations, they instead work to change the church—or in some cases, it seems, work to kill the church—from the inside out.

Some Catholic groups want the church to drop its emphasis on “superstitions” (such as the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, the existence of God, and other old-fashioned doctrines) and focus all its energies on Marxist social policies. Other groups want women to become priests; some groups want priests to get married; still others want priests to get married…to each other. But the jaw-dropping award winners are those groups which want the church to bless the act of ripping a wiggling infant from his or her mother’s womb and tossing it into a Dumpster.

Which reminds me of a popular bumper sticker: “You can’t be Catholic and Pro-Choice.” Very simple but very true. If you are Catholic, you cannot be pro-choice—and vice versa.

To be pro-choice, a person must deny a host of basic church doctrines, including the doctrine that the Bible is the Word of God. In Scripture, God is quoted as saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). If that statement is accurate, then a fetus is a unique human being and abortion is terribly wrong—end of discussion. 

When people claim abortion is acceptable, they deny the accuracy of the Jeremiah verse (and many other verses), and therefore deny the accuracy and inerrancy of Scripture, which is a very un-Catholic position.

The most important church doctrine being violated by the pro-choice view is the belief that God alone is the author and Creator of life. In Psalm 139, King David expressed awe over God’s majestic, creative power: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Ps 139:13-14).

The pro-choice view is based on the notion that mankind is the sole authority regarding life and death issues. Mankind, not God, has the right to determine when, where, and how life is created. How incredibly prideful and arrogant! The only way to proclaim this view with a straight face is to be an avowed atheist. Anyone who holds this view while believing that God exists is, well, is a very scary person indeed.

But, thanks be to God, the tide of public opinion is slowly moving away from the Culture of Death. Before he died a few years ago, Charles Colson noted the ambivalence in the pro-choice camp. He quoted one abortion supporter as saying, “We know what’s inside those garbage bags behind the clinic. We’ve seen our friend’s sonogram.” Keep praying.

So, anyway, speaking of prayer, with all the disunity and confusion in Christendom, was Jesus’ heartfelt prayer answered? It would seem not. But we must remember that all prayers are answered by God. However, sometimes the answer is “yes,” sometimes the answer is “no,” and sometimes the answer is “wait.”

Apparently, God told His own Son to wait. Mankind’s sinful nature—our pride and selfishness and parochial prejudices—cause divisions and disunity even among those professing faith in Christ. It’s a shame, and it’s not the Lord’s will for us, but it’s a fact of life in a sinful, fallen world.

Jesus’ prayer that all believers be as one should give us some insight about what He considers important. Don’t forget, He offered this prayer when He was on the verge of being tortured and killed. If He could focus on the unity of His followers at that point in time, it must be a really crucial issue.

Maybe we could remember this the next time we’re tempted to join in the latest round of sectarian squabbles, doctrinal disputes, and dogmatic dog fights. Maybe if we instead focus on the love of God, the miracle of Creation, and the joy of the Resurrection, we’ll demonstrate the truth of the Gospel to an unbelieving world and bring more souls with us into Heaven. 

Maybe then the answer to Jesus’ prayer finally will be “yes.”

Hugs Not Slugs

I tried to institute a new family tradition this past Easter: male hugging.

You see, I’ve been involved with the church choir the past few years, and one of the major features of the group is hugging. The ladies hug the ladies. The ladies hug the guys. And, yes, you guessed it, the guys hug the guys.

At first I was really uncomfortable. Guys hugging guys? We don’t do that in New England. Up here in the chilly Northeast we’re reserved and unemotional. In this part of the world, when you greet another guy, you shake hands and mumble, “’sup?” (Full translation: “What is up with you, my good man?”)

If the other guy is a very close friend — say, a twin brother you haven’t seen in a decade, or someone you fought side-by-side with during a war — you demonstrate your affection by punching him in the upper arm and saying, “Hey, how ‘bout them Red Sox? If they get a little more pitching, they might go all the way.”

My initial reaction when I encountered the friendly choir people was to run for the parking lot, but my wife assured me we were not in the midst of an alternative lifestyle religious splinter group.

Surprisingly, after a while I got over my huggaphobia and realized it was a wonderful way to greet friends regardless of gender. So, a brilliant idea occurred to me: this would be a great thing to do in my family when we all got together at Easter.

We arrived at my mom’s house on Easter Day, where all the usual aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, in-laws, and outlaws had gathered. I walked into the living room and gave my mother a kiss and a hug. No problem so far. Even we chilly New Englanders agree it’s OK to kiss your mom.

The first guy I came to was my brother-in-law, Lumpy, the truck driver. He reached out his right hand and mumbled, “’sup?” I ignored his hand, threw my arms around him, and pulled him toward me. Suddenly my chin was on his shoulder and we were standing there chest-to-chest. I cheerily said, “Happy Easter, Lumpy!” 

Lumpy began to quiver in terror. He broke free and stepped away from me, glancing around the room to see of anyone had witnessed what had just happened. The room was silent, with every mouth frozen in mid-sentence and every eye staring straight at us. Lumpy looked like he was about throw up. He finally offered me a timid smile, punched me in the arm, and blurted out, “How ‘bout them Red Sox?! Tied for first place!”

“It’s March,” I said. “The season hasn’t started yet. Everyone is tied for first place.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lumpy said, not hearing a word, “If they get a little more pitching, they might go all the way!” He turned and ran to the kitchen to get a beer or two or twelve.

Moments later, after hearing a quick summary from Lumpy, my father walked in from the kitchen. He said to me, “Son, we don’t do that around here.”

“But Dad, what’s the big —”

“Son,” he said firmly, “We’re saving that kind of behavior for a special occasion.”

“Huh? What’s more special than Easter?” I said.

“When the Red Sox win the World Series later this year,” he answered.

“Yeah, right,” I said sarcastically. “You mean later this century — maybe.”

“Now don’t be like that,” my father said, his voice becoming more pleasant. “If they get a little more pitching, they might go all the way.”

He smiled at me, and then to let me know everything was all right, he clenched his fist and affectionately slugged me in the arm.

When Will We Be One?

In the gospel reading this weekend at Mass, Jesus looked up to Heaven and said, “I pray for those who will believe in me, that they will all hate each other and break off into separate groups. I pray that they will insult each other, and accuse each other of heresy, and proclaim that they, and they alone, hold the TRUE Christian faith.”

Oh wait. That’s not what Jesus said. He actually said, “I pray for those who will believe in me…that they may all be one.”

I'm sorry. I was confusing the Lord’s desire for His followers with what has actually happened over the last 20 centuries.

Have you ever read this gospel passage, where Jesus prayed that His followers would be one, and wondered what Jesus must be thinking right about now? The history of Christendom is marked at least as much by fighting as by faith; as much by hatred as by holiness.

Jesus is probably disappointed, but not very surprised. After all, he understands human frailty. He knows how weak we can be. That’s why He had to give His life as an atonement for our sins: we’re simply incapable of attaining righteousness on our own.

Jesus knows that selfishness and anger come much more naturally to sinful people than do generosity and love. He knows it’s much easier for us to distrust strangers than to embrace them as friends. He’s probably not surprised that we have broken off into thousands of denominations and factions—all in His name. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t breaking His heart.

A mother doesn’t love her children any less just because they constantly fight. But it does grieve her, deep in her heart, that they can’t treat each other with respect and love.

It must be the same with Jesus. He still loves us more than we can comprehend. But deep in His heart He must be grieving.

Jesus not only prayed that His followers would be one so that we could strengthen one another and experience the joy of Christian fellowship, but He also prayed to His Father for Christian unity so that “the world may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus desires that the Christian world be united as a witness to His power and majesty.  Our unity is supposed to be one of our greatest assets in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Just think how many people throughout history could have experienced the salvation that Jesus offers, but never listened to the message of the Good News because of the hypocritical behavior of Christians. In other words, when people don’t practice what they preach, few listen to the preaching.

People are actually being driven away from Jesus because of the behavior of Christians.  And more often than not, it is denominational narcissism—the claim that one particular method of worship is the ONLY valid way—that drives them away.

When we refuse to be one, when we revel in our own denominational uniqueness and sneer at those who are slightly different, we are directly opposing Jesus’ prayerful desire. And we do it to our own detriment. We become less Christian, less holy, when we embrace man-made barriers rather than embracing Jesus himself.

But the loss we experience now by being so petty is nothing compared to the loss we may experience later if we drive others away from Christ by our behavior. Jesus made it very clear what would happen to anyone who caused one His little ones to sin. Something about millstones and the bottom of the ocean, as I recall.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the various Christian groups focused on the 90% similarities we have regarding doctrine, rather than being obsessed about the 10% differences? 

Wouldn’t it be nice if Jesus’ prayer was finally answered in our generation?