Pentecost
Notes
Transcript
Tale of two towers
Babel and Church
manmade and Godmade
confusion and understanding
In the story of old, man wished to replace God
set about building their tower
God comes down, as He always does, that is reality confronts them
they lose all shared meaning
can’t cooperate because don’t mean the same thing as each other
because abandoned meaning of reality for their own meaning
At Pentecost, the birthday of the Church of God
men who followed God
set about building their community under God
God comes down in a miraculous way, reality imbues them
gain complete shared meaning, so shared all humanity can understand them no matter their language
abandoned their own meaning for reality
one chose lang man lang of heaven
collapses before off the ground, other raises up heavens today.
These two towers are story of our lives
we either try to make our own meaning or accept reality’s
To fully sin is to choose ones own language.
To not sin is to choose the language of reality.
Why
language is to share meaning
by sign, word, or act point to some meaning
but if something is meaningless, can’t be shared meaningfully
To sin is to knowingly Exchange Truth with something not truth
meaningless, contradictory
arbitrary
people could pick anything since not based in truth
typically goes with personal appetites and desires
in which case everyone is competing, not sharing
all sharing is only apparent as long you you oth seem to get your personal gods.
no real shared meaning in life, competing incoherent babling
the tower of babel and confusion of meaning is the result of deliberate sin
its like a piece of scribbled post modern art or ink blot test
has no shared meaning, just whatever we (replacing God, objective truth, with ourselves) impose on it
what we read into it
Thank goodness
as Gospel, God explicitly gives the apostles power
confession language
verbally rejecting the subjective standard and replacing it with God
returning to a shared meaning with God and the Church
replacing personal meaningless babel with coherent language of God
Tower of man with tower of God
Good confession:
all mortal sin since baptism havent confessed
full consent deliberate, and what would be serious wrong (catechism for help there on chapters of 10 commandments)
most difficult and hidden most important
number
things that make much more serious or less serious
Do not fear!
Unite, unite under the shared language of God, Truth and Goodness itself
Notes:
Notes:
2 Towers
How speech works
cut off from body
cut off from communication
confession
Me:
One God, division of labors
The body of Christ as the Church
Confession?
Babel vs Pentecost
reversing the scattering of nations
Commentators:
Pitre
celebrated coming down of law too in fire
new law
breathing on is symbolic giving of spirit
Augustine:
breathing symbol not actual spirit itself
shows the filioque (from Son too)
connects to babel
parts body commanded by 1 spirit
Cyril of Alexandria
Holy spirit unites parts to whole
“Birthday of the Church”
ADVERTISEMENT