Ep40 Doubt Can Be a Virtue

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Father Len reveals how doubts and questions about how God works in the world lead to wisdom and faith.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Father Len explains the difference between doubt that is healthy and holy and doubt that is not healthy or holy.
True faith is believing in a God of love and impossibilities.
Doubt can be a blessing or a curse. Doubt about how God is working in your life and why is a blessing. Doubt about God’s love and your relationship with God is a curse.
“Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.” – Paul Tillich
“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” – Francis Bacon
Doubt can be a great friend of the truth.
Real learning occurs when we allow doubts and questions to arise.
The Greek word for doubt means two separate views. So, doubt is being torn apart by seeing two opposite things and trying to reconcile them.
“Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.” – Khalil Gibran
Jesus allows and encourages people to challenge and question him throughout the Bible. Jesus is comfortable with questions because he wants them to lead to wisdom and certainty.
“People should question what’s going on in the world, question church authority, but not question that they’re in an unbreakable relationship with God.” – Father Len

Ep25 Tour of Hell

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Father Len takes us on a tour of hell exploring its origin and history providing glimpses of heaven along the way.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Hell can be hot and cold.
Hell is complete separation from God.
Heaven is complete union with God.
God is the source of life, love, community, justice, and compassion.
Hell is being separated from life, love, and community.
God offers life and love to all people as a free gift, but that doesn’t mean all people accept the gift.
Hell is often associated with fire, but in the Bible it is also depicted as a cold and lonely place.
The image of fire is also connected to heaven in the Bible.
Could it be that the fire of heaven and hell is the same, the fire of God’s love?
Life is a matter of preparing to live in the fire of God’s love or forever rejecting it.
If you live your life with hatred and selfishness, maybe pure love is something that you can’t stand.
People can create their own hell right here on earth. It’s not just an imaginary place where we might end up.
You separate yourself from God when you fail to live a life of love.
God wants everybody united in heaven, but that doesn’t mean everybody will be in heaven.
“The gates of hell are locked from the inside” – CS Lewis
Hell is something we create by our own choices, not something created by God.
God permits those who reject community, justice, compassion, and love, which is God, to live in the hell they create.
The images of heaven and hell help point our lives in the right direction.
Hell is a choice of selfishness and cruelty over love.
The gates of heaven are always open for those who love.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:49 — 10.8MB)

Father Len helps listener Sarah grapple with her relationship with her money and how much of it to give to charity.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Father Len introduces the biblical concept of “poor in spirit” from the Gospel of Matthew 5:3.
“Poor in spirit” doesn’t mean that you’re actually poor. It does mean money has no control over you and it’s not your primary source of joy and self-worth.
Father Len shares the story of an elderly couple with a net worth of $50 million to illustrate the effect of being “poor in spirit.”
Father Len describes the relationship Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates have with their money and their charitable giving to help listener Sarah grapple with how much she should give to charity.
Father Len explains why he loves the image he saw as a kid of a tiny box containing all of Mahatma Gandhi’s material possessions when he died.
It’s irresponsible not to save money for retirement. Otherwise, you can become a burden to other people. Morally, you don’t have that right.
Assessing your real relationship with money is about honestly recognizing why you do what you do with it.
There isn’t a mathematical formula for how much money to give to charity. It’s living a life of “poverty in spirit.” It’s balancing the responsibilities we have of taking care of ourselves and making the world a better place.