Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings

Ep43 The Satan and the Mission of The Satan

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:22 — 18.6MB)

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Father Len reveals the origin of The Satan and why The Satan constantly misrepresents the words of God and tempts us to sin.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

  • Father Len Introduces “The Great Chain of Being,” the theory that describes the hierarchy of creation and reveals that heaven is populated by more than human beings.
  • God created human beings to rule the earth and care for creation.
  • When God created humanity, God charged the Angels he created with the responsibility to guide humanity.
  • “The Satan” is a title given to angels who continue to worship God, but defy God and refuse to serve inferior humans.
  • The word Satan means accuser.
  • The Satan is bent on misguiding and destroying humanity.
  • Father Len tells the Garden of Eden story to illustrate how The Satan induced Adam and Eve to commit humanity’s original sin.
  • Following the sin of Adam and Eve, a recurring prophecy began predicting that a child of a woman would someday become “the snake crusher” to destroy evil and the Satan. That child turned out to be Jesus.
  • Father Len tells the story of King Nebuchadnezzar from the Bible Book of Daniel to illustrate the sin of pride and how the Satan is always trying to decrease our humanity.
  • “The Lord of the Rings” by R.R. Tolkien
  • The Satan, “the accuser,” is constantly pointing out our faults will trying to divide humanity and make us less human.
  • Father Len relates the story of Job who actually becomes more human and a better human through suffering inflicted by the Satan.
  • The Satan frequently tempts us to embrace evil in order to acquire power, glory, and the kingdom.
  • We can’t blame the Satan or the devil for succumbing to evil and becoming less human. We always have a choice.
  • Evil is present in the world, but a true human being is able to say no to it.

Ep5 The Good of Coronavirus and Other Evils

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:47 — 22.7MB)

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Father Len helps us wrestle with evil. What is it? Why is there evil in the world? How can the consequences of evil help us mature and become better and more complete human beings?

Highlights, Ideas, & Wisdom

  • Father Len explains why the Corona virus crisis demands that we wrestle with God about what is evil and why there is evil in the world in hopes that this pandemic will become a species changing event.
  • Father Len introduces us to theodicy, the theology that grapples with evil and why an all good and loving God permits evil in our world.
  • Father Len shares “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” The story of a man whose pain, suffering and loss from the death of his best friend cause him to look deep into the purpose of life and how to become a complete human being.
  • Father Len explores the theology of St. Irenaeus that looks at evil to find the ultimate goodness of God.
  • Humanity is born innocent, but immature. We have work to do to become mature and complete human beings.
  • We don’t get to define goodness for ourselves. Only God can define what is good.
  • Maturing is a complex process. It requires that we experience the pain we inflict upon ourselves by going after the wrong things to make us happy. We must come to understand what is evil, evil’s consequences and die to our selfishness.
  • God did not cause the Corona virus, but God can use it to make us better people.
  • The coronavirus demonstrates how interconnected we are in this world. What happens in China affects us no matter where we are in the world. A problem in one part of the world becomes a problem for all of us. We’re waking up to the fact that either we survive together or we fall apart.
  • There are two types of evil. Moral evil and natural evil.
  • Moral evil is the things we do to each other. Often, without knowing or thinking about it. A good example is texting while driving. We’ve trained ourselves not to care about the accident it might cause and the pain, suffering, and loss it can inflict on other people.
  • Natural evils are things like the coronavirus, earthquakes, and floods.
  • St. Irenaeus would say the coronavirus itself is not evil. What is evil is the way we respond to it. If we deny its danger and existence, think only of our own well-being, endanger others, or be unwilling to come together as a community to battle the virus, that’s evil.
  • The coronavirus offers us a source of bane and enlightenment. For some of us it will be a source of spiritual enlightenment and help us to become more mature human beings. For others, the experience will be dismissed or quickly forgotten.