Chain-of-faith letterML recently received a chain letter. Those usually wind up in the circular file, but this one seemed to have a ring of authority about it. So, not wanting to break the chain, it appears here."The Chain Letter of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians" 1. With charity all things are possible. This epistle comes to you from Philippi. Grace be to you and peace. Spiritual gifts will be delivered unto you within four days of receiving this letter -- providing you in turn send it on. 2. This is no joke. Send copies to whomsoever among the gentiles or superstitious peoples of other denominations you would comfort in all their tribulation. Do not send material things. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. 3. While visiting the Household of Stephanas, a Macedonian proconsul received the epistle and was greeted by his brethren by a holy kiss. But he broke the chain, and now he is become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. 4. Gaius bestowed all his goods to feed the poor, and gave his body to be burned, but it profited him nothing. He failed to circulate the letter. However, before his death, he received the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 5. Do note the following: Crispius had the gift of prophecy, and understood all mysteries, and all knowledge, and had all faith, so that he could remove mountains. But he forgot that the epistle had to leave his hands within 96 hours, and now he is nothing. 6. In A.D. 37, the epistle was received by a young Galatian woman who put it aside to copy and send out later. She was plagued by various problems: thrice she was beaten with rods, once she was stoned, and thrice suffered shipwreck. On the last day of these occasions, she spent a night and day in the deep. Finally, she copied the letter. A trumpet sounded, and she was raised incorruptible. 7. Remember: Believeth all things, hopeth all things. The chain never faileth. -- St. Paul Numerous commandmentsAlways wishing to be helpful by moral example, ML has been wondering exactly which commandment President Clinton may have allegedly broken in the recent brouhaha regarding Monica Lewinski. Our interest was piqued by Washington Post writer Bill Broadway, who noted that fellow Post-er Mary McGrory had, in a Feb. 5 column, identified the sixth as the abused statute. However, a Feb. 22 article in the Washington Post Magazine claimed it was the seventh that had been fractured. What's a God-fearing nation to do if it cannot reliably determine which commandment its commander in chief is chucking?It seems it's not all that clear cut. According to Broadway, "In the version taught to Roman Catholic and Lutheran children, the prohibition against adultery is the Sixth Commandment. In most Protestant and Jewish readings, it's the Seventh. To the Greek Orthodox, adultery is sixth but in a different sequence." The commandments, which appear in Exodus 20:1*17 and Deuteronomy 5:6*21, are not clearly identified by numbers or even paragraph breaks. So the number is a bit arbitrary. According to Broadway, in the Jewish tradition, the first commandment is actually the statement, "I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt." "Christians," he says, "read 'I the Lord am your God' as a preface and either combine it with 'no other gods' or omit it when providing an abbreviated version for memorization or liturgical purposes." The difference between Protestant and Catholic versions are that Protestants combine covetousness into one commandment, the 10th, and Catholics break it into two. Jewish Version (from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures [Jewish Publication Society, 1985]): 1. I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. 2. You shall have no other gods besides Me. 3. You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God. 4. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. 5. Honor your father and your mother. 6. You shall not murder. 7. You shall not commit adultery. 8. You shall not steal. 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house: you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or anything that is your neighbor's. Catholic-Lutheran Version (from "A Traditional Catechetical Formula" in Catechism of the Catholic Church [United States Conference, 1991]): 1. I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me. 2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day. 4. Honor your father and your mother. 5. You shall not kill. 6. You shall not commit adultery. 7. You shall not steal. 8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. Protestant Version (from The Book of Confessions [Presbyterian Church USA, 1991]): 1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 2. You shall not make yourself a graven image. 3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work. 5. Honor your father and your mother. 6. You shall not kill. 7. You shall not commit adultery. 8. You shall not steal. 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or anything that is your neighbor's. Post-boomer beliefsYoung Catholics think helping the poor and believing in the real presence in the Eucharist are essential elements of the faith. The Associated Press reported that 701 post*baby boom Catholics believe that sacraments are important. However, younger Catholics tend to reject the necessity of priests being male and celibate, opposition to the death penalty, or support for organized labor.Other elements of the faith important to this group are devotion to Mary and the saints, the necessity of a pope, and the obligation to celebrate Sunday Mass. More than 80 percent of respondents termed these elements "essential" or "important" to being Catholic. Princeton Survey Research Associates interviewed the Catholics aged 20 to 39 last fall. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percent. Top 20Pope John XXIII is the most popular Catholic of the 20th century, according to an unscientific survey of readers of the National Catholic Reporter. In the Feb. 27 edition, Michael Farrell listed some of the Catholics readers nominated as being among the "20 greatest of the century." Pope John took first place "by a landslide," according to Farrell.Other top vote getters included Karl Rahner, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Pope John Paul II, Teilhard de Chardin and Mother Theresa. Several non-Catholics made some readers' lists, including Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, Billy Graham, Princess Diana, and Oprah Winfrey. Body of ChristJust before Lent, Georgetown University, the nation's oldest Roman Catholic university, announced it would be adding crucifixes to all classroom buildings except one where interfaith and multi-cultural events are held.It seems the student body missed seeing Christ's body during their classes. Older classroom buildings had crucifixes in the classrooms already, but several newer ones did not. Nearly 58 percent of Georgetown's 6,000 undergraduates identify themselves as Roman Catholic, according to a recent Associated Press report, and 23 percent as Protestant. Five percent are Jewish, and close to 15 percent belong to other faiths, including Islam, Hinduism and Orthodox Christianity. What do YOU Think?
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