Bible Study: 8:00 AM PDT 03/29/2025

Hello All,

This Saturday we will begin a series on Christian Culture. This will
be an open review of Christian History and Christian Culture. I have
seen no specific Bible Studies that link history, culture and
Scripture. That does not mean they do not exist. However, since Jesus
wants us to know Him, love Him and serve Him via serving others with
humility; it seems appropriate to examine the process called Christian
Culture with the Bible in hand.

At this time, it is not possible to estimate the length of this study.
However, it should be a delightful journey weaving Scripture,
traditions, attitudes, culture, upheavals and all - over time. We may
descend into this abyss to never return, but that is to have little
faith or trust.

Join me as we discover what a British, public intellectual found out
when examining what the Chinese Communists found out when they asked
the question: Why is the West successful? The answer surprised them.
Will we be surprised?

Prayerfully this will give us knowledge, guidance and encouragement as
we go about our daily lives wherein we may encounter various levels of
hostility toward our Christian faith.

Please join us, our Zoom Link and Bible Study notes are below for this
Saturday's session at 8:00 AM PDT 03/29/2025. I pray you and yours are
well.

Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy
Spirit bring you His comfort and His peace. Join us!!!

Zoom Link:
For Study, Prayer and Fellowship - 8:00 AM PDT on 03/29/2025:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82968961343?pwd=LzcwVjJKcWVESDRURlhDcXlNV0JUdz09
Meeting ID: 829 6896 1343
Passcode: 77299ere:

Study Notes:
03/22/2025 – Prologue - Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - Holy
Spirit, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the
Son. I give You my heart and I offer my thanksgiving for all the grace
which You never cease to bestow on me:
Grant me the gift of piety, so that I may serve You for the future
with increased fervor, and observe your divine precepts with greater
fidelity.
Grant me the gift of knowledge, so that I may know the things of God
and, enlightened by Your holy teaching, may walk, without deviation,
in the path of eternal salvation.
Grant me the gift of fortitude, so that I may overcome all the
assaults of the devil, and all the dangers of this world which
threaten the salvation of my soul.
Grant me the gift of counsel, so that I may choose what is more
conducive to my spiritual advancement and may discover the wiles and
snares of the tempter.
Grant me the gift of understanding, so that I may apprehend the divine
mysteries and detach my thoughts and affections from the vain things
of this miserable world.
Grant me the gift of wisdom, so that I may direct all my actions; so
that, having loved Him and served Him in this life, I may have the
happiness of possessing Him eternally in the next.    Amen!

Christian Culture: For many months I have been in prayer concerning a
Bible Study on Christian Culture based on the support found in the
OT/NT. Prayer led to a vital question, Why? In standard Bible study if
we came upon a verse that reflects Christian Culture, we note it,
amplify it and continue. The Bible is our teacher and our strength, we
learn of Jesus, the Messiah: all that led to his coming; his life,
death, resurrection and ascension. In the Epistles, we learn the
necessity of keeping that message pure and Biblical. Thus, how does
one enter a topic in constant evolution - Christian Culture? That
answer proved to be elusive.

Recently, a video by a Mathematics professor was released, wherein he
proclaimed he was Jewish, an atheist and who liberally re-enforced his
discussion with quotes from Isaiah. He opined that the world was at a
crossroads. The old order that brought safety and stability to the
world for the past 75 years had finally collapsed. It did so, the day
Russia invaded Ukraine and now, after 1,280,000 casualties, a
resolution remains elusive. Plus, he made a statement that had nothing
to do with that war, but was symptomatic of years of decline. He said,
“The schools in America are organized to be: against family, the
natural order and society.” (Natural order – the physical universe
considered as an orderly system, subject to natural and supernatural
laws.) That should focus our attention and give strength to a specific
desire: to study Christian Culture or the manner in which we live out
our faith.

Another atheist, published 14 years ago, Niall Ferguson, paraphrases
G. K. Chesterton, a Christian apologist, wrote, “The trouble with
atheism is that when men stop believing in God, they do not believe in
nothing. They believe in anything. From the same book Ferguson quotes
from the Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences: “We were asked to
look into what accounted for the pre-eminence of the West all over the
world. At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns.
Then it was because you had the best political system. Then we focused
on your economic system. But in the past 20 years, we realized that
the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why
the West has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of
social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of
capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics.
We do not have any doubt about this.”

Another Chinese scholar, writing on the ‘Intellectual Influence of
Christianity’ added, “Economic viability requires a serious moral
ethos, more than hedonistic consumerism and dishonest strategy.”

William of Ockham (c. 1285 - c.1334) a Franciscan brother, developed a
principle called “Occam’s razor: The answer that demands the fewest
assumptions is likely the correct one.” William urged his students to
shave away as many assumptions, beliefs or com-plicating explanations
as possible; because great truth may be mysterious, but it is never
complex. He concluded, the better answer is almost always the simpler
one. The above discussions of Christianity follow that principle, as
will we.

Let us begin: Why a Christian culture? Jesus asks each one of us: to
love one another; to express our love through service; express
forgiveness <>; and express humility; all of which is wrapped in the
belief that there is one God who created everything. Christianity is
also imbued with a spirit of responsibility, work, self-condemnation,
repentance, a spirit of diligence, conscientiousness, self-restraint,
discipline and asceticism. [1 Peter 2:11; 1 Cor. 9:27] This spirit of
Christianity is freely given to form our culture. There is a debate
today about the state of Christian culture. Is it growing and if,
“Yes”, how and where? Is it declining and if, “Yes”, to what extent
and where? Or does it depend on other values? Certainly, if we take
the preceding comment about schools to heart, we can conclude: there
is a wide anti-Christian front. There are those who wish to create an
un-Christian/anti-Christian culture. This is done by an attack on the
family, destroying the traditional family roles and for many the
substitution of the state for the father. This is also happening in an
institution that should know better: Christian and Catholic
universities.

This is not new. We must ask: Do elements of the Christian church
reflect the kingdom of the world, or the kingdom of God ? The current
separation began in the late nineteenth century and has only grown
during the ensuing years. This topic could consume us, so let us try
to sum it in a single paragraph. We have been privy to the rise and
fall of mod-ernism, which centered around beliefs held in a growing
alienation from the prevailing morality, optimism and convention. This
included secularism; the growing influence of science; the rise of
abstract art; societal organization around urban planning; stream of
consciousness in thought; and most destructive was that individuals
could transcend their own mortality. Among the many pieces of
Scripture that could guide us none is better than [ v. 1Jude-4], just
completed. As an aside, but directly to the point: the Roman Catholic
Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, (KZ) Bishop Athanasius Schneider was born
in Tokmok. He has written a public document to Pope Francis demanding
that the Pope rewrite his teachings about what is needed to gain
eternal salvation. Bishop Schneider from a small diocese in Central
Asia is challenging false teachings at the highest level – the
Vatican. [Matt. 21:24; 1 John 4:1-6; Titus 1:6-16; 2 Peter 2:1; Jude]
The Bishop is an advocate of the pre-Vatican II liturgical traditions
which were 400+ years in the making. AMEN!

Love, hank

Hank Hohenstein, OFS
Land Steward
161 Osprey Vista
Shady Cove, OR 97539
Cell: 541-973-5442
hankhohenstein@gmail.com