Okay, I've let this sit for long enough. To recap, the Age of Empires II game (with Expansion Set - thanks, honey!) will take place on Saturday, October 29th. I don't know what time works for you guys, so you'll need to let me know. It sounds like we're going to play the Black Forest map on the Huge setting, playing against computer-controlled barbarians (Vikings, Saracens, Huns, Mongols). Our army choices are:
Devin - Teutons
Dan - Byzantines
Ben - Franks
Michael - Britons
Sound about right to everyone?
The other thing I wanted to mention - and forgive me if I've already complained about this in previous posts - is this strange tradition regarding Saint Joseph and the selling of houses.
When working at the bookstore, I usually have one customer per week coming in looking for statues of Saint Joseph. They tell me that there is a tradition which claims that if you bury a statue of Saint Joseph in your backyard, your house/property will sell.
I have to bite my tongue when they ask this, though perhaps I shouldn't. As a bookstore clerk, it's my job to make them feel comfortable and help them to find what they want. As a Christian, I want to ask them why they don't just behead a chicken and sprinkle the blood on the lawn as an offering to the loas; at least then there's the chance of having an interesting possession experience that you can tell the grandkids about. Perhaps someone can tell me how this isn't sorcery?
I found a website that explains this a little bit, though of course, it's a website designed to sell the little buggers, so I wouldn't put a lot of stock in their explanations. Sadly, they didn't include my question in the FAQ section. They do say the same thing that everyone I've taken to task over it (which, at this point, would be a whopping two people) says, which is, "be it fact or fiction, it's worked more than once."
If something which has no Scriptural basis doesn't work, I'm not really surprised. If something which has no Scriptural basis does work, I'd be nervous. There's two sources of supernatural power out there, and if it isn't God, there's only one other possibility.
Snopes.com also has an article about it (and they appropriately file it under the category "Luck" - with a panel from the graphic novel The Big Book of Urban Legends, no less!), but what I really wanted to find was something from a more official Catholic source on the topic. I mean, if the Pope has time to condemn Harry Potter novels, certainly he needs to deal with this. After a little Googling, I also found this article which deals with it fairly well, though I disagree with their conclusion.
A blog called "Pop Occulture" phrased my thoughts on the topic best: "I mean, burying a secret little statue and then praying to it is most certainly magic. Hell, it might even be “magick” with a “k” on the end. This couldn’t be any more ironic. All these Christians crying and screaming about pagan religious practices, and here they are practicing their own little voodoo-esque rituals right in their back-yards! Have some [expletive] consistency people!"
Anyway, when people come in to ask for this, I usually answer their query with a terse, "Sorry, we don't carry those," and sometimes I'll direct them to the Catholic bookstore, which I'm fairly certain doesn't carry them, either. As I said, I have asked a few people about it. One woman seemed rather unsure about the whole thing when she asked, so I politely inquired into the matter, whether she knew the basis for the belief, etc. She told me that while it had sounded strange to her, her priest had told her to try it because "it's worked for some people." We discussed it and mutually decided that perhaps just praying for God's aid and guidance was the best idea. Radical idea, I know, but it is one that doesn't sell any merchandise, so I can see why it isn't very popular.
Okay, now that I'm this far into this discussion, I'm almost certain that I've brought it up on my blog in the past. I'm not sure why it seemed so pressing that I mention it again now, but someone asked for a statue on Thursday, and I guess I'm still annoyed with myself for not asking. During the summer, I had resolved that I would ask everyone who requested one for the basis of their belief. After all, our stated goal/motto/raison d'etre at Northwestern is to equip the Church to spread the Gospel and follow Jesus Christ. So I'm not doing my job if I don't ask, right?
Of course, pursuing that line of reasoning, I should be asking everyone who comes in looking for a Joel Osteen book if they believe in the existence of sin, and everyone who asks for a Benny Hinn book if they care about what happens to their money.
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Me, if I want to aquire a property, I just pee all over it. Seems to work pretty well, especially if the owner sees me doing it.
Of course, I haven't tried it with actual land yet, so I can only vouch for the fact that it works with books and food. But I'm eager to test my theory!
So that's why all of your things are so stinky!
First of all, the thing of burying a Saint Joseph statue in the yard is a “custom” and has nothing to do with Church teaching. It sounds like it’s simply a material gesture which symbolizes a prayer to Saint Joseph (hence it can’t make much sense to someone who doesn’t believe in the communion of saints). Protestants also make use of material symbols. For example, their concept of communion with bread and grape juice is symbolic (I wonder what the I'm-not-religious-I'm-spiritual-and-above-all-this spiritualist at "Pop Occulture" thinks about that).
As for the communion of saints: You need to understand (no, not “follow”:)), that Catholics envision a world in which we are surrounded by angels and saints (Hebrews 12:22-23). Those who have died in Christ are not truly “dead,” nor do they reside in the shadowy Sheol that was the abode of the dead prior to the coming of Christ. Rather, they are very much “alive” in Christ, and are likened to angels. Christ Himself communicated with Moses and Elijah prior to his resurrection. After His death and resurrection, it is said that many dead arose and appeared to many throughout Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52-53).
When talking to many Christians, I often get the sense that their vision of the afterlife more closely resembles Nirvana than Heaven. The dead seem to sort of disappear, losing their concerns and their identities. But in The Book of Revelation (the only book of the NT that gives us a glimpse into Heaven) we see that those who have died in Christ are still very much concerned with what transpires on Earth (e.g. Revelation 6:9-10).
Certainly, there are many scriptures in which God communicates to men through angels, and angels and men communicate with one another. Prayers were also offered to saints who had died -as evidenced in epitaphs and the graffiti scrawled on the walls of the catacombs- showing that this practice goes all the way back to those early centuries.
This all makes sense to Catholics since we are all members of the same body of Christ. Even our brothers and sisters who have died in Christ don’t cease to be members of His spiritual body after their deaths. As I might ask you to pray for me –and I certainly hope you wouldn’t tell me no, and that I should go pray to God directly myself—So might I ask those in Heaven to do the same.
Hm…
This is clunky. I know. I’m just trying to show that there is some basis for this belief, so you can read a [moderately] informed Catholic’s perspective (which is what you asked for).
Unfortunately, in most cases this custom is probably used as some sort of good-luck charm. The fact that it’s often attached to some sort of material gain makes it particularly bothersome to me. Like you, I’d ask someone his or her basis for the belief.
As for the Pope responding to this: Well, he’s not perfect, but give the poor guy a break. He can’t respond to everything. You make it sound like he has all sorts of time on his hands, which just isn’t the case. If you ever look at a list of his activities for the day, you’ll see that the man stays very busy. He sometimes takes time to respond to various popular media such as Harry Potter. He’ll probably do the same when the movie for The Da Vinci Code comes out. There are so many problems to be addressed, and this one just doesn’t seem very widespread. Though it must be more popular in that part of the country, I’ve never even heard of this custom before now. When someone abuses a custom like this, it is as much the job of a Catholic like me as it is that of the pope to address it.
On that issue of the Christian vision of heaven, I'm reading a fascinating book by Randy Alcorn called, appropriately enough, Heaven that points out how without basis the whole "floaty spirits in the clouds" vision is. He uses scripture to back up a vision of heaven as very real and "solid," wherein we absolutely retain our individual identity with continued memories, as well as concern for continuing events on earth.
I plan on writing a much longer discussion of it, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Thanks for hosting Dan.
If you have a broadband connection then your IP address should be static. You should be able to access your router via a web browser to find your current IP address. There might be two addresses, LAN & WAN IP. We will need the WAN IP address to find you. I have not tried the AE2 lately but other multiplayer games will show your IP address somewhere in the setup screen within the game. Either way you will need to email us you address when you find it. I would not post it on this blog.
If you have a dial-up connection your IP address changes each time you connect so you will need to view the properties of the connection under Windows “network connections” to find your IP.
Hope this helps.
bsmed72@yahoo.com
Heaven is one of the more popular books at the bookstore amongst the theological thinkers right now. I look forward to your review.
I'll probably have a response to your post later, Dan, but I'm glad you responded. I kinda hoped that you would.
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