Allen's web site www.combatfaith.com
Allen's Blog Site www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Linda and I are thoroughly fascinated by a Netflix series titled The Tudors. It is a 40 program series about the English King Henry VIII. Before watching this series about all I knew was that the king desired a divorce so he could marry Anne Boleyn whom he eventually had beheaded. I had understood his inability to obtain an annulment from his first wife from the Pope prompted his break from the papacy and the formation of what was to become the Church of England or the Anglican Communion which for much of my life has been the faith within which I have worshipped through the Episcopal Church and presently with the Anglican Communion of North America.
Obviously Showtime takes artistic license with the story lines and is not always totally accurate historically, but tracks the major characters, their motivations, machinations, and actions relatively factually. It is definitely graphic and racy in parts. However, the photography, costumes, scenery, and interrelationships of the flows of the connections between the powers of the European kingdoms, the state of the religious life, and the evolution of the Protestan Reformation lend itself to extraordinary entertainment. The vanity, avarice, lust, and power-driven actions of the characters reflect the times prior to the translated Bible and the wonderfully-powerful teachings we find accessible today for us to grow in our faith walks. Originally, I began to think we are not like that anymore, but actually our world today in the higher realms of political and religious circles much less in our personal realms has not really changed much. We are still doing and acting in so many ways just as they did 500 years ago.
How should we live today? I relate two sources as examples of how we should live in our personal lives. In Part Two I will discuss my thoughts about the higher levels of current society. Linda and I have become great fans of an author who died almost 100 years ago. She is Ellen G. White and we are currently reading her fifth book titled Acts of the Apostles. She bases our current readings on Paul's epistle to the Corinthians. We will discuss her writings in Part Two.
In 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 it is written (NIV LASB) "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." The footnotes read, "Our society worships power, influence, and wealth. Jesus came as a humble, poor servant, and he offers his kingdom to those who have faith, not to those who do all kinds of good deeds to try to earn his gifts." The Tudors and therein some of its characters spoke of Christ, but few truly lived by His teachings. They really had not been taught it except in a shallow and superficial way. Many of our pastors and priests today continue the shallow teachings so as not to prick the consciences of those in the pews. Many of them do not wish to lose the people by introducing them to guilt. We all perpetrate actions which bring on guilt, but confession of sins, true contrition, and a turning of our ways to righteousness restores us. Many of The Tudors characters never really got it. Have you?
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