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 E-MAIL        Jim@ConservativeAnswers.com                                          PERSONAL NOTES                               

JIM SOHMER    P O BOX 129   JEFFERSON, CO 80456                              PERSONAL NOTES II  

 

Bristlecone Pines thrive in Colorado at "timberline", approx. 11,600 feet  They have been known to exceed 4000 years in age.   Truly a wonder to behold.                                                                      

NOTE:  Just a clue about myself.  It is helpful to understand horses and mules (not the political variety), but especially mules, which are smarter, which is how it is that people think they are stubborn.  Mules are just sizing you up, and once they accept you they can be counted on for great loyalty.  This, of course, after a couple of sessions with a scotch hobble just to keep the respect mutual, perfecting a dialog that neither horses or Liberals would understand.  Possibly this goes to explain why some folks think I can be stubborn too.  I have been accused of being about as subtle as a fully armed and fueled F-14 Tomcat, but that is to miss another side of me.

NOTE:  It has been my observation over the years that Catholics, especially "cradle" Catholics, have a tendency to subcontract their critical thought on worldly affairs to others, when it is not always wise, or moral, to do so, apparently in a habitual reliance on the Church for guidance on all matters.  This is a sword with two edges.  I believe we remain personally responsible to our Creator, short of the Protestant error of unrestrained individual ascendancy outside the Church.  There is no excuse for personal intellectual amnesia.

NOTE:  I am welded to the Judeo Christian tradition.  The fundamental problem with the Judeo portion of this tradition is its rejection of Jesus Christ as the Son of God.  On the Christian side, I can understand the frustration of Martin Luther, and the economy of Billy Graham, but within the limits of human understanding and the wisdom of the ages, I believe that the truth is best found with the guidance of the Roman Catholic Magisterium.  It is my refuge from the ravages of the 20th Century.  I beg God for his patience.    JES  10/13/03

NOTE:  My decision  to convert to Roman Catholicism came after years of turmoil, intellectual and otherwise.  It was a theological decision, not political.   Had it been political, I would have gone in a different direction.   I was raised as an Episcopalian, revolted in my late teens into a state of agnosticism and finally re-affirmed my belief in God in 1993.   It has taken from then until now to work myself through the Judeo-Christian thicket.  It is in the theological foundation of the Catholic Magisterium that I find the heavy keel of western civilization and man's proper relationship with our Creator.  JES  07/22/04

EXODUS 32.7    And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people; now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation."  RSV/Catholic Edition.

Upon the pleading of Moses to the Lord, His threats were set aside, at that time.  However, the point remains; are we still not all "a stiff-necked people"?  One wonders at His patience.

 

        NICENE CREED- CATHOLIC

                 We believe in one God,

                         the Father, the Almighty,

                         maker of heaven and earth,

                         of all that is seen and unseen.

 

                 We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

                         the only Son of God,

                         eternally begotten of the Father,

                         God from God, Light from Light,

                         true God from true God,

                         begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.

                         Through him all things were made.

                          For us men and for our salvation

                                  he came down from heaven:

                          by the power of the Holy Spirit

                                  he was born of the Virgin Mary,

                                        and became man.

                            

                           For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilot;

                                  he suffered, died, and was buried.

                                  On the third day he rose again

                                        in fulfillment of the Scriptures;

                                   he ascended into heaven

                                        and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

                            He will come again in glory to judge the living and

                                         the dead,

                                   and his kingdom will have no end.

                                

                    We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

                             who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

                             With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and

                                         glorified.

                             He has spoken through the Prophets.

                             We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

                             We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness

                                         of sins.

                             We look for the resurrection of the dead,

                                   and the life of the world to come.       Amen.