Saturday, June 30, 2018
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
The Cry of Jesus on the Cross
And about three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”* which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27: 46).
The above words of Christ taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew were interpreted in a way that justified the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ not only as the obedience of the Son to the will of his Father, but also that the Father was satisfied by the death of his Son to make up for the sins of the elect. In his Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul writes "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. for there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3: 21-24).
In the 20th century, a German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, wrote his book "The Crucified God" in which he stated his conviction in salvation through Christ's death. There, Moltmann wrote that the Father suffered with his Son on the Cross. Jesus Christ died for humanity and not only for the few elect. The Father, who loves all his creation, desires that all be with him in his kingdom. In God's eyes, everyone is unique. everyone is precious...Pope Saint John Paul II wrote that God never damns anyone to hell. In his respect of the person's freedom, God lets us decide whether we want to live with him in an eternal state of love, or not with him in an eternal state of self-closed creature. Bishop Robert Barron explained hell here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8zhnooySk4&t=68s
The above words of Christ taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew were interpreted in a way that justified the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ not only as the obedience of the Son to the will of his Father, but also that the Father was satisfied by the death of his Son to make up for the sins of the elect. In his Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul writes "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. for there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3: 21-24).
In the 20th century, a German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, wrote his book "The Crucified God" in which he stated his conviction in salvation through Christ's death. There, Moltmann wrote that the Father suffered with his Son on the Cross. Jesus Christ died for humanity and not only for the few elect. The Father, who loves all his creation, desires that all be with him in his kingdom. In God's eyes, everyone is unique. everyone is precious...Pope Saint John Paul II wrote that God never damns anyone to hell. In his respect of the person's freedom, God lets us decide whether we want to live with him in an eternal state of love, or not with him in an eternal state of self-closed creature. Bishop Robert Barron explained hell here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8zhnooySk4&t=68s
Yes. God desires that all shall be saved (Luke 12: 32). It is why Christians have a responsibility to show Christ to non-Christians by the way they live and behave so that they too may convert/have, in Christ, the possibility of being saved (Matthew 5: 43-48).
Friday, June 15, 2018
Black Holes in the Cosmic Inflation, Quantum Physics, and New Technology
The Cosmos, Quantum
Uncertainty, Artificial Intelligence, and Faith
Two phenomenal lectures
by two outstanding professors in two countries have enlightened research about
the vast cosmos we live in and its quantum fields that penetrate every creature
on earth.
The first lecture was
given by Professor Leo
Kowenhoven at Delft University in the Netherlands, 2015 (here). In
his talk Professor Kowenhoven showed how nature itself works through
quantum processes...As an example, a plant leaf takes the light of the Sun and,
through quantum superposition, electrons find a way to efficiently bind to the
oxygen molecule thus they together produce oxygen that is necessary for human
life...Professor Kouwenhoven was speaking about building
quantum computers already made in the lab - But the most interesting
ideas come near the end of the talk where starting around the 11th minute he
talks about the big challenges that people face such as spoiling energy,
wasting materials, and not getting the right medicine, then
shows how (with investment by big IT companies), super quantum
computers would help solve these problems and others such as electrical cables
with zero loss of energy, better airplane design, optimization for
robotics, machine learning, of providing healthcare to needy people using
nanotechnology, or avoiding the risk
of climate change. The second lecture was given by Professor David
Tong at Cambridge University in Britain, 2017 (here). Meanwhile, some
10,000 physicists have been busy at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN,
Switzerland looking for new findings of sub-particles that have so far
generated more questions than answers. Some of the insights explained refer to
Einstein's Theory of General Relativity (space-time flow), J. J. Thomson's
discovery of the electron, Ernest Rutherford's model of the atom in which he
showed by experiment that the mass of the nucleus of an atom fundamentally
consists of protons and neutrons while electrons are much lighter that move
around the nucleus, Faraday's discovery of electromagnetism, James Maxwell's
work that demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space
as waves at the speed of light, Schrodinger's Wave-Particle Equation used in
Quantum Mechanics, Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty and the
thought-experiment of Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen (EPR)
referred to "Quantum Entanglement."
Professor Tong spoke
about the inflationary universe that started 13.8 billion years ago. He said
that in the first milliseconds, the universe was a huge energy that with time solidified
in the galaxies, stars, creating the so-called Black Holes since a Black Hole
is that fearsome cosmic phenomenon created when a star dies which then
would swallow everything in its surrounding...It is possible that the entire
universe would be long dead before a Black Hole eats up the rest of things in
its way. But a better understanding is found in this presentation at the World
Science Festival in 2015 in the presence of the late British physicist
Professor Stephen Hawking here.
I studied most of the
above introduction to quantum physics in my undergraduate studies in electronic
engineering at Ain-Shams University in Cairo. My interest in space has been
intensive since my late teens. I have continued to follow developments in
quantum physics and space since our arrival to Canada. In reading, I found much
material written by Sir John Polkinghorne, retired professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge
University, on quantum physics
starting in the 1980s. In 1982, Alain Aspect and his team were able to
experimentally prove that two photons emitted from the same atom will still be
in contact tens of miles away... The reader may wish to listen to his
lecture here. John Polkinghorne, too,
wrote, in one of his latest books: Quantum Physics and Theology in 2008, about
relationship as science is attempting to discover it at the subnuclear level:
“Quantum theory brought to light a remarkable form of entanglement between
subatomic particles that have once interacted with each other (the so-called
EPR effect), which implies that they remain effectively a single system however
far they may subsequently separate spatially- a counterintuitive
togetherness-in-separation that has been abundantly confirmed experimentally as
a property of nature. The physical world looks more and more like a universe
that would be the fitting creation of the trinitarian God, the One whose
deepest reality is relational.” (Cf. John Polkinghorne, 2008, "Quantum
Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship" Published by Yale University
Press). Dr. Stephen Barr has written extensively
on the relationship of quantum physics and theology (See, for example, his
article in First Things here).
The
above findings support the 2 most important observations in quantum physics:
1. The probabilistic nature of particles which yields the Uncertainty Principle
2. The communication between particles at long distances (quantum entanglement)
From 2 above, everything must be in a relationship to live. In Christianity God is a relatedness or a relationship of selfless love. It is our belief that God the Father being love (1 John 4: 8) abandons the fullness of divinity and gives all he has to his image the Son (John 10:30; Col 1: 15-19; Phil 2: 6-11 ) who in turn returns this love in the Holy Spirit who is the binding love of Father and Son (John 15). The concept that God is relatedness or relational is found not only in Holy Scriptures but also in doctors of the Church including St. Thomas Aquinas and, in our days, Joseph Ratzinger (Bishop of Rome Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI).
If this is true, then we can say that the cosmos is signed by the stamp of the Triune God of Christians.
1. The probabilistic nature of particles which yields the Uncertainty Principle
2. The communication between particles at long distances (quantum entanglement)
From 2 above, everything must be in a relationship to live. In Christianity God is a relatedness or a relationship of selfless love. It is our belief that God the Father being love (1 John 4: 8) abandons the fullness of divinity and gives all he has to his image the Son (John 10:30; Col 1: 15-19; Phil 2: 6-11 ) who in turn returns this love in the Holy Spirit who is the binding love of Father and Son (John 15). The concept that God is relatedness or relational is found not only in Holy Scriptures but also in doctors of the Church including St. Thomas Aquinas and, in our days, Joseph Ratzinger (Bishop of Rome Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI).
If this is true, then we can say that the cosmos is signed by the stamp of the Triune God of Christians.
From
1, we all live in a cosmos still in development. Certainty is achieved beyond
this life when we are in the togetherness of the family of the kingdom of
God. The reader may wish to
read two posts here written in 2013 and 2017 respectively:
"The Quantum
Synthesis" http://todayquestions.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-quantum-sign-of-life.html
"The Quantum
Universe": http://todayquestions.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-quantum-universe.html
Fr. Georges Farah added
to my knowledge about another great scientist. Georges LeMaitre, Professor of
astronomy and physics at the Catholic University of Louvain from 1923 to the
late 1930s is also well-known for his research on the origin of the universe
and the Big Bang. He had several discussions with Einstein, Edwin Hubble, and
in the United States participated in research at Harvard and MIT, and in
Toronto with Ludwik Silberstein. His interest in Catholicism is shown in his
Thomist approach to the distinction between "creation" and
"beginning". In order to reconcile the scientific approach with
Biblical Christianity, he interpreted Genesis in a non-literal
interpretation...Pope Saint John XXIII made him president of the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences...Georges LeMaitre passed away in 1964.
I would ask my readers
to watch the two talks by the two professors Kowenhoven, and Tong (at the top).
I should add my
experience with, and graduate Masters study of, new technology to the above.
The advances in robotics are related to the
advances in quantum computers that work fast and both are related to advances
in Artificial Intelligence.
The search engine in Google uses a form of artificial intelligence that allows readers to search the Internet for any combination of words and pictures. Scientists are learning to predict psychosis years in advance. Now they want to prevent it. Read the PDF file here... Two years ago FP published an article on how advances in neural technology can help erase traumatic memory but also use the brain as a weapon (Sign up for the free website and read the article here). On November 10, 2017, IBM announced its marketing for the first quantum process system - its "20 qubit IBM Q Commercial Quantum Computer." Microsoft is working on its "quantum computer" to be released shortly. Artificial Intelligence is also used for marketing of Amazon.com products online...If you look for a book/item on Amazon.com, the next time you open the Amazon.com page associated with Google’s YouTube, you will notice that it displays a set of books/items that you would be interested in buying. More info about the benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence can be found here.
Movies that show futuristic-machines usually give the impression that humanity may one day be enslaved to artificially-intelligent computers. The use of such automated systems by military forces is already found in missiles owned/used by current armies in battles. However, the human mind is still in control. International treaties are signed to protect humanity from the calamities of going to war with the threat of using advanced technology as weapons! But can this technology be used for the good of humanity?
The search engine in Google uses a form of artificial intelligence that allows readers to search the Internet for any combination of words and pictures. Scientists are learning to predict psychosis years in advance. Now they want to prevent it. Read the PDF file here... Two years ago FP published an article on how advances in neural technology can help erase traumatic memory but also use the brain as a weapon (Sign up for the free website and read the article here). On November 10, 2017, IBM announced its marketing for the first quantum process system - its "20 qubit IBM Q Commercial Quantum Computer." Microsoft is working on its "quantum computer" to be released shortly. Artificial Intelligence is also used for marketing of Amazon.com products online...If you look for a book/item on Amazon.com, the next time you open the Amazon.com page associated with Google’s YouTube, you will notice that it displays a set of books/items that you would be interested in buying. More info about the benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence can be found here.
Movies that show futuristic-machines usually give the impression that humanity may one day be enslaved to artificially-intelligent computers. The use of such automated systems by military forces is already found in missiles owned/used by current armies in battles. However, the human mind is still in control. International treaties are signed to protect humanity from the calamities of going to war with the threat of using advanced technology as weapons! But can this technology be used for the good of humanity?
The above technology
might very well be used by parishes to market programs for attracting sleeping
and lost young adults to churches and by Christian charitable organizations
such as St. Vincent de Paul and the Knights of Columbus to show the benefits
gained by helping those in need and the old and lonely people. Pro-lifers will
do well to use the advice by a well-known psychiatrist who teaches at the
University of Toronto that society should strive to keep the family intact and
minimize divorce. How much more would families benefit when their members see
or hear it in their Smart iPhones or other computers that use some form of
technology (e.g. Artificial Intelligence)? It is particularly important in the
month of June as the Church celebrates the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
All of the above could be
used for reflection and deep thought about the implications as well as the
benefits of applying new insights to help humanity.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Fear of Death ?
I have been particularly blessed by God since my mother of blessed memory asked
St. George in her heavy pregnancy to intercede for her well-being and made a
vow to call her son "George". After the doctor pulled out the baby
from my mother's womb, my dad wanted to name him "Shaker"after his
own dad. My mother could not do anything. However, the assistant doctor saw her
womb slightly big, so he advised the main doctor to reopen the womb - Here they
found me in a little corner and immediately pulled me out. The response of
heaven has now begun. As per my mother's vow, I was called
"George." Baptized with my twin by the giant Jesuit priest
Henri Ayrout in Minia, Egypt, my little imagination started to grow. At
the age of 6, I started imitating the priest in the Mass at home. My
grandmother, mother of my dad, sew a little garment to wear when I carried out
this acting and my twin followed me. I also heard "fake" confessions
of my 3 brothers. When we moved to Cairo in 1962, we used to attend Mass at St.
Cyril's Melkite Catholic parish. For years the pastor was Fr.
Nicholas Kanakri - We served the Divine Liturgy as
candle-carriers who go in the processions before the deacon and the priest. In
1969, the Lebanese scholar Fr. Ignace Sarkis Naggar became the pastor. By then,
I had started to read most of my dad's spiritual magazines in Arabic .These
included 'Al-Macarrat' published by the Paulist printer in Lebanon, and
'Al-Resalla-Al-Mokhalissia' by the Basilians.
In 1982, my aunt Victoria and her husband Georges Medawar sponsored my wife and me upon my request to immigrate to Canada.
Back to Cairo: In 1972, I was invited to attend
a meeting of young adults in the Melkite Catholic Patriarchate. I quickly got
involved in spiritual activities as the youth published a little newsletter
called "The Encounter" in Arabic. In 1973, the late saintly Bishop
Paul Antaki chose me to represent the Melkite Catholic patriarchate in meetings
with leaders of the Apostolic organizations such as the Christian Youth Workers
as he was charged by the College of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Egypt to
develop these organizations. In 1978, he elected me the first leader of the
"Supreme Council of the Youth" in Egypt's Greek Melkite Catholic
Church. There I developed close relationships with many talented young adults
in the parishes of the Melkite Catholic Church in Cairo. In 1978, I addressed the late Patriarch Maximus V in the name of some 300 Melkite Catholic Youths in Egypt.
Again in 1979, I addressed the same late Patriarch in the same Patriarchal hall
and, this time, I mentioned some of the directives given by the Second Vatican
Council on the importance of the participation of laypersons in the active
mission of the Church. I also resigned my role in the "Supreme
Council of the Youth" as I found many other talents of the youths that are
capable of leading them. I was also dating my future wife, the only one that I
ever dated. Once was enough for a relationship with a woman.
Immigration to Canada did not deter us from
participating in Christian life. As we raised our children, we attended a few
meetings of Opus Dei (a Personal Prelature of Pope Saint John Paul II) and
a few highly-attended conferences of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Ministries such as Ralph Martin and his collaborators such as Sr. Ann Shields.
In 1996, Fr. Dr. Georges Farah (who is armed
with a doctorate in theology and another in philosophy from the renowned
Sorbonne University in Paris) started his lectures at Jesus the King Melkite
Catholic Church, north of Toronto. His lectures lasted until his retirement
around 2013. Under his directions, I gave lectures to young adults and adults
from 2004 to 2011. I also gave a couple of lectures with participation of Fr.
Ibrahim El-Haddad – He has a Master’s degree in Church history from Rome. From
my graduate studies started in 2009, I earned a Master’s degree by 2010 in
Information Systems from the University of Phoenix in the United States that is
recognized by the University of Notre Dame (and, according to a supervisor at
the time, by Harvard University).
In 2009/2010 I assisted Fr. Dr. Daniel Callam
in the RCIA program at Holy Rosary parish in Toronto and developed a personal spiritual relationship with him since then.
In the Gospel and the acts of Jesus Christ there is much
forgiveness. In fact, Christians believe that by his death on the cross, Jesus
opened the doors of heaven to his followers. To be precise, Christ gave
committed and repentant people the possibility of having eternal joy with God,
his immaculate mother, angels and saints in heaven. In that vein, I hope that
the late Bishop Paul Antaki who was a great friend that sacrificed his health
in his old age climbing stairs only to reach out to his fellow Christians being
a very humble person, intercedes for his beloved (see here, here and here).
Everyone must repent before he dies in this world. That is my understanding.
However Jesus frequently warns his followers of the consequences to their
thoughts and acts if they are not charitable (e.g. Matthew 5:22). He calls them
to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5: 48)...But who can
be "perfect"? Again, Jesus warns his followers to not fear those who
kill the body but cannot kill the soul, "rather be afraid of the one who
after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna" (hell?) (Luke 12: 5;
Matthew 10: 28).
Yes, many relatives and people whom we know died - We pray to the
merciful God that his profound mercy and love, for every one he created in his
image and likeness (Genesis 1: 26), may grant them eternal life...
Ordinary people like me do not want to die; This is why I pray
every night that God in his mercy and care may grant me and my family more life
and that, in his profound mercy, he may heal the sick. It is true that God has
really given me much more life than great doctors thought. See my post "A
Living Miracle" in which I thank God here;
and the recent ones too here and here. I
particularly thank God for the care given to me by Professor Dr. Michael Sole
my cardiologist since 1986 who retired a few years ago; Dr. Michael Vecchio, my
physician who is also a missionary Christian; Dr. Ryan at Toronto General
Hospital (TGH) who followed me up since my hospitalization at TGH last August
and on January 10, 2018 ordered the BiPap machine for my peaceful sleep; and
Professor Dr. Antonio Rocca, my new cardiologist who did an echocardiogram for
my heart and examined me on May 29, 2018.
In my spiritual quest I cannot fail to thank my confessors: Fr.
Dr. Daniel Callam who continues to lecture at St.Thomas University; and Msgr.
Dr. Robert Nusca (a well-known Biblical scholar and Professor at the
Toronto School of Theology, the Augustinian Seminary associated with the
University of Toronto) who is the Pastor at Holy Rosary Roman Catholic parish near our home in Toronto where we attend Mass on Sunday.
Since last August, after having been hospitalized, I had the great chance of a dialogue with two Jesuit scholars: Fr. Henri Boulad and Fr. Samir Khalil Samir who both were professors, lectured and gave seminars/talks at universities/high institutes of theology in a number of countries notably the United States, France, Canada, Italy, and Egypt. The correspondence at the time was generated by my questions raised in my post here. There I raised my doubts that God may send me to hell. In their replies, Fr. Boulad wrote: Please George, forget about hell and think only in God’s infinite love and mercy - Trust and confidence! Fr. Samir wrote: It is true that God does not send any one to hell. God loves everyone whom he created and never wants them to be separated from him. Due to his love, God respects the choice of everyone. He quoted Pope Saint John Paul II in what he wrote on July 28, 1999: “Damnation cannot be attributed to the initiative of God because in his merciful love, he does not will other than the salvation of beings that he created. In reality, it is the creature that closes itself to his love.” The reply given by each of them was reassuring…
As I approach the age of a senior citizen (65) with my health issues, I need much prayers from everyone who cares about me. As Fr. Boulad, in his delicate health, is recovering from a surgery regarding an obstruction in the intestines, we need to pray for him too. I do pray for him.
Since last August, after having been hospitalized, I had the great chance of a dialogue with two Jesuit scholars: Fr. Henri Boulad and Fr. Samir Khalil Samir who both were professors, lectured and gave seminars/talks at universities/high institutes of theology in a number of countries notably the United States, France, Canada, Italy, and Egypt. The correspondence at the time was generated by my questions raised in my post here. There I raised my doubts that God may send me to hell. In their replies, Fr. Boulad wrote: Please George, forget about hell and think only in God’s infinite love and mercy - Trust and confidence! Fr. Samir wrote: It is true that God does not send any one to hell. God loves everyone whom he created and never wants them to be separated from him. Due to his love, God respects the choice of everyone. He quoted Pope Saint John Paul II in what he wrote on July 28, 1999: “Damnation cannot be attributed to the initiative of God because in his merciful love, he does not will other than the salvation of beings that he created. In reality, it is the creature that closes itself to his love.” The reply given by each of them was reassuring…
As I approach the age of a senior citizen (65) with my health issues, I need much prayers from everyone who cares about me. As Fr. Boulad, in his delicate health, is recovering from a surgery regarding an obstruction in the intestines, we need to pray for him too. I do pray for him.
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
The Man Who Inspired My Soul When I Was Young...
Again, when my wife was away in Egypt, he visited me in our one-bedroom apartment and slept in our bed while I slept on the couch in the living room. He visited us again in 1990 and said Mass in our apartment. The last time I saw him was in 1993 as he celebrated Mass in a Ukrainian parish with the Homsy choir that sang the Divine Liturgy.
When Bishop Paul Antaki departed to God on December 30, 2011, I wrote a post:
Paul Antaki The Great
and again here a few days later: An Inspirationhttp://todayquestions.blogspot.com/2012/01/inspired.html
Today as ever, Paul Antaki inspires us to be followers of Christ. He was one such great follower.
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