John, I’m relistening to these because I found them so clarifying and mentally detoxifying. I’ve also been looking to reread some of your articles on Covid but I can’t seem to find them. Did you delete or move some of them?
I don't normally listen to podcasts. But I just listened to the first two, they were worth every second of my time. I really appreciated your level headed perspective on complicated matters that affect people's well being, and about which endless misinformation circulates. I've been disappointed to see otherwise sane people propagating this stuff.
I do oppose the heavy-handed vaccine mandates, and don't think it's unreasonable to have questions about the safety and effectiveness of rushed vaccines with novel technology. However, I can't take the psychotic claims going around, including that they were designed to eliminate 95%(!) of the world population, alarming 83% miscarriage rate, spike protein shedding, tentacled metallic organisms, or that anybody who dies after getting vaccinated must have been killed by it, even if they were already terminally ill. It's troubling that even the traditionalist SSPX coming to the conclusion that the vaccine is morally licit under these circumstances didn't stop LSN from posting multiple screeds about how it's the mark of the beast, and anyone getting it will be incorporated into the mystical body of Satan.
I’ve finished them all now and I’m going back to listen again. Gosh, I wish I could pour myself a drink and sit down and just talk to you guys and pick your brains. The first conversations from the Thinking Faith podcast were amazing. The “Hermeneutic of Suspicion” really encapsulates a very strong ideological current running through the church right now, especially in traditionalist communities. I have often felt that it’s almost amounted to a newly formed dogma or set of beliefs that sets one apart as being “authentically” Catholic. I’ve even heard the comment (from traditional Catholics) that the pope isn’t catholic and the Vatican doesn't speak for the actual church anymore, so you can’t follow the CDF as regards to Covid vaccines or look for any guidance on what’s really going on in the world with the globalists and their latest horrific plot to unleash whatever new litany of horrors on the human race. And it makes me wonder, what did Christ mean when He said of His church “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”? Is that only meant to be believed to a point? Am I missing something? How are you any different from a Protestant if you decide there is a point at which you substitute your own judgement for that of Holy Mother Church? The ironic thing about that line of thinking is that many of the supposed explanations and theories for what’s really going on as it relates to Covid and vaccines originates from people and groups that are not Catholic, and some times quite the opposite. There is a heavy influence of Eastern theologies that overlap with the natural and alternative health sphere that’s honestly really creepy. But it seems like many Catholics who take their faith very seriously either don’t know or care that the pine needle tea spike protein detox they just posted on Facebook came from a 20 something year old blogger on TikTok who has a Buddha statue in the background and recommends burning sage to combat the dangerous auras of vaccinated people.
I have become more and more convinced as I watch the divisions in our society creep into our families and our churches that the wedge that Satan uses to drive us apart isn’t primarily the “issue”, but the division itself. It’s like the particular moral or prudential question that establishes the two sides is secondary to the fact that there are now two sides, and they are opposed. Obviously there has been division and conflict since the beginning of time, and some conflicts are necessary to have. But it seems like there are new conflicts springing up every day, or even every hour, and they all have this weight of being the most consequential issue ever to face mankind, and if you’re on the wrong side, woe betide. We are constantly fracturing into smaller and smaller, and thus more extreme, little enclaves. Kind of the opposite of what belonging to a one universal church should look like.
I love what you and Jonathan had to say about activism and how it’s compatible (or not) with family life. I feel this so much. I have experienced personally how getting too immersed in social media, scrolling twitter for the latest controversy, and going down rabbit holes has taken such a physical, emotional, and spiritual toll. I hit a breaking point after January 6th, everything just got so toxic, I felt like i couldn’t keep filling my mind with all this garbage, and be a happy and productive person. So I quit it. I have three children and the oldest is three. They are a full time job. I don’t want them to think back on these days and remember an angry and anxious mother. I want them to remember doing shadow puppets together, play dates at the park, learning to swim at the beach, the family rosary. Maybe some people can go from reading about whatever latest catastrophe coming down the pike, and then go smile and hug their children, but I just can’t. This new, angry, reflexive, belligerent attitude against EVERYTHING changes people. And not for the better. And it’s not reflective of reality either. Like Jonathan said, if you put down your phone, life seems pretty great. It’s only the people who have been yelling for everything to go back to normal and everyone to move on from covid, who refuse to stop talking about covid! Just as one example. Some people just can’t quit the anger, like it’s addictive.
Also, I think you stole the phrase “spiritual blackmail” from me. Joking obviously, but it’s crazy I have been saying that every since I read about Vigano saying that those who got vaccinated had become part of the mystical body of Satan. That term fit perfectly.
This was probably really rambling and disjointed. Like all my trains of thought these days. God bless you guys and keep posting.
So far I’ve only gotten through part one of the Thinking Faith podcast, but I’m loving it!! I started listening while home alone and kept finding myself shouting to no one “yes!! Exactly!!” at many various points you made. The parts about the manufactured spiritual oppression and how others make you feel like you’re not seeing “what’s really going on” or looking at things through the eyes of faith really hit home for me.
John, I’m relistening to these because I found them so clarifying and mentally detoxifying. I’ve also been looking to reread some of your articles on Covid but I can’t seem to find them. Did you delete or move some of them?
I don't normally listen to podcasts. But I just listened to the first two, they were worth every second of my time. I really appreciated your level headed perspective on complicated matters that affect people's well being, and about which endless misinformation circulates. I've been disappointed to see otherwise sane people propagating this stuff.
I do oppose the heavy-handed vaccine mandates, and don't think it's unreasonable to have questions about the safety and effectiveness of rushed vaccines with novel technology. However, I can't take the psychotic claims going around, including that they were designed to eliminate 95%(!) of the world population, alarming 83% miscarriage rate, spike protein shedding, tentacled metallic organisms, or that anybody who dies after getting vaccinated must have been killed by it, even if they were already terminally ill. It's troubling that even the traditionalist SSPX coming to the conclusion that the vaccine is morally licit under these circumstances didn't stop LSN from posting multiple screeds about how it's the mark of the beast, and anyone getting it will be incorporated into the mystical body of Satan.
I’ve finished them all now and I’m going back to listen again. Gosh, I wish I could pour myself a drink and sit down and just talk to you guys and pick your brains. The first conversations from the Thinking Faith podcast were amazing. The “Hermeneutic of Suspicion” really encapsulates a very strong ideological current running through the church right now, especially in traditionalist communities. I have often felt that it’s almost amounted to a newly formed dogma or set of beliefs that sets one apart as being “authentically” Catholic. I’ve even heard the comment (from traditional Catholics) that the pope isn’t catholic and the Vatican doesn't speak for the actual church anymore, so you can’t follow the CDF as regards to Covid vaccines or look for any guidance on what’s really going on in the world with the globalists and their latest horrific plot to unleash whatever new litany of horrors on the human race. And it makes me wonder, what did Christ mean when He said of His church “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”? Is that only meant to be believed to a point? Am I missing something? How are you any different from a Protestant if you decide there is a point at which you substitute your own judgement for that of Holy Mother Church? The ironic thing about that line of thinking is that many of the supposed explanations and theories for what’s really going on as it relates to Covid and vaccines originates from people and groups that are not Catholic, and some times quite the opposite. There is a heavy influence of Eastern theologies that overlap with the natural and alternative health sphere that’s honestly really creepy. But it seems like many Catholics who take their faith very seriously either don’t know or care that the pine needle tea spike protein detox they just posted on Facebook came from a 20 something year old blogger on TikTok who has a Buddha statue in the background and recommends burning sage to combat the dangerous auras of vaccinated people.
I have become more and more convinced as I watch the divisions in our society creep into our families and our churches that the wedge that Satan uses to drive us apart isn’t primarily the “issue”, but the division itself. It’s like the particular moral or prudential question that establishes the two sides is secondary to the fact that there are now two sides, and they are opposed. Obviously there has been division and conflict since the beginning of time, and some conflicts are necessary to have. But it seems like there are new conflicts springing up every day, or even every hour, and they all have this weight of being the most consequential issue ever to face mankind, and if you’re on the wrong side, woe betide. We are constantly fracturing into smaller and smaller, and thus more extreme, little enclaves. Kind of the opposite of what belonging to a one universal church should look like.
I love what you and Jonathan had to say about activism and how it’s compatible (or not) with family life. I feel this so much. I have experienced personally how getting too immersed in social media, scrolling twitter for the latest controversy, and going down rabbit holes has taken such a physical, emotional, and spiritual toll. I hit a breaking point after January 6th, everything just got so toxic, I felt like i couldn’t keep filling my mind with all this garbage, and be a happy and productive person. So I quit it. I have three children and the oldest is three. They are a full time job. I don’t want them to think back on these days and remember an angry and anxious mother. I want them to remember doing shadow puppets together, play dates at the park, learning to swim at the beach, the family rosary. Maybe some people can go from reading about whatever latest catastrophe coming down the pike, and then go smile and hug their children, but I just can’t. This new, angry, reflexive, belligerent attitude against EVERYTHING changes people. And not for the better. And it’s not reflective of reality either. Like Jonathan said, if you put down your phone, life seems pretty great. It’s only the people who have been yelling for everything to go back to normal and everyone to move on from covid, who refuse to stop talking about covid! Just as one example. Some people just can’t quit the anger, like it’s addictive.
Also, I think you stole the phrase “spiritual blackmail” from me. Joking obviously, but it’s crazy I have been saying that every since I read about Vigano saying that those who got vaccinated had become part of the mystical body of Satan. That term fit perfectly.
This was probably really rambling and disjointed. Like all my trains of thought these days. God bless you guys and keep posting.
So far I’ve only gotten through part one of the Thinking Faith podcast, but I’m loving it!! I started listening while home alone and kept finding myself shouting to no one “yes!! Exactly!!” at many various points you made. The parts about the manufactured spiritual oppression and how others make you feel like you’re not seeing “what’s really going on” or looking at things through the eyes of faith really hit home for me.