A few interesting notes regarding the Book of James.

Do you strive to Elucidate* all of Holy Scripture?
or 
Do you  Elide** verses that do not agree with your beliefs?
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"Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."
Matthew 4:4



  *Elucidate: To make clear and comprehensible.
**Elide: To ignore or to omit.
For a person to elide parts of Holy Scripture, it is counter to the 'every word that comes forth from the mouth of God' in Matthew 4:4.



 James 1:4-6, "Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.
But if any of you is wanting in wisdom, let him ask it of GOD, who gives abundantly to all men,
and does not reproach; and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind."

Elucidation:
Does the first line of those verses sound familiar to you? Compare this verse:
2Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is inspired by GOD, and useful for teaching, for reproving, for correcting,
for instructing in justice; that the man of GOD may be perfect, equipped for every good work."
Those verses are used by non-Catholics to try and prove the false doctrine of Sola Scriptura, yet the James
verse essentially says that you may be perfect by patience.
In verse 6 of James above is interesting since one that is wavering is one who may be searching for the truth,
but the winds of false prophets are pulling and pushing them from all directions.


James 1:8, "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."

Elucidation:
Have you ever heard of  the term 'doublethink'?
In todays world it is all around us.
George Orwell described it best:
From George Orwell's book, "1984":
"To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies,
to hold simultaneously two opinions which canceled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them,
to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and
that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into
memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same
process to the process itself -- that was the ultimate subtlety; consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again,
to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed.
Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink."


James 2:20, "Faith without works is useless."
James 2:24, "...by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."
James 2:26, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith also without works is dead."

Elucidation:
Here are three verses that refute the teaching of many non-Catholics, that works are of no avail.


James 3:1, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that
you will receive a greater judgment."

Elucidation:
Why do you suppose that teachers will receive a greater Judgment?
Those who teach error should be especially mindful of this verse and realize that the more
they lead others astray by false teaching, the harsher the punishment they will receive.


James 3:8-12, "...but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God.
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers.
Does a spring gush forth from the same opening both pure and brackish water?
Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can salt water yield fresh.

Elucidation:
How many have elided those verses? What can I say? A word spoken cannot be recalled.
There is much food for thought here. How many times have you regretted saying something
to another and hurt him or her and wished that you had never said it in the first place?
Years ago, and I do not recall the figures, but I read where a sound decreases in intensity so much
in a split second, for example by half every half second. So theoretically the sound will never decrease to zero.
Think about that? Maybe the first sounds that you ever made are still reverberating, ever so minutely.
No doubt they are recorded in each persons individual chapter of the book of life by which we are all to be judged.


James 3:14, "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth."

Elucidation:
For those who attack the only Church which Jesus Christ founded, I would strongly recommend that they
heed the message of this verse and go to the source of what that Catholic Church teaches instead of listening
to what they are taught by their own sect, or peers, else they might find themselves guilty of this verse.


James 4:2-4, "...you do not have because you do not ask. (3) You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss,
that you may spend it upon your passions. (4) Do you not know that the friendship of this world is enmity with GOD?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Elucidation:
How many times have you asked GOD for something and are disappointed that you did not receive it?
Did you ask for money, power, or some other worldly personal benefit?
Do you not know that GOD knows what is best for you better than you yourself know?
Have you ever read and absorbed the teaching of the following verses before?
"Do not love the world, or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is
of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of GOD abides for ever."
1John 2:15-17
Those verses should clear things up when you pray to GOD for something.
The love of the Father is not in you when you ask Him for worldly things.
But if your request conforms to His will then it could most likely be granted.


James 5:19-20, "My brethren, if any one of you strays from the truth and someone brings him back,
he ought to know that he who causes a sinner to be brought back from his misguided way,
will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins." (see Ezekiel 3:21)

Elucidation:
Of what better way can you think of to save your soul from death?
These are comforting verses for those who bring others to the true Church.



Written by Bob Stanley
January 30, 2012


Galatians 4:16



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