Catholics/Hello Mr Michael! Jesus...

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Expert: - 12/8/2005


Question
Hello Mr Michael!

Jesus while being on the cross uttered these words "My God my God why have you forsaken me"
How is that possible that God forsook HIM and what's the reason of it?

thanks!

Answer
Luke... my interpretation of this, which conforms to the overall Catholic view, is that this passage demonstrates the human aspect of Jesus. Even though he'd been healing people and working miracles, he still had a moment where his human side doubted and felt vulnerable. If it wasn't so, his suffering would have been meaningless. For he wouldn't have really understood what it's like to just be a person. And the rest of us couldn't really relate to a pure "god."

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Michael Clark, Ph.D.

Expertise

I'm a progressive Catholic--not a liberal, conservative nor a single-minded critic of Catholicism. I simply believe that adults in the 21C should use the mind God gave them and not just repeat ancient and medieval modes of thinking.

I can probably help with questions that intelligently and respectfully question those aspects of Catholicism that are not infallible. But if you're looking for someone to vigorously defend or perhaps refute Catholicism as a whole, that's not me. So please ask another expert.

Experience

I run an educational website earthpages.org and know what the web has to offer. I might suggest hyperlinks and/or book titles as I have a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and a considerable personal library.

Publications
Print Media:
My table from "Religions and Cults" at earthpages.org is reproduced with permission in L. Lindsey, S. Beach and B. Ravelli, Core Concepts in Sociology, 2nd ed., p. 157

World Wide Web:
My online article "Letter to God" coauthored with Buddhist monk, E. Raymond Rock, appears on several different spirituality-based websites, including http://tinyurl.com/db7a5o

I've interviewed, as a Christian, a self-proclaimed mystic: http://tinyurl.com/cawykr

My articles appeared at the former New View magazine nuvunow.ca and are published at earthpages.org.

Education/Credentials
Ph.D. in Religious Studies
M.A. in Comparative Religion
B.A. Hon. in Psychology/Sociology
For more info, please see my CV and letters of recommendation and my blog at michaelwclark.com.

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