Canada this is CBS and now here's your host David Ross hi welcome to episode 3 today I'm gonna talk a little bit about my upcoming guests my first live stream guest but first I wanna just answer a couple of questions that I got some people have been asking public questions so first of all do I have a website yes I do but it's under construction it's gonna be under construction for a little while yet cuz I'm working on a very part-time so probably in the spring that'll be CBS - podcast.com I already have the domain and I had the site up before but I'm completely revamping it I want to have more of a database driven set up so that I can have all of my data in one place and all my episodes in one place and do a statistical analysis how many masters having said reach particular patron or guest how many masters have been saved and how many been cited in total in and that sort of thing a statistical analysis like no graphs and curves and stuff so that'll be fun and another question I got was about my shrine it was from like one of my favorite atheist trolls Robert wait he was talking he was sort of laughing chuckling that I've got a shrine going I think he was referring to what he sees on camera handles and images and stuff like that but I do have a proper home shrine I'll just I set up a camera in my shrine which you can see right behind me here the shrine you can see this earth where I sit and read and I've got books and stuff like that okay a few images from but I've got another camera in there so you can see the actual shrine setup itself got some candles like because every morning I go ahead and say little few prayers and light some candles and the incense I like at night for the Rosary you can see my rosary beads there on the wall and I better put crucifixes in stuff like I just a basic set up got a little wooden kneel or you can see at the bottom of the screen the dark wooden boxes red box ironic because it says in English and in French bread but if you were that if you read the French word red which is pen ei I end it looks like the English word pain so it but basically pain bread written on this box which i think is very Catholic pain bread you know it's like the sacrifice of Christ in the Eucharist all that pain is now presented represented in a bloodless way in the Holy Sacrifice of the mass so I like having that pain bread box and I keep my incense in there keep my candles in there different stuff in there little icons and medals miraculous medals and stuff like that so that's my shrine that's my home shrine and obviously I have images I think you can see above the above the wooden box you can see a little strip of paper that's taped to the wall right at the top of this screen that's all twenty mysteries of the rosary second glance up at those while I'm doing the Rosary and it's stimulated by the images of the Rosary so that's it for that question of the shrine and for the question of the website the website will be coming up soon like I said but speaking of what's coming up I want to talk about my guests that I've got a guest scheduled for Saturday he's he goes by the name of Canadian Catholic and he is a nice young man from Toronto I'd want to share too much about him because I think he likes to keep his identity under wraps but seems like a nice kid and I discovered him because again Robert white turned me on to him inadvertently but he was mocking and ridiculing him sent me a link to an RN raw a discussion on Aaron Ross channel one of these live stream chats and it went on for an hour and a half two hours maybe wait long a little bit rambling wanted to interject a couple of times to defend Christ and His Church but we each have our own meandering way of expressing our ideas and it's heard when you're being attacked by iron rod he was quite aggressive he apologized for being a little bit impatient this time but he's heard the same old stories I'm in time again he just doesn't understand and I like Aaron Rafi everyone who knows me he knows that got a little man-crush on R&R I think he's a real sweetheart and I think he's got a big heart and he's a nice guy but when I do my live stream interviews with my guests I'm not going to use the 9 categories I used to use 9 categories Catholic Protestant etc Muslim atheist whatever Jew now I've decided I've got a little infographic here I'm going to show you I've got a different approach now I'm going to use 3 different worldviews and during the course of my interviews I'm just gonna ask people to you can choose for themselves which one they're most comfortable with are they most comfortable with monism monotheism or nihilism and we can you know we're free to play with those labels it doesn't have to be the guest doesn't have to identify as am honest or as a monotheistic I list but they do have to commit to one of these three zones on this diagnostic map this Venn diagram of the three worldviews which are really just two components there's God and there's not God and if you believe that only God exists then I call that monism but you're free to call it something else if you'd like if you believe that only not God exists and you're free to call it something other than nihilism I and if you believe in both God and not God as I do then I would refer to that as a monotheistic earth at as monotheism but you're certainly free to use a different label for it the essential question is do you believe in God yes or no and do you believe in not God yes or no and they're all kinds of very interesting implications when you when you ask these very very simple fundamental questions there are all kinds of implications that come up you know when we think about from a Catholic perspective when we think about monism this could be roughly identified with presumption that only God exists and so I exist therefore I am God or at least part of God is the pantheists would say eros many in the East would say separation is an illusion and non-duality is the only reality and so we have nothing to worry about literally there's no hell a temporary illusion of separation and the ultimate reality is heaven and God because that's all that there is right I was a pantheist for many years many people wittingly or unwittingly I think are anthias of one type or another I think it's a very very very common worldview not only in the East but even here in the West even among atheists and agnostics I think it is very very common so that is what Pascal would call the error of presumption and then on the other side of the safe narrow path is the opposite sin the sin of despair what I've called nihilism where you believe that only not God exists so I mean we'd be hard-pressed to deny the fact that we exist and if we do deny the fact that we exist we are we affirm the fact that we exist I think therefore I am and we cannot we cannot deny it without affirming it so we even the nihilist quote/unquote nihilist this is a position really which is untenable obviously but in principle someone could be leaning toward nihilism then could want to deny even their own existence I know people that want to deny their own existence I know people that do deny their own existence and they do they fail to see the the absurdity and the contradiction that's entailed in their denial of their very self and their very existence but nonetheless they want to deny their existence there these people are few and far between you might argue that they are clinically insane but you know they're all types of people with all types of ideas and people play with ideas in the course of their journey toward God if God willing that's where they're headed ultimately and I hope that most of us are if not all of us so on one side we have presumption on the other side despair I've labeled these monism and nihilism and in that sweet spot in the to admit that God exists but that you yourself are not God I think this is this is the best position to hold obviously and Pascal describes this as filial love meaning the love of a good child toward a good parent it's the ideal path to walk it's the narrow way the only way and that way has a name it's Jesus Christ and we see in Jesus Christ God and not God we see the divine and the human we see the infinite and the finite and this is the bridge Jesus Christ is not only the way he's not only the door but he is the bridge between the infinite and the finite and when we have difficulty suffering and being patient and enduring all the hardships of life and the boredom of life the drudgery of work and so on and so forth we have to think about Jesus Christ who endured all of it and more infinitely more and so we in a sense we have an example in Jesus Christ of how to be finite and how to have our eyes always turned heaven heavenwards so that we can have that hope that supernatural virtue of hope that will lead us to virtue and ultimately lead us to God because Christ's will was free and his will was human he had a human will and divine will obviously but he has a human will and that will was aligned perfectly with the will of God and that's an example for us that's what we need to do that's what we need to strive to do with God's help I'm not saying it's easy it's certainly not easy for me and if you look at my life if you look at my thoughts words deeds and omissions you'll see that my track record is not great but BIA monotheists here below in the church militant is a struggle and it's guaranteed that we're going to fall and if we say that we do not sin and we are liars so we have to admit that we're sinners we need to avail ourselves of the sacrament of reconciliation among other sacrament sent continue our walk with Christ and humble ourselves every time we do fall so when I introduce a new guest on my livestream I'm not going to ask to choose one of nine categories rather I'm going to ask them to choose simply one of these three and there may or may not be a little bit of discussion with the guest depending on depending on how interesting their answer is and how readily they identify with one of the categories there will be more or less banter and discussion about the all the implications and the nuances of each of these positions on this diagnostic map of the three lines of worldviews now obviously you can have a Christian who is the monist you can have a Christian who's a monotheistic could have a Christian who is a nihilist according to this these broad definitions the same thing with a Jew or a Muslim or an atheist it's one of the reasons why I'm excited to use this new diagnostic it's because it cuts to the quick and eliminates some of the wolves in sheep's clothing these people like to hide right there are atheists that like to hide behind agnosticism and their de facto pantheists monists there are other atheists that like to hide their nihilism and we tend to be ashamed of these these fundamental positions even monotheists tend to be ashamed of the worldview that they adhere to because those around them might question it or might think it's silly or fabulous believe what we are obliged to believe as monotheists but really what we need to do each of us is to live our worldview fully and embrace it and that's the only way to be authentic and get to go so that's it for today thanks for listening we'll talk soon god bless as little as $1 per month we can support the charitable mission of CVS which has already enrolled hundreds of guests and patrons and their immediate families in the Scalabrine league of the millinery fathers of st. Charles Borromeo by your generous support you to participate in these benefits a special Mass offered on each day of the year and the devotion and good works performed by the members of the society of the society thank you for your generous support