Free Republic

The Catholic Teaching on Predestination ISSUE: How does the Catholic Church understand predestination? RESPONSE: Predestination is a term used to identify God’s plan of salvation, in which according to His own decree, He “accomplishes all things according to his will” (Eph. 1:11). God gives us the gift of salvation through grace and faith. In turn, we must use our free will to persevere in good works “prepared beforehand” by God Himself (Eph. 2:8-10; cf. Phil. 2:12, 13). DISCUSSION: There are two opposite and equally erroneous positions about predestination that have always been rejected in authentic Catholic teaching. The first is...

What's a "nice" religion like Buddhism doing in a rotten place like Canada? Very well, thank you. And that's despite the many suggestions from a new book that self-satisfied "Western" people stereotype and act condescendingly toward Buddhists from Asia. I'm exaggerating the extent of Canada-bashing that occurs in the new book, Wild Geese: Buddhism in Canada (McGill-Queen's University Press), edited by Canadian-based scholars John Harding, Victor Sogen Hori and Alexander Soucy. But there is a streak of political correctness running through Wild Geese, which tends to paint Canadian "Westerners" as haughty colonialists and Asian immigrants as virtuous victims of European-rooted...

According to this email [unknown origin], a Federal judge in Florida was hearing a complaint from an atheist. The filing by the atheist stated: "Christians and Jews have their Holidays - Easter/Christmas/Passover. We atheists do not have a holiday. This is unfair." The atheist was demanding a holiday for atheists. The judge responded [in responding to the suit]: "But you have a holiday. April 1 is the Holiday for fools. For it is written in the book of Psalms [14:1] that The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. [KJV]. You have April 1 as your holiday."...

Guwahiti, India, Feb 26, 2010 / 11:40 am (CNA).- Bishops in India have responded to the publication an image of Christ in a children's textbook that shows Jesus holding a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and the word "Idol" beneath. Although "deeply offended," the bishops said they are against seeking an "anti-blasphemy law" in the country.A statement from the Indian bishops, who holding a bishops' conference meeting in Guwahiti until March 3, was issued on Thursday. "We are deeply offended by the blasphemous image of Christ used on school books and on posters," they said in...

Robertson redux?Folks, this according to the Moscow Times: Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill said crime, drugs and corruption caused last week's massive earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people in Haiti.Kirill, speaking during a weekend visit to Kazakhstan, said the Haitian people bore responsibility for the calamity because they had turned away from God, the Ferghana.ru news agency reported late Monday."Haiti is a country of poverty and crime, famine, drugs and corruption, where people have lost their moral face," Kirill was quoted as saying. He compared Haiti with the Dominican Republic, which are located on the same Caribbean island."I've visited...

Hello! My name is Father Jay Kythe. I am the pastor of the Church of St. Pius V in Cannon Falls and St. Joseph’s in Miesville. I wanted to tell you a little about myself. I was born in 1969 in New Orleans to parents from India. They arrived two years before I was born, desiring a better life for their family. My father came to become a professor of mathematics at the University of New Orleans, and my mother is a stay-at-home mom. I have one older brother, who is now married and lives near Los Angeles. They wanted...

Journalist Brit Hume who urged Tiger Woods to “turn to the Christian faith” was right when he drew distinction between Buddhism and Christianity in terms of the concept of forgiveness and redemption, said a prominent evangelical theologian. “I admire Brit Hume for saying something that was at the risk of bringing on this controversy because it really puts on the table the fundamental distinction of worldview: worldview A being Buddhism, worldview B being Christianity,” said Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., on his eponymous radio program last week. Mohler, a sought-after commentator who...

... of some essential differences between Christianity and Buddhism: In his Fundamentals of the Faith, Peter Kreeft writes that "there have only been two people in history who so astonished people that they asked not 'Who are you?' but 'What are you? A man or a god' They were Jesus and Buddha." He then contrasts the striking differences between the two men: "Buddha's clear answer to this question was: 'I am a man, not a god'; Christ's clear answer was: 'I am both son of Man and Son of God.' Buddha said, 'Look not to me, look to my dharma...

Harrisburg ELCA Congregation Gives Building to Coptic Orthodox Church HARRISBURG, Pa. (ELCA) -- An Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregation here is breathing new life into its church building by moving out and turning its facilities over to a congregation of another denomination. Following its worship service of carols and a celebration luncheon Dec. 27, Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church gave its building as a gift to St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church. This Sunday, Jan. 3, Memorial's members will worship at the James E. Morecraft Christian Education Building, owned by the congregation and directly across the street from the Memorial's...

More than 1,000 Buddhist extremists armed with clubs, swords and stones ferociously attacked a Catholic church in the town of Crooswatta, Sri Lanka on December 6, destroying the altar, statues and pews. L’Osservatore Romano reported that Father Jude Denzil Lakshman, pastor of Our Lady of the Mystical Rose, said “I still can hear their shouts in my ears, ‘Cut him to pieces, kill him’.” The attack took place after the 7 p.m., Sunday Mass, leaving several parishioners wounded. “It is obvious that the attack was well-planned and that the mob waited for us to come out after Mass,” Father Lakshman...

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of poor Hindu villagers in eastern India have refused to hand over a rare turtle to authorities, saying it is an incarnation of God, officials said on Tuesday. Villagers chanting hymns and carrying garlands, bowls of rice and fruits are pouring in from remote villages to a temple in Kendrapara, a coastal district in eastern Orissa state. Policemen have struggled to control the gathering and have failed to persuade the villagers to give up the sea turtle. "We have asked the villagers to hand it over as it is illegal to confine a turtle, but...

We are losing our children! Research indicates that 70% of teens who are involved in a church youth group will stop attending church … [1] Similar statements from Christian leaders aren’t new, but many still can’t seem to identify the root cause of the problem. However, most front-line evangelists in the Western world have reached a consensus. The following quote is from a person who shares his faith more times in a month than most Christians ever will in their lives...

» 09/22/2009 17:44INDIACatholic priest donates kidney to save Hindu manby Nirmala CarvalhoIn Kerala, Father Chiramel offers one of his kidneys to an unknown recipient. The priest said he was inspired by the ‘Year for Priest’. “For me donating an organ is a unique and privileged opportunity to share in Christ’s suffering.” New Delhi (AsiaNews) – Fr Davis Chiramel, a 49-year-old Catholic priest from Kerala, donated one of his kidneys to a complete stranger. The clergyman is parish priest at St Francis Xavier Church in Vadanapally (Kerala). Earlier this year he decided to help a Hindu father of two, a...

<p>It's a tradition that's over 700 years old and it involves dangling and then dropping infants from the roof of a mosque.</p> <p>On Thursday hundreds of babies under the age of two were shaken in the air before being dropped off the roof of the Baba Umer Durga, a Muslim shrine, in western India. The act is part of an ancient ritual that is believed to ensure good health for the children and prosperity for their families.</p>

Festivities in a new temple dedicated to the Indian monkey god Hanuman  in Frisco, Texas, earlier this month remind us that a minority of religions exists within the shores of the United States that is relatively silent. The faith that is the subject here, of course, is Hinduism, which in that North Texas town, at least, is enjoying an "expanding population," according to the Dallas Morning News. Despite the fact that Indians have been quietly enriching the American melting pot for decades to centuries, few non-Indians know much about the colorful religion of Hinduism. In actuality, the term "Hinduism" represents...

ISTANBUL - Just when one thought TVshows could not get more outrageous, Kanal T comes up with the idea to make an imam, a priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk try to convert 10 atheists. While some fear the program could create problems, a sociologist says this just shows the yearning to learn more about religions A new show set to grace Turkish television screens will see a Muslim imam, a Christian priest, a Jewish rabbi and a Buddhist monk competing to turn 10 unbelievers into devotees of their own faith each week. The show, "Tövbekarlar Yarışıyor," which can...

There's coming a wind of balance ~ ~ ~ , Prominent change is about to enter your life , Life changing events calendared in my loving kindness for those in my will , I shall use you as a Horn of Cornucopia to pour out the fragrance and fruit of my very womb upon the multitudes , For you are my wellsprings of life in my name , Salvation ! Fire ! Hunger and thirst after righteousness ! The Blossom of Unity carrying the peddles of my love ! , Breath in ~ ~ (o: my fragrant words , Devour...

There's coming a wind of balance ~ ~ ~ , Prominent change is about to enter your life , Life changing events calendared in my loving kindness for those in my will , I shall use you as a Horn of Cornucopia to pour out the fragrance and fruit of my very womb upon the multitudes , For you are my wellsprings of life in my name , Salvation ! Fire ! Hunger and thirst after righteousness ! The Blossom of Unity carrying the peddles of my love ! , Breath in ~ ~ (o: my fragrant words , Devour...

MARYKNOLL, N.Y. (CNS) -- Imagine that the youngest child in a religiously observant family comes home from high school and announces to his prominent father that he is converting to a minority religion he heard about from his principal. Predictably, the reaction is shock, disbelief and resistance. But Stephen Taluja, who was raised a Sikh in Punjab state, India, converted to Catholicism anyway. Now 27, he had his father's blessing when he was ordained as a Maryknoll priest May 30. His ordination Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York at the Queen of Apostles Chapel at...

(CNSNews.com) – Following complaints from a Muslim group, an online game company removed a video game in which “Jesus,” “Mohammed,” “Buddha” and other religious figures engage in combat. But on Wednesday -- one day after yanking the game – the makers uploaded a new, tongue-in-cheek version. This time, rather than have the religious figures fight each other, gamers are invited to “give love and respect” to them. This is achieved by mouse-clicking on the figures in a bid to prevent them from disappearing. They vanish anyway, and the screen then displays a message, over the backdrop of a burning village,...