Posted on 07/07/2009 10:30:02 AM PDT by TheRiverNile
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict called on Tuesday for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat.
The pope made his call for a re-think of the way the world economy is run in a new encyclical which touched on a number of social issues but whose main connecting thread was how the current crisis has affected both rich and poor nations.
Parts of the encyclical, titled "Charity in Truth," seemed bound to upset free marketeers because of its underlying rejection of unbridled capitalism and unregulated market forces, which he said had led to "thoroughly destructive" abuse of the system.
The pope said every economic decision had a moral consequence and called for "forms of redistribution" of wealth overseen by governments to help those most affected by crises.
Benedict said "there is an urgent need of a true world political authority" whose task would be "to manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
After careful study of Nimrod and his wife Semiramis
it will all unfold.
The Bible offers me assurance of my salvation. We CAN know. I’m really sorry Catholics don’t believe that they can know but it’s really sad. Mary
The Bible offers me assurance of my salvation. We CAN know. I’m really sorry Catholics don’t believe that they can know but it’s really sad. Mary
You’re preaching to the choir.
Actually, I manage the END TIMES, DREAMS, VISIONS, PROPHECY ping list on FR, if you don’t know.
If you want on, let me know.
and what level from least frequently pinged to most A-D
If you want a response to a Scriptural anything, give me the specific verse, not a mass of Scriptures.
Babylon can logically be interpreted as a number of things . . . including the rebuilding city in Iraq.
Track down Dimitru Duduman’s dreams and visions on that score on his grandson’s site Michael Boldea.
Help yourself.
I have sufficient priorities on my plate.
I think i understand the END TIMES Scriptures sufficiently to get me to Heaven.
. . . which is about KNOWING JESUS, anyway.
“The Bible offers me assurance of my salvation.”
No, it doesn't. Again, you're making a presumptive conclusion. An orthodox, faithful Christian has every reason to expect to be saved, but can have no conclusive assurance because such a thing would preclude all of our own decisions. In other words, a Christian can fall. So, even though a Christian may believe he is saved at one point in time, over the course of his life he may separate himself through loss of faith or an unrepentant life. That is why even St. Paul himself wrote about the HOPE of salvation.
“We CAN know. I’m really sorry Catholics don’t believe that they can know but it’s really sad. Mary”
Don't feel sorry for us. After all, we are following the scriptures while you are denying them and being presumptuous. I stand with Christ and St. Paul. You stand alone with your presumption.
No, I am not being presumptuous. Not at all. I am standing in confidence in my salvation. You go ahead and believe what your church tells you. I only hope and pray that you will be in heaven with the born again believers who have assurance of their salvation. I truly do.
Why should I believe anything that Catholics put out about assurance of salvation? They obviously don’t believe it and will teach it from that perspective. It’s nonsense.
You wrote:
“No, I am not being presumptuous. Not at all.”
Actually you are.
“I am standing in confidence in my salvation.”
No, you’re not. Confidence is not certainty. A man might be confident about getting a job, but that doesn’t mean he’s certain he’ll get it.
“You go ahead and believe what your church tells you.”
Scripture - THAT’S SCRIPTURE - tells us to have hope, not to have presumption.
“I only hope and pray that you will be in heaven with the born again believers who have assurance of their salvation. I truly do.”
I do not assume that those who assume they’ll be in heaven will actually be there. They may be. They may not be. But presumption of that type is wrong. We are taught by St. Paul to have hope not presumption.
“Why should I believe anything that Catholics put out about assurance of salvation? They obviously don’t believe it and will teach it from that perspective. It’s nonsense.”
Yes, the presumption of absolute assurance is nonsense. I choose to believe scripture and the Church instead. In scripture, St. Paul teaches us to have hope not presumption.
JOHN 5:24 (RSV) Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
"But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6.36-40
Salvation is an act of God. Jesus says, "I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day."
Or as Jude put it, "To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ..."
Thanks, Mr Rogers. When he puts Catholic teachings on the post regarding assurance (NOT) of Salvation, it’s kinda humorous. Sad, really.
Amen, Old Reggie. Even 1st John 5 tells us we can have that assurance. My pastor called it the “KNOW” chapter.
You are so wrong. Sorry you aren’t assured. I am.
You wrote:
“I guess you can confidentally say Jesus was not an Orthodox Christian.”
Last time I checked He was a Jew.
“In fact He preached Protestant novelties.”
Nope. What you’re going to do here is twist the gospel. You posted:
JOHN 5:24 (RSV) Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Notice, according to your illogical understanding of the verse, if one merely HEARS the words of Jesus and believes in the Father he is saved. It sys nothing about faith in Christ. Now, do you really believe Christ taught AGAINST faith? No, of course not. That is part of what “hearing” would mean. ANd also part of “hearing” would be obeying.
This is made obvious throughout the Bible:
Genesis 22:18, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
John 10:27-28, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
John 14:15-17, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
John 15:10-15, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
Romans 10:1, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
1 John 2:5-6, “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
Jesus expected us to do far more than merely listen to His words. He expected us to act on them and have faith and follow Him.
You don't seem to understand what faith means, nor belief. No one who believes Jesus is God would live an unchanged life. However, when you add a string of required acts, you deny the words of Jesus.
There isn't a conflict between faith and good works, but there is a sequence. Faith - belief - must PRECEDE the good works, or they are fleshly pride. But once one believes, then the works will follow.
But remember the words of Jesus: "Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." - John 6
You wrote:
“You are so wrong.”
No, the scriptures are not wrong. Neither am I for agreeing with them entirely.
“Sorry you aren’t assured. I am.”
No, you’re just being presumptuous.
biblically it can only mean one thing.
I have studied it for 20 years.
“If you want a response to a Scriptural anything, give me the specific verse, not a mass of Scriptures.”
There were only 2 verses, Revelations 17
and Acts 7.
But I see you have no use for my knowledge so I wont bother you anymore.
Of course. If one believes Jesus is God, one WILL live differently - because of one's belief. But the works are a DEMONSTRATION of devotion, not a substitute for it.
Where we differ on assurance is on who is responsible. You say we are. Jesus says He is.
The full passage of Jude says, "But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
There will be non-Christians who enter the church and cause divisions. The solution isn't to allow church leaders to interpret scripture for you, but "...building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God...".
And you can be assured of success, because of "him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy".
That doesn't mean we aren't to be pro-active in following Him, or to be lax in doing good. That is what the new birth is all about - becoming a new creation.
Assurance of salvation isn't a feeling. Many have feelings, and they are deceitful - we are capable of lying to ourselves. In a sense, it is best to live as though there is no assurance, seeking to draw ever closer to God and trying to follow His will ever more closely. But Jesus said He'll take care of those given to Him. We cannot keep ourselves. Jesus can.
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