Posted on 12/04/2006 7:52:47 PM PST by Pyro7480
Calvin is entitled to his fantasies, but the divinely inspired author went out of his way to explain to us the opposite, that God allowed Adam to exercise his free will not only without wishing it, but seemingly not even knowing that the sin took place:
9 And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou? [...] 11 ... And who hath told thee that thou wast naked [...] 13 ... Why hast thou done this?
I am a member of His church (like it or not)
My local church, which adheres to the principles found in Scripture, has appointed me a teacher. I also exhibit the gift of prophecy (not foretelling the future, rather the biblical meaning of prophecy). These gifts are strictly bound by what is found in Scripture.
Other Christian organizations have recognized this gift in me and I have diligently studied Scripture in order to prepare myself to give that ready answer that Peter speaks of.
The Bible was around in those days. The Old Testament Scriptures were readily available and the New Testament Scriptures were widely circulating. God did not leave the world with JUST the witness of His apostles. And, contrary to your comment, the Apostles were not in charge - God was. The apostles were men lead by God. They took what He taught them and wrote it down that future generations may read and KNOW that He alone is God.
Is Christ God?
Is Mary His mother?
If you read the thread from the beginning, within a hundred posts or so you will see the same objections as yours raised and answered. I do not mind answering them again, but you will get the answers sooner if you read the thread and then ask what remains unanswered.
Catholics can speculate but they are not at liberty to be "Catholics a little bit." john Kerry who supports abortion may consider himself a Catholic but he is not. A American who openly supports Al-Qaida may be an American citizen by birth, but he is not an American; he is anti-American. Freedom of speech is not yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. The Bible does not give everyone the authority to be a self-styled "pope."
It is not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He has saved us
The Father draws us, but we don't have to come. We will be judged according to what we have done. That's why God gave us reason and choices.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. [2 Cor 5:10]
"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done."[Rev 22:2]
As for God's mercy and justice, whatever happens to all of us will be merciful and just, as we deserved in God's eyes, because God is merciful and just.
Say what??????!!!!!
You are denying God's omniscience and omnipotence???ANNALEX!!!! If that is what you believe about God, good grief how do you sleep at night?
If God is stripped of his essential attributes He is no longer God, we have no hope, and anything can happen. If God is stripped of his essential attributes then the world is governed by chance, our molecular structure is held together by who knows what and we have no hope in anything.
Rethink your statement Annalex. The implications are profound.
Great post.
Dr. Eckleburg, regarding the appearances of the Blessed Virgin, only she can answer your question. Ask.
In the present context, I would always try to present the view of the Church ahead of my own, and when for some reason I wish to present my own theological view that is narrower than the entire berth of the doctrine, I would identify it as such.
I may of course err at that, but then there are many knowledgeable Catholics here to correct me.
How do you think Jesus came out of the tomb?
Whatever...
Other Christian organizations have recognized this gift in me and I have diligently studied Scripture in order to prepare myself to give that ready answer that Peter speaks of
Well, true pophets and apostles did not have to study anything.
The Bible was around in those days. The Old Testament Scriptures were readily available and the New Testament Scriptures were widely circulating
The Old Testament was in the synagogues. Not everyone can read in a synagogue. The New Testament was not completed for about 60 years after Christ died on the Cross. The individual books were in individual scrolls, precious manuscripts, safeguarded by the Church.
There were some 200 different documents pretending to be "Gospels" and "Epistles," of which the Church selected only 23, confident that they were genuine. It took the Church 300 years to do that. This is the same Church whose hierarchy you accused of error, yet you have no problem believeing the Christain canon they put together.
The phenomenon you marvel about is called apostolic succession; however, the apostles and all the saints are alive, yes:
6 [God] will render to every man according to his works. 7 To them indeed, who according to patience in good work, seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life(Romans 2)
This reference to salvific character of works just cropped up inadvertently. Surely St. Paul changed his mind by the time he got around to 3:28.
And yet it appears Annalex does not shirk from that conclusion. Rather, he agreed with it in his post #4,585 by answering the question "...why does the Catholic church venerate, pray to and for all appearances worship the woman, Mary?" with his response --
Annalex: "'Cuz she's Mother of God? Just a wild guess."
Annalex didn't nitpick or whittle down the truth of his actions or beliefs by parsing words and I admire him for it (although I disagree with his conclusion.)
I personally do not bow down to idols or images. I may bow down before them but my heart is making reverence or prostration not to something I imagine is in the image.
See? There you go again. "I bow down 'before' idols; I don't bow down 'to' idols."
The end result of this prepositional switch is the same -- you are kneeling before gold and silver and wood and paint.
"Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?"
Scripture says "No."
why do the people imagine a vain thing?
Apparently you've answered your own question in the next paragraph...
We don't read the Bible either.
Blessed are all mericful and pure in heart, and those suffering for righteousness' sake, etc. for all times, past, present and futre.
He didn't say blessed are 'you' (the apostles)...or 'you' (the people) but those (or they) who suffer...the merciful, not 'you' merciful, etc.
The Lord's Prayer says "Thy kingdom come..." It means the Kingdom is not here, BD. genhqhtw is aorist (fuutre,something that is to come or beocme yet)
The Beatitudes spell out what qualities of men, of mankind, are dear to God, and what God intends to do with such men.
No one here is Nancy Pelosi's confessor. Proabort politicians are generally considered excommunicated without formal pronouncement to that effect by their acts that support abortion. The controversy is, if she presents herself to the communion, should it be given? The assumption is that anytime anyone approaches the communion rail, he has examined his conscience and considers himself worthy of taking it. It is a grave act to publicly refuse communion and at the present time the Church leaves it up to the priest or his bishop. Typically, the left wing nominal Catholics who wish to receive communion go to the most liberal parishes they can find, as they know that more orthodox priests would turn them back.
It is worth noting here that the Church formally excommunicates only in the rarest of circumstances. Typically, it is only done to someone who publicly teaches a theological error. The bulk of the baptized Christians who do not practice in a Catholic or Orthodox Church fall off silently. There is no publicly announced moment when that happens.
And, there is always a way back. Those who already profess the Catholic Faith but lapsed due to personal sin can come to confession any time and restore their full communion. Those who need an instruction in faith need to go through the RCIA process (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). It has two phases: Inquiry and Catechumenate. On the Inquiry phase, the inquirer simply gets his questions answered while no assumption of his desire to join the Church is made. On the Catechumenate phase he declared his desire to become Catholic, receives the necessary instruction and goes through the necessary sacramental steps. Protestant baptism is generally recognized and Orthodox baptism is always recognized. I am not sure about the Orthodox chrysmation. The newly initiated usually receive the necessary rites and take their first communion on Easter.
Not at all. I am reading the Bible. You know, like the Bereans.
The inspired author decided to use the language he used. God acts as if He did not know where Adam was and what happened. This does not shake my belief in the omnipresent and omniscient God; however it tell me what God wanted me to know: that His will in that instance was purely permissive, and that Calvin, once again, need to read the scripture more and theorize less.
My leaning in the Spirit is that it is just as wrong to honor Mary too little as it is to honor her too much.
She truly is the "Blessed Mother of the Incarnate Word" - but going overboard surely would not honor her, i.e. it would make her uncomfortable. The Scriptures tell me that she was and (I aver) remains, humble.
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