Posted on 11/28/2013 5:54:01 AM PST by NYer
“Before Christ” people were told to look forward to the coming Savior (told to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden). “After Christ” people were told to look back to the time in which the Savior did come and paid the price for sin.
So, whether before or after, all were “looking to the savior”. And as the Apostle Paul said of Abraham, he believed the promises of God (in regards to the coming salvation promised and the coming one) and that (just as with us) is counted unto “righteousness” (i.e., “salvation) for him (and us).
So...if you're a Catholic (in good standing with the Church, one presumes) you go to Heaven. If you're a Christian but not a Catholic, you might go to Heaven (the phrase, "not impossible" isn't likely to fill non-Catholics with confidence). If you're not a Christian, convert or burn in Hell, you pagan.
Does that sum it up? Can I at least hope for the 1st Circle, where the Virtuous Pagans wind up? 'Cause, y'know, Dante. :-)
What else is there besides rationality (that actually works, mind you) for investigating the nature of the universe?
A curious nature, an open mind and a willing spirit.
We live world which has the concept of "hierarchy" as one of its rules. Each level of hierarchy is build upon the previous level and "with rank, goes privilege" so to speak.
One cannot understand the next higher level using only the tools of the lower levels. Can't be done.
You are trying to use rationality, the tool the ego uses to justify its position of control over the lower levels of your physical, emotional and mental reality, to understand the levels beyond it. Can't be done.
Better to use the tools of metaphor and analogy to discover the truth about what else you are, as the greatest teacher and all under Him in the hierarchy have done.
None of which are contradictory with rationality whatsoever (with the caveat we're speaking of "spirit" as in "spirit of adventure", not the "soul").
You are trying to use rationality, the tool the ego uses to justify its position of control over the lower levels of your physical, emotional and mental reality, to understand the levels beyond it
What levels? Evidence, please?
Better to use the tools of metaphor and analogy to discover the truth about what else you are
Hm...I'll stick to biology, chemistry, and physics.
And we’re the smartest people in the universe? >>
you believe in martians or extraterrestrials? where are they?
"Fair enough. I accept that your rationality enables the paradox of eyes that see without seeing."
By that I am telling you that I accept that your ego is NOT going to let go of its position of control and authority over what you see and understand.
But...given the nature of your posts here, the code the original programmer wrote is clearly still there inside you waiting to be discovered, once the ego's workarounds have been disabled.
I promise you this: it's quite a ride once a crack in the stonework develops!
“I haven’t killed anyone!” is a low bar to set. Especially there are few people who haven’t at least idly considered doing it.
Sorry, you still got it wrong. Anyone who repents of his sins and reforms his life WILL make it to heaven, Protestant, Jew, heathen, atheist, or whatever. Jesus made it clear that Abraham and others of the Fathers were in heaven, and clearly none of them were Catholic, nor had they received any of the Church's Sacraments.
I've heard that posited as one of the reasons for the popularity of zombies in films & tv these days. If one imagines being a survivor of a zombie apocalype (one typically doesn't imagine being one of the zombies themselves), it's eventually going to get to the point that you're just going to have to shoot that annoying guy downstairs who always plays his music too loud, since he's joined the crowd of Z's muttering, "Brains...brains!"
So you just have to say (honestly) that you repent of your sins and then act accordingly? You can remain a Protestant, Jew, heathen, atheist, or whatever?
Yes. Then what's the point of being a Catholic? As one, you would have the Sacraments (every one of them established by Christ and traceable to specific Biblical sources, but that's an issue for another day) to strengthen and assist you in repenting and acting accordingly.
Though I confess that I'm not the one to explain or to convince you, as my track record when it counted isn't good, please let me try again to answer you.
Those who play musical instruments will tell you it’s a process to go from not even a beginner to being a competent musician.
It takes time and some effort and discipline to go from learning to tune your instrument to playing well, but in developing that talent, you are also tuning your “self” and what you can receive, along with what your ability can then play. The more you do it, the better and more natural you become.
By "can receive" I am speaking to where do music and songs come from to get a sense of the other levels you asked about.
Often musicians themselves can't explain the answer to that question, but to experience the answer, you must first begin the effort of tuning your “self” to receive it and then express it through your instrument.
The same is true for all of your known and hidden talents which come with your being human and, other than the savants, most of us need to learn how to tune our inner receiver to the right frequency to receive the what we need to develop talent. If you’ve ever experienced being “in the zone”, then you understand what it’s like to be in tune.
It’s also true that your “tuner” doesn’t care what you give it to tune into, good or bad, right or wrong, etc. It merely sets itself according to your use, focus and intent. “Your” choice and free will, but the expression “garbage in, garbage out” is accurate and a warning for your reality will follow. You are what you eat, so to speak, so be careful what you feed your self.
Whatever your compelling reasons, to me it looks and sounds like you have been “tuning” your inner receiver, and your thinking, to NOT receive the right frequency. (Sorry Sam, Kenneth ain’t the one to see about it.)
As a point to ponder, is it really you, the real you, making that choice to not to tune in or is it something else? (The answer to that question can be tricky, as the answer is within, not in the world around you)
Regarding organized religion, a friend of mine used to say that they all have a piece of the truth. I've always thought that was clever, but lately come to realize that the truth is not fully in any of the three chunks we humans cut His Church/Body into, but in the totality of the three united. (That day is coming, btw.)
I suggest not getting distracted by the constant squabbling and feuding between them, but seek your answers yourself, and not from observing their worst examples. Like my drinkin' buddy used to say: "Don't drink downstream beer." Instead, I suggest that you be a "source-rer" and head upstream, so to speak, to the source for the purity you seek.
Hint? As Moulder said: "The truth is out there." But often to see it, you must first believe it, not the other way around.
That was MY question to the other guy. Nice try.
Marriage is a covenant that transcends a piece of paper. People who live on a desert island that lacks any organized government can enter into the marriage covenant and thus be married as God defines the term.
In a different thread, because too many politicians, judges and bureaucrats are now hostile to marriage as God defines it, they seek to redefine marriage according to their opinion of fairness. Others are happy to take advantage of this moral breakdown and to use government to damage marriage as God defines it.
It is for that reason that I now advocate the power to regulate marriage (as government defines it) be stripped from government and returned to being a private matter.
Having said that, it is good for people to have entered God’s marriage covenant to also be married as a secular legal matter, at least for as long as the state claims that power.
If a couple decide to enter into God’s marriage covenant but decline to also execute a secular legal marriage, it it extremely easy for one party to break that covenant. Thus, it becomes a double test of righteous character for a person to honor his commitments until they are terminated by the death of one of the parties.
People, particularly young people, enter into covenants too easily sometimes.
nice try?
Is the word Catholic in the Bible?
The article promotes a huge stumbling block in he walk of faith. It promotes thinking towards obedience of the law, instead of faith in what Christ provided at the Cross.
It shifts our thinking of Him on the Cross and places sin as our focus.
It now seeks to perform works to avoid sin, rather than living by Faith through Christ.
And if they didn't repent before they died, they're in hell forever.
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