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God's Big Problem with Christians-In-Name-Only
Aleteia ^ | May 4, 2015 | TOM HOOPES

Posted on 05/04/2015 3:26:20 PM PDT by NYer

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To: GreyFriar
Nothing to do with golf?

Well ok then.

The Three might still be able to help a guy lower his score, nonetheless.

Now if I just just find a way to convince God to send a bolt down to a particular habitual leisure time golfer...

I'll let you guys know if I get a "yes" on that one. So far I'm not getting the kind of answer I'd like to hear.

I hear the Russians may break up the International Space Station into it's component parts, with the unstated threat being they'd set what is the "American" module adrift.

I don't guess any of that would come to pass soon enough to make a dent where I'd like to see a dent.

Hey... I know! Send another rock like the one in Mecca. Smoosh. bang bang Maxwell's silver hammer came down upon his head.

Then see if the mooselimbs still think they have a friend in high places that God [allegedly] approves of.

41 posted on 05/05/2015 5:00:30 PM PDT by BlueDragon
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To: newfreep
I am not confused, just still living in the Old Testament era covenant worshiping God Himself without any middle-man. Man wants to use Jesus to absolve himself of his sin, and by offering salvation and a free pass just for following Jesus who is their God is God.... Too bad so many Gentiles have chosen to put their own profit in place of the one the Jewish faithful are still awaiting, and then built up a nice story that you are forgiven.

I stand accountable to God. If in some small way, God is angry with me on the Christian judgement day for not worshiping Jesus (and here is the problem with Jesus), he will probably understand that I just worshiping Him in his pre-NT covenant where man is responsible to worship God, rather than follow the new profit that absolves sin. Sorely Confused, I think not.

42 posted on 05/05/2015 6:59:01 PM PDT by Jumper
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To: Grateful2God
One who loves God the Trinity, as well as his own neighbor; follows the Ten Commandments; follows the Precepts of the Church; receives and attends the Sacraments, attends Mass (noteworthy fact, if one is late for Mass and misses the Scriptural readings, he or she is not considered as having actually attended Mass in Its fullness.); prays regularly, that’s some of it...

Thanks. I am honestly asking this question: How do you know if you are a 'good Catholic' who is going to heaven, or not?

43 posted on 05/06/2015 2:50:20 AM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: SkyPilot
You're welcome! Honestly, we don't truly know until we see God face-to-face. Only God decides, whether Catholic or not, the state of a person's soul. When a person dies, he is judged by God, whatever he believed or practiced on earth.

We can't truly know the state of our souls in the light of God's Perfection. David said, if Thou, oh Lord, shalt mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand? For Catholics, we stick to what I mentioned before, especially the Sacrament of Confession, the rest we place in the infinite ocean of Jesus' Mercy. God is just, which is why we have Purgatory and Hell, but an honest and heartfelt effort, with the help of His Grace, mitigates that.

I used to kid around with a friend of mine who was newly converted that God doesn't expect us to be perfect; but if we love him, and love our neighbor the best we can, He'll give us an "E" for "Effort", and let us in!

Jesus' perfection-His Deity, His Humanity, Passion, Death, Resurrection and the Word and Sacraments He left the Church give all men the hope of salvation; it's up to us, then, to try and be perfect too: no one can, but we sure have to try our best!

Thanks for asking! I hope that answers! God bless you!

PS: Please pardon the humor; it is by no means irreverence on my part. I believe a genuine, innocent laugh is among the greatest of God's earthly gifts! I also used to tell my friend that I didn't care if I wound up in the last row of the "peanut gallery"- just as long as I managed to somehow get into Heaven! 😀

44 posted on 05/06/2015 9:59:15 AM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: GreyFriar

Thank you!


45 posted on 05/06/2015 10:04:30 AM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: BlueDragon

The funny part: it took me awhile to recognize the Stooges: never saw them in color before! Lol


46 posted on 05/06/2015 10:09:32 AM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: GreyFriar
If I could impose on your generosity once more, what is the role of the woman named as "Birdie"? This is interesting! Again, I tend to be a bit slow at times, and didn't quite get the context, but it sounded like an honor, a kind of position of helping...

Thanks again, GF, as always!

47 posted on 05/06/2015 10:16:50 AM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: Jumper

I think you mean “prophet” **a person who speaks for God or a deity, or by divine inspirationrather;** than what you typed “profit,” **a financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something**


48 posted on 05/06/2015 10:18:53 AM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: Grateful2God

you asked: **what is the role of the woman named as “Birdie”?** My only reply, short of trying to remember all of the things each of the two ladies did, is: Imagine someone telling of their feeling welcomed in a new congregation because of a person there with the nickname of a person in your old church whom you respected for who she was and what she did. Similar to how, in physical appearance and cheerful personality Charlie Settlemeyer at Bethany, reminded me of Ivan Carson in the church were I grew up. The point of mentioning them and also Dr. Joe was how I found connections in the new congregation that welcomed me and my family, strangers, to my home congregation and that gave me a sense of finding a new church home. I was in the military and had been moving every 2 years from post to post and this was the first time I found a church where I got the sense of ‘you belong here.’ And I moved my membership from where I grew up to Bethany within a year and have been here ever since.


49 posted on 05/06/2015 10:28:51 AM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: Grateful2God

For that poster (the image posted) to work, one has to hear in their mind, Curly saying “boidies”.

For some of us here (like myself) that comes naturally.

But you are correct. The image had to have been colorized.


50 posted on 05/06/2015 10:39:43 AM PDT by BlueDragon
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To: Jumper; newfreep
**I am not confused, just still living in the Old Testament era covenant worshiping God Himself without any middle-man.**

That's not confusion. You referred to the "Jewish faithful" who await the Messiah. Jesus is seen by them, to the best of my knowledge, as a part of history, and God is referred to by them as, "G-d" as His Name is considered to holy to mention, even to write.

The confusion lies more in the perception of how we see Jesus.

I can only speak for Catholics, because I happen to be one. We believe, as John Paul II stated, that "the Jews are our elder brothers in the Faith." We have our Messiah in Jesus, and await His return in glory. We believe He is coeternal, equal in power, knowledge, and glory with YHWH, Who is The Father, and with The Holy Spirit. We believe He took on our human nature to die in reparation for our (those of all humanity) sins; found His Church with its Sacraments; and rise from the dead with a promise to return one day in glory. We don't regard Him as a prophet, but as part of God from all eternity.

** Man wants to use Jesus to absolve himself of his sin, and by offering salvation and a free pass just for following Jesus who is their God is God.... **

Again, I can only speak for what I as a Catholic believe. Trust me, this is no free pass! Jesus did not come to take away the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. We believe that Jesus as the Messiah, at His first coming, made salvation available to all men, but that each one of us still has to work that salvation out with fear and trembling. It isn't a free, or easy road: it's an "all the while that you're awake, think before you act, examine your conscience, do the best you can, pray hard, confess your sins, make reparation, then go to sleep and begin the next day" kind of road. God is perfect: who can stand in His Presence? That is why Jesus took on a second nature in His Humanity. He did all in His earthly life, and gave all, for the greater honor and glory of God and the good of souls. We await His second coming, as the Jews await the coming of the Messiah- together.

51 posted on 05/06/2015 11:41:48 AM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: BlueDragon
I got it! Curly was the best- replacing him with Joe and/or Shemp just didn't cut it!
nYak, nYak, nYak!
52 posted on 05/06/2015 11:52:18 AM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: GreyFriar

That’s great, thank you! I’m other words, to me, anyway, it promotes a sense of continuity and family among the congregation, and welcome for new people. That’s really great expression of community! Thanks again, and God bless you!


53 posted on 05/06/2015 12:04:33 PM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: Grateful2God

Yes, a sense of continuity for me. and you are most welcome.


54 posted on 05/06/2015 12:08:35 PM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: Grateful2God

Yes, you are correct on both counts from your perspective,especially on the free pass. Sometimes I forget to not be cynical. Your post is an excellent summation of knowledge and I thank you for it.


55 posted on 05/06/2015 4:31:40 PM PDT by Jumper
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To: Jumper

How kind!! Thank you, and G-d bless you!


56 posted on 05/06/2015 8:35:58 PM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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