Posted on 07/22/2017 7:32:38 AM PDT by Salvation
Monsignor Pope Ping for his OSV column.
Full title:
Inner vision Having a deep understanding and connection with God is more satisfying than physically seeing God
God is with me and He hears my prayers. His Son died for my sake and I live for His sake.
I hope it will be a while before I see God.
A loooooooooong while.
In the meantime I speak with Him through prayer and that sees to work for both of us.
"...You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Pet. 2:5).
Thus, all Christians are of that holy priesthood and can offer spiritual sacrifices to God. All have the right to go directly to God through Jesus Christ, our High Priest (Heb. 4:14-16).
"CHRIST FREES US"
No state-established/establishing "intercessors" required.
4they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
5And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. Reve 22:1-5 NASB
The Christian is assured they will be in Heaven.
Can the Roman Catholic say the same?
Many moons ago while our two little girls were in the family room, we were in our living room. I was sitting on the couch and she was sitting on floor next to me.
Suddenly a strong wave came over us - for me it went from my head down to my toes - and it was THE most intense feeling I have ever experienced. After it reached my toes, I turned my head and saw the whitest light in the shape of an angel...or perhaps it was God.
Perhaps the experience was to provide strength as only nine months later, at 28, she had lost a battle to breast cancer.
I have rarely shared this story....and not sure what motivated me to share it this morning.
A photo when we lived in Hollywood in late 60's-early 70's and we were hiking in the H-Wood Hills.....seems like yesterday...
An "inner vision"???? A more "deep understanding and soulful connection"??? I would caution that this is Gnosticism. Everything we need to understand and know about God is given to us through the scriptures and confirmed to us by the Holy Spirit. There is no need for "deep understanding" nor does someone have a special knowledge.
2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue
Jesus said unto him, “Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”- JOHN 20:29 KJV
I would caution that this is Gnosticism
A few thoughts.
1) If these “inner visions of deep understanding and soulful connections” are independent of Gods word RUN.
2) Many of these experiences are meant to be personal with God and when shared with others take on a life of it’s own and are perverted. “Mary pondered these things in her heart” is an example. Does not mean they should not be shared, but more often than not, the event is the focus, not the message.
Luk 2:19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.
“Ah, I see.”
Related to this is what I just read in Job:
Job 42:5 I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my own eyes.
Job 42:6 I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
A small discussion with God will open one’s eyes.
Tell that to St. Paul and his horse.
Thank you for posting. It would be nice if you could do so without eliciting some of the responses. Why is this not a Caucus thread?
The apparitions claiming to be Mary fall under this category.
Can Roman Catholicism not withstand the light of scrutiny?
Of course it has and will do so. But it would be nice for us to be able to discuss what Msr Pope wrote without the interruptions. Now if he had written something along the lines of “The following Protestant doctrine is piffle and should be put in comic books” I would fully understand the desire and need to correct any misconceptions about Protestant beliefs. But he does nothing of the sort and the anti-Catholic rhetoric amounts to little more than harassment for the sake of harassment.
That is a correction of yet another erroneous teaching of Roman Catholicism.
**The Christian is assured they will be in Heaven. **
That is God’s judgment, not ours.
Not Gnosticism.
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