Posted on 12/31/2001 5:44:20 PM PST by victim soul
Letter perfect.
I didn't miss the point. I simply believe differently than you. Yes, as of this moment many are unrepentant sinners--that doesn't mean that God doesn't still love them, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered with St. Paul. He loves them with a love you can't fathom because He is loves pure light and mercy itself.
It is our duty to "love our neighbor" as our self and pray for their conversion, though they be steeped in unrepentant sin. It is our duty to snatch souls from satan through the power of prayer. God demands it of us as Christians.
And of course there is no peace for a person who is unrepentant at this time, however, God does not want us to abandon them. You neatly tuck them into the "Its predestined that they go to hell" catagory--I don't--and neither did any christian doctrine prior to the 1500s. I pray for them and ask God for Mercy---and he hears and answers.
I'm not going to do any more fighting with you, CC. I'd rather be blasting away at the pro-aborts and others who are preaching the culture of death. Have a nice day, both of you.
You are still continuing to miss the point that your Pope is not going to be sharing the Gospel by praying with them. Rather, he will be exalting their beliefs. Praying with someone is very different than praying for them or sharing the Gospel, which involves calling people to repent. Make sure you let me know when your Pope speaks these words of Jesus: "Repent or you will likewise perish."
And, a sinner will only repent when he is convicted that he must repent. Only the power of God is sufficient for this for it is written:
You are indeed angry, for we have sinned--In these ways we continue; and we need to be saved.Man is perfectly happy to continue in his God hating ways until the power of God comes and reveals to a man that he needs to repent. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities.
You should listen to St. Paul. He believes as I do and as Augustine does and as every single Catholic in heaven does.
It is our duty to "love our neighbor" as our self and pray for their conversion, though they be steeped in unrepentant sin. It is our duty to snatch souls from satan through the power of prayer. God demands it of us as Christians.
Gosh! And this is the point I'm trying to make to you. There is a world of difference between gathering with infidels to pray with them for peace, a hopeless endevour as you have already affirmed in the way your Pope intends to go about seeking it, and praying for them or calling them to repent. When your Pope meets these people, please find where he calls them to repent and prays for their conversion.
Oh, I almost missed it, you cannot snatch a soul from satan by the power of your prayer. It is your duty to carry the Gospel with your feet and be a living epistle for them and know that the Word of God has had its intended effect whether they repent or not. Only God can snatch a soul from satan, just as it says in His Word.
And yet here you are.
Who does the Pope consider to be the Almighty? Is the God of the Christians and the Bhuddists one and the same?
Frankly, I am terribly bothered by this.
That's funny; my Bible says that if anyone says he has no sin, there is no truth in him (1 John 1:8) and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
So, if God does not hear sinners, and everyone is a sinner, I logically should conclude that God does not hear anyone.
Yet it seems to me that my Bible also speaks of God becoming flesh and eating and drinking with sinners (!) (Matthew 9:10-11).
Of course, perhaps you read a different Bible. But that's what mine says.
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