Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: Oliver Optic
how can Mary or the saints simultaneously hear my prayers and the prayers of ten thousand other people at the exact same moment.

God bless you .... you are equating the supernatural with the natural. This is perfectly normal.

If being in heaven were like being in the next room, then of course these objections would be valid. A mortal, unglorified person in the next room would indeed suffer the restrictions imposed by the way space and time work in our universe. But the saints are not in the next room, and they are not subject to the time/space limitations of this life.

This does not imply that the saints in heaven therefore must be omniscient, as God is, for it is only through God’s willing it that they can communicate with others in heaven or with us.

The problem here is one of what might be called a primitive or even childish view of heaven. It is certainly not one on which enough intellectual rigor has been exercised. A good introduction to the real implications of the afterlife may be found in Frank Sheed’s book Theology and Sanity, which argues that sanity depends on an accurate appreciation of reality, and that includes an accurate appreciation of what heaven is really like. And once that is known, the place of prayer to the saints follows.

50 posted on 02/19/2008 4:04:52 PM PST by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies ]


To: NYer
God bless you .... you are equating the supernatural with the natural.

Well, actually I'm trying to maintain the distinction between finite man and infinite God ... but I appreciate your response. It's helpful, though admittedly a bit over my "childish" head. :-)

55 posted on 02/19/2008 4:21:31 PM PST by Oliver Optic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson