Posted on 01/05/2010 9:46:47 PM PST by the_conscience
I just witnessed a couple of Orthodox posters get kicked off a "Catholic Caucus" thread. I thought, despite their differences, they had a mutual understanding that each sect was considered "Catholic". Are not the Orthodox considered Catholic? Why do the Romanists get to monopolize the term "Catholic"?
I consider myself to be Catholic being a part of the universal church of Christ. Why should one sect be able to use a universal concept to identify themselves in a caucus thread while other Christian denominations need to use specific qualifiers to identify themselves in a caucus thread?
Don’t forget about this gem that was purported to be an “official Catholic website”:
http://crystalinks.com/
As with all other things, the Blessed Virgin Mary leads us back to Christ.
“Do whatever He tells you.”
Was that the Good Doctor? Or the Quizzical one?
Of course we have a will , but we will always choose according to our nature. Just as a man can not will himself to fly out of a window because it is contrary to our physical nature, we can not act contrary to our FALLEN spiritual nature.
An unregenerate man will never choose good (as God sees good) He will always choose what pleases his flesh .
Before I was saved, I had a god of my own making..He had all the attributes I assigned to Him. He was a god of my own making and not the God of the Bible.
My will was really my god..
When one is born again he is a new man, with a new will..one that desires not to please his own flesh but to please God..
Prottys NOR modern Baptists have much passion! Ha! Some do here, but in the “market places” of life? Nope. That’s one reason we have the national mis-leadership we have!
I’m assuming from your response that you’ve chosen option “A - God knows everything.”
Good.
Now go back and read what I’ve actually written as opposed to what you think I’ve written.
Amen Harley
ph
This is not an attempt at a "proof". It's an attempt to say sort of how we think about it.
We believe that in the Spirit we are made one body in Christ. We do not believe 'the departed' are dead, "for all live to Him." When I stub my toe, my adrenal medullas (medullae?) squirt out some adrenaline. My kidneys are getting messages which originated in my toesies! One living part of the body communicates with the other, not directly but through the medium of the nervous system and brain and all that, even though some reactions are involuntary blah blah blah.
One living part of the body communicates with another through the Spirit.
What Saul did, consulting a necromancer, asking her to "command" Samuel to appear, was not only expressly forbidden in the Torah, but its whole attitude is that of magic, in which we humans "command" and "control" others. In the story Samuel is angry that he was disturbed. The whole tone of his response is that he'd just as soon not be there and he seems to leave as soon as he can.
By contrast both Dominic and Terese of Lisieux said as they died that they would be more help to Christians after they died than they were before. There is no unwillingness but maybe even eagerness to help.
The prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Of course, from Mary to the unnoticed person in the pew next to you who, unknown to us, is caught up in the Love of God to a degree we can scarcely imagine, all they have is the gratuitous and utterly unmerited gift of God, but that's no reason not to rejoice in their help and love.
I hope this is clear and useful.
It was in this post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2300721/posts?page=837#837
You really should go to Crystalinks.com if you ever want a good laugh. The lady who owns it is a Jewish psychic (she will do a psychic reading for you over the phone for $150 prepaid) from Brooklyn who believes that she has been “beamed up” into a UFO and orbitted the Earth. She converses every day with an “entity” she calls “Z”.
THanks — you don’t believe in Predestination then. Tres bon!
She’s not dead.
It’s always a treat to be sent to a website that is so out there that you don’t even need to embellish anything to show how bizarre it is. Ellie Crystal appears to be a full-blown lunatic and I was amazed that someone would even consider offering her as a credible source.
Does God merely "know" who men are and what they will do or are men created to differ by God who made them as they are and gave them all they have, including the gift of faith and a heart of flesh to receive that faith and a renewed mind to believe and live that faith?
"Foreknow" in Scripture here doesn't mean a simple awareness of being or future actions. It means to create in love and imbue with all that exists within that creation.
I know you don't like long posts. But if you find some time, x, I hope you read the following to see if you find it persuasive.
To gain a correct biblical definition of this word "foreknew" (in Romans 8:29), rather than assume its meaning (which is what many do), we need to do some homework and study. When we do this, we find that the word does not merely mean to know future actions beforehand. It has a much more precise meaning. The word "foreknew" (Greek: proginosko) in Romans 8:29 is a verb rather than a noun. It is an action word, and as the text informs us, it is something done by God. What exactly does God do then? The text says "those whom He foreknew..." But again, what exactly does this mean? We find the answer to this question by going to passages of scripture that have God as the subject of the verbal form, as here in this passage. This is because passages that have humans as the subject would differ substantially in their meaning from the ones where God is the subject, because, I am sure we will all agree, we as creatures "know" things on a very different basis to the way God does. When we do this, here's what we find. The verb proginosko is used three times in the New Testament with God as the subject - here in Romans 8:29, then also in Romans 11:2, and lastly in 1 Peter 1:20. This proves to be significant when we ask the question "what, or who is foreknown by God?" In Romans 8:29, the direct object of the verb is a pronoun that refers back to the called of the previous verse (v. 28). In Romans 11:2 the object the verb is referring to is "His people," and in 1 Peter 1:20, the object is Jesus Christ Himself. Each reference then portrays God as foreknowing persons rather than actions. 1 Peter 1:20 says, "For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you." When God foreknew Christ, did that mean that God simply knew that Jesus would make correct decisions or have faith in His Father? Hardly! It speaks of the Father's personal intimacy and affection for His beloved Son... ...The real question then is "what exactly does it mean for God to foreknow somebody?"
Any stick will do ...
What then is a "person"?
Is it not the sum total of his entire being: spirit, soul, body, thoughts, actions...?
If God chose you because he knew you as a person, then what did he know? Is not God's choice a determinate act?
And if it was a determinate act, then was there some deliberative thought process that went into that election?
Or was it simply random, like a computer picking numbers for the lottery?
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