Posted on 04/22/2013 6:27:15 AM PDT by piperpilot
Irrelevant. Mtheyre not unrepentant dead terrorists.
You can love the sinner while they’re still alive because there is always hope for repentance, but there is no hope for a sinner who has died an unrepentant sinner.
Yep- at that point the decision has been made and the consequences set by God are not going to change. At that point it is God’s to deal with.
Then it would be much better to pray “Lord, help me deal with these feelings of hatred I have for these terrorists and others like them”.
Two different topics in my mind. I can’t do anything about someone that has chosen evil options. I can not know that person’s heart, therefore I can not judge. However, the Scriptures are clear we must forgive. Forgiving can be tough at best. But it is a healing thing for us when we are hurting due to someone else’s deliberate actions. Then let God take care of the rest. Which he will.
“If that is so, then God could have stretched Tsarnaev’s last nanosecond out into a month or so in God-time, when he could have repented of his sins.”
If you really believe that God might do that for this avowed antichrist, then He, being just, would have to do it for all of us, which kind of makes it pointless to worry about repenting NOW, which is always God’s message to us. We are told to repent now, because we never know the hour of our death, and when it comes, it will be too late. So, no, there are no “do overs” for Tsarnaev, or anyone else.
Yes, the need to repent NOW is critical. Serious as a heart-attack. Urgent as hell. My observation about "God's time" is not an excuse not to repent, but a reason why we cannot be certain that Tamelan Tsarnaev is damned.
We know Tamerlan Tsarnaev spoke falsehood. We know he did evil. Those are things --- observable things --- which we are quite competent to judge. But we do not know the present state of his soul. That is the one thing we can't judge, because it's the one thing we can't know.
It has meaning, whether you or I or anyone else understands it or not.
and thanks for your interpretation.
You're welcome. Please understand that it is ONLY my interpretation, and as such bears no teaching authority. I could be wrong.
To me metaphors and decoder rings belong on or in cereal boxes. My thinking is logical in that if I want to say something I say it.
I'm sure that the ultimate Author will take your criticism into consideration. I suggest that you talk to Him about it. You might find His answer(s) surprising.
A clear concise message with little or no wiggle room for “interpretation” would be quite helpful
Sort of like "the right of the people, to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"? Clear and concise like that? And yet people of ill will find "wiggle room" even there ... Perhaps the ultimate Author of Scripture had His reasons for inspiring it to be written the way it was. Again, you might consider asking Him about it.
Slow clap, Mrs. D. Your impression of repentance, purgatory, and God’s infinite forgiveness mirror mine exactly, and you said it better than I ever could.
On a related note, one of my favorite “spot” prayers (that is, when I need a quick hit of grace) is the Fatima prayer: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins and deliver us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.”
The Tsarnaev brothers and their eternal souls - Earthbound or otherewise - certainly fit that description.
All those interesting and fun ways of communicating are applicable to many personal situations, hence, God brings them to mind when something is applicable. Perhaps that is one reason why it is written that way. Timeless.
[Praying for the dead is in the Bible, of course it is in Maccabees II so it’s a Catholic thing I guess.]
Maccabees II is also in the Anglican/Episcopal Bible.
Terrorist #1 was an evil, evil man. But praying for the souls of people like him is what Christians do, and it’s what makes us different than the religions that went before.
The Episcs are utterly reprobate. But that’s because they have homosexual bishops, they ignore both Scripture and Tradition, they are “interfaith” and they practice moral equivalency. Not because they pray for dead terrorists.
BTW, “lead all souls to heaven” is part of the Rosary.
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