I cannot agree that someone being abused by a priest is a situation orchestrated by the will of the Lord. Or that mothers paying to have their babies killed is orchestrated by the will of the Lord. If so, why should I pray outside an abortion clinic and get continual verbal abuse? I think that my presence is the will of the Lord, but not the killing of innocents.
Please acept my affectionate greetings, Literalman!
I understand your point of view. What we are discussing is a very important aspect of metaphysical consideration. I will have to try to find scriptural evidence in the Bible in support of the idea that everything that occurs within the material creation is 100% under the control of the Lord. As I say, it would be the heartfelt acceptance of this concept that would enable one to “turn the other cheek.”
One thought that comes to mind is that Saint Francis is said to have written poetry in which he prays, “Oh Lord, please make me your instrument.” Of course he is praying to be used by the Lord for good purposes.
One question that comes to mind, is: Jesus says, during his Sermon on the Mount, that we have to choose whether we are servants of God, or servants of Mammon. In other words, everyone is engaged in service. There is no question of independence. Jesus makes this clear. We are in the service of one or the other. We don’t have to “enlist” in order to become a servant of Mammon. If we are not engaged in service of God with our thoughts, words and deeds…… not officially, but in a consciously heartfelt manner……….to that degree we are in the service of Mammon.
Jesus instructs that the essence of spiritual life, the essence of our relationship with God, is to “love Him with all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our strength”. In other words, to be compliant in this way, is not about being a Christian or Catholic in an “offical” sense of the word. It is about abiding in an ongoing heartfelt sense of love for God, our heavenly Father, and engaging in every thought, word and deed, with a heartfelt desire to please Him…… This is a personal feeling in the heart. This is love. Jesus asks us to live on this platform. It is not about offically being a member of one faith or another. Jesus is talking about us cultivating a personal relationship with God.
Now let us decide on something, after due consideration: If God is the creator of everything that be………is He also the creator of Mammon? Can Mammon (or the Devil) be something, or someone, who exists apart from God’s creation?
Another question is: If we accept that God, as the creator, is also the creator of Mammon, why has He done so? And the answer is……..to accomodate the disparate demeanor of our hearts.
Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. But because they succumbed to the “temptation” of misuse of their “free will” therefore they were “deported” from the Garden, and made to abide in the material creation where life is filled with duality (“good ad evil”), and where we have to maintain ourselves by the sweat of our brow, in a hard struggle for existence.
Now we are here. This is the result of “original sin”. And living in sin, we are forgetful of our relationship of loving reciprocation with our Father. Therfore we are all “prodigal sons and daughters.”
Jesus tells us that we are either rightfully engaged in the service of God, or the service of Mammon. However, service of God is more than “good works”. Jesus says that good works alone is not enough. Jesus says that the symptom of being engaged in the service of God is that our every thought, word, and deed are done with a feeling of “love for God with all of our heart, with all of our mind and strength.” We are not officially “enlisted” in service. Jesus is speaking of “devotional service.” And this freedom is in our hands, from moment to moment. Am I acting in love of God…….or am I acting in the service of so many other man-made causes. For example, the wealthy man that Jesus invited to follow him, was a very good person, pious. But he was attached to his wealth and his social position. And Jesus tells us that in spite of his piety, it would be harder for that man to enter the Kingdom of God, than to pass a camel through the eye of a needle. He was a servant of Mammon. Because there in no “in between” position. We are a servant of God, or a servant of Mammon. This means that not every servant of Mammon is evil. The pious are also servants of Mammon. That pious man could not return to the Garden. Because the doorway to God’s kingdom is as small as the eye of a needle for the camel-like man who’s heart is attached to the things of this world……..as oposed to the man who’s heart is exclusively filled with love for our heavenly Father.
But how can this attachment be changed? How can our attachment be transferred from Mammon ot God? Jesus says, that “The truth shall set you free.” And what is that truth? Jesus says, the we must “Accept the yoke that I bear”. Jesus is “yoked” in service to God by the bond of love for his Father. “Yoked”. As much as we love the Lord, He dictates our manner of being from within our hearts. We become requalified. Remade. Not by our own power. But by the influence of the Holy Ghost within our hearts.
We have the responsibility of choice, free will. And in response, God enables us to live in the Garden, or “deports” us into the service of Mammon. Just as the result of transgression in this world is life in a penal institution……..the result of our spiritual trangression is that we are forced to work in the service of Mammon. We see this today in America. The prisons that are run by corporate institutions, force the inmates to engage in labor for earning money for the insitution. The prisoner has no choice. He misused his free will, by choosing to rebel against his constitutional position in society. And now he is forced to serve in prison. In the same way, as much as we are not wholeheartedly engaged in the service of God with all of our heart, we are forced to engage in the service of Mammon. Even the pious man, (by material standards) remains, as jesus says, outside of the Kiingdom of God. He remains imprisoned in the material world.
But…….is the material world outside of God’s creation? No. It is God’s penal institution……for those who are guilty of orignal sin. And as long as we are living in exile from the Garden, we are forced to serve ……in the service of Mammon.
However, there are different categories or modes of service. Therefore jesus speaks of “sewing and reaping”. And, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”, because “what goes around, comes around.”
But, as long as we are in exile from the Garden, because of our misuse of free will, we live in the realm of duality…….the fruit of the treee of ”good and evil”…… “piety and impiety”. Both exist outside of the Garden. And both are engaged in the service of Mammon. Both are “sewing and reaping”. Both are like camels wishing to quench their thirst in the desert of life, outside of the Garden of love of God. And Jesus says that we are forced to choose who is our master. Mammon or God, our heavenly father. One who is a servant of Mammon is also a servant. of God. But now he is serving in God’s penal institution. Just as the man in prison is also a servant of the state…..but now he is serving in prison, instead of serving in freedom.
Therefore we are always servants of God, whether we are in the Kingdom of God, or abiding in the prison of “good and evil”, the material world.
But there are differnt grades of prisoners. There are those who are more rebellious and resentful. And there are those who are having a change of heart. They are behaving nicely in the prison. They are not free yet. But because they are behaving nicely, they are granted parole. And Jesus is God’s parole officer. If we remain submissive to living in his custody, we can remain in freedom. And if we break parole, we are again in prison of duality, outside of the freedom of the Garden of Eden. But that submissiveness is not a question of piety. It is aquestion of love. The pious man could not give his heart to jesus, because he was attached to his wealth and social position.
To be a servant of Mammon is not a choice. The choice is whether we want to be loving servants of God…… or not. For those who choose not to be servants of God, they are forced to be servants of Mammon. Mammon is God’s prison house. And those who are servants of Mammon are are forced into that service as God puts them out of the Garden of Eden. Once they are enlisted in the service of “good and evil” they cannot refuse the dictates that arise within their hearts. But it is God who has placed them there. Their only chance to be free of the dictates of their hearts that arise in the prison of “good and evil” is to surrender to Jesus, God’s parole officer. It is Jesus who removes the anchor of material desire that God has placed in our hearts, in response to our spirit of rebellion. In this sense God forces all of us to be servants of Mammon. But He also allows us to take the path to freedom if we agree to surrender to His parole officer.
I am only writing, Steve, in response to being notified of your message, without giving the matter a great deal of thought. Therefore my presentation herein may not be very well expressed. But I perhaps it will make sense to you to some degree.
With affection and respect, Peter
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Another angle of vision comes to mind. What causes sin? We say “the Devil”. But in truth, the Devil has no Absolute power. We are created by God. And the purpose of being, of our existence……is to love God. This is God’s will, and this is Jesus’s instruction to us…….. to love God ”with all of our heart.”
We can blame the Devil for our sinful propensities. But in fact, the Devil cannot come close to us if we are embracing Jesus. It is not possible. But God has created us with free will. We can choose to come closer to Him, or we can turn our backs on Him. And the moment we turn our backs…….that is when the Devil, with a smiling face, appears before us, offering us every manner of temptation. He says: “Do this and you will be happy.” Then, one man robs a bank. Another man rapes. Another man kills. Another commits adultery. Another man covets.
But can I blame the Devil? It is me who has turned my back. Scripture has informed me of my constitutional position in relation to God. I am His loving servant. But I have turned my back. So the Devil moves in to take up the slack. Therefore I have to accept resonsibility. By serving the Devil, I am hell-bound. But the responsibility is mine.
Now, an important question arises. Does God, the creator of all that exists, have the power to bind the Devil, to stop him from tempting and misdirecting us? Is God powerless to interfere? No. God is fully aware of the Devil, and allows the Devil to have the power to mislead us. Otherwise the Devil would not have the capacity to act in this way. Therefore the responsibity is ours. We are not innocent victims. To walk within the “Law” is to “walk within the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil.” Why? Because “Thou art with me. I will fear no evil.” If I stay close to God, abide in His presence, the Devil cannot approach me.
Therefore we have to understand that God runs things in this way. He gives us instruction and He gives the Devil permission to act. And He gives me freedom to choose and responsibiity for my choice. And ,when I am in the hands of the Devil, and I do all manner of sinful things, God allows me to do these things. He doesn’t prevent me from my sinful deeds. He watches. But there may be hell to pay.
Therefore if my reasoning is correct, it is God that allows the priest to act as a pedophile, and it is God that allows abortions to take place. It is not His instruction that we do these things. But it is only by His permission, and because of our misuse of our little independence, our little free will, that we become instruments of the dictates of the Devil. But it is God who sanctions, who gives authoritative permission for the Devil to influence us in this way. But ultimately the responsibility is ours. In this sense we are controlled either by the Devil or by God. And the choice is ours, moment to moment. We are servant or God, or servant of Mammon. It is not that God wants me to be sinful. But if I turn my back on God, it is God who places me under the jurisdiction of the Devil. God does this so that I can choose my destiny…….heaven or hell. In this way He gives me my freedom of choice. It is God who has organized universal affairs in this way. He doesn’t directly force me to be sinful. But it is according to His adminsitrative power that if I turn my back on Him, I become as servant of the dictates of the Devil. It is in this way that our sins are indirectly orchestrated by the will of the Lord.
But Jesus has compassion on all of us. Even on those who wish to kill him. And he asks God to forgive them. And he asks us to also adopt this spirit. Because they are in the hands of the Devil, and “they don’t know what they are doing.”
So it is not directly the will of the Lord that people act sinfully. But it is the will of the Lord that those who turn their back on Him will be captured and harnessed under the control of the Devil. And it is also the will of the Lord that the process of “sewing and reaping” goes on, and that all of us receive our due. Therefore when our punishment comes, we should think, “Actually I deserve more pusnishment than this, but God has given me only a token.” Thinking in this way, we can turn the other cheek.
Peace to all,
So true, Pete1, i believe.
Choice becomes again loving only and loving with only the most love as applied to the use of luck, also. i believe.
Peace always,
Stephen
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All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love…oh….
Love is all you need.
Right Stephen? All you need is love!
Peace always,
Jacob (or Jake)
Peace to all,
So true, Jacob.
Loving only is unable to fail in all cases becoming undeflied from the spirit through the created souls of all for the created flesh becoming immortal and incorruptible in One Body becoming again through both natures fulfilled in One Holy Family One God in being, I believe.
Peace always,
Stephen
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A-men!
Please think about writing a book. I’m being real here, please strongly consider it my friend! You have a real gift Stephen! Cause I am so on board with what you consider OMNIlogic. Our God is a God that makes sense, and you have such profound wisdom. Don’t ever let anyone drag you down. You are a gift to me, cause I learn much from you. Please consider writing a book. I mean, obviously don’t do it if writing a book doesn’t resonate with you, and don’t do it on account of me, but you’ve got such a gift, and by writing a book, everyone who buys that book will be so happy to read your words. Your energy is so pure, untainted. Please consider writing a book. You have a gift my friend!
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I am not a believer that everything happens for a reason (in that God actively willed everything to happen). If someone is violently rąped, I would never say that God willed that this individual would be brutally victimized for a reason. God can, however bring good out of this evil act. He can bring the victim healing and offer her (I say her, because women tend to be victims of such a crime than men) grace to help other victims. Similarly, there are Christian Saints who have also been brutally assaulted and who can Pray for them, to our loving God.
Jesus Himself was stripped nąken, humiliated, and beaten on His journey to the Cross. He knows what it is like to suffer and invites us to unite our suffering to His. We are not alone. He is with us as we carry our cross.
Dear brother Cade,
I know (from reading some of your comments) that you are very sincere.
I feel that this is a very important topic/question: Does God the “prime mover” oversee and control everything that happens in the universe, or not?”
I am not conversent with Catholic teachings in this connection. Do the teachings address this question?
My understanding based on the scriptures that I follow is that God endows every soul with minute independence (free will) which enables the soul to draw closer to God or to close his heart to God……….but that God is in control of everything else, including the activities of the human race. The phrase “sewing and reaping” encourages me to think that just as we are accountable to the local police department in our daily affairs, in the same way, everyone receives their just deserts in a larger sense, under God’s “administration” of universal affairs.
Perhaps I am incorrect, but my thought is that when Jesus says to God, “Not my will, but Thy will be done”, this also means that the horific things that happen to us in this world are also God’s will.”
Today we have news of forest fires, earthquakes, tidal waves, plagues (like covid), wars, etc. In the Old Testament, it is revealed that when the Isrealites were lead by a pious and spiritually oriented king, there was all good fortune for the Jewish people, but when the society departed from godly ways, they were conquered by other nations, even put into slavery. This encourages me to think that the affaires of life and death, rape, earthquakes, etc. are all in God’s hands.
I understand that the Catholic church does not endorce the concept of reincarnation. But this concept would give an understanding of why a seemingly good person would “reap” misfortune in their present lifetime, why one is born blind, or crippled, and one is born in a palace, in spite of the fact that God loves all of us equally.
I have recently read that the Catholic church killed the followers of other religious groups that also claimed to be followers of Jesus, but believed in reincarnation, at different times in history. I have asked AI why southern U.S. white people hate black people. AI said that these convictions are principally due to the values imparted to people when they are children. Then they are almost impossible for people to change. I am thinking that the same applies to religious philosophical concepts.
I was raised atheistic. But now I am happy to be a “believer”. It strikes me as inconceivable that God is not in control of all that occurs in the creation. Otherwise, what would be the use of praying to God that “our boys” should please come home from a war, or praying for health, or praying for various other kinds of material wealfare? To pray like this and to think that God is not in control of all that goes on…….this seems to be logically contradictory. I am open to hear your thoughts , and what Catholic teaching say in this connection. Peter
“I think that my presence is the will of the Lord, but not the killing of innocents.”
The question arises in my mind as to how much control does God have over the affairs of the universe, including the actions of mankind? If God cannot control the behavior of men, , how do we reconcile this with the understanding that people pray to God for protection. You are praying to God, for example, that He should stop abortions. What if someone else is praying that abortions should be legal? If God has the power to stop abortions, and is Himself against abortions, how is it that He allows abortions to go on?
My conviction is that God informs us through scripture and through His son, how He wants us to live……..but that He gives us freedom to live as we like, with the understanding that we have to accept responsiblity for our behavior.
It is also my conviction that a godly person receives guidance within his heart from God, so that his actions will be in accord with God’s desires, and that an ungodly person will receive the guidance to do evil things. If this is so, it is God’s guidance in both cases that prevails. Is there scriptual evidence that describes God’s role in the activities that a person engages in? Are we totally free, indepandenly making our own decisions? Or does God engage us according to our degree of surrender to Him? Is God’s role only to give wisdom to the godly person, and not to have any jurisdiction over the minds, hearts and activities of people who are not in communion with Him? I really wish to understand the Catholic view.
My understanding, or faith, is that our free will is only a question of how close our hearts are to God or not close to Him. But that we are all like His puppets in both cases. Sanit Franscis prays, “Please make me your instrument.” He wants to be the instrument of God. And my understanding is that one who is not an instrument of God, is an instrument of the Devil. We are always servants……not independent masters. Therfore jesus says we are servants of our masters……either God or Mammon, moment to moment. One or the other. But Mommon, or Satin, can only conquer us with God’s permission. God cannot have a competitor that overcomes His authority. Even the Devil can only prevail in his influence if God allows it. What are your thoughts?
I have found the following on AI on my computer:
These are results for according to catholic faith, is all of our fortune. both good and bad under the control of God, or is good and bad luck a factor?
AI Overview
According to Catholic faith,
all aspects of life—both good and bad—are under the guidance of Divine Providence, not chance or luck
. God sovereignly oversees all events, allowing both favorable circumstances and trials to work toward a greater purpose, often to draw souls closer to Him.
Key aspects of this belief include:
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No Such Thing as Luck: The concept of “luck” is viewed as a misunderstanding or a superstition that negates divine providence.
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Divine Providence: Catholics believe God is in control, guiding history and individual lives toward their final end.
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Active and Permissive Will: While God does not directly cause evil, He allows bad things to happen to bring about a greater good, according to Reddit user discussions.
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Human Cooperation: While God is sovereign, He gives humans the freedom to act, making them participants in His plan.
Instead of relying on luck, Catholics are encouraged to trust in God’s providence and pray for His guidance.These are results for according to catholic faith, is all of our fortune. both good and bad under the control of God, or is good and bad luck a factor?
I think its very factual that it exists.
When i was 15, i didnt believe in God because i didnt feel religious. So i was like the Prodigal son for quite awhile. And used a long journey at age of 23 to the age i am now which is 34, to figure out why God is amazing.
In the context of being 16 though. I was in my first year of high school. And i accidentally cut the cable of a electric wire too hard, so the knife… jumped in the air (For whatever reason). And it looked like it would fall on the head of the guy infront of me. I was shocked with fear. But… thankfully it landed about 0,5 meter behind him. And nobody saw it.
I think its fair, to call that lucky. Science doesn’t disprove God. It just means those rules of nature exists in our world.
But yes. Luck is real, just like water is.
Hi, Peter 1. I tried hard to find answers to these questions. I’ll give you my thoughts, as you asked, but I wanted to come up with more than my own ideas.
Why doesn’t God intervene to stop evil? I have asked this countless times. I knew it is addressed, if not fully answered, in The Other Side of Christ by Father Robert D. Smith. It took most of an hour for me to find it, but it was worth it:
“We seem to see reports every week of some creep who has done dreadful things to some little boy or girl and then killed the child. Why did God not stop the man? Before he even started? Why did God not prevent him from even getting near the child? Why, afterwards, did God not bring the child back to life, to start again, so the world can somehow make compensation to the child?
“Incredibly, God does not do it.… And anyone who believes in God accepts this fantastic worldly mystery of God’s apparent inaction … because the facts compel us to.
“In some ways, this apparent inaction of God can be called the greatest mystery of all.…”
“All we can say is that there is an explanation that will be amply revealed in the next world.”
Do godly people receive divine guidance to do good things, and do ungodly people receive guidance to do evil things? In several places in the Bible (maybe more places than I found), God tells people to choose between good and evil, clearly indicating that His will is for people to choose good. Three examples:
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15)
“They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:29)
Is everything that happens God’s will? As I indicated earlier in this discussion, I don’t believe so. A biblical example: God does not will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), yet Judas was doomed to destruction (John 17:12). Not everyone is saved (Judas being the foremost biblical example of someone implied to be damned). As St. Peter wrote, God’s will is for all to repent, but this does not happen, so those who fail to repent are not doing God’s will. (This is complicated by biblical references to God hardening people’s hearts—Pharaoh, for example—but the Bible is clear that God’s will is for people to turn to Him.)
Does God control everything that happens? Things such as happened to Donald Duck with the knife have happened to me. I give credit to my guardian angel.
When bad things happen, apparently sometimes God rescues us from them and sometimes not. When people break God’s commandments and cause harm to themselves or others, I do not accept that this is God’s will. He wants them to repent and to do good, not evil. But no matter what happens, God brings good out of it. “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). My take on all this is that God guides us, especially if we seek His guidance; that He sometimes intervenes; that ultimately He is in control of everything but not that He directs everything that happens. And He brings good out of everything for those who love Him.
This is a nice thought, but it lacks mature understanding. We are spirit souls, temporarily encased in material bodies. As long as people identify with their bodies as themselves, they will identify themselves with their race, their gender, their nationality, their immediate family, their age, etc.
If I am not this body, even though the body is born in America, I am not American. The spirit soul is not American or German, or Isreali, or Chinese. If I am not this body, I not man or woman. I have been both in different births on earth. If I am not this body, I am not white or black. If I am not this body, I am neither young nor old…..I am eteranal. If we are not these material bodies, everyone on earth is a member of the same family…..with God as our eternal Father.
However, in the name of “love” people have patriotic feelings of nationalism, and kill each other. In the name of “love”, people take care of their family members and step over the bodies of dying men on the sidewalks of New York. In the name of love, the KKK hangs black men for entertainment, and embrace each other.
Therefore real love is love of God. Because the man who truly loves God is automatically liberated from false identification with this bag of bones, blood, flesh, urine, stool, and vomit, and understands that we are all eteranl spirit souls. Then one begins to love his neighbor as himself. Otherwise, this is not possible. Therefore Jesus taught that love of God is rule #1, and loving each other is rule #2, because without love of God, real love for each other accross the board is not possible. People who do abortions and who go to war……they also talk of love. People who get married also talk of love. But real love doesn’t ask for anything in return. Real love doesn’t make a marriage contract, and get divorced when they are not getting what they want out of the realtionship. That’s not love; it’s a busness deal. Real love is based on spiritual knowledge, not sentiment.
So the Beatles sang that song. But that didn’t save John Lenon from being shot to death. It didn’t save George Harrison from dying of cancer. It’s not saving Paul McCartny from giving up playing his guitar because he can’t move his fingers over the strings any more. Therefore the love that they sang about isn’t, “all you need”. Only love of God can free us from the terrible cycle of birth and death in the material world, so that we can return to our real home, back to Godhead. We are all prodigal sons and daughters, looking for love in a world where nothing will last, instead of understanding that love of God is the only answer.
Thank you Steve, for your very thoughtful answer. I think that Job is asking questions that are similar to our discussion. I will look into that.
I like your last line, “And he brings good out of everything for those who love Him.”
What comes to mind is that the difficulties that we encounter in our lives can induce us to turn to God as our only source of comfort. When all else fails, we can find solace in our realtionship with God. However, this solace is not available to the person who is an official member of the faith……….but to one who is cultivating a living sense of reciprocation with God. Jesus says that if we knock, the door will be opened to us. From my tiny experience, I see that it is only when I am concertedly inclined to come closer to God that I can feel His love. Therefore that “knocking” has to include the ingredient of ardent longing for communion. Perhaps for those who are closer to God, they can feel His loving presence 24/7. But for a person like myself, who is prone to fall into forgetfulness and distraction…….I have to turn back and make a concerted endeavor to open my heart, before I can sense His omnipresent loving response. So, in this case, the difficulties that arise in life can be a blessing in disguise. This applies to a person like myself.
Still, I am contemplating your statement: “My take on all this is that God guides us, especially if we seek His guidance; that He sometimes intervenes; that ultimately He is in control of everything but not that He directs everything that happens.”
I am having difficulty in trying to reconcile how it is possible that “He is in control of everything” on the one hand, but simmultaneously: “not that He directs everything that happens.” The question that comes to mind is: If for example, I have total control of everything that occurs in my environment, how can anyone in that environment behave in ways that are contrary to my instruction? If they have the ability, the freedom to make independent choices……then, to that degree, I am not in total control.
This means that we have to adjust our conception of God and the role He plays in our lives. If I understand you correctly, God tells us how He wants us to behave, how to think, how to feel, how to desire. But the freedom to choose is in our hands……and God will not interfere. But He will be the final judge of our qualification for entering His Kingdom at the time of death. Just as a judge in a court doesn’t have control over the activities the thief or the pious man…..but he imprisons one and rewards the other based on the principles of the law.
This brings us to the subject of free will vs. determinism. My conviction is that everything is determined by God. But at the same time we have free will in the sense that it is always our choice as to whether or not we open our hearts to His guidance and His love. And, as we come closer to God, He guides us from within our hearts so that we become godly. This is the role of the Holly Ghost. And as we are distanced from God……we succumb to the temptations which arise due to the “original sin” that resides within us. In other words, although He has made all of us individually unique, We place oursleves, either under His control, or under the control of Mammon. Jesus says both are “masters”, and they we cannot serve two masters. we have to choose one or the other.
Then we come to a dividing line in our discussion, wherein we embrace different conceptions. From my side of the line, we are all “prodigal sons” who are living outrside of the Garden of Eden, due to misuse of our little independence, our freedom of choice. We live in God’s material creation, the realm in which duality exists…….we are tasting the fruit of the tree of “good and evil”, because we have made that choice, by misuse of our free will. I know that in the Bible, this only applies to Adam and Eve. But the scriptures that I study say that this applies to all of us. That we are here in this world, to be “redeemed”. This concept suggests that living in the material world, the realm of the duality of “good and evil”, is not our real home….that we are the rebels from the spiritual world, and that Jesus has come to take us home again. “Redeemed”.
So my scriptures say that we are here, outside of the Garden of Eden, where we have to struggle hard for our livilhood, in the realm of good and evil. And we are here to learn, to have a change of heart, to “repent” and to come to recognize God as our eternal loving Lord and master. And although we are in this realm where there is life and death…….we are in fact eternal spirit souls. And this is where you and I will part ways, even though I have affection for you, arising out of our discussions.
The concept goes like this. We are here to be redeemed, to have a change of heart. And God sends His son to reclaim us. The material realm is a school, or institution for our reorientation. The hardships are one form of encouragement. Because as we suffer we begin to look for answers. And the other form of encouragement is the teachings of jesus. The idea is, as we observe in our life on earth, if a child in school fails to learn his leassons, he has to repeat the grade. He doesn’t graduate. If he is in grade 3, and does not graduate, he has to again be enrolled in grade three. In the same way, my scriptures say, that if we are not redeemed, the eternal spirit soul, within our present body, has to come back here, and accept another body.
But all of us have different “report cards” from our previous birth. One has been more pious, like the pious wealthy man in the Bible who could not follow Jesus. As you will recall, jesus compared him to the camel who who cannot not fit through the needle’s eye. Surely he is not going to hell. He is a pious soul. Also there are impious souls, those who have abused children, etc.
The idea presented in my scripture is that both the pious and the impious, who have not been completely redeemed……..they both have to come back…….according the the law of “sewing and reaping”. One man is born the son of a drug addict. Another is born as “Prince Harry” in a palace. One is born crippled. One is born to be an olympic athlete. One is born retarded. Another is born to be Albert Einstein. This is “sewing and reaping”. But until they are “redeemed”, these eternal souls experience repeated birth and death in the material realm, God’s “reform school”.
It is on the basis of this conception that we can begin to understand what appears to be good fortune and bad fortune. The comandment is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Why? Because the man who rapes the child is reborn to become raped as a child. “Sewing and reaping”. The man who has cheated others, is born to experience what it is like to be cheated. The man who has been cruel and exploitive, is born to be exploited. And the man who has done only good works, is born to receive all manner of good fortune. It is not a question of “luck”. It is all sewing and reaping. In this sense, the phrase, “sewing and reaping” is congruent with the concept of “karma”.
The idea is, that God has created a system in which we can learn from our mistakes. To be a good person is only a stepping stone. Therefore Jesus tells us that “good works” is not enough. We have to open our hearts to God. How much? Jesus says “with all of our strength.” When we love God with all of our strength………this is the ticket for our return to the spritual realm, to heaven.
it is this conception that enables us to fathom why God permits the sexual abuse of the child, and the good and bad fortune that comes to us here in the material world. Those who cannot accept this conception……..they are forced to accept the concept of “luck”, both good and bad.
But our scriptures say that there is no such thing as luck. That everything in creation is working according the the laws of God. That God is in control. And that we are responsible for our fate.
I cannot say that I am completely realized, that I have seen the spiritual world, that God has spoken to me and told me these things. I can only say that the question as to why such things as child abuse, and why bad things happen to apparently good people …….this conception attempts to answer these questions.
In either case, whether we believe as a Catholic, or in the way I am describing according to my scriptures……….the bottom line is that all of have to “love the Lord, our God, with all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our strength.” On this we can agree.
Maybe control is the wrong word. Almighty, then. I don’t believe that He tempts anybody to sin. He did send plagues on Egypt, so He may send hard things to us to change our hearts. I don’t believe that He chooses the lottery numbers, though I suppose He could if He wanted to. I believe that He brought me and my wife together and helped us find our current home, by inspiring us with good choices that were up to us to make. I think that He doesn’t tell us to make every particular choice or every action; I think that He wants us to be like Him and choose good on our own. He is always there to assist us, but children outgrow the need to be told what to , what to say, where to go as they become adults, and I think that spiritual maturity is like that.
When mentioning prayer outside abortion clinics, I forgot to mention the character who is often out there loudly thanking Jesus and Mary for taking women by the hand and leading them to Planned Parenthood to get an abortion. I was there this morning, praying and offering help to women. So was that guy. If I believed that everything that happens there is God’s will, I might conclude that the guy is right and that God does lead women to get abortions. But I am sure that God is not doing that.
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