re: “What I try to focus on is that all our faith and hope depend on two things that God cannot do. He cannot cease to exist and He cannot stop loving.”
One of the difficult things to understand is how can He be loving when He casts folks into the lake of fire to be tortured for eternity?
Our choices throw us into a lake of fire. God does not send us to Hell. We choose Hell. God sends us a life-raft (His Son Jesus). It is up to us to either take hold of Him or to think we know a better way (spoiler alert, there is no greater way).
No same person would choose to be tortured 24/7 for eternity. And who do you think is casting the person into the lake of fire? (Rev 20:15)
Jesus said to fear Him who can cast body and soul into Gehenna. Why fear Him if He wouldn’t do it? We have to call Him Lord and do what He commands. There are plenty of Catholics, Protestants, and Evangelicals who call themselves Christians but excuse themselves from some commandments. We all sin, but there’s a difference between sinning and recognizing it as wrong versus breaking commandments because we decide that we’re not required to obey them.
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard some atheists joke about Hell. They think it is going to be some kind of Party. I often feel sorry for these individuals. Now I know they are simply mocking God (or in their minds, the idea of God, since they do not accept He exists), but they are still choosing self > God and therefore death > Life.
There are some, in my opinion, bad theologians who believe that everyone is going to Heaven. Because, how could a good God send people to suffer for eternity? I like to think of God as loving Father. He does not will for His children to choose life of sin and He will help His children when they cry out to Him for help and assistance. But, if this child thinks he knows better than His Father and continues to live a life without Him in it, then that child is choosing the life without His Father in it (for eternity).
God forgives 70 x 7, but if we cut ourselves off from Him and the Family, then we are choosing not to be forgiven. Does this make sense?
Cade_One,
re: “They think they would be going to be some kind of Party.”
So, they wouldn’t be choosing to be tortured for eternity; they would be choosing to be going to some kind of party.
re: “There are plenty of Catholics, Protestants, and Evangelicals who call themselves Christians but excuse themselves from some commandments.”
Especially the 4th (or the 3rd if you’re RC).
It is commendable that you have a good understanding of your Mormon friend and a wonderful perspective on sharing message of Jesus Christ. It is important to remember that converting others to Jesus Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit and is not ours. Our first priority and duty are to live our lives in such a way that we bear witness to the Savior and His Holy Church without needing to speak. Additionally, we have a responsibility to love others and share what brings us joy, happiness, and peace.
We pray for the salvation of our families, friends, acquaintances, all of God’s children, and to stand as disciples of Jesus Christ in all places and at times. The Spirit will touch the hearts of those who are ready to follow the path leading to the holy sacraments of Mother Church.
Outside the busiest abortion clinic in Philadelphia, which I look on as the gates of Hell, on Saturday mornings there are usually a bunch of people praying and trying to offer help to the clinic’s customers, and there are usually dozens of people shouting insults at the prolifers and often blasting lewd music and dancing to it. I could picture these people dancing right into Hell, but I pray for them.
Very well said. Welcome to the forum : )
That bishop and priest are out of touch with conscious. The essence of concience is the voice of Jesus speaking to us within our hearts. When one hears a voice within his heart, telling him to kill someone, he should pause and reconnect with Jesus, and sincerely ask him what is the right thing to do. And according to ur sincerity, we will be guided. Ishan das
Most thoughts of killing someone do not come from the heart, but a firing response in the brain, though it might be referred to as a “crime of passion,” it is not from the heart.
You may be correct to think in this way, although there is evidence that the most important aspects of the “mind” (such as conscience) are in the heart (according to Ayurvedic science and Chinese medicine). Actually, this was also the understanding of the Christian church prior to the advancement of materialistic science. But assuming you are correct that the impulse to kill comes from the brain, this goes to point out the importance of remaining fixed up in internal meditation, holding the presence of Jesus always enthroned within our hearts. The Bishop and the priest referred to (in the quote I was responding to) would be benefitted by keeping this in mind. Anyone who is not purposefully engaged in an on-going sense of communion with God and His Son, can and will be dragged off course by the dictates of the mind and senses at any second. In fact, even the so-called “good” man, the ethical man, is off track in the sense that it is only by grace that we can be closer to God, and without availing oneself of the Grace of Jesus, no one can come closer to God. “It is not by good works alone…”. we have no power to save ourselves by the strength of our independent will. Therefore Jesus encourages us to “accept the yoke that I wear”. We can only get it from him. That’s why he came to this planet.
I’m not disagreeing. I’m saying that thought of killing someone is not from the heart, but rather from head. The conscience tells these thoughts to “simmer down” ; )
I think of the Trinity this way: God is like a mainframe computer. He has the complete “program”. Jesus is like that computer linked to that mainframe-he has the same programming plus a specific purpose. The Holy Spirit is like another computer in the system. He has the same programming plus a specific purpose. All one system, but different purposes. That makes sense to me!
In my mind, that would be demonic. I don’t believe God would ever tell us to just arbitrarily “kill” someone. That would have to be a set of circumstances wherein a life was required to be taken to save another life and that circumstance would be extraordinary.
I would run far away from any clergy that claims that!
I agree and I fear those leaders in our Catholic Church that are entertaining tampering with church teaching and scripture trying to figure out how to incorporate “inclusion” of certain lifestyles into church teachings.
I’ve read lately about the delving into scripture by leaders to really try to understand exactly what scripture says about homosexuality in that quest for inclusiveness. After reading this in shock, I read all of the scripture pertaining to homosexuality in the Bible and it’s very plain. Sin is sin and homosexuality is not only a sin it is described as an abomination. I do believe that someone can be blessed by a priest-that priest will not know whether you are or not gay, unless it is someone the priest knows.
But the crux of it is, are we going to cherry pick sins for the sake of inclusiveness? At that point, are we going to remove the strict requirements for sins such as divorce??
If someone confesses their sinful lifestyle, prays for forgiveness and amends their life, then the arms of Christ are open wide. This goes for any sin down to the most venal.
This is dangerous and stands to divide the church if they continue down that slippery slope.
I hear what you are saying, MichaelB. At the same time, many of us go to chruch to hear the word. This is a form of preaching. Also, Jesus instructed his disciples to travel and preach. I am shy myself, so it is difficult for me to approach others and try to share faith with them uninvited. But Jesus did not wait for an invitation, and he encouraged his disciples to preach. He said if they don’t want to hear, just keep going, but he didn’t say we shouldn’t try to extend God’s mercy to others.
Abortion is murder, plain and simple. Whether a child is inside his mother, or outside…he is alive, a living spirit soul, in a tiny body. God has given that baby life. It is not in our rightful power to kill the child.
Sex is not a form of entertainment. It’s for receiving a soul, for delivering that soul to God. This is a difficult subject, with strong feelings on both sides of the line. But murder is murder. And there are so many married couples who are so much desirng to adopt a child.
When there is a separation of church and state…we have abortion clinics.
