HI DD! Back to continue our discussion.
What you explain about souls rising out of their graves is very amazing. You say that the body they arise out of the graves with is “not your normal body”, but it’s “spiritualized, imperishable, and different in quality.” Are there any words in scripture that indicate when this will come about? And what is the destiny of those who died before the appearance of Jesus on our planet?
Regarding the question of why God creates us and places us in a world that is filled with indescribable trials and pains, you are explaining that God does this out of love for us. Considering the understanding that the heavenly host lives with God in the spiritual realm, where these anomalies don’t exsit, this is still conceptually unsatisfying to me and to my heart. But I am willing to hear more. I am still convinced, that like the metaphor of Satan himself, who is a fallen angel, and considering that we no longer live in the Garden of Eden……that we are fallen angels, given an opportunity to live outside of the “Garden of Eden” where we struggle to live by the sweat of our brow…….but as “prodigal sons”, are given an opportunity to repent and be redeemed.
Another point that resists acceptance in my heart is your statement that “God wills the good of creatures by giving them existence.” I agree wholeheartedly with this concept…..and that’s why I do not eat animals, fowl, and fish. (I know that in some cultures people eat reptiles. I have seen video of people in Asian markets, skinning large snakes while they alive, and putting the wreathing serpents into baskets for the buyer to take home for cooking). It is my unshakable conviction that an animal is more than a machine made of material energy. The creatures have consciousness. Many of the species can respond to human love, and reciprocate. A cow or a pig, or a lamb cannot be created in a laboratory. They do not have the “software” (conceptual capacity) of the human mind. They cannot understand the concepts that religion offers us. But they are more than a combination of earth elements and water. They are spirits, just as we are spirits. But they do not possess the intellectual capacities that a human body provides. And yet people consider them like fruits and vegetables, to be harvested, and slaughtered. The scriptures that I am drawn to state that as long as this needless slaughtering of innocent creatures continues, nature’s backlash will come upon us in the form of wars, earthquakes, volcanoes, draughts and floods, plagues like covid, etc. But people say, “Bad luck.” Nothing happens by chance. It is all the will of God.
You write that, “We are created because God is generous, and freely gives of himself.”, I like that. My scriptures go a step further. They say that God created us because He enjoys to be loved. He enjoys our love. He needs nothing. He is complete within Himself. But he enjoys our love. And therefore we have been created……. for this purpose alone. To love God is the purpose of our existence. Jesus says the very same thing. You may wonder that I say such a thing. But I ask you to consider. The Jewish clergy have their law books, their commandments. They have books that give the rules of social conduct. Jesus says that all those laws are good, and the he didn’t come to change any of them. They accused Jesus of “working on the Sabbath” when he healed people. They accused him of picking grains when passing though the fields on the Sabbath. The Jews were, and still are very rule-conscious. It is the religion of being “good boys and girls”, and being rewarded by going to heaven. Jesus says that he did not come to change the law, but that “man doesn’t to enter the Kingdom by good works alone”. Jesus came to complete the law, to give the highest understanding of the law, the next step for the Judaic people. And he revealed that next step when the Jewish clergy asked Jesus what is the most important rule. What is the highest rule. They were thinking, that perhaps they could make Jesus say something that they could hold against him, so that they could discredit him. But Jesus gave them the highest rule. He said that the rule of all rules is to “love the Lord thy God with all of your mind, all of your heart, and all of your strength.” My logic is…..that if love of God, without asking for anything in return, is the highest rule…….and……if we accept that Jesus only tells us what God wants of us…….then this is what God wants of us more than anything else. And therefore, my mind and heart tell me……we are created only for this purpose. And, that everything else that we feel we need in life will automatically be provided, if, and when, we become obedient to this instruction of Jesus. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” “Oh ye of little faith……”. But we are not ready, yet, to “Consider the lilies of the field. They work not….and yet God provides all that they need.” (paraphrase). We don’t accept these teachings. We don’t live as Jesus instructs. Because we simply don’t have enough faith yet. But at least, let us begin to understand what Jesus is teaching, to have a sense of direction, and to begin to pray for the ability to live, incrementally, by degree, according to his instruction, as Jesus himself lived among, to show by way of example, what a real spiritual life looks like. The fishermen who worked to maintain their families, were hesitant to give up their work, and Jesus said, “Let it all go and become fishers of men.”, meaning saving the souls of men. This is my understanding of a Catholic life. Amen. Thank you for our discussion, Peter
