You dont WANT to hear my story, believe me youd just belittle it or ignore it like the ones before you have. This is getting old. Has the catholic church got the url to this place? Is canadiancontent the new project for conversion?
Is Jesus the Son of God? Is He the way to God?
- Thread starter sanctus
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You dont WANT to hear my story, believe me youd just belittle it or ignore it like the ones before you have. This is getting old. Has the catholic church got the url to this place? Is canadiancontent the new project for conversion?
Arrogant nonsense and condescension, distressingly common among true believers, possibly the greatest single fault of organized religion, and deserves nothing but mockery. You have no right to make such claims. You can't prove your beliefs any more than selfactivated can, and until you can, hers are no more and no less valid than yours.
But I dont claim I can Dex. Do you know what I woke up to this morning? A cross on my doorstep. Happy Yule.
I know, but many do claim they can, which at best seems dangerously immodest to me.
Well, at least it wasn't on fire. Or I assume it wasn't; surely you'd have mentioned that?
And happy Yule to you to, my dear.
The problem with faith is that you have to believe without proof. If you have faith in something, you trusting your gut, not the facts.
The argument that "I believe the Bible is right because the BIBLE tells me it's right" is not an argument at all.
Just believe what you want. Whatever makes you sleep at night.
The argument that "I believe the Bible is right because the BIBLE tells me it's right" is not an argument at all.
Just believe what you want. Whatever makes you sleep at night.
Why would you think such a thing? Has my presence been that intolerable here? Have I been that unkind? Or do you asume that m_levesque speaks somehow for all Catholics?
Thank You Gonzo
I get the feeling I have to stick up for myself and thats just not true. My Sis is Catholic and she's the true posterchild for christianity. I just had a nice chat and she reminds me how far Ive grown since Ive started walking this path. Its nice to hear people like you and Dex saying the same thing Brightest Blessings
Happy Yule
Christians say that Jesus is the only way to God because Jesus Himself said He was the only way to God. It is Jesus' claim, not our invention. Consider these verses where Christ eliminates alternative ways to God: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me" (John 14:6). "For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8:24).
Christ's apostles later affirmed His claim: "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved, " Peter says in Acts 4:12. Paul writes "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). It is not arrogant for Christians to make such an exclusive claim since we are only relaying what Jesus taught and being faithful to what Jesus told us to do (Matt. 28:19). If we come to understand why Jesus is the only way, we will see that it is not unfair for Him to make such claims.
But to those who don't believe the Bible to be true, how do you argue your point? What concrete proof is there that Jesus is the only way to heaven? If you dont believe in the Bible, a Bible quote isn't going to convince anyone.
Followers in other religions argue that their beliefs are the one true faith. You cant argue religion because it's a personal choice. Would you ever leave Christianity? Probably not, and no one should try to convert you. You've made your choice and thats good. Others believe what they want and no one should try to convert them.
Followers in other religions argue that their beliefs are the one true faith. You cant argue religion because it's a personal choice. Would you ever leave Christianity? Probably not, and no one should try to convert you. You've made your choice and thats good. Others believe what they want and no one should try to convert them.
Do you believe that by stating Jesus is the only way to God, I am attempting convert anyone? Can not a Christian hold this opinion and not be vilified for doing so? Everyone must make their own choice as to what to do about the claims Jesus made. That is not my decision to make for anyone. Jesus most certainly claimed to be the only way we could reach God. I did not state this, I only accept it as true for I accept His word as true.
Son of God Brings Fullness of Salvation
Author:
Pope John Paul II
1. In the programmatic speech Jesus gave in the synagogue of Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry, he applied to himself the prophecy of Isaiah in which the Messiah appears as the one sent to proclaim "release to the captives" (Lk 4:18; cf. Is 61:1-2).
Jesus comes to offer us a salvation which, although primarily a liberation from sin, also involves the totality of our being with its deepest needs and aspirations. Christ frees us from this burden and threat and opens the way to the complete fulfilment of our destiny.
2. Sin, Jesus reminds us in the Gospel, puts man in a state of slavery: "Truly, truly I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin" (Jn 8:34).
Jesus' listeners think of freedom primarily in external terms, proudly relying on the privilege of being the people of the Covenant: "We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one" (ibid., v. 33). Jesus is anxious to draw their attention to another more basic freedom, threatened not so much from the outside as from the snares found in the human heart itself. Whoever is oppressed by the dominating, destructive power of sin cannot accept Jesus' message, much less his person, the only source of true freedom: "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (ibid., v. 36). It is only the Son of God who, by communicating his divine life, can make men share in his filial freedom.
Jesus communicates divine love to each person
3. The liberation offered by Christ removes, in addition to sin, the obstacles preventing friendship and a covenant relationship with God. From this standpoint it is a reconciliation. Paul wrote to the Christians of Corinth: "God ... through Christ reconciled us to himself" (2 Cor 5:18). This reconciliation is obtained by the sacrifice of the Cross. From it flows that peace which consists in the fundamental agreement of the human will with the divine.
This peace not only affects relations with God, but also concerns relations between human beings. Christ "is our peace", because he unites all who believe in him, reconciling them "to God in one body" (cf. Eph 2:14-16).
4. It is comforting to think that Jesus does not limit himself to freeing the heart from the prison of selfishness, but communicates divine love to each person. At the Last Supper he gives the new commandment which must characterize the community he founded: "Love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34; 15:12). The newness of this precept of love consists in the words: "as I have loved you". The "as" points to the Teacher as the model who must be imitated by his disciples, but at the same time it points to the origin or source of mutual love in him. Christ communicates to his disciples the power to love as he loved, he raises their love to the superior level of his own, and urges them to tear down the barriers that divide people.
His desire to put an end to all discrimination and exclusion can be powerfully seen in the Gospel. He overcomes the obstacles preventing contact with lepers, who are subjected to a painful segregation. He violates the customs and rules which tend to isolate those considered "sinners". He does not accept the prejudices which put women in an inferior position, but accepts them among his followers and has them serve his kingdom.
The disciples must imitate his example. The entry of God's love into human hearts is expressed in a special way in the obligation to love our enemies: "I say to you. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mt 5:44-45).
5. Starting from the heart, the salvation brought by Jesus is extended to the various areas of human life: spiritual and physical, personal and social. By defeating sin with his Crucifixion, Christ inaugurates a movement of integral liberation. In his public life he himself heals the sick, frees people from demons and alleviates every kind of suffering, thereby showing a sign of God's kingdom. He tells the disciples to do the same when they preach the Gospel (cf. Mt 10:8; Lk 9:2; 10:9).
How rich and deep is the salvation Christ brings
If not by miracles, which depend on divine consent, then certainly by works of fraternal charity and the commitment to promoting justice, Christ's disciples are called to make an active contribution to eliminating the causes of suffering which humiliate and sadden man. It is, of course, impossible for pain to be entirely overcome in this way. On every human being's path the anguish of death remains. But everything receives new light from the paschal mystery. Suffering endured with love and united to Christ's bears fruits of salvation: it becomes "salvific pain". Even death, if faced with faith, takes on the reassuring aspect of a passage to eternal life, in expectation of the resurrection of the flesh. We can thus understand how rich and deep is the salvation brought by Christ. He came to save not only every person, but also the whole person.
To the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, the Holy Father said:
I greet the students of the Spyken Classical School from Lund, Sweden, and the various groups of university students from Japan. I welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially those from England, Northern Ireland, Australia, Japan, Sweden and the United States of America. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke the blessings of almighty God.
© L'Osservatore Romano
Sometimes people say "It may be true for you, but it is not true for me." But simply believing something cannot make it true. We believe something because it is true, not to make it true. People used to believe that the earth was flat, but that did not make it flat; it was still round. Jesus' statement in John 14:6, "No one comes to the Father, but through Me," is a universal truth. It applies to everyone, even if they do not believe it. And since Jesus is God and rose from the dead, He has the authority to say this.
ht, which is the response of memory to challenge. If I see that, and I want to find out how to end thinking, what am I to do? Surely, I must through self-knowledge, be aware of the whole process of my thinking. I must see that every thought, however subtle, however lofty, or however ignoble, stupid, has its roots in the known, in memory. If I see that very clearly, then the mind, when confronted with an immense problem, is capable of saying, "I do not know," because it has no answer."Is Jesus the son of God? Is He the way to God ?
I don't know.
A common belief today is that God will accept people no matter what they believe, as long as they are sincere. Sincerity, however, cannot determ ine whether something is true. It is possible to be sincerely wrong, because faith is only as good as its object. Several years ago a nurse in a large hospital changed an oxygen tank for one of her patients. She sincerely believed that there was oxygen in that tank, but the next nurse to check on the patient found him dead. The tank had been wrongly labeled at the warehouse and contained nitrogen, not oxygen. This nurse was sincere and had a lot of faith in that tank, but the nitrogen still had terrible consequences for her patient.
To further illustrate that faith is only as good as its object, let's say that I put all of my trust into a potted plant to teach me calculus. Will I learn calculus from this plant? No, because it is the wrong object. In the same way, a person can not get to heaven by trusting in religion or good works, because that is trusting in the wrong object--these things cannot pay the penalty for our sin. Only Jesus can.
Lastly, we must always remember that people of other religions can be saved, but not by their religion. If they come to Jesus, He will save them. The invitation is open to all.
Something is wrong with the human race. We all sense it. Things aren't the way they should be. Not in the world. Not in our neighbours. Not in ourselves.
We aren't as kind, as generous, or as loving as we should be. We do things we shouldn't. We are selfish, arrogant, sometimes even cruel. We use other people for our own ends. We fall short even of our own low standards.
The Bible has a word for this: sin.
Sin is a constant of the human condition. It's all around us. It's inside us, too. We are all sinners. Sometimes our sins are written large, like adultery or murder. Sometimes they are buried in a cutting glance. But they're always there.
We sense that things shouldn't be this way, that there must have been a time when things were right in the world. And there was such a time.
When God first made man, he made him perfect, able to live and love as he should, free from sin and sin's worst consequence, which is death. But our first parents turned away from God, and the human race hasn't been right since.
Sin is a violation of the way things should be, a violation of a fundamental law. That law was designed by God to make us happy. Think of how it would be if everyone in the world lived up to that law.
Unfortunately, we all turn away from God's law. In doing so, we turn away from him. If we don't come back to God, we will be separated from him forever. But we are caught in a cycle of sin. Try as we might, we can't break free. Not on our own.
God has not abandoned us, because God is love. He loves the world he made, and he loves us, broken though we are.
God loves us so much that he sent his only Son to become one of us and to save the human race.
His Son was born in the village of Bethlehem two thousand years ago. He grew up to become the most important person in history: Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ.
In his ministry, Jesus travelled the hills of Galilee and Judea. He taught the word of God, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and even raised the dead. In every way, he demonstrated God's love for us and his desire to heal us spiritually as well as physically.
Jesus opened the way for us to have eternal life.
For Jesus, the way was a costly one. He travelled the road of sorrows, and it ended with his death on a cross. Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us because his death would enable us to escape from our sins and to live with God forever.
Though he was God in the flesh, Jesus let himself be whipped and spat on and crowned with thorns. He let himself be crucified, with nails driven through his hands and feet. He offered his life as an act of love for us--an act so perfect, so pure, and so valuable that it paid for the sins of the whole world.
This was something only God could do. No matter what we might do to atone for our sins, we are merely finite creatures and never could pay for our offenses against the infinite holiness of God. But God could pay for them-- and, because he loves us, he did.
After the Crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead. The Resurrection serves as a sign of what is waiting for all who turn to God. One day Jesus will return, and those who have loved God will experience their own glorious resurrection, the overthrow of death, and eternal life in the love of God.
God respects our freedom to choose. He gave man free will, and if anyone chooses to spend eternity apart from God, he will let him do so. The question is what each of us will do. What will you choose?
Will you choose sin and separation? A life of selfishness, greed, and anger? A life of bitterness, frustration, even despair?
Or will you choose to become what you should be? Will you choose to embrace God's love (even through the carrying of your own cross), to receive his forgiveness and healing, and to live as he made you to live--the only way you can be truly happy?
If you choose the latter, you must become a follower of Christ, a Christian. To do this, you must repent of your sins, believe in Christ, and be baptized. God will enter your life and fill you with his Holy Spirit.
Part of being a Christian is belonging to Christ's Church. Jesus founded a Church to care for and guide us as we make our way through life. It is a Church full of saints and sinners, but it is also the source of grace and true teaching.
To help his Church endure, Jesus chose a leader for it: the apostle Peter. He made Peter the rock on which he built his Church, and for two thousand years the Church has been led by the popes, the successors of Peter.
Since the early centuries, this original Church has been called the Catholic Church. Catholic means "universal." The Church got this name because it was meant as the spiritual home for all men.
Over time there arose many offshoots, but you need to join the one Church that Jesus founded. He founded it for you, to take care of you and your spiritual needs, and it is the one he promised to guide and to preserve against the gates of hell.
We aren't as kind, as generous, or as loving as we should be. We do things we shouldn't. We are selfish, arrogant, sometimes even cruel. We use other people for our own ends. We fall short even of our own low standards.
The Bible has a word for this: sin.
Sin is a constant of the human condition. It's all around us. It's inside us, too. We are all sinners. Sometimes our sins are written large, like adultery or murder. Sometimes they are buried in a cutting glance. But they're always there.
We sense that things shouldn't be this way, that there must have been a time when things were right in the world. And there was such a time.
When God first made man, he made him perfect, able to live and love as he should, free from sin and sin's worst consequence, which is death. But our first parents turned away from God, and the human race hasn't been right since.
Sin is a violation of the way things should be, a violation of a fundamental law. That law was designed by God to make us happy. Think of how it would be if everyone in the world lived up to that law.
Unfortunately, we all turn away from God's law. In doing so, we turn away from him. If we don't come back to God, we will be separated from him forever. But we are caught in a cycle of sin. Try as we might, we can't break free. Not on our own.
God has not abandoned us, because God is love. He loves the world he made, and he loves us, broken though we are.
God loves us so much that he sent his only Son to become one of us and to save the human race.
His Son was born in the village of Bethlehem two thousand years ago. He grew up to become the most important person in history: Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ.
In his ministry, Jesus travelled the hills of Galilee and Judea. He taught the word of God, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and even raised the dead. In every way, he demonstrated God's love for us and his desire to heal us spiritually as well as physically.
Jesus opened the way for us to have eternal life.
For Jesus, the way was a costly one. He travelled the road of sorrows, and it ended with his death on a cross. Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us because his death would enable us to escape from our sins and to live with God forever.
Though he was God in the flesh, Jesus let himself be whipped and spat on and crowned with thorns. He let himself be crucified, with nails driven through his hands and feet. He offered his life as an act of love for us--an act so perfect, so pure, and so valuable that it paid for the sins of the whole world.
This was something only God could do. No matter what we might do to atone for our sins, we are merely finite creatures and never could pay for our offenses against the infinite holiness of God. But God could pay for them-- and, because he loves us, he did.
After the Crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead. The Resurrection serves as a sign of what is waiting for all who turn to God. One day Jesus will return, and those who have loved God will experience their own glorious resurrection, the overthrow of death, and eternal life in the love of God.
God respects our freedom to choose. He gave man free will, and if anyone chooses to spend eternity apart from God, he will let him do so. The question is what each of us will do. What will you choose?
Will you choose sin and separation? A life of selfishness, greed, and anger? A life of bitterness, frustration, even despair?
Or will you choose to become what you should be? Will you choose to embrace God's love (even through the carrying of your own cross), to receive his forgiveness and healing, and to live as he made you to live--the only way you can be truly happy?
If you choose the latter, you must become a follower of Christ, a Christian. To do this, you must repent of your sins, believe in Christ, and be baptized. God will enter your life and fill you with his Holy Spirit.
Part of being a Christian is belonging to Christ's Church. Jesus founded a Church to care for and guide us as we make our way through life. It is a Church full of saints and sinners, but it is also the source of grace and true teaching.
To help his Church endure, Jesus chose a leader for it: the apostle Peter. He made Peter the rock on which he built his Church, and for two thousand years the Church has been led by the popes, the successors of Peter.
Since the early centuries, this original Church has been called the Catholic Church. Catholic means "universal." The Church got this name because it was meant as the spiritual home for all men.
Over time there arose many offshoots, but you need to join the one Church that Jesus founded. He founded it for you, to take care of you and your spiritual needs, and it is the one he promised to guide and to preserve against the gates of hell.