How can we get rid of our sinfulness?
- Thread starter sanctus
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The two commandments Jesus gave us,
Love the Lord with Your, entire being, and love your neighbour as yourself, contains everything in the 10 Commnandments.
For to love God, means being obedient and giving over to him all
that we have.
To Love your neighbour means to place them in a place of importance as high as you place yourself.
"God can not be grasped, except through love," as the author of the Cloud of Unknowing says.
Hey. Just because I don't believe that my fantasies should tell people how to live, doesn't mean I'm without them.
The same way I can argue against myths like faeries, gods, and trolls: I can't see what they consist of either.
I'm glad for you. My heart pumps blood. Anything else, I don't need it to do.
I may be somewhat naive, but I think the Sacraments are the mechanisms for which God confers His grace. Each of the Sacraments has its unique purpose. Baptism, to bless an infant or new member into the family of Christ. First Eucharist, the most important, to have the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ within the Tabernacle of our human body. First Confession, to introduce us to the Scripturally based method for the forgiveness of sins. Confirmation, our opportunity to choose the Faith and to be blessed by the Holy Spirit as servants of the Most High. Matrimony, bonding two souls as one. Holy Orders, the blessing of those called to do the Lord's work. and Last Rites, to bless a person as they prepare to be in the presense of the Lord. Each of these outwardly signs is the conference of God's grace upon us. I think that the Lord could just provide the grace mystically, but I think He wants us to know that we have recieved that grace through the Sacraments he established for us.
I would gladly choose to hear the words, "My son, you are absolved of your sins, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Go, in the peace of Christ," over praying for forgiveness silently, waiting for some sign to know that God has forgiven me. I trust in the method Christ instructed His apostles.
I would gladly choose to recieve the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Lord into my body at the Sacrifice of the Mass over the thought that Christ was only acting symbolically. It's a difficult stretch for me to think that the person I hold to be the Son of God, who could walk on water and perform so many healing miracles, couldn't tranform a piece of bread and cup of wine into the most Holy Eucharist, or give me His body and blood as the way to eternal life. He's God; He can do anything. So, how can I, a errant human being, deny that He could this but couldn't do that? So, I will trust in Him, in the Church He established for me, and the Sacraments He designed to grace my soul; so that, when I die, I can be with Him in Heaven. Sounds like a difficult path to follow, but I will.
But AJ, if you do not belong to the Catholic Church, you are not of God. You have renounced God because you have renounced the true Church and faith.
Jesus is my God, for He purchased my soul with His blood. He is the Captain of my salvation.
He owns my heart and soul and no human establishment can touch it.
Peace>>>AJ
All that is what you have been thought and in which is by me OK. I too learned it while growing up.
Venture out of that envelope and see if you can stand alone. I have and found the true grace of God in my life in Jesus my Lord and Savior, my Redeemer and friend in whom alone will I trust.
Peace>>>AJ
That being so, do not ignore all that your "friend" teaches, namely that you cannot be saved unless you partake of the Eucharist from the hands of the priesthood He instituted.
Frankly, I rather dislike this idea of Jesus as "friend". It flies against reason. He is not my friend, He is my Lord.
You see the problem AJ, you want God and/or Christ, but you would deny the full teachings of Him as they do not suit your personal preference, and here we are with the eternal "ME" I have mentioned in previous posts to this thread.
Jesus started the Church, not man, and this too is Scriptural. Jesus also instructs us to attend the Mass, to be in fellowship and teaching position from the Church. Further, He was quite clear that if you do not receive the Sacraments, you will not be saved.
Salvation, my friend, is not a personal interpretation. One must ascribe and adhere to the teachings of the faith in His Church to be a full Christian.All too often, private interpretations of the Bible lead to non-Christian teachings.
How about we let God sit in judgement on AJ and we each worry on our own walk in faith?
Your post was spot on my friend. Personal interpretations of the faith are dangerous to the Body of Christ and reflect not God, but human pride and arrogance. There is this common belief that one can be a Christian and in doing so, determine exactly what one will or will not accept of the teachings of the faith as expressed through the Church.
Just yesterday, for example, I was in conversation with a young lady who went on and on about those parts of the faith she did not accept. After listening to her rattle on dismissing this or that doctrine, I informed her that whatever she was, she certainly was NOT Catholic.
She grew quite offended and insisted she was. I pointed out to her that one cannot claim to be a member of the Church and reject doctrines of the Church.
Because, if you accepted Christ, you would realize that it is His teaching that we bring forward our issues to Him.It would not be a burden, but rather a duty to perform.
This is actually a good psychological tool to emply, if you will, for often in freeing ourselves of our burdens we actually free ourselves of the pain they often create within our selves. BUT, first we must open our hearts and acknowledge these burdens, both to clear our minds and to see them for what exactly they are.
so if we are going to be free we have to look to god..what do you mean its a good pyschological tool? whats that have to do with god?
anybody is capable of anything. just because we can do it doesnt really mean we should. or more importantly that we would want to.
talloola;762290. [I said:
my point was that since the catholic church was first on the block, it stands to reason they would be the right ones. now im not catholic and i dont believe everything any church says, but i do mean that if i had two points of view on the christian faith, one protestant from a church only 100 years old or so and one from the catholic church logically the catholic one would probably be the more accuarate. not that id necessarily agree, but logically yhey should know better than any protestant church about the christian faith
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I believe in the same God that Sanctus believes in, yet we are from different points of view.
He chooses the church to honor God, and I choose to honor Him without being a member to any organization.
But we both honor Him from the heart, which is the second nature in us.
aj, i mean no disrespect, but sanctus and you do not seem on the same page, let alone believing in the same god. to me it seems like you are pulling your theology out of the air instead of relying on studying and facts. i would bet money a priest would be a bit more on the ball about faith questions and stuff.
I believe in the same God that Sanctus believes in, yet we are from different points of view.
He chooses the church to honor God, and I choose to honor Him without being a member to any organization.
But we both honor Him from the heart, which is the second nature in us.
aj, i mean no disrespect, but sanctus and you do not seem on the same page, let alone believing in the same god. to me it seems like you are pulling your theology out of the air instead of relying on studying and facts. i would bet money a priest would be a bit more on the ball about faith questions and stuff.
I do introspection for that. Mostly end up sorting it out by thinking it through; sometimes with the odd comment from a pal or someone, but mostly myself. If it's anger management I need, I go out and plink at pinecones, shovel snow, split wood or something. Works like a charm.