Jacob used violence to secure his blessing.
Jesus taught the same (Matthew 11:12)
Many Christians cannot comprehend these truths, but clearly you do.
My agnostic friend says: "I don't need it." - How would you respond?
- Thread starter St. SteVen
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Jesus taught the same (Matthew 11:12)
Many Christians cannot comprehend these truths, but clearly you do.
Firstly, there is always a relationship among men, even if it does not appear to exist: that is, the origin from One only Creator. If later the children of the Only Father have become separated, the tie of their origin has not changed, as the blood of a son who disowns his father's house does not change. In Cain's veins there was Adam's blood also after the crime which compelled him to roam in the wide world. And in the veins of the children born after Eve's grief, weeping over her murdered son, there was the same blood that boiled in the veins of far away Cain. The same, and for a purer reason, applies to the equality of the children of the Creator. Are they lost, exiled, apostates, guilty, speaking languages different from ours, do they believe in faiths which we loathe, are they corrupted by marrying heathens? Yes? But their souls came from One God, and they are always the same, even if they are torn, lost, exiled, corrupt... Even if they are the cause of grief to the God Father, they are still souls created by Him. The good children of a very good Father must have good feelings. Good towards the Father, good towards brothers, whatever they may have become, because they are children of the same Father. Good towards the Father by endeavouring to console Him for His grief, taking His children back to Him, as they are the cause of His grief, either because they are sinners or because they are apostates or pagans. Good towards them because they have souls created by the Father, enclosed in guilty, sullied bodies and have become dull through wrong religions, but are always souls of God equal to our own.
There is no one, not even the idolater most remote from God because of his idolatrous religion, not even the most pagan of pagans or the most atheistic man, who is completely devoid of some trace of his origin.
Those who have gone wrong in getting detached from our just Religion should remember there is something still alive inside. And it is their duty to blow the dying fire, to foster the spark still existing by the will of God, so that it may overwhelm carnal love. That love ends with death, but their souls do not.
And those who see, and at times are horrified at seeing the hybrid marriage of a Christian with a man or woman of different race and faith, remember that it is your duty and obligation to assist the mislaid brother or sister charitably, so that they may find their way back to the Father. This is the new holy Law, agreeable to the Lord: that the followers of the Redeemer may redeem whoever is to be redeemed, so that God may smile because of the souls that go back to the Father's House and the sacrifice of the Redeemer may not be made unfruitful and mean.
To leaven dough the housewife takes a little of the dough of the previous week. Oh! only a tiny bit of the whole mass! And she buries it in the dough, and protects it from harmful draughts in the favourable warmth of the house. Do likewise yourselves, you followers of Good, and you, too, who have gone away from the Father and from His Kingdom. Let the former give a tiny part of their yeast to support and reinforce the latter, who will add it to the particle of justice still existing in them. And both of you, protect the new yeast from the hostile draughts of Evil in the warmth of Charity, according to what it is in you: your mistress, or a persistent, although now languishing survivor. Support with the warmth of your homes, with the faith of the same religion what is fermenting in the heart of a mislaid co-religionist, so that she may feel that she is still loved, she is still a daughter of Zion and a sister of yours, and her good will may materialise and the Kingdom of Heaven may come to all souls. (PV3)
Secondly, to long for God is the proof that God is replying to your love, that He is your friend, Who calls you, invites you and wants you. God is incapable of remaining insensible to the desire of a creature, because He, the Lord and Creator of all creatures, excited that desire in that heart. He excited it because He loved with privileged love the soul that is now longing for Him. The desire of God always precedes the desire of the creature, because He is Most Perfect and therefore His love is by far more eager and ardent than the love of the creature.
God is an abyss of mercy, which human intelligence cannot understand. But what the intelligence of man cannot understand, the intelligence of love, the love of the spirit does. It understands and confidently penetrates the mystery, which is God, and the mystery of the relationship of the soul with God. Enter. Enter, because God wants it. (PV2)
Thirdly, how good the Lord is! When I contemplate the limitless goodness of God, I feel my heart dissolving with gratitude and love. And also with pain, for I see how few see how good the Lord is.
Many, in order to call Him "good", want outstanding things from Him, but then proclaim Him to be not good if they are very slightly stricken by something unpleasant. But He is always "good"; He is a real "Dad" for His faithful children, and He is also good to those less faithful as well, on whom He lavishes boundless treasures of patient love capable of waiting for repentance.
But with His faithful children, then! With those who place their hand in His hand as a Father and proceed that way, looking at Him with the holy, loving pride of children who love their begetter, oh, with those what a wonder, what perfection in goodness God works! He displays moving acts of providence, at all hours, in all events. He turns not only the needs, but also the minimal desires of His faithful little children into realities and gives us these realities as gifts, as rewards, just like a good "Dad," to make us happy.
I think of that Gospel sentence: "No one who abandons house and relatives out of love for Me will fail to receive a hundredfold now, and in the future, eternal life"; and the other: "Give, and it will be given to you-a good, full, well-shaken, and overflowing measure will be poured into your lap."
Yes, it is really like that. To those placing God above all else and making God their center and work for the Lord their goal, God grants not only the salary proportionate to what they have done, but a "hundredfold", to the point of the superfluous, in an overflowing measure, for God is so great a Lord that He can cover His faithful servants with treasures beyond measure, and He is such a good Father that it is a joy for Him, in the joy of His Essence, to give joy to His creatures... Nor can His treasures as a King and Father risk being consumed, for, as from an inexhaustible fount, there cascades from within the Eternal Triad a continuous flow of power turning into graces for those who love Him. (N43)
May God reward you.
God is also where He seems not to be. Is He not worshipped in Truth, or is He not worshipped at all? But He is there, all the same.
Who has given life to the far-off Patagonian, to the Chinese, and to the idolatrous Africans? Who keeps the atheist alive so that he will have time and the opportunity to find faith? The One who is and whom nothing can harm. The presence of life in creatures and the origination of all things are the witness to which every living being must bow his head, even if wishing to deny it.
Now, to lead distant souls—who feel Him by instinct, but do not know Him and do not serve Him in Truth—to God is the greatest form of mercy. Jesus said, "Take the Gospel to all creatures". But that command—do you think He gave it to those twelve alone and to their direct descendants in the priesthood? No. He wants every truly Christian soul to be an apostolic soul.
Leading souls to Jesus increases His glory, but it also increases the glory of the good and faithful servant who by his sacrifice has attained the growth of His flock. The saint you love procured more than a hundred missionaries, but her glory in Heaven is a hundred times greater because she experienced the perfection of mercy on earth and consumed herself to give the true Life to idolaters and sinners.
You may say to Jesus, "But, Lord, when someone has sinned against You and remains in sin, he is dead to the life of grace". It is true. But Jesus is the Resurrector, and in the face of the tears of the one crying over those dead to grace He radiates out His infinite power.
Three, the dead in the Gospel called back to life because Jesus was unable to resist the tears of a father, a mother, a sister. The victim and apostolic souls must be sisters, mothers, and fathers of those poor ones dead to grace and come to Him with the corpses of the unfortunate in their arms, upon their arms, as their most burdensome cross, and suffer for them until He says the words of Life. (N43)
Thanks for your post. Well said. (though rather long)
On another topic, a poster replied: "The very elect can not be deceived."
How would you respond?
My whole response to the poster is in the next post.
[ cc: @Carl Emerson
Here was my whole response.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would say that no one in the Elect has it all right.
Everyone is deceived in some aspect.
The Elect (the Body of Christ) spans all denominations (churches).
Doctrine can differ substantially. A relationship with God is not determined by doctrine.
We don't have to have our doctrine align with an arbitrary status quo to be in a right relationship with God.
What do you think it is about the resurrection that would correct disarray?
The church in the book of Acts appeared to me to be in disarray.
They were certainly misreading the Holy Spirit in terms of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Samaria is a great example. Obviously the Elect were leaning heavily on fleshly form to minister.
Why hadn't the baptized believers in Samaria received the Holy Spirit?
Why hadn't the baptized believers in Samaria received the Holy Spirit?
Why hadn't the baptized believers in Samaria received the Holy Spirit? Just to be clear, I do not question whether the believers in Samaria had received the "indwelling" Spirit when they believed. They were missing something else. Acts 8:14-17 NIV When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that...
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