Love Mother Miriam. She's a jewish Catholic nun, btw. And for some of the comments here, I have to say that Catholic bashing does nothing but make the devil laugh and get what he wants...which is having Christianity (the body of Christ) divided. Let's focus on what unites us, not what divides us. Of course there are differences in beliefs. But they are minor in comparison to the big picture. We are God's children. We must stand united to defeat the common enemy. Amen?
The thing is, from the Catholic perspective they aren't minor differences.
They matter significantly and if you don't agree on certain doctrines you are at risk for Hell.
To assert that these are minor differences is to presuppose a Protestant theology.
On the other hand, Christ tells us not to squabble over opinions, and that if someone is not against us, they are with us.
Then again, if I think Christ instituted the office of Pope, and you are against the Pope, and I additionally believe "us" to refer to Catholicism which I see as the fullness of the faith, are you really not against us?
In the end, and like you say, if people aren't militant about it, I'm happy to simply have faith that God will lead all of us who believe in Him to what is right.
It's not god, it's Q and the people. I saw a clip of a toddler falling off the side of a stairway and being saved by his mother and someone said god was with that child that day. No. His mother was with him. We have the power to do great things within us. No imaginary god needed.
Right. That power is already within you. It's yours to use. God does choose when and where to intercede on your behalf. That's why I also mentioned Job.
Go ahead and move a mountain through your own power. You can't.
You unbelieving and perverse generation. This must mean that if you cannot go out and lay hands on the sick to heal them then you have no faith and God has abandoned you entirely.
We can't move mountains on our own.
You are ideologically confused. We as Humans can absolutely move mountains. We do this all the time. Do you think the passage means that with enough faith you can in an act of magic literally pick up a mountain and put it down somewhere else? Why would you think that?
The point of the verse is to establish that we can do nothing great without God.
You are born and he gave you a soul. What more do you want, him to literally come down from heaven and guide the details of your life for you? How sad.
Right. That power is already within you. It's yours to use. God does choose when and where to intercede on your behalf. That's why I also mentioned Job.
It's God's to use, as evidenced by the fact it only works when He intercedes on our behalf.
You unbelieving and perverse generation. This must mean that if you cannot go out and lay hands on the sick to heal them then you have no faith and God has abandoned you entirely.
No, it just means that it only works when God deems it fit to work. The power is God's, to be employed by our faith, as His will decrees.
You are ideologically confused. We as Humans can absolutely move mountains. We do this all the time. Do you think the passage means that with enough faith you can in an act of magic literally pick up a mountain and put it down somewhere else? Why would you think that?
You are literarily confused. I tried to make clear in my final sentence that I understood the meaning. All things are possible with God. This means we can do great things, but only through faith in God are these things possible. As such, all glory to God.
You are born and he gave you a soul. What more do you want, him to literally come down from heaven and guide the details of your life for you? How sad.
No, I'm quite happy that God enables me to do great things. Without Him, nothing good would be possible (in fact, nothing would be possible since He created everything).
A lot of things are written down that are false. Just because it is ancient does not make it true. Do you subscribe to hinduism, islam, etc.? They are just as commanding and sure of their self as the hebrews and their gentile adherents.
You ignore all the people who noticed and conveniently enough declare them to be biased.
It's fully retarded to think that these people made up these claims only to be fucking executed for them. People don't die for lies that they just make up on a whim.
This Roman Colosseum fact is tricky because it’s true, but not for the reason you might think: Believe it or not, we still have no clear evidence that Christians were executed inside Rome’s Colosseum for being Christian. Undoubtedly, some Christians were killed in the Colosseum, but as far as we can tell right now, their religion was incidental and they were simply part of the normal spectacles. Roman history has the annoying habit of changing as new discoveries are made, but for right now the evidence just does not support the sort of mass Christian martyrs that popular culture has made commonplace in people’s imaginations. We do, however, know that Christians were killed in other places like the private circus of Nero situated not far from the present-day Basilica of St. Peter. We also know what Christians thought of the blood sports – interestingly, they did not feel compassion for the gladiators killing each other. They thought instead that it was the public who suffered the most moral and spiritual damage from attending such violent spectacle; a belief surprisingly close to that of the pagan writers. Only later did Christians begin to feel compassion for those actually fighting in the arena.
The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the best sourced pieces of ancient history we have. From both secular and non-secular sources.
And that sounds like right now. Plenty of people believe a bunch of Pagan nonsense while being supposed Christians. And plenty of people struggle with compassion because of our fallen nature. Curious how the Bible is completely correct on that and knows the human condition perfectly. And also curious how this supposed problem was quickly corrected as Christianity was finding its feet. I mean, what would you expect from a bunch of Pagan converts? That they instantly understand the depth of their new religion?
You're the one assuming that they ARE a fairy tale without evidence that would suggest the historical accounts are false. That the apostles were killed for their beliefs is well sourced. Certainly better sourced than most of the other shit people take as fact.
Q said if you are religious, pray. Unfortunately millions of Q followers feel they need something to hang their hat on other than the power of their own mind. They need an imaginary middleman to focus their intent. Q also championed Free Thought which is incompatible with faith:
"Free thought" is a philosophical viewpoint which holds that positions regarding truth should be formed on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism, rather than authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma.
And what sort of “great things” have you been able to pull off with the power of your own mind?
“Free thought” applied to the experience of my own life leads me toward belief in God. What do you think of that? Is someone’s “free thought” only correct when it agrees with yours? How dogmatic of you.
I have saved a loved one's life countless times. One time I had a feeling I should go check on her and borrowed someone's car to do it. When I got there she was collapsing onto the floor as I arrived.
I think we all have the capacity to be ultra geniuses smarter than the smartest person now alive but our intelligence is suppressed. What you think of as a guardian angel is the ghost of your higher self getting through when you really need it.
Evolution is stupid and missing the one crucial piece of evidence that proves it can even theoretically happen; spontaneous generation of new genetic information through genetic mutation, as opposed to a reshuffling of the already present information through the genetic mutation.
I'm not sure that is correct. If it is there could be a lot of things left though. I don't think it's necessarily one thing or the other. That's a very small-minded outlook.
I'm perfectly open to an alternative, but I've as of yet seen none that make any sense and aren't just total speculation themselves.
And I find it absolutely asinine to make up some fanciful story of the 4th dimensional aliens that seeded us on Earth when the obvious answer is God did it. The aliens shit, as an example, is just cope to explain away God because you really don't want it to be God.
Like, sure, I could make up some really great movie plot line too, but how the fuck is that better than the explanation that theologians, scientists, philosopher, etc. have been pondering for thousands of years? Many of whom conclude that, yes, God did do it.
And it is, as far as I currently know, 100% correct. Whenever this question about evolution is fielded, it is dodged, in spite of the fact that it is the single most important part of the theory.
Atheism is a philosophically destitute laughingstock.
There is no basis for the existence of anything on a philosophical or scientific level other than God.
If you think that faith and reason aren't compatible, it's because you don't know what faith means.
And the absolute irony of you saying that free thought means people should not believe in God. This thought doesn't feel very free, it feels more like I'm being railroaded into agreeing with your totally unproven philosophical presuppositions about reality.
I don't care what the communist fags who run the dictionaries say today. Give me one from a dictionary that existed pre-Marx if you want to play the "official definition" game. Preferably pre-enlightenment to see how people who had the strongest faith in God viewed the concept.
Ultimately, though, faith and reason are intrinsically linked. For example, you have faith that tomorrow you won't get hit by a meteor. You have this faith because of your ability to reason about how likely this is. But ultimately, it's possible that you could simply get wiped out by a meteor that everybody missed.
You also have faith in the fact that reality exists, and you aren't just a brain in a jar imagining everything. Or maybe you don't, but then I'd simply question your ability to reason.
Ultimately, you have faith in your philosophical presuppositions that suggest that God isn't required for the universe to exist.
We are made for faith. If you didn't have faith in anything, you wouldn't have faith that the very ground beneath your feet really exists and you would be terrified every step you took of simply falling through the Earth until you reached the center. But you don't fear that because you have faith based on evidence that the ground is solid.
The modern inversion of reality is that our senses are untrustworthy and that our mind is all we can trust. This is delusional. When you see light bending in water, your eyes are lying to you, they are showing you exactly what happens. It's your brain that is limited and unable to comprehend refraction. And our limited brain requires us to have faith because we don't have perfect knowledge and can't know things for certain based on "evidence".
How should I know if existence truly exists? We have an experience of reality that overlaps with others but varies widely. That's all I know. Our brains seem to synthesize a reality overlay based on what we think is there. That is why people believe in the mandela effect. They gloss over the details of life. Certain quirky things like the convention-breaking berenstain spelling catch them off guard because they never noticed it when they were a kid and can't believe it. I try to reduce my assumptions and simply notice what appears to be there as much as possible.
FAITH, noun [Latin fides, fido, to trust; Gr. to persuade, to draw towards any thing, to conciliate; to believe, to obey...
Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence; the judgment that what another states or testifies is the truth. I have strong faith or no faith in the testimony of a witness, or in what a historian narrates.
Seeing as you simply ignored all my logical arguments on faith, I'll try a different line of reasoning.
So what? Read number 4 in that link and tell me the problem. To have faith in God is a good thing. To take Him on faith is a great thing. Even greater than when we have hard evidence. And what do you lose by having faith? Nothing that matters, as if you're wrong, nothing really matters anyway.
As for existence, we know it exists because it is consistent for everybody. People misremembering is again a deficit of the mind, not of reality. There is not a shred of evidence on the old spelling of the bears being different, but what the Mandela Effect does is create an unfalsifiable theory that disallows contrary evidence.
I can't prove it used to be spelled a certain way, because if I pull out an old VCR, the Mandela Effect would simply state that the VCR is from the new/current timeline. Or it'd say I'm from the current timeline and the people misremember really got transported between the two. All without evidence it says these things.
This is why open-mindedness is a bad thing. It suggests that we allow total absurdities to pollute our minds for no reason other than some misguided attempt at considering all options. It's freethinking, sure, but at that point, what good does it do you? You need strong walls to protect your mind, a sturdy gate, and then you use reason to decide what to let in.
And again, everything is the same for everyone. These cases of supposed discrepancies are dishonest at best. Every single person who isn't blind can go outside at the same time, and they'll all see the same thing. It's extremely concrete, physical, solid. Go play a virtual reality game if you want an example of the opposite.
The one thing that changes what people notice is their focus, but focus does not change reality. It determines what you experience in your reality, but your reality is ultimately the same as mine, it's just that it's so vast and complex that we can focus on different things for 80 years and never overlap.
Not sure if that is true. I have seen an unexpected occurrence in a remote place when I was asleep that turned out to have actually happened that night while I was asleep.
Ironically, it's the Atheists that operate in the unknown space of "we don't how this works, so it must just be something we don't understand yet."
They're no different from a Christian saying God did it. They're presupposing that a natural explanation exists, and we presuppose that God exists and does these things.
And then, like you say, even if something can happen naturally, God can cause it to happen all the same. And to the Atheists dismay, this can't be scientifically differentiated because it's not a scientific question, it's a philosophical one.
Atoms, fusion, random explosion and retraction, endless universal cycle that always was, always is and always will be since the beginning of existence itself.
If God was behind everything, and is in control of everything, then surely he would be living with the guilt of millions of innocent deaths on his hands - Gengis Khan killed half of Asia and Europe during his reign. The socialists killed millions of innocents. Regardless of whether they were believers or non-believers - they're both equally dead. WW1, WW2, Cold War, Vietnam, Iraq 1, 9/11, Iraq 2, Afghanistan, you can keep going and going. This all-powerful cabal supposedly powered by the energy of Satan, and the all-powerful God can't do anything to stop it and humanity has been enslaved for a long time.
I get this rebuttal a lot - "God punishes people by wiping out the whole civilization" - well, then that "God" is evil. Only evil people justify genocide in the name of a good deed. Broad brush, just wipe out all of humanity because of the 1% of wicked. Even the people who believed, and did all the right things.
So evil happens because Satan influences people - and God's response to "fix things" is to wipe everyone (even those NOT affected by Satan) out? Sounds a bit cruel and evil doesn't it?
"With great power comes great responsibility"
"You wouldn't dare hold God to a human standard right?" - Wrong, you would hold God to a HIGHER standard than a mere human.
(response may be somewhat disjointed and out of order. It is what it is)
There is no all-powerful cabal.
Also, your theological understanding is pure ignorance.
God used the flood when every single person had only evil in their hearts continually. He saved the only people who were good. Then He promised to never do it again, and never did.
Satan doesn't make you do it. Sorry. In reality, people do bad things because we are all bad people. On one side good, on the other evil. We are not perfect beings.
One guy says God should smite sinners, the other guy says He shouldn't because that's "mean". Maybe, just maybe, neither guy's opinion matters and only the opinion of the being that created everything does. My ego is big, but it's not so big that I think, even on a purely conceptual level, that my opinion is more important than that of a being that allegedly created us (is that a neutral/secular enough presentation for you?).
And I can not believe there are still people out there who think the "problem of evil" is a problem for anyone other than intellectually challenged Atheists (sorry if this is harsh, but it's where I'm at). It actually baffles me. Not imposing on free will is more important than God going on the selfsame Holy Crusade that you would call evil if some would-be King tried it. God didn't make us robots, and we get ample time in our lives to repent and strive to be good. You seem to think that evil people are just evil and unsavable.
Now the real juice: Entropy disproves an endless universal cycle that always was. Something needs to exist outside of it to reboot it each time, and the minute you go outside of the universe you're no better off than someone who claims God, evidence-wise (at best, in reality you're worse off).
Matter can't be created by nothing. Nothing doesn't explode. You have no evidence. You have a faith and religion, just like we do. Or maybe more accurately, you have a philosophical presupposition just like we do. Yours that everything can come from nothing, ours that there must be an intelligent creator with a will.
And hold up, "since the beginning of existence itself"? So it's not endless. Sounds like a contradiction to me.
"Muh God is just another link in the chain", I hear you say...
No He's not. God can actually always exist because He's not bound by physics. And if you insist on it, sure, this is a faith claim. But so is anything you can claim on the origins of the universe.
It doesn't matter what you are for or not for. Not when it comes to me. I started reading Q posts on 11/2/17 and read every single one thereafter. How do you reconcile the many times Q spoke of Free Thinking and warned of the danger of dogma, etc? 'Biblical' has multiple meanings by the way: "very great; on a large scale."
Personally I’m not concerned with where you’re coming from if it’s incorrect in nature. Believe what you want, but make no mistake, the IS BIBLICAL!
Ephesians 6:12
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
1500 years of Christians weren't really Christian, I guess. You've really got it all figured out all these years later, huh? Not that you even believe any of the same things the first Protestants did, since it changes so often.
Make your point again, because as presented, all you're saying is that your view comes above that of any given priest, and that they have to be like someone you personally like to qualify as Christian. So you're the judge of who is Christian or not.
From the Catholic perspective, this is self worship, as you put your own views above that of those who God puts in place to shepherd us.
And I'd call your comment bullshit for calling anyone who disagrees with you a sheep with their eyes closed, which is pretty much what you said.
My point is that, if the Church isn't being cleaned out, maybe it's because your definition of dirty is incorrect. Maybe what you’re being convinced of is an intentional deceit by the devil to get you to forsake God's one, holy, Catholic Church.
Maybe, God realizes that His Church isn't as dirty as you think it is because He has perfect knowledge and you don't.
Yes He did. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it false.
Just because some guy 500 years ago didn't like it, doesn't make it false.
No one was Christian for 1500 years (insert historical revisionism that discredits the Church's known timeline here) I guess... give me a break.
You really do think you're the authority on scripture. A common trait among Protestants, and one I'm not too eager to show any charity towards in this case, considering your level of anti-Catholic rhetoric.
What ignorance. Nothing you said is true. I made none of those claims and am not protestant, not anti RC , no authority and claimed nothing to lead to those answers. Try reading what i wrote.
Actually it is scriptural that Jesus appointed Peter as the rock onto which to build His church, thereby appointing Peter to head the original Christian church - making Peter the first pope. And then there's the Eucharist, which Jesus instituted in the Last Supper. Catholic means universal. Other denominations spun off of the Catholic Church and followed their own interpretations and purposes.
Love Mother Miriam. She's a jewish Catholic nun, btw. And for some of the comments here, I have to say that Catholic bashing does nothing but make the devil laugh and get what he wants...which is having Christianity (the body of Christ) divided. Let's focus on what unites us, not what divides us. Of course there are differences in beliefs. But they are minor in comparison to the big picture. We are God's children. We must stand united to defeat the common enemy. Amen?
The thing is, from the Catholic perspective they aren't minor differences.
They matter significantly and if you don't agree on certain doctrines you are at risk for Hell.
To assert that these are minor differences is to presuppose a Protestant theology.
On the other hand, Christ tells us not to squabble over opinions, and that if someone is not against us, they are with us.
Then again, if I think Christ instituted the office of Pope, and you are against the Pope, and I additionally believe "us" to refer to Catholicism which I see as the fullness of the faith, are you really not against us?
In the end, and like you say, if people aren't militant about it, I'm happy to simply have faith that God will lead all of us who believe in Him to what is right.
So, Amen indeed.
If you love Jesus or not that’s all I need to know. The rest will be worked out in time
Amen! Very true!!!
I follow Mother Miriam and Love her!
Amen
It's not god, it's Q and the people. I saw a clip of a toddler falling off the side of a stairway and being saved by his mother and someone said god was with that child that day. No. His mother was with him. We have the power to do great things within us. No imaginary god needed.
It's your faith that moves mountains.
Not God. God grants you that power. That's why you are made in his image.
I’m going to need more… got a verse to back that up?
Matthew 17.
Job 1.
EDIT: Note to self. Messages enshrining the power of personal responsibility to do not work in this sub. For whatever reason.
It's God's power that moves the mountain.
Go ahead and move a mountain through your own power. You can't.
The point of the verse is that God does great things, and without Him these things are impossible. We can't move mountains on our own.
The point of the verse is to establish that we can do nothing great without God.
Right. That power is already within you. It's yours to use. God does choose when and where to intercede on your behalf. That's why I also mentioned Job.
You unbelieving and perverse generation. This must mean that if you cannot go out and lay hands on the sick to heal them then you have no faith and God has abandoned you entirely.
You are ideologically confused. We as Humans can absolutely move mountains. We do this all the time. Do you think the passage means that with enough faith you can in an act of magic literally pick up a mountain and put it down somewhere else? Why would you think that?
You are born and he gave you a soul. What more do you want, him to literally come down from heaven and guide the details of your life for you? How sad.
It's God's to use, as evidenced by the fact it only works when He intercedes on our behalf.
No, it just means that it only works when God deems it fit to work. The power is God's, to be employed by our faith, as His will decrees.
You are literarily confused. I tried to make clear in my final sentence that I understood the meaning. All things are possible with God. This means we can do great things, but only through faith in God are these things possible. As such, all glory to God.
No, I'm quite happy that God enables me to do great things. Without Him, nothing good would be possible (in fact, nothing would be possible since He created everything).
A lot of things are written down that are false. Just because it is ancient does not make it true. Do you subscribe to hinduism, islam, etc.? They are just as commanding and sure of their self as the hebrews and their gentile adherents.
Christ was executed but raised from the dead to the Glory of God the Father.
There are direct eyewitnesses to this, e.g. Peter, John, Thomas etc.
We have his burial cloth, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Es6NpxFeI
Too bad there is no evidence of that. All that amazing supernatural shit happened but no one noticed.
You can believe what you want, but it isn't cool to shit on other people's beliefs. Keep your opinions to yourself.
Don't tell me what to do.
Someone is hangry. Go grab a snack, you'll feel better.
Why not?
You ignore all the people who noticed and conveniently enough declare them to be biased.
It's fully retarded to think that these people made up these claims only to be fucking executed for them. People don't die for lies that they just make up on a whim.
But you are assuming "these people" were real and not made up characters in a fairy tale. Try doubt for a change and notice how reality opens up.
https://www.walksofitaly.com/blog/rome/roman-colosseum-facts#3_Christians_were_routinely_killed_in_the_Colosseum
This Roman Colosseum fact is tricky because it’s true, but not for the reason you might think: Believe it or not, we still have no clear evidence that Christians were executed inside Rome’s Colosseum for being Christian. Undoubtedly, some Christians were killed in the Colosseum, but as far as we can tell right now, their religion was incidental and they were simply part of the normal spectacles. Roman history has the annoying habit of changing as new discoveries are made, but for right now the evidence just does not support the sort of mass Christian martyrs that popular culture has made commonplace in people’s imaginations. We do, however, know that Christians were killed in other places like the private circus of Nero situated not far from the present-day Basilica of St. Peter. We also know what Christians thought of the blood sports – interestingly, they did not feel compassion for the gladiators killing each other. They thought instead that it was the public who suffered the most moral and spiritual damage from attending such violent spectacle; a belief surprisingly close to that of the pagan writers. Only later did Christians begin to feel compassion for those actually fighting in the arena.
The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the best sourced pieces of ancient history we have. From both secular and non-secular sources.
And that sounds like right now. Plenty of people believe a bunch of Pagan nonsense while being supposed Christians. And plenty of people struggle with compassion because of our fallen nature. Curious how the Bible is completely correct on that and knows the human condition perfectly. And also curious how this supposed problem was quickly corrected as Christianity was finding its feet. I mean, what would you expect from a bunch of Pagan converts? That they instantly understand the depth of their new religion?
You're the one assuming that they ARE a fairy tale without evidence that would suggest the historical accounts are false. That the apostles were killed for their beliefs is well sourced. Certainly better sourced than most of the other shit people take as fact.
Q believes in God and tells us to pray to God. And I think Q knows more than you about what’s going on in the world. Take your edgy atheism elsewhere.
Q said if you are religious, pray. Unfortunately millions of Q followers feel they need something to hang their hat on other than the power of their own mind. They need an imaginary middleman to focus their intent. Q also championed Free Thought which is incompatible with faith:
"Free thought" is a philosophical viewpoint which holds that positions regarding truth should be formed on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism, rather than authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma.
And what sort of “great things” have you been able to pull off with the power of your own mind?
“Free thought” applied to the experience of my own life leads me toward belief in God. What do you think of that? Is someone’s “free thought” only correct when it agrees with yours? How dogmatic of you.
I have saved a loved one's life countless times. One time I had a feeling I should go check on her and borrowed someone's car to do it. When I got there she was collapsing onto the floor as I arrived.
That's your Guardian Angel nudging you. Everyone has one. Even atheists.
I think we all have the capacity to be ultra geniuses smarter than the smartest person now alive but our intelligence is suppressed. What you think of as a guardian angel is the ghost of your higher self getting through when you really need it.
Truly, truly, anything but God.
So, what sort of power is on display here? Just a sensory thing or what?
I think I have intuitive knowledge that may sometimes extend beyond the five senses. The "dream" I mentioned in reply to Munchausen is an example.
We've left the realm of "evidence" awfully quickly here.
Can you outline how logic, reason, and empirical observation without authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma led you to your belief?
I can, but it’s way too personal to do it for you. Call it a cop-out but I’m not doxxing myself.
To be brief:
Evolution is stupid and missing the one crucial piece of evidence that proves it can even theoretically happen; spontaneous generation of new genetic information through genetic mutation, as opposed to a reshuffling of the already present information through the genetic mutation.
What is left when thing one is out the window?
I'm not sure that is correct. If it is there could be a lot of things left though. I don't think it's necessarily one thing or the other. That's a very small-minded outlook.
I'm perfectly open to an alternative, but I've as of yet seen none that make any sense and aren't just total speculation themselves.
And I find it absolutely asinine to make up some fanciful story of the 4th dimensional aliens that seeded us on Earth when the obvious answer is God did it. The aliens shit, as an example, is just cope to explain away God because you really don't want it to be God.
Like, sure, I could make up some really great movie plot line too, but how the fuck is that better than the explanation that theologians, scientists, philosopher, etc. have been pondering for thousands of years? Many of whom conclude that, yes, God did do it.
And it is, as far as I currently know, 100% correct. Whenever this question about evolution is fielded, it is dodged, in spite of the fact that it is the single most important part of the theory.
Atheism is a philosophically destitute laughingstock.
There is no basis for the existence of anything on a philosophical or scientific level other than God.
If you think that faith and reason aren't compatible, it's because you don't know what faith means.
And the absolute irony of you saying that free thought means people should not believe in God. This thought doesn't feel very free, it feels more like I'm being railroaded into agreeing with your totally unproven philosophical presuppositions about reality.
If you had evidence with which to reason you would not need faith.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith faith almost always implies certitude even where there is no evidence or proof. an unshakable faith in God
I don't care what the communist fags who run the dictionaries say today. Give me one from a dictionary that existed pre-Marx if you want to play the "official definition" game. Preferably pre-enlightenment to see how people who had the strongest faith in God viewed the concept.
Ultimately, though, faith and reason are intrinsically linked. For example, you have faith that tomorrow you won't get hit by a meteor. You have this faith because of your ability to reason about how likely this is. But ultimately, it's possible that you could simply get wiped out by a meteor that everybody missed.
You also have faith in the fact that reality exists, and you aren't just a brain in a jar imagining everything. Or maybe you don't, but then I'd simply question your ability to reason.
Ultimately, you have faith in your philosophical presuppositions that suggest that God isn't required for the universe to exist.
We are made for faith. If you didn't have faith in anything, you wouldn't have faith that the very ground beneath your feet really exists and you would be terrified every step you took of simply falling through the Earth until you reached the center. But you don't fear that because you have faith based on evidence that the ground is solid.
The modern inversion of reality is that our senses are untrustworthy and that our mind is all we can trust. This is delusional. When you see light bending in water, your eyes are lying to you, they are showing you exactly what happens. It's your brain that is limited and unable to comprehend refraction. And our limited brain requires us to have faith because we don't have perfect knowledge and can't know things for certain based on "evidence".
How should I know if existence truly exists? We have an experience of reality that overlaps with others but varies widely. That's all I know. Our brains seem to synthesize a reality overlay based on what we think is there. That is why people believe in the mandela effect. They gloss over the details of life. Certain quirky things like the convention-breaking berenstain spelling catch them off guard because they never noticed it when they were a kid and can't believe it. I try to reduce my assumptions and simply notice what appears to be there as much as possible.
https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/faith
FAITH, noun [Latin fides, fido, to trust; Gr. to persuade, to draw towards any thing, to conciliate; to believe, to obey...
Seeing as you simply ignored all my logical arguments on faith, I'll try a different line of reasoning.
So what? Read number 4 in that link and tell me the problem. To have faith in God is a good thing. To take Him on faith is a great thing. Even greater than when we have hard evidence. And what do you lose by having faith? Nothing that matters, as if you're wrong, nothing really matters anyway.
As for existence, we know it exists because it is consistent for everybody. People misremembering is again a deficit of the mind, not of reality. There is not a shred of evidence on the old spelling of the bears being different, but what the Mandela Effect does is create an unfalsifiable theory that disallows contrary evidence.
I can't prove it used to be spelled a certain way, because if I pull out an old VCR, the Mandela Effect would simply state that the VCR is from the new/current timeline. Or it'd say I'm from the current timeline and the people misremember really got transported between the two. All without evidence it says these things.
This is why open-mindedness is a bad thing. It suggests that we allow total absurdities to pollute our minds for no reason other than some misguided attempt at considering all options. It's freethinking, sure, but at that point, what good does it do you? You need strong walls to protect your mind, a sturdy gate, and then you use reason to decide what to let in.
And again, everything is the same for everyone. These cases of supposed discrepancies are dishonest at best. Every single person who isn't blind can go outside at the same time, and they'll all see the same thing. It's extremely concrete, physical, solid. Go play a virtual reality game if you want an example of the opposite.
The one thing that changes what people notice is their focus, but focus does not change reality. It determines what you experience in your reality, but your reality is ultimately the same as mine, it's just that it's so vast and complex that we can focus on different things for 80 years and never overlap.
Mind power, outside of thinking, would require the addition of new physical laws. Sorry.
Not sure if that is true. I have seen an unexpected occurrence in a remote place when I was asleep that turned out to have actually happened that night while I was asleep.
Sounds like proof of God to me.
Maybe you don't see it that way, but why do you discount people who might have similar experiences lead them to God as being unreasonable?
God and science can exist simultaneously. Miracles are when God guides the physics to happen at the right time.
Preciously.
Ironically, it's the Atheists that operate in the unknown space of "we don't how this works, so it must just be something we don't understand yet."
They're no different from a Christian saying God did it. They're presupposing that a natural explanation exists, and we presuppose that God exists and does these things.
And then, like you say, even if something can happen naturally, God can cause it to happen all the same. And to the Atheists dismay, this can't be scientifically differentiated because it's not a scientific question, it's a philosophical one.
Correct.
Prove that everything can come from nothing.
If you can't, the only option is God.
Atoms, fusion, random explosion and retraction, endless universal cycle that always was, always is and always will be since the beginning of existence itself.
If God was behind everything, and is in control of everything, then surely he would be living with the guilt of millions of innocent deaths on his hands - Gengis Khan killed half of Asia and Europe during his reign. The socialists killed millions of innocents. Regardless of whether they were believers or non-believers - they're both equally dead. WW1, WW2, Cold War, Vietnam, Iraq 1, 9/11, Iraq 2, Afghanistan, you can keep going and going. This all-powerful cabal supposedly powered by the energy of Satan, and the all-powerful God can't do anything to stop it and humanity has been enslaved for a long time.
I get this rebuttal a lot - "God punishes people by wiping out the whole civilization" - well, then that "God" is evil. Only evil people justify genocide in the name of a good deed. Broad brush, just wipe out all of humanity because of the 1% of wicked. Even the people who believed, and did all the right things.
So evil happens because Satan influences people - and God's response to "fix things" is to wipe everyone (even those NOT affected by Satan) out? Sounds a bit cruel and evil doesn't it?
"With great power comes great responsibility"
"You wouldn't dare hold God to a human standard right?" - Wrong, you would hold God to a HIGHER standard than a mere human.
(response may be somewhat disjointed and out of order. It is what it is)
There is no all-powerful cabal.
Also, your theological understanding is pure ignorance.
God used the flood when every single person had only evil in their hearts continually. He saved the only people who were good. Then He promised to never do it again, and never did.
Satan doesn't make you do it. Sorry. In reality, people do bad things because we are all bad people. On one side good, on the other evil. We are not perfect beings.
One guy says God should smite sinners, the other guy says He shouldn't because that's "mean". Maybe, just maybe, neither guy's opinion matters and only the opinion of the being that created everything does. My ego is big, but it's not so big that I think, even on a purely conceptual level, that my opinion is more important than that of a being that allegedly created us (is that a neutral/secular enough presentation for you?).
And I can not believe there are still people out there who think the "problem of evil" is a problem for anyone other than intellectually challenged Atheists (sorry if this is harsh, but it's where I'm at). It actually baffles me. Not imposing on free will is more important than God going on the selfsame Holy Crusade that you would call evil if some would-be King tried it. God didn't make us robots, and we get ample time in our lives to repent and strive to be good. You seem to think that evil people are just evil and unsavable.
Now the real juice: Entropy disproves an endless universal cycle that always was. Something needs to exist outside of it to reboot it each time, and the minute you go outside of the universe you're no better off than someone who claims God, evidence-wise (at best, in reality you're worse off).
Matter can't be created by nothing. Nothing doesn't explode. You have no evidence. You have a faith and religion, just like we do. Or maybe more accurately, you have a philosophical presupposition just like we do. Yours that everything can come from nothing, ours that there must be an intelligent creator with a will.
And hold up, "since the beginning of existence itself"? So it's not endless. Sounds like a contradiction to me.
"Muh God is just another link in the chain", I hear you say...
No He's not. God can actually always exist because He's not bound by physics. And if you insist on it, sure, this is a faith claim. But so is anything you can claim on the origins of the universe.
Probably the wrong spot for ya bud; I’m not much for self godliness. Sins are real, and IF you read Q I think you’d see how biblical all of this is
It doesn't matter what you are for or not for. Not when it comes to me. I started reading Q posts on 11/2/17 and read every single one thereafter. How do you reconcile the many times Q spoke of Free Thinking and warned of the danger of dogma, etc? 'Biblical' has multiple meanings by the way: "very great; on a large scale."
Then why did Q choose the word biblical? Very great; on a large scale. So, like the parting of the Red Sea?
Right, like a story of that magnitude.
A story which has actual evidence, by the way.
Not that you've looked.
Personally I’m not concerned with where you’re coming from if it’s incorrect in nature. Believe what you want, but make no mistake, the IS BIBLICAL!
Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
I reconcile it by recognizing that Q is not God.
You seem to treat him as such, with your seeming insinuation that he can't be wrong about anything.
No disrespect to the sister, but maybe if the Presbyterians had said this instead…
Roman Catholic church is helping drive the crisis of refugees. They are as guilty as biden. She should clean up her own house
They cannot be Christian and serve the CC.
I see. So I'm not a Christian? Just want to make sure I understand.
Did you know that Catholics have been fighting the Illumaniti since the Spanish Inquisition?
Catholics can't be Freemasons, and it's been that way since 1738?
Ever heard of Saint Simon of Trent?
1500 years of Christians weren't really Christian, I guess. You've really got it all figured out all these years later, huh? Not that you even believe any of the same things the first Protestants did, since it changes so often.
Well, they can if they are like Vigano. But most are weak or complicit in the structure and the sheep have their eyes closed.
So if all the priests who are supposed to lead the laity agree with YOUR position, they can be Christian?
You worship yourself like I used to before my eyes were opened and the scales melted away.
Thats a bullshit response that leads me to believe you mixed my response with other responses or just didnt underatand. Try again.
Make your point again, because as presented, all you're saying is that your view comes above that of any given priest, and that they have to be like someone you personally like to qualify as Christian. So you're the judge of who is Christian or not.
From the Catholic perspective, this is self worship, as you put your own views above that of those who God puts in place to shepherd us.
And I'd call your comment bullshit for calling anyone who disagrees with you a sheep with their eyes closed, which is pretty much what you said.
I said none of those things. Just read my comment, not other peoples. Try again.
Scripture is clear no adding or taking away and no other gospel. Maccabees does both.
God cleans His house as He sees fit.
Tell that to Pells victims. We arent to sit idle. Thats a cop out line. Lions, not sheep.
Read up on Bella Dodd; communist targetted the church because we have historically stood against JEWS, Masons & Communists.
We are how He does this.
My point is that, if the Church isn't being cleaned out, maybe it's because your definition of dirty is incorrect. Maybe what you’re being convinced of is an intentional deceit by the devil to get you to forsake God's one, holy, Catholic Church.
Maybe, God realizes that His Church isn't as dirty as you think it is because He has perfect knowledge and you don't.
Jesus didn't set up the roman catholic church. Christian doesnt mean RC.
Yes He did. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it false.
Just because some guy 500 years ago didn't like it, doesn't make it false.
No one was Christian for 1500 years (insert historical revisionism that discredits the Church's known timeline here) I guess... give me a break.
You really do think you're the authority on scripture. A common trait among Protestants, and one I'm not too eager to show any charity towards in this case, considering your level of anti-Catholic rhetoric.
What ignorance. Nothing you said is true. I made none of those claims and am not protestant, not anti RC , no authority and claimed nothing to lead to those answers. Try reading what i wrote.
Actually it is scriptural that Jesus appointed Peter as the rock onto which to build His church, thereby appointing Peter to head the original Christian church - making Peter the first pope. And then there's the Eucharist, which Jesus instituted in the Last Supper. Catholic means universal. Other denominations spun off of the Catholic Church and followed their own interpretations and purposes.
Only rc's believe that, which is less than 50% of all christians. So that is a minority belief.
Agreed & other denominations! Sadly Satan isn’t talked about much or is any in churches.
When government becomes god and churches become lukewarm I wonder what happens?
Religious theological debate enters the chat.....
We all know 2016 was divine intervention...
Insert the meme with the astronaut saying never was to the other one.