Posted on 04/08/2002 5:52:41 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
Mary was the spouse of the Holy Spirit before she was the spouse of Joseph.
Luke 1 [35] And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
I wouldn't mess with the spouse of the Third person of Holy Trinity. If YOU were told in a dream that the Holy Spirit had come upon your betrothed and made her flesh a literal Tabernacle of the Flesh of the Son of God, second person of the Trinity, the single most blessed womb in the history of mankind, you too then would have done what Joseph did. No. He would not have violated that virginal womb, that temple and Tabernacle where our Lord was formed when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary.
Joseph was foster father of Jesus. He was betrothed to Mary. Mary was first the spouse of the Holy Spirit.
If you comprehended this simple fact, and its immense implications, you would understand why your words are blasphemous.
But blind and heardened hearts refuse to see, preferring their doctrines of men over the Truths of God.
With all due respect, who the hell do you think you are? Last I checked, Jim Robinson is still the owner of this forum. And I don't think he's delegated you any authority to police threads or to silence other freepers. Frankly, your arrogance and triumphalism grow increasingly tiresome.
No Catholic is trying to take away your right to this, your Free Will.
We're just pointing out that for Christians, God created rules.
If you're not Christian, go ahead and ignore them.
If you are Christian, go aghead and ignore them. But we have the duty to tell you that to do so imperils your salvation, for some of these behaviors have been taught by all of Christianity to be gravely, inherently sinful.
I'm not interested in what goes on in your bedroom, and it was protestant legislators who made the distribution of contraceptive devices illegal in the USA in the 1800's, NOT Catholics.
Tough.
Brian, you are a member of this forum. You have no authority to order around other members. So why don't you "cool it" and stop trying to be thread police? Provided we abide by the basic rules of the forum, we are free to post where we wish, and we don't need to answer to you in doing so.
It might be a completely novel concept to you, but others might consider that you "spend considerable time trying to belittle and silence non-Catholics". I don't like your confrontational, triumphalist style of discourse, and I have no problem telling you so. In my opinion, your rhetorical method is polarizing and counterproductive to respectful interreligious discussion.
Those on this forum truly interested in respectful interreligious discussion were a minority to begin with, and are getting fewer every day.
confrontational, triumphalist style of discourse
Apologetics with ATTITUDE!
brought to you by
The Few, The PROUD, The Church Militant.
God Bless, Angelo.
Are you helping, or hurting, this situation?
Apologetics with ATTITUDE! brought to you by The Few, The PROUD, The Church Militant.
How many converts have you won by this approach?
Do you count yourself among them?
But just because I must respect others, that does not mean I must respect their opinions. There IS objective Truth, and some folks opinions are not only wrong, but so destructive to the dignity and freedom of man that they must be opposed with every fiber of our being.
I apologize for being triumphalistic, and I am at times, an arrogant, condescending, and patronizing ass.
But I will never apologize for being Catholic, and I will never compromise on things like contraception, abortion, and the wholescale apostacy that is protestant moral theology regarding sexuality, an apostacy that is the foregone conclusion of sola scriptura and private interpretation of scripture and rejection of God's authority He gave His Church.
Two of my favorite quotes for what I call The Freeper Wars:
"Good is never done except at the expense of those who do it: truth is never enforced except at the sacrifice of its proponents - for nothing would ever be done at all, if a man waited to do so well, that no one could find fault with it."
--John Cardinal Newman
"I'm not called to be successful. I'm only called to be faithful."
--Mother Teresa
I used to, when I first came to Free Republic. Now the bigots outnumber those desiring respectful dialogue, and the lies and distortions about our Church outweigh the Truths about 20 to 1, so I consider this a war zone, not a dialogue zone.
Finally, with the exiling of Religious discussions to the Religion Forum ghetto, I'm not sure how much longer I'll stay around here, given the law of diminishing return. I'm sure many would be happy to see me go.
I wouldn't count reverts as converts. In any case, I wonder how many you have turned off of Catholicism by your approach. As I believe you know, I am not a Christian, so the outcome of your efforts in this regard is not my concern. What I am concerned with is encouraging a respectful and fruitful dialogue. To that end, I shall voice my opinion anytime I believe that someone has overstepped the bounds of civility.
Shalom.
In His Peace,
Brian
See post 110.
Thank you, I appreciate your sincerity. Christ Bless.
I've been curious at your interference on this thread and others, seeing that you are Jewish and supposedly "don't have a dog in this fight." Then I just received this Freepmail, and it makes sense now:
"I am not really offended at your just criticism, and any time you find me overstepping my bounds please tell me so." That was really very nice of you, but perhaps not really necessary. As you probably realize, angelo is unhappy because he knows that you are succeeding at something more important than "respectful interreligious discussion". Perhaps he is feeling a tugging in his own lapsed Catholic heart.
If this is correct, you've been deceptive with me, Angelo, presenting yourself as Jewish and without a dog in this fight, and I despise dishonesty more than any other human failing.
Reverts do indeed count, more even than converts. They have a much higher chance of eternal damnation, having turned their back on Christ the Messiah and His Church.
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