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Locked on 01/27/2008 8:09:53 PM PST by Religion Moderator, reason:
Childish behavior |
Posted on 12/31/2007 8:21:48 PM PST by Salvation
On the one hand clearly there are feminine images and comparisons in even the OT with respect to God. But the masculine language far outstrips the feminine, in frequency at least.
Our Lord does most distinctly NOT say, "Our Parent, which art in heaven."
I, personally, do not have the chutzpah to presume to say that IHS just was conditioned by His culture to be less aware on gender issues than we in this enlightened aged (har de har har) are.
Really? How about these comments:
“’Can a man take fire into his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?’ (Prov. 6:27) says the wise Solomon. And I say: can he, who has in his heart the Divine fire of the Holy Spirit burning naked, not be set on fire, not shine and glitter and not take on the radiance of the Deity in the degree of his purification and penetration by fire? For penetration by fire follows upon purification of the heart, and again purification of the heart follows upon penetration by fire, that is, inasmuch as the heart is purified, so it receives Divine grace, and again inasmuch as it receives grace, so it is purified. When this is completed (that is, purification of heart and acquisition of grace have attained their fullness and perfection), through grace a man becomes wholly a god.” +Symeon the New Theologian
“A person is perfect in this life when as a pledge of what is to come he receives the grace to assimilate himself to the various stages of Christ’s life. In the life to come perfection is made manifest through the power of deification.” +Gregory of Sinai
“But we also know that the fulfillment of the commandments of God gives true knowledge, since it is through this that the soul gains health. How could a rational soul be healthy, if it is sick in its cognitive faculty? So we know that the commandments of God also grant knowledge, and not that alone, but deification also.” +Gregory Palamas
“Moses and David, and whoever else became vessels of divine energy by laying aside the properties of their fallen nature, were inspired by the power of God... They became living ions of Christ, being the same as He is, by grace rather than by assimilation...” +Gregory Palamas
The clearest comment is this one, from +Athanasius the Great in his refutation of the heresiarch Arius at the Council of Nicea:
“For the Son of God became man so that we might become God”
Someone once opined that what the Fathers are talking about, and what +Gregory Palamas comes out and says, is that we are created to become by grace what Christ is by nature. So, while we do not believe in a sort of deification a la LDS, it is not correct to say that we do not believe in the divinization of the Faithful.
It is instructive to see the great difficulty that RC's have in being able to proclaim The Gospel. I know that a great many of the RC posters on these threads are very knowledgeable about their church and are quick to want to defend it. I can only guess at why this all important part of Christianity is missing, or there is some confusion about what it is.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Scripture abounds with instructions to preach The Gospel. I think that's why it doesn't hurt to know what The Gospel is.
I have the same problem. Sometimes it's easier to understand than others. I find comfort in reminding myself "in the end it's all going to be okay".
It's all from God.
We are His creatures, Kolo. We are not Him and never will be.
I’ve always thought that these and similar thoughts referred to the elevation of man above the angels if they merit it. If that refers to divinization, then it seems fine to me. But only in a comparative sense.
We cannot become God.
There is no confusion and there is no difficulty.
You by your own admission do not understand nor do you preach the fullness of the Gospels. Yours is a depressing and a dead belief. If Christ Crucified is the extent and the breadth of the Gospel as you understand it, then it is no wonder that you would embrace a dead and oppressing theology. If you do not confess that the Lord’s Prayer is the pinnacle of the pinnacle of the Gospels, then you have no understanding of the word of Jesus.
Time after time, the Reformed state their misunderstandings of St. Paul to trump the words - the WORDS - of Jesus. We give you the Gospel in the hope that you will understand it and you don’t. We pray that you will take it to heart as it is meant to be and you don’t.
For your soul’s sake, study the Lord’s Prayer and all that comes from that study. Understand it and mean it when you say it. Then, you will have no choice but to become Catholic. When you understand the Gospels and appreciate them, you will have no choice.
Then, you will come home.
FIXED:
RC edifice comfortable, flattering, agreeable, conforming, kowtowing, pleasing, mindless, rubberized discussion is not an option with the most vocal Protestants, as far as Mad Dawg can tell.
Not that THAT is any surprise to most of us.
Within the Catholic Church their is a graduated increase in the value of Mary. I don’t have the time at the present to post when the doctrines where presented but I’m sure you are familiar with them. Even the Orthodox have divorced themselves from this Mariology that has taken over the Church. One in this bit of Mary being conceived without sin as denoted in your tagline in direct opposition to the inspired word of God telling us ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
What’s with the rubbers’ fixation?
That’s my question to y’all.
As long as you sound like that’s how your
RUBBER BIBLE IS
RUBBER HISTORY BOOKS ARE
RUBBER DICTIONARY IS
RUBBER LOGIC BOOK IS
I’ll likely continue to label them so.
Get standard ones and sound like you are using standard ones and I’ll be more than happy to write accordingly.
Until then, I call a spade a spade and try hard to tell it like it is.
The RC edifice can look in the mirror for the source if all that.
Just sounds prophylactic, that’s all.
***Until then, I call a spade a spade and try hard to tell it like it is.***
You are no closer to telling it like it is than the Reformed are or the Wiccans are.
I challenge you to study the Lord’s Prayer, the 2 Commandments of Christ (if you’d like, I can tell you where they are), and the Sermon on the Mount.
Theologies involving esoteric philosophies, UFOs and personal interpretations or ignorance of the Gospels have little use in saving one’s soul. You may rubberize all you wish, but it is God that matters. Not me and not you.
Read and understand what matters. I would be willing to help you and anyone who wishes aid.
Prophylactic against
BRAZEN CHEEKY IDOLATRY and BLASPHEMY
would be PROGRESS.
My Heavenly father has noted your classing me with wiccans.
He’ll take it up with you in His good time and way.
***My Heavenly father has noted your classing me with wiccans.
He’ll take it up with you in His good time and way.***
I would class you in with the willingly ignorant and the intentionally uninformed.
I do not believe that the God of all Creation deems it a virtue to be stupid. Especially when He has given us the Gospels which are our instructions for living our lives.
Amen, Harley! That's beautiful.
Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." -- Isaiah 40:8,21-31"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever...
Interesting point, although as short-hand, "Christ risen" is offered just as often as "Christ crucified."
Christ crucified is what saved us; Christ risen is the proof.
Either way, those words point to the same, singular fact of the Gospel reinterated in Hebrews 10 -- Christ paid for every sin of His flock and rose into heaven to prove it true.
Give me an empty cross any day. The atonement was sufficient to accomplish God's purpose in redeeming His elect by Christ's death on the cross. However the atonement was concluded by Christ risen from the cross, as God willed.
RCs prefer to witness Christ's suffering. Protestants prefer to herald the accomplished fact of "the joy that was set before Him."
It’s fascinating to watch the Reformed non response to the proclamation of the Gospels. The real Gospels, as written in the Bible. You know, the Gospels, the Words of Jesus.
Misinterpretations of St. Paul aren’t going to get you into heaven, you know.
So I’m equal to a stupid wiccan.
Impressive.
NOT.
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