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PRmerger
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Of course, Sufjon. I have no objection to your coming here to discuss your beliefs.
I thought we were having a dialogue about your beliefs, about our beliefs. Part of dialogue involves questions.
You seem to have an objection to people asking you questions about your belief? Am I correct in this?
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PRmerger
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The majority of the above doctrines are not found in our Scriptures; in fact, much of it is explicitly found in the contrary in our Scriptures.
So I find this statement (bolded) you made quite puzzling:
Same here. We are here to learn about your beliefs. And, if we perhaps point out inconsistencies in your beliefs then that is just part of religious dialogue, no?
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Sufjon
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Hi PRMerger: I’m sorry if I sounded like I had an objection to talking about my faith. I don’t, but I have to be careful not to sound like I am promoting it. In our scriptures the Lord is very clear about soliciting people. You can answer questions to someone who is curious, but you have to look at for the point at which you start preaching. We are not supposed to do that. The paths of others are sacred.
Your friend
Sufjon
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Sufjon
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Hi PRMerger: Like I said, it would take years to explain. It took me many years to compare them. I see continuity in it. Others in my faith have as well, but there are very few of us who care that much about Christianity. They accept Christianity, but it if you explain it to them they all see it to be the same thing they already believe like I do. We see things to be so similar. I mentioned the rosary. It is very much like some of the forms of prayer we do. The difference is that the devotion in the rosary is to Mary, but that’s ok with us. Mary resonates with me. I have a statue of her next to statues from my own faith. I also pray to Jesus daily in the way he prescribed. I spend much more time listening though. Most of us have a little room with a temple in it or a little corner of the house for that we can use to be quiet and do devotions or communion.
Your friend
Sufjon
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Sufjon
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Hi PR Merger. This sure is a busy post. OK, here goes…
-I believe that you are eating His flesh, but I cannot explain to you how that is or the dynamics of how I agree with that. I have tried but have been unable to convey it. It must be complicated I suppose. It never was to me. If you like, we can start a dialog just about that aspect. I can cover all of your questions, but to do it right, it would have to be one at a time and in-depth.
-I do go to church, but the majority of my practice consists of the four aspects of my path that I listed. This takes all day every day. Yes, all day.
-I do not confess my sins to a priest, but I work hard not to repeat them. The trick is to transcend the desire to sin. Not just to avoid the near occasion of sin, but to burn away the tendency to commit it. There is a method for that too. Yet another subject. Sort version is that we feel that to abstain from something, but to die still desiring it only accomplishes half the task. The desire must be totally burned away in order to experience heaven. Otherwise you are not free. All worldly attachment must be gone. That freedom is called moksha. No joy in gain, no sorrow in loss. Only joy in being. It involves offering all of your endeavors to God and not fretting over the outcomes. Do your very best and give the result to Him. That is part of devotion. I make the bed, it is for Him, I give a lecture, it is for Him, I do the dishes, it is for Him. There are prayers you can say for most any task you perform. That is freedom.
-We do not believe in divorce, but like everyone else, people do it. Your husband or your wife is supposed to be your spiritual partner for life more than anything else. Sometimes the woman is the teacher in the relationship and sometimes the man is. After child bearing or “householder” years, celibacy is prescribed for those who are able to do that. Many couples do.
-Son of God, yes I have heard that term. I think that Jesus WAS God in human form.
Your friend
Sufjon
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Mikeoffaith
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Hi PRmerger-
I disagree with you somewhat. Correct, man has not made the path. Christ has set down the path before us. Christianity is not God’s “search for man”, Christianity, is God’s incessant insistence to His creation of, "I’m here, I made you, I’ve found you, I know you and I love and care for you. " And when you refer to Catholicism as being the path that Christ has provided us, I assume you are referring to the path as contained in the church aligned with the Bishop of Rome, then in my opinion that is in error. As a Lutheran and as I’m sure the Orthodox would agree, Rome does not have all the answers and has done a poor job of living the truths it’s supposed to contain. Matthew 7:21
The quote from Peter Kreeft, I think misses the point. I agree with him God is an absolute monarch, but I don’t see how one can read the Gospel, claim to understand it, but miss the fact that God is equality. We say that God is just. Justice automatically relates to equality and equability. God is way too big for us to put into a small box and to claim that we know everything God is or isn’t doing in the salvation of others in the world, is quite haughty.
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Publisher
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I can unite with this. Friend, you speak my mind.
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PRmerger
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Interesting. What do your Scriptures teach happens if one starts preaching to others of a different path?
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PRmerger
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I find this assertion so puzzling. You believe that the sins of humanity were atoned by the death of Jesus Christ?
What are these other statues, Sufjon?
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PRmerger
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Fair enough.
But you noted that you do not reject any of Christ’s teachings.
He commanded that you eat his flesh and drink his blood. Do you do this in your faith community?
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If you start a thread, let me know and I’ll join you there.
This sounds like the Way of many Catholic saints! St. Therese of Lisieux comes to mind!
Will your priest marry someone who’s been divorced and wishes to marry a different partner?
Amen!
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Sufjon
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Hi PRMerger: What happens is that you will have disturbed someone else’s way back to God. Since we are told that everyone attains Him eventually, there is no need to do that. If the time or circumstances have it that a particular person needs to be on my path, he or she will know to ask. Intuitively people lead themselves to where they have to be. For instance right now the place for PMerger is the Catholic Church. There is no other place you should be, because, that is where you are. In a linear western mode of thought that would not make much sense, because there is a definite beginning and a finite end to things. In a cyclical view of creation, it makes plenty of sense, because you always were and always will be. The point at which your soul finds it’s way back to be one with God is the only variable. The comfort we have is that the Lord says “I love you more than myself.You will attain me. Nothing is ever lost to me.” In our scriptures the Lord is very direct. I have never found one person to find any meaning that does not match the rest, because the language He uses is very practical and hands on. The Lord says to do such and such a thing in this way or that, and then explains why. Then He gives alternatives, for instance, if a devotion He describes is too difficult for you, he offers a number of fall backs - each easier for particular types of people or different levels of ability. No one is left out and no one is not good enough. Just like a father teaching his child how to ride a bike. Patient and helpful. If you can’t learn to ride, the he lets you put your training wheels back on or gets you a tricycle. No one is kicked out of the household. You just keep working on it. Anyway, disturbing the paths of others isn’t necessary, and doing so shows a lack of wisdom or respect.
Your friend
Sufjon
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PRmerger
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Cat_Herder
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The scientific evidence proves that creation is linear (open universe), not cyclical, though.
Also, I noticed that while you are OK with Catholicism, your view of Judaism is not so good. Could you revisit that?
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Sufjon
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Very long subject PRMerger. I believe He died for the remission of sin but I think your understanding of that will differ from mine, because some of the earliest iterations of your Gospels were in Greek, where the word for sin means to miss the mark. It takes on a whole new meaning when it was translated into other languages. It would take too much space for me to explain here.
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Sufjon
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Dear CatHerder: Not to be contrary with you, but old objects continually dissipate and the matter creates new objects. All organized systems become less organized over time and fall apart, at which time the constituent parts take on other form. Plants, animals. planets, stars, galaxies, this universe and so on.
I don’t have a problem with Judaism, but I do not take the Old Testament literally.
Your friend
Sufjon
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Sufjon
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Hi PRMerger. that is another very long subject, and it’s very late. Suffice to say that I believe you were given His flesh and blood to eat and drink. He gave my faith equal physical contact. I eat His flesh each day. I also drink Him but I also have other direct contact with Him. I could tell you how that is done, but it would take page upon page, and I don’t think it would make sense to you. Your path keeps you from seeing mine. It is good that you have the Eucharist. Maybe I can write something tomorrow and send it via private message.Fair enough.
But you noted that you do not reject any of Christ’s teachings.
He commanded that you eat his flesh and drink his blood. Do you do this in your faith community?
.
If you start a thread, let me know and I’ll join you there.
This sounds like the Way of many Catholic saints! St. Therese of Lisieux comes to mind!
Will your priest marry someone who’s been divorced and wishes to marry a different partner?
Amen!
Your friend
Sufjon
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PRmerger
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Actually, I think it best not to pursue this part of the dialogue.
What other questions do you have regarding the Catholic church and its belief that Truth has been revealed infallibly through Christ and His church?
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Sufjon
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Hi PRMerger: I will always have lots of questions, but for now you have been very helpful.
Your friend
Sufjon
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rwillenborg
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To your first paragraph…what would you recommend to someone who has never, as far as he or she knows, received personal testimony from the HS? I know very devout people who are saddened and disheartened that the HS has never moved them. Feelings aside, if they never felt the HS spoke to them, what should they use as a guide? And as you said, it can be difficult to discern what is God’s will for you and what is your own. So, how does one do that, if one can only rely on their own beliefs? I am quite capable of going down the wrong path without asking for any guidance. What good is a map if the directions change at the whim of the reader? And again, I wonder, how can two people who are following the HS be so divergent in their beliefs? How can the HS lead one person to believe abortion is morally acceptable and one to believe it is morally reprehensible? And I think you are right in that people can confuse the ‘HS’ with ‘what I really want’, ut how does one tell the difference? The people I mentioned in my original example, I would consider them to be FAR more ‘spiritually advanced’ as it were, than me. They both know and study their Bibles. They are both well-vesed in other faiths, and spend much time in prayer, and clearly, on this issue at least one of them is wrong, There’s no other way to phrase it, one of them is clearly wrong. And if people who are that much more steeped in God’s word are getting it wrong, do I really stand a chance?
On your second paragraph…I absolutely agree whole-heartedly. I think there is much truth in the idea that God’s will is stamped on our hearts. So, I think it’s THERE on all of us already, but, how do I filter out everything else? You know as well as I do that, spiritually, we live in a very ‘noisy’ world. How to discern what is the still, small voice of God among all the racket? I agree, it’s on our hearts, but, surely, there has to be a way that is more certain than just following what I THINK is probably the HS leading me.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it. As you can see, I am a person with more questions than answers!! LOL!
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