A
AlanFromWichita
Guest
Here’s a totally different view I heard. It was from a very well respected, though non-Catholic source.
Everybody likes to talk about Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father. Who sits at the left?
In old courtrooms he said the defender sits to the right hand of the judge and the advocate, or prosecutor, sits to the left.
Nobody would say that there was a fair system of justice without an advocate and a defender, would they?
Therefore justice requires accusation and defense both. Therefore satan tries to divide you, and isolate you to everlasting prison, while Christ tries to set you free and lets you Move On to Purgatory where you will be cleaned up and prepared for His high feast.
The Good News is that satan controls the world, which means the physioligical aspects of the flesh I would imagine, but take heart; Christ has defeated the world. The world may hate us but know that it hated him first.
When people hate you, is it because you accuse somebody or defend somebody? Answer: either. Which, the advocate or the Savior is bringing justice to the world? Answer: both.
Here’s the real rub. God the Father, whether I think of Him as ultimate judge or has given proxy to Christ (and consequently His Church) to defend and propitiate for our sins. Since he has defeated satan, there is no power (examples in Rom 8:35-ish) that satan has worldly control of, including powers, past, future, peril, etc that can separate us from the love of Christ. If we are judged worthy by the judge (Father, Son, Trinity, I don’t know the theological correct words) then the case is dismissed and the advocate has nothing to say.
On earth, we actually need the worldly and the spiritual controls in order to deal with the duality of imperfect humans. The worldly control is the prosecuting attorney, plaintiff, or whatever, and the spiritual control is the defending attorney, claiming that his client should not be punished.
Therefore, when I polled, people told me that to varying degrees, they welcomed both condemnation and praise from both friends and sinners, presumably able to accept that all of them are from humans who are neither good nor bad, but by their nature every message is partly true and partly human.
So I figure the best thing to do with praise is immediately pass if off like a hot potato, making sure you don’t presume to be experts at others’ fields by saying “I loved your pie” rather than “you pie was great” to indicate you were expressing a personal rather than authoritarian opinion. The best thing to do with cursing is to genuinely (not with even a feeling of sarcasm so as not to betray it through subliminal gestures) than the person for their concern, read back to them calmly what you think their specific objection, and affirm their dignity by saying, “hmm I think that’s an interesting point to consider that I’ve not thought through” thus saving face for you both.
[edit] This is how you bless them. What better way to bless them than to consecrate them to the Lord? To do that, treat them like the least of Christ’s brothers, and give them the presumption of innocence as the most valuable gift a human can give another. They thought Christ was a disobedient “cafeteria” Jew whose peopel didn’t wash their hands, He drank himself right there with sinners and let whores was His feet and held them up without even so much as admonishing them. Sounds like Christ plays the defender rather thant the prosecutor. The prosecutor is built into the world by its very nature and into our souls by original sin which separated us to begin with.
Funny thing “cleave” means to separate or to join. We cleave unto our wives since the fall, and depart from our parents. A cleaver separates. Surgery can consist in both cutting, and trating. The Word cuts both ways, as you see people here on this forum using the word to alternately accuse and defend each other. Such is the prophecy that out of the same keyboard we will praise God (in recognizing the love we detect in the least of His brothers) and curse other men (directly, based on surface observations).
Remember saving face is important. Bombard somebody with a Truth Sledghammer and you may win the fight but the opponent may lose something in the conversion!
Alan
Everybody likes to talk about Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father. Who sits at the left?
In old courtrooms he said the defender sits to the right hand of the judge and the advocate, or prosecutor, sits to the left.
Nobody would say that there was a fair system of justice without an advocate and a defender, would they?
Therefore justice requires accusation and defense both. Therefore satan tries to divide you, and isolate you to everlasting prison, while Christ tries to set you free and lets you Move On to Purgatory where you will be cleaned up and prepared for His high feast.
The Good News is that satan controls the world, which means the physioligical aspects of the flesh I would imagine, but take heart; Christ has defeated the world. The world may hate us but know that it hated him first.
When people hate you, is it because you accuse somebody or defend somebody? Answer: either. Which, the advocate or the Savior is bringing justice to the world? Answer: both.
Here’s the real rub. God the Father, whether I think of Him as ultimate judge or has given proxy to Christ (and consequently His Church) to defend and propitiate for our sins. Since he has defeated satan, there is no power (examples in Rom 8:35-ish) that satan has worldly control of, including powers, past, future, peril, etc that can separate us from the love of Christ. If we are judged worthy by the judge (Father, Son, Trinity, I don’t know the theological correct words) then the case is dismissed and the advocate has nothing to say.
On earth, we actually need the worldly and the spiritual controls in order to deal with the duality of imperfect humans. The worldly control is the prosecuting attorney, plaintiff, or whatever, and the spiritual control is the defending attorney, claiming that his client should not be punished.
Therefore, when I polled, people told me that to varying degrees, they welcomed both condemnation and praise from both friends and sinners, presumably able to accept that all of them are from humans who are neither good nor bad, but by their nature every message is partly true and partly human.
So I figure the best thing to do with praise is immediately pass if off like a hot potato, making sure you don’t presume to be experts at others’ fields by saying “I loved your pie” rather than “you pie was great” to indicate you were expressing a personal rather than authoritarian opinion. The best thing to do with cursing is to genuinely (not with even a feeling of sarcasm so as not to betray it through subliminal gestures) than the person for their concern, read back to them calmly what you think their specific objection, and affirm their dignity by saying, “hmm I think that’s an interesting point to consider that I’ve not thought through” thus saving face for you both.
[edit] This is how you bless them. What better way to bless them than to consecrate them to the Lord? To do that, treat them like the least of Christ’s brothers, and give them the presumption of innocence as the most valuable gift a human can give another. They thought Christ was a disobedient “cafeteria” Jew whose peopel didn’t wash their hands, He drank himself right there with sinners and let whores was His feet and held them up without even so much as admonishing them. Sounds like Christ plays the defender rather thant the prosecutor. The prosecutor is built into the world by its very nature and into our souls by original sin which separated us to begin with.
Funny thing “cleave” means to separate or to join. We cleave unto our wives since the fall, and depart from our parents. A cleaver separates. Surgery can consist in both cutting, and trating. The Word cuts both ways, as you see people here on this forum using the word to alternately accuse and defend each other. Such is the prophecy that out of the same keyboard we will praise God (in recognizing the love we detect in the least of His brothers) and curse other men (directly, based on surface observations).
Remember saving face is important. Bombard somebody with a Truth Sledghammer and you may win the fight but the opponent may lose something in the conversion!
Alan
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