Christian Paradoxes

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JSmitty2005

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I’ve always been amazed at all of the paradoxical elements of our Faith. G.K. Chesterton in particular comes to mind with this subject. Share your observations of Christian paradox here. 🙂
 
The first thing that came to my mind was the fact that Catholicism is a faith that extols both life and death. We are told to live life to the fullest, loving God and giving thanks for every life and to defend that life in every way possible. But, on the other hand, we are told to be ever ready for death, and that only by dying to self can we live for God and neighbor. I could go on, but I’m sure you see what I mean.
 
J Smitty,

I don’t know if this is what you are looking for, but non-Catholics regularly accuse the Catholic Church of being soft on sin (“You can just go to confession, get rid of it all, and walk away scot-free”) and of putting tremendous guilt trips on people.

The same sort of people talk about our being “in bondage to Rome” for having to give up meat on Fridays during Lent and then complain about the bishops being too lenient when they give a dispensation for St. Patrick’s Day.

Really, the naysayers need to make up their minds.
  • Liberian
 
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Liberian:
J Smitty,

I don’t know if this is what you are looking for, but non-Catholics regularly accuse the Catholic Church of being soft on sin (“You can just go to confession, get rid of it all, and walk away scot-free”) and of putting tremendous guilt trips on people.

The same sort of people talk about our being “in bondage to Rome” for having to give up meat on Fridays during Lent and then complain about the bishops being too lenient when they give a dispensation for St. Patrick’s Day.

Really, the naysayers need to make up their minds.
  • Liberian
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Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Mark Shea wrote an entire article about things like you’ve just said.
 
The crucifixion, which appeared to be a defeat was a great triumph. In His weakness, He showed His true strength.
 
Christian love is a paradox. You cannot keep it; the only way to increase it is to give it away. The more you give it away the more you have.
 
O felix culpa, quae telem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!
(O happy fault, that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer!)
Praeconium paschale
 
This isn’t really a paradox, but the Gospels do contradict eachother. And because i’m curious, there is no labeled author of the Gospel of St. John, as apposed to the one of Mark, and i was wondering of the origins of the name.
 
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Ezequel:
This isn’t really a paradox, but the Gospels do contradict eachother. And because i’m curious, there is no labeled author of the Gospel of St. John, as apposed to the one of Mark, and i was wondering of the origins of the name.
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:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Take this somewhere else. Start your own thread on this topic. Also, we know who wrote what books by Sacred Tradition. 👍 If you stick around these forums long enough, I’m sure you’ll learn exactly what that is.
 
There is a very good reason that the Gospel of John is attributed to him.

The prayer of saint francis…

in giving that we recieve
in parodning that we are pardoned
in dying that we are born to eternal life
those who humble themselves will be exalted those who exalt themselves are humble
Gods strength is made perfect in weakness/by admitting our powerlessness we are empowered

are these the type of things you refer to
 
We are promised if we have to give up mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, for His sake, we will be given many mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.
 
Getting back to JSmitty, i had a comment. Isn’t that a prayer of Saint Francis And if you like reading, Read Holy Blood Holy Grail It is a great book about the origins of Christianity. That’s in the second half of the book though, the first is about the Knights Templar.
 
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Ezequel:
Getting back to JSmitty, i had a comment. Isn’t that a prayer of Saint Francis And if you like reading, Read Holy Blood Holy Grail It is a great book about the origins of Christianity. That’s in the second half of the book though, the first is about the Knights Templar.
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Isn’t that the book Dan Brown is getting sued over? It’s about as fictional as Mr. Brown’s book.
 
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Liberian:
J Smitty,

I don’t know if this is what you are looking for, but non-Catholics regularly accuse the Catholic Church of being soft on sin (“You can just go to confession, get rid of it all, and walk away scot-free”) and of putting tremendous guilt trips on people.

The same sort of people talk about our being “in bondage to Rome” for having to give up meat on Fridays during Lent and then complain about the bishops being too lenient when they give a dispensation for St. Patrick’s Day.

Really, the naysayers need to make up their minds.
  • Liberian
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On the other hand, the way I understand faith alone, once you are saved you are saved period. I was told that Martin Luther taught once you are saved you can rape and pillage all you want because you can’t lose your salvation. If this is true why do our separated brothers keep bringing up Catholics being free to sin and just go to Confession to get right with God.

You can’t have it both ways. Either all you have to say is I believe or you have to acknowledge your sinfulness and seek God’s forgiveness. I think our separated brothers misunderstand Confession. I was taught you have to go to Confession with the intent to change your life. God’s forgiveness is not free. When Jesus forgave someone’s sins He always said go and sin no more. It wasn’t a free lunch.
 
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Ezequel:
That gives you until 2:30 AM. But i’ll give you until 3:00.
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Here is my Christian paradox…Ezequel smites JSmitty and JSmitty turns the other cheek…Good work Jsmitty, you have shown wonderful Christian Charity and Ezequel is misinterpreting it for weakness.

To forgive sins takes alot of grace and strength…yet many times it is seen as weakness by the offender.

But my absolute Christian Paradox is in the Old Testament…over and over again God tries to do what is right and good for us and we keep wanting our own way…in the end, when they disobey God, he punishes them with exactly what they wanted…then they see why God’s plan was better. A couple of examples:

Isrealites wanted an earthly king…God tells them he will be their king, The Israelites reject this so God gives them a king, telling them all that is going to go wrong…like taxes to pay for wars, slavery and servitude to the king…sure enough, exactly what happens.

God tells the Israelites not to take pagan women for wives. King Solomon, the smartest of all men, takes pagan women for wives and they end up having him worship idols and false gods…

I love that God teaches us like we are his children, because of course he is our Father, and a darn good one at that!
 
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