Does anybody else feel that tough times are truly ahead?

[mymamamary]

I am glad you have not despaired of the world. Truly. Your posts make that a bit challenging to believe, and still I believe you. Remember that the typed word can be misconstrued of its “tone.” Bolding seems like shouting to me, though I do not know for a fact whether or not that was your intention; that is my opinion.

There are so many aspects of life that need faith over facts. Everyone’s opinion is valid in that everyone will have one, everyone is entitled to one, and even if it’s based on misinformation; we should value others’ politely and respectfully. That, too, is my opinion. But my momma taught me well, also…

If you think that kindhearted people are in the minority, and I will not state my opinion on that; how about joining the minority? We need to have faith that in doing so, one at a time, we are working towards making the kindhearted the majority.
Again, just my opinion.
This is the year of Faith, is it not?
(Really, every year is the year of Faith.)

I am glad that there is someone like you with us, who can make a positive difference with that which concerns you. If it concerns you, and you are able, make that difference. Small differences, collectively, make a big one.

God Bless

**The world can and will get better, eventually. If I bold my words, my intention is not to shout but to make the words look fancier. If I shout I capitalize my words and put an exclamation point on the end. Humanity in its essence is good. GOD said it was good, which meant it was VERY good. What irks me is the sinfulness though. Grace perfects nature, but only if we let that Grace perfect us. If we don’t, we walk through the mud of life like animals. If we allow grace to perfect and build on our nature, we fly like the Angels. **

 

[crazzeto]

People have been saying this for a long time, but its different now for some reason. The USA is changing. We are headed somewhere bad. I think God is telling us that we’re going to require a different kind of Pope for what lies ahead in the world.

And low and behold we got a different kind of Pope. Yes, I think we are heading into bad times. So do many Bishops. Who knows, it maybe things are coming to a head. All we can do is watch, wait, remain faithful and pray.

 

[Diana_Catherine]

And low and behold we got a different kind of Pope. Yes, I think we are heading into bad times. So do many Bishops. Who knows, it maybe things are coming to a head. All we can do is watch, wait, remain faithful and pray.

I agree. We need to be watchful and faithful. I do believe we are headed into hard times, also but I also know God is our strength and will guide us through.

 

[Godisgreat23]

2017 will be 100 years of Fatima. Mother Mary appeared on the 13th of each month to the three children at Fatima. Do you think she was trying to pass a message by the dates? I agree rough times are ahead.

 

[atheistgirl]

Our pastor’s confessional has a lot of papers in there also but that is because he is working on his paper work while he waits in between hearing peoples confessions

I don’t know why but I’m quite surprised to read this.

Since the Priest is acting in the place of Christ and is doing something so profound, using the Divine power invested in him to forgive sins, I thought his entire mind and spirit would be in a certain spiritual place for the duration of the confessions.

Not doing paperwork, listen to sins and forgive, back to the paperwork.

I’m not suggesting there’s something wrong with that, just that I thought the Priest would have his mind entirely on the Rite for the time he was in the confessional.

Interesting.

Sarah x

 

[crazzeto]

I don’t know why but I’m quite surprised to read this.

Since the Priest is acting in the place of Christ and is doing something so profound, using the Divine power invested in him to forgive sins, I thought his entire mind and spirit would be in a certain spiritual place for the duration of the confessions.

Not doing paperwork, listen to sins and forgive, back to the paperwork.

I’m not suggesting there’s something wrong with that, just that I thought the Priest would have his mind entirely on the Rite for the time he was in the confessional.

Interesting.

Sarah x

I’m quite surprised as well, most do not do anything but handle confession. I’ll refrain from judging, because only God can do that. But my preference is for a confessor who is fully there, in persona christi.

 

[Diana_Catherine]

I don’t know why but I’m quite surprised to read this.

Since the Priest is acting in the place of Christ and is doing something so profound, using the Divine power invested in him to forgive sins, I thought his entire mind and spirit would be in a certain spiritual place for the duration of the confessions.

Not doing paperwork, listen to sins and forgive, back to the paperwork.

I’m not suggesting there’s something wrong with that, just that I thought the Priest would have his mind entirely on the Rite for the time he was in the confessional.

Interesting.

Sarah x

Well, I guess I better explain. Our priest, I am sure spends much time in the confessional praying and doing spiritual activities while waiting for the next confession but he also has much time between confessions on certain days, not all, but certain ones because he will be in there for 8 hours. Except for meals and other necessity breaks he will have the confessional running all day. Other times he is in there for maybe just an hour or several hours but at times, sadly, sometimes he may not get many confessions. That is what I mean about the confessional lines being smaller. I remember when we would every Saturday have two long confession lines, I rarely sees that anymore but I think our priest is great and he highly and strongly encourages people to go to confession. I can tell he is truly concerned about our souls.

He has a nice size room for a confessional and so sets up a table and as I said he stays there all day waiting for people. This isn’t every weekend but frequently.

 

[Baelor]

I will look into these, however, I am stating a truth. The world is getting worse. My Parish Priest agrees, The retired Priest in my town agrees etc.

It is easy to consider the problems facing the world today; it is much harder and less pleasurable to consider the problems that we have overcome.

Society is certainly not getting more and more fair.

Tell that to the people who are no longer considered property.

Rome never architected genocidal slaughters such as hitler, stalin etc.

They were not capable of doing so. We had a huge loss of human life through the slave trade and through the Mongolian invasion. Why not consider those?

Its not histrionics, nor am I a histrionic. Some people just don’t want to look at the ugly modern truth. I only have to look back to see that only 60-80 years ago roughly 100 million people were slaughtered.

And only in the last 60-80 years would 100 million people be able to be slaughtered due to population expansion. How many wars in history produced loss of life that was proportionally comparable?

Rome may have been bad, but never this bad.

Then you did not know Rome. Greece was also very, very bad.

Again, I am not a histrionic. Another point is that this thread was put in so that we can discuss whether or not the world is getting worse.

Only a histrionic or a demagog would be interested in such a topic.

It is clearly impossible to develop a quantitative metric to determine how “bad” the Earth has been throughout history; it is equally impossible to consider the acts and mindset of every individual who has ever lived. What purpose does this topic serve? We cannot come to an answer.

If only You could prove that humanity is in fact growing BETTER, with solid, tangible facts, when I see none.

 

[mymamamary]

It is easy to consider the problems facing the world today; it is much harder and less pleasurable to consider the problems that we have overcome.

**No its not. We’ve overcome Racism, for the most part **

Tell that to the people who are no longer considered property.

Who’s not considered property? Women? Is that why the majority of men who watch porn see every women on the street as a piece of meat? Hows about the slave trade? Or the pimps and prostitution? Your above statment is NOT very convincing

They were not capable of doing so. We had a huge loss of human life through the slave trade and through the Mongolian invasion. Why not consider those?

**We can consider the invasion and the slave trade. I’m still saying that Rome was better than we were. What irks me is that everyone sees “Big bad Rome” and points fingers at Rome. Rome was largely, apart from its wars, a peaceable society. **

And only in the last 60-80 years would 100 million people be able to be slaughtered due to population expansion. How many wars in history produced loss of life that was proportionally comparable?

Ironic. Check this website out. Not one Roman war appears on it. Not one.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_anthropogenic_disasters_by_death_toll

Then you did not know Rome. Greece was also very, very bad.

**Sure they fought wars. As do we in modern society. In fact, modern society has a tendency to be genocidal, not warring. I would prefer a war over an unfair genocide where I cannot defend myself. **

Only a histrionic or a demagog would be interested in such a topic.

**Well then it must be news to you that I am neither and that I find it quite insulting to be labelled a histronic. I am neither a demagogue. I ask you to back up YOUR evidence for labelling me a demagogue and a histronic. **

It is clearly impossible to develop a quantitative metric to determine how “bad” the Earth has been throughout history; it is equally impossible to consider the acts and mindset of every individual who has ever lived. What purpose does this topic serve? We cannot come to an answer.

Not quite, statistics and cultural anthropology do a relatively good job at telling the tale

It is not as if you have presented any evidence either.

I’ve complied more evidence than You

I agree with atheistgirl. This topic has no point. You have not demonstrated your position, nor could you. Nor could someone arguing against you demonstrate his position. It is simply not feasible. It is also a waste of time.

**I just did demonstrate my position and it is quite feasible. I am quite aware that mankind has always had its dark moments, although it irks me when everyone smears the cultures of the past and doesn’t give two cents that 125,000 innocent children are slaughtered through abortion in our lovely modern society every single day. I think Rome Herself would have called us barbaric and rightfully so. When a culture destroys its Children, then it is worse than any other society. However, not only do they destroy children, they revel and lavish in the right to do so. No, there is not one arguement that could convice me that our modern society is better than Ancient Rome or Greece. **

 

[Oneofthewomen]

I posted this earlier in this thread, you obviously missed it, MMM.

Please take some advice from our Holy Father Francis

“Let us never give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day. Do not give in to pessimism and discouragement. We have the firm certainty that the Holy Spirit gives the Church with His mighty breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth."

Stop dwelling on what is wrong with the world and start doing something to make the world a better place!

 

[ephesians4]

I agree with atheistgirl. This topic has no point. You have not demonstrated your position, nor could you. Nor could someone arguing against you demonstrate his position. It is simply not feasible. It is also a waste of time.

The thread asked a question, it asked for people’s opinions and a number of us gave them. I found it interesting to read people’s opinions, to be honest, including mymamamary’s.

I don’t know where people find the time to post that they don’t consider the conversation in a thread on the interweb worth having, to be honest.

 

[Baelor]

MMM:

No its not. We’ve overcome Racism, for the most part

How does that compare to gay marriage? Can you prove that the existence of racism is better and/or worse than legalized gay marriage? How would one even begin to quantify this?

Who’s not considered property? Women?

Uh…peoples who were formerly enslaved for centuries/millennia.

Is that why the majority of men who watch porn see every women on the street as a piece of meat? Hows about the slave trade? Or the pimps and prostitution? Your above statment is NOT very convincing

That what? That considering people property legally is no longer common? That is not something up for debate.

We can consider the invasion and the slave trade. I’m still saying that Rome was better than we were.

How is this quantified?

What irks me is that everyone sees “Big bad Rome” and points fingers at Rome. Rome was largely, apart from its wars, a peaceable society.

Yes, it was peaceful when one does not consider war. Well, the US is sexually healthy, apart from everything that makes it sexually unhealthy.

Ironic. Check this website out. Not one Roman war appears on it. Not one.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of…_by_death_toll

Which proves my point exactly. You are using incommensurate metrics, and even when I point this out to you you still do not get it.

Sure they fought wars. As do we in modern society. In fact, modern society has a tendency to be genocidal, not warring.

“Tendency” is a strong word.

I would prefer a war over an unfair genocide where I cannot defend myself.

The fact that it is a war does not mean you can defend yourself.

Well then it must be news to you that I am neither and that I find it quite insulting to be labelled a histronic. I am neither a demagogue. I ask you to back up YOUR evidence for labelling me a demagogue and a histronic.

The fact that you have not put forward a metric that can quantify this issue and seem more interested in making some sort of bizarre and sensationalist argument instead of laying out exactly the terms of this discussion. You have not defined “better,” nor have you put forward a quantifiable way of determining this.

Not quite, statistics and cultural anthropology do a relatively good job at telling the tale

What tale? You still have not explained into what framework these statistics fit.

Perhaps I should take a step back. I will help you.

Let us assume that your point is that the world (or humanity, or whatever), is not worse.

1. Define “worse,” so we can know exactly what we are talking about.
2. Explain what factors go into “worse.” Is abortion a factor? Access to clean water? Computers? Stuffed animals? Number of Catholics? Number of churches?
3. Explain how one can quantify those factors. Is one murder worse than two robberies? Is everyone being a cafeteria Catholic better than everyone being orthodox except for a small number of non-Catholics? And so forth.

I hope that you will realize that a scope of such a task is beyond human comprehension. This is why this claim is that of a demagog rather than a serious statement: because it renders abstract something concrete. I believe I can see what you are saying, but you are hiding it under a vague statement and appear to be blinded by a strong emotional response.

 

[Baelor]

The thread asked a question, it asked for people’s opinions and a number of us gave them. I found it interesting to read people’s opinions, to be honest, including mymamamary’s.

My claim is that the question is unanswerable; this is basically indisputable.

 

[ephesians4]

My claim is that the question is unanswerable; this is basically indisputable.

Wow, you broke out the word “indisputable” pretty injudiciously there.

I’ll not just dispute, but refute that claim absolutely in one sentence:

The question is “Does anybody else feel that tough times are truly ahead?” - if anybody reading the OP feels that, the answer is Yes.

 

[mymamamary]

My claim is that the question is unanswerable; this is basically indisputable.

**In a way it may be. I do admit that it is hard to gauge historical times. Yet I still think Rome was cooler. The original title of this thread is whether or not tough times are ahead. I believe we are. Abortion, Homosexuality and moral relativism are rampant in todays culture. Contraception is destroying various nations across the world. Our Faith is smeared left, right and center as it rises to a crescendo that our Faith has not seen in decades. Again, this does not mean that I have despaired of the world. I have not despaired. I hold hope out for us as with CHRIST there is always Hope. However, I do chime in with my opinion that these issues need to be adressed and promptly if humanity wishes for a stable and LASTING peace. I only hope that I can have the strength to do my part for the Faith first and foremost, and the World. **

 

[Baelor]

Wow, you broke out the word “indisputable” pretty injudiciously there.

My uses of words are occasionally injudicious. This was not the case here.

I’ll not just dispute, but refute that claim absolutely in one sentence:

The question is “Does anybody else feel that tough times are truly ahead?” - if anybody reading the OP feels that, the answer is Yes.

That was not the question to which I was referring. Did I respond to the OP? No. I responded to MMM. His question – whether the world today is better or worse than before – is the question in which I am interested.

 

[Baelor]

However, I do chime in with my opinion that these issues need to be adressed and promptly if humanity wishes for a stable and LASTING peace. I only hope that I can have the strength to do my part for the Faith first and foremost, and the World.

I agree with everything you have said here. Please carry on with Christ’s mission and I will attempt to do the same.

 

[pgnat1]

I’m also seeing a huge rise in the number of young people who are self-proclaimed agnostics and atheists. Not so much “militant atheists” who go around trying to bash and dismantle religion, but just not caring individuals who seem to say “So what if there is a God?”

Maybe it isn’t so much that people are not believing in God anymore; maybe it is more so that people’s trust in religion is dying, and the level of apathy that keeps getting applied when it comes to God and religion is getting stronger.

There is a difference between the average atheists today and the average atheists when Bertrand Russell debated Fr. Copleston.

 

[Diana_Catherine]

**I just did demonstrate my position and it is quite feasible. I am quite aware that mankind has always had its dark moments, although it irks me when everyone smears the cultures of the past and doesn’t give two cents that 125,000 innocent children are slaughtered through abortion in our lovely modern society every single day. I think Rome Herself would have called us barbaric and rightfully so. When a culture destroys its Children, then it is worse than any other society. However, not only do they destroy children, they revel and lavish in the right to do so. No, there is not one arguement that could convice me that our modern society is better than Ancient Rome or Greece. **

True, just think of that statistic, 125,000 children per day for how many years now? And there are children still being kept as slaves, human trafficking. Of course as you mentioned the horrible way we women are treated today because of the massive increase in pornography. I don’t understand how anyone can not see the increase in these and other moral issues.

In Father Joseph M. Esper’s book, Spiritual Dangers of the 21st Century, he says the things going on today would make the people of Sodom and Gomorrah blush.

I posted this earlier in this thread, you obviously missed it, MMM.

Please take some advice from our Holy Father Francis

“Let us never give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day. Do not give in to pessimism and discouragement. We have the firm certainty that the Holy Spirit gives the Church with His mighty breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth."

Stop dwelling on what is wrong with the world and start doing something to make the world a better place!

I just want to say I love that quote. I am so not a pessimist but that is because I acknowledge the problem and focus to solve it. Just because someone acknowledges problems doesn’t mean they are dwelling on them. A question was asked and people are answering. False optimism is ignoring that there are problems and so nothing gets solved. Any problems of the past that were solved came about because someone first acknowledged the problem. If we acknowledge the increase in issues with teens today or the degradation of women or the damaging of two lives due to abortion we can focus our lives to be salt and light and bring healing.

 

[Diana_Catherine]

I’m also seeing a huge rise in the number of young people who are self-proclaimed agnostics and atheists. Not so much “militant atheists” who go around trying to bash and dismantle religion, but just not caring individuals who seem to say “So what if there is a God?”

Maybe it isn’t so much that people are not believing in God anymore; maybe it is more so that people’s trust in religion is dying, and the level of apathy that keeps getting applied when it comes to God and religion is getting stronger.

There is a difference between the average atheists today and the average atheists when Bertrand Russell debated Fr. Copleston.

I am seeing this too and it is a horrible problem with teens today.