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Solmyr
Guest
That is reasonable, and I would accept this approach. But it is in direct contradiction with the church’s teaching, which says that God is sovereign, and cannot be contingent upon anything.
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Aloysium
Guest
You and I are stilling in our particular times and places doing our version of this here.
We are thinking, seeing, maybe sipping on a coffee.
All this exists; it is, from the encapsulating unity of ourselves as individual persons to the rest of the universe, of which we are a part and to which we are relating.
The whole thing including ourselves, doing what we do, in our separateness, is part of the totality that is the universe, which exists.
That there is existence might be pretty much taken for granted were it not for nonexistence. All that ever comes into existence will cease to be. Creation, a symphony played in eternity, is played out in elements lasting eons, dotted by split-second bursts, and everything in between.
Back to us here as part of all the grandeur, hardly insignificant in the wondrous complexity, we are centred on the Source of all the isness, One Being in relation to Himself bringing all into creation.
As the Font of the largest and of the infinitesimally small, all times and places, He is aware of all that is, a mile or kilometre known not through some intellectual abstraction, but by its very existence.
Through the sacrifice of the Word by which we came to be, we have revealed the depth of His compassion, an infinite sea that surrounds all a Heart which knows as as we truly are in our joys, sorrows, goodness and sin.
So, it is all in accordance with God’s plan that we are here, choosing to do as we will, determining the part we play in the drama that is the universe.
One has to look up for the Truth that contains and is deepest within us - just sit and pray, and love.
:twocents:
We are thinking, seeing, maybe sipping on a coffee.
All this exists; it is, from the encapsulating unity of ourselves as individual persons to the rest of the universe, of which we are a part and to which we are relating.
The whole thing including ourselves, doing what we do, in our separateness, is part of the totality that is the universe, which exists.
That there is existence might be pretty much taken for granted were it not for nonexistence. All that ever comes into existence will cease to be. Creation, a symphony played in eternity, is played out in elements lasting eons, dotted by split-second bursts, and everything in between.
Back to us here as part of all the grandeur, hardly insignificant in the wondrous complexity, we are centred on the Source of all the isness, One Being in relation to Himself bringing all into creation.
As the Font of the largest and of the infinitesimally small, all times and places, He is aware of all that is, a mile or kilometre known not through some intellectual abstraction, but by its very existence.
Through the sacrifice of the Word by which we came to be, we have revealed the depth of His compassion, an infinite sea that surrounds all a Heart which knows as as we truly are in our joys, sorrows, goodness and sin.
So, it is all in accordance with God’s plan that we are here, choosing to do as we will, determining the part we play in the drama that is the universe.
One has to look up for the Truth that contains and is deepest within us - just sit and pray, and love.
:twocents:
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fisherman_carl
Guest
The answer is that we just don’t know the depths of God’s mind. Scripture says that only the Spirit of God understands the depths of God’s mind. So there is no need to obsess about something we just can not fathom. You will just find yourself spinning your wheels. Trust in God. Allow God to be God.This question has been plaguing me for some time. I may be losing my mind. But here goes.
Exactly how omniscient is God?
In particular, we believe that God knows everything that has happened, that is happening, and that will happen. But that knowledge concerns only the real world of events.
Is it possible that God also knows all the potential world of events; that is, those events that could happen but don’t happen? For example, if a person dies in childhood, would God also know all the events that would have happened in that person’s life had the person lived to old age?
Please don’t ask why I am obsessing over this question.
"For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. "
- 2 Cor 2:11
Read Psalm 131
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ericc
Guest
In Rev 20:12 the dead were judged based upon what they had done. It is not based upon what they could have done if things were different. I suppose arguing that someone would have turned good if given a longer life span is not going to persuade God to give him an entrance ticket to Heaven. Or any other permutations of could haves, should haves, ifs etc
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Aloysium
Guest
What we do includes doing nothing when an act of love is called for.
What we do does not exist outside our circumstances both internal and external.
Those who fail to act when they have been exposed to God’s message face a harsher punishment than those who do not know Jesus.
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ericc
Guest
Agreed. An act of deliberate omission/avoidance certainly counts as an act. Even mental acts. As stated in our Penitential Act:
…I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do…
In fact it would be certainly unfair to be judged based upon a subset of feasible possibilities. One could argue that one would have done good if blah, blah, blah. And the counter argument as well till the cows come home.
God’s judgement will be based upon the circumstance given to the person. Those given greater opportunities will be judged more stringently than those given fewer. It is all in the Book.
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