Liberian:
Free Grace,
Hello and welcome to the Catholic Answers Forums!
Thank you Liberian.
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Thank you. I have been.
<<< I note that while you joined last October, you only have a dozen posts here. Have you been lurking much?>>>
Yes. This is a very nice site.
<<<Are you indeed the same person as “Free Grace” on CARM>>>
Yep, I’m is that same person.
<<<At any rate, I distinctly remember more than one person over there telling me in no uncertain terms that the Marian apparitions at Fatima and Lourdes were demonic in nature.>>>
Most likely that was Budge. The other might have been TBF or Tan2Day. I would never say that an approved apparition was demonic in nature. In regards to Lourdes, I would never trash talk Bernadette. I have a great affection for her. She kept things real in her life. But no, I would never say that an approved apparition was demonic in nature. I do find it a shame that they fall under private revelation, though. It gives the impression that they are utterly usless. I also think that many apparitions are extremely beautiful in nature. Some are weird, though. Take Rwanda for instance. Very, very weird. But considering the urgancy of the message and the nature of the prophacy…well, you can see why it would give the appearance of being weird or bizarr.
<<<Apparitions in general (apart from the specific graces received, like the healings at Lourdes) are useful in that they provide motivation to people.>>>
Yes. I have no problem in agreeing to that. The problem is with the heading of private revelation. For example, if you were an outsider looking in, what would you see? Well, you’d see an apparition, though having approval, doesn’t have to be accepted as genuine. If the message is from God, then it is genuine and should be accepted by the world as such. But on the other hand, just how would you classify a Marian Apparition other than private revelation. As they say, nothing is ever easy.
Do you know what brought me to God, Liberian? It wasn’t the preaching of a fire and brimstone Baptist. Goodness, who could ever understand them in the first place? That is, they scream as fast as they can while cramming as many words possible into a hung runon sentance as if their life depended on shouting a million words in the span of two seconds. No, it wasn’t that. It was an apparition, Lib. An unapproved one at that. Would you have ever guessed it was Garabandal? And it doesn’t even matter one bit if Garabandal is true or not.
Oh well, do tell.
But yes, I am the same person that you are thinking of.
