…I keep repeating the same mistakes. I do not understand God’s forgiveness. I almost always make the same mistakes.
We all keep repeating the same mistakes–that’s why God gave us the sacrament of Confession. Do you know the definition of a sacrament is “an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace”? Think about that: 1. Christ gives us an outward sign of His forgiveness, knowing we are also physical and in need of that assurance, and 2. Confession gives us grace, which helps us to overcome our difficulties.
The main thing to do with repeated falls is to get up every time and try again, and remember, *we all have these difficulties. *Even the saints went to confession!
I want to know what is so good about living for God.
Who would not want to live for the One Who loves us with an infinite love? The One Who created us, the One Who died for us?
And by living for God we can become our very best selves, which is a nice addition to the above.
I am doing it again, I joined a Catholic forum to ask for advice, an opinion, etc. I wonder why God created me the way I am. As much as I fully believe in free-will, I think God created us distinct. I have a friend I try to be like, I CAN NOT BE EXACTLY LIKE HER. We are just by nature DIFFERENT. No amount of imitating CAN MAKE ME HER.
People are VERY different. It is difficult to imagine one God and one sets of standards for all of us.
Yes, we are all made different, but we are also all the same. In our human nature, we are the same. In our human personhood, we are each different.
It’s like a car: all cars are basically the same, because they have a “car nature,” cars is what they are. But each one is different, as one finds out when one goes to bu a used one
This one has been well-maintained, this one has had a frame-bending accident, that one has a miss in the engine no one can figure out, this one just goes and goes.
So, we have certain standards for the maintenance of cars, and God has certain standards for the maintenance of us. Each human has basic needs which must be met: they all need to eat and drink, you can’t let any of them get too cold or too hot, etc. But they have their differences, too: this one can’t eat seafood, that one breaks his bones easily, the other one needs glasses,…
HERE IS ANOTHER BIG ISSUE I HAVE TO SAY. I think being close-minded and judgmental is wrong. Does it really make you that horrible of a person? Why isn’t it treated like any other personal flaw, shortcoming, etc? It makes me fear if I become very religious, I will become judgmental and close-minded.
Closemindedness is one of those things which can go any which way, and a good place is to be in the middle. Virtue and vice are like this: there is a virtue, say, bravery. Well, you can have too much bravery, which is foolhardiness, and you can have too little bravery, which is cowardice. *It is just as bad to be too brave as it is to not be brave enough. *In the same way, being somewhat closeminded is actually being sensible. Being *too *closeminded is bad–you can never learn anything. Not being closeminded enough leaves you open to every wacky idea, every con artist, every fad that comes down the pike.
Coming to believe that something is correct is not being too closeminded, *even if a lot of people disagree with you. *I think maybe the error comes in when one refuses to listen to other people, even tho you start off knowing they are wrong. So, if I meet Mrs. “Say this prayer and you’ll go to Heaven,” I need to listen to what she says rather than dismissing her, if only so I can tell where she is coming from and have her be polite enough to listen to me so I can explain what the Church teaches and why. But really, it’s more common humanity rather than an evangelizing tool.
But you don’t have to be so open-minded that you immediately agree with her without thinking it through, because what will happen when you talk with the next person, who is a Jehovah’s Witness, and you decide to ignore your mother’s birthday? And then you meet a Buddhist, who tells you you don’t need to believe in God? See? You would be pulled every which way by *too little *closemindedness.
I am not defending the Pharisees or anything. Were they really THAT BAD? I understand Jesus admonished them the most.
Yes, the Pharisees were *that bad, *because they knew the most and ignored it, using their knowledge only to gain and keep power over people and to further their own arrogance. Not nice!
