Religion - catastrophic insurance

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mijoy2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mijoy2

Guest
Curious if anyone else asks themselves this question. Not only about others but, I’d be even more interested in whether you ask t his question of yourself. As I do.

I am always (or very often) thinking of many aspects of life, and perhaps even more so regarding faith based ponders, along a bell-curve sort of perspective. I can’t help myself. i am an engineer by trade but I don’t really think this is why, it is simply how I think.

When we look, or attempt to examine, the faith of ourselves or the faith of others, we can look at it superficially or we can attempt a deeper dive. This post is about the deeper dive. I will propose (if you will allow me) to bin two groups of Christians. I understand this doesn’t really work because of there is a spectrum of Christians, not at all 2 groups. But it becomes easier for the sake of discussion to bin into 2 groups. So please bare with me. These two groups are devout and nominal.
 
My apologies, I thought my question was clear. But given the lack of response, obviously it was only clear to me.

Do we claim a faith and belief in the Christian God - to insure (or help insure) not being damned IF, in fact it is true.

Or is our Faith genuine?
 
I think both are answers. For some it’s genuine, for some it’s insurance. I think both can also be true in the same person, ebbing back and forth in conjunction with life’s struggles.
 
I agree - And i cannot remove myself from this category of folks. (If I am being honest).
 
‘It is good, however, that even if love does not as yet restrain you from evil, at least the fear of
hell does. The man who casts aside the fear of God cannot continue long in goodness but will
quickly fall into the snares of the devil.’ - The Imitation of Christ
 
I am a thinker. Occasionally a semi-deep thinker. Always an over-thinker.

Rather than categorize, like the Pharisee in the temple, we are called to reform ourselves first. Otherwise we risk becoming what we hate.

Get a copy of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas á Kempis. Extremely valuable counsel and advice for Christian living has been engineered into that brief tome.
 
I’m fairly sure that question has already been answered. So, as it stands, rehashing the ethos and pathos associated of it and with it again seems in no small way a bit redundant. Not that I am reluctant to answer it, indeed, I will. But I feel strongly that it bears say, on the most reasonable basis, that the topic has already been, at least by a consensus of gifted minds, looked at from perhaps every possible perspective and all theories and postulations about it always seem to come back to the same, simple affirmative conclusion.
 
Last edited:
Our eyes look outward. Even this is a grace from God as, if they looked inward, we could not stand what they would see. We are called to strive toward self-knowledge, recognizing our faults so as to struggle against them.
 
Mijoy2 said:
Do we claim a faith and belief in the Christian God - to insure (or help insure) not being damned IF, in fact it is true.

Or is our Faith genuine?
Click to expand...
I can’t speak for anybody else but I genuinely believe in and love God and Mary and all the saints.

“Insurance against being damned” is pretty weak. That might be a place for somebody to start, if they never had a belief in religion before, but no good Catholic is going to leave it there. It’s about loving God throughout our life, not just what happens when we die.

Why do you ask such a question? Do you not love God and feel Jesus and the Holy Spirit directly working in your life?
 
Pascal’s Wager - - - - - - -

“Either Christianity is true or it’s false. If you bet that it’s true, and you believe in God and submit to Him, then if it IS true, you’ve gained God, heaven, and everything else. If it’s false, you’ve lost nothing, but you’ve had a good life marked by peace and the illusion that ultimately, everything makes sense. If you bet that Christianity is not true, and it’s false, you’ve lost nothing. But if you bet that it’s false, and it turns out to be true, you’ve lost everything and you get to spend eternity in hell.”
 
Dan_Defender said:
‘It is good, however, that even if love does not as yet restrain you from evil, at least the fear of
hell does. The man who casts aside the fear of God cannot continue long in goodness but will
quickly fall into the snares of the devil.’ - The Imitation of Christ
Click to expand...
Yes, like I said it is the starting point. If you pray more and work on your relationship with God and be open to Him then graces and gifts from Him should follow and hopefully you grow in faith and in love of God. So it’s not just about “I better not be bad or I’ll go to Hell” anymore. It’s about a genuine, faith-based, supernatural and natural relationship with the Big G.
 
Yes, I do not feel Jesus and the Holy Spirit working in my life (if I am to be honest). Love? I love the idea of the God of our faith. But it is difficult to love an idea.
 
I think maybe an answer lies in the process of maturation of the Christian. Initially, when we are children, our minds works in an acceptance/avoidance mode. We want to accept religion because our parents and teaches tell us so and we don’t want to go to hell.
As one matures in the faith, and one’s understanding of creation and scripture, one may choose to grow to an appreciation of the wonders God has bestowed on us, and our faith turns more to an appreciative nature and we want to follow the tenets of our religious choice as they draw us nearer to a loving God, and farther from the “I have to be good and love God because I don’t want to go to hell.” I think that is somewhat in the back of the mind, but as one grows in their love and God, it recedes to the point of not being an operative way of thinking.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top