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Edward_H
Guest
There is no happiness outside of God. There is no self-happiness. This is an error of many forms of new ageism. And it’s a dangerous error, despite “spurts” of supposed happiness.
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jimjack
Guest
If there is no happiness outside of God then maybe God makes people happy through new age. It is basically a scientific fact at this point that meditation can make you happy, whether it is aimed at God or not, so either you can achieve happiness outside of God or God makes people happy through other means.
I would rather be happy like the dalai lama who doesn’t believe in God than be happy like the 2,000+ people in the scrupulosity group on CAF that do believe in God.
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Aleksa
Guest
I don’t think I could ever burn a book.
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Edward_H
Guest
There’s less scientific fact about meditation “makes you happy” than alcohol.
Happiness is not what you think it is. Happiness is union with God. Happiness and Holiness converge at God.
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creole54
Guest
How about donating the book to your local public library? Like it or not, a public library has to have books on the shelf representing all interests, religious and political viewpoints, and representing both sides of an argument. So we have just as many books about evolution as we do about creationism, for example.
Also, if we receive donations that we don’t need for our collection, we recycle. It seems to me a much more effective solution for the offending book than burning it.
Also, if we receive donations that we don’t need for our collection, we recycle. It seems to me a much more effective solution for the offending book than burning it.
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benidict
Guest
I cannot say for sure. but the scrupulosity issue, sounds alot like OCD. I dont believe a new age book or Current Catholic teaching can adequately adress this problem. Catholicism does however have its share of wonderful psychologist, who very well Could help out this type of person, from a perspective they can understand. Im not that familiar with the Churches take. let me consult my Cathechism tonight, and get back to you. Is this considered a sin in our Church? Im sure someone has an answer for this, that can get back to us pretty quickly. Seems to me, however it is a personality disorder. I certainly would not mind meeting the Dalai Lama though. That would be nice. Im sure he has some wonderful insights.
BTW did you remember to turn off your stove, and set your alarm. 
One last thing. The real answer is PIZZA. Pizza can make a person happy. Works for me! 
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VeritasLuxMea
Guest
LOL, I know, right? At least someone’s with me on this stuff. People, chances are even if it’s read it won’t change anything. But I see no harm in just putting it in a garbage bag… LOL!
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jimjack
Guest
I wasn’t saying that new ageism was a cure to scrupulosity. I was just saying that the Dalai Lama and many other Buddhists do not believe in God and are extremely happy. The supposed happiest man in the world is a Buddhist monk that does not believe in the Christian God. So who is a Christian to come in and say that he is not really happy? How ignorant and misinformed.I cannot say for sure. but the scrupulosity issue, sounds alot like OCD. I dont believe a new age book or Current Catholic teaching can adequately adress this problem. Catholicism does however have its share of wonderful psychologist, who very well Could help out this type of person, from a perspective they can understand. Im not that familiar with the Churches take. let me consult my Cathechism tonight, and get back to you. Is this considered a sin in our Church? Im sure someone has an answer for this, that can get back to us pretty quickly. Seems to me, however it is a personality disorder. I certainly would not mind meeting the Dalai Lama though. That would be nice. Im sure he has some wonderful insights.
The point I was trying to make was that there are plenty of people that are happy without a belief in God and plenty of people that are completely miserable that do believe in God. So if God is the only way to true happiness, there must be some other definition of happiness that I am not aware of.
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Bookcat
Guest
No…cause then the person who did so would be creating an occasion of sin for others…an occasion of error and harm to them…
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Bookcat
Guest
Can certain kinds of meditative practice be helpful in a persons life? Perhaps (though such can also be not good for the person and Christians (or others) should not willie nillie borrow from or follow non-Christian practices…but rather read the document on “Certain Aspects of Christian Meditation” from the CDF…and one has to distinguish what one is speaking of …relaxation…being aware of the beauty of creation etc…or something else which is contrary to the Faith and harmful …)
But is this lasting happiness? is this the Happiness that Man was made for?
No…
(and even so…new age books are not the way! in any case)
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Bookcat
Guest
Such can be a short lived partial happiness…not the great Hope that sustains all the rest.
I do not judge the “Dalai Lama” etc…But I will comment on the latter.
Those who are in the Scrupulosity group…or for that matter those who suffer from various painful problems in life … still can have* true life* in Christ…even if they suffer at the moment. They have found Jesus Christ and true life…even in the midst of their suffering. They have know he who is the great hope in life…who is life.
And for anyone who is still here on pilgrimage … they will not find their full happiness yet…that happiness for which we are made…for we are all in stat via …in the state of being on the way.
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jimjack
Guest
The thing is that I do not believe in Jesus or God. In fact I believe we are here on earth and once we die, that is it. So when I see people get so caught up on what an imaginary deity (in my eyes at least) thinks about their masturbation habits I can’t help but shake my head at it.
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Bookcat
Guest
Who is a Buddhist to say that they are happier than a Christian?
Or that he is the happiest man in the world?
As to true happiness…yes God is the only way to lasting…full happiness…
There are lots of “happiness” aspects in life… And lots of “hopes” in life along the way. From coffee ice-cream on a hot day…to various beloved persons in life. But happiness in not just an emotional thing…and these sometimes authentic moments of happiness (sometimes only apparent) are not full happiness…they are not full happiness.
"Day by day, man experiences many greater or lesser hopes, different in kind according to the different periods of his life. Sometimes one of these hopes may appear to be totally satisfying without any need for other hopes. Young people can have the hope of a great and fully satisfying love; the hope of a certain position in their profession, or of some success that will prove decisive for the rest of their lives. When these hopes are fulfilled, however, it becomes clear that they were not, in reality, the whole. It becomes evident that man has need of a hope that goes further. It becomes clear that only something infinite will suffice for him, something that will always be more than he can ever attain…
Let us say once again: we need the greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day by day. But these are not enough without the great hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain. The fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life." ~ Pope Benedict XVI Spe Salvi
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jimjack
Guest
The way I see it, when people say things like “the only way to true happiness is through God” they are talking about an afterlife which is not provable or tangible in any way. It is obvious that there are people that are happy that are atheists and people that are miserable that believe in God. So, you could make the argument that God has no bearing on real world happiness in this life, but he does in the afterlife. Since I don’t believe in the afterlife or god, I have to say that God has no bearing on happiness. A belief in God can have an effect on happiness though.
According to scientists this is the happiest man in the world:
independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-happiest-man-in-the-world-433063.html
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Bookcat
Guest
Read again my posts.
As I noted there can be various “happinesses” in life (all still from God as creator by the way).
And I can and indeed do know happiness in many ways already in the state of being on the way…
Indeed I know true life in Jesus Christ…already… I have the joy of knowing him! and of being in him!
This is a being in relation with he who is the Logos…the meaning …who indeed is the Way the Truth and the Life.
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Bookcat
Guest
“In this sense it is true that anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2:12).” ~Pope Benedict XVI Spe Salvi
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Little_One0307
Guest
Well there is either an after life or not? Do things always require proof so that one believes in them? Empiricism I used to live my life by it to, but it does not answer things that are above the realm of natural stuff. Empiricism is a very shallow way to live as it cannot explain everything and not everything can be proved or disproved. But does the fact that something cannot be proved disprove its existence or non-existence?
When you say you do not believe in the afterlife or God, can you “prove” that to me? I mean can I somehow measure your responses and submit them to scientific testing?
If I was blind and could not sense anything. Does my saying there is no sun change the ontological reality that there really is a sun? Nope it does not. Either God exists or does not exist. Either afterlife is true or false.
It goes beyond proof and into faith. And faith is a supernatural gift of God.
Little One0307
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Bookcat
Guest
“In this sense it is true that anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2:12)…”
~Pope Benedict XVI Spe Salvi
~Pope Benedict XVI Spe Salvi
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Bookcat
Guest
“We believe in God. This is a fundamental decision on our part. But again the question has to be asked: is this still possible today? Is it reasonable? From the Enlightenment on, science, at least in part, has applied itself to seeking an explanation of the world in which God would be unnecessary. And if this were so, he would also become unnecessary in our lives. But whenever the attempt seemed to be nearing success - inevitably it would become clear: something is missing from the equation! When God is subtracted, something doesn’t add up for man, the world, the whole universe. So we end up with two alternatives. What came first? Creative Reason, the Creator Spirit who makes all things and gives them growth, or Unreason, which, lacking any meaning, yet somehow brings forth a mathematically ordered cosmos, as well as man and his reason. The latter, however, would then be nothing more than a chance result of evolution and thus, in the end, equally meaningless. As Christians, we say: “I believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth” -I believe in the Creator Spirit. We believe that at the beginning of everything is the eternal Word, with Reason and not Unreason…”
Pope Benedict XVI Homily Sept 12 2006 Regensburg
Pope Benedict XVI Homily Sept 12 2006 Regensburg
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jimjack
Guest
It is illogical, in my opinion at least, to assume something exists because you can’t prove it doesn’t exist. You are saying that faith in God is a supernatural gift from God. That is some circular logic. The Bible is true because the Bible says so!
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