I’d ask them but they don’t seem to exist.
This question comes across as an almost longing for something else than the Real God.
And demons would be happy to fill that void for us if we don’t watch out.
These days people still worship … oh … things like … money … sex … drugs …
but the God is really themselves. Their sacrifices come right back to them in the best
(worst?) possible ways.
Of course to GET money, sex, or drugs … one must still involve others … sometimes
in a superior position. So the drug dealer becomes a God. Or the gang leader. The
boss. The "significant other’ who must be pleased to get one what they wanted out of the
relationship.
In this Catholic place, ONE God in three persons is the teaching about the truth. And
Godhood IS not shared with a pantheon of specialist gods, although the REAL God
delegates HIS power to angels and people (as with Jesus commissioning the Church),
to distribute his gifts and teach of His covenant.
Boiling it all down to the two summary commandments as Jesus did it’s “Love God” (the
real and only one) completely, and our neighbors as ourselves (not only do no harm to
them but actually LOVE them with honor).
The God taught by the Catholic Church is Almighty, Everywhere, Beyond Time - eternal in
both directions, AND also personal … not just a “force” or mindless bumbling scientific
accident that nonetheless creates complexities, systems, and observable creation with
immutable laws.
In Jesus we learn that we TOO (through His power not ours) are eternal beings with a
chance to live out that eternity with God (as He intended, in a Kingdom of love and
unselfishness - a fulfillment of our ultimate purpose). Living out an eternity elsewhere
is daunting even without imagining the horrors of hell … or observing the worst of Earth
magnified by an eternal “this never gets better it only gets worse.”
Back to US. Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth and the life. His way is not easy. It
requires sacrifice. YET, when we begin to follow Him, we are given graces that make
HIS burden light and His yoke sweet. We receive HIS spirit and find it easy to love our
neighbors – even some of the damaged ones - and NOT covet their goods or steal from
them, etc.
And in the end our invented False Gods (the seven deadly sins) lose their power over us.
God has given us old age and the knowledge that
“I’m not what I once was …” to combat PRIDE.
“My money won’t buy me health, or the pleasures of my youth!” to combat AVARICE.
“What good does it do me to waste my time wanting what others have when I couldn’t
enjoy it anyway,” to combat ENVY.
“My wrath is just making my blood pressure dangerously high” to combat ANGER
“I can’t really taste my food so much any more. And NOW there seems so much OF it!”
to combat GLUTTONY.
“Now that I’m confined to this bed … I wish I could get up an DO things again!” to combat Sloth.
And finally, if, in old age, one were given the choice:
“Would you rather be in bed with your spouse at their MOST attractive, most hot blooded
time in their life … OR would you rather just be in bed with the day off and no alarm clock.”
… you find yourself cured of LUST.
Humor aside. God is with us always, and drawing us to Himself ever more deeply. He will not violate our free will choices for the most part – and while He speaks to us and inspires us, He allows fallen angels to tempt us from His laws of love and to eternal failure of purpose.
I answered this headline without reading any other takes on it. I may return to the thread
to see what others have written. This is just what occurred to me when I saw the question.
