Re: Prolife Question

On 27 Apr 2008 06:24:10 GMT, Rockinghorse Winner <rockinghorse@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

In alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic, PLG had the audacity to say that:


I'm on Mr Franklin's side. Christian dogma is unreasonable,
unintelligible, unintelligent, and illogical. People who use reason
and common sense throughout their lives suddenly throw their capacity
to reason away when it comes to religion, and put the welfare of their
soul into the hands of misguided theologians who are perpetuation
other people's mistakes and misunderstandings. I am appalled.

The original teachings of Christ about loving one another is fine, but
I find that the more I love Christ, the more I despise the Christian
religions. All of them. All non-Christian religions, too! Some are
worse than others, but let's face it, as Jesus said, they're all
whited sepulchres, looking fine on the outside but hypocritical and
rotten to the core, on the inside.

PLG


Your sensitivity to hypocrisy is a bit too finely tuned, I think. Some
compassion for your fellow searcher is in order. Surely, some critisism is
rightly earned by those who forget their insufficiency or who overstay their
welcome.

But, if we are confident that the search we are embarked on is a noble one,
then I think we can put up with our fellow travelers even if they get shrill
at times.

When you get close to people, you see their pores. And everyone looks ugly
under a microscope. I find it helps to figure your intuition into the
equation, when deciding on what theology or guide to life you will follow.
To work out all the fine details of your code of life on logical grounds is
well nigh an impossible (not to mention life-sapping) task. That is why
religions exist, to give people a ready-made *system* to follow with very
good references attached, so they don't have to do all the heavy lifting
themselves.

You are free to question. But don't question yourself into one deadend
after another. This will do nothing but rob you of your peace, and you will
reach 40, 50, 60 and still you will be searching and never arriving.

My suggestion is that you figure what *works* into the equation. What
ready-made *system* of religion or philosophy out there seems to give you
peace and lets you live a fruitful and productive life? What makes you more
fully human than the others, causes you to most fully appreciate the natural
beauty of the world, makes you forgiving of others? No system will be
perfect. There will always exist space between you and the bureauacracy of
organizations. This should not weigh too much on you. Your job is to try to
contribute your own insights to the organization and to bear joyfully with
the *mistakes* of your fellow religionists. This is called, LOVE.

This will be the sign that you are on the track of God's will for your life:
you will be a happier, more virtuous person. Don't be frightened! Seek with
confidence and joy, knowing you are on an important mission, the most
important. Be humble in admitting that you don't have all the answers.
There is no more important task than the one you are embarked on.
This should give you the confidence you need.

Pray. Ask God to give you the grace of knowing God's will for PLG. God
created you for a reason. Be on the lookout for that reason, so you don't
miss it when it comes.

Relax. Don't turn into a jellyfish, but don't go around tearing your hair
out either. Being in tune with God's will for *you* is the most liberating
experience you will ever know. For the first time in your life you will
feel truly free. It is a delicate operation, however. It requires you to
turn off the TV and the radio and be alone with your thoughts.

Be patient. It will take time to reach the point where you can say with
confidence, *I am who God wants me to be.* You will not be knocked to the
ground and hear the voice coming out a cloud. It will be more subtle, and if
you are constantly listening to the ipod and playing on the puter, you won't
ever reach that point, because you will be too distracted.

Let me say that I have been on a road of searching for God for about 25
years, and it is only in the last year or two (I"m in my 40's) that I can
truly say, I have found God's will for me, to a certain degree. I mean, I
don't have a vision of my life as it should be played out until death, but I
feel that I am on the right track. Just *that* degree of holiness took 25
years, mind you. And I am *far,* far from a saint. It was a very long and
convoluted road, and I pray God may preserve me until the end in whatever
small degree of sanctity I have won by God's grace.

Now, I found that grace through the teachings and practice of the Catholic
Church, which I believe has the surest and *easiest* means of attaining what
we have been talking about. And I most emphatically recommend checking out
the Catholic Church, especially if you have felt a gentle tug in that
direction (it could be God is calling you that way).

I just realized that I have said very little about *truth*. I don't know
why, but I have started to take the long view of truth. Heidegger said,
'the essence of Truth is Freedom.' In order for objective truth to be
possible, there must be some way of letting things appear to us
such as they really are, of setting them at arms' length and *freeing* them
to be what they are. It is my belief that this is the role of religion. And
it applies to the person looking at the world, as much as to the world.

*R* *H*

Great expression, rh. I'm in my mid 60's, and am just now settling in on what I
think God wants of me, and the more I do, the happier I get. I returned to the
RCC 25 years ago, and it has been a fantastic trip. John 13:34, Mat 7:21 and
Mat 25:31-46 have come to mean a lot to me.

duke, American-American
*****
"The Mass is the most perfect form of Prayer."
Pope Paul VI
*****
.

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