I think that lots of people are turned off by Christianity due to how they think sin is viewed from a Christian perspective. However, there view of how we view it (at least how we should view it) is wrong. I think that many non-Christians and non-practicing people believe that the Christian perspective is that an angry God punishes mankind for sin. However, that would be false. God is Not Angry. God is all-loving and does not punish us out of revenge. The most God could ever be is disappointed because he loves us infinitely so he wants us to live to our full potential. By sinning, man has rejected God and chosen to live in sin. If man chooses to live a life of sin then he is choosing the suffering that Hell is. I believe it to be correct in saying that evil people actually choose to suffer. It is their choice. This suffering comes about because they are choosing to go on their own. Thus, when they die they are on their own for all eternity because of their own choice. And Christians avoid sin because we love God and it is absolutely abhorrent to think of not living in his love and everlasting Glory.
I would also like to add here an analogy. For some it may be helpful to think of God as a Clock Maker. Everyone single person in the world is part of the clock. In order for the clock to best function, all the parts need to work correctly. By choosing sin, man is almost like a crooked gear and the clock does not function properly. If man lets God guide his life then he is cooperating in the good function of the clock. What is sometimes hard though is determining what role we have. We may be called to marriage or celibacy, holy orders or the laity, a doctor or a missionary. Though, if we invite God into our life, He can lead us to our purpose in life and fix any mistakes we may have had.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
copied from:
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=515033&page=4
Gen 1:28, 9:1,7; 35:11 - from the beginning, the Lord commands us to be fruitful ("fertile") and multiply. A husband and wife fulfill God's plan for marriage in the bringing forth of new life, for God is life itself.
Gen. 28:3 - Isaac's prayer over Jacob shows that fertility and procreation are considered blessings from God.
Gen. 38:8-10 - Onan is killed by God for practicing contraception (in this case, withdrawal) and spilling his semen on the ground.
Gen. 38:11-26 - Judah, like Onan, also rejected God's command to keep up the family lineage, but he was not killed.
Deut. 25:7-10 - the penalty for refusing to keep up a family lineage is not death, like Onan received. Onan was killed for wasting seed.
Gen. 38:9 - also, the author's usage of the graphic word "seed," which is very uncharacteristic for Hebrew writing, further highlights the reason for Onan's death.
Exodus 23:25-26; Deut. 7:13-14 - God promises blessings which include no miscarriages or barrenness. Children are blessings from God, and married couples must always be open to God's plan for new life with every act of marital intimacy.
Lev.18:22-23;20:13 - wasting seed with non-generative sexual acts warrants death. Many Protestant churches, which have all strayed from the Catholic Church, reject this fundamental truth (few Protestants and Catholics realize that contraception was condemned by all of Christianity - and other religions - until the Anglican church permitted it in certain cases at the Lambeth conference in 1930. This opened the floodgates of error).
Lev. 21:17,20 - crushed testicles are called a defect and a blemish before God. God reveals that deliberate sterilization and any other methods which prevent conception are intrinsically evil.
Deut. 23:1 - whoever has crushed testicles or is castrated cannot enter the assembly. Contraception is objectively sinful and contrary, not only to God's Revelation, but the moral and natural law.
Deut. 25:11-12 - there is punishment for potential damage to the testicles, for such damage puts new life at risk. It, of course, follows that vasectomies, which are done with willful consent, are gravely contrary to the natural law.
1 Chron. 25:5 - God exalts His people by blessing them with many children. When married couples contracept, they are declaring "not your will God, but my will be done."
Psalm 127:3-5 - children are a gift of favor from God and blessed is a full quiver. Married couples must always be open to God's precious gift of life. Contraception, which shows a disregard for human life, has lead to the great evils of abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide.
Hosea 9:11; Jer. 18:21 - God punishes Israel by preventing pregnancy. Contraception is a curse, and married couples who use contraception are putting themselves under the same curse.
Mal. 2:14 - marriage is not a contract (which is a mere exchange of property or services). It is a covenant, which means a supernatural exchange of persons. Just as God is three in one, so are a husband and wife, who become one flesh and bring forth new life, three in one. Marital love is a reflection of the Blessed Trinity.
Mal. 2:15 - What does God desire? Godly offspring. What is contraception? A deliberate act against God's will. With contraception, a couple declares, "God may want an eternal being created with our union, but we say no." Contraception is a grave act of selfishness.
Matt. 19:5-6 - Jesus said a husband and wife shall become one. They are no longer two, but one, just as God is three persons, yet one. The expression of authentic marital love reintegrates our bodies and souls to God, and restores us to our original virginal state (perfect integration of body and soul) before God.
Matt. 19:6; Eph. 5:31 - contraception prevents God's ability to "join" together. Just as Christ's love for the Church is selfless and sacrificial, and a husband and wife reflect this union, so a husband and wife's love for each other must also be selfless and sacrificial. This means being open to new life.
Acts 5:1-11 - Ananias and Sapphira were slain because they withheld part of a gift. Fertility is a gift from God and cannot be withheld.
Rom.1:26-27 - sexual acts without the possibility of procreation is sinful. Self-giving love is life-giving love, or the love is a lie. The unitive and procreative elements of marital love can never be divided, or the marital love is also divided, and God is left out of the marriage.
1 Cor. 7:5 - this verse supports the practice of natural family planning ("NFP"). Married couples should not refuse each other except perhaps by agreement for a season, naturally.
Gal. 6:7-8 - God is not mocked for what a man sows. If to the flesh, corruption. If to the Spirit, eternal life.
Eph. 5:25 - Paul instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, by giving his entire body to her and holding nothing back. With contraception, husbands tell their wives, I love you except your fertility, and you can have me except for my fertility. This love is a lie because it is self-centered, and not self-giving and life-giving.
Eph. 5:29-31; Phil. 3:2 - mutilating the flesh (e.g., surgery to prevent conception) is gravely sinful. Many Protestant churches reject this most basic moral truth.
1 Tim. 2:15 - childbearing is considered a "work" through which women may be saved by God's grace.
Rev. 9:21; 21:8; 22:15; Gal. 5:20 - these verses mention the word "sorcery." The Greek word is "pharmakeia" which includes abortifacient potions such as birth control pills.
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=515033&page=4
Gen 1:28, 9:1,7; 35:11 - from the beginning, the Lord commands us to be fruitful ("fertile") and multiply. A husband and wife fulfill God's plan for marriage in the bringing forth of new life, for God is life itself.
Gen. 28:3 - Isaac's prayer over Jacob shows that fertility and procreation are considered blessings from God.
Gen. 38:8-10 - Onan is killed by God for practicing contraception (in this case, withdrawal) and spilling his semen on the ground.
Gen. 38:11-26 - Judah, like Onan, also rejected God's command to keep up the family lineage, but he was not killed.
Deut. 25:7-10 - the penalty for refusing to keep up a family lineage is not death, like Onan received. Onan was killed for wasting seed.
Gen. 38:9 - also, the author's usage of the graphic word "seed," which is very uncharacteristic for Hebrew writing, further highlights the reason for Onan's death.
Exodus 23:25-26; Deut. 7:13-14 - God promises blessings which include no miscarriages or barrenness. Children are blessings from God, and married couples must always be open to God's plan for new life with every act of marital intimacy.
Lev.18:22-23;20:13 - wasting seed with non-generative sexual acts warrants death. Many Protestant churches, which have all strayed from the Catholic Church, reject this fundamental truth (few Protestants and Catholics realize that contraception was condemned by all of Christianity - and other religions - until the Anglican church permitted it in certain cases at the Lambeth conference in 1930. This opened the floodgates of error).
Lev. 21:17,20 - crushed testicles are called a defect and a blemish before God. God reveals that deliberate sterilization and any other methods which prevent conception are intrinsically evil.
Deut. 23:1 - whoever has crushed testicles or is castrated cannot enter the assembly. Contraception is objectively sinful and contrary, not only to God's Revelation, but the moral and natural law.
Deut. 25:11-12 - there is punishment for potential damage to the testicles, for such damage puts new life at risk. It, of course, follows that vasectomies, which are done with willful consent, are gravely contrary to the natural law.
1 Chron. 25:5 - God exalts His people by blessing them with many children. When married couples contracept, they are declaring "not your will God, but my will be done."
Psalm 127:3-5 - children are a gift of favor from God and blessed is a full quiver. Married couples must always be open to God's precious gift of life. Contraception, which shows a disregard for human life, has lead to the great evils of abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide.
Hosea 9:11; Jer. 18:21 - God punishes Israel by preventing pregnancy. Contraception is a curse, and married couples who use contraception are putting themselves under the same curse.
Mal. 2:14 - marriage is not a contract (which is a mere exchange of property or services). It is a covenant, which means a supernatural exchange of persons. Just as God is three in one, so are a husband and wife, who become one flesh and bring forth new life, three in one. Marital love is a reflection of the Blessed Trinity.
Mal. 2:15 - What does God desire? Godly offspring. What is contraception? A deliberate act against God's will. With contraception, a couple declares, "God may want an eternal being created with our union, but we say no." Contraception is a grave act of selfishness.
Matt. 19:5-6 - Jesus said a husband and wife shall become one. They are no longer two, but one, just as God is three persons, yet one. The expression of authentic marital love reintegrates our bodies and souls to God, and restores us to our original virginal state (perfect integration of body and soul) before God.
Matt. 19:6; Eph. 5:31 - contraception prevents God's ability to "join" together. Just as Christ's love for the Church is selfless and sacrificial, and a husband and wife reflect this union, so a husband and wife's love for each other must also be selfless and sacrificial. This means being open to new life.
Acts 5:1-11 - Ananias and Sapphira were slain because they withheld part of a gift. Fertility is a gift from God and cannot be withheld.
Rom.1:26-27 - sexual acts without the possibility of procreation is sinful. Self-giving love is life-giving love, or the love is a lie. The unitive and procreative elements of marital love can never be divided, or the marital love is also divided, and God is left out of the marriage.
1 Cor. 7:5 - this verse supports the practice of natural family planning ("NFP"). Married couples should not refuse each other except perhaps by agreement for a season, naturally.
Gal. 6:7-8 - God is not mocked for what a man sows. If to the flesh, corruption. If to the Spirit, eternal life.
Eph. 5:25 - Paul instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, by giving his entire body to her and holding nothing back. With contraception, husbands tell their wives, I love you except your fertility, and you can have me except for my fertility. This love is a lie because it is self-centered, and not self-giving and life-giving.
Eph. 5:29-31; Phil. 3:2 - mutilating the flesh (e.g., surgery to prevent conception) is gravely sinful. Many Protestant churches reject this most basic moral truth.
1 Tim. 2:15 - childbearing is considered a "work" through which women may be saved by God's grace.
Rev. 9:21; 21:8; 22:15; Gal. 5:20 - these verses mention the word "sorcery." The Greek word is "pharmakeia" which includes abortifacient potions such as birth control pills.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Confession
For people who want a biblical answer:
There are other passages too that can help, but this is the most important one to know.
There are other passages too that can help, but this is the most important one to know.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Homosexuality
I was talking to my brother about this topic and did a pretty bad job at arguing against homosexual actions. I am going to write this out before I present my reasoning to him.
Most people would accept that sex with animals is wrong. We know that the natural sex partner for a human is another human. Most people would also accept that sex between a father and daughter is wrong. Thus, we know that sex is not for just any two humans. If someone can legitimately believe these things than it is also legitimate to believe that the natural sex partner for a man is a woman, and for a woman a man.
Additionally, the male and female sex organs are complimentary along with the male and female gametes that produce offspring. Procreation and bonding are both end results of sex; this is the purpose of the sex organs. Homosexual activities use the sex organs in a way that is contrary to their purpose in order to obtain pleasure. In contrast, a person may eat excessive amounts of candy and throw it up later to avoid the effects of eating that food. In this situation, the person is still using their body in a way that is contrary to its purpose in order to gain pleasure. Many people would view it as immoral to eat an excessive amount of food just for pleasure and then throw it up. Thus, it is legitimate to say that homosexual acts are immoral.
Most people would accept that sex with animals is wrong. We know that the natural sex partner for a human is another human. Most people would also accept that sex between a father and daughter is wrong. Thus, we know that sex is not for just any two humans. If someone can legitimately believe these things than it is also legitimate to believe that the natural sex partner for a man is a woman, and for a woman a man.
Additionally, the male and female sex organs are complimentary along with the male and female gametes that produce offspring. Procreation and bonding are both end results of sex; this is the purpose of the sex organs. Homosexual activities use the sex organs in a way that is contrary to their purpose in order to obtain pleasure. In contrast, a person may eat excessive amounts of candy and throw it up later to avoid the effects of eating that food. In this situation, the person is still using their body in a way that is contrary to its purpose in order to gain pleasure. Many people would view it as immoral to eat an excessive amount of food just for pleasure and then throw it up. Thus, it is legitimate to say that homosexual acts are immoral.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
A simple answer to why artificial contraception is wrong
Artificial contraceptives take away from the authority of God that is his alone. Only He can choose when whether sex leads to procreation. That is one of the two ends of sex (the other unity). Killing is another example of taking away God's authority, but it has it's own motivations of hate, anger, and cause of pain to loved ones. Artificial contraception has motivations such as selfishness and greed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)