Do lots of good things from here on in and then death won't seem so frightening! x
That is very true. :-) xxx
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Why doesn't God always answer your prayers? Do you ever feel angry about that? :)
God may not answer prayers in which we want things that are not good for us. Scripture also tells us that God might test us to see if we persevere in prayer and only if we do persevere then answer our prayer. Scripture also tells us that due to our lack of faith he does not answer prayers. There are instances in Scripture where we see that lack of faith actually prevents God from helping. This question has made me realize that I think the the largest reason for God not answering prayers is our lack of faith.
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Lee
How was mass? Did you learn anything?
Mass was very beautiful. I cannot say that I did learn anything at Mass. I was very grateful that Our Lord comes to us in physical form that we may physical receive him in Holy Communion.
I did also think how I want to judge people's holiness from the externals but that people's intimacy to God is known to no one but God alone. He knows how well people have made use of the graces which he has given them.
Someone may have little knowledge of God but have made good use of the talents which God has given them and so be far closer to God than someone who has squandered the talents given to and yet has a greater knowledge of God.
I did also think how I want to judge people's holiness from the externals but that people's intimacy to God is known to no one but God alone. He knows how well people have made use of the graces which he has given them.
Someone may have little knowledge of God but have made good use of the talents which God has given them and so be far closer to God than someone who has squandered the talents given to and yet has a greater knowledge of God.
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Lee
People you may like
Why is death the ultimate challenge to our faith?
How we die determines our everlasting life. It is sure that here the devil will do all that he can to cause us to lose our faith. At the same time God will come to our aid.
I think each of us when we die must in a way die for God, we must commit our spirit into God's hands. This is a difficult for us to do as our life is the greatest good we have.
I hope this makes sense. Please challenge these ideas. God bless!
I think each of us when we die must in a way die for God, we must commit our spirit into God's hands. This is a difficult for us to do as our life is the greatest good we have.
I hope this makes sense. Please challenge these ideas. God bless!
Congratulations, anon whom I have never met, never heard of who hates me so much that he went out of his way to send my friends this disgusting, demeaning, dehumanizing outrage.
Yikes, I don't know what this is about. Let us try to love one another.
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Lee
Are you afraid of death?
I have at times felt that I have faced death and I have had quite a bit of fear. What is more frightening than death itself is to think of the bad that I have done and the good left undone. I should think of death more often and I will live better. Thanks for this prompting.
I hope that you can face death with joy.
I hope that you can face death with joy.
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Lizzy Pickles
Do you feel your prayers are heard?
I am certain that my prayers are heard. Does God always grant what I want, no. He knows better. :-)
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Lee
Lizzy Pickles
I feel I am living in purgatory right now. How do we know that life as we are living now isn't hell? :/
Yes, I have felt that too.
Perhaps we know that we are not in hell because we can do good we will not be able to do this in hell.
As bad as life can be it is also nothing in comparison to the tortures of hell. This can motivate us to live well here, as tough as it may be, to avoid the terrible pains of hell and then heaven in its utter bliss will be even greater to us for having avoided hell. The pains that we have suffered here on earth will also be turned into joys in heaven. No regrets in heaven but I almost think we might regret the times we did not accept the sufferings here more joyfully.
I hope that this helps to make this valley of tears more bearable.
Prayers and blessings!
Perhaps we know that we are not in hell because we can do good we will not be able to do this in hell.
As bad as life can be it is also nothing in comparison to the tortures of hell. This can motivate us to live well here, as tough as it may be, to avoid the terrible pains of hell and then heaven in its utter bliss will be even greater to us for having avoided hell. The pains that we have suffered here on earth will also be turned into joys in heaven. No regrets in heaven but I almost think we might regret the times we did not accept the sufferings here more joyfully.
I hope that this helps to make this valley of tears more bearable.
Prayers and blessings!
Do you like to pray before Mass? if so why? x
I am trying to pray in the morning on waking which is normally quite soon followed by Mass. If one can be in the presence of God when going to Mass it makes it so much easier to worship God truly present in the tabernacle and who will come down on the altar at the words of the priest and whom we can eat in Holy Communion.
I hope you too share in this wonderful gift of God. xxx
I hope you too share in this wonderful gift of God. xxx
I always pray for you Stephen, you are an amazing individual and your parents must be so proud of you.
Thanks so much for your prayers and your praise. Please, please keep praying for me I have very deep flaws and am quite paralyzed and/or lazy when facing certain tasks. Thanks! :-)
If the story of Adam and Eve is true does that mean we are all related to one another?
Yes. :-) We are all brothers and sisters! :-)
Suffering in important cos it brings us closer to God. (In my opinion) More people pray when they are troubled than when they do not have a care in the world.
Very true! :-)
How can I get to know God better?
The very first thing is to pray, pray and pray.
I do believe that God has revealed a religion to us and that religion is Christianity. If these are things that you accept then read the Scriptures, particularly the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to get to know Jesus.
As Jesus started the Church as a means to help us to get to heaven it is good to start seeking this Church. Remember it must by one: one in its belief; holy: it must provide the means to holiness and have have examples of holiness; catholic: it must have existed since Christ and in all places for all people; apostolic: it must show that it has existed since the time of Christ, i.e. it must be able to trace itself back to the twelve apostles.
Lots of prayers. God will never abandon you. If you seek you shall find as Scripture says.
I do believe that God has revealed a religion to us and that religion is Christianity. If these are things that you accept then read the Scriptures, particularly the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to get to know Jesus.
As Jesus started the Church as a means to help us to get to heaven it is good to start seeking this Church. Remember it must by one: one in its belief; holy: it must provide the means to holiness and have have examples of holiness; catholic: it must have existed since Christ and in all places for all people; apostolic: it must show that it has existed since the time of Christ, i.e. it must be able to trace itself back to the twelve apostles.
Lots of prayers. God will never abandon you. If you seek you shall find as Scripture says.
I wonder why we as a society are conditioned to see death as a bad thing.. surely death is a good thing as it allows us to escape this sin filled cruel world and be with God?
That is true death is the way for us to be united with God! Still death is the ultimate challenge to our faith. Let's pray for a good death. :-)
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Lee
Why are you under pressure at the moment?
I am on way to Mass and want to say some prayers.
Would you ever host an "I don't know you party"? If you were invited to one, would you go?
I am not very good at hosting parties but I think I would go to one. (Hope to get back in one piece! :-) )
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Lee
What do you think is the purpose of the Christian Church (meaning all religions that follow Christ in general) in society?
I do believe that the Church is one in her teachings in every respect so I cannot agree to the idea of the "Christian Church" as you mention in your question.
That said I believe the role of the Church is to bring all mankind to heaven - is is the new arc.
I really do hope that all believers will be united in God's church. Lots of prayers!
That said I believe the role of the Church is to bring all mankind to heaven - is is the new arc.
I really do hope that all believers will be united in God's church. Lots of prayers!
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monicaamonn
Lee
Anon, it wouldn't be that hard to understand many of the things God has done if you actually spent time studying the Bible instead of listening and repeating things that people say with no fundament whatsoever.
I really do and I suppose all people really need to get to know God so that they may love him. It can be very difficult for us to understand suffering and I suppose harder still to accept that suffering is as a consequence of our actions because of our sin. We then have to accept the terrible things we ascribe to others, including God, which we reject completely are actually attributed to us.
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Lee
http://ask.fm/StephenInd/answers/141315521178 Also, Noah literally announced over and over again (while he was building the ark) what was about to happen and people decided to just laugh at him. The doors of the ark were literally opened for anyone who wanted to enter. People chose not to.
That is a very good point Lee. I pray that we all chose to accept God's gift of salvation.
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Lee
you cant pray for the dead its too late for them If they haven't received Jesus as their savior and die they go to hell or heaven as soon as they die
In a way you are right we cannot change our eternal destinies after we die. As you say we will go either to heaven or to hell but I have to add ultimately.
Why then is there a purpose in praying for the dead?
For those who have died with their sin forgiven i.e. they cannot go to hell, but who still have pay a debt of punishment to pay for their sin, they also cannot enter heaven yet and they go to a place of purification from which after a period of suffering (purification) they will be in heaven.
So how can we help the dead? We can pray for those who are undergoing this purification that their time of purification may be shortened.
I am sure this will sound very foreign and even popish to you but it is the teaching of Christ and Scriptural. 2 Maccabees 12:42-45 speaks clearly of this. The fact that Luther, who disagreed with the age old teaching of purgatory, cut this book out of the Bible after over 1500 years of Christianity does not weaken Scripture. If any thing it should make us doubt anything which Luther taught for who would be so impious as on his own authority to change the Bible.
Luther did not stop at changing the Bible but he also changed the teachings of Christianity established for over 1500 years like the teaching of purgatory. How did he achieve this he said that each Christian guided by the Holy Spirit had the authority to decide what was right and wrong. He took on the authority which Christ had invested in the one Church onto himself. What has been the consequence? That there are thousands of groups who each have their own teaching each claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit and Scripture. This is not what God intended. We must return to Christ's teachings and all Scripture and the one Church which Christ founded so as to protect us from error.
I am writing under a bit of pressure here. I hope that what I have written is clear. God bless!
Why then is there a purpose in praying for the dead?
For those who have died with their sin forgiven i.e. they cannot go to hell, but who still have pay a debt of punishment to pay for their sin, they also cannot enter heaven yet and they go to a place of purification from which after a period of suffering (purification) they will be in heaven.
So how can we help the dead? We can pray for those who are undergoing this purification that their time of purification may be shortened.
I am sure this will sound very foreign and even popish to you but it is the teaching of Christ and Scriptural. 2 Maccabees 12:42-45 speaks clearly of this. The fact that Luther, who disagreed with the age old teaching of purgatory, cut this book out of the Bible after over 1500 years of Christianity does not weaken Scripture. If any thing it should make us doubt anything which Luther taught for who would be so impious as on his own authority to change the Bible.
Luther did not stop at changing the Bible but he also changed the teachings of Christianity established for over 1500 years like the teaching of purgatory. How did he achieve this he said that each Christian guided by the Holy Spirit had the authority to decide what was right and wrong. He took on the authority which Christ had invested in the one Church onto himself. What has been the consequence? That there are thousands of groups who each have their own teaching each claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit and Scripture. This is not what God intended. We must return to Christ's teachings and all Scripture and the one Church which Christ founded so as to protect us from error.
I am writing under a bit of pressure here. I hope that what I have written is clear. God bless!
some Catholics believe the Pope is sinless just read what the false teachings are then compare them to the Bible not all Catholic teachings are false
Please could you quote the Catholics who believe the Pope is sinless?
well read them the false teachings first then go to the Bible and see what they say about them its an eye opener
Are you in agreement with everything that is written against the Catholic Church? Just recently a person claimed that the Church taught that the Pope is sinless. Do you think that this is a teaching of the Catholic Church? It is not.
Hopefully the person who made this claim against the Church has realized that he was wrong. Has he withdrawn his statement or made any attempt to make amends for his false accusation? None that I have seen.
I can only hope that the authors of these attacks against the Church have also realized that they were wrong. However that may be it is clear that you think the Church is wrong and so it is with you that I would like to explore her teachings.
Please ask me questions about any of the teachings of the Catholic Church which you think are false.
Hopefully the person who made this claim against the Church has realized that he was wrong. Has he withdrawn his statement or made any attempt to make amends for his false accusation? None that I have seen.
I can only hope that the authors of these attacks against the Church have also realized that they were wrong. However that may be it is clear that you think the Church is wrong and so it is with you that I would like to explore her teachings.
Please ask me questions about any of the teachings of the Catholic Church which you think are false.
I find it hard to understand why God made the flood that killed all the people? How do you find goodness in that act?
Yes, that is quite shocking that God would kill nearly all mankind. Remember he did not quite kill everyone, Noah and his family escaped.
In order to better understand this action of God we need to better understand sin.
One of the things that can demonstrate the horror of sin is the fact that sin brought death into the world. God gave Adam the gift of living forever. Adam lost this gift when he sinned against God. Sin is a most dreadful act.
It is to check sin that God killed all those people.
God is love and sin has no place in God.
God is kindness has given us a way back to him through his Son. Here we can see the full horror of sin that God should become man for us and die for our sins.
We tend to look in horror at what God has done but it is difficult for us to face the horror that we have done. Everything dreadful stems back to us and our sin.
In order to better understand this action of God we need to better understand sin.
One of the things that can demonstrate the horror of sin is the fact that sin brought death into the world. God gave Adam the gift of living forever. Adam lost this gift when he sinned against God. Sin is a most dreadful act.
It is to check sin that God killed all those people.
God is love and sin has no place in God.
God is kindness has given us a way back to him through his Son. Here we can see the full horror of sin that God should become man for us and die for our sins.
We tend to look in horror at what God has done but it is difficult for us to face the horror that we have done. Everything dreadful stems back to us and our sin.
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Lee
Why is it wrong to pray for the dead and or dying? I find it comforting.
I don't think any believers in Christ would argue that it is wrong to pray for the dying but Protestants think that it is wrong to pray for the dead.
Unfortunately they follow the new teaching introduced by Luther who taught that it was wrong to pray for the dead. Truly shocking is that Luther changed Scripture so as to support his teaching. He excluded, among other books, the book of 2 Maccabees from the Bible which clearly states that it is "an altogether fine and noble action" 2 Macc 12:42 JB to have an "atonement sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they may be released from their sin." 2 Macc 12:45
As you say in your question it is comforting to pray for the dead. This how God's Word is, it heals and comforts us.
Unfortunately they follow the new teaching introduced by Luther who taught that it was wrong to pray for the dead. Truly shocking is that Luther changed Scripture so as to support his teaching. He excluded, among other books, the book of 2 Maccabees from the Bible which clearly states that it is "an altogether fine and noble action" 2 Macc 12:42 JB to have an "atonement sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they may be released from their sin." 2 Macc 12:45
As you say in your question it is comforting to pray for the dead. This how God's Word is, it heals and comforts us.
Do the catholic church teach false things to people?
No the Catholic Church does not teach false teachings to people.
You might find priests or even bishops of the Church who teach false things but they are then not following the Church's teachings.
As Scripture tells us (1 Tim 3:15 JB) "...the Church of the living God...upholds the truth and keeps it safe."
You might find priests or even bishops of the Church who teach false things but they are then not following the Church's teachings.
As Scripture tells us (1 Tim 3:15 JB) "...the Church of the living God...upholds the truth and keeps it safe."
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