Stephen Ind

Do you believe dinosaurs existed? What about aliens?

March 04, 2015

The evidence for dinosaurs seems very clear, so yes. It really is not an issue for me whether dinosaurs existed or didn't. I don't think aliens exist but I don't think the Church has said it is impossible.

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Liked by: Harshitha Gupta Michael Warming Keanu

Did you beat up a lot of people in Jail?

March 04, 2015

No! I was very careful not to lay a finger on anyone. In any case I have never really been in a fight. I was dead scared of getting additional charges and ending up in prison. The officers, I think, were angling for this, well some were. I did pick up an additional jail disciplinary charge for "assault" on an officer but fortunately my lawyers squashed this when it was mentioned in court. I think the guys wanted me to admit guilt to the initial charges knowing that I would receive only probation and so I would be keen to do it and get home. Once having admitted guilt they were ready to bring up the additional charges. If this happened then I could end up in prison for this second offence. So bottom line I was very, very careful.

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Hi Stephen :) I was just wondering .. do you believe that everything that’s written in the Bible is truth and should be taken literally, or are some parts just moral stories?

Sophie Pink

March 04, 2015

Hi Sophie, thanks for this questions. Not everything in the Bible should be taken literally. The Bible has many layers of meaning and each of these can be very helpful to us. Fortunately as Catholics the Church guides us in how to interpret the Bible, well really she is the interpreter when it comes to faith and morals. This is a great relief otherwise one has no peace as one is constantly unsure if one's interpretation is right. So this means the Church tell us what we are to believe as regards faith and morals. One of the sources for her teaching is the Bible and the other is the Tradition which has been handed down through the Church. Christ has also given us a living teacher to interpret Scripture with certainty on matters of faith and morals. That teacher is the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, who takes the place of Peter. We believe that when the Holy Father speaks on faith or morals, for the whole church as the vicar of Christ then he is protected from error by the Holy Spirit. So this is like having a living voice of Christ here on earth. It is very, very seldom that the Holy Father's use this power but it does happen. A clear case of this was in 1950 when the dogma of the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven was defined. There are no other clear cases of the Holy Father's using this power since then. Some argue that statements about the priesthood being for men exclusively have these necessary marks of an infallible statement.

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Liked by: E R V I L I N Sophie Pink

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Will you have computer access in the Monestary?

March 04, 2015

There are computers at the monastery to which I want to go. They in fact have a blog but I think computer access will be quite restricted for the younger members of the community.

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Liked by: Sophie Pink

Have you ever been to the United States?

March 04, 2015

Yes, on two occasions. :-) I have a sister who lives there and on both occasions I visited her and a monastery, "Clear Creek" in Oklahoma. :-)

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We're you hooded when arrested?

March 04, 2015

Yes. It was really weird. The officers escorted me out of the airport terminal building where they arrested me and put me in squad car outside the entrance. When in the car they hooded me. I drove hooded to an interview room somewhere on the airport. The officers led me to this room hooded all the time. When I entered the room they removed the hood. I really thought I was dealing with crooks when they did this!

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Do you have any idea why God needed Jesus to die to forgive everyone’s sins? Why didn’t he just allow the forgiveness without the crucifixion? ❀

Sophie Pink

March 04, 2015

It is a good question Sophie. There is a philospher St. Thomas Aquinas who looks at these kind of questions in great detail in his "Summa Theologica". You might want to take a look. God could have done this but I think the reason lies in satisfying justice. It was through man that sin came into the world and it is through a man (though man and God) that sin is defeated. Jesus also shows us how much God loves us and how serious are sins are. I think this is the jist of the argument. Please ask more questions and I can perhaps delve into the Summa and you might like to too. :-) Thanks so much for the questions. :-)

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Liked by: Sophie Pink

My Pilgrimage to Medjugorje ( we all ) witnessed Miracle..many years later, I wonder why several Priest I wanted to share that Holy Night with in October/98 had nothing to say, or.even ask what it was like to witness how wonderful Heaven will be like...My Question: Do you think it was I'm female?

March 04, 2015

Hi, thanks for question. Your gender does not affect your question in any way from what I can see. I cannot speak for why the priests were not interested in finding out more about your experience.

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I cannot comment on what you have experienced either.

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As to Medjugorje, my understand is that the bishop opposes the propagation of the message. I believe that the bishop is placed there to teach the faithful and to protect them. Therefore, I do not concern myself with Medjugorje apart from to warn people about the danger of going against the bishop.

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Bishops can be mistaken but I think we must listen to them unless they teach against the faith.

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I hope this is some help to you.

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It is possible that God would still do good at this place even if the apparition were not from him. May God bless you and keep you. It is good to remember that we are not obliged to believe in any miracles apart from those of Scripture. We must of course believe that God can work miracles.

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Yet again I ask that God bless you! I pray that you will have great peace in this matter and entrust it to God completely.

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Please pray for me.

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Do you wear socks in bed?

March 04, 2015

Lol, no. What an odd question. :-)

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why do you think you would like a monastery life?

March 03, 2015

I love structured living. I love praying and praising God. I really long to have my life directed to the will of God, in a monastery one's whole life is directed to that through the rule of the monastery and also through obedience to one's superiors. I do love quiet too. Please pray for me.

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I wish you could lead the retreat I'm going to go on. Your wisdom and words are amazing

March 03, 2015

You are very kind. If I say anything of value we must thank God. Please ask God to give you a great retreat master and that your heart would be open and receptive to what he says. Ask the Holy Spirit to inspire and guide you! May God bless you! :-) You are in my prayers. Be sure to take a good book if you are allowed. The "Introduction to the Devout Life" by St. Francis de Sales is very good. This seems like an okay electronic version: http://www.philothea.de/devout-english.html. Assuming you don't have many of your own. :-) Please keep me in your prayers.

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did any guys try to hit on you in jail?

March 03, 2015

Yes.

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Did you have your own cell?

March 03, 2015

Out of the 18 months I was in jail I was in a cell by myself for about 3 months I would say. Apart from that I was in a cell with another inmate. For 2 months locked up for 16 hours with 8 hours in a day room with half the inmates of the cell block, that is 32 men. And the rest of the time in a cell with another inmate for 23 hours of 24 with an hour in the day room with a maximum of 6 inmates and 4 days a week an option of using a rec room for an hour. The rec room was like a smallish room or not so small, depending on which one got, with a grill on one side to the sky well above eye level. There would be a maximum of 4 people in these rooms at the same time.

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Is there an age limit to joining a monestary

March 03, 2015

Today they would not accept people till they were like at least 18 and had finished school and I think they would prefer men in their twenties and the outer limits would be like 40 with some exceptions. The life is quite hard and also difficult to adjust to when one is older. The monastery also wants to train the individual to live in community.

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is it true that guys in jail have sexual relationships with each other?

March 03, 2015

Yes, this does occur. Homosexuality is very dangerous to practice. Guys get killed for this. I should point out that the officers have far more control of what happens in jail than in prison. In prison the inmates largely run the show. It is here that killings and riots seem common from what guys say and people live in constant, constant fear of attack. Some of the guys just literally never sleep properly due to the danger of attack. They all carry weapons which they have crafted with them. In any case even in jail homosexuals are pushed out of the general jail population, through violence or threat, and end up in protective custody.

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Isn't there a 6 month course maybe to be a Monk?. Why can't you just join?. They make it so difficult

March 03, 2015

Lol, no there is no 6 month course but one could visit a monastery for six months and work alongside the community and see how things go. It really is not so much a course as a lifestyle and that really of life in a family.

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what was the food like in jail? - part 2

Stephen Ind

March 03, 2015

The evening tray. :-)

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what was the food like in jail?

March 03, 2015

Yikes! Poor. The jail was in an ongoing court battle about the poor quality of the food. It was one of the things that I tried, in a very small way, to improve while I was in jail. Perhaps I am being too harsh. I noticed an odd thing that the officers really tried to take care of the inmates but would not let on to this. Inmates can be incredibly persuasive and manipulating and often have very strong personalities. The food was really very tasteless and I think there was a serious lack of fiber. The guys would get hemorrhoids.

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It must be said that part of the reason that the food was so bad is because of abuse of better food which the jail had provided earlier. For example, I started to realize that inmates were deliberately damaging the oranges we were getting so that they would ferment quicker to make hooch.

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There were two meals a day. A breakfast of two oranges, two rolls, a very small tub of peanut butter, 0.5 liter of milk and a small pack of cookies. An evening meal of rice or potato or beans, a kind of stew with nothing that really seemed like meat, a small portion of very overcooked vegetables, a little cooked fruit and a roll.

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Thinking of it now, to be honest, it was not that bad. There was not enough though! Especially when I initially got to jail. One can order food from a canteen. It is very pricey and one can hardly eat healthily from there unless one has a lot of money. I did not want to have any money on my account for fear of being threatened and blackmailed. Later, when in protective custody, I did get stuff from the canteen not much food but the writing paper was really great.

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By the end of my jail stay my metabolism slowed down and the amount of food the jail provided was right. There was also very little salt which I think is generally healthy. The blandness of the food could also be explained by having to make it suit everyone's taste.

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Here is a picture of guys breakfasting. I will post one of the evening tray separately. I can't seem to post two with this answer. Sorry for the length of it! And please excuse it rambling nature.

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Do you think it's too difficult for men to join monastery. why isn't the door ope to all?

March 03, 2015

It is not an easy life and really it requires a calling from God. I am sure there are many men today who have been called to the monastery who are not there. In St. Bernard's day he was such a great preacher that people would prevent their children from hearing him such did he draw people to the religious life.

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Have you ever had a girlfriend?

March 03, 2015

Yes, once for a short time. :-)

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Is abortion ok in some cases, or are you totally against it?

March 03, 2015

Totally against it.

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Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?

March 03, 2015

Nothing happens outside of God's plan we can say and so yes everything works to the glory of God. It is very important to know this. It does not mean of course that we should do that which God does not want. It is good to remember that we cannot really frustrate God or mock him. The only loser if we oppose God is ourselves.

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Did you see The Passion of The Christ by Mel Gibson?

March 03, 2015

Yes, I enjoyed the film very much. At the time I was concerned by some of the omissions from the gospels. Like when those who came to arrest Our Lord fell back when he answered that he was Jesus, John 18:6. A friend sort of allayed these concerns by pointing out that this film is like another telling of the story, almost like another gospel, of course not inspired, certainly not not the gospels are.

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do you drink alcohol?

March 03, 2015

Occasionally and then very little - beer or wine. I have never really drunk hard liquor at one time I quite enjoyed tasting licqueurs but not many.

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do you have twitter? :)

March 03, 2015

Yes, @StephenInd. :-)

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