Cool blog I stumbled across for those who are interested.  Most articles seem pretty solid to me.  Let the revelation of grace awaken you!

 

goodstuff

-------------------------

Jesus invented surfing...
Matthew 14:22-33

www.facebook.com/churchonthebeach

I read some of the articles but they seemed incomplete. They failed to mention that the Catholic Church is the source of the Grace that which Jesus Christ bestowed on all of creation when he died for us on the cross! The Church is like a faucet which contains in Herself an infinite amount of Grace. By participating in the sacraments we tap into that Grace. So tap into that source my brothers and sisters in Christ!

Or one can just open our eyes, hearts and minds to the beauty and grace that is heaven on earth. Love All, do good, and no need to send your money to the big boys in Rome.

-------------------------
"I remember South Africa in the late 70's, sleeping on the beach at J-bay, smoking ganja with the blacks. On weekends we'd go to the pub in East London to drink beer and fight with the Afrikaners. They liked to fight, I liked to fight. It was a good time"

The Pope is not the mediator between man and God, nor are Mary or any priest. As the scriptures say:

"...There is...one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." 

1 Timothy 2:5

Let's not put sinful man and vain, repititious practices between us and God. That is what the pharasees and saducees did (and taught), to their eternal detriment. As John 14 and John 17 indicate so clearly, Jesus and God want to commune with us directly. Churches want money and power, so they obscure God and put themselves in His place.

You been out in the water lately? Heaven is here!

-------------------------
"I remember South Africa in the late 70's, sleeping on the beach at J-bay, smoking ganja with the blacks. On weekends we'd go to the pub in East London to drink beer and fight with the Afrikaners. They liked to fight, I liked to fight. It was a good time"

Yes - but I'm hoping for more consistent swells, warmer, clearer water, friendly marine life, and fewer kooks when I head north for the last time. ...And I'd like a 5'4" sweet potato if possible.

Fairy tales are cool as is the belief in the Easter Bunny, Santa, and the Tooth Fairy.... but one would hope that you eventually grow out of them.

Yet, people seem to need those fairy tales. The godless, for example, have seized upon the global warming fairy tale.

-------------------------
I :heart; Q

Religion is a coping mechanism for existential fear. The greatest good it has done for humanity is keeping the weak willed from being in and out of existential crisis. That and the order it has brought via fear of eternal damnation.

 

Global warming, climate concerns, etc. can be religious-like in the zealotry displayed by some, but that is far as the comparison can really be taken.  One is found in myth and the other in science.....

 

Much like the farthest edges of the religious extemism, there are enviromentalists that are just as crazy. No denying that period. What I always find fascinating with some of the more hard core religious people is their willingness to believe in their patron god(s) without a shred of evidence , yet deny even the possibility that mankind is shitting all over the environment despite directly measurable and observable scientific evidence. Its like the two cannot coexist together in the mind of the deluded.

The order, beauty and intricacy of creation speaks to me about the existence of a good, creator God more loudy and clearly than anything else. The probabilities of gravity, oxygen at breathable levels, DNA, reproduction, ecosystems, blah blah randomly forming...out of an explosion of nothing is just too ridiculous to believe. Where did all the matter, space and energy come from??? Where did the laws of physics and mathematics come from?Assign the fairy tale to creation that lets you live your life as you please.

The Bible explains all of it in a way that seems true to me in light of what I know about mankind - myself included - especially when compared to everything else that's out there. Of course, no one will know fully until the end. I don't force my views on people, but on a place like NSR, I am happy to put out there that which seems obvious despite the ridicule.

We will all know one day for certain whether we placed our chips on the right horse. Mine are on the white one.

Where did your God come from?

We both have the same problem. What was in the very beginning? What made God - or what made matter, space and energy? According to the Bible, God has always been. He is without beginning and without end....Does that make sense to my human mind? No. But it makes far more sense, given the order, beauty and balance of the universe then do the incredible probabilities that would have to occur for a spontaneous and beautiful something to form out of a dark and formless nothing.

You can't believe that about nature yet you can believe that about a fictional creation of man makes more sense.

 

You question how the universe can come into being without a god yet fail to question how your god came into being to create that universe.

 

You will believe what a greatly revised, cut, and translated book of stories written by people thousand(s) of years ago says without question, yet will question modern science.

 

.......

Then doesn't it make sense that 'god' is the universe, constantly expanding (including the planet on which we live, the air that we breath, the water that makes up the majority of our existence)?

Just my $.02. take it or leave it, my catholic mother sure doesn't appreciate my philosophy.

-------------------------
Specializing in sarcasm and condescending rhetoric since 1971.

Miker - If you read my previous post you will see that I said very clearly that I do not understand how God could exist forever - just like you cannot explain how everything came from nothing. A creator God beyond what we can see and know makes more sense to me than trillions of incredible life forms coming from nothing in a single act of explosive randomness. 

As for the Bible:

You'd be surprised how accurate and consistent the Bible translations have been over more than 2000 years - especially the Textus Receptus, which agrees with 98.02% of all ancient manuscripts. I've spelled it out in great detail in other posts, so I won't waste your time or mine now. All of the Bible hater sites ignore the strong historical evidence of consistent contemporaneous accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, because they hate the idiots who have abused their supposed religious authority for sex, cash or power. There is a very strong historical case for all that the Bible says, and if the standard used to authenticate other ancient documents was fairly applied to the Bible(as it has been by some scholars) it stands above almost every other work from that same time frame. You have to dig much deeper that the christian/Bible hater websites. Evidence is evidence and either it's there or not. Just like many unscrupulous prosecutors, many atheist and agnostic scholars hide or ignore evidence that doesn't fit the narrative they want to justify(or avoid accountability for) their actions. We all do that...sometimes we do it by until we are broken by life to the point where we sincerely cry out to God and truly seek Him. That is why God chooses the weak and foolish things of the world. Only they will listen to Him and be filled. 

Edited: 12/31/2014 at 11:59 AM by ummm

You don't appear to be trying to force your beliefs on anyone and don't seem to be offended when somebody doesn't believe the same thing. There are certain zealots on 2nd light that feel the need to condem everybody else to hell. Sometimes its comical, but mostly just annoying.

I grew up with great catholic parents, I was never touched inappropriately by any priests, but there were hypocrisies in catholocisim and organized religion as a whole that I just couldn't set aside. I still go to mass every now and then (mostly when I'm visiting my mom), but find myself asking the same questions and I feel like a hypocrit for even being there. I've tried reading the bible (and I enjoy reading), but just couldn't get through more than 10 or 20 pages.

to each his own, that's what makes this country great (or at least its supposed to)



-------------------------
Specializing in sarcasm and condescending rhetoric since 1971.

Edited: 12/31/2014 at 11:16 AM by worksuxgetsponsered

.......................Strong faith and keep it mellow. Love one another.

yes. His grace is enough...

the rcc teaches religion, not truth...

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.

-------------------------
Dora Hates You

Been following this guy's blog for the past month and been very encouraged by it. Can't say I would have come to all the same conclusions that he does (Nero being the fulfillment of "the beast" prophecy?), but his perspective on God's character and love for us has been greatly appreciated.