Since when has man become the sole authorizer of his own life? Was not the nation of Jews subject under Moses then Aaron? How about Joshua or David? Christ committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven to a man [Peter] and his followers, all guided by the Holy Spirit. What follows is Bible text to humbly portray this simple truth.
“The fool in his heart has said, ‘there is no God’” Psalms 14:2, 53:1.
To some, this sounds like a rather harsh statement. But what is it that makes this harsh? To begin, we shall venture into varying topics to help us respond to this statement.
Philosophy
Children are a blessing from God.
God shares with man His creative ability to bring about life. A man and woman bearing a child mirror the Trinity, in where two in mutual and complete love, join together to create a third person, yet are not three but one in flesh, family, and love.
We know from John 1:1 that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We know that God in His love, begot an eternal Son and Holy Spirit. This is the Trinity, three persons, but one family, one life. The joining love of the Father and Son is the Holy Spirit.
“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” 1 Peter 3:15.
Ever notice that the emphasis on man’s first sin wasn’t really focused on sin, but regarded as the fall from grace? If sin withheld us from going to heaven, than no man could make it, for even the holy and righteous have some taint of sin. The emphasis is not having grace, which can be hindered by sin.
Why be a Catholic? Many people have asked me this question, and still many more will follow. I am also sure many people have asked you that question if you are a Catholic. Or if you are not maybe you have asked this question yourself. This is a heavy question. Why should I be part of this particular religion instead of, for instance, Hindu, Islam, or Unitarian? And if I do chose Christianity, why should I be Catholic as opposed to any of the other denominations out there? The answers to these questions are innumerable. However, I have assembled, what I believe to be five of the most important reasons to be a Catholic.
In #1131 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church it is read that the Sacraments are “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.” In the Catholic Church there are seven sacraments. They are the broken into three categories. There are the Sacraments of Christian Initiation, which are Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Then there are the Sacraments of Healing, which are Penance and Anointing of the Sick. Lastly there are the Sacraments at the Service of Communion, which are Matrimony and Holy Orders. A Sacrament is an outward sign for something that is happening spiritually. They are action or practices that are performed to indicate something that is happening that cannot be seen. To exemplify this we will briefly describe what is going on during a few of these Sacraments.
“Through baptism, we have joined in death with Christ. And through our immersion we will resurrect as He has.”
Simply said, baptism is our true death. Death, as we understand it in a bodily sense, is just a temporal passing into a state of aeviternity. We know the saints of heaven are more alive than we are in our temporal bodies. We have yet to be unconditionally united to the complete body of the all life giving source, the Godhead. With beatific vision, the saints live with the most fullness of life attainable that can never be ascertained in our mortal lives.
“But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. From here, a sign of care for the weakest of the weak – the unborn child – must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for.” Mother Teresa.
“Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne.” Revelation 5:6.
A Lamb as though it had been slain. Hearkening back to the Old Testament, in the time of Pharaoh’s rule over God’s children, the Jews of Egypt, we see the establishment of the long held Passover feast. As most Christians can tell you, this foreshadowed the sacrifice of Calvary. As we go through the Holy Writ of Exodus, we find in chapter 12 the tradition of Passover. To ensure the safety of all the children, specifically the firstborns, we understood that a price of blood had to be paid. Lambs blood was used, having been smeared on the door-posts of each home. As we read further, we see that this was not all that was to be done to save the children. Had anyone smeared the lamb’s blood and foregone the consumption of the unblemished sacrificial lamb, many would have awoken to a morning filled with grief over deceased firstborn sons.
