Posts
"One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens,
"You are my beloved Son; with you, I am well pleased."
I have often wondered what kind of childhood Jesus experienced. Did he play with the other children? Was he a leader or a follower? But mainly, I wonder if as a child he fully realized who He was?
We can fall off of the orthodoxy wagon here quite easily so we need to be careful. There have been heresies claiming that Jesus was fully human and not divine and ones that claimed the opposite that He was fully divine and not human.
I believe that Jesus always knew who He was because the two natures that of God and man were blended perfectly and as He matured. As he matured His mission would have become clearer and clearer to Him and we see in Scripture that at age twelve, the age when a boy was considered a man, he was in the temple debating the Law with the doctors of the Law who marveled at the maturity and understanding He displayed in His replies. Yet, when His parents found Him in the temple He went with them and honored them as mother and father.
I am not a brilliant theologian. I have no degree in theology or religious studies. I am self-taught and I learn more about my faith every day. When I was young, I thought I was just one of an infinite number of people and while God loved me, he really was too busy to give my mundane life any bother. What I believed in my youth has matured as I have aged and I see now how much love God has for me and how He has cared for me even during the times I had turned my back on Him. I know now that His love and mercy is inexhaustible and that all I have to do is accept it. If I acquired this knowledge in such a manner and there is no question that I am human, then it makes sense that Jesus too, while He knew He was God would have come to an understanding of what that meant in keeping with His human intellect.
Well, enough of this. I am better at writing about the practicalities of Christian life and usually leave the meaty questions to those with larger brain capacity than mine. Praise God for being who He is and how He treats His creation.
Would a loving God send someone to a place of punishment like Purgatory? Before we can meet God face to face we have to be holy. That means we cannot have any blemishes on our souls such as unforgiven venial sins or temporal punishments due to sin that are unsatisfied at the time of death. Honestly, I believe we will WANT to go to Purgatory to "clean ourselves up."
It is unfortunate that we all think that all of our relatives and friends went right to heaven when they died. And while I wish it were true, I believe many more of us end up in Purgatory than we can imagine. Please, while I know for a fact that your loved ones who have died were good, charitable, God loving people, can you take a chance that they might be in Purgatory longing for you to pray for them to help them to leave and attain heaven? Please, pray for your relatives and friends by name and be assured that if they are already in heaven, your prayers will be applied to a soul that needs them. Think of all of the Protestants who deny Purgatory's existence. Their relatives who remain on earth continue their life without knowing that those that they loved need their help. They need prayer too!
We can fall off of the orthodoxy wagon here quite easily so we need to be careful. There have been heresies claiming that Jesus was fully human and not divine and ones that claimed the opposite that He was fully divine and not human.
I believe that Jesus always knew who He was because the two natures that of God and man were blended perfectly and as He matured. As he matured His mission would have become clearer and clearer to Him and we see in Scripture that at age twelve, the age when a boy was considered a man, he was in the temple debating the Law with the doctors of the Law who marveled at the maturity and understanding He displayed in His replies. Yet, when His parents found Him in the temple He went with them and honored them as mother and father.
I am not a brilliant theologian. I have no degree in theology or religious studies. I am self-taught and I learn more about my faith every day. When I was young, I thought I was just one of an infinite number of people and while God loved me, he really was too busy to give my mundane life any bother. What I believed in my youth has matured as I have aged and I see now how much love God has for me and how He has cared for me even during the times I had turned my back on Him. I know now that His love and mercy is inexhaustible and that all I have to do is accept it. If I acquired this knowledge in such a manner and there is no question that I am human, then it makes sense that Jesus too, while He knew He was God would have come to an understanding of what that meant in keeping with His human intellect.
Well, enough of this. I am better at writing about the practicalities of Christian life and usually leave the meaty questions to those with larger brain capacity than mine. Praise God for being who He is and how He treats His creation.
Would a loving God send someone to a place of punishment like Purgatory? Before we can meet God face to face we have to be holy. That means we cannot have any blemishes on our souls such as unforgiven venial sins or temporal punishments due to sin that are unsatisfied at the time of death. Honestly, I believe we will WANT to go to Purgatory to "clean ourselves up."
It is unfortunate that we all think that all of our relatives and friends went right to heaven when they died. And while I wish it were true, I believe many more of us end up in Purgatory than we can imagine. Please, while I know for a fact that your loved ones who have died were good, charitable, God loving people, can you take a chance that they might be in Purgatory longing for you to pray for them to help them to leave and attain heaven? Please, pray for your relatives and friends by name and be assured that if they are already in heaven, your prayers will be applied to a soul that needs them. Think of all of the Protestants who deny Purgatory's existence. Their relatives who remain on earth continue their life without knowing that those that they loved need their help. They need prayer too!
Remember, as they are, we may someday be.
No comments:
Post a Comment