Holy Days and Judgment

William Ramier wrote at 11:53am
"Who are you to judge the servant of someone else? It is his own Master who will decide whether he succeeds or fails. And he will succeed, because the Lord is able to make him succeed. One person thinks that a certain day is more important than other days, while someone else thinks that all days are the same. Each one should firmly make up his own mind. Whoever thinks highly of a certain day does so in honour of the Lord; whoever will eat anything does so in honour of the Lord, because he gives thanks to God for the food. Whoever refuses to eat certain things does so in honour of the Lord, and he gives thanks to God. None of us lives for himself only, none of us dies for himself only."
Romans 14:4-7 (TEV)

Holy Altar

William Ramier wrote at 11:45am
"You also teach, 'If someone swears by the altar, he isn't bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gift on the altar, he is bound.' How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy?"
Matthew 23:18-19 (TEV)

Real

William Ramier wrote
at 12:47am
What is real? What is true? Is the Bible just stories? If everything is metaphor, what's the point? Is the Bible all metaphor? St. Paul said that if the crucification and resurrection wasn't real, our faith is pointless. Ask yourself this. If Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation, why would God make it not understandable to the average person? Why would He hide the meaning? That sounds a lot like gnosticism to me. Would He encode it? Make it so that only a scholar could find the meaning? Beyond the understanding of a common fisherman?

Matrix

William Ramier wrote
at 11:33pm on February 10th, 2010
The Matrix has you. Plato described reality as a fire in a cave with people who, because chained, could only see shadows of reality cast by the fire behind them which they couldn't turn around to see. They believed that the shadows were all that there was, because they couldn't turn to look at the fire. We are only here in this world for a finite time. We will spend the rest of eternity in the next world, like breaking the chains and turning to look at the fire. So, what is reality really?

Wolf

William Ramier wrote
at 11:14pm on February 10th, 2010
"I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves."
from the 10th chapter of Matthew.

Golden Calf

William Ramier wrote
at 11:03pm on February 10th, 2010
Is science the new golden calf? An idol is anything you put before God. God may have used evolution. I don't know. I wasn't there. However, if you say, "We know for a fact that the Earth evolved over billions of years, and so did the life on it, therefore the story of creation in the Book of Genisis can only be metaphore," aren't you putting science above God? Or, let me put it this way: Do you think it is possible that science could be an idol?
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If you were deceived, would you know it?

William Ramier wrote at 11:37pm

A phrase a friend of mine passed along to me is, “If you were deceived, would you know it?” I’ve heard it is used often by some Churches. It is often used as a barb or veiled insult; because, the answer of course has to be “no”. It forces us to admit fallibility, while at the same time insinuating that we are wrong. About deception: It is incredibly easy to be deceived. Suppose an Angel were to come to you and say, “Well Bob, it’s like this….” Wouldn’t you believe an Angel? “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14. What if somebody came to you with a sound argument for something you were sitting on the fence about? What if the logic was impeccable? What if they had proof? “It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” 2 Corinthians 11:15. “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.” Matthew 24:24. I’ve often wondered how Satan could deceive most of the people, or so many people. “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.” Revelation 13:14. It would have to be a very convincing lie. It would have to be air tight. Proof would be required, like evolution or the big bang. What do most people believe now? Does God exist in North America? An interesting observation I’ve made is how easy it is to deceive a person with the truth. Remember the joke about the Minister who was out fishing on his boat Visitation; he was out on visitation. Everybody believes that they are being saved, even those who are on the wide road. The narrow road is not traveled by many.