The foolish and potentially deadly presumption of expecting God to save us, on our own terms.

While God may have chosen to save someone other than Noah and his family from the great flood, we have absolutely no knowledge of any such act.

Just as the Ark was God’s chosen vessel of earthly salvation for Noah and his family, the Catholic Church is God’s chosen “vessel” of eternal salvation for all mankind.

Similarly, God may choose to “save” someone who has yet to be incorporated into the Catholic Church … but in that case as well, we will have absolutely no knowledge of it … and such a thing most certainly WILL NOT be normal, typical, or “routine”.

Better to heed the Gospel, get baptized
and become a faithful member of the Church,
than “hold out” for a miracle…
no matter what certain misguided clergy
might say!  

Lionel Andrades continues his in-depth series on the fine points of understanding and properly applying the defined Catholic dogma: “EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS” (Outside the Church There Is No Salvation) which has remained “on the books” and unchanged for over 500 years, as formally defined at the 15th century Council of Florence, and confirmed by at least two later popes.

Read Lionel’s latest article

Shameless Harold (Doomsday) Camping: Says his understanding of God’s plan was “just a little off”.

Speaking outside the headquarters of his media empire near the Oakland, Calif., airport, Camping said his prediction that the Rapture would occur Saturday might have been wrong, but he stands by his prophecy that the world will come to an end as forecast on Oct. 21.

In a rambling discourse to reporters outside his Family Radio International office, Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer, indicated he had misread the signs in predicting that the faithful would be lifted up to Heaven Saturday, leaving sinners to suffer through five months of disasters until the Earth was consumed in a fireball on the End of Days.

God did “bring judgment on the world,” on Saturday, he said, but there will not be any terrible buildup to the end. When it comes, it will happen quickly, he said.

Link

Catholic scholar explains what the Church actually teaches about “the end of the age”.

Denver, Colo., May 20, 2011 / 05:46 am (CNA).- The claim being circulated that May 21 will mark the end of the world and be a day of judgment by God has no basis in Scripture or authentic Christian teaching, according to Catholic scholar Dr. Jared Staudt.

The professor of theology at the Augustine Institute, located in Denver, said that Biblical teaching and Church tradition show “it’s clear that it is not scriptural to seek for a date for the day of judgment.”

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Seen on the web: The shame is that Harold Camping (end of the world guy) was reasonable and humble at one point in his career.

Posted by Spambot3049:

Friday, May 20, 2011 A.D. at 10:48am

The shame is that Harold Camping was reasonable and humble at one point in his career. When I heard him describing his theory on the radio in his Biblical History of Time series some years ago, he acknowledged that we could not determine the “day or the hour” of the end of time, but said that we are permitted to determine the “year and the month” of the end, which I thought was legalistic and implausible, but sufficiently humble to keep me tuned in.

His long and painstaking dissertation (hundreds of hours) recounting the exact passage of time in the Old Testament was worth listening to (for me anyway) because it attempted to be rule-based. For instance, when measuring time based on the lives of the patriarchs, Camping specifically focused on wherever the words “she bore a son, and called his name…” appeared as the tipoff that the biblical calendar continues through that particular patriarch.

Another basic rule he claims to have followed is “a day is like a thousand years” in determining the end date. Rules like that led to anticipation that we were building to a meaningful result rather than something completely random. What I got out of it was exegesis of otherwise biblical passages I would normally tend to think were not terribly interesting or important.

He was also humble enough to acknowledge that his calculation was so complex, he might be wrong in couple of places and off “by a few years”. (All these quotes are entirely from memory, so I apologize in advance if any are wrong, but I think I’ve captured them accurately.) No matter, since the basic message seemed to be live as a Christian and prepare for the end.

All of that humility and careful introspection is gone now and his fans, who are otherwise devote Christians, seem to be setting themselves up for a big fall. Atheists and secularists in particular will ridicule them (and by extension other Christians) to no end.

Link

End of the world set for this Saturday – May 21, 2011

Read all about it here

Our Lady of Last Resort (parody)

Why do Catholics confess their sins to a priest?

Q: Why do Catholics confess their sins to a priest? Doesn’t God forgive Christians when they ask?

A: There are a number of very good reason why Catholics confess their sins to a priest. As to whether or not God is willing to forgive Christians … just for asking: It’s not quite that simple!

1) Grave or serious sins (or as St. John would call them, “sins unto death”) are always best confessed with the help of a priest, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, since outside that great sacrament, less than perfect contrition for such sins typically results in NO forgiveness from God, leaving the sinner subject to the possibility of eternal damnation.

Similarly, anything short of authentic and full repentance (complete turning away from the sin) would, under the same circumstances, also typically leave a soul in a state of eternal jeopardy.

2) Outside the Sacrament of Reconciliation, there is no specific “mechanism” available for restoring the divine grace that was lost through sinful acts. Abundant grace is absolutely critical for ultimate success, in the Christian life.

3) The priest, through the great Sacrament of Reconciliation, is empowered by Jesus and the Catholic Church, to provide absolute and unconditional forgiveness for all our sins, and to replenish the grace that had been lost, as well.

Within the Sacrament of Reconciliation, neither perfect contrition or anything more than a firm purpose and real possibility of amendment is required, in order to obtain God’s complete forgiveness, and restore lost grace. This is a great blessing, a huge advantage, and a tremendous spiritual gift that is simply not otherwise available.

4) Confessing all our sins to a priest, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, allows us to proactively avoid divine judgment and the corresponding eternal penalties. Once properly pardoned and absolved, we can be certain that God will never raise that particular “issue” with us, again!

5) Sacramental Confession is probably the greatest “bargain” of all time … since expert counseling (in absolute confidence) plus total reconciliation with God, remains absolutely free!

Faithful Catholics who take Jesus at his Word and accept the divine authority the Catholic Church in this matter … instead of attempting to presumptively define the mysterious tenets of divine justice … not only get to enjoy supernatural peace of mind in this world, but need have few concerns about their glorious and eternal future, in the next.

We have Jesus’ word on that:

John 20:21-23  He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

Finally … and this applies to Catholics and non-Catholics alike … when we ask God to forgive our sins … OUTSIDE of the Sacrament of Reconciliation … it is typically necessary for us to wait until Judgment Day to find out if God has actually accepted our plea.

Who (in their right mind) would want to expose themselves to the risk of Hell … let alone the prospect of having our particular “case” publicly adjudicated … in front of God … all the angels and saints … and everybody else, who ever lived?

Study the Biblical Basis of the Sacrament of Reconciliation

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