Freedom (Not the George Michael 90 kind)
April 22nd 2009 12:55
Freedom is an interesting concept.
It differs in many people's minds.
There is only one real freedom. Freedom from sin. If you couple that with 'the truth will set you free' you get an understanding of what true freedom is.
If you think about God before the creation of the world. Which not a lot of people do. But for the sake of this post, let's assume God does exist. And before He created anything, what was happening?
There was God. Infinitely perfect. Infinitely happy. Why would God not be happy when He was perfect? It's what most humans think of themselves nowadays.
If God hadn't revealed He was a trinity, none of us would have worked it out. But he did. But since God always existed, how does He beget a Son? And where does the Holy Ghost fit into all of this? In Don McLean's American Pie? Catching the last train to the coast? For most people living in religious ignornance? Probably.
But begetting is not like childbirth. It's instantaneous. Today I have begotten you.
So the love the Father has for the Son and the love the Son has for the Father is eternal and has always existed. And how is this love expressed? Via the Holy Ghost, who (regardless of what the Greek schismatics think), proceeds from both the Father and the Son. Filioque procedit. That became a major issue in the Greek Schism. The Greeks maintained that the Holy Ghost only proceeded from the Father because Christ said, "The Father is greater than I." But Christ meant the Father was greater than him in His divine nature, because Christ had assumed human nature. Otherwise, how could He have breathed upon the Apostles and said, "Receive the Holy Ghost" if the Holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son as well as the Father?
I don't even know why I'm writing this. I guess I'm over blogging about things that don't really interest me.
Where was I? Oh, that's right. Freedom.
So before we were all created, God was free.
The question a lot of people ask is, If God was happy why did He bother creating humans?
Well God is Charity. And charity is giving. He wanted to share His eternal felicity (His happiness). So he created human nature to have a share or participation in the divine life of God.
So much good stuff still left in this wicked mind of mine. I sometimes astound myself.
So who is truly free?
Let's take a look at Freedom of Speech in relation to Christ. He never said anything that wasn't true. That is freedom of speech.
I don't dislike Americans, but I do think they love their country too much, and are far too patriotric to be called true Christians. They believe in the Constitution. Which is a sham document that trangresses the rights of God. Not one person will arrive at the Judgement Seat of God when they die and be able to claim the Third Amendment. God will have the book of life out. And He will go, "I don't amend my words. They stand immortal and eternal forever and ever. Amen."
And the ancients will all bow down before the living God and go, "His judgements are true."
And worldlings will be left in utter confusion, and wonder why they invested so much of their time disputing the rights of man, when the only rights that exist are the rights of God.
Anyway, it's dinner time.
It differs in many people's minds.
There is only one real freedom. Freedom from sin. If you couple that with 'the truth will set you free' you get an understanding of what true freedom is.
If you think about God before the creation of the world. Which not a lot of people do. But for the sake of this post, let's assume God does exist. And before He created anything, what was happening?
There was God. Infinitely perfect. Infinitely happy. Why would God not be happy when He was perfect? It's what most humans think of themselves nowadays.
If God hadn't revealed He was a trinity, none of us would have worked it out. But he did. But since God always existed, how does He beget a Son? And where does the Holy Ghost fit into all of this? In Don McLean's American Pie? Catching the last train to the coast? For most people living in religious ignornance? Probably.
But begetting is not like childbirth. It's instantaneous. Today I have begotten you.
So the love the Father has for the Son and the love the Son has for the Father is eternal and has always existed. And how is this love expressed? Via the Holy Ghost, who (regardless of what the Greek schismatics think), proceeds from both the Father and the Son. Filioque procedit. That became a major issue in the Greek Schism. The Greeks maintained that the Holy Ghost only proceeded from the Father because Christ said, "The Father is greater than I." But Christ meant the Father was greater than him in His divine nature, because Christ had assumed human nature. Otherwise, how could He have breathed upon the Apostles and said, "Receive the Holy Ghost" if the Holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son as well as the Father?
I don't even know why I'm writing this. I guess I'm over blogging about things that don't really interest me.
Where was I? Oh, that's right. Freedom.
So before we were all created, God was free.
The question a lot of people ask is, If God was happy why did He bother creating humans?
Well God is Charity. And charity is giving. He wanted to share His eternal felicity (His happiness). So he created human nature to have a share or participation in the divine life of God.
So much good stuff still left in this wicked mind of mine. I sometimes astound myself.
So who is truly free?
Let's take a look at Freedom of Speech in relation to Christ. He never said anything that wasn't true. That is freedom of speech.
I don't dislike Americans, but I do think they love their country too much, and are far too patriotric to be called true Christians. They believe in the Constitution. Which is a sham document that trangresses the rights of God. Not one person will arrive at the Judgement Seat of God when they die and be able to claim the Third Amendment. God will have the book of life out. And He will go, "I don't amend my words. They stand immortal and eternal forever and ever. Amen."
And the ancients will all bow down before the living God and go, "His judgements are true."
And worldlings will be left in utter confusion, and wonder why they invested so much of their time disputing the rights of man, when the only rights that exist are the rights of God.
Anyway, it's dinner time.
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Comment by samaritan
Fringe Faith
Samaritan's Stories
I'm with you on the Americans. I read about this bumper stick once that said 'God bless the rest of the world too.' I love it. I was once criticised by my pastor for being anti-American. I still can't figure out why you have to love America to be a good Christian.
I do believe that people can think they're free, and yet remain in bondage to many things. And I also think that many of us live in what we think of as free countries, and yet we're in bondage to our desire to accumulate more and more goods.
I like the story of Frances of Assissi. In 'A history of Christian thought' Jonathan Hill explains how Frances gave all his possessions away. He goes on to say 'To the astonishment of their friends and families, he and his first companions found that this lifestyle, which seemed to gruelling, in fact made them completely free. They had no worries or responsibilities; they had completely opted out of the system of money, power, avarice and care that made normal society so stressful and selfish. In fact, they were so happy, and laughed so much, that they became known as 'God's Jesters'.'
That's freedom!
Samaritan
Comment by MrsSmith
The story of St Francis of Assissi is one of my favourite lives of the saints. Especially The Fioretti (The Little Flowers of St Francis), which is really a history of the early days/formation of the Franciscan Order, by Brother Ugolino. It can be read online at Christian Classics Ethereal Library :
Really Long Link
As to Americans and their faith? I've written about it before. America was founded by people who protested against the Protestants of the English reformation. So they were "Christians" twice removed to begin with.
To know how to love your country and love it wisely, one has to look at the example of St Thomas More, not a bunch of piligrims forming another breakaway denomination from the original breakaways. He did love his country. He just loved God more.
For Christians, they should consider that if there is only one God, surely there would only be one church. But cliches abound in the modern world. Such rubbish as We're all worshipping the same God. Well if we're all worshipping the same God, why are the faiths different? Makes no sense to the logical and rational mind. We believe different things but worship the same God? Hardly. Believing different things about God makes the God of each faith different. It's absurd. Your God okays adultery, mine doesn't yet we worship the same God? Go and talk to someone without a brain, will you?
What was the history of Anglicanism? Henry VIII wanted to commit adultery, so he broke away from Rome. And the funny thing? In his younger years he was given the title Defender of the Faith. And so the pilgrims, decided that they'd break away from Henry VIIIs religion, keep the adultery clause intact, but get rid of a few things they didn't agree with. I mean what religion were they? Well, they weren't sure themselves, so what chance have we got? And from them came protesters, who broke away from them, and set up even more denominations, until you get to the present day and people just say, we're Christian. Christians ten-times removed? One God, one Church doesn't even enter people's minds. It almost borders on blasphemy to say God would want three thousand different versions of His Church. Its tantamount to saying He's deceptive and deliberately misleading His own creatures. Whereas in the Act of Faith, we refer to God as He who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
It's why the funamental question is the nature and essence of God. Once you believe in God, that is.
One night, a wealthy man invited St Francis over to his house. He wanted to see if he was truly a man of God or not. He offered him a spare bed in his room. As soon as St Francis thought his host was asleep he got up, and spent the whole night in prayer, just repeating over and over again to God, Who are You and who am I? The host was not asleep at all. He ended up joining the Franciscans due to what he witnessed that night.
Knowledge of God and knowledge of self are the foundations of humility. And humility is an empty vessel, divested of self-love. In order to make room for God. He likes a room clean swept and garnished. A person does not become a non-identity, for grace builds upon nature. It doesn't destroy it. The saints still had personalities. THey just become Christ-like. An alter Christus. And who was ever more like Christ than St Francis of Assissi? Apart from perhaps John the Baptist. Christ Himself said there was no greater man born of woman than John the Baptist, so I guess I'll defer to him on that one.
Comment by samaritan
Fringe Faith
Samaritan's Stories
In terms of people worshipping different Gods, I agree that some people worship fake Gods. But what I truly believe is that many people, who have differing beliefs, worship God imperfectly. I also think that none of us have a complete and accurate picture of who God is, although some pictures are closer to the truth than others. I think the only person who really understood God was Jesus. And so the fact that different denominations have different ideas of what God requires of us does not mean we worship different Gods - just that we have different ideas about the one true God and what he wants from us. Even within the Catholic Church, there are differing ideas as to what God wants, how we are to follow him and how he should be worshipped.
I also like Thomas More. I like the fact that he stood by what he believed, at great cost to himself. And even though I see the reformation as a good thing, I think More did the right thing in not signing the thing that said Henry VIII's marriage to Katherine of Aragon was illegal. ('Signing the thing' is perhaps not the best term for it and I may have the details wrong on what exactly it was he had to sign, but I'm too tired to look it up on the internet or a book.) And one of my heroes, strangely enough, is Erasmus, who tried to reform the Catholic Church, while remaining part of it.
I also think that Luther had no choice but to break with the Catholic Church. His initial problem with the Catholic Church was the selling of indulgences - as I'm sure you're aware. Many Catholics today would agree that it is not a good thing to sell something that gets you out of purgatory. But to say it back then meant you were labelled a heretic and ex-communicated. He did not start off wanting to break with the Catholic Church. It just it ended up in a situation where he either backed down on what he firmly believed or be ex-communicated.
The case of Henry VIII is interesting. I personally believe he was someone who cared a great deal about spiritual matters, but did not have firm conviction about what he himself believed and was too easily led. It was why he could be named Defender of the Faith for his response to Luther and then later be willing to break with the church (not only to divorce Katherine of Aragon, but because he had a whole heap of advisers and Anne leading him in that direction).
Thanks for the link to The Fioretti. I am going to go print if off now and read it a bit later.
Samaritan
Comment by Mistersmith
MRS SMITH
READ THIS
SISTERS IN CRIME
You come across as a person of good faith.
You write:
There's a lot of truth in that statement, but there is still this hesitating doubt in your mind about was Jesus God?
No-one knows God like Christ. Because He is God. In my circles He is not Jesus, he is Christ. Or Our Lord. Or Christ Jesus. Or My Lord and my God. Jesus is a bit fluffy for me. It's the modern way. It's like someone saying, I have a personal relationship with Jesus. We're on first name terms. (Well every human should tremble at even mentioning God. There's so many people who base their faith on how they feel about this "personal" relationship with Jesus. And it's so schmaltzy and modern. It is not the way of the saints. The saints even referred to saints who had gone before them as 'of blessed memory and benediction' - not 'my personal friend whom I have this great personal relationship with.' It is a trick of the devil to get emotionally and feeling-friendly with Jesus. That's just what he wants. He wants us all to accept multiple denominations, and be tolerant of others in that modern way that smacks of people not knowing what they believe in. If you know exactly what you believe in, you will come to an understanding of the essence and nature of God, and have absolutely no doubt about it. There is no room for multiple ideas of what or who God is. He has revealed to us, Who and What He is. If people want to make up different versions of Who and What He is, then so be it. But I don't buy any of them.
And even if an angel were to come down and preach a different Gospel to you? You should not believe it. (Can't remember the exact quote, I'm winging it here).
I might not live the best Catholic life, but i do know my faith. And it is unswerving when it comes to defending the rights of God. This wishy-washy, let's all hold hands and pray to the same God when we all believe different things about His nature and essence is absolute rubbish. But that being written, the spiritual life is an ascent. We start on milk and move towards meat. It's all about being of good faith.
I'm interested in how you see the Reformation as a good thing. That's a really strange statement. As in, I'm surprised that you would write that. But I'm sure you can let me know what you meant
As for Erasmus? Yes, he was St Thomas More's best friend (after his God and his wife and family). They were both writers. They were both very witty men. They were both filled with the unction of the Holy Ghost. A greater reformer of the Catholic Church from within than Erasmus was St Teresa of Avila. SBS have a dvd out on her life. She was a woman with balls.
As for Luther? He had a few more problems than the selling of indulgences. His major problem was he declared that 'faith alone suffices.' He even went so far as to say, sin as much as you like, just believe even more. I mean, that's just simple heresy. There is no Gospel of St Martin Luther. But there is an Epistle of St James. And he says, Faith without works is dead. I'd much rather listen to St James than Martin Luther.
Anyway, it's always good having a chat about religion with you.