"Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed" John 20:29
The world is a disbelieving world. We don't believe others when something happens, or something they say, or something they will do or have done. We always look for ways to secure a truth. For most people, it takes physical evidence, scientific/mathematical data, prior experience, or other verifiable methods to be able to believe something,
But what Jesus calls us to do is to believe without seeing, to believe because of the words from His mouth. The scriptures, though written by others, talk about God, about Jesus' coming and his return later, about the history that had elapsed from one king to another, about the beggining and the end, good and evil, belief and disbelief. It is this belief that saved Noah and his family, because if he didn't he wouldn't have feared God. It was this belief that saved the Jews from Egypt, if he didn't he would not have been able to part the summon the plagues, part the Red Sea, win the battles ahead before reaching the land of milk and honey. It was this belief that led the Apostles to prophecy and lead many away from sin and live holy lives, if not there would not be hope for this world from then on.
The point of all this is that, even though GOD can do everything by Himself, who gives us the choice to do it for Him. He could have just as easily raised up all the living creatures he wanted to save and put them in a whole different plane of existence while he destroyed the world, or sent angels to minister to the jews and lead them to freedom while casting the plagues on the egyptians, or even have gone into everyones heart and released all evil and left only the good and made it irreversible... But the thing is that He wants us to trust Him.
Heaven isn't earn by good works, but the good works show your faith, and the faith is your belief in God and His holy teachings. If we loose this faith we will loose Heaven. If God wanted to, he could have written the whole bible by himself in the blink of an eye, but he let us write it so that we may not only learn to trust in Him, but also in each other. The words of the bible are inspirations from the Holy Spirit, they have been examined priest at the Council of Trent by the catholic leaders of the day, and they are still used over adn over again.
The problem that some people have is that they say "the bible was written by people." Yes, that is true, but so are our encyclopedias, our dictionaries, our school books, our owner manuals, our laws, our calenders, everything! and yet people insist on believing an owners manual more than a written religious article because the owners manual has ways to prove something is wrong or right, but God cannot be checked nor corrected.
Some people will never believe until the final days have come, some may never believe until they have been lost forever, and yet some may be turned back from the blindness of their hearts and made to see in full clarity. It is the mission of all who have faith, who have been given instruction and have learned the ways of the Truth, to live holy lives and convert hearts to the true Way.
For those that will not believe unless you see, I say to you that it will be your downfall. I hope you will believe, read the bible, pray, do good works, and live humble and holy lives. It's not easy to be a Catholic, but give it a try. Your life will change, your work and family lives will improve, every aspect of your being will have been turned for the better. You may have issues where you might wonder "why God? what have i done to deserve this?" but it is those moments that gives you the spotlight to shine and show your faith. those are the tests that seperate the followers of Jesus and the rest. if you can't find yourself doing any of it, try to think of it this way, as a last resort: better to be safe than sorry. None of us know the future, or what happens after death (except for a very small percentage of us), but you can take precautions just in case what you don't believe (the holy scriptures) end up being true.
My brothers and sister in Christ: It is my hope that you may live peaceful and loving lives, with charity among yourselves, selflessness, and faith. The Lord knows I'm not one to speak of such to you, for I too am a sinner, but I do this in hopes that those may benefit from what I have learned.
Have faith! Love God above all things! Love thy neighbor as thyself! Read a bible, and believe.
The Lord be with all of you. Amen.
The world is a disbelieving world. We don't believe others when something happens, or something they say, or something they will do or have done. We always look for ways to secure a truth. For most people, it takes physical evidence, scientific/mathematical data, prior experience, or other verifiable methods to be able to believe something,
But what Jesus calls us to do is to believe without seeing, to believe because of the words from His mouth. The scriptures, though written by others, talk about God, about Jesus' coming and his return later, about the history that had elapsed from one king to another, about the beggining and the end, good and evil, belief and disbelief. It is this belief that saved Noah and his family, because if he didn't he wouldn't have feared God. It was this belief that saved the Jews from Egypt, if he didn't he would not have been able to part the summon the plagues, part the Red Sea, win the battles ahead before reaching the land of milk and honey. It was this belief that led the Apostles to prophecy and lead many away from sin and live holy lives, if not there would not be hope for this world from then on.
The point of all this is that, even though GOD can do everything by Himself, who gives us the choice to do it for Him. He could have just as easily raised up all the living creatures he wanted to save and put them in a whole different plane of existence while he destroyed the world, or sent angels to minister to the jews and lead them to freedom while casting the plagues on the egyptians, or even have gone into everyones heart and released all evil and left only the good and made it irreversible... But the thing is that He wants us to trust Him.
Heaven isn't earn by good works, but the good works show your faith, and the faith is your belief in God and His holy teachings. If we loose this faith we will loose Heaven. If God wanted to, he could have written the whole bible by himself in the blink of an eye, but he let us write it so that we may not only learn to trust in Him, but also in each other. The words of the bible are inspirations from the Holy Spirit, they have been examined priest at the Council of Trent by the catholic leaders of the day, and they are still used over adn over again.
The problem that some people have is that they say "the bible was written by people." Yes, that is true, but so are our encyclopedias, our dictionaries, our school books, our owner manuals, our laws, our calenders, everything! and yet people insist on believing an owners manual more than a written religious article because the owners manual has ways to prove something is wrong or right, but God cannot be checked nor corrected.
Some people will never believe until the final days have come, some may never believe until they have been lost forever, and yet some may be turned back from the blindness of their hearts and made to see in full clarity. It is the mission of all who have faith, who have been given instruction and have learned the ways of the Truth, to live holy lives and convert hearts to the true Way.
For those that will not believe unless you see, I say to you that it will be your downfall. I hope you will believe, read the bible, pray, do good works, and live humble and holy lives. It's not easy to be a Catholic, but give it a try. Your life will change, your work and family lives will improve, every aspect of your being will have been turned for the better. You may have issues where you might wonder "why God? what have i done to deserve this?" but it is those moments that gives you the spotlight to shine and show your faith. those are the tests that seperate the followers of Jesus and the rest. if you can't find yourself doing any of it, try to think of it this way, as a last resort: better to be safe than sorry. None of us know the future, or what happens after death (except for a very small percentage of us), but you can take precautions just in case what you don't believe (the holy scriptures) end up being true.
My brothers and sister in Christ: It is my hope that you may live peaceful and loving lives, with charity among yourselves, selflessness, and faith. The Lord knows I'm not one to speak of such to you, for I too am a sinner, but I do this in hopes that those may benefit from what I have learned.
Have faith! Love God above all things! Love thy neighbor as thyself! Read a bible, and believe.
The Lord be with all of you. Amen.
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