Grace

1. Definitions
1. "...grace: it is a sharing in divine life." The Mass, page 159
2. "Grace is a created gift of love." Theology for Beginners, page 40
2. Grace is not irresistible (12/3/12)
1. "Grace does not work like a penny in a slot machine. Grace will move you only when you want it to move you, and only when you let it move you. The supernatural order supposes the freedom of the natural order, but it does not destroy it." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen, (Preface to Religion (11/17/12)
2. We must chose to respond to God's free gift of grace for it to have any effect on us. If we ignore God's grace and do not respond to it than it will not have any effect on us. The Bible says "a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." (12/3/12)
3. “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you." -Acts 7:51 New King James Version (NKJV) (12/3/12)
3. Offered to all (12/3/12)
1. "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people." -Titus 2:11 New International Version (NIV) (12/3/12)
4. "A common misunderstanding of grace is that it exist as an exemption from the law or allows us to bypass law – however, in actuality grace elevates the individual in order that he or she might live according to the law. " (Saint Peter's List, 3/17/12)
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Predestination

Most Christians are Christian in large part because they have been raised by Christian parents in a country that is predominately Christian. If they where raised in a Muslim parents in a predominately Muslum country would they be Christian or Muslim?  Yet we do not chose our parents or the country of our birth. This is the role of predestination in our Christian faith.


Free Will vs Predestination

Non-violence

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Sign of The Cross

The first prayer that most parents teach their children is the Sign of the Cross. This ancient gestural prayer customarily begins and ends our formal prayer, from grace before meals to the Church’s principal prayer, the Mass. According to the 1911 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ancient origin of the Sign of the Cross is unclear, but its form has evolved over time: It’s now a large gesture rather than a small one; uses three fingers instead of two, and goes from left-to-right instead of right-to-left.

What has remained largely unchanged is the meaning of the gesture. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are united to his passion death and resurrection. We take the sign of his cross on to our own bodies. This central symbol of our faith becomes the beginning point of our prayer, and its conclusion. It’s how we place boundaries in time and space that say, “Now I’m praying; this time belongs to God.” Our actual words, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” reflect this delineation of sacred time and space, and recognize that all we are and all we do is connected to the mystery of the Trinity.

In addition to beginning and ending prayer, the Sign of the Cross is used at other times as well, for example, when receiving a formal blessing, receiving absolution, and entering a church and blessing oneself with holy water. Generally speaking, it’s appropriate to make the Sign of the Cross any time you hear the words, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Space

 "Space is simply what matter spreads its parts in." Theology for Beginners, page 13

Spirit

1. "Spirit is the elements in us by which we know and love, by which therefore we decide." Theology for Beginners, page 9 through 10
2. "Ours is the only spirit which is also a soul..." Theology for Beginners, page 10
3. "A spirit differs from a material thinning by having no parts." Theology for Beginners, page 12
4. "... a being which has no parts does not occupy space."  Theology for Beginners, page 12
5. "... it [a  being which has no parts] cannot be changed into anything else; it can not buy any natural process be destroyed." Theology for Beginners, page 14
6. "It [spirit] is the permanent thing, the abiding thing" Theology for Beginners, page 14
7. "Spirit, we say, is the being that knows and loves;" Theology and Sanity, page 14 (1/19/12)
8. "spirit is the being which has its own nature so firmly in its grasp that it can never become some other thing," Theology and Sanity, page 14 (1/19/12)

God

1. "God is  infinite spirit. " Theology for Beginners, page 17
1. "All-knowing" Theology for Beginners, page 18
2. "All-loving" Theology for Beginners, page 18
3. "All-powerful" Theology for Beginners, page 18

Mystery

1. "To the early Christians, however, the Greek word mysterion stood for the hidden things of God and Jesus came to reveal." The Mass, page 43
2. " ...to clarify our notion. of mystery-  which does not mean a truth that we can not know anything about, but a truth that we cannot know everything about."  Theology for Beginners, page 43(8/30/11)
3. "… any given Mystery resolves itself (for our minds, of course, not in its own reality) in two truths which we cannot see how to reconcile."  Theology and Sanity page 18 (1/20/12) 
1. It is like an optical illusion. You either see the two faces or the vase but you can not see the two faces and vase simultaneously. (2/8/12)
1. Which one you see says more about you than the diagram (2/9/12)
4. False interpretations of mysteries (2/8/12)
1. Accepting one of the truths and rejecting the other (2/8/12)
2. Interpreting each truth to make it seem moire like the other. (2/8/12)
1. For example, making man seem more like God and God seem more like man in the mystery of the dual nature of Christ. (2/8/12)

Population

End of history and the last woman

Tolerance

1. "Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions" G.K. Chesterton (8/22/11)
2. "it is not tolerance we need, but charity" -Archbishop Fulton Sheen (12/2/12)

Sacrament

1. Q. 574. What is a Sacrament? A. A Sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. (Baltimore Catechism , 6/5/12)
2. Q. 575. Are these three things, namely: An outward or visible sign, the institution of that sign by Christ, and the giving of grace through the use of that sign, always necessary for the existence of a Sacrament? A. These three things, namely: 1.An outward or visible sign, the institution of that sign by Christ, and the giving of grace through the use of that sign, are always necessary for the existence of a Sacrament, and if any of the three be wanting there can be no Sacrament.(Baltimore Catechism , 6/5/12)
3. Q. 579. How do we know there are seven Sacraments and no more or less?
A. We know there are seven Sacraments and no more or less because the Church always taught that truth. The number of the Sacraments is a matter of faith, and the Church cannot be mistaken in matters of faith. (Baltimore Catechism , 6/5/12)
4. Q. 580. Why have the Sacraments been instituted?
A. The Sacraments have been instituted as a special means through which we are to receive the grace merited for us by Christ. As Christ is the giver of the grace, He has the right to determine the manner in which it shall be given, and one who refuses to make use of the Sacraments will not receive God’s grace. (Baltimore Catechism , 6/5/12)
5. Q. 588. Do the needs of the soul resemble the needs of the body?
A. The needs of the soul do resemble the needs of the body; for the body must be born, strengthened, nourished, healed in affliction, helped at the hour of death, guided by authority, and given a place in which to dwell. The soul is brought into spiritual life by Baptism; it is strengthened by Confirmation; nourished by the Holy Eucharist; healed by Penance; helped at the hour of our death by Extreme Unction; guided by God’s ministers through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, and it is given a body in which to dwell by the Sacrament of Matrimony. (Baltimore Catechism , 6/5/12)
6. Q. 591. What grace do the Sacraments give?
A. Some of the Sacraments give sanctifying grace, and others increase it in our souls. (Baltimore Catechism , 6/5/12)
7. SACRAMENT: a Rite in which GOD (or Gods) is (are) uniquely active. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO defined a CHRISTIAN sacrament as "a visible sign of an invisible REALITY." The Anglican BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER speaks of them as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible GRACE." Examples of sacraments would be BAPTISM and the MASS.
8. (8/25/11) "sacraments are efficacious signs-that is, they are not mere symbols; they accomplished the very thing they signify."The Mass, page 42

Pedophilia

Academic conference seeks to normalize pedophilia

The 10th Amendment

‎"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
--The 10th Amendment to the Constitution for the United States

Libertarianism

"You learn the essence of libertarianism -- which is also the essence of civilization -- in kindergarten: Don't hit other people; Don't take their stuff, and; Keep your promises. Most people understand that idea in their personal lives. Now if only we could get people to apply it to 'public policy' " -- David Boaz, The Politics of Freedom

Tribalism

Tribalism is he need to belong to a group competing against another group.

Politician

1. “A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies.” -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
2. A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar. -Henry Louis Mencken (11/13/12)

Money

“No legal tender law is ever needed to make men take good money; its only use is to make them take bad money.” -- Stephen T. Byington

Soul

1. The spirit gives life to the soul the way the soul gives life to the body. The soul dies without a spirit the way the body dies without a soul,
2. The human soul has two faculities (1/15/12)
1. To will (1/15/12)
2. To know (1/15/12)
3. (8/26/11) "soul-that is to say, the life principal in a body" Theology for Beginners, page 10
4. "Every living body-vegetable, lower animal, human-has a life principal, a sole." Theology for Beginners, page 10
5. "...ours [human] is the only soul with is a spirit" Theology for Beginners, page 10

Lust

"Lust is the disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2351).


"Lust is more powerful than an addiction to drugs or to alcohol."

Optimism

Seeing the glass half full when it is half empty is optimism. Seeing the glass half full when it is completely empty is delusional.

Charity

1. Definition (1/8/14)
1. True love is the willingness to sacrifice oneself for the benefit of the one loved. (1/21/13)
2. "focusing on the other"- Bill Donohue (1/8/14)
2. Forced "love" is no love.
3. When it all comes down to it, there are only two things that we can ultimately "love." We can only ultimately "love" God or Self. I use the word "love" in quotations because Self "love" is not true love. But even so, we don't even "love" many of the things we say we "love." What we actually "love" is our Self and more specifically our Self having the things we say we "love." When we say we love ice cream  we really don't love ice cream itself. What we really "love" is our Self having the pleasure of eating ice cream. If we really loved ice cream itself than we would never eat it and we would do everything we could to protect it from being eaten or otherwise destroyed by others. When we say a man loves money, he really doesn't love money itself. What he really loves is him Self having money. When we say a man loves sex, he really doesn't love sex itself. What he really loves is him Self having sex. Now, when we say that a man "loves" a women there are two possibilities. He either "loves" him Self having sex with or otherwise enjoying the company of the woman or he truly loves the woman herself. If he truly loves the women herself, than he can only do so out of his ultimate love for God who is true love and therefor the source of all true love. (4/24/13)
4. “Love does not mean to have, to own, to possess. It means to be had, to be owned, to be possessed. It is the giving of oneself for another. That is why we speak of arrows and darts of love – something that wounds. And the day men forget that love is synonymous with sacrifice, they will ask what kind of God is it who asks for mortification and self-denial. ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’” Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Wartime Prayer Book) (5/18/13)
5. "Real charity doesn't mean giving away someone else’s money." -Doug Bandow (8/8/11)

Demonations

Fast Facts

Demonations

Fast Facts

Nullification

Thomas Jefferson: “Whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers….a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.”

Socialism

In a state with no greed or laziness socialism would work, the problem is no such state exists.

“What belongs to everybody belongs to nobody” -Spanish Proverb (9/15/11)

Freedom of Speach

 "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."  -Noam Chomsk

Capitalism

1. "So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear. That there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system."-Milton Friedman
2. Capitalism is not Corporatocracy. (10/26/11)
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RRWpQLjUE78
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Vice

"Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness." -- Lysander Spooner (9/2/11)




Vice, in its true light, is so deformed, that it shocks us at first sight; and would hardly ever seduce us, if it did not at first wear the mask of some virtue.
Lord Chesterfield 

Dancing

Custom has made dancing sometimes necessary for a young man; therefore mind it while you learn it, that you may learn to do it well, and not be ridiculous, though in a ridiculous act.
Lord Chesterfield 

Advice

Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least.
Lord Chesterfield 

Problems

Whenever thee is a problem amuse that you are the cause so that you can be the solution.

Liberty

‎"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams - Speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776

(8/11/11) 


"Freedom tends to channel entrepreneurial activity into wealth creation, whereas the lack of economic freedom tends to channel it into wealth redistribution through crime, corruption, and political patronage" -Joshua C. Hall and Russell S. Sobel

Doctrine

Doctrine v.s disolipine