I've just begun reading Joseph Ratzinger's (now Pope Benedict XVI) book Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions. In the preface he references a document put out by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2000 (when he was Prefect) that I think all Christians could benefit greatly by reading. It is entitled Dominus Iesus: On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church. I encourage all to give it a read, though it's a bit lengthy.

Recognizing the goodness in all people is an excellent thing, and in all of creation we must be able to recognize the creating power of God. But as Christians we are given a unique mission and a unique access to the authentic revelation of God through Jesus Christ, and we must never seek to water this revelation down in the name of pluralism or political correctness. We are commissioned in a special way, and as members of the Body of Christ we must take the responsibility of this commission very seriously. Unlike Cain, we know that we are, in fact, our brother's keeper.

Peace in Christ,
Michael

i'm posting this from bed with my phone because i had a thought and didn't want to lose it. i'll clean up the entry tomorrow.

there''s a verse in genesis, after the fall somewhere, where god tells adam that now he's going to have to toil. adam screwed up and now he has to get his agriculture on in order to survive.

most respected theology dictates that the way we live currently is wrong. i mean, aside from the obvious wrong things we do that are sinful. what they mean is that we cannot help to live removed from god's original plan for us because we have screwed up and as a result the planet and the species suffer.

makes me wonder what the original plan was. are we not supposed to toil (work) at all? i have a hard time imagining life - any life, whether it's current or future - in which i don''t have to work. even if i'm kicking back at a 5 star hotel, i still want to be productive and useful every once in a while. i think after a few months at the hotel, i very well might go down to the restaurant in the lobby and ask if they need any help in the kitchen during the lunch rush a couple days a week.

unemployment is the number one cause of death. if i don't have toil in the next life, will i at least have task?

Apologetics Master You scored 36 out of 36 for Knowledge, and 0 out of 47 for Skepticism

You're probably a hard-core Christian (or maybe you're just very well-educated and open-minded). Either way, congrats on a great score, and best wishes as you continue your quest for knowledge!

Link: The Do You Believe, and Why? Test written by jancilynn on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

After the rather argumentative day yesterday at this forum, I thought it would be good today to share thoughts, devotions and writings about Jesus. Little bits of love writing to Jesus. Reflections on this God we seek and love. My own little offerings below are things I've written about ways that Jesus matters to me. No-one has to read them but if you'd like to, you're welcome. Also I wondered if other people had a few inspirational writings or poems or whatever about Jesus that they would like to share to add to this post.

- welcoming Jesus
- Jesus of the humble heart
- Jesus born as one of us
- Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem
- Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem
- Good Friday: Jesus on the Cross
- the light of Christ
- the baptismal ordeal of Jesus
- the divinity of Jesus Christ (1)
- the divinity of Jesus Christ (2)
- seeking out Jesus
- a love affair with Jesus
- the forgiveness of Christ
- the faithfulness of Jesus Christ

I belong to a community called ugly_crap which exists to snark the various ugly products which can be found for sale on the internets.

Today, someone posted a couple of pictures of a Jesus doll called "my sweet Jesus". I'm curious about how folks here feel about such products. I'm not asking specifically about this particular doll, but instead how folks feel in general about jesus dolls/action figures/etc.

Do you see items like this as being harmless toys or as being disrespectful? (lets face it, kids often aren't very reverent towards their toys)

So as some might know, I'm very into languages (although a pre-med student, I am actually majoring in Linguistics), and have a goal of owning a Bible in every language that I can read, if not speak as well.

This summer I have begun teaching myself Greek, Spanish, French, and Japanese (Hebrew starts next week).

I own a Greek NT and Hebrew OT, know what I'm planning on for French, but I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for editions of Spanish and Japanese. Is there one that you know of that is better than another? Thanks.

I joined this community to learn more about Christianity. I am tired of the arguments. I want to suggest a new topic - If it isn't too private, I want to learn about people's prayer life experience. What does one pray about? When? How? Who? Why? and no more arguments. The rule is - no quoting of other authorities. What do you have for a relationship between you and the Lord? Thank you

Ok, the "After You Die" quiz reminded me of these question:

What are angels?

Can angels sin/do they have free will? What happens if they do sin (assuming they can)?

Can humans become angels?

Do you believe that you have a guardian angel? Have you ever felt its presence?

Is there scriptural support for the involvement of angels in our lives?

Do you think they actually eat angel food cake?

Recently someone here posted a quiz on heresies, and though I came up as a non-heretic, I also scored somewhat high (70%) on Pelagianism. I've looked up this particular heresy and I was a bit puzzled - apart from one thing I reject all of pelagianism.

What I do reject though, is original sin. Yes, it happened, I believe that. And I do believe that the result of this is that all of us have a sin nature. However, what I do not believe is that somehow we inherit this sin from our parents and pass it on to our children. IE, that somehow, automatically, we become sinful no matter what we do. In my view, what happens is this. We are born, and after some time as babies we develop our own selves. During that process, at some point, we sin. Compare this to Genesis 4:6-7:

“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

In this passage, God tells Cain that sin is waiting OUTSIDE of him, in front of him, in fact. God would not say that if Cain somehow had inherited something from his parents. In my oppinion, we all face sin, which is the opportunity to do evil. Sometimes we rule over those opportunities, sometimes we don't, but for most people, most of the time, sin wins. When Paul writes about sin and death getting through all of us, he isn't refering to something we are born with, but a mistake which apparently ALL OF US make. The result of these mistakes is the development of sinful habits and inclinations, of which there are many different ones, yet all of them are similarly sinful. I speak about pride, sloth, greed, avariciousness, idolatry, the whole sorry mess we're so familiar with.

That's what I believe regarding original sin. There is no original sin but there is the observable fact that all of us sin. That is what I think Paul writes about.

Ok, there is probably something in the archives, but is it gonna tell me what I want to know?
let's ask and see what comes up.

You can't be done for heresy unless you refuse to step in lin with the church in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are right.

So what evidence is there on Original Sin?

Well, how about Psalms. " for I was born in sin and concieved in iniquity". Yeah that one.
Can't find it in Bible gateway. seems pretty staight forward to me.

And yet some will say " look at babies, they are not evil". true, but once old enough, they manifest selfishness and a desire to have everything *they* want, rather than naturally sharing and co operating.

and for, me , that sums it up.

now, you have two choices here, people. You can tell me that i am a heritic who isn't preaching "the real Jesus" or you can show me what the real Jesus had to say on the issue, or some other peice of evidence to change my mind. I mean , if I am wrong here, there ought to be something out there that explains everything, right?

So , there you go - Human nature is basically selfish and needs to be conditioned in order to become co operative and altruistic. and Jsesus not only provides a working example of how to go about it, but he also promises His Followers an Indwelling of the Holy Spirit to enable that to take place.
So there's my take on this- what's yours, and your Church's?

This came up in a conversation with catholic_heart, and I thought I'd get some more opinions.

Eight years ago, when I'd finished school and went on to study, I fretted about not being able to study theology to become a Catholic priest. (Yes, right, it's me, but my faith was much different then ;) There were people, Christians even, who told me I should just convert to the Lutheran church and do it. It really puzzled me that they were serious about it - as if it didn't matter which church, as long as I got to do what I wanted.

I knew back then that I couldn't do it, because I did not want to be Lutheran. I'm Catholic, and despite my now disagreeing with some of the RCC's positions, I still wouldn't want to leave.

How serious can people be about the things they believe if they suggest something like this? How much do they really identify with the beliefs and teachings of their own church? Could this come only from people who do not concern themselves more deeply with the different theological views of different churches? And how much does it take to make someone leave their church and join another because they can't do something there that they want to?

Questions, questions...