Subject: Disease or Bad Personal Choice?? |
Bible Note: John, Celebacy is to remain unmarried. Chastity applies to all, single or married, whatever their temptation may be. Celebacy and chastity are not synonymous. I presume you have no problem with Angelightboy or anyone else relying on God's grace to live a chaste life, assuming they are repentent. I do not consider what I said about grace a "nod." Your characterization of it as such seems rather condescending to me. I am sorry that your did not pursue your Catholic studies of grace and the sacraments beyond the grade school level. If you had, you would have learned that the grace obtained in Confession comes from the merits obtained by Jesus whom we encounter there and not from the confession of the sins themselves. As you well know Scripture does speak of the confession of sins to others and their forgivenss in John 20:21-23; James 5:14-16. It goes without saying that if someone is not in the state of grace they cannot attain to it by their own works. But if they repent and confess God is quick to forgive. And it is only serious sin that leaves outside the state of grace that must be confessed sacramentaly to the priest who stands in for the Jesus and his Body the Church. All other sin can and should be confessed just as you would on a daily basis. We just confess sacramentaly in a different context than you. Scripture does not say that if you confess to a priest you are not confessing and being forgiven. In fact John 20:21-23 and James 5:14-16 among other scripture would indicate the exact opposite conclusion. Read the Council of Trent if you think this is not Ctholic teaching. May I suggest you stick with Reformed theology upon which you seem have a better grasp. Forgive me if I take offense at having someone who left the Catholic Church at the eigth grade level lecture me on its teachings. You apparently have never studied Catholic teaching from Catholic sources at an adult level, but have accepted the caricature of it fed to you by others. I don't lecture you on Reformed theology. Please extend the same curtesy to me by not lecturing me on Catholic theology. Emmaus |