/lit/ - Literature

>>11654972
Yes, it's good to marry and have sex. But it's not as fulfilling as an intimate connection with God.

>>11415680
God gives humans absolute free will. What you describe is not absolute free will. God knows all outcomes, but that's because he sees all of time in a single glance. He doesn't predestine anyone for anything, so he couldn't have predestined Adam not to eat the fruit.

Free will has sometimes been called a "terrible freedom," because of the bad consequences it frequently generates. But would you have it any other way?

>>11312362
It all depends on how devout they are. Devoted Christians do not fear death. You fear the pain and suffering that accompanies death, but not the death itself. And you remember that it is a beautiful thing to die for Christ.

>>10763312
We're capable of fighting multiple enemies at once. We've been doing it for 2000 years.

>>10488574
I sense a lack of faith in you, friend.

>>10099073
Most philosophers regularly posted on /lit/ would be terrified of Francis and all other mystical Christians. Who needs "metaphysical knowledge" when God reveals himself to you directly, because of your devotion to his Son?

>>10074981
This map, more than any ethnic division, seems to me to be about the difference in mindset between Catholics/Orthodox and Protestants.

Well, at least Land is smart enough to realize Catholics will never go along with capitalism. That's what I got from the article. He talks about ethnicity and culture but religion lurks pretty powerfully under the surface of his conclusions. Protestants are just capitalists, and Catholics (and Orthodox) just aren't.

>>9789356
You know what? Honestly? I have no idea. I'm a pretty devout Catholic, and I've read some mystics over the years. I read Saint Teresa of Avila years ago. The mystics in their writings all seem to describe ways of becoming a better Catholic, a purer Catholic, a Catholic who more faithfully follows Christ and the teachings of the Church. But they never seem to describe how to actually attain mystical experiences. Or, if they do, I haven't read the texts that describe it.

Just now, though, I've had a thought: Christian mysticism is God-centered. Maybe a mystical encounter with God has to be something that God initiates? After all, here we're not talking about a dead religion and defunct practices. We're talking about a live wire to the divine, a wire that runs in both directions. Perhaps the purification of which the mystics speak is a means of preparing a person for a mysticism which is necessarily initiated by God Himself? It would explain the lack of description of method in their writings. It preserves God's supreme agency. The mystics seem all to say that if you make yourself a fit vessel for God's revelation, God will find you--in His own time.

Rather spooky, isn't it? But that's God, the REAL God, the God of thunder and lightning.

>>9483641
because the people here are incapable of appreciating themselves and others

>>9316765
The contest of saint waifu's has already been decided by Jesus himself. No other woman was given the honor of wearing Christs foreskin as a wedding ring.

>>6496014
This is what she looked like