Some of you may have read this article by Dr. Peter Kreeft already but today is the first time I've seen it: The Winning Strategy. As you may know, I'm quite fond of people who are blunt-spoken and very few are as straightforward and blunt as Dr. Kreeft. He tells it like it is and, in a world obsessed with being politically correct, I appreciate not having to wrestle with too much "fluff" to get to the meat of an article. No worries with Dr. Kreeft; you won't get pandering here.
In his article The Winning Strategy, Dr. Kreeft says something that really caught me off guard because I have become so used to people tiptoeing around the issue of sin, softening the blows in order to please the crowds (who do not want their comfort disturbed by something as ugly as sin or the eternal loss of souls).
"I don’t mean merely that Western civilization will die. That’s a piece of trivia. I mean eternal souls will die. Billions of Ramons and Vladamirs and Janes and Tiffanies will go to Hell. That’s what’s at stake in this war: not just whether America will become a banana republic, or whether we’ll forget Shakespeare, or even whether some nuclear terrorist will incinerate half of humanity, but whether our children and our children’s children will see God forever. That’s what’s at stake in “Hollywood versus America.” That’s why we must wake up and smell the rotting souls. Knowing we are at war is the first requirement for winning it". - See more at: http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2011/01/kreeft-the-winning-strategy/#sthash.yrBdPAos.dpuf
You can't state things much more bluntly than this, can you? And Dr. Kreeft is right. We need to understand that we are in the midst of the greatest spiritual war in the history of humanity.
And the "casualties" of this war could be our children.
Yes, Dr. Kreeft, it's time for America to wake up and smell the rotting souls.
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Friday, March 1, 2013
Monday, April 23, 2012
Utterly Encompassed
You are utterly encompassed by God. He is in you, around you, beside you, above you, below you. This is the total truth. We have become blinded to such a degree that most of us have lost this sense of His Presence. The eyes of our souls have dimmed to an alarming degree and there are those who have absolutely no sense of God's presence whatsoever.
And yet He is ever there. Always. You could not even take a breath without Him.
Imagine this:
A human person is totally surrounded by and caught up in the love of God and yet completely unaware of this Divine Presence. Why? We are taught as children that God is love and He is everywhere. We are taught about the indwelling of the Trinity. So, why?
What happens to a person that causes them to lose this sense of God's love?
Sin happens. The eyes of the soul darken and grow dim from lack of light. Our spirit dulls. The duller our spirit grows the less aware we become of God and the more aware we become of ourselves. Not a healthy awareness of ourselves as existing in God, for God, and with God, but an unhealthy awareness that has negative effects on both ourselves and others.
Enter the kingdom of "me, myself, and I". This is the name of the kingdom where most of us exist (to lesser or greater degree) these days. Maybe not everyone, but certainly the majority. You can ask how someone can be so certain that this is the truth and my answer will be very simple:
"By their fruits you will know them." (Mt 7:16) I am not being pessimistic. I know God has things well in hand. But the simple truth is that if we look around us we can see that humanity, on the whole, is producing some very bitter fruit indeed. Yes, there are those who are producing good fruit but the majority of us are off kilter in some way that's hard to pinpoint completely. In some aspects, I think part of the problem is that we don't put God first in our lives. We think we do, but we don't really. We think of things from the perspective, "How will this affect me, personally?" We become the center of our own universe and whenever this happens, the result is suffering. Whether upon ourselves or others, if we don't acknowledge the fact that God is the source of all good and the center of existence, well...we bring suffering upon each other. This is part and parcel of living in the kingdom of "me, myself, and I".
In reality, there is only one kingdom. And that is God's. Because we have free will God allows us to live in our pretend kingdoms if we choose to but these kingdoms have no basis in reality. Eventually these kingdoms fall because they have to. In the sentences below I am speaking about a state of being and not necessarily a final destination. I am simply saying that God certainly gives us plenty of hints as to how we are doing. For instance, I know I am in a state of purgation right now and have been for years. Yet, in this state I get tastes of Heaven too. God is good.
If these false worlds we create don't fall? Hell happens. Why? Because it is a refusal of God's Kingdom over our own.
If they partially fall? Purgatory
If they do fall completely?
Heaven reigns in our hearts.
In Him we live and move and have our being. (See Acts17:22-31)
And yet He is ever there. Always. You could not even take a breath without Him.
Imagine this:
A human person is totally surrounded by and caught up in the love of God and yet completely unaware of this Divine Presence. Why? We are taught as children that God is love and He is everywhere. We are taught about the indwelling of the Trinity. So, why?
What happens to a person that causes them to lose this sense of God's love?
Sin happens. The eyes of the soul darken and grow dim from lack of light. Our spirit dulls. The duller our spirit grows the less aware we become of God and the more aware we become of ourselves. Not a healthy awareness of ourselves as existing in God, for God, and with God, but an unhealthy awareness that has negative effects on both ourselves and others.
Enter the kingdom of "me, myself, and I". This is the name of the kingdom where most of us exist (to lesser or greater degree) these days. Maybe not everyone, but certainly the majority. You can ask how someone can be so certain that this is the truth and my answer will be very simple:
"By their fruits you will know them." (Mt 7:16) I am not being pessimistic. I know God has things well in hand. But the simple truth is that if we look around us we can see that humanity, on the whole, is producing some very bitter fruit indeed. Yes, there are those who are producing good fruit but the majority of us are off kilter in some way that's hard to pinpoint completely. In some aspects, I think part of the problem is that we don't put God first in our lives. We think we do, but we don't really. We think of things from the perspective, "How will this affect me, personally?" We become the center of our own universe and whenever this happens, the result is suffering. Whether upon ourselves or others, if we don't acknowledge the fact that God is the source of all good and the center of existence, well...we bring suffering upon each other. This is part and parcel of living in the kingdom of "me, myself, and I".
In reality, there is only one kingdom. And that is God's. Because we have free will God allows us to live in our pretend kingdoms if we choose to but these kingdoms have no basis in reality. Eventually these kingdoms fall because they have to. In the sentences below I am speaking about a state of being and not necessarily a final destination. I am simply saying that God certainly gives us plenty of hints as to how we are doing. For instance, I know I am in a state of purgation right now and have been for years. Yet, in this state I get tastes of Heaven too. God is good.
If these false worlds we create don't fall? Hell happens. Why? Because it is a refusal of God's Kingdom over our own.
If they partially fall? Purgatory
If they do fall completely?
Heaven reigns in our hearts.
In Him we live and move and have our being. (See Acts17:22-31)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)