#wouldwaitforaneternity

Well I was raised as a Catholic which I know has a bad rep. But as I’ve said before it seems that all we accept are the negative stereotypes of genders, races, and religions; like some people stereotype middle-eastern religions, thinking all of their religions such as Hinduism is synonyms to terrorism, which is untrue. 

My “world” view in a sense comes in a few parts. I believe that no one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes. Doing something wrong once doesn’t make you a bad person, doing something wrong more than once doesn’t make you a bad person, i.e.-lying. Is it right to do? No, not always. By that I mean there are always exceptions to rules, i.e. - lying to an abusive partner in order to keep you safe. But I also believe everyone is responsible for what they do in their adult life and they need to take responsibility, because it will only help a person in the long run. i.e. - if a person lived with abusive parents, it is not okay in return for a person to abuse their partner or kids, blaming it on their parent’s behavior. Also, I, myself, believe that it is okay to obviously be human, sometimes emotions get the better of us and sometimes we just shut down there is nothing wrong with either but it is still an action that has consequences. Basically for every action there is a reaction, you are free to act as you wish but so is the other person.  I also believe in trying to see every point of view within a conflict, argument, and/or debate. I try to create a compromise whenever possible, while still being able to keep my beliefs. An example or a few are here, where I explain my beliefs in a few things, if you have any questions about this post or my reply just ask.

Now this basically goes along with a fundamental belief, in what I believe is with most Christian denominations (there are 18 “main” Christian denominations that branch out), is the concept of free will. We, humans, are made in image and likeness of God, meaning because God is love so are we. We are not mindless zombies who have to do as the superior says we must, we choose to follow God and what it is He said we need to do in order to do what He tells us is right and just. This is why Eve could be tempted to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen 3:1-7), and eventually disobey God i.e. sin. This is also why Adam could be tempted by Eve to eat the fruit, their punishments were great. Adam now had to work the fields for food, Eve had pains of labor (menstrual cycle and pain when giving birth), the snake whom previously stood upright, enjoyed a reputation for being shrewder than other creatures, and could converse with human beings (vv. 1–5). It must now move on its belly, “is more cursed than any creature, and inspires revulsion in human beings.” Also because Adam and Eve were stained with sin, they were cast out of Eden a ‘Heaven on Earth’. Because it is like a Heaven on Earth they could no longer stay due to the sin, the consequence of their actions. It was not God’s doing rather Adam and Eve’s doing, their choice their consequences. But God did not give up on them like He does not give up on us. He sent them to another land and still told them to multiply, one of the themes emphasized several times in the Bible. This is important because it is even from the beginning of time we were told to multiply, reproducing is important and every life is sacred hence some Christians against abortion and why there is the stereotype of Christians having large families.

Another consequence is Original Sin, all their off spring would be born with original sin, thus everyone is born with original since which is washed away with Baptism. Some believe that babies are so cute and just pure because they are the purest being on the world; they have not sinned in a conscious manner i.e. they have not sinned of their own free will. Original Sin is also known as Man’s Sin or Adam’s Sin, don’t get me wrong they both ate the fruit, thus they both sinned in equal manner in that way but it referred as Adam’s Sin for a reason. The reason isn’t specifically stated in the Bible this is where interpretation comes in. My favorite is The “Complexity” of Original Sin which is where you look in the Bible Adam had been placed in the Garden and, even prior to Eve’s creation, he’s been told to work the garden and keep it (Gen 2:15). Some translations say he is to work in and guard it. So when Eve has this verbal spar with the snake, where is Adam? Because he says nothing it is assumed he is elsewhere, but he was to watch the garden and tend to it. Adam was right next to Eve (Gen 3:6); he did not stick up for his wife or try and dissuade his wife. He had an obligation to protect his wife, he couldn’t forcibly stop her from eating the fruit, she could always come back and eat it when he wasn’t around instead he stayed silent as she spared with the snake and ate the fruit. Then he ate it himself, thus his sin was greater. This same concept is used throughout the Bible and even today. Like the saying “you’re older so you should know better”. The idea is the person is younger they don’t understand the concept yet that a person shouldn’t ‘throw food’ or they need to ‘share’ so they are not held as responsible as the older person.  There are other ideas about why it is called Adam’s Sin. The headship of Adam, which can go with the “complexity” of Original Sin where Scripture states and teaches of the headism of husbands (Eph 5:22; 1 Peter 3:1; Titus 5:2; Col 3:18) but referring back to Genesis when God ordained marriage he stated that “A man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife and the two of them shall be one” (Gen 2:24). Hence it is the man who leads the marriage and is its head. But this makes him finally responsible for what takes place in that marriage. This isn’t saying a man and woman shouldn’t work together in a marriage, that they shouldn’t have a united front or that the woman cannot work, have opinions or take whatever husband dishes out, it is just saying that the father is the one who the family should look to for guidance in religion or when times are hard. There are many of times in the Bible where women do the right thing or a woman leads, an example is the story of the Prophet Ruth (this is in the book of Prophets). And there are times when men do wrong, prophets, kings ect of the Bible are not meant to be perfect. Parallelism  St. Paul makes it clear that we are saved by Christ alone. This is because sin came through “one man” and hence we are saved by “one Man,” the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ are all made alive (cf Rom 5:17; 1 Cor 15:22). There is parallelism that I will be showing later in this response.

As I am sure you can tell by now religion is complicated yet simple. There are the Ten Commandments we are to follow, but there are others within the Bible we are to follow too. But we’ll stick with the Ten Commandments, like thou shall not kill; true enough someone shouldn’t kill unless you are defending yourself. This is based on one on one, i.e. a person attacking you and you are responding to stay alive and you accidentally kill said person. Or if you are in a war fighting for your freedom and rights or your land. Now I don’t mean you can kill your neighbor because they planted a tree on your side of the line of property and they refuse to remove. Take legal routes if necessary and/or it bothers you. So how are we, if we are supposed to be good followers of God, remembering all of these? You’re not, you are just suppose to try and live by first and foremost   by the ten commandments and then by others in the Bible, you live a kind and loving life and do your best because that is all that is asked of you in any situation. Turn the other cheek in situations, this does not mean you just sit there and take it, you just reply in a polite loving manner, you take peoples bullying without responding to a point, until it is emotionally, physically and/or mentally unhealthy to you . Bottom line, treat others the way you want to be treated, love.

Now for Bible references real quick when I say things like  1 Cor 15:22 this means first Corinthians (the book), chapter 15, verse 12. You might know this you might not but I say this just in case.

As for verses that are perceived in different manners, yes there are some that are worded different and some Bible’s that are interpreted differently, a good example  is the King James Bible, and what I’m talking about is the origin of it as well as the Anglican origin. But an example of religions who interpret a concept differently because of the focus of different verses is here.   Also, Catholics believe that there is purgatory before heaven for us. I like to call this hell with hope; basically you are being cleansed of your sins on Earth before you go to Heaven. There are different levels, you work your way up but purgatory is like hell. The hope is you know eventually you will go to Heaven and your suffering will end, it won’t if you’re in Hell. God doesn’t put you there, your actions do. This loops back to free will and consequences of actions. But God does offer us ways in which to repent and forgive us for our sins, no that you wouldn’t go to purgatory but you can lessen your time there and show your love to God. Catholics believe in purgatory because if your sin is still stained on your soul like a wine stain on a white cloth, how can we go to Heaven when Adam and Eve were sent away from Eden a ‘Heaven on Earth’ by sinning just once? Thus a purgatory. Basically in all of these verses and religions though Hell is not a good place to end up.

Another way of what I call “focus verse interpretation” is let’s say a wife or husband believes in God through the years like their spouse but they don’t, they don’t practice (and by that I don’t mean they just go to church by this I mean they go to church, they live their life they are taught to) but years later this wife/husband starts practicing, they get baptized if they haven’t been, take communion if the religion does that, and/or be confirmed. The spouse though is so complete against this and they don’t like the change in the husband/wife and you fight and argue and they want a divorce or they just want to leave. There are those who would focus on the verse that states “let the nonbeliever leave”, because in a sense that might be easier. But that is not the case there are verses about how a husband should “bathe” his wife, and there are also verse about marriage and sanctity towards your spouse. There are several verses like the one here: 1 Cor 7:13-14 “If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.” By this it means shower you spouse with love, try and show them through actions more if not just as much as words not only God’s truth but the love you have for your spouse.

Now for modern translations, there are several things that one must look at when look at a verse or chapter, these things are looked at in papers called exegesis. I will list and explain these items and give maybe one example.

Literal Sense: “[T]he meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture” (Catechism, no. 116), the actual event, person, thing described in the biblical text. The literal sense gives rise to the following three “spiritual senses.”  Ex:  In Genesis, God created the world, He created them in a certain order, Humans are the most special of His creations, we were given free will, and Adam was made of clay, Eve from a rib of Adam. Adam and Eve gave into temptation, they ate from a specific tree, God gave us specific rules (multiply), and all were punished and spoken to in a specific order, we now have original sin and its consequences, we know a savoir will come.

Allegorical Sense: How those things, events, or persons in the literal sense point to Christ and the Paschal Mystery (in the context of our religious beliefs and the life of Jesus Christ, we come to a deeper meaning of dying and rising. Jesus Christ’s passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension are the ultimate event of dying and rising, of death and new life.). Ex: In Genesis, a savoir will come, Jesus. And he will be born from the new Eve, Mary. By one man all men die and by one man all men will be saved.

Moral Sense: How the literal sense points to the Christian life in the Church. Ex: We know we must be baptized to cleanse ourselves of sin, we also know that for every sin there is a consequence. We also learn from this God loves us no matter what so as Christians we are to love, and try not to sin not just because it is wrong but because of our love for God and our desire to show it

Anagogical Sense: How the literal sense points to the Christian’s heavenly destiny and the last things. Ex: In Genesis we are promised redemption, we are promised a chance to be able to join our father once again. But we also know that the more we sin the harder it is for us to get to heaven.

There are other things we need to consider when looking at text such a genre. Every book in the Bible is different, such as Genesis is fictional. Not in the fact that God did not create the world but in the fact that Moses (who wrote the first 10 books) wasn’t there for the creation of the world and was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Also it was written in words and in a language we could understand, it says the world was created in 7 days, our 7 days can be different then God’s hence the existence of creatures such as dinosaurs. Also, this explains things like the Big Bang. Christians and Catholics aren’t against science, for years we supported scientific research. We also have to consider culture; like back then a shepherd was a job that everyone could relate back then sometimes it was headed by wealthy some by poor or slaves. But the job was the same, day and night a shepherd must watch, feed and water the sheep; he must go looking for those who are lost until they are found. This concept is easily understood today, God will always watch over for us and love us. Also, shepherds when they have children delegate the work like we do today, priests, nuns, just those with faith. This cultural example also works for language, we have to look at the language, I mean look at English there Victorian English, British English, American English, and Australian English to name a few. Suffice to say language is a big barrier especially when the Bible is written in a “dead” language (PS on culture I thought this was cool in Exodus- when the Plagues come they lasted a week stopping on the Sabbath, also the plagues target the Egyptian’s gods to show God’s might.)

There are many connections in the Bible that create a circle so I’ll list a few others. I’ll start with Mary; Mary wasn’t just foretold in Genesis she was also foretold in Exodus. She is the burning bush (Exodus 3), the bush that was engulfed in flames but still lived, a virgin but a mother. In Exodus as well, Moses is one of the greatest prophets, but Jesus the last prophet is the new Moses as well as Adam. He comes to “save His people” not just from sin but from the Jewish leaders at the time, who were strictly reading the book. Jesus is also shown when Moses strikes the rock twice (in the desert His people needed water so God told Moses to strike the rock once, when they needed water again God told Moses to speak to the rock and it will flow water, instead he struck it again because of this Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land (a reference to Heaven access that is soon to come through the Messiah) the second strike represented a second crucifixion, which angered God (righteous anger, like when Jesus became angry in the temple). Also Jesus and Moses in the desert are like Adam in ways of temptation. The people Moses led started losing faith and created a golden calf twice to worship a god that wasn’t their own. Then with Jesus during his forty days and forty nights of fasting in the desert (Lent) the devil tempted Jesus with Earthy riches, but Jesus did not fall though. Also like Moses (who brought the 10 commandments) Jesus brought “new rules”, such as with Mary the prostitute Jesus’ response to the Rabbi’s  “testing” Him, telling Him to thrown the stone. His response was for the one without sin to throw the stone first. Jesus without sin would have been the first to throw but He did not He just paused and let the people think about the meaning behind His words.

This introduces the idea the Church uses (Church with a capital c mean Catholic Church as a whole). They have set strict rules on some things, 10 commandments will not be changed (which is a Tradition capital T) and they allow looser interpretations on things such as woman being allowed to give Communion, or only not having meat on Friday’s during the Lent season rather than every Friday (tradition with little t).  Catholics also believe the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are 3 people in 1 person, this is hard to explain and lengthy. I am willing to explain it but I figured this reply was long enough as it is (sorry) so I wouldn’t get into it unless you ask, but again more than willing to answer.

Now real quick back to different denomination, and back to the burning bush in Exodus. It is said in this passage that the cave with burning bush is holy ground, and it is. But this brings up the point of different religions holy places. For Catholics it’s the place with the tabernacle (where ‘the body and blood’ are held), basilicas have these as well. For some Christians it’s where ever, home, a group of people, a Bible study. For Jews (those who do not believe Jesus is the Messiah/the religion of God’s people before Jesus and Catholicism.) practice in a place that hold the copy of a Torah. Some religions believe their churches have to be plane while some believe it can be as ornate and decorated as they see fit as long as it pertains to worshiping God and His Love, Power and Might.