Parable of Goats and Sheep commentary, Ankit states the Little Way, Miracles to believe?

New Apologetics Thank you for your question. The answer is forthcoming. In the meantime, we ask that no other comments be posted in response.

January 13, 2013 at 1:59pm · Like · 1

Susan Rainwater Ithink possibly this is exactly what I have been looking for. To gain some knowledge as to why evil is so prevalent.

January 13, 2013 at 6:27pm · Like

New Apologetics Susan Rainwater Please ask us *any* question at all about evil. Post your question(s) to the timeline, and we will answer them. Posts are hidden until approved, so it might take a day or so before it appears. Also, it may take a while before we are able to respond, so we thank you in advance for your patience. Our hope is that you will continue to ask questions about the topic until you don’t have any more to ask.

January 13, 2013 at 6:39pm · Like

New Apologetics You wrote:

“If Jesus is God how is it that the father will reign and jesus will be at his right hand…? wouldnt that make jesus a lesser God? i cant seem to wrap my mind around this one…”

From the Catechism:

“663 Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: “By ‘the Father’s right hand’ we understand the glory and honor of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified.”

Jesus is true God and true man. God, through human nature has established a kingdom of justice which will not pass away. From the Catechism:

“Being seated at the Father’s right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah’s kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel’s vision concerning the Son of man: “To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” After this event the apostles became witnesses of the “kingdom [that] will have no end”. (CCC 664)

We recognize that every good thing the Father bestows upon every creature comes though the intercession of Christ who is “seated at his right hand.”

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, “entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands. . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he “always lives to make intercession” for “those who draw near to God through him”. As “high priest of the good things to come” he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven. (CCC 662)

But have we yet realized that we who are *one* with him will sit with him on his throne and do what he does? This means that united to Christ, every good thing that the Father bestows upon every creature will come to them through each of us uniquely. As Christ is the center, so we will (by his gift) share his glory of being the center. He has made it so that each of us is the center with reference to every other.

“Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us.” (CCC 661)

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, (then) I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne. ‘Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'” (Rev 3: 20-22)

The magnitude of his gift is so big that we can’t see it.

January 15, 2013 at 12:02pm · Like · 8

Juan Jimenez Thank You so much!!!

January 15, 2013 at 5:05pm · Like

Umair Imtiyaz Mark 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only God is all knowing, 
Jesus fails this main qualification. This alone is enough to prove that Jesus is not God. Also note the verse says ONLY the Father meaning nobody else, including the divine Jesus.

January 20, 2013 at 11:09pm · Like

New Apologetics Umair Imtiyaz You wrote: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only God is all knowing, Jesus fails this main qualification.

We reply: Rather, it means that Jesus in his human mind knew only what was fitting to his mission of redemption. He was content to know only that which was important to know. Anything more would have been vain curiosity, which is unbecoming of the human mind.

When we are content to know only what we need to know (which is very rare), then we find that we know everything we need to know.

January 23, 2013 at 11:09am · Like · 2

Ankit Dhawan NA: In response to Umairs message- are you implying that Jesus was not aware of His deity while He was on Earth? You may be opening up a can of worms if that is what you mean! Jesus taught us a whole lot about everything through His sermons. If we were to take all His teachings as mental concoction of human mind, then we will be making a great offense against His divinity!! Please clarify.

January 23, 2013 at 1:03pm · Like

New Apologetics Ankit Dhawan We do believe that he was aware of his divinity, as knowledge of one’s identity is always appropriate. However, his human intellect was occupied only with that which was needful.

January 23, 2013 at 1:47pm · Like

Umair Imtiyaz Ok…can you give me the source of this whatever u said…on which bases r u saying this….plz reply…it will be ur kindness

January 24, 2013 at 12:00am · Like

Ankit Dhawan Understanding of God and divinity requires us to transcend the faulty senses that we possess. Our knowledge is like the knowledge of a frog who lives in a pond. It gauges the length and breadth of a water body using number of hops it has to make to cross it. So, a pond may be 20 hops wide and 30 hops long. To this frog if one goes and tells there is this vast ocean called Atlantic ocean, it will try to understand the vastness using number of hops. “Come one, how big it can be… 100 hops? Alright, 200 hops? 300?” This foolish frog cannot think beyond the small number of water body it lives in. It cannot think beyond 500 hops… so, Atlantic Ocean can never be known to this frog perfectly. Similarly, through our mental speculation if we try to understand God and divinity, it will only lead to frustration. That does not mean God does not exist. The Sun goes up every morning without fail. There are millions of stars and planets just floating in the air through perfect gravitational forces holding them in equilibrium. The taste of water, fragrance of Earth… these are all evidence of a perfect being who controls the entire creation. 

So, one has to submit that there is a superior being not limited like us who is in charge of this creation. He reveals Himself through revealed scriptures of different faiths. So, one can know about God only through God’s words. One of such scripture is Bible, and in this scripture Lord Jesus Christ is described as half human and half divine. One has to accept this on the authority of Scriptures. Vedic scriptures describe the process of how God incarnates in different avatars. Jesus is one of the avatars that God incarnates, known as sakti avesa avatar. There is no difference between God, the Father and God, the Son or for that matter God, the Holy Spirit.

January 24, 2013 at 10:08pm · Like