The two elements that make something worth believing are the value and permanence of that thing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay 8/30/2017 Question 2The expression "people of God" or "chosen people of God" does not indicate that God has favored a specific people over others, in the sense that he loves a group of people and does not love the other. Rather, God's people are chosen to help God in his ministry. By choosing a people to help him in his ministry, God establishes a covenant with that people. In the new covenant with Christians, God offers redemption for sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They, in turn, are called to announce this redemption and salvation through the proclamation of the Gospel. The full reality of this salvation and redemption announced in the Gospel is hidden from the naked eye. Therefore, announcing and sharing the Gospel is announcing the sacramental word of God which reveals the hidden mystery of the Gospel. 1/9/2017 Question 2When we celebrate a sacrament, we celebrate the hidden mystery that that sacrament reveals. The Seven Sacraments reveal the Fundamental Sacrament that is the Church. In being part of the Church and, therefore, of the Body of Christ, we reveal the Primordial Sacrament which is Christ himself. Christ as the Primordial Sacrament reveals God the Father. By celebrating a Sacrament, we celebrate what is already present but is otherwise hidden from the naked eye. For example, when Mass is celebrated, the Eucharist celebrates the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Mass reveals the Church, the Church reveals Christ, and Christ, in the Real Presence, reveals God the Father. 09/06/2017 To understand the sacraments, one must understand their relationship to Scripture in two senses: forward and backward. Backwards, in the sense of searching in the text of Scripture to find the root of the sacrament in the most ancient texts. Forward, in the sense of looking to the future, seeing both the promise and its fulfillment, even in its imperfection. Therefore, in understanding the sacraments we recognize the ongoing activity of God, especially in the sacrament of sacraments: the community of the Church. The biblical word can only bear fruit when it has a living subject, in this case it is the community of the Church. When the Church celebrates a sacrament, it is more than a group meeting, a social function or an association event. Rather, the celebration of the sacrament causes the Church to give more than the people who celebrate can give. All past, present and future history is contained in the sacrament. The sacraments reach the roots of universal human history and bring humanity the salvation offered by Christ. Through this the sacrament also includes the future, opening life after death. The sacraments are always new and always ancient. The new covenant purifies all creation from the beginning of time. In this way Jesus Christ demonstrates that it is He who can give man his salvation. All the symbols of creation point to Him and in this way Christ brings to completion not only history, but also the entire creation. Everything reaches its unity in Christ.8/9/2017 The aim of the course is to grow in knowledge of the sacraments. It is important not to confuse knowledge and data. Data is useless if you can't make sense of what it measures or indicates. The way we identify a community of people is to identify a common experience or trait. In this case we seek a community of people with a common experience of the transcendent. In Judaism, the Book of Exodus details the nation of Israel's shared experience with the transcendent. For Christianity, the Gospel details Christians' common experience with the transcendent. In both cases a covenant is formed between Godand a group of people. In the Old Testament, Passover is symbolic of Israel's favored status. This favored status takes them from slavery to freedom and finally to the Blood Pact. In the New Testament, Jesus is the New Covenant and his shed blood opens eternity to all of God's beloved. The blood covenant that God makes with his people is often broken. This creates a cycle: Covenant – Breakdown of the Covenant – Prophets warn – Grief and forgiveness of the people – Reconciliation. A community of people celebrates the religious history of the community. The Church of the present time is on a journey which, while celebrating its past, still moves towards the final goal of bodily resurrection. It is a pilgrim church - escaton. The church of the "People of God" is a people in communion. The “Lumen Gentium” constitution of Vatican II which specifies what the Church is. 9/11/2017 The fourth paragraph of Rahner's article says that the sacraments are something new and present and at the same time ancient. The fact that Christianity is relatively new does not contradict the history of humanity which embraces a history older than Christianity. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ purifies all creation, which proves that He is the One who saves mankind from their sin. All the signs of creation are signs that point to Christ and show that in Christ not only our common history, but all creation is unified. Everything is in sync and unity through Christ. This connects to the rest of the paragraphs because the other paragraphs detail how the entire story is included in the sacraments: past, present, and future. When a sacrament reveals the hidden mystery of God, it reaches out and reveals everything in which God is present or involved. Since God is present in every time and place, through the power of Christ all time and creation are united and revealed through the sacrament. .9/18/2017 Faith is important for a person who wishes to live with integrity because it makes explicit and declarative what a person of integrity already holds. Faith in a religion is the admission and acceptance that what that religion teaches is believed to be true and that the values ​​it supports are also true. To be an agnostic or a skeptic just because you refuse to put in the time and effort to truly consider what you believe is to be lazy. Worse, to be agnostic and simply say you don't know is to maintain the integrity that you believe in only at face value. True, there are many people who are nameless and anonymous Christians. Non-practitioners and even non-believers who are more charitable and merciful than those who claim to hold the Christian faith. But it is worth highlighting the fact that belief reinforces the value of integrity. For those who maintain integrity in Christianity are ultimately rewarded for their virtuousness. Those without any conviction are tempted to give up their position in the face of a challenge because they have no hope, other than a good feeling, that their sacrifice will mean something substantial in the end. 9/20/2017 A life worth living is a life that brings good into the world. A life worth living is a life dedicated to service and sacrifice for others. When an individual gives up his own comforts to meet the needs of another person, that individual's life of service has made his life worthwhile. Belief in a transcendent God and participation in a community of faith as a member of a church reinforces this idea. Belief in a transcendent God also justifies sacrifice on behalf of others because it makes clear that the temporal world around us is not humanity's ultimate goal. The fact that this life is not an end in itself makes the search for utopia irrational and uselessland or the maximization of one's comforts. Even without believing in a transcendent God, we find this idea rooted in our very nature with a natural revulsion towards those who are selfish and towards our own selfish impulses when we are aware of them. 9/22/2017Rahner begins by postulating whether it is possible to believe in an unspeakable infinite mystery known as God. Rahner talks about his faith and how he has always been a believer in faith. He was raised in faith and found no reason to stop placing his faith in God. He recognizes the struggle of those who do not believe in God. He recognizes that addressing the problems and evil of the world is often the best argument against Christianity because, if God is good, how could there be such great evil in the world? Underlying all the complicated theology and dogmas of Christianity is the simple belief that the great Mystery remains a mystery unless it reveals itself in absolute self-communication. It would seem that Christianity is useless and that faith in God is not possible with such a total lack of knowledge in the face of great evil. Rahner, however, says that the Christian message and the goodness of Christianity is not only something necessary by faith, but necessary by our nature. He looks at other cultures and highlights the fact that they, while not explicitly Christian, supported and expressed Christian values. These values ​​humans hold because they are human, and Christianity serves to reinforce these values. Furthermore, Christianity is the pinnacle of these values ​​and virtues. This, again, is not to say that those who are not Christians are less intelligent or evil-hearted than those who are Christians, but rather, in an imperfect world, it is normal to expect unbelief in God. This does not diminish the fact that faith in God is more than possible in the world, but actually serves the world and makes it a better place.9/25/2017 Since the Church reveals Christ, speaking the Word of God in the Church combines the disclosure of Christ with the message of Christ. In this way the People of God, who together reveal Christ, receive their mission from Christ. The Word of God, when spoken in the Church, is more than a series of words strung together. It itself becomes a sacrament because for the People of God the Word of God is more than simple words, the Word of God embodies everything that the People of God must do and follow. Furthermore, since the Word of God is Jesus Christ, speaking the Word of God in the Church is speaking Christ as the Church reveals Christ. This type of dynamic of the Word of God is unique when it is spoken in Church. What the People of God reveal becomes clearer when the Word of God is read.09/27/2017 The three controversial topics that Rahner lists in the article What is a sacrament? they are: the sacraments that are the subject of controversy between the sects of Christianity, the doctrine of the Church as a fundamental sacrament of salvation, and the observation that in the Word itself the announcement of an authentic presence of the Lord as the agent of salvation takes place. Often, when I discuss faith with those who are Christian but not Catholic, I find that their dispute is rarely about the fundamental teachings of the Church but about the Church's authority to teach them. The sacraments that are in dispute between the sects of Christianity are most often the sacraments that possess a clear reference to the authority of the Church and therefore depend on the authority of the Church to be recognized as one of the seven ecclesial sacraments. This questioning and challenging of authority also extends to other areas of church conduct. The Church's interpretation of the Word of God, both in the Bible and in the person of Christ, is questioned and considered a matter of controversy. Contesting the interpretation ofChurch, the salvation offered by God is obscured when, in reality, it has a direct and expository character when understood and embraced in its full reality. Finally, because the Church is a living being, its doctrines and teachings are a sacrament that reveals Christ and, therefore, the salvation offered by Christ. To remove or question the authority of the Church is to attempt to undermine its life character; the Church ceases to be a living body and instead becomes a numb database with its teachings open to interpretation.9/29/2017 There is a difference between words about Christ and the words of Christ. The words used in the sacraments are not simply the lofty, recited ramblings of an ordained minister. Rather, the words of the sacraments in and of themselves bring attention to a reality that, while hidden, is nevertheless consequential. Furthermore, the words used in the sacrament are part of what causes a spiritual event to occur. A change in a soul's reality occurs as a result of the utterance of the words of the sacrament. If a child is baptized, the words of baptism leave an indelible mark on the soul. The words themselves caused something to happen that, while all reality was hidden, was seen and manifested in the conducting of the sacrament. The same can be said of all the other sacraments. Saying the words not only enhances and helps convey the meaning of the sacrament, but the words themselves have an effect on those who partake of the sacrament. These are the words of Christ because through the words used in the administration of the seven sacraments the Church is revealed and so Christ is revealed. Words about Christ, like instruction or catechesis, certainly convey to someone the message of salvation and the facts of faith. However, they are not the words of salvation themselves nor, in themselves, do they bring salvation to a person in the same way that the words of baptism do. These words, compared to the effectiveness of the words used by the sacraments, are lacking. Not deficient in the derogatory connotative understanding of that word, but deficient in the sense that it lacks the same ability to manifest and bring forth the salvation of Christ as do the words used in the seven ecclesial sacraments. These words about Christ can only help prepare man to fully enter the mystery of God and to understand the hidden reality of the sacraments.10/16/2017 The consequences and nature of the sacrament of Baptism are at the center of the attention of the first five chapters of Francesco's book. The Sacrament of Baptism is not a magical rite or an excuse to celebrate with the family. It is, as Pope Francis writes, the very moment in which a person is reborn to life in Christ. It is the foundation of our Christian life, the foundation from which we grow, and the beginning of our journey. This is why this sacrament is mentioned in the Creed itself, because our whole life in Christ began and therefore flows from the moment of our Baptism. Second, baptism is the first time God directly sacramentally administers His forgiveness to an individual. As such, any sacramental act of forgiveness is a reminder and, in effect, a “second baptism” as it sets us back on our Christian path in the same way that baptism started us on our Christian path. We carry our baptism into everything we do and everything we do. All the actions we take and decisions we make, we do in the context of being baptized and members of the Body of Christ. Finally, Baptism is not only the foundation of our individual life in Christ, but the foundation of our life in Christ as part of a community. It is the vehicle for direct transmission of the Christian faith to future generations and for welcomingnew members in the Christian community. The sacrament of Baptism is the foundation of Christian unity.10/18/2017 The sacraments transmit the faith to its members and support them in the faith. They initiate man into communion with other believers and make him members of a single body. Therefore, through the sacraments, not only is the soul changed, under the indelible sign of Baptism, but the very being and personality are changed. They are reborn in the life of Christ. The sacraments strengthen this new life and support it. The Sacrament of Penance resets a person on their Christian path while the Sacrament of the Eucharist nourishes the soul and gives it the strength to persevere in times of trial. That said, the sacraments are not some kind of magic, but rather they are God's way of directly relating to us. When we celebrate the sacrament of Penance, we do not just speak with a human priest, we speak with the priest as Alter Christus, we speak with God himself. In the Eucharist we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – the Real Presence – of Jesus Christ Himself. In the sacrament of Confirmation the bishop does not cast a spell, but simply asks the Holy Spirit to descend on the confirmands. In the Sacraments of Orders and Marriage, God is the one who led the young spouses to that wedding or a given candidate for Ordination. During the Anointing of the Sick, it is God who sits at your bedside, holding your hand, comforting you during your time of pain, suffering and trial. The point is that throughout our life and our Christian journey we approach the Church for the Sacrament we need at that moment. Every time we celebrate a Sacrament, we encounter God himself. God is truly and truly present every time a Sacrament is celebrated. As we approach the Sacraments we invite God to be part of our lives and to accompany us as a companion, as a friend, as our parent and as our God. True hope is a hope that is not inhibited by anything. True hope is rooted in the belief that nothing is overwhelming and that every difficulty is surmountable. The belief that nothing is impossible with God. Without faith, this kind of true hope is not possible. Without faith there is no life after death and therefore death becomes an insurmountable difficulty that limits the possibility of life and hope. Hope is limited in the context of one's individual life and earthly existence. For those who have faith, the ultimate victory of sin and death gives hope that no matter what kind of difficulties one encounters here on earth, God will triumph and the challenges we face will dissolve. 10/20/2017 The value of faith for the human being is that it elevates our human life to a life in Christ. Without the love of God, humans are just very intelligent animals. With God's love we are lifted from our humble condition and transformed into children of God. God gives us new life and an opportunity to be reconciled with God and fully restored to His friendship. It is up to us to welcome God's offer, embracing the gift of faith that He offers us and following the Christian path. This Christian path is a narrow path and we, in our fallibility, often stray from it. We are tempted by the material things of this world that distract us from the higher spiritual greatness that awaits us in eternal life. Fortunately, through the sacraments, we have the ability to continually return to God and let ourselves be guided by Him. In light of all this, God gives us access to true hope. True hope is an unlimited and limitless hope that can only be granted by God. Nothing of this world can hold us back or limit such hope because through our faith, not even death has a hold on us. Ultimately, no matter what burden we carry or cross we carry, therepentant Christian can be sure that God will not abandon him and will grant them eternal life in his heavenly kingdom. Furthermore, the sacraments restore our integrity in their direct administration of God's grace. The sacraments, by returning us to the Christian path, allow us to continually embrace the promises we have made to God by embracing faith.10/23/2017 The sacraments elevate the our mind and our being in a place beyond the world directly around us. We often make snap judgments about the world around us and only see what is on the surface. We ignore what is beneath the surface and what the world around us might be. The sacraments have the creative and imaginative power to bring out the good that lies beneath the perceptible surface. This is evidenced by the involvement of the schizophrenic woman in the liturgical Eucharist. On the surface, it would seem irresponsible to place the precious Body and Blood of Christ in the hands of a seemingly unstable woman. But to say that it is too dangerous for her to handle the Body and Blood of Christ is to ignore the danger of others' unworthiness to handle the Eucharist. No one is worthy of receiving the sacraments, but everyone is called to seek them and welcome them as we can. The baptism in the homeless shelter also demonstrates this idea but also the concept of sacramentality. Based on the physical appearance of homeless people, people often judge that their inner being is the same. Yet, when it came time to baptize the baby, it was the homeless, and not the couple's closest friends, who took a loving interest in the event and took part. The homeless people's interest in the child and voluntary participation in the baptism revealed the hidden reality that is their love for this couple and their child. All of these stories serve to highlight that through the use of simple physical elements in a ritual, an invisible and unpredictable grace arises. Alone, bread, water, oil and water do not change a person's life. In the context of community, rituals and sacraments have the ability to bring back the lost, reawaken a person's sense of innocence, and heal the sick. The invisible creative and imaginative power demonstrates the sacramentality of simple actions performed with great love.10/25/2017 The sacraments are more than simple appearances or imaginative events, they are a true encounter with God. Through the sacraments we are able to "experience ” God in a real and physical way, giving greater trust and understanding to the deeper spiritual encounter that occurs simultaneously. In the encounter with Christ we are given and reminded of our mission to live a holy life and, through it, proclaim the Gospel. In this way we are called by God to live the faith and to live it with others. The most evident proof of this call to live faith in community is the strength of diversity. Every single person has strengths and talents that other people may not have. No one, except the divine, is the master of everything and in every respect. Therefore, when many people come together with a variety of talents, or charisms, the whole group is strengthened and enriched. One person's area of ​​weakness is another person's area of ​​strength. Together, they become stronger as a group. Furthermore, since every talent or charisma we possess, especially spiritual ones, is a gift from God, we must use these gifts to their fullest extent to fulfill the mission entrusted to us by God. We must dedicate our talents and abilities to the service of God and His people. It is important, however, that in sharing our gifts with one another as a community, we do not embrace an institutional mindset. Such an institutional mentality can lead tomutual sharing of talents and gifts, but lacks love. In the absence of love, such sharing could not serve God whose true being is love. Therefore, as a Church we must have a family approach to community life. We must share our gifts and talents especially in difficult times. We must be willing to share the burden of each other's suffering. In the same way that a loving family unites, in a particular way, in times of trial, so too the Church must unite in charity to help carry each member's cross.10/27/2017 The new commandment that Jesus gives in John 13: “Love one another” as I have loved, I have loved you” is rooted in the verses that precede it “Now the Son of man is glorified, and God is glorified in him; if God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once" (Jn 13:31-32). This is how Jesus explains the sacramental role of the Church. Being one as a church, the church reveals Christ who reveals the Father because "whoever welcomes me welcomes him who sent me" (John 13:20). The sacramental role of the church is reinforced in John 17 when Jesus prays that the church “may all be one; as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so that they too may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me... I in them and you in me, so that they may become perfectly one, so that the let the world know that you sent me and that you loved them as you loved me" (Jn 17:20-24). The Church is called to reveal Christ in his person and activity through his community, unity and action. The ideal of unity within the Church, to more easily reveal Christ, is modeled on the Communion of the Persons present in the Trinity. The mission of the Church is to announce the Gospel and declare to the world that Jesus is Lord. This is the calling of every member of the church to achieve holiness. The way to accomplish this mission is to do it sacramentally as Jesus says. Pray that his church will reveal Him through their unity and activity so that the Gospel can be spread through this revelation of the hidden reality of God. 10/30/2017 Personal piety is important for developing a life of self-discipline and a personal relationship with God. Its focus on the individual increases a person's ability to grasp the closeness of God and the nearness of His grace. It helps to clarify that God loves a person not just because he or she is a human being but because that person is THAT individual person. God loves you because you are you. That said, the Christian faith was not, is not, and will never be a faith meant to be lived alone. The Christian faith must be lived in the unity that is the Church. In every sacrament, the participants in the sacrament are not only the people physically present in the church building, but the entire Christian people. Sacramental piety is our way of showing our unity as a Church. Furthermore, the Church reveals the hidden reality that is Christ present. In other words, while personal piety helps grow the relationship with God, sacramental piety makes Christ present to the individual. In each ecclesial sacrament, God ministers directly to the recipient of the sacrament in a way that other non-sacramental devotions cannot. Yes, God is present in all our lives and hears our prayers no matter where we are, but nowhere on earth do we come so close to the presence of God as when we receive Christ in the Eucharist. In the sacrament of reconciliation we receive God's forgiveness directly in a way that personal piety cannot, necessarily, offer us. Personal piety and sacramental piety together complement and strengthen each other. Personal piety develops the individual's relationship with God, while sacramental pietyit makes God present to give that relationship time and opportunity to grow. Personal piety helps us understand what great grace underlies the sacraments and the love that drives God to minister to us through them. The life of grace is enriched by living that complementarity because the fullness of grace is understood in the context of both the whole church and the whole church. the individual. Personal piety builds our personal relationship with Christ which allows us to understand our relationship with God through the church. It is through the church that God assists us most clearly and directly. 11/1/2017 If I were to marry an agnostic, I would first point out how important the Catholic faith is to me, how great the gift of faith has been for me, and how I want to pass that same gift on to my children. If my future spouse's doubts or uncertainties about religion are correct, then the baby is not hurt or deprived of anything by baptism other than getting a little wet. On the other hand, if my Catholic faith is right, denying my child baptism and not raising him in the faith I have depended on all my life is the greatest act of child neglect and abuse. Baptizing a child is no longer an imposition on his or her freedom to choose what the child wears, where the child goes to school, and who has access to the child. Parents make many decisions about their children that limit their freedom, but they do so in the interest of giving their children the best that can be achieved for that child. Baptizing a child means doing him no physical harm and granting him abundant spiritual gifts, if there is a spiritual realm. The baptism of the child does not involve any cost. Furthermore, in the Catholic faith, people usually approach the sacrament of Confirmation at an advanced age. Preferably when they are past the age of reason and can maintain their own independent opinion on important matters. It is during this sacrament that the person confirms their faith and "makes the faith their own". Forcing someone who has passed the age of reason to confirm a faith that he does not support would, in fact, be an imposition on his freedom. Finally, if someone possesses the Catholic faith, the sacraments can never be obsolete. Being "obsolete" implies that they no longer achieve the goal they were originally designed for. On the contrary, the seven sacraments are intended to reveal the hidden reality of the Church and Christ and continue to do so. To say they are old-fashioned is to miss their purpose and function. 6/11/2017 The sacrament of baptism and the sacrament of reconciliation are closely related as both are sacraments of forgiveness. In the sacrament of baptism, original sin, together with all sins committed before baptism, are cleansed and forgiven just as in the sacrament of reconciliation the sins of the penitent are forgiven. Both the sacrament of baptism and the sacrament of reconciliation are rooted in the paschal mystery in that both sacraments have the effective power to forgive sins because of and through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These sacraments remind us of the New Covenant established in Jesus Christ and His promise of salvation and redemption. In another sense, both the sacrament of baptism and the sacrament of reconciliation are closely related as part of a Christian pilgrim's path to heaven. The sacrament of baptism is the first step to begin this journey towards heaven. Being sinful and imperfect beings, Christians often stray from this path. By straying from God's narrow way, the Christian's integrity is undermined as he breaks his decision before God to follow His commandments. The sacrament of reconciliation restores