Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:29 pm +0000 Posts: 2444
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Quote: I agree, but the teaching of the Church about itself is that it is protected against teaching error despite the failings of the men who run it. If you think it is inappropriate to cite the teachings of the Church about itself then you will be very unhappy in the UB community, where UB believers frequently cite the UB's statements about itself as authoritative.
Thats partly true, but even the more optimistic catholic comes to realize that even if their beloved apostles wrote every word of the book, that they to where somewhat limited in their understandings and that they may not have written out everything that happened in the exact way it happened. The bible talks about many many things that present more questions than answer's and for alot of follower's they are left with just question's about beings like Adam and eve, lucifer, jesus etc. I know from the time I was in a catholic school, there wasn't a universal opinion that the bible was infallible. That comes mostly from priest's and church leader's. For a large number of catholics the bible is just a initial set of questions, that they want answers to because they somehow sense that there is a profound mysterious truth to what they are reading.
The life and teachings of jesus in the u.b is so powerfull though that to know the way jesus lived is as the u.b describes the most important human knowledge that a human can possess, and you know what they say about knowledge. Knowledge is power . Seasoned reader's of the u.b don't have to act authoratative in any situation because they can lead by unselfish loving service that attracts others to them , and if the unbeliever proves to be a better social servant than the seasoned reader, that reader should seriously consider if he has made any progress in the kingdom at all. He/She should consider if he/she has obeyed any of the truth that he/she has read.
All this loving-kindness shall be shown the so-called heathen, notwithstanding the unfortunate declaration of the record which intimates that the triumphant Son `shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.' The Psalmist exhorted you to `serve the Lord with fear' -- I bid you enter into the exalted privileges of divine sonship by faith; he commands you to rejoice with trembling; I bid you rejoice with assurance. He says, `Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish when his wrath is kindled.' But you who have lived with me well know that anger and wrath are not a part of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men. But the Psalmist did glimpse the true light when, in finishing this exhortation, he said: `Blessed are they who put their trust in this Son.'"
P1725:4, 155:1.3 Jesus continued to teach the twenty-four, saying: "The heathen are not without excuse when they rage at us. Because their outlook is small and narrow, they are able to concentrate their energies enthusiastically. Their goal is near and more or less visible; wherefore do they strive with valiant and effective execution. You who have professed entrance into the kingdom of heaven are altogether too vacillating and indefinite in your teaching conduct. The heathen strike directly for their objectives; you are guilty of too much chronic yearning. If you desire to enter the kingdom, why do you not take it by spiritual assault even as the heathen take a city they lay siege to? You are hardly worthy of the kingdom when your service consists so largely in an attitude of regretting the past, whining over the present, and vainly hoping for the future. Why do the heathen rage? Because they know not the truth. Why do you languish in futile yearning? Because you obey not the truth. Cease your useless yearning and go forth bravely doing that which concerns the establishment of the kingdom.
P1726:1, 155:1.4 "In all that you do, become not one-sided and overspecialized.The Pharisees who seek our destruction verily think they are doing God's service. They have become so narrowed by tradition that they are blinded by prejudice and hardened by fear. Consider the Greeks, who have a science without religion, while the Jews have a religion without science. And when men become thus misled into accepting a narrow and confused disintegration of truth, their only hope of salvation is to become truth-co-ordinated -- converted.
P1726:2, 155:1.5 "Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life." P1726:3, 155:1.6 And many other things the Master taught his apostles and the evangelists before they bade him good night and sought rest upon their pillows.
1931.4) 178:1.13 When a kingdom believer is called upon to serve the civil government, let him render such service as a temporal citizen of such a government, albeit such a believer should display in his civil service all of the ordinary traits of citizenship as these have been enhanced by the spiritual enlightenment of the ennobling association of the mind of mortal man with the indwelling spirit of the eternal God. If the unbeliever can qualify as a superior civil servant, you should seriously question whether the roots of truth in your heart have not died from the lack of the living waters of combined spiritual communion and social service. The consciousness of sonship with God should quicken the entire life service of every man, woman, and child who has become the possessor of such a mighty stimulus to all the inherent powers of a human personality.
_________________ StrongcharactersRnotderivedfromnotdoingwrongbutratherfrom actuallydoingrightUnselfishnesisthebadgeofhumangreatnes Thehighestlevelsofselfrealizationareatainedbyworshipandservice Thehapyandefectivepersonismotivatednotbyfearofwrongdoingbutby loveofrightdoing
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