Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter(Click here for readings)
Jesus said to his disciples: "...If I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation..."
In her book, "Something Other Than God", Jennifer Fulwiler, a convert from atheism, recounts an interesting story from her childhood.
Her dad, an avid atheist, would often come into her room at night and read to her a story. One night he told her a story about Christopher Columbus, and how "the natives [in Jamaica], had grown tired of the Europeans' constant demands for supplies and had stopped sharing their resources. Columbus saw in an almanac that a lunar eclipse was coming up, and dramatically announced to the natives that his God was so enraged with them that he'd cover the moon with blood and snatch it from the sky. A few nights later, at the exact moment Columbus had predicted, the moon turned red; unbeknownst to the natives, the earth had moved in front of the sun and its atmosphere tinted its rays. Then the earth moved into position to block out the sun's light altogether, and the moon disappeared. Pandemonium ensued, and the panic-stricken natives offered Columbus whatever he wanted if he would please ask his God to forgive them and give the moon back."
Jennifer's dad ended his story by telling her that "What happened with Columbus is a nutshell of the whole history of religion. People realized early on that if you fill in the gaps of other people's ignorance by saying it's the work of some god, and then claim that you're in tight with that particular god, you have almost unlimited power as long as people believe it."
I beg to disagree.
What happened with Columbus is a nutshell of the whole history of science, not religion, and how scientists throughout the centuries have used their knowledge to manipulate an entire people, race and nation. Let's not forget: Columbus was more of a scientist, than a religious man, and if this story is true, then what he lacked was not knowledge, but a conscience that went along with his science.
Unfortunately, what Columbus did was not an isolated incident. It continues even to this day, especially among military scientists, doomsday climate control environmentalists and over-population control fanatics.
The Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth is what it claims to be: the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.
God is True. He is also the Way, the Truth and the Life. We know who is the Holy Spirit because we know who is Jesus: God.
This Spirit "thinks" and "speaks" and "acts" just like the Father and the Son because it proceeds from the Father and the Son.
The Spirit of God liberates those enslaved by sin just like it liberated Jesus from the tomb and Paul from prison (cf. Acts 16:22-34). It frees man from the corruption of sin and restores him to the image and likeness of his creator.
The Spirit of Truth is not a manipulator of Truth. On the contrary, it reveals sin, restores righteousness and condemns evil.
The Holy Spirit did not come into the world to manipulate it but to save it.
Now whose side are you on?
Father:
ReplyDeleteExcellent question. I am going to take it one question further: "So why do we think the fullness of truth is found in the Catholic Church?" Like Jennifer F. So many people are searching...
Here is an excerpt from Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth published by Catholic Answers. Do you know it? It's a wonderful short read for every Catholic and non-Catholic alike. Here is the link to this very short publication. It's really worth it.
http://www.catholic.com/documents/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth
"Why are so many people seriously looking at the Catholic Church for the first time? Something is pulling them toward it. That something is truth.
This much we know: They are not considering the claims of the Church out of a desire to win public favor. Catholicism, at least nowadays, is never popular. You cannot win a popularity contest by being a faithful Catholic. Our fallen world rewards the clever, not the good. If a Catholic is praised, it is for the worldly skills he demonstrates, not for his Christian virtues.
Although people try to avoid the hard doctrinal and moral truths the Catholic Church offers them (because hard truths demand that lives be changed), they nevertheless are attracted to the Church. When they listen to the pope and the bishops in union with him, they hear words with the ring of truth—even if they find that truth hard to live by.
When they contemplate the history of the Catholic Church and the lives of its saints, they realize there must be something special, maybe something supernatural, about an institution that can produce holy people such as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Mother Teresa.
When they step off a busy street and into the aisles of an apparently empty Catholic church, they sense not a complete emptiness, but a presence. They sense that Someone resides inside, waiting to comfort them.
They realize that the persistent opposition that confronts the Catholic Church—whether from non-believers or "Bible Christians" or even from people who insist on calling themselves Catholics—is a sign of the Church’s divine origin (John 15:18–21). And they come to suspect that the Catholic Church, of all things, is the wave of the future."
--PIllar of Fire, Pillar of Truth, Catholic Answers 2006.
I encourage your readers to spend 10 minutes and read the full publication.