Sin – Primer Catechism
CHAPTER 5. — SIN.
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Treachery to man! Are you pleased to know that there is a hell?
Since there is one, I am glad to know it. I do not want to think that there is not a hell if there is one. And I am glad that there is a hell. I am glad that the state has penalties attached to the breaking of its laws. If there were no such penalties, its laws would fail to preserve the peace and well-being of the community as …
Has every one a good angel to defend and protect him?
Yes. Christ took an ordinary little child and said, “Despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father.” Matt. XVIII., 10. There is no reason why one child should have an angel appointed to guard it rather than any other, and no reason why an angel, once appointed…
Would you say that the world has benefited by Christianity?
Yes. It has benefited in a thousand different ways. Christianity has elevated men’s thoughts to a higher level, directed men’s wills to a greater good, and has indirectly affected their well-being even in this world in almost every department of life. If the world is less happy today than in years past, it is because, whilst men…
But no one has ever returned from the dead!
That is a complete denial of the historical value of the Gospels. You have no proof whatever that no one has ever risen from the dead. You may not have personally witnessed such an event, but not all beyond your personal experience is necessarily false or non-existent.
Your unchanging dogmas are an insult to man\’s evolving intelligence!
Rather do you insult reason when you suggest that their truth must change before intelligent men can accept them. If what was true in religion two thousand years ago is not true to-day, it never was true. If I can disbelieve it now, it should have been disbelieved then. Christ taught absolute truth, and His doctrine will remain …
Do not Priests use the confessional to obtain all domestic and state secrets?
No. Catholics tell their own sins only. The Priest finds it hard enough to listen patiently to that much, without wishing to hear all household secrets, nor will he allow penitents to speak of other people’s misdeeds. In any case no Priest can make use of knowledge acquired whilst hearing Confessions. One of the strictest laws o…
Why must the Protestant promise that all children icill be Catholics?
You must try to see this through Catholic eyes. A non-Catholic does not, as a rule, believe that his is the only true religion, and on the principle that one religion is as good as another, his conscience does not forbid that his children should be brought up in the Catholic religion. But a Catholic is in a very different positi…
Well, I believe in God, but practice no religion.
Thus charges give way to excuses. It is something to believe in God. But what notice do you take of God? You believed in the existence of your own parents, but I am sure you paid them more attention than you have ever paid to God, in whom you say you also believe.
Could you give me six short reasons why you left Anglicanism?
Certainly. (1) It is a national Church. (2) It has no Apostolic succession. (3) It has no spiritual authority. (4) It omits much Biblical teaching. (5) It is chaotic and contradictory in so much as it does retain. (6) It has produced no Saints of its own. There are many other reasons, but you ask for six.
The injustices of this life demand another life, but I believe in reincarnation.
Justice does say that this life cannot be all. But your idea of re-incarnation is a mistaken notion based upon your notion that life is impossible unless on this earth. But there is no need for another life on this earth, which would involve further inequalities. There is a better life than this, afterwards and elsewhere. Reinca…
The idea of a sanction proportioned to the individual’s sense of moral obligation has much less influence upon men than you religious people think.
I admit that it has much less influence than it should have, but their not thinking of it does not alter the fact.
You keep speaking of miracles. Jesus never claimed that His so-called miracles were really such. He relied on mental healing by natural powers.
That is really nonsense. Can you imagine the mental exertions of the dead body of Lazarus when invited by Christ to think itself alive again? Before raising Lazarus from the dead He lifted His eyes and said, “Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people who…
Have not the disciples of Jesus, even outside the Catholic Church, power and authority given them by the Holy Spirit?
No. Not all the sincerity in the world can be a sufficient substitute for authentic credentials in this matter. An immense power and authority over the souls of men requires solid proof that it is really possessed. Christ proved that He had it. The Catholic Church can prove that He entrusted that power to Her. Founders of other …
1 know of one Catholic woman who defied the doctor* She said she would rather die keeping God’s law than live breaking it. She died, leaving five little children to be looked after by strangers.
She is greatly to be admired. “Die rather than offend God” is heroism. Far better die serving God than live offending Him. No one has greater love than to give one’s life for God, and of such a woman St. Paul’s words are surely true, “a woman shall be saved through childbearing, if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctifica…
I was baptized in the Church of England. What is the religion of my Baptism?
The Catholic religion. Baptism, if valid, makes a Christian. Now Catholicity is the only true form of Christianity. Therefore everyone validly baptized is radically a Catholic, even though he be unaware of it.
To my mind the whole of Christianity is like a wheel. Christ is the centre, whilst the various churches are the spokes.
Christ forms the complete wheel, and as He identifies the Church with Himself as his mystical body, the Catholic Church is the complete wheel, hub, spokes, and all, of Christianity in this world. And Christ prayed to His Father that the Church might be one as He and His Father are one. All non-Catholic forms of professing Christ…
The Blessed Eucharist and the Mass – Primer Catechism
1. Q. Whom do we receive when we go to Holy Communion? A. We receive Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Satan wagers with God that he can make Job curse his Maker!
It is certain that Satan and God did not meet and make a wager. That is but a literary expression, driving home the truth that Satan is opposed to God and resents that others should serve Him. Job was a good man, devoted to God. Satan wished to rob God of the honor and glory given by such an adherent, if necessary by special and…
Why not be charitable and admit that the Salvation Army with their good works are God’s people?
I charitably say that their good works are often very pleasing to God, and they themselves also, for many of them have the utmost goodwill and devotion. But charity does not oblige me to say that the true Church of Jesus Christ was founded by General Booth. However well-intentioned these good people may be, they are mistaken. Ch…
What is the Sacrament of Extreme Unction?
It is a Sacrament instituted by Christ in which a Priest anoints with blessed oil those who are sick and in grave danger of death. This Sacrament gives grace which is of great spiritual assistance to the dying, and even at times affords relief from the physical illness.
Are there any signs in the Host proving that He is bodily present?
No. It is a mystery of faith. All external appearances remain as before consecration, but the substance of bread and the substance of wine are changed into the substance of Our Lord’s body and blood. The reason why we believe is not in the Host as such, but in God. He has revealed this truth, and we believe because He must know …
Why come between two lovers? God says love one another as I have loved you.
That we must love as God has loved us shows at once that not any kind of love is lawfully indulged. Christ never loved us so as to break God’s laws because of us. Such love would be unlawful. God and conscience come first always. No human love can come before one’s love for God, and he who loves God observes the laws of His reli…
What justification has vicarious punishment?
None, unless the one in whose debt we are chooses to accept it