Pleasure is not the foundation of society, but virtue. Enjoyment is not our vocation here below, but labor and grief. God has created us expressly to produce by us a thing which He could not produce alone: that is, greatess in vileness, strength in infirmity, purity in flesh and blood, love in selfishness, good in evil, virtue in a heart which possessed each moment the liberty of being a convinced sinner. This is our vocation, our fate.
Jesus Christ conquered the world only because He knew [this fate]; and because, from His Cross, slave and God, he supremely fulfilled it. Salvation (as well as all glory and all joy) is found in following him.
This is why -- thanks be to God! -- pleasure and enjoyment shall never [be the foundation] of a society here below. Misfortune must be stronger, so that virtue may exist; there must be poor, so that alms shall be given; wounds, so that they may be bound up; tears, so that they may be accepted; disorders, so that men may aspire to order; ruins, so that pride may be humbled; ... bloodshed, so that there may be saints.
2007-02-22 20:55:14 · 10 answers · asked by carl 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Yes and so profound.
2007-02-22 20:57:53 · answer #1 · answered by augustine 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I agree that there is a reason for all our hardships here so that we can become better, stronger people by enduring them. But I don't think that means pleasure and enjoyment aren't God given gifts. They are and we should appreciate them. There are things..."which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude." 1 Timothy 4: 3-4 I think that means it is OK to enjoy life because it all is a gift from God. In fact, just remembering all the times of enjoyment that God has blessed me with is what gets me through the hard times.
2007-02-22 21:13:28 · answer #2 · answered by out of the grey 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
And you know all this from what.... ??? Virtue??? Pleasure??? and a string of other terms that are so vague as to be meaningless. Am I to understand that blind faith is a virtue?? There is no logic in your reasoning besides blind faith. You seem to take for granted a bunch of things claimed by a few ignorant bronze age preachers who did not know better an reject Newton, Galileo, Darwin, Einstein etc such a waste of a human mind. With out sex there would be no variety of life forms.
And such presumption to think you know how god thinks, what god wants and what god plans.
2007-02-22 21:13:47 · answer #3 · answered by The Stainless Steel Rat 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
interesting, not really a question, and does not really provoke me.
You sound a little odd, because LIFE is a mixture of many things, pleasure, sadness, happiness, misery, joy, despair, loneliness, love, hatred - the list is endless, it is what we do as human beings, we are free thinking, we have different thoughts, different discussions. The past history of humankind has shown that sadly we do not learn properly from mistakes made, that in the name of religion (whatever faith!!) intolerance, hatred and racism still exist. Yet, all the books to do with these faiths actually want us to be - peaceful, kind, happy, tolerant, loving, caring, kind and thoughtful. Yet too many 'people' insist on analyzing these religious books, misinterpreting them to their own needs - when in actual fact, religions are a basis of a moral code, a moral code on how to co-exist with each other. If Jesus Christ really existed, remember he died for your sins not his!
2007-02-22 21:03:53 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
there are actual VERY, very few fake rape accusations made. i'm analyzing this in kin regulation proper now. for somebody to return forward a pair of rape is often an act of braveness. the fake accuser shouldn't get off scott-unfastened - if no longer the rest the guy she victimized ought to look at a civil action. did he then pass to the police and report a pretend arrest, and so on record or did he in simple terms have confidence the gadget to attain out and supreme itself?
2016-12-14 03:43:26 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Christians and muslims are dumb because they base their belief on faith, which means, do not question , just follow what is written in the book . The church and mullahs has to say that because otherwise, the Bible or the koran becomes a crock, with many inconsistencies and many things that simply do not make sense.
So they stay dumb and traditional for another couple of years.
2007-02-22 21:08:07 · answer #6 · answered by thomas 1 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Indeed.
One might read the first part and think "irony"..which, in a sense, it is. But it's way more than that. This caught my attention because it supports the fact that you cannot know happiness unless you've experienced pain. And vice versa. Every yin has its yang. Whatever you might wanna call it.
2007-02-22 21:03:20 · answer #7 · answered by Kim 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"God has created us expressly to produce by us a thing which He could not produce alone"
So he is NOT omnipotent? I wish you people could give me an unambiguous answer to that sometime.
2007-02-22 21:02:20 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I think this will provoke a lot of non-believers to add their opinions, but interesting enough to worth a star.
2007-02-22 21:02:44 · answer #9 · answered by Lief Tanner 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Huh?
2007-02-22 20:59:00 · answer #10 · answered by callieRach 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋