Why was the promised land needed? What was the significance of Israel needing a geographical area (so much so that they had to commit genocide to get it) in the grander scheme of Gods salvation plan for humanity. I hope this doesn’t come of as aggressive or anything like that, I genuinely want to know more about what role it plays in it all.
Why was the promised land needed? What was the significance of Israel needing a geographical area (so much so that they had to commit genocide to get it) in the grander scheme of Gods salvation plan for humanity. I hope this doesn’t come of as aggressive or anything like that, I genuinely want to know more about what role it plays in it all.
Is St. Jude Thaddaeus the Apostle the same jude who is called Jesus brother Matthew 13:55? I’m a bit confused because some sources are saying they are the same person, some say they are separate. Also concerning the book of Jude, which one of them wrote it? In the orthodox study Bible it says that it’s not the apostle Jude but the brother of Jesus, but other orthodox sources say its the apostle. Would anyone be able to help me out?
What is the best book book on Thomism for a beginner who want’s to learn more about it? I’m specifically intresded in thomistic apologetics but also just thomistic theology in general I would like to read about. God bless!
When I read the fathers and the lives of the saints it’s almost always a reacquiring teaching to cry for your sins and cry tears of repentance. It’s almost to a point where it feels like this is expected of you. My problem is I can’t cry for my sins, or have any spiritual tears for that manner. It almost, God forbid, turns into envy when I see people talk about shedding tears when reading scripture and in deep periods of repentance. I feel the need inside of me to cry but I just physically can’t. I have prayed numerous times for God to grant me tears so I can find comfort and repentance in them, but I just can’t.
”for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
The ”Spirit of your Father” seems to suggest that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, yes?
When Jesus talks about the eucharist in John 6 He says that it ”gives life” and that those who do not partake do not have ”life in them”. What exactly does this mean? Does it mean that it is necessary for salvation? That it is necessary for Theosis and that one cannot truly know God without it?
God bless!
Christos anesti! Hello! I was wondering about something concerning creation and time. God exists in eternity, were there are no passing of moments, He just IS. His divine will has always been to create. Now here’s my first question: if His will has always been to create, does that mean He has created for eternity? Wouldn’t that imply an eternal universe?
My second question is: if He hasn’t created for eternity, or rather, if creation hasn’t been for eternity, at what ”moment” did He create? Because we know the universe was created some billion years ago, but then there must have been a moment where time and space began to exist. But in His eternity, when is that moment? I know even asking about a when in eternity doesn’t work, but the universe has a start on the timeline, there was a moment when it began, what is that moment in Gods eternity?
Read St Augustine talking about this in his confessions. I got some small comfort that he seemed to be just as overwhelmed by all this as I am. God bless!
Christos Anesti! Hello, I am reading Confessions right now by St. Augustine and he is making some incredibly interesting points surrounding time, the now and also eternity. If I’m understanding him correctly, what he is saying is that it is only the now that exists, that which has passed and that which is to come dosen’t truly exists, at least not in the same way. Is this something that the church as a whole teaches? And of course if I am interpreting him wrong please tell me so.
God bless!
In the Old Testament, God tells Moses “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus 23:20). But what does he mean when he says ”see me” and ”see my face”? This is before the incarnation, so God would not have a physical form here, no? Is he talking about his uncreated energy’s?