| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Sound of Trumpet" |
| Date: |
14 Aug 2006 08:53:20 PM |
| Object: |
Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1683170/posts
Angels - in Heaven, on Earth and in Hell
Vivificat! - A Catholic Blog of News, Commentary, Opinion, and
Reflections ^ | 13 August 2006 | Fr. John Hardon
Posted on 08/13/2006 8:18:26 PM PDT by Te=F3filo
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
Divine Revelation has established the existence of a created world of
Spirits. Angels were created by God and are now living in Heaven,
sympathetic and helpful to the needs of men, or in Hell where they
exist to seduce the human race from allegiance to the Creator. The
existence of Angels; their spiritual nature; the fall of the evil
Spirits of their own free will; the role of the devil in the fall of
man, are doctrines of faith proclaimed by the Church and by the 4th
Lateran Council, 2nd Council of Lyons, the Councils of Florence, and
Trent, and the 1st Vatican Council.
The Old Testament books early speak of Angels but are always careful in
their expressions to steer away from any possible idolatry, so closely
related were the Angels to God that they were sometimes erroneously
thought of, as attributes of God. Even during Christ's life the
Sadducees denied the existence of Angels.
In the Books of Daniel and Tobit we see Angels in their full glory.
Gabriel is mentioned by name as the Angel who foretold Christ's
coming and Michael as the "one who mounts guard over your people."
Daniel speaks of seeing Angels as does St. John at Patmos "ten
thousand times ten thousand stood before Him." The Book of Tobit
through more than half its length is the narrative of the Angel Raphael
and his ministrations to Tobias' future wife and his father. At the
end of the story the helpful companion identified himself "I am
Raphael, one of the seven, who stands ever ready to enter the presence
of the glory of God."
The Gospels tell of an Angel appearing to Zachary to foretell John the
Baptist's birth; to Mary to announce the Incarnation; to Joseph that
his quandary about Mary's being with child be resolved. Mary and
Joseph fled to Egypt at the warning of an Angel, and an Angel told
Joseph of Herod's death and the possibility of the Holy Family's
safe return to Palestine. Angels announced Christ's birth with their
Glorias of praise, in Bethlehem. They came also to confirm Christ in
His resistance to Satan in the desert, as well as comfort Him in His
agony in Gethsemane. Two of the heavenly host awaited the women to tell
them their Lord had risen, "He goes before you into Galilee."
Christ speaks Himself of more than 12 legions of Angels; the Angels of
the innocent; the Angels who will separate the good from the bad on the
last day. Peter in prison had his chains loosened and the doors
unlocked by an Angel. An Angel also spoke to Philip; another struck
Herod with a fatal malady and Paul was protected in his stormy journey
at sea by a Spirit friend. St. Paul distinguished several classes of
angelic Spirits - Thrones, Dominations, Principalities, Powers and
Archangels. Tradition adds Cherubim and Seraphim found in the Old
Testament and "plain" angels. These classifications even before the
4th century were known as Choirs and their number accepted as nine. St.
Paul writes of the status of these Spirit creatures as inferior to
Christ, and of their role as good or bad in relation to man's
salvation - "the good acting as God's ministers while the bad
misled those susceptible to evil."
Divine Revelation in Bible and Tradition tells us to honor the Angels
God has sent us as Guardians. That each of the faithful has his
individual Angel is common belief, implied in Scripture and arbitrarily
stated by St. Basil who reasons that angelic assistance is part of
Christ's plan for the salvation of the men He died to save. These
Guardian Angels are of Divine Providence which works through God's
creatures. These pure Spirits most nearly resemble God and yet are not
dissimilar to man, having intelligence and will like us. They are
God's intermediaries between the God they see and mankind whom they
are entrusted to lead to the same Beatific Vision.
Some individuals, societies, religious groups, like the Church or
Institutes of Charity, secular states, and national or local
governments are believed to have special Guardian Angels. Blessed Peter
Fabre and St. Aloysius in their letters speak of those saints whose
belief and love for the unseen Spirits prompted their prayers for
countries over which these Guardians had been placed as well as for the
individuals living there, whose supplications their Angels daily
present before the throne of God.
Angels' ministry to protect man is God given but also it is from man
to God in an intercessory manner. Catholics should pray, soliciting our
Angels' continued protection and asking them to present our prayers
to God. St. Ambrose especially encourages such spiritual rapport
between us and our faithful Guardians, and the Church has long
encouraged it. Our spiritual needs are our Angels' main concern but
they also have care over our bodily and earthly needs, if such pertain
to our salvation and sanctification. Angels sometimes have been man's
go-between, sent by man as well as God to aid others distantly located.
All living religions, Buddhism and Islam believe in devils and in
Christianity Satan is identified as a part of Revelation. The first and
last book of the Bible describe the devil and his activities in detail.
In the beginning Satan tempted Eve, who tempted Adam to act against
God's command. His subterfuge was the argument that if they would be
like God they should disobey His unexplained command. Through the ages
the devil's approach has not varied: if anything it has become more
subtle in prompting pride, "to be like God" and more sophisticated.
St. John depicts the evil spirit in his envious plotting, working on
our first parents but today his field of activity is universal: his
arena all of God's faithful. After Lucifer and his cohorts fell, St.
John says they passed through 4 stages:
Their disobedience landed them in hell.
They seduced Adam and Eve.
They repeatedly assaulted the Israelites.
In their hatred they opposed the Church of Christ and especially those
faithful, who obeying God's commandments by their words and actions
bore witness to Christ.
The devil never rests. His only respite is when he is dealing with a
confirmed sinner. So long as there is a chance of weaning a soul from
God's service he is untiring in his glowing presentation of appealing
reasons for being proud, envious, impure, disobedient and slothful in
doing good. His strategems are unlimited. Our human intelligences
without God's solicited help are no match for his angelic brilliance.
In Christ's time there were many souls obsessed and possessed by the
devil. The Bible relates many instances of Christ driving the evil
spirits out of demented souls. St. Mark's Gospel tells of many such,
on whom Jesus took pity and seeing it, the people were in awe at
Christ's power. Some of the Church Fathers speak of the Mystical Body
of Satan which besides the evil spirits is composed of those human
beings who willfully cooperate with the devil and his work on earth.
Their success today is phenomenal. But there is a brighter side to
their existence. In the plan of Providence, though the devil's
purpose was to seduce, leading souls away from God's service, the
Lord's purpose was to strengthen them to resist Satan and thereby
draw closer to God. Every act of the devil is evil, hoping to harm man
spiritually and eternally if possible, but by man's resistance by
grace, the devil's enticements are vanquished proving that faith and
trust in God gives power. God never allows Satan to tempt us beyond our
strength.
The first thing we should remember is that God always supplies
sufficient grace to overcome Satan's lies and blandishments.
Secondly, that the devil is a liar, his name in Hebrew is
'adversary' and in Greek 'diabolos' and 'daimon' meaning
liar.
Thirdly that Satan is always logical in what he proposes, seldom
suggesting anything not apparently good and reasonable.
Fourth, that he often uses human agents, institutions and people.
To explain in detail, the devil's technique is cunning, deceitful and
always disguised. He adapts himself to the temperaments and tastes of
his would-be victims; to the worldly he tempts to the sins of the
flesh; to the intellectual usually to pride. The devil doesn't retain
his angelic intelligence for nothing! To defeat him, even to recognize
him we must be shrewd and our best recourse is to pray for humility,
knowing we need God's help; also pray to Mary and Michael whose
powers Satan fears.
When the Devil operates on a person by exerting his influence by
control of their body, it is known as possession. When he engineers his
attack from outside the person it is known as obsession. The victim's
soul in both instances is intact. Although many examples of hysterical
behavior are falsely labeled as possession, when a person possesses
strength beyond his natural capacity or speaks understandably in a
language he has never known, we may consider these acts the results of
diabolic power. The devil also uses people to do his will, goading them
to lay snares for others.
This demonic power becomes a literal slavery when a human being becomes
the tool of Satan! Satanism; devil worship; demonology are popular
issues today. Many souls are victimized by them. Let us not forget the
devil is actual and real and is very much at work today! The person who
smiles at his existence will be an easy prey for what Pope Paul called
"The Mystery of Iniquity." The devil is no myth, symbol nor old
wives tale.
Affirm Satan's existence. Admit his actuality.
Be vigilant, stand firm strong in faith.
God is all-powerful and will prevail.
Know your own weakness but be confident in God's power.
Pray with hope and certainty that He will protect you.
His "Angels will have charge over you and will keep you in all your
ways" - if you beseech their care.
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| User: "raven1" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 03:05:30 PM |
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On 14 Aug 2006 18:53:20 -0700, "Sound of Trumpet"
<soundoftrumpet@bluebottle.com> wrote:
Angels - in Heaven, on Earth and in Hell
<boggle>
Do you also believe in leprechauns?
--
"O Sybilli, si ergo
Fortibus es in ero
O Nobili! Themis trux
Sivat sinem? Causen Dux"
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| User: "Ozzy" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 04:50:44 PM |
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raven1 wrote:
On 14 Aug 2006 18:53:20 -0700, "Sound of Trumpet"
<soundoftrumpet@bluebottle.com> wrote:
Angels - in Heaven, on Earth and in Hell
<boggle>
Do you also believe in leprechauns?
There's evidence for leprechauns. Remember that "hobbit"
skeleton they dug up?
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 02:47:09 PM |
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On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:53:20 -0700, Sound of Trumpet wrote:
Angels - in Heaven, on Earth and in Hell
Idiot. Posting this tripe to alt.atheism only makes you look stupid.
--
Mark K. Bilbo
--------------------------------------------------
"As hip as it is for outsiders to blame New Orleans
for everything bad that happened during and after
Hurricane Katrina, the truth is that the people
who lived here were much more prepared for a big
storm than the federal government that promised
us flood protection." [Jarvis DeBerry]
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V180525DC
"Everything New Orleans"
http://www.nola.com
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| User: "Uncle Vic" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
14 Aug 2006 09:51:30 PM |
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Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Sound of Trumpet
(soundoftrumpet@bluebottle.com) made the light shine upon us with this:
Divine Revelation has established the existence of a created world of
Spirits.
Dead wrong right off the bat. No need to look any further.
<snip>
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department.
Member: Intensional misspellingg club.
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| User: "Greywolf" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 08:23:18 AM |
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"Uncle Vic" <address@withheld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns981FCA02943F0vicman@216.196.97.136...
Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Sound of Trumpet
(soundoftrumpet@bluebottle.com) made the light shine upon us with this:
Divine Revelation has established the existence of a created world of
Spirits.
Dead wrong right off the bat. No need to look any further.
<snip>
--
Just look at them. 'Divine Revelation' is their only 'proof' that a 'God'
exists. Notice it is a 'proof' they cannot 'prove'. How convenient.
Greywolf
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| User: "Uncle Vic" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 12:32:04 PM |
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Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Greywolf
(greywolf@cybrzn.com) made the light shine upon us with this:
"Uncle Vic" <address@withheld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns981FCA02943F0vicman@216.196.97.136...
Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Sound of Trumpet
(soundoftrumpet@bluebottle.com) made the light shine upon us with
this:
Divine Revelation has established the existence of a created world
of Spirits.
Dead wrong right off the bat. No need to look any further.
<snip>
--
Just look at them. 'Divine Revelation' is their only 'proof' that a
'God' exists. Notice it is a 'proof' they cannot 'prove'. How
convenient.
Yeah, that one boils down to "The bible is true because it says so in the
bible."
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department.
Member: Intensional misspellingg club.
.
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| User: "Lucifer" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 08:11:31 AM |
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Dead wrong right off the bat. No need to look any further.
Takes an outside edge and goes straight to Trescothick, but if we are
going to compare this to wicket being taken, i think it compares more
with Inzamam Al Haq against England in the Headingley test, where he
somehow managed to sit on his own wicket, tis that stupid.
"Divine Revelation has established..."
Why does SOT think that we, as atheists, give a flying ***** about
"divine revelation?"
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| User: "Nosterill" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 09:07:18 AM |
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Lucifer wrote:
Dead wrong right off the bat. No need to look any further.
Takes an outside edge and goes straight to Trescothick, but if we are
going to compare this to wicket being taken, i think it compares more
with Inzamam Al Haq against England in the Headingley test, where he
somehow managed to sit on his own wicket, tis that stupid.
Botham did even better when he failed to get his leg over at the Oval,
resulting in complete meltdown in the commentary box.
For anyone who hasn't heard that classic episode, there is a link on
this page
http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/sport/bestcommentary/#vote
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| User: "Lucifer" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 11:20:05 AM |
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Nosterill wrote:
Lucifer wrote:
Dead wrong right off the bat. No need to look any further.
Takes an outside edge and goes straight to Trescothick, but if we are
going to compare this to wicket being taken, i think it compares more
with Inzamam Al Haq against England in the Headingley test, where he
somehow managed to sit on his own wicket, tis that stupid.
Botham did even better when he failed to get his leg over at the Oval,
resulting in complete meltdown in the commentary box.
For anyone who hasn't heard that classic episode, there is a link on
this page
http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/sport/bestcommentary/#vote
Thanks for that, hadn't heard it before and it was truly joyous to
listen to
Gotta love TMS...
.
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| User: "Nosterill" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
16 Aug 2006 08:28:00 AM |
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Lucifer wrote:
Nosterill wrote:
Lucifer wrote:
Dead wrong right off the bat. No need to look any further.
Takes an outside edge and goes straight to Trescothick, but if we are
going to compare this to wicket being taken, i think it compares more
with Inzamam Al Haq against England in the Headingley test, where he
somehow managed to sit on his own wicket, tis that stupid.
Botham did even better when he failed to get his leg over at the Oval,
resulting in complete meltdown in the commentary box.
For anyone who hasn't heard that classic episode, there is a link on
this page
http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/sport/bestcommentary/#vote
Thanks for that, hadn't heard it before and it was truly joyous to
listen to
Gotta love TMS...
There was traffic chaos when that was live. Motorway drivers were
pulling onto the hard shoulder because they couldn't drive for
laughing.
Whenever I buy a new car, I check specifically that the radio picks up
long wave. What is the point of an English summer if you can't listen
to TMS on the drive home from work?
.
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| User: "Lucifer" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
16 Aug 2006 08:33:27 AM |
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Nosterill wrote:
Lucifer wrote:
Nosterill wrote:
Lucifer wrote:
Dead wrong right off the bat. No need to look any further.
Takes an outside edge and goes straight to Trescothick, but if we are
going to compare this to wicket being taken, i think it compares more
with Inzamam Al Haq against England in the Headingley test, where he
somehow managed to sit on his own wicket, tis that stupid.
Botham did even better when he failed to get his leg over at the Oval,
resulting in complete meltdown in the commentary box.
For anyone who hasn't heard that classic episode, there is a link on
this page
http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/sport/bestcommentary/#vote
Thanks for that, hadn't heard it before and it was truly joyous to
listen to
Gotta love TMS...
There was traffic chaos when that was live. Motorway drivers were
pulling onto the hard shoulder because they couldn't drive for
laughing.
Whenever I buy a new car, I check specifically that the radio picks up
long wave. What is the point of an English summer if you can't listen
to TMS on the drive home from work?
Best comment that I heard so far this summer "Harmison is coming in to
bowl...and a man in a pink shirt with a lot of beer has just wandered
past the scoreboard..."
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
16 Aug 2006 09:06:05 AM |
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Sound of Trumpet wrote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1683170/posts
Angels - in Heaven, on Earth and in Hell
Vivificat! - A Catholic Blog of News, Commentary, Opinion, and
Reflections ^ | 13 August 2006 | Fr. John Hardon
Posted on 08/13/2006 8:18:26 PM PDT by Te=F3filo
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
Divine Revelation has established the existence of a created world of
Spirits. Angels were created by God and are now living in Heaven,
Anything that takes 3000 words can't be a good point.
Have you heard of : concise? or short?
Suzana
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| User: "Nosterill" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 06:12:43 AM |
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Sound of Trumpet wrote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1683170/posts
Angels - in Heaven, on Earth and in Hell
Vivificat! - A Catholic Blog of News, Commentary, Opinion, and
Reflections ^ | 13 August 2006 | Fr. John Hardon
Posted on 08/13/2006 8:18:26 PM PDT by Te=F3filo
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
John Hard On???? Surely you jest!
Divine Revelation has established the existence of a created world of
Spirits.
How can anything be established by "divine revelation"? That would
never stand up in a laboratory or a court of law - at least not in the
civilised world.
That first line set the standard, so there wasn't much point in reading
any more.
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| User: "sceptborg" |
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| Title: Re: Angels In Heaven, On Earth And In Hell |
15 Aug 2006 07:30:07 AM |
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Sound of Trumpet wrote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1683170/posts
Angels - in Heaven, on Earth and in Hell
Vivificat! - A Catholic Blog of News, Commentary, Opinion, and
Reflections ^ | 13 August 2006 | Fr. John Hardon
Posted on 08/13/2006 8:18:26 PM PDT by Teófilo
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
^^^^^^^^^^
Priests get "angel lust" too. Thought it only happened to guys who just
died.
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