Church Militant / The Vortex calls for prayers for dying abortionist

Hmm, that never occurred to me. Interesting.

I think the reason why biological and evolutionary scientists discount a Creator God, is that they see the concept of such a God as evidence of a being of infinite complexity. I suspect that they see the infinite complexity in nature as of a lesser infinity - one they can at least observe to a greater or lesser extent and thus exercise rational thought to formulate theories of minimum complexity which might explain how it could come about in a self-organising way. The Occam's Razor concept.

I suspect that they view the infinite complexity observable in nature as of a lesser order than that required of a Creator God, and therefore they choose the lesser complexity model. How can two infinities exist with one of lesser magnitude or cardinality than the other one might ask? Well, Cantor's theorms in Mathematics of Sets proved that more than one classes of numbers exist, which are infinite in size, but that one class is still infinitely greater in size or cardinality than the other.

I am beginning to sound like an apologist for evolutionary atheists. But I am just trying to explain how they, I think, see things. In fact, I think this illustrates one of the problems with the rational method of the Enlightment. And that is that concepts and methods can be extended to their 'logical conclusion' and way out of their operational locale, in such a way as to produce false models of understanding. In the science of datamining or machine learning, they call this phenomenon 'over-prediction'.

 

You've still lost me. I am sorry I was not following the Evolution thing that sprung up on this thread.

Nevertheless in general my own instinct would be to refer to general Church Teaching on the subject which is very,very good indeed. Very, very wise.

But carry on.

(It's only by the way but I happened to glance over some of the posts on the subject but a few of them seem to be influenced by Protestant very Red Neck Creationist stuff).

 

Good post De Gaulle!

 

I wouldn't dismiss all Creationists out of hand. Of course, the idea that the world is only 4,000 or 6,000 years old is not a Catholic one and St Augustine and St Thomas both speculated that the world might be of very great antiquity, indeed. If I remember correctly, St Thomas didn't rule out the possibility that the Universe might be infinite. However, some Creationists actually pose some very interesting questions that raise genuine doubts regarding what are taken as accepted truths in terms of evolutionary anthropology, in particular, but also in other fields.

The best writer I've encountered in dealing with these matters of what constitutes genuine science and distinguishes these from spurious atheistic propaganda is the late Father Stanley Jaki, a thoroughly orthodox Catholic priest with a doctorate in both physics and theology and who was also adept in philosophy and the history of science. He's well worth checking out, as he was a master of all these subjects, something quite rare.

 

The Universe is written in mathematics. Indeed, it sometimes seems that's all there is! The molecule is really a function of the precise movement and organisation of atoms. Atoms turn out to be a function of the precise movement of protons, neutrons and electrons. And so on down...

Nevertheless, our capacity to abstract all the mathematical information has limitations which are built in. For all Cantor's insights, has not Goedel superseded him, with his Incompleteness Theorems, the significance of which for our scientific knowledge has not yet sunk into the public consciousness? Goedel has shown that complete knowledge of the Universe is not attainable within and can only be accessed at a Higher Level. I find this jaw-dropping.

 

Joan Carroll Cruz's book "Secular Saints" goes into his life in some detail. She reports that, during Blessed Bartolo's "ordination" into the satanic "priesthood" the temple in which the activity was being conducted was struck by lightning. A quick Googling of "Bartolo Longo satanic 'priest" gives any number of results confirming his being a satanist in his early life.



m.

 

Yes, they absolutely know that they're in Purgatory and not Hell.

1. When they experienced their particular judgement it is made explicit where they are being sent.
2. Souls in Purgatory have a sense of hope and love - and the souls therein know that hope and love cannot exist in Hell.
3. While the pains of the worst part of Purgatory are indeed similar to the pains of Hell they are not quite as intense. The pains of the 'lesser' regions of Purgatory are less intense still.

Purgatory considered in its entirety is not all pain and torture. Particular revelation reports that souls in the regions of Purgatory closest to Heaven no longer feel the sensation of pain, only the sensation of loss; of being denied the Beatific Vision. But it's been said that said pain of loss and denial can be as great as the worst pains of sense experienced in the lowest regions of Purgatory.

I've been keenly concerned with the souls in Purgatory for many years and do what little I can for their intention - surely I should be doing more! However, if I could do one thing for them it would be to promote Fr. Schouppe's book "Purgatory: Explained by the Lives of the Saints:

https://tanbooks.com/products/books...ained-by-the-lives-and-legends-of-the-saints/


This book details every conceivable Catholic teaching on Purgatory. It give numerous examples of private revelation all of which confirm Catholic teaching. It's separated into two parts: the mystery of God's justice and the mystery of God's mercy. It tempers the salutary fear of God's justice with the consoling knowledge of God's mercy.



m.

 

Its a wonderful book. I read it years ago. The best explanation given about purgatory and Hell that I heard recently is this: the Fire of God's love is unendurable to a soul that is not pure. For those in mortal sin they wish to fly as far from God as possible. They literally cannot stand to be in His Presence. Those headed for Purgatory can't endure their state of soul in the light of that fire. They want to be cleansed. They desire to be purified. The fire of God's love is a purifying fire. Painful but healing. In heaven that Fire is the blazing glory of the beatific vision. Every soul in heaven shines in the light of that Fire. This is how it makes sense to me.