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I converted to Catholicism after many years deep in the drug culture, AMA

The Christian God, Yahweh, is just one god among many, all of which are in the foreground of an unspeakable unified whole. Yahweh is pretty capricious, vain and cruel. Everything you ask of him has to be on his terms and has to play into his image or he will issue various retributions on you. His attitudes are demonstrated by his followers throughout time, how they have destroyed and assimilated cultures. Most of the other deities hate Yahweh and you can't even utter his name in their temples.

I don't buy the idea of original sin. We are born with certain things we individually must take care of, one might call it past karma. But it's not punishment, it's just your growth trajectory in this life. A priest can neither declare your sin for you or absolve you of it. The inner work is yours and yours alone. It's between you and the divine. The only real sin is living a life that runs contrary to the way god created you. As long as you are true to yourself you can live a pretty blissful life. It doesn't mean you won't be challenged but your true nature will always be something you can count on.

I see the seed of truth in the Bible but it is so heavily distorted that you can't extract precise truth from it anymore, not without rigorous study and a lot of inward reflection; but the Church does not want you to reflect that deeply. You should bring your thoughts and confessions to them, so they can tell you what they mean, and what god is telling you. Middle men, basically.

Jesus is real, he is an enlightened being. I don't know if the stories about him are exactly true. He's also not the only enlightened being out there. He's in a sea of many. It's possible to experience liberation through working with him. But to do really do so, you have to decouple yourself from Christianity and its codified systems. You could also choose to work with others, or none. There are many possibilities.
 
SKL, I hope you're well; my question is about hell.

Do you believe in hell? If so, what do you think it is like? Im starting to believe hell is real though its not literally a lake of fire and brimstone, the earth looks identical to the pre-hell earth but now almost everyone is either an enemy or indifferent. I think this is what Sartre meant when he said "hell is other people"

The main question I have is do you believe there's any way out?

I was reading this

3. Are the "Flames" of Hell Literal?

It should be understood that both the joy of heaven and the pains of Hell are indescribable this side of eternity. And just as the Church warns against seeing heaven as a “worldly” sort of extension of life on this earth, so it is with Hell. The inspired authors cannot describe Hell adequately using human language; thus, the “flames of fire” are simply the most painful things we can imagine on this earth used to attempt to describe the indescribable to some degree.

So, are the “flames of fire” of Hell literal? No, they are not. In fact, it should be obvious that they are not literal right now because the souls in Hell do not presently have bodies. You can't "light up" a soul with a match.

If this is true, then, what is the nature of "the pains of Hell?"

CCC 1472 answers this question succinctly:

These two punishments [the Catechism is here speaking of both Purgatory and Hell] must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin.

Again, the Catechism emphasizes the fact that Hell is primarily eternal separation from God. As CCC 1033 says,

“The state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed.” It is absolute emptiness and isolation beyond anything we can fathom. The "pains" that are quite real, quite literal, and consist of both the pain of loss, and the pain of sense, i.e., they involve the body after the resurrection of the body, "follow from the very nature of sin," or, they arise from the inside out, not from the outside in.

What is mortal sin but the rejection of the love of God and neighbor? It is ultimate selfishness. Ultimately, the damned will simply get what they wanted—themselves for all eternity!

It is said that a man will go insane if he is kept in isolation for too long because human beings are so ordered toward communion with God and others. Hell will be that isolation that would lead anyone to insanity, but the condemned will never be able to lose their faculties. They will be fully cognizant of the pain of their isolation.
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sounds about right.. :(
 
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<quote> blaa blaa blaa... </quote>

So, what made you think that this vengeful pschyopath described in Bible (OT) is the Creator of the World?
 
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SKL said:
Opening this thread here in P&S was largely prompted by a discussion that we had over in the PD Social Tripping Thread, where, after I'd expressed my Catholic faith in discussing liturgical music that I found wonderful as a psychedelic soundtrack even before my formal conversion, I got asked a number of questions about my conversion and my Catholic faith. This very fact of my conversion will probably make me a minority here, but so be it. In Catholic theology we have something called a "sign of contradiction," which means that theological truths can expect extreme opposition. And it's my belief that we had ought to respond to these in a level-headed and loving way. So, expecting some opposition, I'd like to open this thread as a genuine "ask me anything" type deal.

To outline my own personal journey, to quote from a post of mine to that thread:


It will prove difficult to integrate the two threads but I'll try to do so, answering questions asked in the former here, as well as questions that come up first in this P&S thread. I'd like to say ahead of time that I am not interested in circular and polemical discussions about abortion, birth control, feminism, homosexuality, and similar, I will be perfectly glad to lay out the Catholic moral theology position on these issues, but I think that protracted debate will only derail the thread, I imagine there are other threads in which back and forth on these issues can be undertaken.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone out there, Catholic, non-Catholic, anti-Catholic, interested in discussing these issues or theological issues in general. I have a pretty good grounding in historical, theological and literary/critical background for these subjects. If you're hitting on serious issues you can expect serious discourse on these topics; if you're trolling or only interested in injecting contemporary social controversies, I'm not really game, sorry to say.

And also, on a more personal note, as I recently told a friend:



Now, just like the title says, ask me [anything.] Would love an honest discourse with any and all.

God Bless,
SKL
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Did you know the word Catholicism contains a name? Based on my own life. This is God speaking to me. Views have shifted drastically now but their creation has been achieved.
 
The thing about life is they like to tell you things. You accept authority without your own creation. And only what comes from within is what matters you will find. Get creative and do the true art now.

The reason I exist is because her name was in the word. But she has been fired from the album cover. But the signs still remain true, miraculously. I have been blind and seen the wrong person in an album cover that represents real people from my life.

In the Wake of Poseidon by King Crimson
 
notarookie said:
The thing about life is they like to tell you things. You accept authority without your own creation. And only what comes from within is what matters you will find. Get creative and do the true art now.

The reason I exist is because her name was in the word. But she has been fired from the album cover. But the signs still remain true, miraculously. I have been blind and seen the wrong person in an album cover that represents real people from my life.

In the Wake of Poseidon by King Crimson
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I've seriously followed King Crimson since 1969. It's music. There is some truth to the songs but the truth they mostly tell is the dark side and what is above is also below....
 
She was my true love. She created me. But she denied being the Mahdi female. Enough is enough. The album cover still remains true. I was blind, thinking it was her when she has different color hair even.

The miracle is still there and will drive me for the rest of my life. The two witches included near the moon in the upper right.

I just showed you how to make heaven now, for yourself. But in your own unique way. No copying. It is my album cover.
 
notarookie said:
She was my true love. She created me. But she denied being the Mahdi female. Enough is enough. The album cover still remains true. I was blind, thinking it was her when she has different color hair even.

The miracle is still there and will drive me for the rest of my life. The two witches included near the moon in the upper right.

I just showed you how to make heaven now, for yourself. But in your own unique way. No copying. It is my album cover.
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Oooops ... Stairway denied :ROFLMAO:
 
So you trolled me first and I trolled you?

That wasn't trolling by anyone. It was posting.

Trolling is what I and many others did on gamefaqs music rock. Those were the days...
 
There is some conspiracy, some kind of control of women all over the world. Unless I am part of their collective I will be rejected. I have tried everything. I can to release my word but only if I find her.
I probably shouldn't write anymore until then.

The debate must be accomplished!
 
Wow this is a long thread. I did not read every post; however, my question is, why bind yourself to religion in the first place? There is not a cosmic law that states humans must believe in anything at all.

Yeah, I know religion is voluntary; however, do you ever ask questions about your belief system? Does your worldview encourage independency or dependency? Does your belief system allow itself to be compared to other belief systems? Does your belief system penalize you for not following its rules? Does your belief system operate on a reward and punishment system? Are there consequences for not being a participating member of your belief system?

Why do you think you need religion? Does your religion teach you are broken because of sin? You must believe / have faith in sin in order for your belief system to work?

Well, I guess if you're going to believe in sin, you probably need some way to be rid of it.
 
Many are trapped within religion. There are negatives. Using religion to justify violence is a great example. There are so many positives and negatives to just about everything in this world.

It is supposed to become a positive trampoline of expansion instead of a pit. If just one person understands the purpose of religion then it is reason enough to justify it. The expansion of religion is like buried treasure of the soul. Completely new based on each individual. The possibility of someone and something new being created is reason enough to justify communities sheltering kids and churning out the innocent. Immense suffering is possible for the innocent person but on the other hand, it is this innocence that makes for the added bonus of extreme power. Innocence makes you stronger in the long run.

A great example is the song title Innocence and Wrath. Or lyrics by the band Death, warning us of "importance of our innocence".

Those that don't take the time to step back from themselves and view themselves without personal bias (not easy, it took and is taking a lifetime/eternity) are trapped. DXM is setting me free because I realize I am definitely not free from sin. In fact, sin is impeding what I want to do in life. It really is a horror story during creation. But it is fascinating because the horror and the glory are connected. And it all works out in the end. The struggle and the hope of progress.

If people are going to judge themselves by fighting holy wars they are free to do that. But there are certain consequences. You trap yourself in your own creation. We are talking about utterly alien ways to each other without ever really knowing what everyone is.
Darkness has to be shepherded and judged by darkness itself. Your life creation judges you and rewards you with consequences during your own lifetime. Peace can only come from within the individual.

Sin definitely exists by the way. If us as a species has made progress over time then we have the knowledge of sin. How could we have advanced and modernized without progressing from a more animalistic state of sin? I find it odd that antireligious people are so blind to the overall progress of humanity that Christ has caused.
 
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