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Hermeticism - a philosophy or a religion?

January 6, 2014, 9:54 am
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Is hermeticism compatible or incompatible with catholicism?
I know many christians that believe they are compatible but i've never heard the catholic perspective on this matter.

The house of Medici was deeply involved in the funding of translations of the great hermetic works that came from Byzantium and the utmost priority was laid to the translation of the Corpus Hermeticum.

The freemasons for example incorporate alot of hermetic teachings and I know the catholic church forbids its members ti be initiated into a masonic order.

Some of the theologians that separated from the catholic church after the reformation also promulgated a form of hermetical christianity, such as Johann Valentin Andreae or Robert Fludd.

There are those that argue that the rejection of hermeticism for the aristotlean rationality set the ultimate course for western civilization to ultimately reach it's state of complete materialism and the decline of christianity and I believe they might have a point ( http://rossbishop.com/blog/2013/03/1...short-history/ )

But what's the position of the catholic church regarding hermeticism these days?

Quote:

"The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these,
understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before whose
touch all the Doors of the Temple fly open." - The Kybalion
Hermeticism:
Quote:
Hermeticism, also called Hermetism, is a religious and philosophical tradition based primarily upon pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus ("Thrice Great"). These writings have greatly influenced the Western esoteric tradition and were considered to be of great importance during both the Renaissance and the Reformation. The tradition claims descent from a prisca theologia, a doctrine which affirms that a single, true theology exists which is present in all religions and was given by God to man in antiquity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism
Quote:
The Seven Hermetic Principles, upon which the entire Hermetic Philosophy is based, are as follows::

I. The Principle of Mentalism.
"THE ALL IS MIND; The Universe is Mental." - The Kybalion.

II. The Principle of Correspondence.
"As above, so below; as below, so above." - The Kybalion.

III. The Principle of Vibration.
"Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." - The Kybalion.

IV. The Principle of Polarity.
"Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its
pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are
identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet;
all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be
reconciled." - The Kybalion.

V. The Principle of Rhythm.
"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides;
all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in
everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the
measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates." - The Kybalion.

VI. The Principle of Cause and Effect.
"Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause;
everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name
for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation,
but nothing escapes the Law." - The Kybalion.

VII. The Principle of Gender.
"Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine
and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all
planes." - The Kybalion.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/kyb/kyb04.htm
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Christmas services

January 6, 2014, 10:14 am
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A Protestant friend said that her church (Presbyterian) didn't have services on Christmas day. The reasons were that the pastor and congregation would rather spend their time with family, friends, and travel.

Her church did have Christmas eve services.

It seems kind of odd to me to skip Christmas day. :shrug:

Is this common in Protestant churches? I can see maybe a non-denominational church might do it this way, but I was surprised that a mainline Protestant would.
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Wedding liturgy - Please help me

January 6, 2014, 10:33 am
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Dear friends,

It's been quite a while since I last posted here, and I really need your help with something. First some background info: coming August I'm very lucky to get married. We will get married in the Netherlands, because that's where we both live. However, because we have family from abroad, the Mass will be held in English.

My fiancée and I have prepared the liturgy of the Mass based on the Dutch instructions we've received from our priest, but we could have made some mistakes.

So my first question is (and I know it will take some time): can anyone who has a lot of knowledge on the liturgy proofread the document we have made so far? It's attached as a PDF file.

My second question: as the wedding will be held on August 15, which is the Assumption of Mary, can we choose the readings ourselves or are they fixed?

Thank you so much for helping us out. We want the Mass to be the most important part of our day and therefore to be perfect.

Kind regards,

Christian

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version Name: Ceremony script (pdf).pdf Views: N/A Size: 110.0 KB ID: 19038  
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Does the Big Bang prove the existence of God?

January 6, 2014, 12:04 pm
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As we know, the BB theory was first proposed by a Catholic priest, Father Lemaitre. It is the cosmological model of the universe which is most consistent with the data available today and is the most popular model for the beginning of the universe.
The question being proposed is whether or not the BB can be understood as a purely natural event, say like an earthquake, volcano or tsunami, which does not require direct divine intervention or whether it definitely and unequivocally proves the existence of a Creator.
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What do we mean by "Works" and their relation to salvation

January 6, 2014, 12:08 pm
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My protastant friends throw works in my face all the time when exlaining how silly I am for being Catholic. I try to explain how works do not earn our salvation but that we give them up to God.

If there a document or passage in the Cathecism or decree from a counsel that defines works and its relationship to salvation?

I'm trying to defend my faith correctly instead of just winging it or saying "what I think the Church says".
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Two or Four Books of Kings

January 6, 2014, 12:46 pm
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There had been four Books of Kings in the Old Testament of the Catholic Bible. Now there are 1Samuel and 2Samuel and 1Kings and 2Kings. In what year was the change made from four Books to two Books of Kings? Why was the change made? Which is correct to use: 2Kings OR IIKings?
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Dying to Ourselves in Order to Live in Christ

January 6, 2014, 12:47 pm
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http://walkinginthedesert.com/2014/0...ive-in-christ/

Just wanted to share an article

Something that is almost forgotten in modern society, as well as to many Catholics and Christians in general is the act of dying daily to ourselves in order to live in Christ. It was Christ himself who stated constantly in the Gospels the necessity of carrying one’s cross and of denouncing ourselves for the Kingdom of Christ. He stated in (Mathew 10:38-39) “And he who does not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me”. He who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake, will find it. He later stated in (Mathew 16:24-26) “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For he who would safe his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it”.



This command for the Christian by Jesus seems quite radical and yet contradictory. “How can we gain life by losing it? With a little bit of logic however we can find that it is not a contradiction, but rather a paradox (two things that seem contradictory but are actually true). Christianity is the religion of paradox: “That God would be human, that life comes from death, that achievement comes through failure, that folly is wisdom, that happiness is to mourn, that to find one must lose, and that the greatest are the smallest. What is paradoxical about the mysteries of the faith is that reason cannot fully penetrate their meaning, so that what seems contradictory to reason is profoundly true in terms of faith”.1It is when we understand this notion of paradox and that at the same time there are some things beyond human reason that we ought to put our faith in God that we can really understand what it means to die to ourselves.

We see how in modern society this is often not the case. People giving in daily to their passions, sinful behavior, greed, avarice, and homosexuality. Even things like abortion are not uncommon, for most people fear the loss of a possibility of a career if a baby should happen to come their way. This is the result of a lack of faith in God’s divine providence. It is not only in sin though that we fail to carry our crosses, but also in not practicing temperance and penance, abstinance, and the like that we fail to carry our crosses. Father George Leo Haydock in his Haydock Commentary states the two ways in which we are to carry our crosses.

There are two kinds of crosses which our Saviour here commands us to take up: one corporal, and the other spiritual. By the former, he commands us to restrain the unruly appetites of the touch, taste, sight, &c. By the other, which is far more worthy our notice, he teaches us to govern the affections of the mind, and restrain all its irregular motions, by humility, tranquillity, modesty, peace, &c2



Jesus thus reminds us to deny ourselves not only from that which is morally bad such as sin (which we should always avoid) but even from genuinely good things such as when we abstain or fast from food, water or sleep. Not because these things such as food and water are bad, but that by sacrificing and giving these goods up, we get the greatest good in return, namely God and Christ. “But if he continues moderately happy as to temporal concerns till death, and places his affections on them, he hath found life here, but shall lose it in the next world. But he that shall, for the sake of Christ, deprive himself of the pleasures of this life, shall receive the reward of a hundred fold in the next”.3

This is what reminds me as I am discerning the priesthood and the religious life that the priesthood is a calling that involves a lot of sacrifice and constant dying to ourselves. For just as marriage involves the sacrifice of complete faithfulness to one’s wife, as well as of using most of one’s time for raising a family, the priesthood itself is a sacrifice. By being a priest I am giving up a great good and vocation, namely that of marriage and of starting a family, for a greater good and vocation, that of serving Christ in the priesthood. It is one of constant dying to oneself, of letting God take me where He wills, and not where I will.

I am often reminded of a Spanish hymn often presented in a Spanish Mass as well as funerals done in Spanish titled Entre Tus Manos (In your hands) The hymn states that in order to live we ought to die, it is the same theme as talked about above in which we find life when we lose it.

It is pretty silly when Christians in the modern world pretend to be able to live differently than that of Christ. For where Christ suffered even to death on a cross, many Christians live even to death of their soul. As Catholics are we not to imitate Christ in his life? Thomas Kempis in his book The Imitation of Christ describes how the Crucifixion of Christ relates to our own selves. “How is it, then that you seek any other way to heaven than this plain, high way of the Cross? All the life of Christ was Cross and martyrdrom; do you seek pleasure and joy? 4

When we let ourselves follow Christ the way he will and not our way, but rather die to ourselves that we many live in Christ that we can really be truly happy and prosperous. This is not to happen in this life but in the next.
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Romans 2: 12-16 (The Law)

January 6, 2014, 12:49 pm
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I am currently working my way through Romans. I was reading chapter 2. After I read verses 12-16 I was confused. Could someone please explain the meaning behind these verses? Thanks.
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Prayers to St. Joseph

January 6, 2014, 1:04 pm
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St. Joseph,
I come to you in prayer today and give you my need for assistance. I pray and ask of you to pray with me in my time of need, and ask our beloved Father for His assistance. I pray for you to ask our Savior, whom you raised, as His earthly father and guardian, to assist us in our times of trouble. I turn to you now, St. Joseph, as my own personal needs are of my home. As I turned to my own earthly father earlier today for his assistance and advice, I turn to you for your intercession, and to our Father in Heaven. I trust in you that my prayers will be received by our Lord with all your sincerity. I pray for all those in need of assistance of any kind with their home, in their home, or to find a home.

O Glorious St. Joseph, come to our aid in our present trouble and distress. Take this important and difficult affair under thy particular protection, that it may end happily.

O dear St. Joseph, all our confidence is in thee. Let it not be said that we would invoke thee in vain; and since thou art so powerful with Jesus and Mary, show that thy goodness equals thy power. Amen.

St. Joseph, friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interest and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.

Thank you God for the gifts and blessings you have bestowed on me that I may have these issues that I am dealing with today, but I ask for, and trust in, Your Answer to these prayers.

Amen.
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Good Bio of Josemaria Escriva

January 6, 2014, 1:13 pm
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I'm looking for a good biography of Saint Josemaria Escriva. Any recommendations? Thanks.
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missing mass

January 6, 2014, 1:14 pm
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I miss mass sometimes on a sunday-I do go very regularly- but I miss it sometimes because I have 8 children and we seem to sometimes just miss by being disorganised. I have never felt guilty (I would if I did it all the time) but after reading posts here I have realised it is a mortal sin. Am I right? Is it mortal? As a mum sometimes I feel that sundays are as busy, if not more, as any other day especially with my husband working away at the moment. So sometimes-not often we cant face up to the rush! Hope im not expressing this in a flippant manner.
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Funeral Sermon (must watch)

January 6, 2014, 1:14 pm
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Ludicrous claim about Christmas

January 6, 2014, 1:17 pm
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A Second Circumcision?

January 6, 2014, 1:26 pm
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Reading the following passage the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite nation for the second time." – Joshua 5:2

I thought circumcision was a very serious command to be performed eight days after birth “If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” Genesis 17:14. The Lord was going to kill Moses for not circumcising his son in Exodus 4:24-26. Why wasn’t the Lord angry with the uncircumcised in Joshua 5:2?
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please pray for an ex-Catholic priest

January 6, 2014, 1:27 pm
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Please pray for an ex-Catholic priest. He has left the priesterhood and the Church some years ago.
May Jesus have mercy on him and on us all.

Thank you for your prayers.
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Don't know what to do with Husband's Stepmother and Father. Could use some advice!

January 6, 2014, 1:35 pm
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Hello there,

Many of you will remember the various posts that I made about my Husband's Father and Stepmother.

Things are quite different now, and we are more lost than we ever were as to what to do.

I didn't talk to my husband's stepmom for a year and a half. A lot of it was her fault, but I did everything I could to try and reconcile with her and she shut me out so I gave up, knowing it had to be on her terms.

On September 30th my husband and I moved into our new house.A few days later she began talking to me on facebook. I didn't question it and went along with it. A few days later she took my husband and I out so we could get some curtains. We took her for lunch at Swiss Chalet. A few days later she apologized to me on facebook. I told her I forgave her, she told me she loved me, and that was that.

She has been known to have problems in all her relationships, my FIL, my husband, my SIL, her family, my FIL's family, and especially her own 2 adult children from her previous marriage who both, especially her son, treat her like garbage.

When my FIL and her got married in April 2011, my husband made the decision to not call her Mom. He didn't call my FIL's 2nd wife Mom either. My MIL is still alive and she and my husband are close. This really upset my husband's stepmom, especially since she was dumb enough to go and tattoo his name and his sister's name on her chest.

On October 16th I discovered I was pregnant with our first child, due June.21st. We decided to keep it a secret and surprise our parents at Christmas time. We also decided to honor my husband's stepmother by giving her the opportunity to be a grandparent to our child.

The day before Christmas Eve my SIL had a doctor's appointment. Their stepmother was supposed to take her but she apparently had to go pick up her own daughter at the airport. My husband and I go to pick her up and we notice that their stepmother's SUV was still in the driveway, all covered in snow. My husband asks his sister, what's going on and she replies back that their stepmom supposedly didn't feel well.

My husband couldn't figure out why his father lied to him and didn't just tell him the truth. My FIL has been known to lie quite often, especially about being engaged and married.

We went to their house on Christmas Eve and my husband took his father in the kitchen to talk to him about lying. Although they kept their voices down, the kitchen is beside the bedroom so I think she may have heard. I don't know. She was hiding in the room because she had apparently been sick and had thrown up earlier that day and had also got into some sort of fight with her daughter who had apparently threatened to not come visit the next day.

My husband and I and my FIL and SIL and a family friend were sitting in the living room and she kept texting his phone asking him to bring her food and stuff. He tried to get her to come out and take her gift and she wouldn't. He went back and knocked on the door and she screamed at him to go away and leave her alone. My husband went and knocked on the door and asked her if she would at least open the door and take her gift. She turned up the volume on the TV. My FIL texted her and told her we were expecting and to just come out for a minute. I texted her too and she replied back very rudely saying she was happy for us but she wasn't the grandparent and it had nothing to do with her and that her children were waiting until they had their own house ( we live in a military house) and money in the bank because it's beyond expensive to raise kids. My husband and I aren't exactly well to do, but we manage and live comfortably and can support ourselves very well and never ever borrow money from anyone.

The next day, Christmas Day, I was sitting down having Christmas dinner with my family at my Uncle's house. My husband's stepmom starting sending me rude text messages once again. She had said that I left a box there with a bib in it and put I am not the grandmother in caps lock. She said it was there for me to pick up and to give it to the real grandmother.This was by far the most mad that I had ever seen my husband. We excused ourselves and went down to the basement where he called his father. He told him that she was sending us rude messages and that it was to stop and to stop now. He said it meant a lot to him to have her be a grandma as well and that he would talk to her.

My husband and I have tried talking to his father numerous times about her behavior. He agrees with us in some aspects and sees where we are coming from but he always always makes excuses for her; her dad abused her, her mom died, her ex husband controlled her, her kids are mean to her, etc etc.

The next day my husband and I and his sister went on a road trip to go visit their mother who lives 4 hours away. We didn't realize how stressed out my SIL is living in that house with them. She said that the woman continuously nags her about everything, including taking too long to bath and tells her she's weird. Her Father has started to nag too. She also vented to us about how much arguing was going on between the 2 of them and that the stepmom always starts it and that it's over the stupidest things. She is hoping to find her own place by the end of March.

The day after that my husband's stepmom sent me a message on facebook asking me how the drive over was. I guess I didn't reply to her soon enough(I was at work!) and she put on her status that she was tired of how rude people are and how they think their poo doesn't stink and that she tried and that she's all done.

I so badly want to delete her from facebook because she doesn't talk to me now and I am tired of her bull and drama and I don't need the stress when I'm pregnant. She also posts some very morbid things about death, accidents, etc. However, I know that if I do my FIL will call and bicker at us for hurting her feelings.
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If someone confessed to murder...

January 6, 2014, 1:37 pm
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Okay, so, what if someone confessed to a priest that they murdered someone, and nobody else knows about it? I'm not saying that I murdered someone, I was just curious as to what would happen. Sorry if someone already asked this :blush:
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About becoming a Catholic

January 6, 2014, 1:46 pm
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There is a very small Catholic Church in my town, do I just go in whenever it's open? It does say on its website that anyone is welcome to pop in and pray during the day and be in the presence of the Lord, so I see that as an invitation. I take it if I just walk inside I will be greeted by a Priest or something? Just so I know what to expect!

I'm not a Catholic or even a Christian or anything, I am just curious to see what it's like, actually inside a Catholic Church and well most importantly to see if I feel anything. It's one thing talking and learning about Catholicism online but it's another to actually experience in real life.
It's only a small and modest Church mind you, there is much bigger Churches in my town, there's several big Church of England ones and there's some Methodist and Baptist ones too, even a Pentecostal Church which is full of young and foreign students, they seem to be the most active in the community, but from what I gather, Pentecostals kind of scare me a little, Catholicism has a beauty and art to it, at least in my opinion.

Anyway, sorry to drivel on!
As I said, I'd just like to know what to expect if I just walk in one day out of the blue and if I was interested in becoming Catholic, how would I go about that?
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Is this in the bible?

January 6, 2014, 1:47 pm
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Are there any examples in the Bible where possibly the Jews took something pagan and converted into their religion. For instance is there any place where it talks about them taking a pagan temple and "purify" it for their own worship. I've been looking for something like this but so far have come up empty.

I'm trying to come up with these examples as further defense for "pagan holidays" being used by Catholics and other things. thanks
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philosophy sayings

January 6, 2014, 1:54 pm
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