Theology – Page 12

Do our souls go to sleep when we die?

There are passages in the Bible that speak of the dead as if they are asleep.

As a result, some Christians have adopted a view known as “soul sleep,” which holds that we are not conscious between our death and resurrection.

This would mean that the intercession of the saints would go out the window.

But are these verses meant to be taken literally?

What evidence do we have?

I go into that in the following video . . .

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE.

By the way, don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you’ll get a shiny new email whenever I post a video!

Also . . .

What Now?

If you like the information I’ve presented here, you should join my Secret Information Club.

If you’re not familiar with it, the Secret Information Club is a free service that I operate by email.

I send out information on a variety of fascinating topics connected with the Catholic faith.

In fact, the very first thing you’ll get if you sign up is information about what Pope Benedict said about the book of Revelation.

He had a lot of interesting things to say!

If you’d like to find out what they are, just sign up at www.SecretInfoClub.com or use this handy sign-up form:

Just email me at jimmy@secretinfoclub.com if you have any difficulty.

In the meantime, what do you think?

Is the fire of purgatory Jesus Christ himself?

The Catholic Church associates the image of fire with the final purification known as purgatory.

Why does it do this?

Is there a scriptural basis for this image?

Also, what kind of fire is this?

In past centuries, many theologians have speculated that it might be a form of material fire.

Although that has been a common opinion historically, there’s a difficult question that the idea raises: How could material fire affect the holy souls in purgatory? They don’t have their bodies, so how could material fire affect them? And why would it accomplish a spiritual effect on them?

More recently, some theologians have suggested that the fire is something else entirely.

In fact, they have suggested that the fire of purgatory is an intense, transforming encounter with Jesus Christ.

You might be surprised to find out just who has been proposing this idea.

Here’s a video in which we explore the idea . . .

YOU CAN CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE.

You can also listen to or download it as an MP3:

What Now?

If you like the information I’ve presented here, you should join my Secret Information Club.

If you’re not familiar with it, the Secret Information Club is a free service that I operate by email.

I send out information on a variety of fascinating topics connected with the Catholic faith.

In fact, the very first thing you’ll get if you sign up is information about what Pope Benedict said about the book of Revelation.

He had a lot of interesting things to say!

If you’d like to find out what they are, just sign up at www.SecretInfoClub.com or use this handy sign-up form:

Just email me at jimmy@secretinfoclub.com if you have any difficulty.

In the meantime, what do you think?

Did Pope Francis just tip his hand on Medjugorge? (10 things to know and share)

Many people are wondering what will happen at the end of the current investigation of Medjugorje.

As a result, they’re trying to figure out what attitude Pope Francis takes toward the reported apparitions.

On Thursday, Pope Francis made remarks which some people think tipped his hand and revealed his attitude.

Here are 10 things to know and share . . .

1) What is Medjugorje?

Medjugorje is a location in Herzegovina where, in 1981, a group of young people began reporting visions of the Virgin Mary.

Currently, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican is investigating the reported phenomena.

When their investigation is finished, they are expected to report its findings to the Pope, who will make the final determination of what, if anything, is to be done regarding the apparitions.

2) Where did Pope Francis make his remarks?

He made them in the “fervorino” (informal homily) at his daily Mass on Thursday, Nov. 14.

By the Pope’s own request, the full text of these fervorinos are not published, only summaries of them.

This means that we need to be somewhat cautious when interpreting them, because we do not have the full remarks.

YOU CAN READ THE VATICAN RADIO ACCOUNT OF THE FERVORINO HERE.

3) What did he say about Medjugorje in the fervorino?

If the fervorino is taken at face value, he didn’t say anything about Medjugorje.

It is not mentioned explicitly.

He did make remarks that have been interpreted as a reference to Medjugorje without naming it.

4) What did he say?

KEEP READING.

What is revelation?

“Revelation” is a mysterious-sounding word.

Sometimes it conjures visions in our minds of the end of the world. That happens when we think of the last book of the Bible—the Book of Revelation.

But even when the word isn’t being used that way, it suggests something powerful and mysterious.

This is a bit of a paradox, because of what the word “revelation” actually means.

Revelation is something that is revealed—something that is now known. If I reveal what I’m doing or thinking, that’s a revelation.

Since the term refers to what is known, it’s ironic that it would have such mysterious overtones.

Human vs. Divine Revelation

If we only used the word “revelation” to refer to ordinary, mundane, human revelations—the kind of things people reveal in their Facebook status—then it would never have acquired such mysterious overtones (indeed, it would sound trivial to us rather than momentous).

But we also use it for things that God reveals to us, and God is very mysterious indeed.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts [Isaiah 55:8-9].

It’s understandable that, by its association with the mystery of God, the word “revelation” itself would come to sound mysterious.

Despite the fact that we can never fully grasp God, never fully comprehend an infinite Being like him, we can understand something about how he reveals himself to man.

More Than Words Can Tell

In the past, some theologians have conceived of divine revelation as if it’s just a matter of words—as if everything that God has revealed to man could be stated as a proposition, like these:

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Is Pope Francis about to eliminate celibacy? (9 things to know and share)

Do recent remarks by Pope Francis's new secretary of state mean that the Church is about to eliminate celibacy? — Do recent remarks by Pope Francis’s new secretary of state mean that the Church is about to eliminate celibacy?

The mainstream media is all atwitter made by Pope Francis’s incoming secretary of state about the possibility of eliminating clerical celibacy.

Is this a sign of things to come?

Is this yet another indication of Pope Francis “breaking with tradition”?

Is this an indication the mind of Pope Francis himself?

Is it a major new development?

Or is it just the press hyperventilating because they have no idea what they’re talking about?

Here are 9 things to know and share . . .

1) Who made the remarks?

That would be Archbishop Pietro Parolin, who is set to replace Cardinal Tarciscio Berone as the head of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

He currently lives in Caracas, Venezuela, where he has been serving as papal nuncio (ambassador) to Venezuela.

More info on him here.

2) Where did he make his remarks?

He make his comments in an interview with the Venezuelan paper El Universal.

Apparently, it was an interview in anticipation of his leaving his role as the apostolic nuncio and going back to Rome to become Secretary of State.

Here’s a link to the full interview on video, in Spanish.

3) What did he actually say?

Apparently, in his discussion with the interviewer, the following exchange occurred:

Aren’t there two types of dogmas? Aren’t there unmovable dogmas that were instituted by Jesus and then there are those that came afterwards, during the course of the church’s history, created by men and therefore susceptible to change?

Certainly. There are dogmas that are defined and untouchable.

Celibacy is not —

It is not a church dogma and it can be discussed because it is a church tradition.

That’s what set the secular media off into paroxysms—the statement that the discipline “can be discussed.”

4) Did he say anything else on the question?

KEEP READING.

14 things you need to know about Pope Francis’s new encyclical

Pope Francis has just released his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. Here are 14 things you need to know about it.

Pope Francis has just released his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei, or “the light of faith.”

The first encyclical of a pope is always closely watched, because it frequently signals the way in which he intends to govern the Church.

This new encyclical is even more intriguing because much of it was actually written by former Pope Benedict.

Here are 14 things you need to know . . .

1. What is an encyclical?

An encyclical is a kind of letter. Papal encyclicals usually deal with matters of Church teaching (doctrine). Popes write them when they feel they have something important to say about particular teachings.

Although they are not infallible, encyclicals are authoritative.

The word “encyclical” comes from the Greek word for “circle,” indicating that it is to be circulated among different people.

The encyclical Lumen Fidei is addressed to “the bishops, priests, and deacons, consecrated persons, and the lay faithful.” This indicates a broad audience.

You can read the full encyclical here.

2. How did this encyclical come to be?

The encyclical was originally begun by Pope Benedict in order to commemorate the Year of Faith and to complete a trilogy of encyclicals he had been writing on the three theological virtues—faith, hope, and charity.

The preceding two were Deus Caritas Est, on the theological virtue of charity, and Spe Salvi, on the virtue of hope.

Pope Benedict’s health did not allow him to remain in office, however, and so the draft of the encyclical was inherited by Pope Francis, who chose to complete it.

3. Has this ever happened before?

Yes. In fact, Pope Benedict’s first encyclical was based, in part, on an encyclical that John Paul II had begun preparing but had not finished.

4. Does Lumen Fidei acknowledge Pope Benedict’s role in its composition?

Yes. In it, Pope Francis writes:

These considerations on faith — in continuity with all that the Church’s magisterium has pronounced on this theological virtue — are meant to supplement what Benedict XVI had written in his encyclical letters on charity and hope. He himself had almost completed a first draft of an encyclical on faith. For this I am deeply grateful to him, and as his brother in Christ I have taken up his fine work and added a few contributions of my own. [LF 7].

5. Does Lumen Fidei sound like Pope Benedict?

KEEP READING.

Are most Catholics in America going to hell?

Are most American Catholics going to hell?

When you look around society today, it doesn’t look good.

Even in the Church, people are committing abortion and contraception.

They are sleeping together outside of marriage, using porn, and doing a host of other things that can endanger their souls.

It can be tempting to conclude that most Catholics in America today are going to go to hell.

Is the situation that bleak?

A Question from a Reader

A reader writes:

I belong to a great parish, full of wonderful people who love God and neighbor.

However, I can’t help but be aware that at least from an objective viewpoint, most of them seem to be in a state of mortal sin per the Church’s teaching.

The most common one is the use of contraception, but there are plenty of others, including cohabitation prior to marriage, remarriage outside the Church, etc.

The Church views all these things as mortal sins, although it’s clear these people don’t view them that way.

Our society at this moment makes it really difficult for people, especially young people, to do what the Church expects.

I also know that most of these people genuinely and sincerely do not believe they are sinning. They continue to pray, to attend Mass, and have faith in Christ, which indicates to me that they don’t desire to cut themselves off from God.

Is it truly likely that the vast majority of American Catholics will end up in hell?

What can we say here?

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How can Jesus’ death save people who died before his time?

On the Cross, Jesus offered his life as a sacrifice to make it possible for us to be saved.
But what about the people who lived before he made that sacrifice?

How can they be saved? How did his death relate to them?

Let’s take a look at that . . .

An Outstanding Question

Recently, I blogged about the general question of how salvation works before and after the time of Christ, but we didn’t answer all the questions a person might have.

One outstanding question is how Jesus’ sacrifice could apply to people before it was even made.

Scripture gives us some interesting possibilities . . .

“From the Foundation of the World”?

One image that some have looked to is found in Revelation 13:8, where in some translations we read a description of Jesus as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

If this is the way that the passage is to be understood, it would seem to teach that Jesus’ sacrifice is available to people no matter when they lived in history.

In other words, although Jesus was slain in A.D. 33, from God’s eternal perspective, that sacrifice has been available “from the foundation of the world” and thus able to save anyone in world history.

Is This the Right Interpretation?

Although it’s theologically true that Christ’s sacrifice can save anyone in world history, that doesn’t mean that this is what the passage intends to say.

There is another–better–way to look at the passage.

KEEP READING.

Is it okay to pray when you have doubts about God?

It’s great to have strong faith, to feel confident in what you believe.

That way you can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

But not everybody is at that point.

Some people are still coming to faith. Other people find their faith wavering at times.

So what about then? Is it okay to pray when you have doubts?

A Real Question

This is a real question. A reader writes:

I am going through a rough time and wanted to know whether it is okay to pray the rosary while being a bit skeptic about Jesus and Mary.

I find it a bit difficult to believe that Jesus is God, that Mary intercedes for me, that God exists, and that God has no evil in him.

Do you think, if God exists, it would be okay for doubting him while praying–or praying without hoping that somebody out there is listening?

Do you think its okay to pray to the Father than going through the Son and his Mother?

I’d like to say first that I am sorry that the reader is going through a rough time. I have been through rough times myself, and I will be praying for him.

I also invite other readers to pray for him and for everyone who is suffering. Whenever possible, I like to universalize my prayers that way.

Whenever I’m praying for someone in particular, I try also to pray for everyone else facing that difficulty. One of my favorite prayers is found in the Divine Mercy Chaplet:

“For the sake of His [Jesus’] sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

I’m also pleased to give the reader good news regarding his own prayers . . .

Why We Pray

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Is the Catholic Church the one true Church? (7 things to know and share)

Is the Catholic Church the one, true Church? Here are 7 things to know and share with others . . .

In today’s brave new world of ecumenism, the Catholic Church no longer claims to be unique, right?

After all, Vatican II didn’t say that the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church.

It merely said that the Church of Christ “subsists in” the Catholic Church.

So that means the Catholic Church no longer views itself as the “one true Church,” right?

Not so fast . . .

1. The Source of the Issue

The source of the issue is found in Vatican II’s dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, where we read:

8. This Church [the Church of Christ] constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure.

These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity.

2. “Subsists In”?

The matter would be much clearer if the Council had used the traditional language of saying that the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church.

Instead, they use the unfamiliar wording “subsists in” (Latin, subsistit in) instead of “is” (Latin, est).

This can make it appear that the Council was backing away from the claim that the Catholic Church is the Church of Christ, and many people–including Catholic theologians–took it in precisely this way.

But was that the Council’s intent?

3. Addressing the Matter

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