How to defeat an atheist

One of the most difficult choices we can make as humans is to believe in God. There are simply so many people who have chosen not to believe in him for one reason or another, and many of them work hard to try to pull you away from God. So what do you do in the face of such challenges? What do you say? 

Here is a list of some of the things people might say to challenge your faith, and what you may consider saying to them.

1.  Science proves God does not exist.  Einstein believed in God, and said that he saw no reason why God and science cannot co-exist. He said, "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

2.  Well, Einstein found the Bible Primitive, Childish.  That's because the Bible IS primitive and childish. That's just how people wrote back then. It was allegorical. 

3.  Nobody lives the way the Bible preaches. No person lives completely by their Faith, which is why we have forgiveness. For example Chris Kyle had Faith and he carried the Bible with him, but he did not read from it every day

4.  The Bible is not historically accurate. Actually, whether you believe in God or not, the Bible is one of the most significant historical documents ever written. I have read many history books where the Bible is used as a reference to paint a picture of the era in which it was written.

5.  The Bible is not factual.  Christians believe everything in the Bible is true.  If everything in the Bible is true, does this mean that Christians have to choose between science and the Bible.  The key to understanding the Bible is to understand the difference between truth and fact.  Simply put, something can be truthful without being factual.  For example, if you are trying to download a large file onto your computer and it is taking a long time, you might say that it is "taking a million years." You would be speaking the truth: the file is taking a long time to download.  Figurative language such as this communicates truth without relying totally on facts.  We say that as Christians, we believe everything in the Bible is true.  What we mean is that the Bible teaches us, without error, the truth about God.  Although the Bible does contain historical information, the authors of the Bible were not primarily concerned with historical or scientific facts.  Their goal was to teach the truth about God.

6.  Science proves that God could not have created the world in seven days.  The first creation story in the Book of Genesis is true, although it does not attempt to teach scientific facts.  It teaches us truths about God and his relationship with creation, such as: God is the author of all creation, God brings order out of chaos, human beings are created in God's image, and everything God created is good. As Christians, we can learn from what scientists are teaching us about creation and, at the same time, learn from the Book of Genesis about the religious truth of Creation. Besides, God actually created the world over six eras.

7.  Adam could not have lived 930 years.   Once again, you have to consider the era in which the Bible was written.  People back then never even considered the idea of keeping track of a person's time in this world.  When the Bible says that Adam lived to be 930 years old, it is teaching the religious truth that he lived a long life, which is a sign of God's blessing. 

8.  The story of Noah could not have happened.  Actually, there is historical evidence of a great flood that wiped out much of the population of the world that then existed.  So this story is based on this historical fact.  However, the story of Noah teaches the truth that we drown in sin and only those who obey God's voice are saved. 

9.  Jonah could not have lived in a fish.  The story of Jonah is true: when you say no to God's will, you will find yourself in darkness. You see, much of the Bible is told allegorically.  This was simply how people wrote back then.  

10.  The entire old testament is poppycock.  Look, again, don't be concerned with historical fact or scientific fact when reading the Old Testament.  What you should be concerned with is learning the truth about God.  Remember, everything in the Bible is true.  After all, God has given us his Word.

We are all prophets

So God reveals himself through The Word, and The Word appeared as human flesh by the name of Jesus.  So Jesus, in dying for us, made us all prophets.  In this way, we are all -- those of us who are believers, anyway -- unprofitable servants.

Jesus shared his wisdom with the apostles, and through the Church their teachings are shared by the Bishops and the Priests.  They then share the wisdom of the Lord with all the people of the Church.

There's a better way of summing this down a bit.  Consider that in the Old Testament there are 16 books of prophets, or people who listen to the wisdom of the Lord and interpret this wisdom and share it with the people.  

There are various names for such prophets, such as revelators, seers and patriarchs.  For our purposes we will refer to them as prophets.  Some of these prophets include Adam, Abel, Seth, Noah, Zechariah, Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Haggai, and Ezias.  

The New Testament also has prophets, such as John the Baptist, whose prophecy was that Jesus was coming.  Some listened and heard him, while others chose to ignore him. This was the case for all the prophets.  

Jesus made us all prophets.  By his Death, he made the wisdom of The Word available to all who choose to accept it via the Holy Spirit.  Some refer to prophets like us as unprofitable servants of the Lord, meaning that we share His wisdom as acts of charity.

So, your assignment, if you so choose to accept it, is to use your gifts to share the wisdom, either by your actions or your voice.

The lesson of Zachariah.

The founding fathers did a ton of research when working to create the new nation. They wanted to make sure mistakes of the past were not repeated.  Based on this research they believed it was important, if not essential, for Americans to have an appreciation for God and His Bible.  They therefore must have been aware of the prophet Zachariah.  

Unlike the prophet Jeremiah, who received many chapters in the Bible, Zachariah received only a few pages. Therefore many children have been named after Jeremiah, and only a few after Zachariah.  So, while Jeremiah is a well known prophet, Zachariah is not a well known prophet.

Perhaps it is for this reason that the lessons of the Book of Zachariah often go unheeded, and to the detriment of societies.  Some even suspect that it was by not heeding the lessons of Zachariah might even lead to the fall of the United States of America.  

The Book of Zachariah covers a the span of time between 518-520 B.C. 

Zachariah was a prophet during a time when the Assyrians had taken over Israel, between 518 and 520 B.C.  Assyria at that time extended from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Gibraltar. The area by the Dead Sea was mushy and mostly deserted and not worth much, but the rest of the land, the land in the West, was very fertile and worth a lot. So the Assyrians had good reason to take over this land.

The Assyrians worshiped false gods, such as those of the sun and moon. The morale of the people fell to ruin, and the economy tanked.  Since the economy was in ruin, King Darius of Persia was able to easily come in and wipe out the rulers of Israel and take over the nation.  He turned the Israelites into slaves.

Zachariah was one of the few who noticed what was going on.  He understood why the land of Judah (Israel) was in such disarray. In fact, he described the destruction of the once prosperous Israel as the result of lack of morals and values. Hence, the people of Judah had gotten their priorities in the wrong order.

The Book of Zechariah says: 

The Lord Almighty told Zachariah to say to the people, "I the Lord, was angry with your ancestors, but now I say to you, 'Return to me, and I will return to you.

What he was saying was that the economy of Judah was ruined because the people started worshiping their stuff more than they worshiped Him. 

In that way, this story is similar to the story of the Tower of Babel. There the Land of God turned to ruin because the people started worshiping false gods and stuff more so than God. They put their stuff before other people. They put their stuff before work. They put their stuff before their children.They put their stuff before learning.  They put their stuff before God.  

So instead of valuing and appreciating their wives, some grew bored of them and moved on to other women.  The divorce rate spiked.  Children were now being raised in broken homes, and did not learn the values their parents once learned. Lacking a firm set of values and morals, there was no incentive to not do things for selfish gain.  Crime rose.  The economy collapsed.  This made it easy for the enemies of Islam to take over the nation of Israel. 

Yet God, through Zechariah, was telling the people of Israel that if they wanted their country back, they would have to get their priorities straight:

1. God
2. Country
3. Spouse
4. Children
5. Other people
6. Other things

The idea that Zechariah described is mentioned later in the Bible too, because the writers wanted to prevent the people of Israel from repeating the errors that lead to the decline of Israel. Matthew 5: 1-48  mentions it and so does Paul to the Corinthians (1).  The ultimate goal hear was the Biblical authors did not want people to forget the lessons learned in the Book of Zacharia. 

Zachariah said:

But my people stubbornly refused to listen. They closed their minds and made their hearts as hard as rock. Because they would not listen to the teaching which I sent through the prophets who lived long ago, I became very angry. Because they did not listen when I spoke, I did not answer when they prayed. Like a storm I swept them away to live in foreign countries. This good land was left a desolate place, with no one living in it.

And he said:

These are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another. In the courts give real justice-- the kind that brings peace. Do not plan ways of harming one another. Do not give false testimony under oath. I hate lying, injustice, and violence. 

Yet as so often occurs, the lessons of the past are often repeated.  And the mistakes of Islam that occurred during the time of Zachariah are occurring once more in the United States, and in Europe.  

"Then the angel said, 'almighty Lord, you have been angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for seventy years now. How much longer will it be before you show them mercy."

With the Lord's help, the people of Judah once again turned to Him.  They once again learned the importance of fearing God and His Bible.  Priorities were once more placed in the right order, with God as the top priority.

Then God said to His poeple: 

"So I have come back to Jerusalem to show mercy to the city. my Temple (values) will be restored, and the city will be rebuilt... The Lord has promised that he himself will be a wall of fire around the city to protect it and that he will live there in all his glory."

To the enemies of Israel, the Lord said through Zachariah:

The Lord himself will fight against you and you will be plundered by the people who were once your servants."

Zachariah said: 

"Long ago I gave these commands to my people: 'You must see that justice is done, and must show kindness and mercy to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need. And do not plan ways of harming one another.'"

So, as the Lord saved Israel during the time of Zachariah, he will save the nation he created that spread freedom through the land.

He said: 

Once again old men and women, so old men and women, so old that they use canes when they walk, will be sitting in the city squares. And the streets will again be full of boys and girls playing. This may seem impossible to those of the nation who are now left, but it's not impossible to me. I will rescue my people from the lands where they have been taken...

Have courage! You are now hearing the same words the prophets." You must never quit trying. You must believe. You who see what is wrong must not stop trying to change it. You must have courage.

So there is hope for returning America to it's former Glory.  There is hope for a return to unbridled American Exceptionalism.

And the idea of freedom will spread.

In those days ten foreigners will come to one Jew and say, 'We want to share in your destiny, because we have heard that God is with you.'

The first step is to return to traditional American values, which include teaching classical liberalism and the Christian Bible.   

What are the Seven Sacriments

There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Faith, and there purpose is to make people Holy, to build up the body of Christ, and to give worship to God.

The firs three sacraments are the sacraments of initiation, or the primary sacraments for which the rest of our life as a Christian depends.

1.  Baptism: This is when we are cleansed of the original sins, receive the sanctifying grace (theological virtues), and enter into the Church. The receiving of the sanctifying grace prepares us to receive the other sacraments and to live our lives as good Christians, or to rise above cardinal virtues that can be practiced by anyone.

2.  Confirmation: It's the perfection of Baptism, and gives us the grace to live our life as a Christian. This is a process where the individual is educated in the way of the Church, and then graduates (becomes confirmed).

3.  Eucharist (Holy Communion): This is the only one of the sacraments of initiation that is received more than once, and may be received daily.  It is where we consume the Body of Christ in order to unite us with Him and to help us grow in our Faith.

The rest of the sacraments are as follows:

4.  Penance (Confession/ Reconciliation): It is when we ask for forgiveness for our sins, and receive absolution, or forgiveness for our sins. When we sin we deprive ourselves of God's grace, so it is important to acknowledge our sins and ask for forgiveness and absolution. Absolution allows grace to return to our souls so we can once again resist sin. It is one of the sacraments that may be received more than once, and should be received often.

5.  Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction, Last Rites): It is administered to the dying for the remission of sins and the provision of spiritual strength and health. It can be repeated as often as necessary.

6.  Matrimony: It is the union between a man and a woman for the purpose of procreation and mutual support, or love. Each spouse in a marriage gives up some rights over his or her life in exchange for rights over the life of the other spouse. Marriage is meant to be a lifelong union.

7.  Holy Orders (Ordination): This sacrament is a continuation of Christ's priesthood, which He bestowed upon his apostles.  It is when man is incorporated into into the priesthood of Christ at one of three levels:

1. Episcopate: The office of Bishop, the first rank of holy orders 
2. Presbyterate: The priesthood, the second rank of holy orders
3. Diaconate: A ministry of mercy who reaches out and offers help to those in need. 

Where do we go to seek God?

All Christians are aware of the importance of saying a prayer, or of communicating with God, both talking to and listening to Him.  Yet as our lives tend to become busy, most of us fail to meet even minimal requirements.  

This was the reflection of our priest recently as he said the following.  

Where do you go to seek God. How often do you go there? All prophets seek a place to be alone with their God. Jesus went off to a deserted place and prayed. We are disciples, and disciples should want to be with their teacher, to a place where we deliberately seek him. Mother Theresa said she encountered the suffering Christ in every face of every poor, sick and dying person she was sent to administer. She mandated all her sisters and all priests to spend three hours in prayer before they started working each day. I’m not advocating we do three hours, but I think it is important to ask: Where do we go to be in communion with God, and how often do we go there?

The habit of prayer

When I was a kid I as encouraged by my mother to get on my hands and knees and pray every night.  Sometimes, when I was very little, she would kneel with me.  This was good because her words taught me how to pray, and her doing it with me made praying habitual.

As is perhaps the intended consequence of being a Catholic, on those nights when I didn't pray I felt guilty.  More often than not this guilt turned into a prayer. Mom said that, if you are tired or time is limited, even a sign of the cross is considered a prayer.  Sometimes I took advantage of this, thus making my prayers short.

Sometimes I would forget how to pray, and I would ask mom how.  When I was younger she'd pray with me.  When I was older, she read to me a passage of the Bible that explained how to pray.  When I was even older, she'd give me the name of the passage and have me look it up myself.  Perhaps this was her way of getting me to memorize the passage.  I did not.  Although, I wonder if it is one of these.

As I grew older and my life became busier, praying remained a habit.  I didn't always get down on my knees, but more often than not I did.  And, when I did, I usually felt that much better about my prayer.

During my six month stay at the asthma hospital in Denver I prayed on my back every night until I got my own room, and then I prayed on my knees.  There was always the risk a counselor could open the door and catch me, although, in retrospect that doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

When I returned from Denver life quickly got busy, and praying on my knees became a major challenge, especially as I had room mates in college.  So it became customary for me to pray while tucked under the covers in bed.  Still, the habit inculcated into me by my mother continued.

So I have a habit of praying at night.  I try the best I can to share this habit with my children.  I sometimes do it with them as mom did, although rarely do we kneel.  A childish feeling of guilt usually rushes through me when we do not kneel, and an even deeper guilt when we pray not at all.

When we do pray, our prayers are simple.  Laney uses the word "I wish" instead of "I pray." Yet I pray that she picks up the habit as I have.  Surely it helps during the course of this life.

God made man in his own image

As we learn by our understanding of the Creed, God shares his Wisdom with us through the Holy Spirit.  This is the feeling that burns inside of us, and what allows us to accept God.  The Holy Spirit is the sense of Glory, Faith and Hope inside us. It's the feeling of love, joy, and happiness.

On the sixth day (which means era in ancient Hebrew) God created man in his own image.

Genesis 1:26 says:

Then God said, ‘Let us make people who are images of us. Let them be similar to us. Let them rule over the fish of the sea. Let them rule over the birds of the air. Let them rule over the animals. Let them rule over the whole earth. Let them rule over every crawling animal that crawls on the earth.’

Genesis 1:27 says:

So God created people who were images of himself. He created them as images of God. He created man and woman.

Genesis 1: 28 says:

God promised good things to them. He said, ‘Have large families. Increase so that you fill the earth. Rule over the earth. Rule over the fish in the sea. Rule over the birds that fly in the air. Rule over every living animal that moves on the earth.’

Allow me to break this down:

1.  "Then God said, 'Let us make people who are images of us. Let them be similar to us.'"

By "us" God is probably referring to the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).

2.  "So God created people who were images of himself. He created them as images of God. He created man and woman."

By "images of us" he does not mean that we look just like God, because that would be impossible.  We are not like God, as we are made of flesh and have brains like animals.  But we are made in His image in that He gave us the Spirit.  It is this Spirit that is like God.

Again, it is through the Spirit that we can know and accept God.  It is also through the spirit that we are superior to animals, because, while they have a body and a brain, they do not have the spirit; they are not made in the image of God.  

3.  "Let them rule over the whole earth. Let them rule over every crawling animal that crawls on the earth."

This was the job he gave to humans.  He gave them the responsibility of taking care of the earth and all the animals and plants on the earth.  He told them that they must look after them and take care of them.  That is part of our duty to God. 

Because we have the Spirit, we have the ability to think and to ration, unlike animals. It is for this reason that he put us in charge of the animals and the planet. 

He also gave us natural rights, or liberties handed down from him.  He could have made a perfect world, but he made a flawed world. In this way, it was the job of humans to try to perfect the world.  This would give those who chose wisely a sense of satisfaction.  

Then it was only through death that perfection, a true euphoria, would be  found in Heaven.  Yet only those who chose to listen to the Spirit and accept God and His Word would be able to find eternal life in Heaven.  

Theological Virtues

There are three theological virtues.  Unlike the Cardinal Virtues which can be practiced by anyone, theological virtues can only be practiced by those who receive them, and they are gifts of grace from God.

They are habits that become stronger as we practice them. Their immediate and proper object is God, and so they are infused in our soul. Like all virtues, they become a habit.  The include the following.

1.  Faith: It is showing our love for God through our action, such as practicing the cardinal virtues. It's a gift that allows us to reason that God exists, and that all knowledge extends from Him.  It is knowing that knowledge extends far beyond our intellect. So faith helps us grasp the truth of divine revelation. Faith is also knowing that man cannot fully grasp the true nature of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), which is why it's referred to as a mystery. Since humans have free will, we can reject the gift of faith.  When we revolt against God through sin, God may withdraw the gift of faith.

2.  Hope: It can only be practiced by those who believe in God, and has as it's ultimate object union with God in Heaven.  It is trusting that God will grant eternal life if we practice what He has taught us. It is knowing that we cannot achieve eternal life on our own, it's belief or confidence that God will show us how to obtain eternal life, and belief or confidence that He will actually grant it to us when the time comes.

3.  Charity:  It's loving God above all else, and loving others for God's sake.  The exercise of it increase our love for God and our fellow man. It depends on faith, because without faith in God we cannot love, nor can we love our fellow man for God's sake. It is considered by many to be the greatest of all the virtues.

Genesis: the world was created in six eras

Secularists say that the best evidence that the Christian Bible is a work of fiction is the Book of Genesis, which states that the world was created in six day.  Their argument is this is not possible.  Yet those doubters miss the point entirely.

In order to understand the book of Genesis, and the whole Bible for that matter, it is important to understand who wrote it, the language it was originally written in, and the traditions of that era.  Because, when taken out of contexts, the Bible may have a completely different meaning than the one intended.

In fact, this is one of the main reasons why it's important to attend religion classes, participate in Bible Study, and attend Church regularly.  It is in this way that we continuously stay fresh on the true interpretation of Biblical stories. Lacking such studies, we can hardly continue on with our task of being shepherds of of the Lord, as His message will be confounded.

Peter (2 Peter 1:21) said, "Men whom the Holy Spirit guided spoke words from God."  What this means is that God revealed what he did, and His stories were recorded.

The first messenger, then, after the invention of a written language would have been Moses, so some suspect that Moses wrote the first book of the Bible, or the Book of Genesis.  Yet most experts suggest that if he did write it, he had the help of many others, and he also used the words of previous authors.

When we consider that the Bible was originally written in the Ancient Hebrew language, and we consider that the word "day" sometimes meant "age."  So some experts speculate, and probably rightly so, that the six days of creation were probably six eras of creation.

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

I attempted to understand the Holy Spirit in this post.  After I wrote it I realized there were seven gifts of the holy spirit.  They were enumerated in Isaiah11: 2-3, and I will list them here with a pithy description.

Scott P. Richerd, at catholicism.about.com, said:

They are present in their fullness in Jesus Christ but are found in all Christians who are in a state of grace. We receive them when we are infused with sanctifying grace, the life of God within us—as, for example, when we receive a sacrament worthily.

He defines "sanctifying grace" as "that grace which makes the soul holy and pleasing to God."  So we receive them through Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, and Holy Orders.

Richerd then goes on to list and name the seven gifts.

1.  Wisdom:  It is the perfection of the thoelogical virtue of faith. It's learning to detach ourselves from this world and to see things and "judge them in light of the highest end of man -- the contemplation of God." It's the desire to contemplate the the things of god. Wisdom gives us the desire to judge all things according to the truths of the Catholic Faith

2.  Understanding: It allows us to grasp, at least in a limited way, the very essence of the truths of the Catholic Faith. It allows us to draw conclusions from those truths and arrive at a further understanding of man's relations with God and his role in the world. It's being able to contemplate that life is more than just what we see around us.  Understanding allows us so see a greater perspective of life.

3.  Counsel:  It's the perfection of the cardinal virtue Prudence, or judging correctly.  This gift we are able to judge how best to act by mere intuition. Because of the gift of counsel, Christians need not fear to stand up for the truths of the Faith, because the Holy Spirit will guide us in defending those truths.  Counsel guides our actions.

4.  Fortitude: It is both a gift and a cardinal virtue, and it gives us the strength to follow through on the actions suggested by the gift of counsel.

5.  Knowledge: Like wisdom, knowledge is the perfection of faith, but whereas wisdom gives us the desire to judge all things according to the truths of the Catholic Faith, knowledge is the actual ability to do so. Knowledge guides our actions. In a limited way, it allows us to see things as God sees them, and to take the actions that God would take.  "What would Jesus do?"

6.  Piety:  It is the perfection of the virtue religion.  It's the willingness to worship and serve God, and to serve him out of love, the way we honor our parents.

7.  Fear of the Lord:  This gives us the the desire not to offend God.  It gives us the ability to respect God.  Like Peity, Fear of the Lord rises out of love.

What are the cardinal virtues

Cardinal virtues are the four principle moral virtues, and all other virtues hinge on these four.  Unlike the theological virtues which are gifts of God through grace, the cardinal virtues can be practiced by anyone.  They include:

Prudence: It allows us to judge correctly what is right and what is wrong in any given situation. Doing the work of God shows good prudence. Doing the work of the devil shows poor prudence.  Because it is so easy to fall into error, it is essential that we seek the help of others.  Disregarding the advice of others is considered imprudence.  Regarding the advice of others is prudence. Prudence helps us decide what needs to be done. 

Justice: It is giving everything and everyone it's rightful attention.  We must not judge based on personal views, we must judge based on what is true.  For instance, if we owe someone money, we must pay him the money we owe, regardless of whether we like that person. If we are deciding on whether something is legal or not legal, we must make our decision based on the law of the land, not on our own personal political affiliation. It is doing what is right regardless of our opinion. Justice helps us decide what needs to be done. 

Fortitude: It is the ability to conquer fear and remain steady when facing obstacles.  It's the restraint of fear so we can act. Fortitude gives us the strength to do what needs to be done. Fortitude is also the only cardinal virtue that is also a one of the seven gifts of the holy spirit. 

Temperance: It's the restraint of our desires and actions. While food, drink and sex are all needs, too much of of any of them can have undesirable consequences. Temperance prevents us from overindulging. 

How was the devil formed?

Fr. Oscar Lukefahr said Everything God creates is good.  He created all the angels in Heaven as good. However, as any good father would do, he allowed his angels the right to choose. One fallen angel chose to become evil, and he became a fallen angel, later to be named Satin, Lucifer or the Devil.

He said that while God created all good, he allowed the Devil to do is evil.  So the Devil did. However, because God was the creator of everything, including the Devil, the Devil could not defeat God nor destroy the kingdom of Christ.

The Devil chose to reject God and His good, and he chose to tempt the first man and woman to walk away from God and toward sin.  Adam and Eve were also given the right to choose, because what fun would it be to live in a world where you had no way to make it better.  So the Devil decided that he would tempt them.

He said:

Genisis said that God told the first humans not to eat from the tree of knowledge, and this was his way of saying that they must accept God's laws which tell us what is good and what is evil.  But the first human beings disobeyed God's command.  Seduced by the devil, they preferred themselves to God, thinking they could thereby be like God.

Instead, their sin brought tragic consequences.  Satan gave them a false image of God as one who was jealous to keep power from them.  They became afraid of God.  They lost the soul's control over their body, the accord between man and woman, harmony from creation, and freedom from death.

Sin flooded the world and has affected all of history.  It has affected us, for we are drawn toward what is wrong and trapped by evils which cannot come from God.  This can be unerstood only in connection with the sin of our first parents.  

Because of their sin, our first parents transmitted a human nature deprived of holiness and justice, a state known as original sin.  Original sin does not wholly corrupt human nature.  But id does deprive us of original holiness and weakens our natural powers.  It subjects us to ignorance, suffering, and death.  It gives us an inclination toward sin called concupiscence.  As a result, we must struggle with sin.  We are tempted by Satan and negatively influenced by sinful sinful situations in society.

So while everything God created was good, including angels and humans, he gave us the right to accept or reject his laws. Yet when one angel rejected God, he became the devil and created sin and hell.  Hell is one of the biggest deterrents for those who believe in God's laws from sinning.

Are atheists given a guardian angel?

An interesting question that occurred to me as I was studying angels was this: if a person is an atheist, will that person still be given a personal angel?

The authors of The New Theological Movement addressed this issue. And while the answer they gave was to another question, I think it would also answer mine.  They wrote:

Will the anti-Christ have an angel guardian? If he is a human being, he will have an angel guardian. Even though he will be a great enemy of God, the Lord will still love him – the expression of this love is the gift of a guardian angel.

I imagine that answers my question.

Can you name your guardian angel?

I had dinner a while back with fellow members of the Knights of Columbus and our priest.  One of the Knights suggested we name our guardian angel.  Our priest concurred.  So we all discussed possible names for our angels. The name I pulled out of my head was Martin, as though my angel named himself.

Angels are superior to humans, and were actually created before God created man in his own image.  Angels are immortal, and were made by God to be his messengers, and their mission is to help us and guide us through life.  We enjoy their company from the time as we as we struggle with the trials and trivializations as well as the great joys of life.  When we struggle, they struggle with us; when we feel joy, they feel joy with us.

Your personal angel not only guides you through life, but also may affect your physical world.  For instance, during those moments when you are driving and wake up from your fantasy world, and you realize, "Wow!  How did I stay on the road?" Probably during those times your angel was driving for you.

Father Ryan Erlenbush of "The New Theological Movement" wrote:

Can my angel guardian affect the physical world around me? Yes. St. Gemma Galgani would regularly ask her guardian angel to mail letters for her – many letters were sent back and forth to her spiritual director while he was in Rome.

Anyway, I recently Googled "Can you name your angel?" and the answer I got was "No!"  It was no on every site I went to, including the Vatican (see section 217):

The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture.

Father Ryan Erlenbush  noted:

Can I name my guardian angel? Perhaps, but we must keep in mind that it belongs to a superior to name an inferior. Thus, it seems unfitting that a human being should name an angel.

So I guess it's not such a good idea to name our angels.  However, I have this feeling my angel's name is Martin anyway, so, perhaps he revealed it to me. Once again, I quote Father Ryan Erlenbush:

How do I find out my guardian angel’s name? You could try asking. But it is also possible that it will not be revealed to you immediately. I should think that in heaven, we would all know guardian angels’ names.

One author noted that parents name their children because children are supposed to look up to and respect their parents.  But people should not name their angels because angels are superior to humans, and we should look up to and respect them.

What are angels?

Do you ever wonder what angels are.  No, I'm not referring to the baseball team in California, I'm referring to the angels of Heaven.

When I asked my five-year-old daughter Laney this she said, "Angels aren't real."

I said they are.  In fact, I told her that we all have an angel to help us and guide us through life.  I told her I named my angel Martin, and that she should name hers. Yet this was all over her head, no pun intended.

So what are angels, at least according to the Catholic faith?  Oscar Lukefahr, in his book "The Catechism Handbook" defines angel this way:

Heaven refers to the angels, personal and immortal spiritual beings who are created by God and possess intelligence  and free will.  The word angel means "messenger," and angels are mentioned throughout the Scripture as those who do God's will and care for people.  Angels adore and minister to Christ.  Angels watch over and protect us as members of the Church, and we enjoy their company on life's journey.

Every have one of those moments where you are driving down the road and all of a sudden you wake up from your dream and wonder how you were still on the road and not on a ditch.  Well, I think it in such moments that your angel is watching over you.

Angels can't stop you from making bad decisions, and they can't stop you from dying.  But they surely can help you through life.  I believe your conscience is your angel talking to you.  He is telling you to make the right decision.

Catholic Online agrees with  Lukefahr, and adds:

Although the word "angel" in the Bible, meaning a messenger, nearly always applies to heavenly beings, it can occasionally apply to human messengers. Malachi himself said a priest was a messenger (malak) of the LORD of hosts (Malachi 2:7), and in the Book of Revelation the elders of the seven churches of Asia were called angels (1:20;2:1 etc.). But when we meet messengers doing supernatural things, there is no doubt they are heavenly beings - God's messengers, working for Him and for the ultimate benefit of mankind.

Catholic Online also discusses personal angels, such as I was discussing to my Laney.  It begins by quoting a Psalm (Psalm 91:10-12 ):

No evil shall befall you, nor shall affliction come near your tent, for to His Angels God has given command about you, that they guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Catholic Online then describes your personal angel this way:

A heavenly spirit assigned by God to watch over each of us during our lives. The doctrine of angels is part of the Church's tradition. The role of the guardian angel is both to guide us to good thoughts, works and words, and to preserve us from evil...

He has charged His angels with the ministry of watching and safeguarding every one of His creatures that behold not His face. Kingdoms have their angels assigned to them, and men have their angels...

So even nations, such as the United States, has an angel guiding us on our path to share the Bible, capitalism, and natural rights with the world through our good example.  It is for this reason that the U.S. will always prevail.

So, should we all give our personal angels a name?  Recently I had a friend tell me tell me I should give my angel a name, and our priest, who was having dinner with us, agreed.  I Googled this, and the answer I got was from Catholic Answers:

I once attended a conference during which a priest said that we should name our guardian angels. So I did. Now I just heard someone say that we should never name our guardian angel because demons like the knowledge of names.

What are the Creeds?

The Holy Trinity is called a mystery because
no one understands fully what they mean.
The Catholic Faith tries to help us understand

What are the creeds?  What do we mean when we Catholics make the sign of the cross?  Many Catholics don't even know why they do it, and even I benefited from some recent research into this.

We usually do the cross, and say the words: father, son, and holy spirit.  But what is the father, what is the son, and what is the holy spirit?  What is the relevance of them? Why do we say them?

Well, it all starts with God, and God is a Trinity of persons as follows:

1. Father
2. Son
3. Holy Spirit

What they are is part of a creed, which comes from the Latin term "credo," which means "I believe." Theology, Catholicism, essentially focuses on the study of God as the Holy Trinity.  We cannot fully understand this.  However, God has revealed it as the basis of our Faith.  All other things spring from this essential mystery.

Let me further describe the Holy Trinity:

1. God, the father, or Lord.  He is the origin of everything and cares for us as children.  He sees all and knows all.  Everything in the universe comes from Him. God is almighty because he can do all things.  He is granted infinite mercy to us, and even allows us to make our own decisions, even to disobey him, and cause sin.  The ultimate goal of God is for people to believe in him in order to conquer evil and bring life from death, which he ultimately did when he allowed the Word to become a human, to live among us, to share the word of God, and to die for us so that we may live. 
2. Son of God, the Word, Jesus.  He is the wisdom of God.  I like to simply refer to him as "The Word," as you can read in John 1:1.  The word appeared at random times in the Old testament, as it was He who created the Sun and planets, the Earth, Light/Day, Darkness/ Night, and man in the image of the Father.  He later appeared to Moses in a burning bush.  Yet he most famously appeared as Jesus Christ.  His mission, the words mission, is to share the wisdom of the father.  
3. Holy Spirit or Advocate of God:  This is what sanctifies us.  This is what we feel inside us.  Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot accept God.  The Holy Spirit is the sense of Glory, Faith and Hope inside us.  It's the feeling of love, joy, and happiness.  

Now Consider what the John the Apostle had to say about the Word:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness,and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)

The Father , Son/word, and Holy Spirit are the central mystery of our faith, yet together they make up one God.  All that is done, all that is created, comes from the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit.  Those who believe are Christians.

God created free choice and capitalism

I want to tell you something about socialism and capitalism, and God and the Devil, and Goodness and Sin.  These are things that many people will try to convince you are not true, but they are.

First of all, socialism (liberalism, progressivism, communism, totalitarianism) is a form of government where experts (mostly socialist experts) believe you are not smart enough to make responsible decisions, so they make decisions for you. They decide what is best for you. People never have to strive for perfection because the experts decide for you what perfection is.

Capitalism (conservatism, liberatarianism) is a form of government where a government exists only to protect the people, who are given complete and total control of their own lives.  The people are allowed to make decisions, although are forced to take responsibility for their actions.  If they succeed, they are allowed to reap the rewards.  If they do poorly, they will be forced to suffer, or to try to do better. Since perfection is what the people perceive it to be, they will always strive for it.

When God created the world and put people in it, He very well could have made everyone do exactly what he wanted.  He could have made it so we were all the same, with no chance to improve upon the world.

He didn't, because what kind of a world would it be if we were all the same? It would be a very boring, non-productive world.  We would not be able to improve upon it. There would be no purpose in living if we were all the same.  He might as well not even have made us.

Basically, what God decided not to create was a socialistic world.  He decided not to make a progressive or liberal world.  He decided not to make a communist world.  He knew that a world where everyone was the same, where all the choices were already made by an elite power (in this case Him), would make for a bunch of lazy, non-productive people.

If you think about it, mankind has tried over and over and over and over and over again to create a socialistic society, and it has failed every time.  You can look back at nearly every ancient society, and they all eventually failed.  You can look at the Pilgrims after they traveled to the United States, as their leaders failed to incite productivity until after they inculcated the values of the Bible and capitalism.  You can look at recent examples in Russia and the Soviet Union.  You can look at any totalitarian dictatorship that has ever existed.  You can look at any oppressed nation, any third world nation, and you will see some form of socialist government, and failure.

God new that socialism would never work, which is why he gave us all natural rights and free will and liberty.  He gave us the ability to choose, and to take accountability for our actions.  He knew this would result in sin and chaos, but he also new this would result in many great things.  He new out of chaos would come great inventions, many of which we take for granted today such as philosophy, medicine, electricity, plastic, computers, Internet, television, cable television, automobiles, glass, microwaves, photography, and flight.

Most of the greatest discoveries and inventions came as a result of governments that inspired free thought, or a way of life that inculcates freedom and personal responsibility as inculcated by the Bible.  In other words, the Bible is about making the individual better, not about making the state or collective better.  The Bible preaches individual responsibility and accountability.  In other words, the world can become better by making the individual better.  This is sort of the pretext of what would later form the basis of American freedom and American exceptionalism; a form of government that allowed individuals with an idea and a desire to go as far in life as they could, rather than being limited by their government or some government leader, such as a king, queen, or dictator.

God gave us all free will.  He made it so that we had the ability to choose, and he made it so we had to take responsibility for our choices. If we wanted to, we could work hard to make the world better.  Yet at the same time, we could be selfish and greedy and work to make the world better for ourselves.  In other words, we could choose God, or we could choose Sin.

In other words, God was the first conservative.  Sin, Satin and Socialism were created out of the chaos as a means of controlling mankind and converting men away from God.

A perfect modern example of this is Stalin. He even said once that he was a Christian man himself, but he could not allow his people to worship God and his Bible because the Bible preaches Capitalism.  So he banned religion, and he burned all the Bibles and churches.

The people of Russia were not happy, so in order to keep the people from leaving communism, he oppressed his people by telling them lies about the free world and making them feel as though they had it well in Communist Russia.  The same still holds true for Communist China today: the people are not happy, but they are oppressed and told lies so they believe they have it well under the rule of a dictator, who lives well in his mansions.

The Communists built the Berlin wall, but they didn't build it to prevent people from coming in, because they wanted people to come it.  They built it to keep people from getting out, because they knew no one wanted to be controlled by the government.  You see, this was exactly why God did not choose socialism, and he gave us free will instead, because he did not want to have to build walls to keep us here.

The United States was and is the greatest example of capitalism that has ever existed.  American exceptionalism means that for 99.9% of human existence most people lived under oppressed dictatorship and were not allowed to be free.  The United States was the first nation ever that allowed for unfettered freedom under the promise that the government would never take away any of the natural rights given to the people by God.  This is why God blesses America with so much greatness.

Why do you think 40 percent of liberals (progressives, socialism) in the United States say that they do not believe in God and His Bible?  The reason is because socialism cannot exist with the Bible.  The two do not go hand in hand, because God preaches capitalism.  So long as any person worships God's Bible, unfettered socialism cannot exist.

It is for this reason that they don't allow prayer in schools, and work hard to take away divinity scenes from public places.  It is for this reason that they try to convince people there is not God, and that science cannot exist in a world with God and His Bible.  The truth is, they do this not because they love you, but because they thing you are inferior to them. They do this because they want to control you and drive you toward satin.

The truth is, God can exist with science, and God can exist with evolution and God can exist throughout the world.  God is freedom is liberty is free choice is personal responsibility and is accountability.  God is the antithesis of chaos: He is success, and he is capitalism.

See my post "Why Progressives/Liberals/Socialists/Totalitarians want to get rid of capitalism"

How does God reveal Himself?

Fr. Oscar Lukfahr said that the only way you can accept God is by receiving the Holy Spirit.  If you do not receive it, then you will for surely not receive the word.  The word, or the son of God, who eventually appeared to us as Jesus, shares with us the wisdom of the Father, or Lord, or God.

He said there are two methods that God revealed his wisdom to us:

1.  Supernatural revelation: The word could not reveal to us all wisdom all at once, so he gradually revealed this to us.  For instance, the first revelation was that God existed.  Then, when Adam and Eve sinned, God revealed that he was willing to forgive and offer salvation.

2.  Divine Revelation:  The word came to us as a human named Jesus Christ, and he suffered as we suffer, and died for us so that we may live. As the word, or the son of God, he shared the word of God.  He commanded his apostles  to share the Gospel with the world.  They did this in two ways:

1. Orally through their preachings
2. Writings through their scriptures (the Bible)

He said the apostles could not live forever, so they left bishops as their successors to handle Christ's work and to help spread the word to the world.  In this way the church was formed in order to help teach the revelations to the people, and help them to understand the revelations.   These revelations are passed down by the church by two means, both of which come with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and of which are called "deposits of faith":

1. Scripture (The Bible):  Written by human beings who used their abilities the best they could to share God's inspiration.  Since the Bible was written early in human existence, the authors had the limited ability to coin words.  For this reason, most stories are told in literary, or allegorical, styles.  Yet since the words they speak are from the inspirations of God, then  He is the author of the scriptures. Since he is the author, we must accept firmly and faithfully that the Bible, the scriptures, represents the words of God.  We must read through the words for the true message from God. The Bible is interpreted with the help of the Holy Spirit for those who have accepted the Holy Spirit. For those who have not accepted the Holy Spirit, the Bible might appear as an illogical work of fiction. 
2. Tradition (Church):  This is the word that comes from the apostles, thus passing on what they learned from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. These are observed in the "tradition" of the church, which should allow priests to share the messages from the Bible and explain what they mean.

Those who accept the Holy Spirit will also be able to accept Jesus, and therefore God.  Those who receive God will have Faith, which is a gift from God.  Since God gave us the right to choose, those of us who choose to have faith choose to freely trust God

He said that faith is a gift from God.  It is our attempt to fully understand the word of God, and the truths he has revealed.  It's our effort to know God and understand him better. 

While faith is given as a gift, it can be lost. Lukefahr said:

Fairht must be free.  God does not force us to believe even though faith is necessary for salvation.  Faith can be lost through neglect and sin, and we must nurture faith by study, prayer, and works of charity.  When te trials of this imperfect world shake our faith, we should turn to model believers like Abraham and Mary.  Above all, we must look to jesus, the 'pioneer and perfecter of our faith'

He added

 Faith is a personal act, but we receive faith from others and should hand it on.  The faith of the Church is professed personally by each believer and by the liturgical assembly of believers.  The Church is our mother, our teacher in faith.  The Church guards the faith and gives us formulas, the Creeds, by which we profess our faith and remain one in the faith.  'Through the centuries, in so many languages, cultures, peoples, and nations, the Church has constantly confessed this one faith, received from the one Lord, transmitted by the one Baptism, and grounded in the conviction that all people have only one God and Father."

God reveals his wisdom, but in order to receive his wisdom we must accept the Holy spirit; we must have faith.