Catholic Teens - February 1, 2005

On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 10:05:36 -0600, pwxsevere wrote
> St. Paul talks about "running the race" in a number of places in the
> New Testament. See Hebrews 12:1-4, "and persevere in running the
> race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the
> leader and perfecter of faith..."
>
> A number of you play sports or have in the past. How much time do
> you spend practicing? (You might say too much! :-) ). But why do
> you practice? So that you can perform on the playing field. St.
> Paul speaks of the life of faith similarly---it's a long race, a
> marathon, per se. Full of peaks and valleys, good times and bad
> times(sound like football or basketball season?) And we always keep
> going, with our eyes on the prize--in this case heaven and Jesus.
> It's an awesome life! :-)
>
> Every week, I'll answer questions on the faith. So feel free to
> submit one or two..or three...
>
> **********************************************************************
This one is from Milladore, "What is apologetics?" --Well it's not
an "apology" for being Catholic. The original meaning of the
word "apologia" is to give an explanation or defense of. So apologetics is
giving the reasons why you believe what you do. In a Catholic context it is
the formal study of why we believe what we do as Catholics.
>
> It has become more and more popular the past 20 years or so as more
> people want to know why Catholics believe in things like purgatory,
> Mary's perpetual virginity, etc.
>
> **********************************************************************
> ***
>
> Below is a cool email I received....
>
> God bless you!
> Phil Lawson
>
> Does GOD Exist?
> The university professor challenged his students with this question.
> "Did God create everything that exists?"
>
> A student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!"
>
> "God created everything?" The professor asked.
>
> "Yes sir", the student replied.
>
> The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created
> evil, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our
> works define who we are, then God is evil".
>
> The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite
> pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven
> once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
>
> Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question
> professor?"
>
> "Of course", replied the professor.
>
> The student stood up and asked, "Professor does cold exist?"
>
> "What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never
> been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.
>
> The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According
> to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the
> absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when
> it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter
> have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460° F) is the total
> absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction
> at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word
> to describe how we feel if we have no heat."
>
> The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"
>
> The professor responded, "Of course it does."
>
> The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does
> not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light
> we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to
> break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths
> of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light
> can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you
> know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light
> present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to
> describe what happens when there is no light present."
>
> Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"
>
> Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already
> said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's
> inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence
> everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."
>
> To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least
> it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It
> is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to
> describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not
> like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is
> the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present
> in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or
> the darkness that comes when there is no light."
>
> The professor sat down.
> The young man's name --- Albert Einstein

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you
wish." --Mother Teresa