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When Aquinas said that we know God by analogy what did he mean?

Actually, Jesus Christ of Nazareth did not teach theology

Theology literally means “Knowledge of God”, which our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ certainly did teach, as did his Apostles, particularly St. John the Beloved Disciple, who in my church we venerate as the Theologian (indeed we regard there as having been only three worthy of being venerated as theologians, the others being St. Gregory Nazianzus and St. Symeon the New).

The Orthodox also believe an infant and a mentally disabled person can acquire Theology proper.

What people often conflate with theology is the study of theology, which in English was historically called Divinity, which is still the formal name for academic studies leading to ministry - the typical professional degree of a clergyman is a Masters of Divinity, some getting a Doctorate of Divinity, and the traditional word for a scholar of theologian is a “Divine”, which does not mean they are a god, but rather that they focus their lives on the study of God’s teachings.
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Trump says suspect in custody in killing of Charlie Kirk

The shooter internet-allegedly* dressed as Pepe the Frog for Halloween a few years back.

*I don't know how truthful this is.
My sources are telling me he once ate a sandwich from Chick-fil-A. A Chick-fil-A secretly owned by Israelis.
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How is it that the Catholic Church is evil?

There are many Catholics that are not as knowledgeable as you, and they treat many Catholic rituals in the same way as pagans treat theirs. It is a superstitious ritual that pleases the gods.

And you know this how? Have you met any of these supposed Catholics?

Also by Catholic, do you mean Roman Catholic or are you referring to the entire Church Catholic referred to in the Nicene Creed?

That is what I am referring to primarily. If you believe that Mary can pray for you and hear the prayers of millions of people in the world, have at it,

As I’ve made clear, we ask the Theotokos and other saints for their intercession. And a major aspect of salvation is Theosis - becoming by grace what Christ is by nature - eternal, blessed with miraculous abilities, and indeed some of these miraculous abilities appear in this life, as demonstrated, for example, by the bilocation of St. John Maximovitch. Roman Catholics report similar experiences with their saints - in the process of ecumenical reunion our churches will no doubt form a combined martyrology or synaxarion to use the Eastern term of those saints of each church acceptable to be venerated by the other (some Orthodox saints are venerated by Roman Catholics even now, for example, St. Gregory Palamas, who is venerated in the Byzantine Rite churches such as the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church).

but it is Christ who has mercy on your soul.

Absolutely no one disputes that Christ alone is capable of saving us - indeed the Blessed Virgin Mary was saved by Him, a fact demonstrated by the miraculous assumption of her body after her repose. The idea that anyone else saves us is antithetical to Christianity, since we worship Christ our Lord, God and Savior, who became incarnate and sacrificed Himself on the Cross in order to remake man in His image, so that we might become sons of the Father by adoption, achieving a state higher than that of Adam before the fall.

And the idea that Christians can save themselves is Pelagianism, which is rejected by all ancient churches (interestingly, how Pelagianism is rejected varies between the Orthodox and Catholics - historically the early church relied mainly on the anti-Pelagian arguments not of St. Augustine, who was venerated rather for his morality and for works like The City of God, but by another Latin monastic, St. John Cassian. However in the Middle Ages, St. Augustine came to dominate Patristics in the West, at the expense of most other Patristic figures, probably because of the volume of his work and the fact it was available in Latin, and a shortage of books, and as a result the Roman model of anti-Pelagian hamartiology is one based on St. Augustine. This results in the perceived need for the Immaculate Conception, a dogma we Orthodox Christians reject.


. I was trying to show that there is a big difference between orthodox Catholic doctrine and the superstitious Catholic. I don’t agree with much of the Roman doctrine, but I’m not in any way ready to condemn.

I appreciate your respect for right-believing Catholics, but I think your concerns about crypto-Paganism in the Catholic church are, while not unfounded, the less severe problem; a more severe problem is that of liberal “Cafeteria Catholics” who reject Roman Catholic moral teachings on homosexuality and other important points, and who have become extremely powerful. Everything you hear about the “Synod on Synodality” and the ‘Synodal Way Forward” is an attempt by liberal German bishops to try to secure autonomy from the Church in Rome so that they can change their position on homosexuality.

However, this is not a reason to regard the Roman church as evil, which is what this thread is about. In the face of such threats, and also the unwarranted mistreatment of traditional Catholics by some liberal bishops, and the continued absurd abusive criticism of the Roman Catholic church by non-Catholics despite repeated pleas by myself and others that it cease, I stand in solidarity with my traditional Roman Catholic friends such as @boughtwithaprice @chevyontheriver @Michie and @Xeno.of.athens.

I would also note I have never criticized Messianic Judaism and insofar as it has led to some of the Jews who did not convert early on to convert, while retaining their traditional prayers, I am interested in it, and I am interested in Messianic liturgy, since Jewish liturgy is a major area of interest to me (it is extremely fascinating to study the thrice daily prayers of Judaism, which developed into the three daily prayers of the Divine Office, Vespers at dusk, Compline at night and Matins at dawn, the change in time being required to avoid observation by potential Roman persecutors. Later the Divine Office of most churches developed to add additional offices, which for a time were prayed at the intended time but are now grouped together to form longer services, however, in the case of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East, due to the genocide waged against them by the 12th century Muslim warlord Tamerlane, which turned them from what was the world’s largest church, geographically, into one of the smallest, leaving intact only the suroye (Assyrians) in the Fertile Crescent and the Mar Thoma Christians, who are partially of Jewish descent, being related to the Kochin Jews, of Kerala, India, the monastic use of their liturgy was lost and all that survives are the three ancient offices. Additionally their liturgy preserves an unusually large number of Jewish influences - the Divine Liturgy of Addai and Mari, their primary Holy Communion service, has the seven-fold structure of a Jewish table blessing, their lectionary typically has four lessons per service, two Old Testament lessons, which are a Torah and Haftarah pairing that matches the Jewish pairings, albeit in a sometimes altered sequence, since these related lessons are read as prophecies in support of the Epistle and Gospel, as in other liturgical rites. And their churches historically had a Bema connected to the Altar via a walkway, with the Gospel and other scriptures being read at the Bema, and some recent East Syriac churches have resumed this pattern (we also see the use of a Bema in other Eastern Christian liturgical spaces albeit in a different configuration - the main difference in architecture between an Eastern church and a synagogue is the replacement of the Torah Ark with the altar on which the Holy Eucharist is offered.
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Trump says suspect in custody in killing of Charlie Kirk

Is there a chance the shooter is not a liberal with anita/antifa adjacent views?
I guess it i am honest. There is a chance for anything. Like there is a chance the shooter is one of those lizard people trying to maintain control of the world order.
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I hold a view similar to the Open View of God.

Who said anything about a little group? Revelation talks of the redeemed as a multitude which no man can number. It is strange how those who don't believe in God's election often seem to give the false idea that those of us who do believe it also believe that only a few will be saved.
It is not about how many will be saved. But rather "who" God desires salvation for. All people are a target of God's redemption, not a "preselected" group.
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Trump says suspect in custody in killing of Charlie Kirk

At this point, it doesnt matter what the final score is. We just know who won and who lost. The only thing left to figure out is by how much. But of course, there is always a chance for anything.
Is there a chance the shooter is not a liberal with anita/antifa adjacent views?
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Jesus was crucified on Thursday

Nice to know you are still around. I am a young 68. Although my body is getting old my mind is still young. Did you post on this topic when you were Old Shepherd?
When I first joined, about 20 yrs ago, I posted as Old Shepherd then the original owner Irwin Loh asked me to join the staff. My posts were sometime a bit abrasive and Irwin chastised me since I was on staff. That is when I took the additional name of Der Alte, German for the elder, for posting and OId Shepherd only for moderating so as not to cause trouble.
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Trump says suspect in custody in killing of Charlie Kirk

Doesn't matter. Oompa and plenty of others aren't interested in the final score; they've already set forth and reached a cozy destination.
At this point, it doesnt matter what the final score is. We just know who won and who lost. The only thing left to figure out is by how much. But of course, there is always a chance for anything.
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Let's Track the Economy (with objective empirical data?)

Consumer sentiment drops in September as Americans anticipate job market risks

The University of Michigan’s preliminary Survey of Consumers showed that overall sentiment dropped to 55.4 in September, a 4.8% decline from August’s reading of 58.2 and the lowest reading since May. The headline consumer sentiment index is down by 21% from a year ago.
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How is it that the Catholic Church is evil?

What is lawlessness? It's literally sin. So just because someone claims to follow Christ and does a bunch of stuff in his name, does not mean they are Christs. Your argument isn't biblically backed.

It is, because all martyrs for Christ are guaranteed to be saved according to Scripture, and Scripture does not preclude veneration, and furthermore, your argument, which supposes a Great Apostasy, contradicts Matthew 16:18, which promises that the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against the church.

. So you can say you aren't, but actually you are if you pray to them.

Who are you to say whether I am offering worship or not? i have never performed latria to the Theotokos or any creature, and I resent the accusation. “Judge not, lest ye not be judged.”
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Riders of Renewal: How the Four Horsemen Begin in the End Times

Great how you can get hope out of disasters.
However, scripture is perfectly clear, the Four Horsemen represent War, Famine, Plagues and economic failure. They have all happened over the entire history of mankind. Zechariah 1:8-11 & 6:1-6 describe a period of calm, where those disasters were temporarily checked.

But even in our lifetimes now, these terrible events have been very evident. Including the Fifth Seal of the Christian martyrs; still ongoing.
What is obvious; is how the Sixth Seal has to be the next Prophesied event, the Day the Lord will reset civilization to a similar extent as He did in the days of Noah.
We Christian Bible believers, should know all about it and be prepared to stand firm in or faith thru it all.
I see things much the same way as you in that war, famine, plagues, and death have always been part of human history (though I notice you’ve swapped death for economic failure, which I’m not very familiar with in your eschatology). I think where we differ is that I believe the four horsemen, specifically the white horse rider, are at an appointed time, which means these events that take place are divinely shaped, if that's the right word.

For me, the judgments of sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts aren’t just general disasters but a very specific judgment on God’s household (Ezekiel 14:21; 1 Peter 4:17). The horsemen are about purification - breaking false securities in the church, exposing corruption, and preserving a faithful remnant.

So yes, history shows these patterns, but I don’t see the Four Horsemen as merely cycles of calamity. I see them as an ordered sequence of God’s judgment and restoration at the appointed time.

And I wholeheartedly agree with your last point. As Christians, especially those who have weaponised Christ and prophecy for political or nationalist agendas, we need to wake up from that spell and walk in truth, humility, and justice (Psalm 45:4). If our understanding of the end times leads us to ignore the human side of ourselves and dehumanise others, then there is a serious issue with the current state of our hearts. Faith is not a weapon, and prophecy is not a license to justify cruelty. Faithful obedience to God calls us to see the image of Christ in every person, to act with mercy, and to reflect His righteousness in our daily lives, especially in such times as this.
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Why are all these leading Democrats suddenly facing mortgage fraud charges? Trump's retribution guy at the Federal Housing Finance Agency

Seems like Trump’s lackey, Pulte, is straight up lying:
But documentation reviewed by Reuters for the Atlanta home, filed with a court in Georgia’s Fulton County, clearly says the stipulation exists “unless Lender otherwise agrees in writing.” The loan estimate, a document prepared by the credit union, states “Property Use: Vacation Home.”

In another point that could help Cook’s case, she never requested a tax exemption for the Georgia home as a primary residence, according to property records and a Fulton County tax official.
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