tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post6853098924024823331..comments2024-03-28T21:32:26.550+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Do not despair! Damnation hangs by a thread.Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-80923905579468963442014-07-23T06:14:00.277+01:002014-07-23T06:14:00.277+01:00@scory. Good comment.
I find that many of these ...@scory. Good comment. <br /><br />I find that many of these matters are clarified by thinking of God in his primary Biblical metaphor as a wholly loving and wholly good Father - and how a loving a good Father would behave concerning his children. Much theology fails the test of being plausible at this level - indeed, violating grossly the loving Father metaphor.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-62248639619036657672014-07-23T02:11:05.093+01:002014-07-23T02:11:05.093+01:00You are right. Salvation, in some degree, is avai...You are right. Salvation, in some degree, is available to all but those who knowingly reject it. Though I believe that in the case of the unrepentant justice must and will be served to "the uttermost farthing". But God IS just and eternal damnation for finite crimes is not justice. There is an end to hell for most (though I would not want to experience even a second in that place). <br /><br />It takes effort and determination to damn oneself eternally. It takes the kind of pride and pure, determined evil exemplified by Lucifer. That he has his admirers and emulators here is all too well known. That their numbers appear to be growing daily is all too distressing.scorynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-47341836281890315082014-07-22T15:52:36.277+01:002014-07-22T15:52:36.277+01:00@JC - I read "The Imitation of Christ" a...@JC - I read "The Imitation of Christ" and was quite taken aback by what first appeared to almost a self-hatred - at least by today's standards. Some of it has sunk-in though, and I've been more aware of my daily mistakes (that perhaps before I felt a need to defend or identify with). Having an attitude of self-observation and daily repentance has proven helpful to me. To separate oneself from the unvirtuous thoughts and behavior immediately, and trying to identify ourselves and reach towards (slowly, with difficulty) towards goodness (God).<br /><br />The traditional Catholic attitude seems to recognize that we all sin, almost all the time (with the saints those who were apparently harshest on themselves), yet without this leading towards despair. I think it is a very difficult balance to strike today, especially with limited guidance from the surrounding community or religious support network. George Goerlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07916687977887167466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-25436225979589172742014-07-21T20:26:04.862+01:002014-07-21T20:26:04.862+01:00@JC - I got this mostly from the end of CS Lewis&#...@JC - I got this mostly from the end of CS Lewis's 'Screwtape Letters', when the demon fails to obtain 'the patient's soul for hell, and it is revealed how difficult this is to manage and how easy it is for a soul to slip from Satan's grasp. <br /><br />As a corrective, 'Screwtape proposes a toast', which was written later, reveals the hell has never has such an abundance of souls as in the post 1939-45 war period... Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-39684565389913686672014-07-21T20:07:23.942+01:002014-07-21T20:07:23.942+01:00I dearly hope you are correct. Because living vir...I dearly hope you are correct. Because living virtuously in this society feels like an impossibility; the supports for virtue are so lacking, and it takes immense willpower to do right when the society opposes rather than supports it. I hope God will see that though I sin, I take no pride in it and do not try to defend it.Jonathan Cnoreply@blogger.com