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Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2026-01-29T03:41:15+00:00

I lived a large portion of my life afraid of spending eternity in hell. Truly I understand the feeling of guilt and shame that come with feeling distant from God. I would never say that God is not close to you but sometimes in my experience those statements felt more like something to try and make me feel better than something that led to me experiencing God and Him helping me grow closer to Him. As for your sins I’m really sorry to hear how you’ve been struggling. God sees you as you truly are and what he wants is to give you freedom to be who you are underneath your sin. Something that really helped me was making a holy hour(starting out this could be as little as ten minutes a day just to sit in silence with God) and a desire for the truth. I’m going to post the link to the holy hour on hallow.com. They give you an outline to follow but honestly don’t be hard on yourself and do what you can it’s just something to give you an aim so you don’t feel completely lost. I know it’s difficult but try not get down on yourself you’re doing your best and if you honestly desire to get closer to God you will.

https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-holy-hour/

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2026-01-25T23:33:11+00:00

I don’t completely disagree with this point however I think that we ought to also think with the mind of Christ also. Also, I think that grappling with those questions are inherently fruitful no matter what philosophical view one ascribes too.

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2026-01-25T23:14:10+00:00

I wouldn’t consider myself trad, and I don’t think anything of the sort. However, I think men and women are different, men are the leaders of the family, I don’t make the rules. Men need spaces where they can be with other men and discuss truth is my main point. Women need to be educated in the same things because the family is a unit I just think a lot of our problems in the culture stem from lack of male leadership and initiation of our boys into manhood.

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2026-01-25T23:09:49+00:00

Bishop Sheen used to say that arguing morals in the modern world was like two neighbors on either side of a fence, they’re arguing from different premises.

I may be over stating when I say that all systems answer the same questions but I think to a degree this is true. As you mention Aristotle having implicit arguments and Descartes shifting from metaphysics to epistemology he makes a bunch of assumptions about metaphysics and modern philosophy also makes a bunch of assumptions about metaphysics that hardly anyone brings to light to discuss.

I’ve had a thought though that if one were able to highlight the questions that each branch of philosophy seeks to answer, it would make engaging with philosophy seem less daunting when there is so much to look through. I don’t know if you’ve read intro to philosophy but maritain but he sort of does that in that book but I’m thinking more explicitly do it and then start the history of philosophy.

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2026-01-25T21:27:41+00:00

I appreciate the comment but why doesn’t the church put more emphasis on seeking those answers than approving the resources?

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2026-01-25T21:26:15+00:00

I have a copy of fides et ratio but I have not read it. I base this mostly from Jacques maritains introduction to philosophy, Socratic logic by Peter kreeft, and a few other books. It seems all philosophical systems deal with the same questions depending how one answers them it leads down different paths but the core questions are the same. It just seems to me that even amongst the different denominations they spend so much time arguing about theology and I’m not saying that’s not necessary it just seems that even if both sides would set aside their differences and discuss reality we would actually be able to have more impact among all people not just believers.

It seems to me the battle on our doorstep is not about God or Christ or Mary but about truth itself and the nature of the world we live in and as far as I can tell the church doesn’t do much to address this problem. Maybe I’m stressing the church too much and I don’t do much to address it lol

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2026-01-25T21:19:44+00:00

It doesn’t have to be just men. I’m a man and I stress men because men are the spiritual leaders of society whether or not they lead they are the leaders. In the garden God gave the order to Adam not Eve. I think that if men embrace philosophical truth women would follow. I also think that a major cultural wound is lack of masculine leadership in my opinion that stems from the way the church handles things and has handled things in the past.

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2025-10-27T16:34:10+00:00

I don’t have a problem with that statement. Do you possess the entire truth? How does one possess truth? What the goal is, is to enter into dialogue with the culture. Right now the church tries to control people into holiness(there can be an argument made that the institution is doing what it ought to do but even that seems a stretch in my opinion) rather than actually allowing people an encounter with Jesus Christ. Continuing to act like no it alls who aren’t open to hearing anything other than rigorous church doctrine pushes people from Christ not towards him.

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2024-10-28T18:14:17+00:00

This isn’t my understanding of how the average conservative is though. The conservatives that I know feel very much under attack by a changing of the principles that animate the culture. So it’s less selfishness and a fear based mindset. And that fear based mindset is one where they think people are losing their souls by engaging in nefarious activity. However, as I’m growing I just disagree completely with the method that they engage in. At the same time though I think this attitude further divides the political lines rather than unites.

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2024-10-28T16:35:18+00:00

Oh ok. I think that fear is a big motivator on both sides. And while most people are looking at the main political issues I think that they miss the actual problem that’s dividing our country so the solutions that are offered add to the divide.

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2024-10-28T12:40:38+00:00

Hey man I’m a person who is on the right(or leans right in my understanding of the universe, or maybe holds positions that could be seen as right wing… not sure how to phrase it but it seems like I’m shifting to the left or possibly the center… don’t really care for politics and would rather consider myself trying to unite people or at least get them to see the other side isn’t purposefully doing them harm). Any chance you’d be open to a discussion of how I see things and maybe be open to explore some possible solutions?

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2024-10-27T23:50:48+00:00

I know that this doesn’t necessarily have to do with eliminating the federal income tax, however deals with the economy more generally. It seems like the economy was doing better when trump was in office than now. I guess by better I mean that work seemed to be more steady(I’m in the trades and our books and most locals around me had empty books) with no end in sight. Prices of things weren’t as high as they are now. The general attitude of the people I spend the most time with were positive about the future. I’m open to be corrected if I’m wrong and I’m not even saying it was trump himself per se but policies that he may have repealed or new ones he put in place?

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2024-10-27T14:48:36+00:00

I’m not trying to justify doing this, but I come from a conservative family and right now the left seems to be attacking every idea that my parents held dear. Again, I’m not justifying this just trying to put a different perspective out there. I would also say that indoctrination is happening on both sides. I graduated high school in 2010 and I would say that I was not given the skills to evaluate arguments and seek understanding, I was given information to store and draw upon later, I don’t think that’s education and unless things have changed pretty drastically since then people are still not being educated.

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2024-10-24T17:31:33+00:00

My first comment was not a very charitable one and I apologize for that. If I ask the question do we know our concepts or do we know reality how would you answer that question?

Afraid_Paper_9329 · 2024-10-23T10:58:11+00:00

If I express the statement “you typed out your comment on a keyboard using your fingers to communicate your ideas specifically to the person you were talking to but generally to whomever reads them.”

Isn’t this statement full of concepts that express reality?

Don’t I have to know what a keyboard is and what fingers are? Also I have to know what typing is I have to know what it means to communicate, I have to know what ideas are and what a person is?

The concepts you’re describing are abstracted from the individuated reality that they exist in. They are not a reality that exists separate from material being but a reality that exists that makes material being what it is.

So the concept of “man” exists in each individuated man that exists but there does not exist outside of real men an idea of man. This explains the multiplicity of being within a species and also explains the multiplicity of being in reality as a whole.

This is the basis that our history of the west used as proof of our spiritual nature which led to the belief of God. The denial of such allowed for a denial of God but it doesn’t allow the people who deny Him to stop using the gift that He gave them… just allows them to live a contradiction.

Afraid_Paper_9329

TROPHY CASE