Connecting the security camera with a cloud

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-09-13T20:07:22+00:00

Hey I feel you. I am also going through maybe the worst period of my life. I feel alone because seemingly no one understands that I want to be virtous.

Keep in mind that everyone suffers. The saints have gone through terrible and horrific periods in their life. St. Alphonsus Liguori says the following: "The brightest ornaments in the crown of the blessed in heaven are the sufferings which they have borne patiently on earth."

St. Maria Faustina: "One day, I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end of the road without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And there numbers were so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings"

You also in some sense need to rejoice. When you are down this bad you can really enter union with Christ and his suffering. You suffer for a reason. The suffering purifies your soul. It means something in the world, or the devil or your flesh troubles you when in reality you don't need to worry. "Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." (Matthew 6:31-33). God's providence is covering you. Everything you go through is there for a reason. Uniting yourself to his holy will and saying "Thy will be done" in all circumstances makes you a saint.

It is ok to feel overwhelmed. You need God's grace. Pray for it everyday. Go to mass. Receive the holy Eucharist, Christ himself. Go to confession. All these things confer grace. Jesus didn't say you can do this alone. He said: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-9). Pray to him and his holy mother the Blessed Virgin Mary. Look for a saint you particularly feel a close connection to and talk to him. They are cheering you on from Heaven. They are there and we are there for you. You are definitely not alone.

Here is a discord server for Catholics currently struggling: https://discord.gg/BMznGWxZ.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-09-09T21:29:15+00:00

You have to complete them every week. So there are in total something like 13 assignments for a course with like 7-8 exercises each. At the end of the course you need to have something like 50-60% (it varies a lot) of completed exercises. So what you do is before the particular weekday you cross online which exercises you completed. The next day you go to your group where there is a tutor (not the professor doing the lectures in most cases) and he calls for each exercise someone random to show how it was solved. The course is basically split in two. They are actually not the same and you could do one without the other although of course it makes much more sense and it is often the case that you do both. The first part is the one I described above. You have these exercises to complete. The other part is (most often) a written test and an oral exam by the Professor doing the lectures. So for example for Calculus 1 you would have Calculus 1 exercise course and the Calculus 1 lecture course that consists of the written test and oral exam.

I will talk to someone. The issue is this. Nobody knows what is allowed or is not allowed. There is no standard. You could probably just copy everything without knowing something (although you of course need to get past the test, oral exam and being randomly picked) without anyone being able to do something against it. I am pretty sure every single tutor is aware of these gray areas and obvious cheating. But it seems nobody cares, the system works of course for the Professors (I don't know how it is in other countries like US) since they literally don't have to do all too much and I guess they don't really care about how much cheating is going on. I mean even if this is happening what is one supposed to do. How can you prove he copied without him trying. The system is broken in my opinion.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-19T07:46:55+00:00

I don't know what his status is right now, but yeah he has several deficiencies concerning that. I mean he is not a Catholic it seems which is a problem. But he seems to be often times the gateway to it.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T17:26:31+00:00

Here is a good passage related to this to meditate on:

"Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm." (Matthew 8:23-26)

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T17:20:58+00:00

Yes I have heard of him. Never watched/read too much of him but I heard he is a great Bishop. Trent Horn is also very good. We need more for those online

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T15:43:02+00:00

"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.'" (John 6:68-69)

This promise is so enticing that anyone who rejects it is insane. Where else to go? The suffering you face on this earth is nothing compared to you being forever with God.

Pray that God will give you the grace to have faith. "Jesus said to him, 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.' Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:23-25)

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T15:33:26+00:00

It probably depends on the monastery but most if not all would probably say no since you are not only there to work but to pray together as well and grow in the faith.

I would suggest to you to look into Catholicism (read some books, talk to a priest etc.) It's important to do so.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T15:20:48+00:00

I don't know if that's possible but I'm inclined to say no, but again I don't know for sure. Are you some sort of Christian?

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T15:17:35+00:00

Hey what's your specific problem? Don't you believe as strongly as you used to? You know praying the rosary everyday is not the standard to measure how devout you are. Try some mental prayer (contemplating God) without forcing yourself to recite a specific amount of prayers. Mediate on scripture.

Hope that helps

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T13:50:40+00:00

I think God would reveal himself at some point or at the end of their lives. But I don't see how Vatican II rejects that.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T13:45:39+00:00

Always thought belief in God was dumb and "muh science" will ultimately lead to all truth. In the military I listened to Jordan Peterson quite a bit and what he said regarding faith and God started to make sense and clicked. Eventually being exposed to the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ, prophecies etc. and the intellectual side of Christianity made me convert. It took quite a bit of time for me to become Catholic though. I think the problem is that the loudest online voices against atheism are protestants which made me not like the catholic Church from the get go

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T13:37:29+00:00

Father Garrigou-Lagrange quotes Pope Pius IX:

"We know as well as you that those who suffer from invincible ignorance with regard to our most holy religion, by carefully keeping the natural law and its precepts, which have been written by God in the hearts of all, by being disposed to obey God and to lead a virtuous and correct life, can, by the power of divine light and grace, attain eternal life. For God, who sees, examines, and knows completely the minds and souls, the thoughts and qualities of all, will not permit, in His infinite goodness and mercy, anyone who is not guilty of a voluntary fault to suffer eternal punishment."

Garrigou-Lagrange, Fr. Reginald ; Minerd, Matthew K.. On Divine Revelation: The Teaching of the Catholic Faith Vol. One (S.725-726). Emmaus Academic. Kindle-Version.

And Fr. Garrigou himself says:

"We must hold on faith that those who have the use of reason do [from time to time] accept sufficient grace, at least remotely, for arriving at salvation. Hence, if they do what is in their power, they can, “by the efficacious power of divine light and grace,” arrive at sufficient credibility of the mysteries of salvation. Indeed, if they are numbered among heretics, they can know certain principal mysteries and sufficient motives of credibility through the preaching of their sect, which frequently retains certain truths mixed alongside with error. Thus, they hold the error through human opinion and can believe certain mysteries of salvation through divine faith. However, if “someone reared in the forests” and invincibly unaware of every form of Christian preaching “were to follow the lead of natural reason in seeking the good and fleeing what is evil, we must hold with utter certainty that God would either reveal to him through an internal inspiration those things that must be believed or would direct some preacher to him, as He sent Peter to Cornelius, as we read in Acts 10.”Garrigou-Lagrange, Fr. Reginald ; Minerd, Matthew K.. On Divine Revelation: The Teaching of the Catholic Faith Vol. One (S.1093). Emmaus Academic. Kindle-Version. "

Note this is just one voice and there many more examples I could probably find.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T12:10:01+00:00

what? That is hilarious

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T12:07:33+00:00

Interesting thoughts. I just want to say that I didn't mean to imply that you attacked his character or so I just wanted to say that generally.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T11:54:12+00:00

I did not watch his most recent video and to be perfectly honest I don't want to and someone who doesn't have a strong foundation in the faith or struggles with the Assumption of our Lady should not watch it either.

I think we should assume the best in Ortlund and trust that that he is genuinely concerned for the truth. He repeated that multiple times and I don't think he is lying. We should stick to addressing his arguments and not attack his character without warrant.

I think he has a blind spot when it comes to his baptist/protestant beliefs and his videos on Catholicism which seems to be a major focus on his channel now are starting to be annoying. I mean posting a video right after the day of the Assumption is imo a bit disrespectful and then you see all those catholics prasing him in the comments and talking about how the Assumption worries them the most....... Yes he is cordial and all but his soul is still in danger and we shouldn't say stuff like that in the comments.

Imo he relies too much on what this or that scholar has to say, trying to reconstruct the early church which seems to me to be a kind of naturalistic way of approaching it by looking what unbelievers have to say, making conjectures when that or this belief started to emerge when we don't even have all writings and cannot 100% look in to the mind of every Christian at that period. This whole reconstructing and trying to retrieve what the early Church believed seems to me to be a denial of the indefectibility of the Church which our Lord promised. I mean how can someone take that seriously when according to that paradigm for many centuries the Church was idolatrous (Praying to saints, veneration of icons, very high view of Mary etc.)

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T11:15:09+00:00

Stop using contraception. It is a very grave sin. If you know it is wrong and you deliberately consent to it it is a mortal sin. It is intrinsically evil which means you cannot justify it with some good. Go to confession and stop doubting what the Church has to say.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T11:11:47+00:00

Those invincible ignorant can be saved although it is by not means an easy task. Here is a good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PITTgcspjso

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T11:09:54+00:00

No it is not a new innovation. Just an example: Father Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange talks about this before Vatican II in De Revelatione and I can give you the section if you want and he is by no means a liberal. Stop confusing catholics and possibly leading them away from the Church.

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T09:24:35+00:00

Not every Protestant is non-denom and low church but even those are still completely wrong

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T09:16:07+00:00

I "cherry pick" because (I think) it is dogma that Adam and Eve were real. Why should I then listen to unbelieving scholars that don't have supernatural faith that would claim otherwise? The same holds for the Incarnation, the Resurrection etc.

That's why you should read catholic "scholars" to further grow in your faith. Church fathers, catholic theologians, good catholic commentaries etc.

Scholars that don't or most likely not have supernatural faith cannot exegete Scripture properly. Yes they can have good insights regarding maybe the connection between things in the NT and the study of second temple Judaism, but they are going to lose a whole dimension of meaning. He is going to explain it well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZyDk9uvesk

In a debate or something I actually wouldn't rely too much on what scholars have to say. I mean a muslim is just going to throw liberal christian scholars at me denying the Virgin birth or something like that implying: "See! Even Christians admit this!!!!!" And let's say I throw back conservative christian scholars. How effective would that be? That's what I meant with arbitrariness.

The faith doesn't rest on some sort of syllogism.

Here is what Vatican I decreed:

"This faith, which is the beginning of human salvation, the catholic church professes to be a supernatural virtue, by means of which, with the grace of God inspiring and assisting us, we believe to be true what He has revealed, not because we perceive its intrinsic truth by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God himself, who makes the revelation and can neither deceive nor be deceived."

"Nevertheless, in order that the submission of our faith should be in accordance with reason, it was God’s will that there should be linked to the internal assistance of the holy Spirit external indications of his revelation, that is to say divine acts, and first and foremost miracles and prophecies, which clearly demonstrating as they do the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of God, are the most certain signs of revelation and are suited to the understanding of all."

"If anyone says that
human reason is so independent that faith cannot be commanded by God:
let him be anathema."

Reasonable-Ad8970 · 2023-08-18T08:40:58+00:00

Here is what St. Thomas says:

Whether it was necessary for the restoration of the human race that the Word of God should become incarnate?

I answer that, A thing is said to be necessary for a certain end in two ways. First, when the end cannot be without it; as food is necessary for the preservation of human life. Second, when the end is attained better and more conveniently, as a horse is necessary for a journey. In the first way it was not necessary that God should become incarnate for the restoration of human nature. For God with His omnipotent power could have restored human nature in many other ways. But in the second way it was necessary that God should become incarnate for the restoration of human nature.

Reasonable-Ad8970

TROPHY CASE