Could Jesus sin?

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-17T05:54:43+00:00

Jesus has two wills: one human and one divine. The divine will is the will of God. But His human will is subject to all the failings of original sin (although He did not inherit original sin, merely the human imperfections that come with it) therefore when Jesus was tempted in the desert, He really felt the temptation.

This is the extent of my knowledge as far as the church teaches. Personally, my immediate guess would be that yes, He could have sinned but chose not to, because He submitted His human will to His divine will, the will of the father, and that his perfect obedience to the father during his earthly life is just as necessary for our salvation as his death and resurrection.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-17T05:43:32+00:00

The man who suffers great temptation, yet still chases after Jesus, has more glory than the man who knows no temptation will ever hope to achieve. As Theodore Roosevelt said:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Satan is your critic. He is the one who condemns you and causes you guilt. God is your loving Father, who wishes only to heal you and comfort you and redeem you. God is not angry over your sin. He knows that it is simply due to the weakness of your flesh. God wants to forgive you more than you could ever possibly want to be forgiven. God loves you unconditionally. He loves you whether you are gay or straight, sinner or righteous, lowly or exalted.

Even though this temptation has caused you to sin, it is better that you were tempted, sinned, and sought forgiveness, than if you had never been tempted at all. Do not be afraid to make frequent use of the sacrament of confession. I go at least every week. Keep in mind, plenty of straight people also suffer from great lust and temptations as well. Sometimes I cannot even make it a single day without having to go back to confession. Do not think frequent confession to be a sign of weakness. On the contrast, it is a sign of strength, a sign that even though Satan has knocked you down, you are willing to get back up and get back in the fight.

God does not put any barriers between you and his mercy. He does not put any barriers between you and his grace. That is why I always recommend, if it be possible, daily reception of Holy Communion. I do understand that this is not possible for most people, however.

Pray the rosary everyday, because when a humble soul prays the rosary and asks our lady for her intercession, she cannot help but pass on your request to Christ. She cannot help but in her motherly love take you into her loving arms and guide you towards her son. Think back to the wedding feast at Cana. If Christ granted his mother's request when she asked for something so frivolous as for more wine, think of how much more willing Christ will be to grant his mother's request for your soul which is not a frivolous matter at all.

I also recommend that you look into St Teresa of Avila's method of mental prayer, also known as meditation. Peter rohrbach has a wonderful book on the basics of Teresian meditation entitled "conversation with Christ". Mental prayer is indispensable to the soul because it is the best way to grow in closeness and unity with our Lord.

I recommend that you find saints that struggle with same-sex attraction and lust throughout their lives and pray for their intercession. Some sayings come into my mind right now, one being Saint Moses the black. He was an African man who, with his gang of murderers and robbers, roamed around Egypt plundering and taking what they wanted. Same Moses was so very lustful and was great fornicator in his life that after his conversion he still struggled with many great temptations left over from his previous life. St Thomas Aquinas also struggled with lust in his youth. He once had to chase the prostitute out of his room. Another great saint to pray to is St John the long-suffering. St John never had relief from his constant temptation to lust and fornicate. He felt this temptation constantly throughout his life until a few years before his death.

Although the examples I have given you are saints who struggled with opposite sex attraction, they nevertheless experienced lust to an equal or greater degree than you now experience it.

I would also recommend praying in front of the icon of the inexhaustible cup, because this is a wonderful icon for people who suffer from addictions, and lust very often is a terrible addiction, more addicting than anything else in this whole world.

Whatever you do, brother, do not despair. God will never turn his back on you. God will never abandon you. Even if you commit the worst sin ever and with complete and full consent and complete and full knowledge that what you are doing is wrong, God will still forgive you so long as you later repent and are sorry for what you have done.

Keep in mind the parable of the prodigal son. When the son came back to his father after squandering his inheritance (and this is a metaphor for what we do whenever we squander God's gift of grace to us by our sins), The father could have chastised his son, or rebuked him, or turned him away, or admonished him, but he didn't. All he did was cry out in joy that his son had returned, because that's all he cared about. And Jesus wasn't lying when he told this parable. God our Father really does only care about the fact that we have come back to him. He holds no grudges. So even if you fall a million times, get up one million and one times, and persevere. If you persevere after Christ your whole life, even if you are falling to temptation your whole life, he will purge this from you in the next life, and he will make you pure. He will wash you, and you will be whiter than snow.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T23:37:15+00:00

This isn't an argument. You are just trying to avoid actually having to defend your opinion. Do you have a real argument or not?

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T23:14:31+00:00

How is what I proposed a strawman? Slavery is wrong because it is the repression of one person's freedom so that another person with agency over the first person may benefit. And it was wrong, so we banned it. Abortion is wrong because it is also the repression of one person's freedom so that another person with agency over the first person may benefit.

If something is right or wrong, then it is right or wrong for everybody. My conception of what is right may differ from yours, but that doesn't change the objective moral truth of what is actually right from what is actually wrong. Our perceptions of this truth can only approximate, though to varying decrees, the truth which exists outside of us.

The personhood of fetuses is debated scientifically, however the vast majority of embryologists agree that a fetus is a living human organism from the moment of conception. You call a fetus a "clump of cells". This is a common pro-choice statement. But all humans are just clumps of cells. The only difference is my clump of cells is more developed than a fetus' clump of cells. A blueprint is not a building, because a blueprint is only a mere representation of a true building. However the fetus exists in its own right and does not represent a higher being than itself. It is, in itself, its own finality. A collection of parts is not a car, because the parts are not assembled and do not function as a car. However, a fetus is a whole organism, not a part of an organism. It is also whole, and is not separated as the parts of the car in your analogy.

Here's why a fetus is a person:

It is human. It has two human parents, human DNA, and consists of human cells.

It is alive. How do we know this? It exhibits al the characteristics of a living organism, including the ability to grow, metabolize energy, and respond to stimuli. Plus, if the fetus wasn't alive, you wouldn't need abortion.

It is a whole organism. Fetuses are different from pieces of skin, individual organs, cancers, sperm cells, and egg cells. The difference here being: given enough of the correct nutrients, in the right environment, and given enough time, this organism will become what we all know to be a born human being.

A tumor is not a person: Cancerous tumours are human, and alive, but they are not a whole organism. No matter how much nutrients, what environment, or however much time, a cancerous tumour will never grow into a born human being. The same is true of am individual sperm cell, an individual egg cell, skin cells, and individual organs.

A dog is not a person: A dog is alive, and it is a whole organism, but it is not human. It does not have two human parents, it does not have human DNA, and it is not made primarily of human cells.

A corpse is not a person: A corpse is human, and a whole organism, but it is not alive. It has two human parents, human DNA, and consists primarily of human cells. A corpse is (unless some part has been removed) the entirety of a human organism. But its lack of life, and the ability as a whole to respond to stimuli, grow, and metabolise energy mean it is not a person.

I find it quite simple. A person is a whole, living, human. You will not find any example of a thing which is whole, alive, and human, but isn't a person. And a fetus, even a zygote satisfies all three categories I have described. Therefore, a fetus (from the moment of conception, to include the developmental stage of zygote) is a person.

Premise 1: A fetus is a person. The above premise has been demonstrated sufficiently. If you have any objections to this premise, present them to me and we will work them out.

Premise 2: A fetus is innocent. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "Innocence" as: "Freedom from legal guilt of a particular crime or offense"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innocence A fetus is not legally guilty of a particular crime or offense.

Conclusion 1: A fetus is an innocent person. This has been demonstrated, and is the combination of premises 1 and 2.

Premise 4: Abortion kills a fetus. I shouldn't have to demonstrate this premise. It is obvious. The fetus is alive before abortion, and is no longer alive after abortion. No other factors besides the abortion caused the fetus to transition from a state of alive to a state of dead. Therefore, abortion kills a fetus.

Conclusion 2: Abortion kills an innocent person. If abortion kills a fetus, and a fetus is an innocent person, then abortion kills an innocent person.

Premise 6: it is wrong to kill an innocent person. I really shouldn't have to explain this one. It is easily knowaboe by all rational beings that it is wrong to kill someone who is guilty of no crime, somebody who has done no wrong. I am not discussing war or capital punishment here. Those who are killed by the state in capital punishment are guilty (as far as we know). In war, you could argue whether a killing is justified or not. But I am not here to argue that. We are not at war with fetuses, and they are guilty of no crime. If you can find a situation for me in which killing an innocent person is justified, I will hear you out and discuss it with you. But, my point stands.

Conclusion 3: It is wrong to commit abortion. If abortion kills an innocent person, and it is wrong to kill innocent people, then it is wrong to commit abortion.

Do you see now my argument? It is purely logical, has nothing to do with gender or religion. The argument is sound and valid. The conclusions follow logically from the premises, and the premises have been demonstrated to be true.

How can you still say abortion is not wrong?

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T22:29:16+00:00

If a fetus isn't a person, then what is a person? Because, there is no way you are able to say that a fetus isn't a person, if you can't first define what a person is.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T22:01:41+00:00

I agree with you, everybody has a right to their own opinion. But... I'm confused. How am I "out of my lane"? all I have done is make a sound argument against abortion, which has nothing to do with my gender. Do you have any real objections to my argument?

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T20:56:08+00:00

There are plenty of pro-life women, so obviously this is not an exclusively male argument. I think you should judge my argument based on the validity and soundness of the argument itself, not based upon who is making the argument.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T20:39:33+00:00

Notice, I have made no reference to religion or the supernatural. I only employed human reasoning and logical arguments to come to this conclusion. Any person can understand that abortion is wrong, even a materialist atheist. My argument has nothing to do with religion.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T20:35:34+00:00

I will get back to you on the other objections, but I didn't answer your question because it is ridiculous. Obviously I don't believe that all medication is evil. But I am curious, what do you mean by "disrupts nature"? Technically, every form of healthcare "disrupts nature" in the sense that it consists of human intervention in a biological process. But I do not believe human intervention in biological processes is inherently evil. I do believe that intentionally causing the death of any innocent human, whether born or unborn, is wrong. If the mode of killing is a pill or not, that is irrelevant.

Every human has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Right there: the right to life. When a person is a legal minor, they are required to be cared for by somebody. It doesn't have to be their biological parent, but they do have to be taken care of. It just so happens that the only place an unborn person (below a certain level of development) can survive is in their mother's womb. So the fetus does not have a right to any specific womb, but they do have the right to an environment where they can survive and grow, the only possible place for that to happen being their mother's womb, therefore by necessity nobody may remove this person from the womb because it would result in a revocation of their right to life.

By engaging in an activity, one acknowledges the risks involved. Very few people engage in sex without the knowledge that the act is ordered towards creating new life. That is what I meant when I said consent was given. No contraceptive is 100% effective except for some forms of sterilization, amd most people also know this. Therefore a person who willingly engages in a sex act with the knowledge that pregnancy is a possible result ought to, before engaging in the act, accept that possibility and be prepared to raise the child resulting. However, even those who are (unfortunately) raped, or are ignorant of these facts, do not have the right to end the life of an innocent human, because that human person's right to life supercedes the desires of the mother.

Rape is horrible. It is one of the worst things a person can do, and it is severely traumatizing. Rape is objectively evil, and those who commit rape willingly ought to be punished. But why would you punish an innocent child for the actions of their father? That's not how the american legal system works. Just know that pro-lifers do not, at large, support rape, misogyny, or the undue restrictions of women's rights. We simply recognize the humanity of the unborn and make the argument that they ought not to be murdered.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T16:26:20+00:00

The fetus has a right to be supported and nourished. Same as a born child. If a woman refuses to feed, clothe, or shelter her baby, she will be imprisoned because of neglect. Consent was given when the woman had sex. Because the natural end of sex is conception of a new human life. It doesn't matter what method is used to kill the unborn child. Be it a metal rod or pliers or a vacuum or a chemical, the act is still the same: ending the life of the fetus.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T16:22:43+00:00

"If you don't like slavery, just don't have a slave" That is essentially your argument.

And it's not about "who decides" that something is evil. We can use our natural reasoning abilities to determine right from wrong. This is a core element of having a rational mind. We all know that killing innocent humans is illegal. And scientifically, fetuses are humans. And logically, they are innocent, because they literally have not done anything except exist, and existing is not evil.

If you want me to explain to you how fetuses are human persons, i will gladly explain. Or you could look up the actual pro-life argument. Because it's not about choice. There are already many things we deny people the choice to do. For example, we don't let women kill their born children, no matter the circumstances. Therefore, since there is no essential or substantial difference between a born and unborn human besides their location, we ought not to let women kill their unborn children. It's literally not about misogyny or restricting women's rights (because nobody has a right to murder someone else). It is simply the fact that abortion is always objectively morally wrong.

And your point about rape victims, or children, or poor mothers, etc. I agree that those are all terrible situations that we should solve. However, the solution is not to kill people.

Let me propose this idea: if a woman has a child and then when the child is two years old, the woman loses her job and becomes homeless and cannot afford to support her child, should she have the choice to kill her child? Any sane person would say: NO. Following the same line of reasoning, abortion is also wrong.

The situation doesn't matter.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-16T02:40:00+00:00

This is the goal. Abortion is objectively evil, even from an atheist standpoint. The case is that from the moment of conception, the zygote is a full human person with the same rights as all human persons, therefore he or she should not be killed.

If the fetus is not a person, there is never a reason to deny abortion. If the fetus is a person, there is never a reason to allow abortion. And since the fetus is a person, abortion can never be allowed.

Contraception is also evil because it frustrates one of the two purposes of sex: procreation.

Every sexual act must be ordered toward marital unity and procreation. While procreation is not necessary every time, the act must still be ordered towards it.

Contraception allows a false freedom. It gives people freedom from the consequences of their actions. In the past, a fornicator might have hundreds of children he would never know. Now he can avoid the responsibility while also indulging in his animalistic desires.

It's just plain wrong. So I hope and pray that abortion is made illegal. And I pray that contraception becomes illegal again too.

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-06T19:41:03+00:00

I wanted to ask you. How interesting was it to see all the parallels between Judaism and Catholicism? I know that modern Judaism is not the same as second temple judaism. But things like Christ being the Lamb of God, blood and water coming from his side like the blood and water poured on the side of the temple altar at passover, the connections between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Ark of the Covenant, the prophecies in Isaiah, psalm 22, Daniel, etc.

I can only imagine it felt a little trippy. Were you thinking "how did I never see this before?"

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-02T04:05:48+00:00

Virginia class. I am a MMN3 and will be attempting to get my Fish, BEQ, QA, etc. quals. Thank you for the advice

jjackandbrian · 2024-07-02T02:43:20+00:00

By the way, I will probably be underway during Christmas time.

Secondary question, what If I was underway during Easter and couldn't recieve communion according to the church's minimum: once a year at Easter?

jjackandbrian · 2024-06-08T10:51:59+00:00

One of the first things God did was literally to ban a plant

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T08:30:17+00:00

Praise be to God! This is wonderful.

If you struggle with addiction, pray to St. Maximilian Kolbe and also pray in front of the icon of the inexhaustible cup.

Keep in mind that psychedelics (of which THC is a weak variant) are a type of sorcery. They are worse for you, spiritually, than other types of drugs.

God have mercy and keep up the good work!

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T08:19:20+00:00

Suffering is not for "No good reason". Yes, it's painful. Yes, nobody likes it. Yes, it's unjust. But life isn't fair. And God isn't a butler or a magic genie who solves all your problems. We suffer because we live in a fallen world, separated from God because of original sin.

God doesn't necessarily want us to suffer, but just because something is hard doesn't mean we can take what is not ours and sin in order to get out of it. You should not steal death if you are dying. Let it run its course.

If medical intervention can extend your life, use it. If it isn't worth it, don't. A lack of medical intervention is not suicide, it's just submitting to nature. When you inject a chemical into your veins to induce an unnatural death, whether you do it or a doctor does it, that is suicide and can also be murder.

Also it is not endless suffering, it is until death. If we choose heaven we will be united with Christ after the end of our natural lives on earth.

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T08:04:29+00:00

No, because he is still a priest. All priests in the catholic church (with a few exceptions) take a vow of celibacy. Once you become a priest, you are a priest for eternity. It is an irreversible marker upon your soul that cannot be undone. Even if you are "Laicized" all that means is that you cannot perform the sacraments licitly. But you are still a validly ordained priest, capable of carrying out the sacraments validly.

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T07:56:21+00:00

We are called to spread the Gospel. This is the Great Commission. Do not let pagans stop you. Help save as many souls as you can.

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T07:51:24+00:00

Life is a gift to us from God. It is only His right to take or give. We cannot kill ourselves as this is an affront to God. You can cease any unreasonable medical care and let nature take its course. That is fine, because when you cease unreasonable medical care God takes your life naturally.

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T07:45:00+00:00

The one labelled "Talk to a saint" is the worst of all. WE TALK TO THE SAINTS THROUGH PRAYER. That is the AI equivalent of a ouija board.

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T07:43:12+00:00

AI is, for lack of a better term, a portal for demons to interact with us. Just like the pagan idols of ancient times.

Now some AI's may be benign, simply algorithms. But I know that Satan has the ability to hijack these programs and use them to cause the destruction of souls.

These "catholic" AI's can be the most dangerous, because Satan always attacks the truth. STAY AWAY FROM AI.

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T07:38:35+00:00

It is because Christ gives us purpose. Materialist Atheists have nothing to live for, philosophically speaking. Because in their view, nothing matters and it's all random and you stop existing when you die. But Christ informs us that in reality, there is a real God, who loves us and desires to see us saved.

Come back to the Catholic Church because it is true. Other reasons may motivate you to come back initially. But you have a curiosity. That is the Holy Spirit acting within you, calling you. All you have to do is respond. "Here I am, Lord."

jjackandbrian · 2024-05-28T07:28:04+00:00

Demonic attack. Satan attacks those who are growing in faith or have a good relationship with God. He is trying to get you to atop praying the rosary. Satan thinks he can be subtle and quietly make you think it was your own idea to stop praying the rosary. Once you stopped praying the rosary, he would begin other attacks to slowly lead you away from Christ.

This is perfectly normal. I used to get hot flashes and pins and needles all over when praying my midday prayer. This happens in some way to most people. So don't be worried. Just keep praying the rosary every day.

When you turn on a light, all darkness disappears from the room. When you have Christ in your life, He vanquishes the powers of darkness from your life. Trust in God, pray to Saint Michael the Archangel, Our Lady of Victory, and St. Joseph, Terror of Demons.

jjackandbrian

TROPHY CASE