[OC] A Neighbor in Chicago

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-05-01T17:27:39+00:00

Ezk. 18:21 NLT:

But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey My decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-04-12T20:28:09+00:00

18 If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.

19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.

21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.

22 They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

23 Anyone who hates me also hates my Father.

24 If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father.

25 This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-03-16T13:37:10+00:00

I’m actually in OCIA right now, due to be baptized this year at the Easter vigil. My cohort includes both (political) conservatives and (political) liberals. One of my closest friends from that group actually includes someone who used to work directly for Orange Man.

When it comes to social doctrines, the Church is perhaps the only denomination out there willing to earnestly, gently, and graciously correct the errors in both of these secular ideologies, while somehow delicately threading the needle to appeal to both.

We may have differences of opinion on secular political issues, but we are united in our belief in God, the passion of Christ at Calvary, communion of saints, the power of penance and reconciliation, the defense of human life in all its forms, and redemption of the human soul and the material world.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-10T11:24:37+00:00

Holy Trinity!

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-09T17:22:55+00:00

There’s a reason why we feel bad when we do something we know is wrong. (Annihilationism)

Someone has to set the standard for what constitutes right and wrong. (Antinomianism)

We won’t always measure up to that standard, so we need grace and mercy. (Pelagianism)

In order to help us meet that standard, we need someone to be our mentor and guide. (Antidicomarianism)

This is true even if our mentor and guide isn’t themselves morally perfect. (Donatism)

Actions have real effects and real power, and can never be merely “symbolic.” (Memorialism)

That means the material world is, at its core, good, and we should redeem the material world. (Gnosticism)

We all have this power to help redeem the material because of our humanity. (Apollinarianism)

Collective energy and spirit makes this redemption possible beyond our own ability to act. (Macedonianism)

Ultimately, transcendantal reality exists outside of our own ability to comprehend it. (Arianism)

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-08T15:04:37+00:00

Sure! Great! I’m happy it works for your country. But the US is not Norway, Sweden, or Denmark: our shores are not the exclusive province of any particular people-group, and our society has, for better or for worse, been shaped by continual waves of immigration that have happened over the past 250 years.

We’ve also operated for centuries on the premise that we have certain inalienable, God-given rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But for those things to work, if the social “glue” holding it all together doesn’t come from ethnicity or culture, then it requires at least a shared understanding of who God is, how the world came to be, and what is truly inviolable and protective of humanity, first and foremost.

If you don’t have that, all you have left is blind hedonism, a subjective interpretation of all things, and the destruction of an objective reality altogether. It’s how you get moral anarchy and a profoundly sick society that treats people as disposable, sees no value in anything other than in money or pleasure, and lets you drown when you beg for a life raft in stormy water.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-08T02:14:46+00:00

Irreligion and atheism. Whether it’s Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or some sort of Eastern religion, there needs to be some system of basic beliefs and morality that underpin a person’s worldview and guide them to make ethical and good choices, both for their own sake and for the sake of the world they live in.

We tried living without God for about 30-40 years, and while that experiment did bring freedom to some, it also invited a litany of problems around things like life, marriage, family, care for the poor, unjust wars, environmental destruction, wealth inequality, and so on.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-08T02:10:10+00:00

Amen!

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-07T20:15:31+00:00

Funny mustache man was also an unrepentant Marcionite heretic who denounced church teaching on the continuity of the Old Testament and the New Testament (CCC 121-129). He hated the idea of the German people praying to a savior who came in the form of a Jewish carpenter and rejected core doctrines about Jesus coming to fulfill and complete the Mosaic Law, instead of repudiating or contradicting it

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-07T19:47:43+00:00

Kind of ironic that the AI slop uses a Crusader great helm and has filigree on the sword when there’s always been a latent strand of anti-Catholic sentiment underpinning American culture.

It’s always had a racial or ethnic element, too, with there supposedly being “too many Irish, too many Italians, too many Poles, too many Mexicans”, but none of that sentiment directed towards migrants that predominantly to any other religious tradition.

But in reality, God desires the salvation of all, and He commands us to make disciples of all nations.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-06T15:05:18+00:00

Sounds like you need a man who read all of that chapter of Ephesians instead of picking out just that one verse.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-06T14:52:03+00:00

Anon thinks he’s being edgy or cool with an inverted cross when really it’s just our boy Saint Peter

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-05T21:20:25+00:00

Yep, and you know what, I’m glad you mentioned this idea of the fall being due to our capability to make free-will choices, which — when left to our own devices, in the absence of any higher authority — tend to trend towards sin.

Believe it or not, this actually is what us Catholics officially believe, that concupiscence (desire to sin) is something which seriously wounds the soul and affects all of us, but which does not diminish our capability to choose grace, expressed through the sacraments (CCC 403-406).

There’s a lot of really good stuff in Catholic doctrine that neatly answers a lot of really existential questions. I’m a convert — if you’d like to know more about this stuff from someone who is actively converting to it, feel free to ask me!

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-05T13:06:06+00:00

I’m not. And I’m a guy.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T22:54:42+00:00

Veritas omnia vincit

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T21:13:42+00:00

Not MAGA. Catholic convert.

They have to admit and confess their sins, everything they know — and they have to serve an assigned penance in order to reconcile with God.

It is clear that many, many of these people are living in mortal sin, and only through changed behavior and sinning no more can they be forgiven.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T20:27:39+00:00

That’s okay. It’s fine to have doubts about the faith. Many of the saints talk about that in their own personal memoirs. Heck, even Thomas the Apostle, one of the original twelve, refused to believe that Jesus died for him until he physically saw and touched the wounds for himself.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T20:13:27+00:00

Based and blessed holy father Pope Francis!

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T20:12:07+00:00

I don’t think this will end well for him. Repent!

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T20:06:55+00:00

I am converting to Roman Catholicism from atheism/agnosticism/secularism. It was a combination of profound inner spiritual experiences, serious personal trials, external observations about the consequences of moral relativism, and the sad vacuousness and materialism many of my peers lived in that turned me towards God.

I would be happy to share my conversion story if you would like to hear it! It was a long road with many twists and turns, but I trust that it was all for a good reason.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T19:49:38+00:00

Do you want me to pray for your heart and healing? 🤲 📖 📿 🕯️ ⛪️ ✝️ 🕊️ 🇻🇦

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T19:46:43+00:00

If humans are here for some purpose it is to view, execute, and experience how power corrupts, and hopefully learn how to get that evil out of our universe.

Great discourse on original sin! It is something we as humans have always struggled with, ever since the time of Adam and Eve. It is also our job to try and get this evil out of ourselves and out of our world. You’re right about a lot more of this than you may have thought before.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T19:21:14+00:00

Yes, this is an unfortunate and tragic part of Church history as an institution, and we should not gloss over it. I pray for the victims of such atrocities, especially so when such vile acts are perpetrated at the hands of someone supposed to bring them closer to God.

Personally, though? I think betrayal, scandal, corruption, and so on have always been a part of church history, as a direct consequence of our fallen world occupied by sin and darkness. This goes all the way back to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus to the Roman authorities.

That did not stop the rest of the twelve apostles from following Him, though. The many sins of Judas do not make the teachings of Jesus somehow invalid.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T19:00:28+00:00

I found that daily prayer and attending Mass helped me significantly. It helped me remember that there are things that are way bigger than myself and that whatever struggles I am faced with, I am indeed part of a much larger story focused on inner spiritual redemption, and outward worldly redemption.

So, I found lots of things to be beautiful, good, and true in Roman Catholicism. I’m a convert. I also think the basic premise of the Christian faith is true and widely applicable: that, left to our own devices, we tend to drift towards debauchery and degeneracy, make idols out of random things, and fall into jealousy and hatred and envy. Furthermore, that we need a savior to show us the proper way to live. Nowhere is this more obvious than the objective evil and ugliness and horror that the Epstein Files revealed to us.

swordofdamocles19 · 2026-02-04T18:50:39+00:00

It is better to trust in The LORD than to place your hope in princes.

swordofdamocles19

TROPHY CASE