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cao-the-dreamer · 6 years ago

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Sweet child o’ mine: Who am I, who are they

I wasn’t patient enough to wait for someone to beta-read this chapter, so forgive me if there are any mistake. But I’m so glad I finally finished it!

Time for Optimus to give Nebula a clue about her past…

Enjoy!

(You can read it on Ao3 or Fanfiction if you prefer)

The first time he meets her, he cannot help but think how similar and yet how different she is compared to her creators.

Optimus Prime is standing in front of a wooden house — a cabin, according to Bumblebee — which blends in between the broad and twilight-like trunks of the forest, where the young girl is hiding from the world.

They are a few miles away from the place his fellow Autobots currently are, trying to settle down on this foreign planet after their arrival a week ago.

Optimus knew that there was a chance he might come across her, the little one, the miracle child, but he hadn't expected her to be aware of her origins. Her eyes pierce through the darkness of the door frame, questioning, wary, ready to fall back into the shadows should he reveal himself as a threat.

But Bumblebee hums a soothing tune, gesturing with patience, willing to prove her that his leader means no harm.

The truck takes a step back, giving her space, before getting down on one knee, making himself smaller.

Electric blue dives into dim red.

“Take your time, little one,” his deep voice is a foreign sound amongst the forest's. “I will not force you to come out if you don't want to.”

Her eyes lower, avoiding his gaze.

“I'm sorry… I don't know who I should trust anymore.”

Before he can question the eerie statement, a dark hand comes forward, pointing at the yellow scout.

“You comforted my best friend, you protected her, you threw away her loneliness and gave her a sense to her life. I’m deeply grateful that you did so. But… those two titans who were eager to destroy my planet, and yet who treated me like a precious gem, they told me who I really am, they told me you took me away from a loving father.”

“More complicated… than that,” a feminine voice whispers from his radio.

“I know. That's why you told me to wait. To wait for someone who could properly explain me what happened.”

Her stare goes back to Optimus.

“And you came.”

Then she takes a step forward, she comes into the light, and for a brief moment the faces of her creators hide her own.

But soon the illusion is gone, because even if she has the same ruby eyes of her father and the same dark skin and round shape of her mother, she is not like them.

The rage eating the warlord from the inside out is absent from her eyes.

Her gaze is not determined like her mother's.

Her shoulders are hunched and her head lowered — it is so different from her parents who always stood proudly.

She is just tired. Tired, and alone again.

He can see she has gone through a lot. Optimus doesn't know why, but his spark begs him to lean forward and welcome the child within his arms, to give her some comfort. He suppresses the urge, knowing that such a brusque and invading gesture would scare the little one off.

He nods instead, explaining that it would be a long story to tell, for he has to dig deep into the roots of the Cybertronian society to explain how her parents came to be.

“Go ahead,” she shrugs as she brutally flops onto the stairs of the porch. “I have plenty of time for storytelling.”

He cannot help but ask if she is alright.

“Fine,” she grumbles.

Her tone is a clear indicator that she is not fine, but should Optimus press the matter, he has no clue.

He still doesn’t know a single thing about her. For now, they are strangers.

Maybe later… When they will be more comfortable around each other, maybe he will try to make her speak about her.

So he pushes the thought away and he kneels, the grass brushing his plating, and Bumblebee imitates him in a cross-legged position. Then his — soothing, she discovers with surprise — his soothing voice begins the tale of an old world.

“Cybertron once was a vast empire, with dozens and dozens of colonies implanted on several planets across the galaxy. Our leaders believed that our kind was above organic species; thus they never hesitate to wipe entire populations out if their homeworld’s soil was rich in resources — and the newly free space would be used to host the ever-growing Cybertronian population. We live for millennia, sometimes millions of years; back then the deaths did not compensate the newborns, which didn’t allow a balanced population growth. It seemed like our ruthless appetite was endlessly unsatisfied, despite the empire’s immense wealth.

“Cybertron was powerful, rich and feared, but that did not mean that Cybertronians were happy. Our society was framed by a rigid system of castes: according to the body and the alt-mode you were born with, you were labelled with the corresponding caste: the politicians, the military, the intellectuals, the entertainers, the merchants, the manual workers, the priests, and the outcasts, called “the strays”. Your cast dictated your profession for the rest of your life, no matter how misfit you could feel within it. You couldn’t have a Conjunx — what you humans would call a spouse — outside of your own cast. Every cast had to face prejudices and wariness from the other parts of society — which divided us, making it almost impossible to live as a community. And by the time I was online, the upper casts, politic and military, were heavily corrupted: bribes, favours and blackmails were common things.

“Before the war, my name was not Optimus Prime, but Orion Pax. I was a historian, from the cast of the intellectuals. My work was to study the Cybertronian archives and vulgarize their content for the general public. But it was more propaganda than an actual job: many times my books were returned to me, because it did not glorify enough the system. I never liked it, but I was too young to know how to write something that would satisfy the specification of the Council, and, at the same time, would give a clear insight of our past. The Council pretended that Cybertron was better now, and that the previous ages were uncivilized and dark periods of time, but I easily knew it was a blatant lie. Easy for me, since I had all the resources available to prove the absurdity of Functionalism — but I could not speak out loud, nor could any of my fellow Transformers, because whoever disapproved the Council was sidelined, banned, and sometimes killed. The atmosphere was of ignorance and fear, making it heavy and unbearable.

“And then, one day, a book appeared. The Council tried to remove it from the book stores and forbade its distribution, but by doing so they only increased the value of the novel, and it spread out in a small amount of time. Everyone wanted to know what was so special about this particular book (some people even downloaded it directly into their brain!), and I was curious too, so I looked for it. When I found it, I immediately became fascinated.

“It was simply called Dialogues. The story, beautifully written, was about a Cybertronian, who had died in an accident, and, as he waited in the Afterspark to be judged by Primus, our god, he came across a character called “the Stranger”. Who or what they were, the reader didn’t know, only that “they were not from here”. The Stranger asked the Transformer why he was crying, and he told them that all his life he had been miserable. Again the Stranger asked why, and as they comforted him, he told them his life. Gradually it became an explanation of the Cybertronian society, fueled by the remarks of the Stranger. The more the characters spoke, the more flaws of our world were pointed out. The mech explained that freedom was a foreign concept for him, and the Stranger was outraged to hear such a thing. They told him he was free to be himself, he ought to, actually, because everyone else was taken. It was the most touching part of the book: when the Cybertronian realised that he could hope, that he could dream. But then he asked what was the point in dreaming about a better life, if he was dead. And the Stranger pronounced an iconic sentence: “Because dreams occur when one is sleeping. It is time to wake up.” And he woke up in a hospital bed.”

For a fleeting moment, he stays silent, before speaking again:

“No wonder the Council tried to get rid of this book: it was an evident criticism of the very system they promoted. Whoever had written it had signed its own death warrant — but despite the Council’s investigations, they were never found. And the politicians were too late: the seeds of hope were sown. “It is time to wake up” became a forbidden motto, thrilling those who said it, thanks to someone who had been brave enough to shout that something was wrong.

“I wanted to meet this someone. I wanted to help them, I wanted to be part of this bravery. Thus I started to look for clues, anything that would lead me to them. I went all over the planet, I asked publishers and librarians who might have been in contact with this mysterious author. But none of them gave me an answer, denying the fact they had an acquaintance with them. I was about to give up, when a book seller from Kaon accosted me, and simply told me I should go to Zagoran.

“Zagoran is a desertic planet on the borderline of the Cybertronian Empire. It had been left untouched because it was only made of sand and barren mountains, making it “unworthy” of our leaders’ attention and unfit for Cybertronians to settle down. Only a few natives peacefully lived there, undisturbed by our expansionism.

“There were only two options. Either the book seller had given me a clue about the author's location, so I could meet them away from prying eyes; or it was a ruse from the Council, who might have noticed my researches about them, and maybe I was becoming too annoying, so they were trying to lure me away from Cybertron to kill me without any witness. But that last hypothesis was illogical: why send me on a faraway planet and waste resources in following me there, whereas there were people who easily disappeared every week? No, it was very likely that the place would lead me to the unknown writer.

“So I decided to go.”

The more he speaks, the more enthralled she becomes. It is as if Nebula can see the past through Orion Pax's eyes, and she beholds a world she doesn't know a thing about, yet who unfolds before her like the stage of a theatre.

She follows Orion Pax through his journey to Zagoran, can feel his excitement and his apprehension as his ship gets closer and closer to the planet and finally lands not far from a mountain massif.

The hot sand tickles her toes as he puts his feet on the ground. The tip of her tongue tastes the dry wind whistling around him, and she bites back a whine when the sun heating up his armour almost scorches her skin. But the sensation is quickly forgotten when he catches a glimpse of a shining object, standing at the base of a canyon.

The sun is reflecting on the plating of another Cybertronian, and Nebula is as curious as Orion about this stranger. A cloak is thrown around their shoulders, hiding their body, but everything about them is massive, and both travellers suddenly feel wary. They are even more anxious when the other robot beckons them to come closer before retreating into the canyon, but does Orion Pax have a choice? There is no turning back now.

Nebula is a simple witness, and cannot comfort him as he follows the stranger — and like his spark, her heart clenches in dread when a black bag is shoved around his head as soon as he enters the shadow of the cliffs. She feels his panic while he struggles against whoever harshly grips his wrists together and forces him down to his knees. His body is shaking and she shares the frightening hypothesis that this is a trap, and she jerks with him when another pair of hands palpate his body, looking for who knows what.

How long lasts this agonising moment, she doesn't know, but then a rumbling voice speaks.

“No tracker, no camera, no weapons. The guy is clean. You can let him go.”

Orion breathes out a sigh he has been holding — robots are able to sigh apparently — when he is released. But a firm hand stops him when he tries to take the bag off.

“The bag stays on,” the rumbling, calm voice tells him. “Now, follow us.”

He genuinely asks how he is supposed to walk if he is blind. The voice sighs and another one snickers, then Orion gasps in surprise when two callous hands scoop him up and press him against a broad chest.

“Aww,” the second voice, gravelly and deep, exclaims, “the little guy is cute when he squeaks! You look like a creator with their sparkling, bwahaha!”

Orion coughs in embarrassment while the one holding him — a femme, according to her voice — lets out an exasperated huff, before beginning to walk.

“Does this situation look like a joke to you?” and there is a warning in her tone.

“Oh, don’t worry, if the little guy tries any funny business, I’ll happily crush him. Got it, little guy?”

The smallest of the three shakily wonders what kind of situation he has got himself into while he nods and gulps.

The mech then makes an odd noise, something between a laugh and a snarl, like a wolf chuckling at a frightened dog, demanding him to go away, to leave his territory, or to submit.

So Orion submits. It's not like he can run away anyway. Not when the femme carrying him can easily smash him with her hands. He cannot see her, but he can guess she is taller than he is, or should he said huge, considering the arms supporting his weight are larger than his thighs. Each of her steps slightly shake the ground. Her thick and square fingers speak of strength, yet the powerful joints pressed against his armour are nothing but gentle and steady. He can feel the dents in the metal, a sign that her hands are used to harsh work… or more violent business.

He really, really doesn't want to think about the implications of such thoughts.

Then he notices that the air is cooler, it’s refreshing after having to cope with the burning heat of the desert. The femme turns right, turns left, turns left again — and after a moment he is so confused he cannot grasp directions any longer.

An eternity that could have been a second elapses during their walk — until she stops walking, and suddenly it seems like he is being stared at.

Anxious, he instinctively clings to her — and in response she unceremoniously drops him on the ground.

Someone snorts as he yelps in indignation then pain when he lands on his buttocks. He tries to get up despite the bag blindfolding him and he wobbles, almost losing his balance. A clawed hand catches him just in time, and sight is given back to him.

The first thing he sees is red. In the darkness of what looks like a cave, several pairs of glowing rubies warily peer at him. They stand straight, ready to strike should he do anything wrong. Their plating is dented and their paint worn, but their armor is so thick not even the strongest bullets would be able to pierce it. Some of them have cannons mounted on their back, others have guns and blades sticking out of their wrists — but all of them are covered in scars.

Orion realises in horror that he is before a pack of soldiers, beasts hardened by war — war dogs that can tear him up before he can say anything.

Despite being part of the military, one of the highest casts, soldiers are not worth more than strays. They are the tools of the expansion and the defence of the empire: they invade planets chosen by their superiors, they kill the people the strategists have decided not to spare, they guard the outposts implanted by their masters after having watched the battle from afar.

Never mind that dozens of them die on the battlefield — they are just pawns on the chessboard. They are made for violence, decimating everything, until violence claims them back.

Soldiers are almost never seen on Cybertron, if not as bodyguards — a job they are really good at — and they are so feared no one approaches them.

Are these people bodyguards too? Are they here to protect the mysterious author? It would be the most feasible explanation, yet Orion cannot shakes the feeling that he is missing something. They look old, battered by life, and at the same time there is something very young about them.

“What is your name?” a blue bot with gold accent coolly asks, his hands resting on the hilt of a long sword that can cut him in half in one swift motion.

“My designation is Orion Pax,” the historian manages to say with a steady voice, something he is proud of.

“Typical body from the intellectual cast,” the femme that carried him adds, and Primus, she is not tall she is a giant! “He fits Kat's description. He’s got nothing he can use against us. He’s either a spy or someone who genuinely wants to help.”

“I want to!” Orion exclaims, and everyone immediately stiffens, until they notice he is not speaking vehemently, but enthusiastically. “This novel, Dialogues, it was… it was something that everybody needed to read. The author was very brave to speak out loud, and I want to support them, so they can keep speaking.”

“And how would you do that?” two large, scarlet optics ask, inquisitive, only visible feature of a body hidden in the dark — and at this moment Orion regrets he has not an infrared vision.

“I am an historian. I have studied the past of Cybertron for a long time, and I want to share this knowledge… even if the Council doesn’t allow me to. That is why I am here: the writer spread hope, and if there is anything I can do to make this hope grow, if there are arguments the author needs to strengthen his ideas and resist against the Council’s propaganda… then I will not hesitate to provide them.”

The embers are closed now, reflecting upon the historian’s words. But when they open again, it is another voice that speaks, sounding strange, almost alien.

“We cannot trust you. Not yet. But if your words are true, then we will gladly accept your help. For now, go back to Cybertron. Think about the implications of such a choice. When we will decide that you are trustworthy, we will contact you again. And you will see the one you seem so keen to meet.”

When the silence comes back, Orion understands that it is time to leave. As they put the bag back and escort him toward the exit, he cannot help but feel disappointed. However, he understands that they have to take precautions — it’s survival.

He wonders how they will be able to tell that he is not a traitor, and he doesn’t feel the minuscule camera they have installed on him when they frisked him a moment earlier.

And the mysterious author is still plaguing his mind.

“Back then I didn’t know. I didn’t know that there was not one but two authors. I didn’t know they were already there, in this cave where everything began. I had seen his eyes and I had heard her voice. One was a soldier, like his brothers in arms. The other was someone who came from far away.”

Nebula is back to the present, and watches this robot full of memories, closing his eyes for a moment, trying not to get lost into the maze of his past.

“These people, one of a kind, were your parents. Megatron and Esther.”

#i know it ends up with a cliffhanger sorry #but i had to cut there bc it was too long #don't worry several parts of the next chapter are already done #hope you liked it!#sweet child o' mine #megatron #esther #nebula #optimus prime #transformers #beeverse #knightverse #bumblebee movie #interspecies romance #science-fiction

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almightygodismydependence-blog · 6 years ago

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The Secret Tip to Resolving Hatred

Xiao Wu

I was self-employed. Mainly I sold all kinds of textiles, and I also made clothes for my customers part-time. After a few years, my business became more and more popular, and people around me were all very envious. Later, a neighboring household opened the same kind of shop as mine and became my competitor. Naturally, the business in my shop was affected. The popular proverb says two of a trade never agree, but my peer was not just anyone, but my most trusted pupil, Xiaochen.

Not only did Xiaochen open the same store next to my house, she even waited outside of her shop to intentionally steal my business. Whenever she saw somebody pass by the shop, she approached them and greeted them enthusiastically, guiding them into the shop, and she even purposefully said awful things about me. Seeing Xiaochen do everything she could to steal my business, I regretted taking her as my pupil and started hating her from my heart. When I saw her, I was unwilling to approach or talk to her, and sometimes I would even say some bad things about her in front of customers, or I would intentionally give customers a discount to bring back repeat customers, so that I could reduce her clients. But because we were neighbors, we could not avoid running into each other. As time passed, I became more and more pained and repressed in my heart, and my hate for her became deeper and deeper. It reached the point that whenever I looked at her, my heart became awfully choked, and my whole mind was occupied with thoughts of how to deal with her. Even when I dreamed, I dreamed I was fighting her. I was living so painfully at that time!

In 2002, I heard my schoolmate say that believing in Jesus could bring peace and happiness, that it could broaden our hearts so that we no longer harbored hatred, so I believed in the Lord Jesus. I saw that the Lord Jesus said: “But I say to you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which spitefully use you. And to him that smites you on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that takes away your cloak forbid not to take your coat also” (Luk 6:27-29). From the Lord’s words I saw that the Lord has an unlimited and boundless love for us. He has unlimited tolerance, patience, and forgiveness for us. Didn’t the Lord already practice out these things that He required us to do? The Lord’s love deeply encouraged me, so I wanted to follow the Lord’s teachings, and I tried to tolerate Xiaochen, and not to quarrel with her. But in real life, I still hated her uncontrollably, and I could not practice the Lord’s word at all. When I thought that the Bible said that hating somebody is like killing them, I felt even more pain. I thought: I want to forgive Xiaochen, but why is it that I simply could not do it? I believe in the Lord and I know His demands, but why can’t I put the Lord’s word into practice? I lived in pain, and I could not extricate myself.

Soon, in 2003, I had the fortune to accept God’s work in the last days. In a gathering, a sister read a part of God’s word directed toward my difficulty: “Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not taken away and still remained within him. … This requires man to understand the path of growth in life, the way of life, and the way to change his disposition. It also needs man to act in accordance with this path so that the disposition of man can gradually be changed and he can live under the shining of the light, and that he can do all things in accord with the will of God, cast away the corrupt satanic disposition, and break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). She also fellowshiped to me: “During the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did a step of redemptive work. The sin of us humans was only forgiven, so that we were no longer sentenced by the laws. However, our sinful nature still remained, and it had not been resolved. It is like you living in hatred to Xiaochen, you can only control your external behavior to not insult her, but you have not resolved the source of hatred in your heart. We humans have been corrupted by Satan for thousands of years, and we have been completely taken over by all kinds of satanic poisons. Satanic philosophies and laws such as “Heaven destroys those who are not for themselves,” and “A man dies for money; a bird dies for food” have become our life and our nature. We uncontrollably rely on these things to live, so we have all become selfish, self-interested, and only interested in profit. We fight and argue over our own interests and become jealous and hateful, causing us to uncontrollably commit sins and oppose God. Although in our heart we want to practice the Lord’s word, because we are bound and limited by satanic nature, we cannot put them into practice and we live in unbearable pain. In the last days Almighty God comes to resolve the root problem of us corrupt humans committing sins, to completely rescue us from Satan’s domain. For this purpose, God speaks words to perform the work of judging and purifying man, so that, through the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, we recognize our own satanic nature, come to understand that God’s righteous disposition is beyond reproach, gradually come to revere God, no longer live by Satan’s poison, seek the truth in all things, live on God’s word, and replace our own corrupt disposition with practicing the truth. In this way, we can live out a normal humanity, we can know how to act and how to conduct ourselves in contact with others. When we have left the bondage of Satan’s authority and are no longer controlled by our corrupt disposition, then we are living in release and freedom. Sister, if you often read the word of the Almighty God, experience God’s judgment and chastisement, often pray to God, ask God to protect your heart, then you will surely be able to let go of the hatred in your heart, break away from Satan’s corrupt disposition, and live relaxed and free. So, you must have confidence in God….”

After listening to the sister’s fellowship, I understood that the reason I was never able to resolve the hatred in my heart while believing in the Lord Jesus is because the Lord Jesus only performed the work of redeeming sin, but not the work of casting away sin. This is why the satanic nature and corrupt disposition within me have not yet been removed. Only Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days can fully cleanse and transform me, rescuing me from sin! Having understood this, I became confident again about how to resolve the hatred between Xiaochen and me, and I made up my mind to properly pursue the truth and shed the satanic corrupt disposition soon.

One day, I saw God’s word saying: “Cruel, brutal mankind! The conniving and intrigue, the jostling with each other, the scramble for reputation and fortune, the mutual slaughter—when will it ever end? … How many do not act for the sake of their own interests? How many do not oppress and discriminate against others for the sake of maintaining their own status? ” (“The Wicked Must Be Punished” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading God’s word, I began to self-reflect. Why is it that I keep living in hatred to Xiaochen? Isn’t it just because she stole my business and this affected my own interests? In order to get more money and have one less competitor, all I thought about was how to exclude her and resent her, and I even had dark thoughts about her. In the past, I thought that my hatred of her had a reason. She offended me first, so that’s why I hated her to this extent. Now, I know that this is caused by my own selfish nature. Having recognized these things, I quickly prayed to God: “God, only now do I know that I hate Xiaochen because I have a selfish nature within me. God, I am willing to rebel against myself, I am unwilling to live by my satanic nature. I hope that You can help me, so that I can let go of my hatred to Xiaochen and live out a normal humanity.”

In order to help me walk out of hatred, God arranged a situation for me. One day, Xiaochen was refurbishing her kitchen, and it took up the stairwell passageway shared between our two houses. Looking at this, I felt angry in my heart, that she was really pushing it too far. After stealing my business, now she was coming to take over my territory. This was really getting more and more out of hand! When I wanted to argue with her, I suddenly remembered that God said: “God is forever supreme and ever honorable, while man is forever base, forever worthless. This is because God is forever making sacrifices and devoting Himself to mankind; man, however, forever takes and strives only for himself. … for the effort of man is always for his own sake and not for others. Man is always selfish, while God is forever selfless. God is the source of all that is just, good, and beautiful, while man is he who succeeds to and makes manifest all ugliness and evil” (“It Is Very Important to Understand God’s Disposition” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Yes, God’s love is too selfless. God is incarnated into flesh twice only to save us humans. God has paid the absolute price so that we can achieve salvation. In the past, He sacrificed Himself on the cross for the salvation of humanity, and now He is incarnated into flesh again, enduring people’s resistance, condemnation, persecution, and defamation to perform work and save people, all without complaints or regrets and never asking us to repay Him. God’s life substance is so beautiful, so lovable, so worthy of our admiration and worship! And I have been corrupted by Satan to be too selfish and despicable, too cunning and evil, and I lived by Satan’s poison, “Fight for every inch of land and seize every bit you can get.” As long as it relates to a bit of my profits, I would fight with others, haggle over every penny, and I cannot take any losses. I see what I live out is exactly the same as Satan’s, as if I am a living demon. Now, God has pointed out a path to changing my life disposition. I ought to practice it in accordance to God’s word, rebel against Satan, and no longer live by Satan’s poison. So, I prayed to God: “God, the matter that I encounter today is set up by You for me. I am willing to live out Your word, and no longer live by Satan’s poison. I hope that You will grant me confidence and strength, so I will no longer be fooled by Satan and let go of my hatred to Xiaochen in my heart.” After praying, my heart gradually became calmer, and I felt incomparably secure in my heart. At that moment, I felt for the first time that letting go of hatred could be so relaxing and releasing.

Having had this experience, I was more willing to live my life in accordance to God’s word, and I was no longer willing to be fooled or corrupted by Satan. One morning, Xiaochen’s shop hadn’t opened yet, and I heard somebody yelling outside, “Miss Tailor! Open the door quickly!” I opened it up and had a look, and it turned out to be Xiaochen’s customer coming to pick up clothes from her shop. The customer saw that I opened the door, asking me if Xiaochen was at home. At this moment, I remembered something that happened before: One day, I was cleaning upstairs, and a customer came to look for me downstairs. Even though he knew I was at home, Xiaochen’s husband didn’t tell the customer. Thinking of this, I felt angry, and I didn’t want to tell the customer about the fact that Xiaochen’s at home. Then I remembered God’s word said: “You ought to know that God likes an honest man. … To be honest is to refrain from impurity in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man” (“Three Admonitions” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “When you rebel against the flesh, there will inevitably be a battle within you. Satan will try and make you follow it, will try and make you follow the conceptions of the flesh and uphold the interests of the flesh—but God’s words will enlighten and illuminate you within, and at this time it is up to you whether you follow God or follow Satan” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The enlightenment of God’s word allowed me to see that what I had just thought was still living by Satan’s poison. I wanted to treat Xiaochen as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Isn’t this still living within Satan’s corrupt disposition? God asks us to be an honest person and not lie or deceive people, but Satan allows me to act in accordance to the corrupt disposition of the flesh. Should I follow Satan and satisfy the flesh, or should I rebel against Satan, practice the truth, and satisfy God? At this moment, I felt God observing my every word, every act, and each and every movement. No, I must rebel against the flesh and practice the truth to satisfy God. Thinking of this, I told the customer calmly, “If you’re looking for Miss Xiaochen, she’s at home, just wait for a bit and she’ll come out.” When I practiced this, I felt very secure in my heart.

Later, when repeat customers came to my house to make clothes but I was too busy and couldn’t manage it, I would introduce them to Xiaochen’s shop. When she found out later, she was also very touched. Finally, one day, when she saw me, she deliberated for a long time, and then called excitedly out, “Master!” This “Master” made me feel extremely warm inside. Ever since she opened her shop next to my house, she had never called me Master once. I knew at that moment that the reason we could resolve our hatred was because of the effect achieved by God’s word. Otherwise, the hatred between us could only get deeper and deeper. Thank God! All glory and praise be to Almighty God!

Recommended： 4 Principles on How to Be Closer to God

#Testimonies #Life Experiences

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fear-god-shun-evil · 6 years ago

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I Still Live in Sin. Am I Really Reborn?

When I first started believing in the Lord, I heard the pastor said, “When we believers are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are reborn. So from that day, we will be different from our old self and formally become the Lord’s children. And eventually, we will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Just as the Lord Jesus says in the Bible: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, You must be born again’” (John 3:5-7). Hearing these words, I got extremely excited and was then baptized. Thereafter, I always followed the Lord’s words, and preached the Lord’s gospel with full confidence. When I saw so many people accepted the gospel and was baptized, I felt so happy, believing that we were all reborn, and that in the future, we would definitely attain that which the Lord has promised and enter into the kingdom of heaven.

With a twinkle of an eye, I have believed in the Lord for over 10 years. But somehow, now my original faith and love gradually lessened and I was increasingly unable to keep the Lord’s way. I began to covet wealth, became selfish, self-interested, and haggled over every penny. Even when interacting with my brothers and sisters, I also had no patience or tolerance for them and was unable to live in harmony with them. Moreover, I would always reveal my wildly self-important, arrogant disposition and put others down to raise myself up, and would even often lie and deceive God, deceive other people. Unknowingly, some questions came into my mind: With such a living out, have I truly been reborn? Why do I feel that my living out today is no different from that of unbelievers? Can I, who am full of sin, really enter into the kingdom of heaven?

Once, I left a message online to Sister Xiaodong, whom I got acquainted with on Facebook, and told her about my confusion. Before long, she replied: “Hello, sister! I used to also have this kind of confusion. Until one day I read these words in the Bible: ‘You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:45), and ‘Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14). I couldn’t help but think: Since God Himself is pure and holy, His kingdom is then holy and cannot be defiled. So how can we who always sin enter God’s kingdom? Afterward, I read such a passage in a book: ‘A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance.’ From this passage, I knew that the Lord Jesus’ work was limited to redemption alone. He brought us the way of repentance, taught us to be tolerant and patient, to love others as ourselves and to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind, etc. As long as we are baptized, accept the Lord Jesus’ salvation and come before the Lord to repent and confess our sins, we can gain His pardon, and enjoy the grace as well as blessings that He has bestowed upon man. But this doesn’t mean that we are no longer of sin. Although we could obey the teachings of the Lord, and outwardly had some good behaviors, such as having tolerance and patience toward others, not assaulting others and not cursing others, the sinful nature of us was not taken away and still deeply rooted in us. So we are still capable of frequently expressing corrupt disposition: being arrogant, conceited, crooked, deceitful, selfish, and self-interested, as well as being envious and hateful toward others, etc. What’s worse, we still sin and resist the Lord with regularity. When encountering events which do not align with our notions, we will judge and complain against the Lord, and when facing trials and refinements, we even become full of resentment toward the Lord. With such a God-resisting nature, how can we be people who have been reborn? Since we can’t be reborn by accepting the Lord Jesus’ salvation, then how on earth should we do to achieve rebirth?

“The Lord Jesus once prophesied: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come’ (John 16:12-13). From these words we can see that the Lord had left a lot of words unspoken during the time when He worked because the people at that time were so small in stature that they could not receive them. For that reason, in the last days, God will bring more truth to man upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ redemption work. Only if we embrace all of God’s truths as our life and live based on them will we have the chance to get our corrupt disposition purified. Next, I’d like to share a passage of words with you.”

Subsequently, Sister Xiaodong sent me a passage of words: “‘If one can truly enter into the reality of God’s words from the matters and the words required by Him, then he will be a person perfected by God. It can be said that the work and the words of God are completely effective for this person, that God’s words become his life, he obtains truth, and he can live according to God’s words. After this the nature of his flesh, that is, the foundation of his original existence, will shake and collapse. After one has the words of God as their life they become a new person. The words of God become his life; the vision of God’s work, His requirements of man, His revelation of man, and the standards for a true life that God requires man to achieve become his life—he lives according to these words and these truths, and this person becomes perfected by the words of God. He experiences rebirth and becomes a new man through His words.’ Through these words, we can know the true rebirth refers to man breaking away from the old life of committing sins and obeying the new life of Christ. So only when we gain the words God expresses from His own mouth, and get our sinful nature completely removed, which is to say that, only when we no longer live in the bonds of sin, thoroughly get rid of our satanic corrupt disposition, live by God’s words, obey and love God, and thereby can be completely compatible with God, have we achieved true rebirth. Like it says in the Bible, ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new’” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

From the above fellowshiping, I finally understood the reason why I always lived in sin without release. “As it turns out, the Lord Jesus only did the work of redemption rather than the work of cleansing, so we still cannot help but always sin, and thereby it cannot be said that we have been reborn. The only way for us to be reborn is accepting the truths expressed by God in the last days.” When I realized this, my heart became so enlightened. Then I began to hit the keyboard and reply to her: “Thank you! Through your fellowship today, I’ve known why I am living all along amid sin. I’ve also understood what the true rebirth is: Only when we accept the truths expressed by God in the last days and thus have the root of our sin completely removed are we genuinely reborn.”

#Lord Jesus #the gospel #the Bible #kingdom of God #enter the kingdom of heaven

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almightygod-mybeloved-blog · 6 years ago

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The Secret Tip to Resolving Hatred (Audio Essay)

Xiao Wu

Soon, in 2003, I had the fortune to accept God’s work in the last days. In a gathering, a sister read a part of God’s word directed toward my difficulty: “Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not taken away and still remained within him. … This requires man to understand the path of growth in life, the way of life, and the way to change his disposition. It also needs man to act in accordance with this path so that the disposition of man can gradually be changed and he can live under the shining of the light, and that he can do all things in accord with the will of God, cast away the corrupt satanic disposition, and break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). She also fellowshiped to me: “During the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did a step of redemptive work. The sin of us humans was only forgiven, so that we were no longer sentenced by the laws. However, our sinful nature still remained, and it had not been resolved. It is like you living in hatred to Xiaochen, you can only control your external behavior to not insult her, but you have not resolved the source of hatred in your heart. We humans have been corrupted by Satan for thousands of years, and we have been completely taken over by all kinds of satanic poisons. Satanic philosophies and laws such as “Heaven destroys those who are not for themselves,” and “A man dies for money; a bird dies for food” have become our life and our nature. We uncontrollably rely on these things to live, so we have all become selfish, self-interested, and only interested in profit. We fight and argue over our own interests and become jealous and hateful, causing us to uncontrollably commit sins and oppose God. Although in our heart we want to practice the Lord’s word, because we are bound and limited by satanic nature, we cannot put them into practice and we live in unbearable pain. In the last days Almighty God comes to resolve the root problem of us corrupt humans committing sins, to completely rescue us from Satan’s domain. For this purpose, God speaks words to perform the work of judging and purifying man, so that, through the judgment and chastisement of c we recognize our own satanic nature, come to understand that God’s righteous disposition is beyond reproach, gradually come to revere God, no longer live by Satan’s poison, seek the truth in all things, live on God’s word, and replace our own corrupt disposition with practicing the truth. In this way, we can live out a normal humanity, we can know how to act and how to conduct ourselves in contact with others. When we have left the bondage of Satan’s authority and are no longer controlled by our corrupt disposition, then we are living in release and freedom. Sister, if you often read the word of the Almighty God, experience c and chastisement, often pray to God, ask God to protect your heart, then you will surely be able to let go of the hatred in your heart, break away from Satan’s corrupt disposition, and live relaxed and free. So, you must have confidence in God….”

#Lord Jesus #God’s work #God’s words #Incarnation

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focusontheeasternlightning-blog · 6 years ago

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The Secret Tip to Resolving Hatred

Xiao Wu

<highlight>The Secret Tip to Resolving Hatred</highlight>, Christian Prayer Soon, in 2003, I had the fortune to accept God’s work in the last days. In a gathering, a sister read a part of God’s word directed toward my difficulty: “Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not taken away and still remained within him. … This requires man to understand the path of growth in life, the way of life, and the way to change his disposition. It also needs man to act in accordance with this path so that the disposition of man can gradually be changed and he can live under the shining of the light, and that he can do all things in accord with the will of God, cast away the corrupt satanic disposition, and break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). She also fellowshiped to me: “During the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did a step of redemptive work. The sin of us humans was only forgiven, so that we were no longer sentenced by the laws. However, our sinful nature still remained, and it had not been resolved. It is like you living in hatred to Xiaochen, you can only control your external behavior to not insult her, but you have not resolved the source of hatred in your heart. We humans have been corrupted by Satan for thousands of years, and we have been completely taken over by all kinds of satanic poisons. Satanic philosophies and laws such as “Heaven destroys those who are not for themselves,” and “A man dies for money; a bird dies for food” have become our life and our nature. We uncontrollably rely on these things to live, so we have all become selfish, self-interested, and only interested in profit. We fight and argue over our own interests and become jealous and hateful, causing us to uncontrollably commit sins and oppose God. Although in our heart we want to practice the Lord’s word, because we are bound and limited by satanic nature, we cannot put them into practice and we live in unbearable pain. In the last days Almighty God comes to resolve the root problem of us corrupt humans committing sins, to completely rescue us from Satan’s domain. For this purpose, God speaks words to perform the work of judging and purifying man, so that, through the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, we recognize our own satanic nature, come to understand that God’s righteous disposition is beyond reproach, gradually come to revere God, no longer live by Satan’s poison, seek the truth in all things, live on God’s word, and replace our own corrupt disposition with practicing the truth. In this way, we can live out a normal humanity, we can know how to act and how to conduct ourselves in contact with others. When we have left the bondage of Satan’s authority and are no longer controlled by our corrupt disposition, then we are living in release and freedom. Sister, if you often read the word of the Almighty God, experience God’s judgment and chastisement, often pray to God, ask God to protect your heart, then you will surely be able to let go of the hatred in your heart, break away from Satan’s corrupt disposition, and live relaxed and free. So, you must have confidence in God….”

One day, I saw God’s word saying: “Cruel, brutal mankind! The conniving and intrigue, the jostling with each other, the scramble for reputation and fortune, the mutual slaughter—when will it ever end? … How many do not act for the sake of their own interests? How many do not oppress and discriminate against others for the sake of maintaining their own status” (“The Wicked Must Be Punished” in The Word Appears in the Flesh)? After reading God’s word, I began to self-reflect. Why is it that I keep living in hatred to Xiaochen? Isn’t it just because she stole my business and this affected my own interests? In order to get more money and have one less competitor, all I thought about was how to exclude her and resent her, and I even had dark thoughts about her. In the past, I thought that my hatred of her had a reason. She offended me first, so that’s why I hated her to this extent. Now, I know that this is caused by my own selfish nature. Having recognized these things, I quickly prayed to God: “God, only now do I know that I hate Xiaochen because I have a selfish nature within me. God, I am willing to rebel against myself, I am unwilling to live by my satanic nature. I hope that You can help me, so that I can let go of my hatred to Xiaochen and live out a normal humanity.”

<highlight>The Secret Tip to Resolving Hatred</highlight>, christian testimony Having had this experience, I was more willing to live my life in accordance to God’s word, and I was no longer willing to be fooled or corrupted by Satan. One morning, Xiaochen’s shop hadn’t opened yet, and I heard somebody yelling outside, “Miss Tailor! Open the door quickly!” I opened it up and had a look, and it turned out to be Xiaochen’s customer coming to pick up clothes from her shop. The customer saw that I opened the door, asking me if Xiaochen was at home. At this moment, I remembered something that happened before: One day, I was cleaning upstairs, and a customer came to look for me downstairs. Even though he knew I was at home, Xiaochen’s husband didn’t tell the customer. Thinking of this, I felt angry, and I didn’t want to tell the customer about the fact that Xiaochen’s at home. Then I remembered God’s word said: “You ought to know that God likes an honest man. … To be honest is to refrain from impurity in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man” (“Three Admonitions” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “When you rebel against the flesh, there will inevitably be a battle within you. Satan will try and make you follow it, will try and make you follow the conceptions of the flesh and uphold the interests of the flesh—but God’s words will enlighten and illuminate you within, and at this time it is up to you whether you follow God or follow Satan” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The enlightenment of God’s word allowed me to see that what I had just thought was still living by Satan’s poison. I wanted to treat Xiaochen as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Isn’t this still living within Satan’s corrupt disposition? God asks us to be an honest person and not lie or deceive people, but Satan allows me to act in accordance to the corrupt disposition of the flesh. Should I follow Satan and satisfy the flesh, or should I rebel against Satan, practice the truth, and satisfy God? At this moment, I felt God observing my every word, every act, and each and every movement. No, I must rebel against the flesh and practice the truth to satisfy God. Thinking of this, I told the customer calmly, “If you’re looking for Miss Xiaochen, she’s at home, just wait for a bit and she’ll come out.” When I practiced this, I felt very secure in my heart.

#Almighty God #Lord Jesus #God's judgment

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almighty-god-saved-me-blog · 7 years ago

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The Secret Tip to Resolving Hatred | the Church of Almighty God

Xiao Wu

In 2002, I heard my schoolmate say that believing in Jesus could bring peace and happiness, that it could broaden our hearts so that we no longer harbored hatred, so I believed in the Lord Jesus. I saw that the Lord Jesus said: “But I say to you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which spitefully use you. And to him that smites you on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that takes away your cloak forbid not to take your coat also” (Luk 6:27–29). From the Lord’s words I saw that the Lord has an unlimited and boundless love for us. He has unlimited tolerance, patience, and forgiveness for us. Didn’t the Lord already practice out these things that He required us to do? The Lord’s love deeply encouraged me, so I wanted to follow the Lord’s teachings, and I tried to tolerate Xiaochen, and not to quarrel with her. But in real life, I still hated her uncontrollably, and I could not practice the Lord’s word at all. When I thought that the Bible said that hating somebody is like killing them, I felt even more pain. I thought: I want to forgive Xiaochen, but why is it that I simply could not do it? I believe in the Lord and I know His demands, but why can’t I put the Lord’s word into practice? I lived in pain, and I could not extricate myself.

One day, I saw God’s word saying: “Cruel, brutal mankind! The conniving and intrigue, the jostling with each other, the scramble for reputation and fortune, the mutual slaughter — when will it ever end? … How many do not act for the sake of their own interests? How many do not oppress and discriminate against others for the sake of maintaining their own status” (“The Wicked Must Be Punished” in The Word Appears in the Flesh)? After reading God’s word, I began to self-reflect. Why is it that I keep living in hatred to Xiaochen? Isn’t it just because she stole my business and this affected my own interests? In order to get more money and have one less competitor, all I thought about was how to exclude her and resent her, and I even had dark thoughts about her. In the past, I thought that my hatred of her had a reason. She offended me first, so that’s why I hated her to this extent. Now, I know that this is caused by my own selfish nature. Having recognized these things, I quickly prayed to God: “God, only now do I know that I hate Xiaochen because I have a selfish nature within me. God, I am willing to rebel against myself, I am unwilling to live by my satanic nature. I hope that You can help me, so that I can let go of my hatred to Xiaochen and live out a normal humanity.”

Having had this experience, I was more willing to live my life in accordance to God’s word, and I was no longer willing to be fooled or corrupted by Satan. One morning, Xiaochen’s shop hadn’t opened yet, and I heard somebody yelling outside, “Miss Tailor! Open the door quickly!” I opened it up and had a look, and it turned out to be Xiaochen’s customer coming to pick up clothes from her shop. The customer saw that I opened the door, asking me if Xiaochen was at home. At this moment, I remembered something that happened before: One day, I was cleaning upstairs, and a customer came to look for me downstairs. Even though he knew I was at home, Xiaochen’s husband didn’t tell the customer. Thinking of this, I felt angry, and I didn’t want to tell the customer about the fact that Xiaochen’s at home. Then I remembered God’s word said: “You ought to know that God likes an honest man. … To be honest is to refrain from impurity in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man” (“Three Admonitions” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “When you rebel against the flesh, there will inevitably be a battle within you. Satan will try and make you follow it, will try and make you follow the conceptions of the flesh and uphold the interests of the flesh — but God’s words will enlighten and illuminate you within, and at this time it is up to you whether you follow God or follow Satan” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The enlightenment of God’s word allowed me to see that what I had just thought was still living by Satan’s poison. I wanted to treat Xiaochen as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Isn’t this still living within Satan’s corrupt disposition? God asks us to be an honest person and not lie or deceive people, but Satan allows me to act in accordance to the corrupt disposition of the flesh. Should I follow Satan and satisfy the flesh, or should I rebel against Satan, practice the truth, and satisfy God? At this moment, I felt God observing my every word, every act, and each and every movement. No, I must rebel against the flesh and practice the truth to satisfy God. Thinking of this, I told the customer calmly, “If you’re looking for Miss Xiaochen, she’s at home, just wait for a bit and she’ll come out.” When I practiced this, I felt very secure in my heart.

#Lord Jesus

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pamphletstoinspire · 7 years ago

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Catholic Physics - Reflections of a Catholic Scientist - Part 52

Laudato Si, "The Curate's Egg" I. The Excellent Parts

Story with image:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/catholic-physics-reflections-scientist-part-52-harold-baines/?published=t

Bishop: "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones"; Curate: "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!" - From "True Humility" by George du Maurier, originally published inPunch, 9 November 1895. (See story with image)

"(1) He [the Pope] cannot speak as a private theologian but in his official capacity as vicar of Christ and head of the Church; (2) He must officially define a doctrine relating to faith or morals (unfortunately, the pope is not infallible when it comes to science, politics, weather, and the outcome of sporting events); and (3) The pronouncement must not be directed only to a single individual or particular group of people, but it must be promulgated for the benefit of the entire Church" Patrick Madrid, The Papacy and Galileo

"Every judgment of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always sins." St. Thomas Aquinas. III Quodlibet 27.

There has been much heat and just a little light engendered by Pope Francis's recent Encyclical, Laudato Si. Unlike many who have either praised or condemned Laudato Si, I have read the whole work, not once but three times. What I propose to do in this post is to list, with minimal comment, the sections that I find laudatory (that's a pun, son) and then in a second post, the parts that I find questionable or objectionable. The Encyclical is 184 pages, so it will be necessary to focus selectively on the material.

THE EXCELLENT PARTS

Pope Francis enjoins against abortion and the culture of death, and promotes the value of the family, as has been done in previous encyclicals by other Popes.

When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities – to offer just a few examples – it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected. Item 117.

The sheer novelty involved in the emergence of a personal being within a material universe presupposes a direct action of God and a particular call to life and to relationship on the part of a “Thou” who addresses himself to another “thou" Item 81.

Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is un comfortable and creates difficulties? “If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of the new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away." Item 120, quote from Caritates in Vertate, 2009.

I would stress the great importance of the family, which is “the place in which life – the gift of God – can be properly welcomed and protected against the many attacks to which it is exposed, and can develop in accordance with what constitutes authentic human growth. In the face of the so-called culture of death, the family is the heart of the culture of life”. Item 213

Pope Francis calls us on us to reject consumerism, not to rely solely on technology, and to focus on that which has human values.

Furthermore, when media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload. Item 47

“while it is true that an unequal distribution of the population and of available resources creates obstacles to development and a sustainable use of the environment, it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development” Quoting the Pontifical Council for Justice Peace(483). Item 50

Each of us has his or her own personal identity and is capable of entering into dialogue with others and with God himself. Our capacity to reason, to develop arguments, to be inventive, to interpret reality and to create art, along with other not yet discovered capacities, are signs of a uniqueness which transcends the spheres of physics and biology. Item 81

The basic problem goes even deeper: it is the way that humanity has taken up technology and its development according to an undifferentiated and one-dimensional paradigm. This paradigm exalts the concept of a subject who, using logical and rational procedures, progressively approaches and gains control over an external object. This subject makes every effort to establish the scientific and experimental method, which in itself is already a technique of possession, mastery and transformation. It is as if the subject were to find itself in the presence of something formless, completely open to manipulation Item 106

It cannot be maintained that empirical science provides a complete explanation of life, the interplay of all creatures and the whole of reality. This would be to breach the limits imposed by its own methodology. If we reason only within the confines of the latter, little room would be left for aesthetic sensibility, poetry, or even reason’s ability to grasp the ultimate meaning and purpose of things. Item 199

Pope Francis calls on us to enter into a relationship with Christ in the Eucharist.

It is in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself tangibly, found unsurpassable expression when God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures. The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours. In the Eucharist, fullness is already achieved; it is the living centre of the universe, the overflowing core of love and of inexhaustible life. Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love. Item 236

THE PARTS THAT ARE EXCELLENT BUT MAY GO BAD

In the first sections of Laudato Si Pope Francis exhorts us to be one with nature and to realize God in His creation, emulating Saint Francis in his paean to Brother Sun and Sister Moon. There is much beautiful in these sections, and I emphasize with them. I recall the times more than 70 years ago when I lay underneath the big trees in Yosemite (as a summer Forest Service worker), or sat in the Griffith Planetarium marveling at the night sky in other times and other places.

He cites the works of past Popes who have been concerned about the environment, Paul VI, Saint John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and quotes at length the remarks of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew:

At the same time, Bartholomew has drawn attention to the ethical and spiritual roots of environmental problems, which require that we look for solutions not only in technology but in a change of humanity; otherwise we would be dealing merely with symptoms. He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which “entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs..." Item 9, Quoting from Lecture at the Monastery of Ulstein,

I can't quarrel with any of those statements. What concerns me, however, is that they are adopted and corrupted by those who do not believe in a Creating God, but instead worship the creation--Gaia, Mother Earth.* We see the farmers in San Joaquin Valley in California struggling to produce food--their water supply has been diverted to the San Francisco Bay to preserve (presumably) a small fish, the snail darter. One extreme faction of the Green worshipers of Mother Earth would have human reproduction minimized or eliminated. Thank God, Pope Francis spoke against that.

MORE TO COME

In the post to follow, I will present what Pope Francis has to say on the relation of politics and economics to the environment and climate science. And I'll explain why I disagree with many of these positions.

*A comment on this post published in another blog (William Briggs, Statistician to the Stars) remarked that I had the order of support mixed up--Pope Francis is following the Greens and Gaia worshippers, rather than the converse. Indeed, he had Naomi Klein, invited to Rome, to help support his campaign against global warming. Naomi Klein holds all the popular, extreme left/radical views. She is anti-capitalist (nationalize the industries), anti-Israel, pro AGW, and very probably a pro-abortion advocate. Here’s a quote–population control relevant-from an interview:

“Well, to be honest, for a long time, I just couldn’t see a future for a child that wasn’t some, like, Mad Max climate warrior thing. And, you know, I’d joke about it with my husband, like, you want to have a little climate warrior? [laughter] And it seems like that was the best thing I could imagine for a child. I couldn’t see a future that wasn’t just incredibly grim — maybe I’d seen too much sci-fi and read too much climate science. But I just couldn’t see it. ”

So I wonder what sort of conversations Pope Francis and Naomi Klein will have about “be fruitful and multiply”…there are some inconsistencies with what is good in the Encyclical, arguing against population control, and inviting Naomi Klein to Rome.

From a series of articles written by: Bob Kurland - a Catholic Scientist

#catholic physics

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