I believe in getting to the point. I also believe that there are matters that are important in the hierarchy of life. Things that matter first. The best analogy that I can use comes from the sport of running. I am a runner. Now a person cannot just make that claim unless we can agree upon with some degree what a "runner" is. In other words we have to be communicating the approximate similar meaning. In our "wishy washy," modern times where relative things and meanings rule the day and there are valueless underpinnings to what is called "truth', it is difficult to get a consensus on just what something is or isn't. Things tend to not matter, and that's a real problem because I'm sticking to my premise that there is a hierarchy of important matters. I have digressed from my analogy. When I say I am a runner and I can with a great deal of assurance, find other runners who would agree with me, I mean that I run a significant distance (miles) on a routine basis. One is not a runner if one shows up at a park and runs a quarter mile every 3-4 months. We can debate the frequency and the distances, the length of training and the pace at which one runs, but with certainty a runner runs a significant distance and runs routinely. At a dinner party, a runner conversing with another runner knows what this means. I personally have run over 10,000 miles in the past 13 years. This leads me (finally) to my point. When I say God, I mean one thing. Unfortunately this meaning has been lost due to a number of things (Reformation, Nominalism, etc) When I say God I mean a Divine Being who is radically distinct from the universe, radically transcendent, and altogether other from his creation, who literally is unimaginable and incomprehensible.(Psalm 145:3) This means that God cannot be shown to be unreal via empirical inquiry because by definition, any empirical inquiry is an investigation of the natural world. God's work is manifested in his creation but GOD IS NOT HIS CREATION. Therefore God cannot be proven not to exist. Belief in God is a matter of faith, but it is not "blind faith" nor is it in any unreasonable. Just look at the constants in the universe, if they did not exist we would have chaos, yet they do. I believe there is ample reason to have faith in God. I also believe that Jesus is God Incarnate, God dwelling among mankind in a specific time in history. I know Jesus, I've studied Jesus. I believe Jesus. Now another problem with "wishy washy" thinking today is the notion that Jesus loves us and all will be well. That is true under two conditions and really they are the same condition. That is we love Him and we obey His commandments. To Jesus obeying His commandments and loving Him was the same thing. John 14:14.Jesus reinforced the necessity to obey His Father and he taught us the next level of love in His message contain in the Beatitudes. So here is where the misunderstanding comes today. God is way bigger than most people think and God's commandments are not electives that we can pick and choose. People today and many Catholics and Christians think of God existing on THEIR TERMS. So in the order of the hierarchy of things that matter it goes like this: GOD MATTERS and 2nd WHAT HE WOULD LIKE ME TO DO MATTERS TO HIM AND THUS SHOULD MATTER TO ME. Morality and virtues should be the most important priorities in one's life. Think about it.
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