Comments for Causes of Rain and Sources of Violence in Nigeria at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 10 out of 10 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Thu, 23 May 2013 22:32:08 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9533 Boko Haram is just one group of many who actually believe what Islam teaches. Robert Reilly correctly lays out the philosophical and religious problems. Force and domination is the way of Islam; all Muslims are taught such principles and many many Muslims believe it and act on it. I fear that what Linus says is true and may come to pass on a wide scale. However, I still hold out hope for other ways forward like mass conversions of Muslims throughout the world, combined with a system or process of containment which would protect Non-Muslims. - Kinana Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:38:48 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9518 Dear Paul, would that the Catholic faithful were as richly nourished by Word as by Sacrament. Faith comes from hearing, says Blessed Paul, not from reception of the sacraments, a sad truth borne out too well in our own country and throughout the West. The Fathers of the Church are known not for their celebration of the sacraments, though celebrate them they did, but rather for their ministry of the Word, in preaching and teaching. TheInfomer makes a great point. - Dave Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:19:30 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9517 If this is true then the only way of dealing with these people is to destroy them before they destroy us.They have declared war on all non-Muslims, we must defend ourselves. In fact, it is the only answer, you sure can't reason with them. - Linus Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:47:41 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9516 Dear Paul: You're right, but I wish we were fed from the Word as well as we are from the Altar. Faith comes from hearing, says the Good Book, and not from reception of the sacraments; we all know of far too many people who regularly receive the sacraments but live in dissent and, alas, mortal sin. - Dave Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:58:00 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9515 Dear TheInformer, the sermon will not prepare you for martyrdom: the Sacraments of Baptism, Confession and Eucharist do that. - Paul L. Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:53:11 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9514 "The Regesburg Lecture" by Fr. James Schall!!!!!!!!!!! - Louise Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:50:01 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9513 How many times have you heard a decent sermon during a decent, solid Mass which would prepare you for this potential martyrdom as you left Mass? Too many of our priests and people don't know the solid food of the Catholic Faith and are too afraid to truly live the Catholic Religion. Instead, they perform false charity and activism. Makes me hurl! .............and we will die in our sins! - TheInformer Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:06:16 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9512 I am a very committed Catholic and believe what the Lord says about Laws. God did not create the universe to be chaotic and made laws first for Nature to exist by laws such as the laws of Gravity and motion. Surprisingly, the laws motion are amazingly applicable to human behaviour as well. For example, the 3rd. Law of Motion states that action and reaction are equal and opposite. This is illustrated by the human response to a law such as the 55mph. speed limit of Jimmy Carter's days, there were many more drivers driving faster than 55mph than when Reagan changed the limit to 70mph on controlled access highways. Similarly, the Ten Commandments, simple and easy to understand as they are, have been broken from the very moment of their promulgation by Moses. The Lord sent his only Son to simplify it and at the same time, brought the New Covenant and opening the Gates of Heaven. Yet, inspite of all God's efforts, humankind has found a go around even to that. The schism between the Catholic Church and Science has ended up by creating an Idol, namely Science which started with the persecution of Galileo. Did it have to take until John Paul II to try to set this right? No, but the 3rd. Law of Motion was in effect. Do not also forget what God said about the descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs, the prsent day Sunnis. The Lord says very clearly what he is in Isaiah 55 but in our arrogance and pride, we have tried to circumscribe God by our laws for Him to abide by as WE, the Christians, have been doing since just after Apostolic times and the Sunnis who came on the scene 600 years later, are doing. The 3rd. Law in action again and again. - Clement_W Sat, 14 Jan 2012 06:34:53 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9511 Stepping blithely in where angels (and the smart) fear to dip a toe - let me observe that God is omnipotent in the sense that He created all that was, is, and ever will be out of true nothing (not from a bubbling caldron of quantum possibilities which is not nothing). God is not omnipotent in the sense that He can do anything. He can not make a rock too big for Him to lift because He does not engage in nullity. Our gift of sovereignty of will in a wholly created universe is an expression of divine love. There is a terrible price to pay for free will and that price is sin and the possibility of turning away from God. Only if God is a loving God can we be free to reject Him. Because He is a loving God, He can (or will) not relieve us of our freedom and duty to choose good and avoid evil. Thus omnipotence is informed by love and co-generates justice. A purely omnipotent god, all cause and no love leaves no room for sovereignty of will. The lives of individuals under such a god are as meaningless as photons. They may be turned off or turned on with no moral consequence. Our tradition reminds us that in the beginning was the Word, or Logos or reason. It doesn’t say that in the beginning was power. - Other Joe Sat, 14 Jan 2012 06:30:04 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/causes-of-rain-and-sources-of-violence-in-nigeria.html#comment-9510 The Christian understanding preserves the Divine omnipotence by holding that God eternally decrees, not only the events that come to pass, but the causes of them and the order in which those causes operate. - Michael Paterson-Seymour Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:58:19 +0100