Why The West Can't Be Converted

[Apteka]

Just accept his point of view.  He is older and that automatically makes one wiser.  Since you are young you know nothing or real life and could not hope to even imagine what you don't know.  Listen instead to the old man who is not a catholic for advice.  Cause we all know age is more important than following ones conscious and the Lord.

 

First, I'm not that old, and secondly the only thing I have learned is how uncertain things are and how little we know in general. If a sixteen year old thinks he's figured it out, well, god bless him, but I'm willing to bet in ten years he'll be one of the people in the video above.

[PhuturePriest]

First, I'm not that old, and secondly the only thing I have learned is how uncertain things are and how little we know in general. If a sixteen year old thinks he's figured it out, well, god bless him, but I'm willing to bet in ten years he'll be one of the people in the video above.

 

So, pretty much, you believe that secular culture is too much for God to handle? Bro, do you even theology?

[Quietfire]

So you think that a person who is living that life (in your video) is beyond the love of the Almighty?

Drinking, dancing and twerking? 

Me thinks you misunderstand.

God isnt sitting in a corner having a hissy fit cause no one wants to chill with him, screaming that He's the center of attention..the center of the universe.

He has much to do.  There is much He is doing.

 

But when you are ready, He is there. (He is always there)

 

He doesnt twist your arm.

 

There is always and always will be that kind of ruckus going on in the world.  That video is no different that any other span of time of man.  Ok, they may not have had thongs and Bacardi a thousand years ago but the message was and is the same.

 

And so is God's.

 

Western society is converted because there are those within it that have been.  While it may be true that all may not reach Heaven your little video proves only one thing to me.

 

That video was way too long...and boring.

[Aloysius]

When the business man rebukes the idealism of his office-boy, it is commonly in some such speech as this: "Ah, yes, when one is young, one has these ideals in the abstract and these castles in the air; but in middle age they all break up like clouds, and one comes down to a belief in practical politics, to using the machinery one has and getting on with the world as it is." Thus, at least, venerable and philanthropic old men now in their honoured graves used to talk to me when I was a boy. But since then I have grown up and have discovered that these philanthropic old men were telling lies. What has really happened is exactly the opposite of what they said would happen. They said that I should lose my ideals and begin to believe in the methods of practical politicians. Now, I have not lost my ideals in the least; my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my old childlike faith in practical politics. I am still as much concerned as ever about the Battle of Armageddon; but I am not so much concerned about the General Election. As a babe I leapt up on my mother's knee at the mere mention of it. No; the vision is always solid and reliable.

 

Let no one despise you because of your youth, FP.  (1 Timothy 4:12)

 

That said, you will face some ups and downs.  You will have doubts, you will feel uncertain, you will waver.  I was once a headstrong 16 year old phatmasser... 10 years ago, to be exact.  I remember being most enraged when people would use the "you'll grow out of that idea" argument... and to be honest, on some things they were right while on some things they were wrong... if you treat the experiences of your life right, your positions will become less shallow, more wise, more matured... they will grow in depth and insight, they need not be extinguished.  You're just as likely to end up like me in 10 years as you are to be like one of the people in those videos.  Stilll striving, still hoping, still clinging to the faith.  You will see some people you thought would never falter completely crumble, but who knows what the future will hold for them, such people are the most likely deathbed conversions, for Our Lord does not forget and abandon those who once loved Him.  

 

The words of hopelessness and despair from Apteka come from one who took a turn at some point in life, a turn from those wavering points towards cynicism and doubt, and they are the words that despise those who took the other turn, to the road less traveled.  Will Western Civilization stop its descent down the wrong road?  It is unlikely, the road is narrow that leads to salvation, but hope springs eternal, even when it is foolish... especially when it is foolish.  For holiness is foolishness to the world, it always has been.

 

 

 

The men of the East may spell the stars,

And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.

The men of the East may search the scrolls
For sure fates and fame,
But the men that drink the blood of God
Go singing to their shame.

The wise men know what wicked things
Are written on the sky,
They trim sad lamps, they touch sad strings,
Hearing the heavy purple wings,
Where the forgotten seraph kings
Still plot how God shall die.

The wise men know all evil things
Under the twisted trees,
Where the perverse in pleasure pine
And men are weary of green wine
And sick of crimson seas.

But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.

I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.

Night shall be thrice night over you,
And heaven an iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope?"

-GK Chesterton

 

[Ice_nine]

 

Don't tase me bro!

 

The thesis is quite clear at the onset. The West is unconvertable, restoring a Catholic "Middle Ages"  impossible, and the reason being that the life-style of the contemporary West is too alluring. I don't see the Roman Church engaging in missionary activity anymore, but if it did, I would be curious to know how it would set about converting the moderns.

 

So chillax, stay in school, no need to be antagonistic

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't know that I was being antagonistic... but you didn't seem uber sensitive so I just went with it b/c that's just my unfiltered personality :). Just tryin to keep it real as the chilluns say.

 

 

 

I meant what are your intentions in general, like why do you even phatmass? You said you were a neocath? That's unhelpful. Would you like us to abandon the roman church? and if so what do you wish us to embrace? That's what I meant.

 

 

Sorry tho if you were offended. I'm running on about 25% of the sleep I should be getting so my cognitive control is not on it's a-game. On top of that my post-to-prop ratio is plummeting and my facebook statuses are only averaging 0.54 likes a pop. It's a crisis really! Mad stress.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Apotheoun, how would you approach enlightening the godless? Would you walk into their den of vice and attempt to preach? Many a lost soul steps further into perdition in these areas.

 

 

Daniel and the lions den. Sure the church needs more Daniels. But also God will raise them when the world isn't ready, and many a lions den will convert. But i won't vote on your poll, because i don't know whether absolutely all will convert in the west or the world for that matter untill the second coming of christ. Though we should hope for this and try to convert the whole world, with love and not just knowledge of the bible. But also remember it all starts with one or two souls, if you can help one or two souls minimum to faith in hope with love before you die each of those can get one or two more, then before you know it you have 50,000. But also if you get that one or two don't rest on your lorals, try for more even if you don't get more.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Tab'le Du'Bah-Rye

[arfink]

In my experience, smashing the idols of the godless isn't possible, as they have none.

 

Fortunately, most of our society does in fact have a god, and his name is mammon. I would probably look to approach an individual in an hour where he feels most abandoned by mammon, and provide him with a real God who loves him as an alternative.

[PhuturePriest]

In my experience, smashing the idols of the godless isn't possible, as they have none.

 

Fortunately, most of our society does in fact have a god, and his name is mammon. I would probably look to approach an individual in an hour where he feels most abandoned by mammon, and provide him with a real God who loves him as an alternative.

 

It's a lot easier to just say "wealth/greed", you know.

[Nihil Obstat]

It's a lot easier to just say "wealth/greed", you know.

Tell that to Jesus.

[PhuturePriest]

Tell that to Jesus.

 

Jesus spoke a different language.

[Apotheoun]

Mammon is an Aramaic word that has been carried over into the Greek New Testament (and the various vernacular languages). The word does not mean simply "wealth" but instead means "wealth personified in opposition to God."

[Nihil Obstat]

Jesus spoke a different language.

 

 

Mammon is an Aramaic word that has been carried over into the Greek New Testament (and the various vernacular languages). The word does not mean simply "wealth" but instead means "wealth personified in opposition to God."

What Apo said.

[Apotheoun]

[arfink]

It's a lot easier to just say "wealth/greed", you know.

 

It just happens today's mass readings were about mammon. The word was on my mind. :P

[Nihil Obstat]

It just happens today's mass readings were about mammon. The word was on my mind. :P

All the cool kids had that Gospel reading a few weeks ago. :|