This topic has been on my heart lately.
What we believe does not determine reality. What society believes does not determine reality. Truth is truth. It's not my truth or your truth. It's just the truth.
My beliefs do not determine reality. TRUTH determines reality. And how do we find that truth?
God. God Himself is Truth. Therefore, what God teaches is Truth.
That means:
-God created the world.
- God is three persons in one.
- Humans are both body and soul; physical and spiritual.
- God became man in Jesus Christ, died and rose from the dead to save us from our sins, and ascended back to Heaven where He reigns with God the Father. - Mary is the Mother of God.
-Jesus founded one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church to continue His mission here on earth, and He desires for all His people to be united in it.
- The Pope is the visible leader of Christ's Church here on earth.
- Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist.
- Purgatory is real
- Faith and works sanctify us, not one or the other.
- Abortion is wrong, contraception is wrong, pornography is wrong, and sex is sacred and to be reserved for marriage.
- Men and women are different.
- God intended the Priesthood to be only for men.
- War is wrong and to be avoided.
- All approved forms of the Mass are valid and beautiful. (TLM, Novus Ordo, Eastern Rites, etc.)
- Everything that the Catholic Church teaches and professes to be true IS THE TRUTH.
It does not matter what you and I don't like, whether we're Catholic or non-Catholic. Our beliefs and feelings do not determine reality. God does. And He has made it EXTREMELY clear, through His Word, and through Sacred Tradition, what the Truth is. Our job is to pursue that Truth and then live it out to the best of our abilities.
When we die and receive our particular judgment from God and go to Heaven (or Purgatory and then Heaven) or Hell, what we believed will not matter. All that will matter is what is.
We will be judged on how we lived, how we loved, and we will be judged by God's standards. And yes, He will judge us with the heart and love of our merciful Father who wants nothing but the best for His children, but He will judge us by the standards of Truth. Not our truth; not our feelings. His Truth. The Truth.* (Please read my side note about this at the bottom of the post!)
What we believe does not determine what is. We do not have that power. Only God does. And so, I ask you, what will you believe? Will you believe the Truth? Will you make Truth the reality that you live by, choosing to live life in joy and peace, no matter what the rest of the world chooses? Or will you make something else, someone else's ideas your truth?
*Even if one has not heard or understood the Truth, they will still be judged by the standards of Truth. However, God knows the hearts and souls of each person, and if someone truly practiced and lived out the beliefs that they thought were good, true, and beautiful, our Lord knows their hearts and would judge them accordingly, but they would first be made aware of the Truth that God teaches and would have to choose whether to accept or reject it, thus choosing Heaven or Hell.
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