h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

SD. I think the word you're searching for is 'synchronicity'.

toxx

Spike Milligan used that one, in Gaelic, didn't he? I like it...

That, I assume, is why some people I know have maths as a hobby!

"as of yet no theory of the universe that you can print on a tee-shirt."
Ah but there is one the will fill the space of the black holes inbetween,the threads

"my understanding is that one must seek forgiveness and be truly penitent in order to be forgiven"

Well, in terms of modern theology, I suppose one might have to say that:
(a) if you're a Calvinistic protestant, god chose you in advance to be penitent, so god alone saved you
(b) if you're a Pelagian, you decided to be penitent without any help from god, so you've created your own salvation
(c) if you're a Lutheran, you're saved just by believing you are
(d) if you're a fundamentalist evangelical, it's not enough to seek forgiveness, you've also got to show you mean it by doing good works
(e) if you're a Catholic, you're saved as long as you take the sacraments and so can be forgiven through confession (unless it's a mortal sin, of course)

hi Heathen,

Are you sure that Catholics cannot be forgiven for 'mortal sins' during confession? I always thought they could be.

Perhaps Andrew could clear up this point. Or perhaps yourself.

My own experience as a Catholic was as a child so my memory is not all that clear about the rules.

az

I thought fundamentalist evangelicals believed that nothing you could do could allow you to be saved--Jesus had to make a personal connection with you to save you, and then you'd do good works.

I used to get 'saved' every Sunday when I went to confession, RDO, even though, as a kid, I often had to make up sins to confess to.

Weird concept, if you ask me.

Original sin and all that.


az

Hi HS, az
I'm sure az is right... maybe you meant to say something else?

HS: My, that's complicated.

hi Andrew,

I'm sure you know much more than my faulty childhood memories tell me about Catholocism.

Can people be forgiven for mortal sins during confession?


az

>>> a gloriously improbable story about giants, and cows and eyebrows
What would that be? Sounds interesting.<<

Try:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm

It's not a good modern English translation because the best ones can't be got for free!

"Are you sure that Catholics cannot be forgiven for 'mortal sins' during confession? I always thought they could be."

az, I don't profess to be an expert on anything to do with Catholicism, and wondered if someone would pick me up on that (I was not being entirely serious )

According to the online Catholic Encyclopedia, confession does the following: "The grace conferred is deliverance from the guilt of sin and, in the case of mortal sin, from its eternal punishment; hence also reconciliation with God, justification." I presume this means that, if a Catholic confesses, they go to purgatory, not to hell. But, as I say, I'm no expert.

BTW, did all you folks out there know that the word 'hell' is derived from the name of the giantess (Hel) who guarded the realm of the dead named after herself? this all derives from Heathen (i.e. the religion of the pre-Christian people of Iceland, Scandinavia, Germany and England) religion. Honestly, these christians can't even find their own names for their religious concepts .

"I thought fundamentalist evangelicals believed that nothing you could do could allow you to be saved--Jesus had to make a personal connection with you to save you, and then you'd do good works."

Indeed, RDO, but the question then arises among them of how do they tell whether or not you're saved? The answer: someone who is really saved would demonstrate that grace by being a changed person, leaving behind their previous sins and doing good. So, logically, unless they domonstrate grace in that visible manner, they have not really been saved.

"I used to get 'saved' every Sunday when I went to confession, RDO, even though, as a kid, I often had to make up sins to confess to."

Even weirder, to me, is the demand that you do not eat prior to confession.

'Nil by Mouth' and for the same reason - to reduce the chance of your being sick in the confessional.



F

Hi az - I think we had a simulpost earlier!
You were quite right. Now HS has added a clarification.

Hi HS
It's communion I think you must mean, not confession. You can eat all you like before going to confession!

<>

That's correct HS. Expanding a little, if a Catholic confesses to a mortal (or 'serious') sin, they go to purgatory for it (which is not eternal), rather than hell. And if a Catholic confesses to a less serious sin, they are punished less for it in purgatory than they otherwise would have been.

>Honestly, these christians can't even find their own names for their religious concepts .

Just the same as 'pagans', then.