Personal Validation and Free will QUESTION from Amber simmons December 15, 1999 Dear Sir,
The question I am submitting may be slightly off topic and if so I apologize. However I did not see a better forum for the question I am to pose.
I am currently a witch. I was a Christian for seventeen years and I chose to leave the church for reason too numerous to bore you with, but one reason I came to my own personal religious decision is because I sought to have a one on one relationship with my God, in which I was validated as a human being (and as a woman) and as a creation of the Lord/Mother/whatever. The Christian church teaches that the Lord sent Jesus Christ to Earth *as a man* and the son of God; the Church also teaches that we are all God's children.
The Bible goes on to state that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the Light. No one comes to the Father but through me. (John 14:6) My question then is this: if Jesus was a man as the Bible declared he was, and if we are all children of God, why is it that I am somehow less important than Jesus? Why is it that I cannot come to know God on my own terms, but only through Jesus? If I am God's daughter just as Jesus is His son, why must I come to the Father through another mortal man? Am I not validated as God's child, or is Jesus somehow more God's son than I am His daughter?
I realize that you will point out that I must come to Jesus because I am a sinner and only trough Christ can I be redeemed. But if we are all God's children as the Bible claims, why do I need Jesus? Don't I have a direct link to God as one of His creations?
Thank you, Amber
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius on December 19, 1999 Dear Mrs. Simmons:
I must admit that I almost decided to not answer your question, but it was borderline, so I will answer it.
Before I do I need to explain something to the general public. This is to the general public, so please do not take it personally Mrs. Simmons..... As I have repeatedly said, this is NOT a debate forum and it is a violation of the stewardship of the time God has given me to deal with individuals who wish to debate, rather than those who are in true need, truly seeking possible conversion, or needing advice or counsel about their faith. The time that I spend debating takes away from the time spent more productively with those of our faith, or those truly seeking our faith.
Over the last two weeks I have received no less than 10 questions from witches. Witches seem to love this forum and are drawn to it. I wonder why? I know why!
The reason is that one of Satan’s great strategies is to try to get a person like me who is doing ministry distracted with issues and debates that are not germane. This forum is not a debate forum and thus questions that are overtly or covertly seeking debate are not germane and not welcomed and will normally be rejected.
So take notice all witches, pagans, satanists, anti-Christians, anti-Catholics… this is not a debate forum. Take your debates elsewhere.
Although most of questions I received were nasty or they merely wanted to debate, and thus were rejected for publication, your question, Mrs. Simmons, is borderline, so I will briefly answer it. And forgive me for using your question has a platform to give notice once again that this is not a debate forum.
Mrs. Simmons, from what you are saying it is obvious that the feminist philosophy has infiltrated your thinking. You make the false claims that because God gave himself to us in male form, that because he reveals himself as Father, that somehow this does not validate you as a woman. I am sorry, but that is just plain nonsense. Forgive my bluntness.
The sublime mystery of the Godhead reveals that man was made in His image, but was made in two sexes that complement each other. Alone, the male or female is incomplete. It is in the union of husband and wife that we find a more perfect image of God, and more so in the family (husband, wife, children) that we find the highest image of God.
Within these two sexes God has made us unique with a particular design and purpose. We each fulfill that purpose, males as husbands and fathers and females as wives and mothers. In God, both the mother and the father attributes are present. In humans they are essentially separated. This is a biological fact, a psychological fact, a medical fact, and a spiritual fact. You are no more deprived of validation as a woman because God reveals Himself as Father, as I am deprived of validation as a man because I cannot give birth (the greatest miracle on the planet).
Feminism desires to destroy the woman and make her just another man. It is odd really since hard core feminist at least tend to be male haters.
God and the Church recognize the individual and unique dignity of the woman, separate from the man. In NO OTHER RELIGION or system of thought is the man and woman so honored in their unique dignity as in Christianity, and particularly and especially in the Catholic Church. Womanhood is an extremely honored state within the Catholic Church.
So first of all you are coming from a flawed worldview which is causing your confusion and sense of abandonment.
Second, you don’t seem to know who Jesus was and is. Jesus was a man, yes, but He was and is also God. Why is Jesus more important that you or me? Because He is God. He is NOT a mere mortal. He is fully man and fully God.
Why do we need to go to Him to get to the Father? Because God said so. Jesus paved the way for us to reach God. We can reach God in no other way. Human beings are not capable of reaching God on their own, but we can reach other human beings. Thus, as St. Augustine describes, God became man so we could reach out to another man (Jesus), who was able to reach God. Only Jesus could reach God because he was Himself God. I and my Father are One he said. It is the basic Gospel message. God reaches down to us. All we must do is take His hand. That hand is the hand of Jesus (who is God, the second Person of the Trinity).
Why can’t you come to God on your own terms? Because God is God, He makes the terms. If you go to the bank to get a bank loan, you will have to accept the bank’s terms or you won’t get the loan. God has set up the terms of eternal life. You can accept those terms or reject them. It is your choice. God will not force you or anyone into heaven. If you want eternal life in heaven, accept the terms of God. Reject the terms of God and you choose for yourself an eternal death (that is an eternity without being in the direct and warm presence of God’s love). God still loves us, even if one is in hell, but those who reject Him turn their back on His love. It is your choice. God has given us the free will to choice. He will not force us.
I am deeply sorry that you have abandoned God and that you feel so hurt as to think that you cannot be validated by God and by the Church. I will ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to console your soul. Perhaps you will someday hear her calling you.
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