I ask pro-lifers if they think there is a line of souls in heaven waiting for their conception and if once they are conceived if they miscarry or are aborted do they go back to heaven where God says "sorry, that was your one chance to live." It's entertaining to watch cognitive dissonance in real time, yet frustrating to see someone instantly believe whatever bullshit they invent on the spot knowing they know deep down it's bullshit.
Allot of people don’t know what Christian churches teach, hence their reaction. They are just human. From past discussions here, I found out that I haven't kept up with what the church teaches wrt new technology used in abortion.
Expecting every Christian to be an expert in all areas of their faith is expecting too much from us (or any typical person). That would be like expecting everyone to be well versed in both physics, chemistry and biology, something the average Joe/Jane just doesn’t posses. Our priests and pastors have spent years in seminary studying the faith and are trained in ‘apologetics'. Laymen/women rarely invest that much time. I fail at times to just say 'I don’t know', or 'is it okay if I get back to you'. I know that the vast majority of people make the same mistake in speaking with others, no matter the subject.
Just my 2 cents.
I am very happy to have read these two quotes. In trying to find a way to deal with both I went to check out a Christian Mystic, Meister Eckhart, I long ago remember reading about. A Catholic, I think. Anyway, I read just this first page of quotes I found on the internet and for reasons you may well be able to imagine, I am, what? quite impressed:
“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.”
“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
“And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”
“Only the hand that erases can write the true thing.”
“Spirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world, or by running away from things, or by turning solitary and going apart from the world. Rather, we must learn an inner solitude wherever or with whomsoever we may be. We must learn to penetrate things and find God there.”
“Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.”
“Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness.”
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.”
“Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.”
“Wisdom consists in doing the next thing you have to do, doing it with your whole heart, and finding delight in doing it.”
“I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God.”
“Some people prefer solitude. They say their peace of mind depends on this.
Others say they would be better off in church.
If you do well, you do well wherever you are. If you fail, you fail wherever you are.
Your surroundings don't matter. God is with you everywhere -- in the market place as well as in seclusion or in the church.
If you look for nothing but God, nothing or no one can disturb you.
God is not distracted by a multitude of things.
Nor can we be.”
“When the Soul wants to experience something she throws out an image in front of her and then steps into it.”
“Love is as strong as death, as hard as Hell. Death separates the soul from the body, but love separates all things from the soul.”
“The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake.”
“We are all meant to be mothers of God...for God is always needing to be born.”
“Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love a cow - for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not rightly love God, when they love Him for their own advantage. ”
“A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or bear's, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.”
“One must learn an inner solitude, wherever one may be.”
“One must not always think so much about what one should do, but rather what one should be. Our works do not ennoble us; but we must ennoble our works.”
“There’s a place in the soul where you’ve never been wounded.”
“I am what I wanted and I want what I am.”
“My Lord told me a joke. And seeing Him laugh has done more for me than any scripture I will ever read.”
“If I had a friend and loved him because of the benefits which this brought me and because of getting my own way, then it would not be my friend that I loved but myself. I should love my friend on account of his own goodness and virtues and account of all that he is in himself. Only if I love my friend in this way do I love him properly.”
“I need to be silent for a while, worlds are forming in my heart.”
“All God wants of man is a peaceful heart.”
“God is not good, or else he could do better.”
“Nobody at any time is cut off from God.”
“Run into peace.”
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