Comments by "" (@MayaTheDecemberGirl) on "Asking Japanese Christians why they converted to Christianity" video.
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@casper-z9rkls6gl I don't know the names You wrote, only Mother Teresa - which for me is obviously, without any doubt, a saint in Heaven. I've read a book, with her writings, titled "Come Be My Light. The private writings of the saint of Calcutta". I am Catholic, and as I've mentioned above, for me the true Christian Church, established by Christ, is the Roman Catholic Church (by the way, most of people in my country are Catholics, since centuries). But I also believe that even a murdered can sometimes be saved, because of great God's Mercy - although it's not easy, such things to happen, because such person must truly regret, be able to regret because of the harm done (not just because of fear of punishment), for what such person did. Which not often is possible, just pretended. But we cannot say it for sure, only God knows. It's doesn't mean that such person, if truly regretting and asking God for forgiveness, will be in Heaven, just after his death. Because everyone can face God only if his soul is pure - that's why there's also the Purgatory, where God's Mercy and Justice can be fulfilled both, and the soul can be cleansed. But it's doesn't mean that a sinner cannot be saved, so not condemned for eternal hell, if he asks truly for God's forgiveness, regrets for all the sins, and asks for God's Mercy.
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@IzzyKawaiichi As I've read about it (but of course, as I've mentioned already above, I'm not any theologian, just an ordinary person), it's for instance already even in the Old Testament, in the Second Book of Maccabees, some other also. But of course, I know that Protestant Christians don't believe in it. We do. And also not being a Catholic, You don't believe in any apparitions of Jesus or Mother of God, srill happening - but we do, it's enough just to mention Fatima or St Faustina Kowalska, or Father Pio of Petrelcina, and other. You don't have to believe in it, but we do. But I don't believe in it of course only because of these apparitions. For me it's just totally logical, that's why I agree with the Catholic Church views on that matter. Because most of us (only some living a saint live already on this world), when we die, we won't be so pure to be ready to stand before God. That's why souls, those not deserving to be condemned, not chosing to reject God and going to hell, need to be purified in order to be able to stand before God, to stay with Him. That's why we pray for our relations and other people that passed away, but are still in purgatory, need our prayers, we are the one Church with them. Of course, You don't have to believe in it, but we do. And as I've already said above, it's not even worth any quarrels, because afterall we will find out all ourselves, in not such a long time, how it really is. For us, purgatory shows both, God's Mercy and His Justice as well.
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Yes, Akita is well known. And I can add for instance a name of Satoko Kitahara, whose beatification process is ongoing (there's an article about her in Wikipedia, also in English). She cooperated for instance with Franciscans from Nagasaki, especially with Friar Zeno Żebrowski - who came to Japan, to Nagasaki, in 1930 together with St Maksymilian Kolbe (Father Kolbe came later, after established a monastery in Nagasaki, to Poland, and was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp by Germans, giving his life voluntarily in exchange for another prisoner there). The monastery survived the atom bomb attack on Nagasaki, and I think it still exists.
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@IzzyKawaiichi It's Your opinion. Catholics believe there's purgatory. Of course, I'm not any theologian, but in the Bible there are more places, where there's mentioned the need of praying for the souls of those that are already dead. And it's obvious it's not about those who are already pure in Heaven, because they don't need this. And not for those that are in hell, condemned, apart from God forever. So although there's no such word used "purgatory", but there's a notion of purification after death before one is ready to enter Heaven, to stand before God. And the prayers and sacrifices of those still living can aid in that cleansing, of those souls that need it. Without that notion it would be hard to talk about justice as well as about mercy of God, it would be definitely unjust or merciless. So we just know it's in the Bible, and believe in that since thousands of years already, and will believe. But of course, no one forces You also to believe in that, after all everyone has his own free will. And everyone of us will know themselves, sooner or later, if we want or not, we will see ourselves.
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@small_fries7573 What You write just doesn't make sense and I must say I don't agree with it. Such thinking that because Jesus Christ died on the Holy Cross to redeem us, took our sins on Himself, doesn't mean that we will all go to Heaven no matter how we live our earthly life and what we do. How can You write that it doesn't matter if we keep the Commandments or not? In the Commandments all is about destroying by human acts the relationship with God and with the others, about doing harm, like killing, stealing, betraying, not respecting God and worshipping other, often evil, things more etc. So it's definitely, completely, obviously wrong, such way of thinking. That one can be a bad, horrible person, doing for his whole life only harm and evil, even killing, one can be an egoist not caring about anyone at all - and he don't even have to repent, ask for forgiveness and try to repair the harm done, and it all doesn't matter at all, because no matter what you do and how you live, you have quaranteed in advance a place in Heaven. So what kind of morality, not even religion, is it, such way of thinking? Of course, it matters much how we live, what we do, if we harm the others, what are our true intentions, how we act, if we help the others around us etc. And I am a Catholic and I love the Holy Catholic Church, established by Christ (although it doesn't of course mean that Catholics, being people, like all the other humans, are not sinners, because we all are). I really hope I will stay in the Catholic faith till my rest breath at this world. I love also the Mother of God, the saints to which we pray, the sacraments, the rosary. I believe that the Divine Mercy is the greatest feature of God, so everyone, even the biggest sinners, can be saved. But it most be also their will to be saved by God and His Mercy. God doesn't force us to be with Him, for eternity, against our own choice and free will. If we reject Him, live our lives bad and die not regretting for all the harm with done, don't ask God, with our free will, to forgive us, don't ask for His help and Mercy, don't care about it, it will be our choice, according to our free will given by God Himself to every human, to be condemned, by rejecting all the good, evil and love that God is. So it's not enough to just believe in God's existence, because even Satan knows that God exists, but he rejected God. And I also think that even those who were born in different cultures and in consequence don't know God, if they live a good life, allow the God's light and love in that way to their souls, will be saved, not condemned, because of God's Mercy. But it does matter how we live, what we do in our lifetime, what our heart, soul and intentions truly are. And also, because of God's Justice as well as God's Mercy, all those who die with their souls not being pure enough to stand before God, to be in Heaven right away, but who didn't reject God completely, their souls will have to be cleansed first in the purgatory, and it's fair and just. Because our earthly lives and intentions do affect the purity of our souls, it does matter how someone lived at this Earth, how he made use of the time given Him by God here, in his earthly life.
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@TedEhioghae Of course, there are differences, because of various schisms that occured thoughout ages, because of various reasons. But the most important is that all these Christian Churches believe in Christ as God and Savior, so we try to look for what we have all in common, in ecumenical cooperation, rather than concentrating only on the differences. Of course, for me as a Catholic, the only true Church, established by Christ Himself, is the Catholic Church. But it doesn't mean I cannot respect other Christians, although we do differ, in various dogmatic issues.
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@russellward4624 Really, it's so easy to defame the others nowadays, and especially those who cannot defend their good name anymore. What is hard it's to go and sacrifice so much, in such extreme conditions, like Mother Teresa and other sisters did, in the poorest slums, among lepers, rejected by everyone. There would always be such attacks and attempts to destroy and hate towards those that do such God's work like her. So of course, You can believe in everything You want, it's Your free will and Your opinion. I myself read even one or twice such "revelations" and Internet sensations about her, but I'm totally convinced - among others after reading her writings, and also taking into account that during the beatification and canonization processes, that are formalized and are conducted under detailed rules, after thorough investigations concerning the life of each beatified or canonized person - that's it's obviously not true. And if there are really proven any defraudations of money caused by her, the congregation would have to pay it back, even after her death, which just didn't happen. So that's my opinion. Afterall, we all know that she was so extremely rich, she lived in luxury and she was spending so much money on her pleasures, sure (it's of course irony). And we all know she received the Nobel Prize for nothing, was canonization for nothing, is revered much by so many people just for nothing, sure. But I don't say that You cannot believe in such defamations, it's a free world.
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Crime rate has nothing to do with Christianity, for sure. And many Christian countries, also those being much Christian, have also low crime rate. And if the crime rate goes up, it's often connected with many other factors - for instance, as we can see now, with accepting huge waves of immigrants from completely different, often hostile, cultures, or some crises, poverty etc. So it's not like this.
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@johnyoo3300 What are You even talking about? Mixing Christianity with horrible, totalitarian regimes and ideologies, like communism based on marxist notions, responsible for death of millions, mass genocide and so many inhuman atrocities, bestial tortures, system of gulags and other concentration camps. Of course, Christians oppose to such horrible regimes and ideologies, resulting in genocide, enslavement, torture of millions. By the way, my country is in majority Catholic, since ages, but we were fighting with bolsheviks since the very beggining, since 1919. So we know very well the reality, better than anyone, and what such totalitarian regimes and ideologies bring with themselves.
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@dank2476 Of course, there is no one living who is without a sin, we are all sinners, no one is perfect. That's obvious. But still, the main feature of God is mercy. The Divine Mercy is greater than anything, and He is not some horrible judge who intends to condemn the sinners. He wants to save them, because every soul lost is also a hurtful wound to His Sacred Heart. And it's easy to say if someone was born in a Christian culture, family etc. For someone born outside Christian culture, it's not always so easy to convert. But still, all people are the children of God (He didn't die on cross only for Christians, but for all), and all have His voice in their hearts and souls, as His children - it depends on them if they want to hear it and go along the right path in their lives or not. For not Christians it's just harder. But it doesn't mean that they cannot be good people, living according to God's will, even if they are not Christians. It doesn't mean that they must be condemned by God, just for not converting to Christianity, apart completely from the way they lived, it's not like that. In my country many people pray at 3 p.m. (the Divine Mercy Hour when Jesus died on the Cross) everyday with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, with the words: "Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and the Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and the whole world.". So we pray for all people, not only Christians.
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@dank2476 Well, as Catholics, we don't believe in such determinism. Of course, we cannot redeem ourselves without God and His grace. And He is willing to give all the graces to us, because He loves us and wants to save us. But He gave also every human a free will. So every human may choose, in his heart and soul, to reject God, to reject all the love, good and light He is the source of, it's each one's own free will. And God gives us graces, to save us from bad, sinful live, but we must accept it - He doesn't force it on us, because it would be against our free will, given by Him. We must ask, in our hearts, for His forgiveness, for his help, for ability to accept his grace, for a change of heart. God doesn't force anything on us, we are not His slaves, but children, who have free will. And like the prodigal son (in the Gospel parable), we can choose to leave and go our own, wrong path - but if we are willing to come back, even after long time (sometimes even with our last breath on this world, if we truly want this, and not always it's possible to be in the church, because situations in human lives on this world are different), He will always accept us, as the loving and forgiving Father, full of mercy, not just reject and condemn.
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@dank2476 For me, with such way of thinking it would mean that God loves only some of the people, and He doesn't care about others, and they are born already condemned. It's horrible to think like that. And it is not true, because all are His children, He died on cross for everyone, not only for some chosen ones, He wants to save everyone, He loves all His children (but some, with their free and aware will, choose to reject Him, so they reject all good, love and light He is the source of, till the end - and only this can make them be condemned). We believe that every sinner (and we all are sinners, some are more, some less) has a chance till the end. But sometimes, if someone did horrible things all his life, he just can't change his heart anymore, he is not able to regret and to ask God for forgiveness, and he rejects God, after having nothing but bad heart for his whole life. So in fact, it's not God who condemns him, but a human chooses himself, with his free will, to totally reject God and His Mercy.
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@dank2476 No, it's not like that. It would make God some unjust, horrible creature, choosing some of the people discretionarily, for salvation and all the others for eternal suffering, no matter what they do. And it's definitely not like that. We don't believe in such horrible God, but loving one. Such vision is horrible. In fact, the God's Mercy and His Redemption must meet with a person's free will. And we also pray for the others, so that are able to let God to their hearts, so that are able to understand that they need Him and ask Him for help, that's all, it can be often enough to save them.
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@dank2476 We don't believe that anyone is condemned already when he is born, just the opposite. And God doesn't choose anyone to be condemned, just the opposite. We believe in God, who is loving and merciful, for everyone. Who come to save the world, not to condemn it. In such faith, saying that anyone, when born as an infant is already condemned to hell, based on such horribke determinism, it would mean that no matter how a person lives, no matter if a person believes or not, it means nothing, as being already condemned. We don't have such vision of God, for sure. It's terrifying, not giving hope and strenght to live well, despite our weaknesses as humans. We believe that there's always hope, for everyone, and God will help everyone, if only such person truly wants this and asks about it. He doesn't want any soul to be lost, He suffered so much for us, for everyone, to save us, not to condemn. But unlike Evangelical Churches, Protestants, we as Catholics believe also in purgatory (which is a balance between God's Mercy and His Justice, so two features of God, however His main feature is Mercy itself).
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@dank2476 Original sin means that our nature is not perfect, but prone to sin. But it doesn't definitely mean that it's enough for a human to be condemned by God for eternal hell, for instance innocent infant that dies. That's definitely not like that. Original sin means that we are not able not to have any sins in our lives, that's why we must ask God for help, regret and ask for forgiveness for our sins - no one can say that he is without a sin. But just being born with the original sin, meaning being prone to committing sins, doesn't mean at all that anyone is condemned, for sure. God is not a monster who would condemn infants and children and good people with pure hearts and souls to hell. And unlike other Churches, we also believe in Holy Sacraments, like confession and Eucharist (the Holy Communion), so being able to unite with forgiving God, even on this Earth, during our lives.
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@mvl6827 One should understand and give the source of the citation - and whole this saying that "religion is opium for the people" is Karl Marx. His ideology, and communism based on it, led to horrible things, deaths and suffering of millions. So one should give the real source of this citation and the context. And I come from the country that was fighting with the Bolsheviks and Red Army almost since the beginning, we know better that the others what such ideologies bring with themselves (many people in the Western European or even American countries just don't understand this, not going through such historical experiences themselves). We were at the communist side of the Iron Curtain for 50 years, so we know how it really was - what such ideologies bring. Many totally innocent people, men, women, even teenagers, were brutally tortured, murdered, especially during the Stalinist times, but later also. And the Church was much persecuted, the priests, giving hope to people, were also often brutally tortured, kidnapped, murdered by the communists, even till the end of communism, till 1989. So I just think that one should give full context of the above mentioned citation.
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@mvl6827 No, it's not the same. Because this is not just about a piece of music, but about very specific phrases, used in a very specific context - even by You, to oppose to every religion, not taking into account anything. And I just don't agree with these specific phrases. For my nation religion (we're mostly Catholics, since centuries) always was a source of hope, that hepled us to survive, to go through the most horrible moments in history. And such ideologies, saying like above that "religion is opium for masses", were in fact really this "opium", bringing real hell to this world - and it's both, about nazism and communism, because both of these horrible ideologies were trying to destroy the Church and religion, bringing only unimaginable horrors. So we just have different perspective. And I don't say that You don't have the right to Your own opinion (by the way, like most of people I of course also like all these old songs, of the Beatles and Lennon). But I just don't agree. We in my country experienced very well how the world without God looks like.
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@TedEhioghae Of course, I know. For my whole life I attend Church, and my family also. But no one in my country (where 90% of people are Christians) thinks like this, that such things as makeup or hairstyle or clothes (unless someone would come half naked to a church, which of course would be inappropriate and disrispectful) has anything to do with faith. And what right someone has to judge the others, according to their appearance - it has nothing to do with Christianity. What really matters is what someone has in his heart, not how he looks like. It's not Christianity, to judge the others in such a way. Even Christ Himself was criticizing such attitude, calling Pharisees the whitened tombs, pretending with their empty gestures and clothes to be close to God, when in fact there was no love to God and people in their hearts. So it's definitely not the right attitude.
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@JJ-hb9in Well, my country is mostly Catholic, and many people still go to church (although of course it also changes a bit, especially among the youngest generations). And also our national identity is for us much important. And we have generally such attitude that of course, we should help people from other countries in crisis, but helping doesn't mean allowing, in a totally uncontrolled way, half of the world to the EU area. Help should be provided in those countries or at least regions from where they come from, so that they could live within their own nations and cultures, built their lives there, not just leave their countries deserted. And of course, "migrant" is a very broad, undefined term - because it contains not only real refugees, but also all the others, also those that come with hostile intentions and pose serious risks. So that's obvious that really wise, sound immigration policy, not posing threats to state security and public order, is essential, and not all this insane policy, like forced by some EU countries, called policy of "Herzlich willkommen" to all the migrants, no matter from where, no matter with what intentions and no matter how many of them, allowed with completely no control. It's indeed sad to see what's happening in some of the European countries, struggling with huge problems mostly with muslim migrants. And about migrants from Syria, only part of them may be Christians, because a lot of muslims also live there (I've read that there was only about 5% of Christians in Syria, now it's of course less). So it's (and used to be) only a minority religion there, most were muslims. And what You write about Christians not caring about anything, thinking that there will be end of the world, with the second coming of Christ, soon - it's probably about some crazy sects thinking like that. I don't know anyone like that. We just live our lives, as good as we can, that's all. And also it doesn't make sense to make any such apocalyptic assumptions. Definitely the Church, at least Catholic one, doesn't teach such attitude, to think that the world will end soon and to concentrate with fear on such predictions. Afterall, in the past, in history there were also so many horrible periods, like during the WW II, that people could think that's the end of the times, end of humanity. So there were more times, periods with wars, bloodshed, genocide etc., that seemed to be the end and Apocalypse coming soon. But it's not what we should concentrate on, not on some apocalyptic fears, but how to live our everyday lives well. So I think that You have a bit strange vision of Christianity, not like it really is, at least not as I know it from my Church and country.
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