[QUOTE= silenus]
Both of the bolded areas are highly implicated. By your own admission, you would derive satisfaction from your deed. “Knowing what I had done” sure seems to be a smug, self-righteous attitude to me. As for “proper position to God”…since it was Jesus that died for all of us, you are placing yourself on His, and therefore God’s, level by assuming to suffer for all of humanity. That, my friend, is Pride writ large, and the kind of presumption that got Lucifer booted in the first place, if you believe Milton.
[/QUOTE]
Satisfaction and smugness are two entirely different things.
I don’t know if you don’t like me or if you don’t like my position or if you just want to argue, but there is an enoromous difference between satisfaction and smugness or self-righteousness.
And I didn’t “assume” to suffer for all humanity. According to the hypothetical, I was offered a choice. And I’d make that choice if offered to me, and make it easily.
Let’s look at the passaages you’ve bolded:
That’s not a desire to be more important than others, it’s a desire to be beneath all others, a desire to emulate Christ.
As far as “excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God).” Love of myself? I would happily put myself last if it meant that the rest of humanity could be first. Hell isn’t exactly a picnic.
You seem to be under the impression that Catholics are supposed to suffer and feel bad about themselves all the time. Quite the contrary- we can and are happy doing God’s work. My mission as a Catholic is to represent Christ to others, like in Matthew 25. Taking satisfaction in something I’ve done isn’t sinful. it’s be sinful if I thought that doing ONE thing was enough.
And how is it prideful to want God to know even if I don’t? You’ve misread my post. If, as Der Trihs says, my knowledge of the sacrifice I had made would be taken away from me, I’d still do it.
[QUOTE= Der Trihs]
I know because you are human. And ENOUGH of it for long enough will overwhelm anyone, macho chestbeating aside.
[/QUOTE]
I am going to try to overcome my intense personal dislike of you to attempt to explain this. Please try to overcome your absolute bar toward comprehending the religious in order to parse my explanation.
If God and the Devil came down and made themselves known to me, it would be absolute proof that my Christian faith was on the money- not just faith, but faith rewarded. I cannot conceive of any physical agony that would entirely take away from me the fact that I was able to serve my fellow man not just in Christ’s name, but because he ASKED.
