|
|
Introduction to God
Instruction by Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, OFM Cap.
The world has many people who have never heard
about God. If you are one of those, we are thankful that you have found
your way to this page on the World Wide Web. It will tell you about God,
who He is, what His goal is for us, and how He helps us to achieve that
goal.
God is our Creator
When we see a child we make an obvious conclusion. That child has parents
even though nobody may know who they are. That child just did not evolve
from nothing. That is true of every person on earth, and it is true of
the very first man and woman on earth. They could not give themselves their
own start. Some intelligent being had to make them. We call that being
our creator, and He is at the same time our one and only God. He is eternal;
He has His existence without a beginning, for all eternity. This web site,
www.truecatholic.us, has materials that explain all these concepts.
In our True Catholic web site, we will supply our readers with literature
in regard to the impossibility of holding that there is no God and that
all created things ever could come into being by some kind of blind evolution.
The enemies of mankind concocted the unreasonable theory of evolution as
a ploy in order to make all men into atheists. That is truly Satanic, for
the person who does not believe in God does not believe in heaven and hell.
No one goes to heaven without the preparation that is demanded by God.
In accordance with God's ordinances we must combat sin and strive for virtue,
the only way to heaven --- whether we like it or not.
The Gift of Faith
The first and most important step that all men must make on their way (hopefully)
to heaven is to recognize with their human reason that they come from the
creator of all things. Once that is known by human reason they must turn
to their creator who is their God, in humble prayer, in order to receive
the supernatural gift of divine faith. That is the first and indispensable
step on the way to heaven. Our Catholic web site has a catechism where
the true doctrines of the Catholic faith are explained. Likewise, some
of the prayers are also available.
God is our Judge
The academic question may surface; just why must we be concerned about
God? When I die I am dead and gone. That is wrong. When we die, God, who
knows all our acts (even the most secret of them) will judge us in all
justice. Those who die in serious sin must go to hell --- forever. Those
who have obeyed God properly will go to heaven, again, forever. There is
no way to avoid God's just judgment, so there is no way to get out of going
either to heaven or to hell.
God has revealed Himself to us
Besides giving us a human reason and a conscience in order to come to the
knowledge of God (who will reward and punish in all justice) we are also
blessed with divine revelation. God told us many things about Himself.
It is likely that you have heard about the Bible which is divided into
the Old and New Testaments. The entire New Testament was written by members
of God's one and only Church, the Catholic Church. God's teachings come
to us without error, and they remain with us also without error. The coming
of God's word (teachings) is called divine revelation. Once we have that
revelation, God's Church, with the special help of God, preserves and teaches
those doctrines without error to the end of the world. All this is explained
in catechism manuals. You may want to glance at the catechism in this web
site.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is God
Through His life and miracles Our Lord Jesus Christ, established (proved)
that He is God. Once you know His life and His miracles, you are forced
to believe that He is God. Every single thing that He taught must be accepted
as true, for God can neither deceive nor be deceived. That means that God
cannot tell a lie, and He cannot be lied to (in such a way that He believes
the lie). In our web site we have a link to the Bible in English.
What We Must Believe
I have given you two things that every human being must know and believe
in order to get on the way of salvation. We must believe:
We must believe in God, our Creator
We must believe that God will punish and reward
all men in justice.
The next step requires a knowledge of divine
revelation. We find that in scripture and in divine tradition. The next
important points that we must believe, in order to be saved, are:
We must believe in the doctrine of the Blessed
Trinity, and
We must believe in the doctrine of the divinity of Christ (together with
the divinity of His Church). We shall establish that from the Gospel according
to St. Matthew (28, 19) "Going therefore, teach ye
all nations: baptizing the in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost."
I shall also quote from the Gospel according to St. Mark (16, 15 &16)
"And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned." Note
well, Our Lord makes no exception to the command that all men must enter
His Church or be condemned, meaning, go to hell.
Summary
We must believe that in our Creator, namely in God, there are three divine
persons (1) the Father and (2) the Son and (3) the Holy Ghost. It was the
Son, the second person in the Blessed Trinity, who became man and died
for us by the shedding of His blood on the cross. We also learn that Our
Lord Jesus Christ, founded His Church on the apostles with Peter as the
head of His Church. Peter was martyred in Rome, and his successors followed
him in his office, namely, by being the Pope.
In God's holy Church we have God's holy doctrines preserved because
of the infallibility of the Pope (given by God to each Pope until the end
of time). In this Church we have the means of grace, known as the sacraments.
Since this web page is just an introduction, we make no attempt to explain
or prove what is said. It is up to you to check out the catechism
in this Catholic Church web site. There are many Catholic catechisms on
the market, and we can direct you to the book stores (mail order institutions)
where you can buy many Catholic books with Catholic doctrine and devotion.
God bless you and keep you.
�truecatholic.us
|