Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 89: Divine Revelation

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Show 89: Divine Revelation · The Uncensored Catholic

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A. Hey, y'all, welcome to today's show. Hope you're having a
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wonderful Monday and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I am like a huge Thanksgiving fan.
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I have spent all day. I got up early this morning outside smoking
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a turkey over cherry and birch wood scraps from my wood carvings, And I
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tell you it's one of my favorite things to do, just sitting by a
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barbecue pit chatting with people. Real nice guy came over. I'm done at
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my mother's house right now, and you know, having recently injured my knee,
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I think I mentioned that I fell a full ladder well couldn't get on
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the roof to blow it off the way I normally do. NFLA came by
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and said he was a painter kind of out of work this time a year,
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and could he do it, and you know, she was thrilled to
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let him do it. I was a little you know, I like to
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do things myself, and I knew I couldn't get up there with my knee
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the way it is. And you know, afterwards, he didn't want to
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take any payment. He said, this time of year, I just go
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around and try to do things for people. And I was so nice Protestant
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guy, you know, probably a little rough background, covered in tattoos.
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And we chatted for a while and I ended up giving him one of my
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spoons, actually, and my mother finally convinced him to take the money.
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She said, this time of year, you know, you need money for
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your family, and you need money to buy gifts. Come back next spring
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and we'll talk about another job. So, I mean, such nice people.
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You know. I just love this time of year. I really do.
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It's you know, I've never well, I did live briefly in a
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couple of cities. Yeah, I mean it's fast as to see all the
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decorations and such in the shops. I mean, yeah, okay, parades
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and all that. It is so much nicer, in my opinion, to
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be out in rural areas where people are not rushing as much or under less
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pressure and take time to talk with each other and do things for each other.
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Good time of year. It's my favorite time of year actually. So
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let's get into the question from radio replies to a couple of these, the
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person asks, must we believe the account of the fall of man? And
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the pre's answer yes, and facts confirm it. I shall deal with this
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topic. Later, the person goes on, why did God forbid the tree
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of knowledge? Having endowed man with reason, he should have encouraged man to
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advance in knowledge? And how I would have liked to have spoken with that
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serpent? What language did it speak? The presnswer God forbade the tree which
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could lead man to the knowledge of evil. He gave man reason that he
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might know what is right and good. It is not advancing in knowledge to
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acquire erroneous and evil notions. As for the serpent, if you knew what
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language you were talking about, you would not like to have spoken to him.
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The language he spoke was the language of pride, sensuality, and rebellion.
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Another person, perhaps the same, says, is it not absurd to
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say that Methuselah could live nine hundred years? And they say no. Insects,
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animals, and men have lives of varying links. Why it is dependent
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entirely upon the will of the omnipotent God who made them? And could he
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not will nine hundred years for man just as easily as ninety? Was there
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any reason why he should not will nine hundred? Then, merely because he
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happens to will ninety now, And which is the greater wonder to make man
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or to make him live nine hundred years? Surely to make man at all,
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He who can do greater could quite easily do the lesser. The special
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reason why God should will such long lives for the patriarchs of old was that
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they might generate many children, and thus set up the human race upon its
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feet. It is necessary no longer in existence. The person that says angels
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fell in love with the daughters of men and began giants. What a legend.
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Genesis six to two says that the sons of God took wise from the
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daughters of men. These sons of God were not angels, but the descendants
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of Seth, whilst Carnal and fleshley men were the descendants of Cain. God
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was rightly angry with these mixed marriages between those who knew the true religion and
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those who had forgotten and abandoned it. As for the giants, the children
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of these unions were monsters, rather in violence and wickedness than in size,
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though they were probably big men and independent of their self sufficient strength. It's
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an interesting point confuse a lot of people. Yeah, oh, I can't
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remember what it's called in the Bible, these giants, these sons of what
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were believed by many to be angels and humans. The more traditional Catholic understanding
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is what the priest just said, that that was symbolic language, meaning the
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sons of God were the sons of Seth who were following the true religion religion,
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and the sons of Cain, where the daughters of Cain were pagans.
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We do know that there were some very big men in history, giants like
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well, how you one that live right here in North Carolina, Andre the
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Giant. It's a recessive gene tends to be fairly more obviously, probably more
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common among the French than maybe other races. Sometimes you see it in certain
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Chinese. Every now and then you see a really really tall African, but
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it's not common that common. At least, there were plenty of Scots.
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Scottish tend to be much bigger than the Irish and stature by the way,
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but this is all genetics. That said, there may well have been in
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the past very very large people. No reason to think they weren't. I
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mean, every culture has its legends of giants. How big were they?
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I don't know. I have absolutely no idea. Andre the Giant was French.
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He grew up in a circus because he was basically a circus freak.
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Okay, then he became a professional wrestler, movie star, great human being
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by the way, a phenomenal man, big heart, love kids. I
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mean remember him of the Princess Bride. I mean that was like the perfect
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role for him. He moved to Ellerby, North Carolina, where he could
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just kind of be alone, be left alone on a farm, a lot
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of acreage. He drank like a keg of beer a day. He ate
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massive amounts of food. He was huge. He was absolutely huge, and
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essentially, even though I said he had a big heart, his heart couldn't
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support that huge body. He was also a very intelligent man, very sensitive,
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very loved, absolutely beloved, and you know, kind of tragic,
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kind of a tragic figure. But anyway, let's get into Father Spirago's explanation
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of the Catechism, and we're going to talk about a very important point.
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It's divine revelation. He says, if anyone stands in a room behind a
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gauze curtain, he perceives all those who are walking past in the street,
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and they can see him not. In other words, he can look out
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and see them, but they can't look at and see him. But if
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he makes himself known by speaking, the pastors by or able to recognize him.
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Such is our revelation, our relation to God. He sees us,
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but conceals himself from our eyes. Yet He has in many ways made himself
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known to men, to Abraham, to Moses, and the burning Bush,
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to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, etc. God, in his mercy,
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God has in let's try it one more time. God has, in his
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mercy the course in the course of ages, often revealed himself to men.
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God is often communicated to men a knowledge of his perfections, his decrees,
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and his Holy will. Such revelation is called supernatural, as opposed to natural
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revelation of himself that he makes known through the external world. God's revelation a
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man is generally made in the following ways. He speaks to individuals and orders
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them to communicate to their fellow men the revelation made to them. Thus,
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God spoke to Abraham, Noah, and Moses. He sent Noah to preach
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to sinful men before the flood. He sent Moses to the Israelites when they
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were oppressed by a pharaoh. Sometimes God spoke to a number of men who
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were symbled together, as when he gave the law to the people on Mount
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Sinai, or when our Lord was baptized by Saint John and the Holy Spirit
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descended upon him like a dove, a voice being heard from heaven. This
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is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased, in whom I am
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well pleased. Sometimes God reveals himself through angels, as for instance, to
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Tobias, or through the archangel Raphael, or through the archangel Raphael. Raphael
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was the angel in the Book of Tobit. He's in the Catholic Bible.
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It's not in the Protestant Bible. If you're a Protestant reading this, you're
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just gonna have to look it up. Get a Catholic Bible. You're to
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love the Book of Tobad. It's a beautiful book. You'll learn a lot
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from it. I think the smoke from the turkey's made my throat a little
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raw, all right. When God spoke to when God spoke from a cloud
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is on Sinai. When God spoke to men, he took a visible form
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of a man, or an angel, Let me see if I can.
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Yeah, here we go. When God spoke to men, he took the
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visible form of a man or an angel, or he spoke from a cloud.
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Early church fathers, I think suggested Martyr and Saint Ironeus spoke a lot
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about the angels that appeared to Abraham. And I think again to Lot before
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the destruction of Sodom Megamara that it was actually Jesus in an angelic form,
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not necessarily an angel, but actually God in an angelic form. So anyway,
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Or he spoke from a cloud as on Sinai, or from a burning
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bush, as he did to Moses, or amid a bright light from heaven,
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as to Saint Paul, or in the whispering of the wind, as
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he did to Elias. Was Elijah? Sometimes the old way of writing the
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names confused me a little bit, or by some interior illumination, as in
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Deuteronomy two six through eight. Those to whom God revealed himself and who had
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to bear witness before others to the divine message were called messengers from God,
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and often received from him the power of working miracles and prophecy in proof of
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their divine mission. See the Miracles of Moses before Pharaoh and Elias, the
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apostles, etc. Those who were especially entrusted with the communication to men of
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the divine revelation were the following, the patriarchs, the prophets, Jesus Christ,
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Son of God, and his apostles. Revelation to mankind in general.
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What educate is in revelation is to mankind in general, what education is to
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the individual. Revelation corresponds to the need of successive stages of human development,
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to the infancy, childhood, and youth of mankind. The patriarchs, who
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had more of the nature of children, needed less in way of the precepts
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of God, and God dealt with them in more familiar fashion. Also something
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Saint iron As wrote a great deal about about how the teachings change as people
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matured over centuries. Essentially, God gave them. He compared it to milk
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for babies and solid food, you know for children. Uh. The paosy
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the people of Israel, in whom as in the season of youth, self
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will and sensuality were strong, had to be trained by strict laws and constant
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correction. That is also something oh Saint Justin Martyr Ironeiss. So many of
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them wrote about that is a really interesting teaching. You know, did the
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Old Testament have said many times is essentially the history of just how bad people
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can be, and even the chosen people had to be constantly disciplined by God.
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Uh. And they could not accept the word the prophets. They killed
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the prophets, they killed Jesus. So yeah, that's a that's a really
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interesting teaching of the of the Church and of Christian tradition. I mean,
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look, go back and read the Epistle of Barnabas if you want to,
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if you want example of how the early Christians thought of Judaism of the time.
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They were not fans. They were not fans. It's not to say
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that, you know, all Jews are bad or I'm not any Semitic in
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the least, but there is a stark difference between Judaism and Christianity. Those
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tore observant and otherwise the Christians, the Judaizers, as Saint Paul spoke with
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them, would be amazed to read well from the d dot K, the
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earliest writing of the Church, before the Bible was even written, through the
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first few hundred years, just how distinct and starkly different Christianity was from Judaism,
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and expressly so, and how the early Christians wrote extensively about how Christianity
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and Judaism had made a complete break. They were not following the same traditions.
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They were not following the same teachings except the Old Testament prophets. So
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he says, But when mankind had arrived at the period of manhood, then
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God sent his son and introduced the law of love. He cites Corinthians first,
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Corinthians and Galatians. Let me see tiny little print, what is that
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one grinstiance thirteen eleven, I think, and Galatians three twenty four. Of
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all those who declared to men the divine revelation, the Son of God was
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preeminently thee and the true witness. He says of himself, for this I
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was born. For this. I came in the world that I should bear
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testimony to the truth. He was of all witnesses the best, because he
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alone had seen God. The apostles had to declare to mend the divine revelation.
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They had to bear witness of what they had seen, and above all,
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the resurrection of Jesus Christ, with the revelation given through Christ and his
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apostles. The revelation that was given for their instruction and for all mankind was
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concluded. If you remember in the end of the Book of Revelation, there
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shall be no further revelation. There's so many people that pop up these days
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and say, yeah, they're usually Protestants, that their prophets and they have
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some new revelation from God. There is no new revelation now there there will
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be. God makes things more clear. Many many saints have had visions of
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angels and spoken with Jesus and everything, and He's made more clear doctrines.
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The doctor of the Maculate Conception was one that was not clear for the first
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several hundred years of the Church. Through divine revelation. It was given in
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that you know, the Saint in a question, had conversations with the blessed
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Virgin Mary, and I mean, a lot of things happened to help clarify
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and develop doctrine, but there's no new truth. There's no new teaching.
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Ever since the death of our Lord and his apostles, God has often revealed
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himself to men. Yet these subsequent revelations are no continuation of earlier revelation on
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which our faith rests a much better way of saying what I just said.
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Instances of these subsequent revelations are the appearances of our Lord to Blessed Margaret Mary,
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and of our Lady at Lord's Such revelations must not be too lightly credited,
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as men are liable to be deceived. Yet they must not be rejected
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without examination. Many of the saints have had such revelations, i e.
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Saints Francis of ASSISI, to whom Our Lord appeared upon the cross, Saint
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Anthony of Padua, who in whose arm the child Jesus deigned to rest.
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These private revelations were more especially given to those who were striving after perfection,
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in order to encourage them to greater perfection. Still, yet God sometimes reveals
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himself to wicked men, i e. To balts in the handwriting of the
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wall. Hence, a private revelation given to anyone is not necessarily a mark
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of holiness. The revelations, moreover, were no further continuation of the revelation
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intended for the instruction of the whole of mankind, which ended with the death
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of the last Apostle. They are rather a confirmation of truce already revealed.
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Thus, our lady when she appeared at Lord's lords. I have trouble saying
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that one correctly proclaimed herself the immaclly conception, so confirming the dogma which Pious
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the Ninth had defined four years previously. And the countless miracles and cures that
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have taken place there have established the truth of the apparition. Yet it is
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always possible that the malice of the devil may introduce deceptions into private revelation.
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No one is therefore bound to give them a firmer belief, even though they
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have been in general approved by the Church, than he would give to the
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assertions of an honest and trustworthy man. Revelation was necessary because, in consequence
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of original sin, man without revelation has never had a correct knowledge of God
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and his will, and also because it was necessary that men should be prepared
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for the coming of the Redeemer. The three wise men would never have found
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Christ if he had not revealed himself to them by means of a star.
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So mankind would have lived far off from God and would never have attained to
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a true knowledge of Him if he had not revealed himself to them. As
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the eye needs light to see the things of sin, so human reason,
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which is the eye of the soul, needs revelation to perceive things divine.
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Original sin and the indulgence of the senses had so dimned human reason that it
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could no longer recognize God in his works. This is proved by the history
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of paganism. The Heathens worshiped countless deities, idols, beasts, and wicked
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men, and his worship was often immoral and horrible, as in the humans,
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as in the human sacrifices offered by him, The gods were often the
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patrons of vice, the greatest minimum. The Heathens approved practices forbidden by natural
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law. Thus Cicero approved of suicide, Plato of the exposing to death of
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those children who were weak or deformed. Their theories were when good, were
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at variance with their practices. Socrates denounced polytheism, but before his death told
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his disciples to sacrifice a cock to Escuposculopius, another one at trouble pronouncing.
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Many of the best of the Heathens recognized and lamented their ignorance of God.
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Besides, without previous revelation, the Savior would have been neither known nor honored,
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as he ought to have been known and honored. It was fitting that
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he should be announced beforehand, like a king coming to take possession of his
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kingdom. We ought, indeed, to be grateful for God that he has
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given us the light of revelation, just as the blind man is grateful to
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the physician who has restored his sight. Yet how many there are who willfully
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shut their eyes to the light of revelation? Even now? All right,
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I think we'll wrap it up there. That's the you know, that's the
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one thing you have to remember. What makes Christianity different and Judaism, what
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makes the Judeo Christian tradition, and especially Catholicism because we get it from the
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Apostles who learned it directly from Jesus Christ, is that it's a revealed religion.
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It's not a mystery religion. It's a revealed religion. It's not a
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nature religion. It's a revealed God actually intervened, stepped into human events,
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whether you know when it appeared to Abraham or the burning bush, or Moses
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on the mountain or the you know, pillar of fire, or Jesus himself
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and said, this is the truth. I'm revealing myself. I'm revealing my
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nature to you. And now this is what you must do, and it's
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really incumbent upon each one of us to investigate the claims of Christianity in order
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to understand them and to embrace them. Just taking things that face value,
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you know, that's childlike faith and it's wonderful. But as we mature,
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we do have to examine it. And when we do, especially when we
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compare them honestly with other religions and philosophies, we'll see that Christianity is far
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superior farce. I mean, I literally studied just about every religion on earth,
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really before I became Catholic and was a member of what three Protestant denominations,
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and really study the history of Protestantism, which is what led me to
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believe that Protestantism did not agree with the Bible and was therefore faults. And
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when I began to study what the Catholic Church actually teaches, every single thing
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the Catholic Church teaches us in full agreement with the Bible, so only denomination
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that can say that. So I had to come to the conclusion that there's
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one true religion. And then I came to the conclusion that there's one true
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church. Not everybody has to do that absolutely. You know, I've said
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one before. One of the most beautiful expressions of faith in one of the
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you know, like a living sane among us, was a severely mentally retarded
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or down syndrome girl that went to the church I attended, the parish I
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attended for several years. She couldn't understand the intellectual aspects of the faith,
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and it was not incumbent upon her to do so. She loved like God
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asked us to love. But for those of us that do have logical,
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inquiring minds, it is absolutely incumbent because that is a talent, a gift
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given by God to the individual, and we can't take it for granted.
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We can't just go bury it, you know. We have to use the
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talents that God gave us. Anyway, y'all, I'm going to get back
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out there and check my turkey. I hope it hasn't burst into flames or
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anything. In the last twenty minutes that I've been doing this. I would
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have done my podcast outside, but there's just too much noise. Anyway,
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y'all, have a grate evening, I hope and plan to talk with you
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tomorrow. Remember the words of Saint Padre Pio, pray, hope and don't worry.