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Covers key foundational concepts

Figure of the heavenly bodies

Submitted by rjzaar on January 22, 2017 - 12:40pm

Figure of the heavenly bodies - Illuminated illustration of the Ptolemaic geocentric conception of the Universe by Portuguese cosmographer and cartographer Bartolomeu Velho (?-1568). From his work Cosmographia, made in France, 1568 (Bibilotèque nationale de France, Paris). Notice the distances of the bodies to the centre of the Earth (left) and the times of revolution, in years (right). The outermost text says: "The heavenly empire, the dwelling of God and of all of the elect"

Fact Checks

This is a set of fact checks that goes into detail about any questionable content. For instance, if an article from a Catholic site seems to be different to the common understanding or what is written from a popular source, eg wikipedia, then this is the place where the truth is sought. Reliable sources are used to clarify the truth of the matter.

heello

Big Bang

Submitted by rjzaar on January 22, 2017 - 2:01am

A representation of the evolution of the universe over 13.77 billion years. The far left depicts the earliest moment we can now probe, when a period of "inflation" produced a burst of exponential growth in the universe. (Size is depicted by the vertical extent of the grid in this graphic.) For the next several billion years, the expansion of the universe gradually slowed down as the matter in the universe pulled on itself via gravity. More recently, the expansion has begun to speed up again as the repulsive effects of dark energy have come to dominate the expansion of the universe.

Free will - Introduction to Anthropology

Every human has a body and soul. Without a body and a soul you are not fully human. Your soul is the basis of your free will. You body on its own would only follow causality (one thing causing another) if you didn't have a soul. Anthropology is the study of the humanity. Science can't do science on the human soul. To think that it can is called scientism, an erroneous philosophical belief that science can answer more questions than it is capable of. Materialism believes there is no spiritual side to things (or people) therefore doesn't believe we have a soul. 

heello
God is Love

God is love (1 Jn 4:8). One definition of love is self gift. Each person of the Trinity totally, unconditionally and infinitly gives himself to the other persons of the Trinity. Each human is a person and love is something we do. For each person of the Trinity, there is no beginning nor end to their self-gift. 'What' God is, is self-giving. Therefore God's nature is one of self-gift. Therefore love is not just something God does, but is what God is. God is love. 

The only way God can relate to us is by loving us.

God already has everything since he is infinite. God created us so we can receive all that God is, which is the unconditional gift of himself to us. God wants to share his divine nature with us, since jsut as each person of the Trinity receives and gives self totally, so too should we receive all that God is and give all that we are to God including our sin. God enters our life sacramentally through baptism and enters and cleanses us of sin through reconciliation. We should ask God into our lives every day.

“God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.” (CCC 221)

heello
Trinity Introduction

The simplest definition of the Trinity is “Three persons in one God” (CCC 253). 

heello

Angels at Mamre (Holy Trinity)

Submitted by rjzaar on December 19, 2016 - 10:43am

The icon depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (Genesis 18:1–8), but the painting is full of symbolism and is interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity. The left angel symbolizes God the Father. He blesses the cup, yet his hand is painted in a distance, as if he passes the cup to the central angel.