Can I Judge Without "Judging"?

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, we see Jesus using tough language against judging others: "Stop judging, that you may not be judged... Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1,3). This passage brings up an interesting dilemma as it seems to contradict another important teaching of Christ from Matthew's Gospel itself: "If your brother sins, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone" (Matthew 18:15). In order to point out your brother of a fault, is it not necessary to judge him first? But is it not a sin to judge my brother to begin with?

Is God's Love Truly Unconditional?

Christianity is founded on the love of God for His fallen creation. The Catholic Church teaches its followers that God's love is unconditional - there is nothing that we could do to stop God from loving us! But is it all true? And if it is, then why do catholics, and Christians in General, have to obey so many Commandments, and observe Penance and other obligatory devotions? Don't we do all those things to get God to love us?

Ordinary Time Needs Extraordinary Faith

Ever wondered what's so ordinary about Ordinary Time on the liturgical calendar? 

Here's my latest article from CatholicStand.com

Why is God not a Woman?

While speaking to a group of youngsters during a Retreat, a young man challenged me for consistently calling God a 'He'. He said that according to his parents, God is neither a 'he' or a 'she', but an 'it'. By now, it should be no secret that I have all kind of questions when it comes to God. But this one was new territory for me as I never considered God as anything other than a 'man'. So ever wondered why God is always addressed as a man in Christianity, why not a woman, or something in between?

Redemption, Salvation and the Pope

Recently Pope Francis made headlines all across the media when many reported that the Pope has preached Salvation by works. Here is what the Pope said:

“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there."

Catholic Church has long been teaching that we are saved by the grace of God and not by our works. Many of the secular media has used the Pope's speech to imply that the new Pope has a very liberal attitude when it comes to faith. In other words, it seems that the Pope is contradicting the teachings of his predecessors and is more in line with the modern day thought that being good is all that's required of human beings. Did Pope Francis err in his speech or has the Church changed its teaching?

Did God set up man to fail?

During a recent Faith Forum session at the Church, the question came up out of nowhere, "Why did God have to create that apple tree in the Garden of Eden?" In other words, was it necessary for God to tell Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree? If it was not meant to be eaten, then why created it? In essence the argument was that God, by creating this tree and then telling the man and woman not to eat of it, created the source of temptation which eventually led to the fall of humanity, His beloved creation. So the ultimate question is: Did God set up man to fail?

When God created everything in the beginning, He found them to be good. If everything was good, then where did  the evil come from? Evil came into existence when some of the angels under the leadership of Lucifer chose to disobey their Creator. So at the time of creation of humanity, evil was already present in the universe in the form disobedience. 

Should religion be kept private?

Though most of the religions exist to point the way to God, there are significant differences between these religions. For example, one could argue that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all professes about the same God; yet there are so many irreconcilable differences between the three. Not only that, both Christianity and Islam are sharply criticized over the centuries about their aggressive style of expansion. Though not much in the last few centuries, Christianity had been blamed for annihilating many cultures, their traditions, and their literary and art work in the name of religious conversion. In today's society, it seems like Muslims are often associated with violence and intolerance, promoting terrorism as a means to establish their presence. And Israel, a tiny nation in the Middle east, gives us the notion that it is the epicenter of civil unrest in that entire region. And this is only the tip of the iceberg if you factor in the Hindu-Muslim conflicts, and also the friction that exist within fractions of these religions. 

GOD: The What and The Who

Trying to understand God or the Supreme Being is a tricky proposition. There are two ways to you can pursue your knowledge of God: You can ask "What is God?" or "Who is God?". The first is a philosophical question that requires no backing from any religion. According to this view God is an impersonal Being - a supernatural phenomenon that exists in the universe and beyond the universe. Philosophy doesn't offer any clear consensus on the nature or attributes of God, rather it offer explanations such as God exists objectively and independently of human thought. 

Is God too big to fit into one religion?

Using "Is there a God" and "Religion: What is it"?, I tried to come to a conclusion that there is a God or a Supreme Being, and humans use religion to reach out to God. But there are so many religions in this world, and most of them are in existence to help human beings to guide the way - to point them to God. Monotheistic religions such as Judaism follows a God who is high up there  - simply uttering His name in vain could be considered as blasphemy. The glory and grandeur of this Jewish God is so frightening that you might get the sense of a highly impersonal god.

Religion: What is it?

While discussing about the existence of God (Is there a God?), I briefly discussed what set humans apart from animals. Saint Thomas Aquinas, as part of his fourth proof 'gradation', used human being's ability to reason to place them on a higher level than animals. Rationality provides us with the tools to think logically and choose intellectually. This unique ability of humans to reason also make it not only amazing but also strange that majority of the human beings believe in the supernatural. Even with all the logical thinking and free will available to our disposal, we choose to believe that there is something or someone else out there that is invisible to us, but somehow plays a vital role in our very existence. 

Is there a God?

"How do you know God exists?" It is a simple question with both a simple and complicated answer. It is simple for a faithful believer because faith is believing in something or someone you cannot see, or accepting something that cannot be proven as true. Faith doesn't require proof, or you don't need faith to believe in something already proven. Majority of the religious believers regardless of whether they are Christian, Muslim, Jew or Hindu accept the existence of God not due to revelations, but because of their faith.