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God of the Philosophers

@godofthephilosophers / godofthephilosophers.tumblr.com

"If there is an equality among us men in which we truly resemble each other, it is that not one of us truly thinks about being loved [by God!]" - S. Kierkegaard
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Final perfect happiness (beautitudo) can only come from the vision of the divine essence. To prove this, two points should be considered. First, man is not perfectly happy as long as something more remains to be desired or sought. Second, the perfection of any power is related to the characteristics of its object. But the object of the intellect is being, that is the essence of a thing. . .

Thomas Aquinas, The Summa of Theology (Qu. 3. “What is Happiness?”). The First Part of Part II (1269-1270)

#Thomas Aquinas#Summa Theologiae#Quotes#Happiness
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Man and Self-Love
If we could go on and talk about how a man must love himself, we must first examine how this relates to "being" (ontos) more generally. A philosophy of being may help us here, or perhaps some aid f...
seventythousandfathoms.wordpress.com

An excerpt from Thomas Merton:

This matter of “salvation” is, when seen intuitively, a very simply thing. But when we analyze it, it turns into a complex tangle of paradoxes. We become ourselves by dying to ourselves. We gain only what we give up, and if we give up everything we gain everything. We cannot find ourselves within ourselves, but only in others, yet at the same time before we can go out to others we must first find ourselves. . . The only effective answer to the problem of salvation must therefore reach out to embrace both extremes of a contradiction at the same time. Hence that answer must be supernatural. That is why all the answers that are not supernatural are imperfect: for they only embrace one of the contradictory terms, and they can always be denied by the other. . .
Man is divided against himself and against God by his own selfishness, which divides him against his brother. This division cannot be healed by a love that places itself only on one side of the rift. Love must reach over to the both sides and draw them together. . .” (No Man Is An Island)
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As Titanic sank, he pleaded, 'believe in the Lord Jesus!'
Many movies, documentaries and books have familiarized us with some of the passengers of the Titanic, but one sticks out for writer Douglas Mize -- pastor John Harper, who ran person to person, passionately telling others about Christ as the boat sank. He even gave his life vest to an unbeliever.
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The story of John Harper, evangelist aboard the Titanic.
Written by Douglas W. Mize (Apr. 13, 2012).

When the Titanic hit the iceberg, Harper successfully led his daughter to a lifeboat. Being a widower he may have been allowed to join her but instead forsook his own rescue, choosing to provide the masses with one more chance to know Christ. Harper ran person to person, passionately telling others about Christ. As the water began to submerge the "unsinkable" ship, Harper was heard shouting, "women, children, and the unsaved into the lifeboats." Rebuffed by a certain man at the offer of salvation Harper gave him his own life vest, saying, "you need this more than I do." Up until the last moment on the ship Harper pleaded with people to give their lives to Jesus.

The ship disappeared beneath the deep frigid waters leaving hundreds floundering in its wake with no realistic chance for rescue. Harper struggled through hyperthermia to swim to as many people as he could, still sharing the Gospel. Harper evidentially would lose his battle with hypothermia but not before giving many people one last glorious Gospel witness.

Four years after the tragedy at a Titanic survivor's meeting in Ontario, Canada, one survivor recounted his interaction with Harper in the middle of the icy waters of the Atlantic. He testified he was clinging to ship debris when Harper swam up to him, twice challenging him with a biblical invitation to "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." He rejected the offer once. Yet given the second chance and with miles of water beneath his feet, the man gave his life to Christ. Then as Harper succumbed to his watery grave, this new believer was rescued by a returning lifeboat. As he concluded his remarks at the Ontario meeting of survivors he simply stated, "I am the last convert of John Harper."

#John Harper#Titanic#Evangelism#Encouragement#Articles
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What should have been our answer to Auschwitz? Should this people, called to be a witness to the God of mercy and compassion, persist in its witness and cling to Job's words: "Even if He slay me yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13: 15), or should this people follow the advice of Job's wife, "Curse God and die!" (Job 2: 9), immerse itself into the anonymity of a hundred nations all over the world, and disappear once and for all?

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) on the holocaust. 

#Abraham Joshua Heschel#Quotes#Holocaust
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