SHJIHM :: Passion of The Christ :: Hope vs. Hopelessness in Lord of the Rings ~ Runboard
"There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is, of course, quite a different thing." -Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
Placating terrorists, meeting with dictators, compassion for murderers... but no humanity for the unborn... incredible.
OOT
Re: Hope vs. Hopelessness in Lord of the Rings What constitutes hope from a Christian perspective? Is life in this world essentially hopeless? AD, do you have an opinion such as you are on the frontier?
Re: Hope vs. Hopelessness in Lord of the Rings Well I would say that Christ Himself is the embodiment of hope. For it is in Him we are to continually trust.
--- "My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Re: Hope vs. Hopelessness in Lord of the Rings I guess what I am after, Tony, is how does that hope affect our actions in this world.? How do we translate it into this life?
Do we do what we do because we have hope of success or do we do it because we ought?
Re: Hope vs. Hopelessness in Lord of the Rings Hope is definitely an interesting topic... whether you get it from Jesus or other sources, Hope can make the difference between success and failure, just like faith.
It strengthens us at weak moments, at lets our hearts soar to the sun in times of darkness.
My hope comes from the embodiment of kindness, the want to do well, and the belief that others, deep down, want the same. A little kindness goes a long way, if we can but spread it around.
That is why the golden rule is so important, I think. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you kind of says it all, doesn't it?
Re: Hope vs. Hopelessness in Lord of the Rings Lauchlin,
Thanks. It is an interesting topic. It is one of the Cardinal Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. But what does it mean?
Tony is correct. As Christians, our ultimate hope is to travel through the darkness of Golgotha to spend an eternity with our creator. My interest is in peoples' opinions of what that means for us today.
In the original story, an overwhelming evil was gathering that seemed unbeatable. People were motivated to act but could only muster to attempt what seemed from the beginning a futile quest, but they attempted it anyway.
I was curious if AD has had any thoughts on this because he is in a sense a sentry at the wall shouting warnings to those who appear unwilling to listen. Certainly, the elites in Europe are continuing the path of allowing immigration from Islamic regions. Our problems in the U.S. are different but they also seem dire. Is there hope? What are we to do?
Re: Hope vs. Hopelessness in Lord of the Rings There is always hope - our world has seen far worse times . Sadly , the EU elites and the US governments are full of schadenfreude these days , just look at the powder keg called Kosovo , this modern-day islamic trojan horse .
Nothing new under the sun - a civil war in Europe - or secularists fighting for their lives , and the radical transformation of the USA - from the style of the late Roman Empire to something new - with the hispanic reconquista of the south , an agressive asian business class with ties to China , a desperate black underclass ( similar to Zimbabwe meeting the american slums ) and some pockets of whites in Cascadia for example .
The huge technological advantage of the westerners is dissapearing - because China , Russia and India are playing now with growth economics .
My real worry - the western elites will not sit idle and watch as they become irrelevant in this new Dark Age , and will use WMDs to preserve the status quo . Likewise , islamists may try to find the hidden imam in the same manner .
Michael Dhow does that hope affect our actions in this world.? How do we translate it into this life?
Do we do what we do because we have hope of success or do we do it because we ought?
Well, hope leads us to live our lives as God first planned for us. Unfortunately, satan is always out to trap us, and thus even though we fall, we still have hope that we will be triumphant.
That hope translates in our lives into the the very things we do. Hope lives through us as we live in it.
We are Catholic because we choose to live in Hope. Not because we ought to.
--- "My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
