For 2,000 years, many have chosen to live in “the times of ignorance”. Catholics live in Anno Domini, the years of Our Lord.
~
Question 1: “Does St. Paul identify ‘Two Times’ in all of History?”
Answer: “Todays Reading, from Acts 17:15, 22—18:1, tells us of the Two Times of History. ‘You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.’ St. Paul tried to keep his listeners in Athens from living in ‘the times of ignorance’.”
~
Question 2: “Did St. Paul make their ‘unknown God’ known to them?”
Answer: “‘The God you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all that is in it, The Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is He served by human hands because He needs anything. Rather it is He who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.’ Catholics know that ‘everything’ means ‘every thing’!”
~
Question 3: Did St. Paul tell them what God had done?”
Answer: “‘Rather it is He who gives to everyone life and breath and every thing. He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and He fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from any one of us. For ‘In Him we live and move and have our being,’”
~
Question 4: “Did the people of Athens have any idea about God?
Answer: “Some of them did. ‘as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are His offspring. Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that The Divinity is like an image fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.’”
~
Question 5: “How did St. Paul describe the preceding tens of thousands of years of Human History?”
Answer: “‘God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now He demands that all people everywhere repent because He has established a day on which He will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man He has appointed, and He has provided confirmation for all by raising Him from the dead.’”
~
Question 6: “Were they glad to hear that God had conquered death?”
Answer: “‘When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, ‘We should like to hear you on this some other time.’ They wanted to remain in ‘the times of ignorance’.”
~
Question 7: “Did St. Paul wait for them to listen to them?
Answer: “He realized most of them were too overwhelmed by the ‘times of ignorance’ to accept The Church Spoken Into Being by The Son of God: ‘And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys of The Kingdom of Heaven.’
And so Paul left them. But some did join him, and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Court of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.’”
~
Question 8: St. Paul left Athens, and went to Corinth. Were the Corinthians more willing to hear about The Church Jesus Christ had Spoken Into Being with His Holy Word?”
Answer: “The Corinthians were so eager to hear about God’s Word and Church that St. Paul wrote Two Letters to The Corinthians!
God did not tell him to waste time writing any letters to The Athenians who preferred to live in ‘the times of ignorance’.”
~
. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
Simple Reasons to be Catholic. catholicfundamentalism.com
We can find interesting ideas in this, and other free books: https://catholicfundamentalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Gods-IQ-Test.pdf
If you like the no-cost downloads, please consider a donation to your Parish or favorite Catholic Charity. And, don’t forget to share: catholicfundamentalism.com
After The Bible, one of the best books we can read is “The Diary of St. Faustina” if we want to learn about Jesus and our soul.
