A Guy Dedicated His Life To Satan, Killed 20,000...

[Church Punk]

Just a warning... The article is about Gen Butt Naked, but there is a girl's naked butt next to it in the advertisements. Just so the mods know.

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1448915' date='Jan 21 2008, 08:26 AM']It's hard to read an article about someone named "General Butt Naked" with a straight face, though. And imagining someone like Tom Brokaw saying "Tonight's top story on NBC Nightly News. A warlord confesses and repents after killing 20,000 people in the throes of Liberia's civil war. This is the true story of General Butt Naked, leader of the Butt Naked Battalion."[/quote]
so true!

good story though

[Paddington]

I think it is Catholic to say that "you are your actions." At least in some really important way. He doesn't do that stuff anymore, so he isn't that person anymore. Now....he still probably doesn't submit to the Pope or anything, but hey.

Also, it should be worth something that we have never been tempted to eat children's hearts and kill 20,000, but we have fallen to temptations that we have been given.

Keep in mind that you can use this guy's story to nudge Protestants and Orthodox towards accepting the Catholic view of Purgatory.

Yea, this is a pretty nasty topic.

[Norseman82]

[quote name='Didacus' post='1449362' date='Jan 22 2008, 03:38 PM']Forgiveness of sins does not remove the effect of sins. Nor is being sorry remove the punishment of justice. If by his crimes he deserves life in prison (or hanging?), then this will be his to suffer.[/quote]

I was going to post the same thought. This reminds me of the scene in Star Trek VI in which the Admiral tells the Federation President "These men have literally saved the planet" to which the President replies "And they will save it again....by standing trial".

[HotRod]

I must have missed the part of the article that mentions going to a Catholic confession. So to all the above dont worry, he's still on the path to Hell. but God willing, he will come home to the Holy mother Church, THEN you all can complain about how it isn't fair that he gets to go to Heaven.

Read Matthew Chapter 20. The Lord says "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?"
Maybe we should have a better Heaven for all of us "super-rightous" people who gave our whole lives to God, and a lesser, not as good Heaven for death bed repenters etc. I'm obviously being sarcastic. I believe those feeling are envious and elitist, and quite unbecoming a Catholic Christian.

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='Paddington' post='1449410' date='Jan 22 2008, 05:41 PM']I think it is Catholic to say that "you are your actions." At least in some really important way. He doesn't do that stuff anymore, so he isn't that person anymore. Now....he still probably doesn't submit to the Pope or anything, but hey.

Also, it should be worth something that we have never been tempted to eat children's hearts and kill 20,000, but we have fallen to temptations that we have been given.

Keep in mind that you can use this guy's story to nudge Protestants and Orthodox towards accepting the Catholic view of Purgatory.

Yea, this is a pretty nasty topic.[/quote]
No, we are not our actions. Separate sin from sinner... but every action we make is either making us holier or hellish. Actions count a lot.

[Didacus]

[quote name='HotRod' post='1449488' date='Jan 22 2008, 10:04 PM']I must have missed the part of the article that mentions going to a Catholic confession. So to all the above dont worry, he's still on the path to Hell. but God willing, he will come home to the Holy mother Church, THEN you all can complain about how it isn't fair that he gets to go to Heaven.

Read Matthew Chapter 20. The Lord says "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?"
Maybe we should have a better Heaven for all of us "super-rightous" people who gave our whole lives to God, and a lesser, not as good Heaven for death bed repenters etc. I'm obviously being sarcastic. I believe those feeling are envious and elitist, and quite unbecoming a Catholic Christian.[/quote]

Hey HotRod, I agree with your thoughts.

It is not to us to say if what God does or does not do for our neighbor being just. It is His to deliver. We should not be envious, but glad that he is returned to the right path.

What is it they say, when a single sinner returns to God, all of Heaven rejoices? Such should be for him as it will be for all of us. He is no less deserving as a child of God than we were when we fell (and keep falling - *blush*) to our own petty temptations.

And FYI, I am not envious of this man being saved, but I see hope that if he can climb such a hill of sins and reach out to the Lord, darn it, maybe I can too. Heck, anybody can. And I see God is great, God is mercy and God is Love beyond what can possibly be measured by our limits, and I love Him all the more for it.






Final thought, I don't think he has to come to Mother Church to enter heaven; baptism by desire may apply - but that's fortunately not for any of us to judge.

[Didacus]

Here's a story I heard a while back, and I'll recount it by memory 'cause I can't find it on the internet. The implecations are nearly identical;

[quote]Once, a small child was waken in the middle of the night by noises. His father told him to hide, and went off into the house. The small child was firghtened beyond belief - a thief had snuck into the house. That night, while he was hidden, his father, his mother, his brothers and sisters were all murdered. Fortunately he was never found.

The boy grew up to become a man, always marked by that night. He became a priest no less.

One day he was sent ot Devil's Island, a place in Europe were they sent all the worst criminals in exile (I think it was British). There he did his best to teahc the gospel to those who were the most lost of all humanity.

One day he witnesses a fight between exhiled prisoners, and one man was left for dead - mortally wounded. The priest held the man as he lay dying and asked if he wanted to confess.

The man said it would bare no purpose since what he had done was so hateful that not even God Himself would forgive him. But the priest insisted.

The criminal then recounted to the priest how one night he had snuck into a rich house, murdered the entire family and how he had spent hours searching for a small boy who he knew was hidden but couldn't find. After telling his tale the dying asked the priest 'You see, with what I've done, hell is all that's waiting for me."

The priest replied, "I was that boy you once searched to murder, and I forgive you with all my heart. If a mere man has enough love in him to forgive you here on earth, how much more mercy do you think our Lord in Heaven has waiting for you?"

The dying man cried until his dying breath.[/quote]

When story was told to me it was told as though it was a true story. I'm not sure if it is, but even if it is not; the story holds true (I believe) to a true Christian heart. It begs a question;

If you were that priest - would you have had the strength to forgive the murderer?




Do you have the strength to forgive the man in the article?





As christians, we are to be the image of God - what do you think God looks like?