What Church father did Augustine get his idea of the earthly and heavenly cities from?
151699
And I know the answer now too. It was in the Shepherd of Hermas, author unknown. Now please laugh and give me 10 points.
118746
Um, no that would be a pretty ridiculous reduction of the grand theologies of Aquinas, Augustine, and Athanasius.\n\nI'll only deal with one of these ridiculous items - the first.  \n\n"An almighty God decided he was either bored or lonely so he creates a universe of immense size..."\n\nThe Christian sense of cosmology was first expressed by Augustine in Book 11 of Confessions, essentially agreeing with modern scientific cosmology that time is a physical property of the universe, and has no applicability beyond it. \n\nThat is why the Nicene creed speaks of Christ as "eternally begotten" - since God is not passing through time, or even really old (also a temporal concept), his actions aren't really the result of "getting bored" or anything temporal like that. The anthropomorphisms of that kind may abound in scripture, but only because of our limited ability to conceive of literal timelessness.\n\nSince you basically blew the first premise, the rest, which reside on them, fail. So I'll leave it alone (other than to snicker a little at "whose purpose is to make him feel better" - I can't decide whether that is banal or actually funny. :-)
981282
scriptureman says:\n\n2Co 12:2  I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such a one caught up to the third heaven.
997823
Sorry, I'm gonna pull a Mainworry but this answers your question better than I could have hoped for\n\nParable of the Two Sons:\n\nJesus told a story of two sons.  A father asked his first son to work in the fields, and he replied, "of course I will!"  He then went outside and changed his mind and did not work\n\nThe father asked his second son to help with the fields, and his son relied, "No!"  but later felt guilty and worked in the fields.\n\nJesus asked, "Now, which son did what was right?" and the crowd replied, "The second one!"  Jesus said, "Ah, surely prostitutes and tax collecters will enter heaven before you do".\n\nAthiests are the ones who say "No" to God, but often do what is right of their own choice.  Christians are the ones who say "Yes" to God, but then act in the opposite manner as they should.
605668
You have never met Alexander the Great and yet you believe what you have heard about him. Interestingly enough the first books were not written about him until 500 years after he was dead. Christ was written about from the beginning of time and again within 55 years of his death and resurection.  You cant see the wind just the effects. Yet I believe there is wind.
369459
Pope Alexander I\nhttp://www.culturalcatholic.com/PopeAlexanderI.htm
107108
This question has been asked many times. Most Orthodox, in attempting to distinguish between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, usually mention the Pope or Purgatory, sometimes the filioque. Historically, the differences, however, are far more numerous and quite profound. \n\nAlso, in modern times, since Vatican II of thirty years ago, that major, if not tragic attempt, to "update" Roman Catholicism (e.g., the revision of canon law), the differences between Orthodoxy and the followers of the Pope have widened. \n\nIn our present discussion, however, the concern will be those differences which have grown since Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism separated almost a thousand years ago. \n\n1. Faith and Reason \n\nFollowing the Holy Fathers, Orthodoxy uses science and philosophy to defend and explain her Faith. Unlike Roman Catholicism, she does not build on the results of philosophy and science. The Church does not seek to reconcile faith and reason. She makes no effort to prove by logic or science what Christ gave His followers to believe. If physics or biology or chemistry or philosophy lends support to the teachings of the Church, she does not refuse them. However, Orthodoxy is not intimidated by man's intellectual accomplishments. She does not bow to them and change the Christian Faith to make it consistent with the results of human thought and science. \n\nSt. Basil the Great advised young monks to use Greek philosophy as a bee uses the flower. Take only the "honey," ---- the truth --- which God has planted in the world to prepare men for the Coming of the Lord. \n\nFor example, the Greeks had a doctrine of the Logos. The Gospel of John opens, "In the beginning was the Word (Logos, in Greek). For the pagans, the Logos was not God, as He is for Christians; rather he is a principle, a power or force by which "God: formed and governs the world. The Fathers pointed to the similarity between the Logos or Word of the Bible and the Logos of Greek philosophy as a sign of Providence. The difference between them, they attributed to the sinfulness of men and the weakness of the human intellect. They remembered the words of the Apostle Paul, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col. 2: 8). \n\nRoman Catholicism, on the other hand, places a high value on human reason. Its history shows the consequence of that trust. For example, in the Latin Middle Ages, the 13th century, the theologian-philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, joined "Christianity" with the philosophy of Aristotle. From that period til now, the Latins have never wavered in their respect for human wisdom; and it has radically altered the theology, mysteries and institutions of the Christian religion. \n\n2. The Development of Doctrine \n\nThe Orthodox Church does not endorse the view that the teachings of Christ have changed from time to time; rather that Christianity has remained unaltered from the moment that the Lord delivered the Faith to the Apostles (Matt. 28: 18-20). She affirms that "the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3) is now what it was in the beginning. Orthodox of the twentieth century believe precisely what was believed by Orthodox of the first, the fifth, the tenth, the fifteenth centuries. \n\nTo be sure, Orthodoxy recognizes external changes (e.g., vestments of clergy, monastic habits, new feasts, canons of ecumenical and regional councils, etc.), but nothing has been added or subtracted from her Faith. The external changes have a single purpose: To express that Faith under new circumstances. For example, the Bible and divine Services were translated from Hebrew and Greek into the language of new lands; or new religious customs arose to express the ethnic sensibilities of the converted peoples, etc.; nevertheless, their has always been "one faith, one Lord, one baptism" (Eph.
317559
Here are some references I found.  I checked for St. Augustine and Romans 7:19.  Hopefully these will help.\n\nhttp://www.erikwait.com/index.cgi?location=8&action=display_one&story_id=39\nhttp://www.geocities.com/Athens/7939/rom7.html\nhttp://www.newadvent.org/summa/108301.htm\nhttp://www.godrules.net/library/arminius/arminius131.htm
505195
He did not attend any churches at all. There was something I read one time about his father's family originally coming from a place in England where there were secret Jews, but I don't think he was Jewish either. He was probably an agnostic like some other 19th century thinkers. Remember he read and thought a lot and probably came to his own conclusions.
128987
How about reading his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est, God Is Love.  See the website below.
861065
written in ancient text and edited by the church with the Roman empires influence.... you said (so in essence, we are relating and associating to the feelings/intuitions/ nature that is already inside us....) this is right and you don't need god for this stuff\nit comes with life itself
170764
Plato, I guess. the Question is too vague. Plato's geocentric system was refuted by Copernicus, but the Catholic Church refused to accept Copernicus's findings.
174739
I found a ton of valuable information at the following site on Patristics :   (good luck)\nhttp://religionfacts.com/christianity/history/church_fathers.htm
1079268
+ Enormous Hierarchy +\n\nThere are 1.1 billion Catholics in the world and the number is growing. Do you think the apostles ever thought there would be more that a million people for every bishop (successors of the Apostles)?\n\n+ The Pope +\n\nJesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:17-19)\n\nThe Catholic Church believes the Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock.\n\nThe current Pope is the successor of Peter in an unbroken line from the direct words of Jesus Christ.\n\n+ Celibacy +\n\nFirst, Judeo-Christian tradition has always held that single people be celibate. This is taught by Judaism and Christianity from before the Scriptures were written down.\n\nThe question should be: Why can't priests marry?\n\nThis idea came from the Jews, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul.\n\nThe Jews. The Talmud argues that a person whose “soul is bound up with the Torah and is constantly occupied with it” may remain celibate (Maimonides, Laws of Marriage 15.3). This argument could certainly have been based on the biblical example of Jeremiah, a celibate prophet who was ordered by Yahweh not to marry (Jeremiah 16:1-4). Moreover, the Essenes was a group that was active in Jesus’ time that practiced celibacy and thought by most scholars to be the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.\n\nJohn the Baptist and Jesus are both believed to have been celibate for their entire lives. Some scholars believe that either or both Jesus and John the Baptist were influenced in their celibacy by the example of the Essenes.  \n\nThe Apostle Paul is explicit about his celibacy (see 1 Cor. 7). There is also evidence in the gospel of Matthew for the practice of celibacy among at least some early Christians, in the famous passage about becoming “eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12).  \n\nThe concept took many twists and turns over the years and will probably take a few more before Christ returns in glory.\n\nWith love in Christ.
1156078
Arianism was one of the early heresies of the church.  The way I understand it, there was a great debate in the early church about both Christ's humanity and his divinity.  The orthodox view that developed out of these disagreements was a balanced view that stated both the humanity and the divinity of Christ without emphasizing one too much at the expense of the other.  Arius, whom you referenced in your question (couldn't follow the link), was probably the most notable proponent of a Christology that denied the divinity of Christ.  The Council of Nicaea in 325 addressed the controversy; the council resoundingly declared Arius's view heretical and adopted a creed still spoken today in many Christian churches that very clearly refers to the disagreement ("begotten, not made, one in being with the Father").
117689
The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him. At the end of this time Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffs these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert, and the devil leaves him "until an opportune time".\n\nThe evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event: Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel's vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God's Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil's conqueror: he "binds the strong man" to take back his plunder. Jesus' victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father. \n\nJesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: "For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning." By the solemn forty days of Lent we unite ourselves each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. \n\nThe seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church's penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works).
835102
Off the top of my head what little I can remember from some of those Western Civ classes.....The height of the cathedral ceilings and the pointed arches of Gothic architecture are to draw the eye upward toward the heavens.....The mind should follow and dwell on heavenly, as opposed to Earthly, things.