{"id":871,"date":"2013-12-16T06:29:06","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T11:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/?p=871"},"modified":"2014-12-23T18:53:52","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T23:53:52","slug":"the-eternal-view-and-the-temporal-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/12\/the-eternal-view-and-the-temporal-view\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eternal View and the Temporal View"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are two ways to look at the Church, two ways that are essential for a balanced Christian life; and I notice that many Catholics I read on-line seem to give more emphasis to one or the other. <\/p>\n

The first is what I\u2019ll call the Eternal View. People who emphasize this view (people like me) focus on the unchanging things of the Faith: the Divine, the truths of theology, the words of scripture. We study these things, and we think we have a pretty good handle on them, thank you very much. We also look at the precepts of the Church, and the duties that the Church assigns to us, and we make an effort to carry them out, and though we know we are imperfect, we think we do a pretty good job of them, thank you very much.<\/p>\n

Any real accomplishment\u2014and a working grasp of the Church\u2019s orthodoxy and orthopraxy is certainly that\u2014carries with it the possibility of sinful pride. In this case, it takes the form of thoughts like these:<\/p>\n