(CP-6) Meta-Elements of Religious Knowledge

Unveiling God's Plan for your life 

Religious knowledge is practical knowledge, and it is revealed to the individual believer.  The guiding truth is God's plan for each of our lives within the cosmic schemata..  It is your intended contribution to the  establishment of God's everlasting Kingdom.  Even as Jesus endeavored to carry out God's plan for His life, including dying on the cross for the sake of the Kingdom, so we are exhorted to do what God intends each of us to accomplish in our lifetime.

Now the Kingdom is a community of believers.  In Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus outlines how we are to relate to one another for the sake of the Kingdom.  We should not act out of anger but love.  In this chapter, he stresses the attitude we are to maintain in  our dealings with one another.  Essentially , we are to act as mediators for the sake of harmony and peace in His Kingdom--abandoning the intention to "do the right thing" irrespective of its affects on those around us nor without concern of how others will respond to our acts. Just as Jesus is our Mediator before the Father, so we are mediators to one another in the Kingdom of God.

Failing to show compassion in their actions was the very sin of the Pharisees.  For the Christian there is no such thing as "tough love!"       .

But how can we know God's plan for each of our lives?   St. Paul talks of this in I Corinthians 12. He speaks of one's having spiritual gifts, some delegated to one person and some to others.  Our bodies and  minds display our inclinations and talents from within, just as Jesus instructed through His parables to make use of God's natural gifts we possess.  For we are the temple of God.

And then Jesus adds in Matthew Chapter 5, "You will be blest!"

Applying the religious knowledge we receive

Since religious knowledge is practical and useful for us, when we apply the religious knowledge we receive to our lives, we live by the promise that God shall supply all our needs.  We virtually conjoin ourselves through the power of God to the principles of the universe.  It is that power Jesus called upon to do His miracles.  We attune ourselves through prayer and worship to the cosmos  (see the discussion of the Eucharist service).  Importantly, we come to know ourselves as Children of God, retaining in ourselves godlike qualities that give us courage to live a beautiful life, despite its vicissitudes; and die with the hope of eternal life.  We are never alone.