improved wording

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/content/theses/metaphysical/religious/catholicism.md b/content/theses/metaphysical/religious/catholicism.md
index 99f8716..be266c6 100644
--- a/content/theses/metaphysical/religious/catholicism.md
+++ b/content/theses/metaphysical/religious/catholicism.md
@@ -27,9 +27,7 @@ So due to the admittance that free will is real, and given by God so we may exis
 
 So this is the consequence of abandoning God. You abandon God, and so God lets you go.
 
-The above contradict the legalistic opinion that Catholics tend to hold; they rather support the notion that God is a judge, and that he passes down divine punishment. It is however self-contradictory to assume this; why would He, having given you free will, punish you for exercising it?
-
-A dear friend of mine suggested to me once that I should imagine myself putting my hand in a fire -- the ensuing burning and pain are not divine judgement but rather me experiencing the consequences of my own actions.
+The above contradict the legalistic opinion that Catholics tend to hold; they rather support the notion that God is a judge, and that he passes down divine punishment. It is however self-contradictory to assume this; why would He, having given you free will, punish you for exercising it?[^5]
 
 ## rationalism and legalism
 Theologically, Catholicism evolved from Chalcedonian Christianity, under the influence of a very strict, disciplined, and militaristic language, Latin. This, in combination with the extremely unstable political situation in Rome, before and at the time of the Schism, resulted in a theology that has no room for the mysteries, or for any metaphysical explanations, but rather necessitates a rationalistic and legalistic approach to all theological manners.
@@ -44,9 +42,9 @@ This notion of external, rather than internal, judgement is exacerbated by the C
 ### inheritance of the Original Sin
 Another example of the loss of mystery in Catholicism is the interpretation of the Original Sin.
 
-In Genesis, Adam and Eve are created by God in the Garden of Eden, and are instructed by God not to eat from the Tree of All Knowledge, lest they die. The devil, in the form of a snake, approaches Eve and convinces her that God doesn't want them to eat from the tree, because they shall become like Him, and so she eats from the tree, and convinces Adam to do so too. By eating from the tree, they gain the knowledge of all good and evil, they realise they are naked, and decide to cover themselves. Then, once God apporaches them, He asks them why they hide from Him, at which point they respond that they hide because they are ashamed to be naked in front of Him. God then asks them about their action, at which point Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the snake; the snake is punished by being made to crawl on the Earth forever by its stomach, and Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden[^6].
+In Genesis, Adam and Eve are created by God in the Garden of Eden, and are instructed by God not to eat from the Tree of All Knowledge, lest they die. The devil, in the form of a snake, approaches Eve and convinces her that God doesn't want them to eat from the tree, because they shall become like Him, and so she eats from the tree, and convinces Adam to do so too. By eating from the tree, they gain the knowledge of all good and evil, they realise they are naked, and decide to cover themselves. Then, once God apporaches them, He asks them why they hide from Him, at which point they respond that they hide because they are ashamed to be naked in front of Him. God then asks them about their action, at which point Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the snake; the snake is punished by being made to crawl on the Earth forever by its stomach, and Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden[^7].
 
-In Catholic theology, it is understood that you are born "in sin"; you inherit the *guilt* of the Original Sin. Just as Adam and Eve were sinners, so are you, and you need to be cleansed, and be made "tabula rasa", a blank slate, and this is one of the purposes that baptism plays within the Catholic Church[^7]. However, this does not make any intuitive sense; to explain why, imagine a baby being born in a prison cell, due to it's parents committing some crime. It is obvious that, although the parents are guilty of murder, the baby itself is not guilty, nor did it inherit any such guilt. What it did inherit however is the *consequence* of the actions of it's parents. It is with this world like that too. Adam and Eve sinned, and were expelled from Eden, so now we are born into a mortal world; we didn't inherit anything except for the consequence.[^8]
+In Catholic theology, it is understood that you are born "in sin"; you inherit the *guilt* of the Original Sin. Just as Adam and Eve were sinners, so are you, and you need to be cleansed, and be made "tabula rasa", a blank slate, and this is one of the purposes that baptism plays within the Catholic Church[^8]. However, this does not make any intuitive sense; to explain why, imagine a baby being born in a prison cell, due to it's parents committing some crime. It is obvious that, although the parents are guilty of murder, the baby itself is not guilty, nor did it inherit any such guilt. What it did inherit however is the *consequence* of the actions of it's parents. It is with this world like that too. Adam and Eve sinned, and were expelled from Eden, so now we are born into a mortal world; we didn't inherit anything except for the consequence.[^9]
 
 ### the vessel of Immaculate Conception 
 
@@ -56,7 +54,8 @@ The notion that humans inherit the *guilt* rather the consequences of the origin
 [^2]: This is in part why the Great Schism holds to this day; the Cahtolics, by "updating" and changing tradition, are in essence invalidating it. In effect they declare that the "old Tradition" isn't good enough, which invalidates its divine authority.
 [^3]: In both Greek and Latin, "I believe" is in one word (Πιστεύω/Credo). The use of first person affirms the existence of the self, and to state "I believe" is to exercise the free will and choose to believe in God.
 [^4]: The Twelve Tribes are descendent from Jacob, who later took the name of Israel, and hold his twelve sons to be their patriarchs, however one of the tribes, the Tribe of Joseph, was split into the Tribe of Ephraim and the Tribe of Manasseh, after Joseph's sons, because Israel adopted them.
-[^5]: It is not necessarily a physical "burning" pain; rather it makes sense to be a "fire" of complete destruction of the ego, that the person held so high in life.
-[^6]: Although it was disobidience that was the Original Sin, it was shame, not disobidience, that caused the expulsion. Had Adam and Eve repented, they would have been forgiven. Instead, ashamed, they tried to hide at first, and then they shifted the blame; Adam to Eve, and Eve to the snake, and so it is shame that makes you hide, and abandon God. By eating from the Tree of All Knowledge, they gained the knowledge of all good and evil, and realised that their action was evil, for it was disobidience towards God; this is the reason they sought to hide. They were hiding because they were afraid of judgement, and they were afraid of judgement because they were ashamed. This is a discussion for another time, but it truly feels like shame is the root of non-repentence.
-[^7]: In both Orthodoxy and Catholicism, baptism plays the role of cleansing from sin; however it is only in the Catholic Church that humans are born sinful. In Orthodoxy, baptism for babies plays the role of "birth" into the Church, and adoption by God and there is no notion of cleansing, as humans are considered sinless at birth.
-[^8]: The Catholic notion of inheriting the guilt once again detracts from free will; I didn't choose to sin, so how am I a sinner?
+[^5]: A dear friend of mine suggested to me once that I should imagine myself putting my hand in a fire -- the ensuing burning and pain are not divine judgement but rather me experiencing the consequences of my own actions.
+[^6]: It is not necessarily a physical "burning" pain; rather it makes sense to be a "fire" of complete destruction of the ego, that the person held so high in life.
+[^7]: Although it was disobidience that was the Original Sin, it was shame, not disobidience, that caused the expulsion. Had Adam and Eve repented, they would have been forgiven. Instead, ashamed, they tried to hide at first, and then they shifted the blame; Adam to Eve, and Eve to the snake, and so it is shame that makes you hide, and abandon God. By eating from the Tree of All Knowledge, they gained the knowledge of all good and evil, and realised that their action was evil, for it was disobidience towards God; this is the reason they sought to hide. They were hiding because they were afraid of judgement, and they were afraid of judgement because they were ashamed. This is a discussion for another time, but it truly feels like shame is the root of non-repentence.
+[^8]: In both Orthodoxy and Catholicism, baptism plays the role of cleansing from sin; however it is only in the Catholic Church that humans are born sinful. In Orthodoxy, baptism for babies plays the role of "birth" into the Church, and adoption by God and there is no notion of cleansing, as humans are considered sinless at birth.
+[^9]: The Catholic notion of inheriting the guilt once again detracts from free will; I didn't choose to sin, so how am I a sinner?