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well, i read a book which made a good analogy about how what is commonly called the "age of pisces" had a good phase of about 1000 years and then a bad one... we are coming to the end of the bad half of that cycle... the kingdom you speak of could be called the age of Jesus, and gave us the Catholic church and about 1000 years of relative peace, which are incorrectly described as primitive and dark, the "dark ages"

but actually as more is discovered about that period, roughly 0-1000AD, was actually better, and a lot of great things happened that didn't involve governments or violence.

and since then we have had the "enlightenment" and the emergence of the liberal democratic state and then the horrors of WW1, WW2, and the Forever Wars of recent past.

but it most certainly specifies in Genesis, Daniel and Revelation at least, that a time would come again when the righteous would be harvested and the sinners would be condemned to be left on earth as it gets literally set on fire.

if you read Revelation with this timeline of the thousand years of Christ and the rise of Babylon and then the Judgement, somewhere around 16 or 17 starts to refer to current times, and what goes before refers to the time between John and our time.

Daniel Wigton 7mo ago

I agree that the "Dark Ages" is a slanderous misnomer.

My main point is that, whether or not we are currently at a high point or a low point, the promised kingdom is here and if I want more information then I should listen to the ministers of that kingdom.

My rule of thumb is that if there is a God worth following, then He is good and would have ordered things such that it would be as easy for an idiot to find Him and to live according to His will as it is for the very intelligent.

The only way this is possible, is if God constructs an obvious and visible institution where all can be taught right belief and action. It is the Proverbial City on a Hill. The "Reformation" has proven conclusively that even the very smart cannot come to truth on their own. Each has his own interpretation at odds with all others. This breaks my rule of thumb. If the intelligent cannot agree on the truth, what chance have the simple?

But by the Grace and promise of God we have His kingdom in the Universal (Catholic) Church as an everlasting beacon and bulwark of the truth. This is not to imply that it's Ministers are never corrupt or have wolves hiding among the shepherds, but the teachings and Sacraments are uncorrupt and a humble soul will ever be able to find God and His peace within His Kingdom.

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ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 7mo ago

an idiot with courage to step off the well trodden paths that we know lead to hell and curiosity to consider and explore paths that have not been well trodden yet

the Law makes many simple and clear prescriptions about how to evaluate these other pathways and science is the general category.

it doesn't take a genius to recognise what comports with the Law and what is a deviation away from it, but it takes courage to go outside of the village and discover what God left us to see in the wilderness as guideposts towards becoming an instrument of His Will.

Satan strews these wild places with temptations and delusions and the Law is simple enough that even an IQ 80, or even lower, does not preclude sufficient grasp of the Law to be able to find the Way. we were all made different and our gifts open up pathways that we are uniquely created to follow.

understanding the primary laws of God is a prerequisite though. one of the most important ones is that there is no gain where it is not mutual and universal. universality is even the very meaning of the word Catholic, literally, the meaning.

the well trodden paths are a good entry point to this, and you have to walk those first before you can find the further routes towards what you were uniquely created to pursue.

there is no conflict between the individual and the universal, where the two things coincide.

Daniel Wigton 7mo ago

Well said. As we say the treasury of the faith is inexhaustible. There is ever more to discover and delight in, but it starts with obedience to God. Nothing we discover for ourselves is worth two figs if it doesn't jive with what has been revealed.