
God sees, in one eternal glance, all the decisions of each soul, now and to come. The omnipotence of God and his absolute freedom are the two articles of Christian belief that we must never lose sight of. The articles of faith are justification and prove that God is not bound or obligated by the order of nature he has established, so he is not bound or obligated by the order of grace he has established as the common way of salvation of souls. Salvation or the deliverance of humankind from such fundamentally negative or disabling conditions as suffering, evil, finitude, and death entails the restoration or raising up of the natural World to a higher realm or states. There is one supreme being, and this being is the cause of the movements and order of the World. The being is of an intellectual nature. However, in present life, not everyone has an intuitive cognition of God. The intellective soul is an immaterial and incorruptible form that exists as a whole in the whole body and as a whole in each part, it cannot be evidently known by reason or experience that such a form exists in us, nor that the understanding proper to such a substance exists in us, nor that such a soul is a form of the body. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9

The soul has an interpreter—often an unconscious, but still a truthful interpreter—in the eyes. The soul of humans seems to have been constructed for another sphere of existence. The human intellective soul (mind is a close synonym) might be defined as the source of a person’s thoughts and actions; it is not a material part of a person, but something that is higher and thought to be immortal, part of a realm of immaterial matter. You cannot hide the soul. The individual must receive sense images and must abstract Universal content from them. However, the soul can be killed. There is poison that can kill the body and the soul when a person commits the gravest of crimes. A sickness in your spirit has immediately its appropriate manifestation in your bodily frame. Pain, imperceptible psychic and emotional pain, can be felt by the soul having made an immoral decision that cannot be undone. The pain is less bodily and more mental. This higher mental pain is associated with not finding the pleasure one seeks. There is a dark cloud of negative thoughts filled with anger, hatred, bitterness, resentment, or sadness. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9

The liberty of will is the basis of human dignity and of moral goodness and responsibility, more than the power of thinking—although the two are mutually involved. The seat of morality is the will itself because every act other than the act of will, which is the power of the will, is only good in such a manner that it can be a bad act, because it can be done for evil and from an evil intention. Also, every action, other than the act of willing itself, can be performed by reason of natural causes and not freely, and every such action could be caused in us by God alone instead of by our will; consequently, the action in itself is neither virtuous nor vicious, except by the denomination from the act of the will. The problem of how God knows, with certainty and from all eternity, the contingent and free decisions of the human will is an insoluble problem; for both the freedom of the human will and the power of God to know all contingent acts of created beings must be conceded. It is impossible for any [created] intellect, in this life, to explain or evidently know how God knows all future contingent events. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9

While recognizing the conception of natural good and of virtuous choices in accordance with right reason, humans are obligated to love and obey God above all else. Thus, what God wills humans to do of human’s free will defines the right, and disobedience to God’s will defines sin. Moral evil is doing of the opposite of what one is obligated to do, and since God is not obligated to any act, it is impossible for God to sin by his causal concurrence in the production of an act sinfully willed by the creature. To obey God is to love God, and to love God is to do his will. I once knew someone I would talk to and would tell when I would do bad things. And this person told me the people probably deserved it, which is a way of justifying sin and will lead one to sin more because you think if a person invokes a bad reaction from you that they deserve it. However, it is not up to me or anyone else to decide what a person deserves. I was raised to be kind and tolerate as much as I can from other people and if they do not bring out the best in me to leave them alone. We should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9

As Christ did not come into the World in order to take away from people their goods and rights, so Christ’s vicar, who is inferior and in no way equal to him in power, has no authority or to deprive others of their goods and rights. God has established laws binding the Christian to live in a certain way as a member of the church, participant in its sacraments, and believer in its articles of faith, this fact imposes no obligation on God to either bestow eternal life on the Christian who obeys God’s precepts and loves him above all else, or to withhold eternal life from those who do not follow God’s laws and love him above all else. It is not impossible that God could ordain that a person who lives according to right reason, and does not believe anything except wat is conclusive to him or her by natural reason, should be worthy of eternal life. God always contingently and freely and mercifully and of his own graciousness beatifies whomsoever he chooses with eternal life, purely from his kindness he will give eternal life to whomsoever he will give it. God’s gift of existence to creatures and of freedom of choice to humans is perfectly free gift with no clauses attached. God is the law of liberty and not one of oppression nor coercion. The law of the Gospels is not supposed to be a law of slavery. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9

We know what it is to believe, opine, and wonder, and we know when we know. We know, noninferentially, that there are other persons. Possibly through religious experience, and in particular the experiences of solemn awe, we know that God exists. Our battles are won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the World. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get along with God. We do not want merely inferred friends. Could be possibly be satisfied with an inferred God? Sometimes instruction is taught visibly and not always verbally. The pastor told me not to get too familiar with people, and I took heed to his words. Every time I would see him, he would say kind things like, “Hey, young man. I appreciate what you do around here,” and “it is good to see you.” These comments made me feel good, but as I watched him more I realized he says these things to everyone, it is part of his script. He may not actually, personally, being paying attention to what you are doing. So, make sure your friends are real and not just inferred and being nice. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9

Theoretical judgments are judgments of action and are always beneficial; their purpose is to extend the limits of knowledge in a given science, whether it be social, physical or biological. Philosophy examines the relations between the ability of individual consciousness to render judgments and that consciousness in general. Philosophy has its own proper field and its own problem in those values of Universal validity which are the organizing principles for the functions of culture and civilization for all the particular values of life. What I have learned in the business World is not to trust people, never tell too much about your personal life, and be care of people who act like they already know you. Also, proceed with caution when a conversation seems out of context. Generally, when you do not know someone you ask them how they are doing, talk about sport, weather, TV or their plans for the weekend. Never tell anyone you do not know about your family, life, or even where you work. Critical judgments, then, are rendered in respect not what is but of what ought to be; in accordance, not with laws but with norms. This is a normative consciousness. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9

The essence of who you are should be closed to the public’s knowledge; they should never know more than a few fragments of it, and there is no prospect of their every being able to patch it together out of scraps they gather. Life is not a talk show, it is not to air your business to strangers. The goal of life is to keep your business behind closed doors and when in public give off the impression that everything is perfect and beautiful. Society has become so loose. People often speak of good manners as an accomplishment. I see them as a duty. Such manners are the usages of society to be recognized as agreeable and take away the rudeness, and remit to the brute creation all coarseness. There are a great many who feel that good manners are effeminate. They have a feeling that rude bluntness is a great deal more manly than good manners. It is a great deal more beastly. However, when we live in crowded communities, the art of living together is no small are. How to diminish friction; how to promote ease of association; how to make human life contribute to the welfare and satisfaction of those around us; how to keep down offensive pride is essential to life. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9

How to banish the rasping of selfishness from the intercourse go human life; how to move among people inspired by various and conflictive motives, and yet have no collisions—the is the function of good manners. Not only is the violation of good manners inexcusable on ordinary grounds, but it is sinful. When, therefore, parents and guardians and teachers would inspire the young with a desire for the manners of society, it is not to be though that they are accomplishments which may be accepted or rejected. Every person is bound to observe the laws of politeness. It is the expression of good-will and kindness. It promotes both beauty in the person who possess it, and happiness in those who are about the individual. It is a religious duty, and should be part of religions training. The reason of etiquette might be ridiculed, but the main reason for etiquette is the avoidance of offense. There is reason in comfort and happiness. And no one can afford to violate the unwritten customs of etiquette who wishes to act as a good Christian. Etiquette governs social intercourse, and is desirous of cultivating both politeness and good-breeding. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
