Greetings,Yak. If I weren't the world's champion procrastinator I might have managed this post while the matter was still being discussed. In regard to your 'rock too heavy for God to lift' argument I don't think a clear,or succinct or, in my opinion,persuasive response is too difficult.But a response that is all three at once is another matter. It seems to me that the proposition underlying the question is that if God cannot prove that He is not God,then He cannot be God.Is there any need to express the unavoidable observation such a proposition elicits?Your question reminds me somewhat of those arithmetical conundrums people like to endulge in wherein a patently incorrect answer is derived from seemingly faultless calculations. As your question essentially concerns the existence of God let's look at the subject from a different angle.It would be reasonable according to the rules of everyday logic if there were perfect non-existence;if there were an utterly empty,limitless expanse of blackness,i.e.,no matter,no light nor energy of any kind,and no beings.We might call this concept the absolutely no existence imperative.But it contradicts reality.Almost equally untenable is the proposition that there was once absolutely no existence.So we are left with the fact/suggestion that there has always been either dumb(incogitant) matter and/or energy,or God. As I see it the force of the absolutely-no-existence imperative is so great that it can be defeated only by a god.Dumb matter doesn't get out of the starting stalls.Therefore, there must be a god,i.e.,God. In regard to the issue you raised of expectations amongst Catholics for the future of the world,I suspect the majority of Catholics feel the same way as the community at large.The majority,that is.However a minority would be more apprehensive. We,the minority,expect a period of suffering which we commonly refer to as the 'tribulation' or 'coming tribulation'.The pope himself has referred to it and said it cannot now be averted,the inference presumably being that at one stage it might have been averted by prayer and penance.But it is too late now.He has also said we are in the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse. Our understanding of the tribulation is derived from prophecy.The only prophecies that are part of the official deposit of the faith are those from the bible and the earliest days of the Church.There are a raft of other prophecies derived from the writings or conversations of cannonised saints and what we call 'approved apparitions'.From these secondary sources most of us would have come to a position more or less similiar to my own.My own position,and I hasten to add that I do not claim to be an expert,but an amateur who has studied the subject intermittently over a period of 25 years or so,is as below. What I am sure of: 1.There will be a third world war. 2.Russia will win it. 3.There will be a successful revolt against Russian rule. 4.There will be a successful and conclusive war against the Muslims by those who overthrow the Russians. 5.By the time true peace is restored several entire nations will have been annihilated and most of the world's population will have perished,not just from the direct effects of war but from natural occurrences such as famine. What I am not sure of: 6.The tribulation will start during the reign of the present pope. 7.It is not yet the time of the anti-Christ. What is suggested,but only obliquely: 8.Australia will be ruled directly by Russia after the war. Do we feel the tribulation is close at hand?I don't know about the others.But I feel it is close,although not too close.My thinking is influenced somewhat by students of war preparations such as Nemets and Lunev at Newsmax.com.(Jrnyquist.com is also an influence.) As a post-script I might add that those who know and accept tribulation prophecy are,according to my observations,more likely to be practitioners of supererogatory religious habits such as attendance at daily mass,wearing of the scapular of Mt.Carmel,reception of Holy Communion on the tongue,etc.,and I would put their number at not much more than 1% of the total Catholic population,if that.
