[Praxising]

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Oy vey, there is truth and some distortion in both these posts. Does God play favourites? Apparently yes, for St. John was his favourite Apostle. Does he give some people more chances than others? Most certainly yes. There are sinners who live a long time throwing away chance after chance, while some bad young kid gets hit by a bus and goes to Hell. Does this mean much in the whole scheme of things? Not really.

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Ya think? Not sure there's any such thing as a "bad young kid" in God's eyes. Maybe God thinks he just suffered enough and can hang out in Purgatory for a while before moving on to heaven.

As for St. John, it doesn't say he was Jesus' favorite Apostle. It says he was the "one Jesus loved." Or, it says the one Jesus loved wrote the Gospel we attribute to St John. I read a really interesting Master's thesis someone had posted online years ago arguing that Magdalene wrote it.

Makes a lot of sense when you read the Gnostics and then go back and look at the Gospel of St. John. In any case, Jesus was true man as well as God, so I imagine if He had a favorite, a best friend or lover/wife, or whatever, it would be Jesus as man not Christ as God. But the Triune God does not have favorites, at least, I'm pretty sure it would be impossible by definition. Your mileage may vary.

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One of Sklansky's forgotten African children can end up having a greater place in Heaven than the Pope of Rome because his one little kindness to his neighbour was done with such a love of God that it merits eternal glory.

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Exactly.