Hindrance to a non-existent datum. God, Hell, Heaven do not exist. They are articles of faith. They are not centered on the here and now. They are supernatural and otherworldly and as such, they are decadent to this life. Why did Paul deny his carnal feelings? He was impotent? He was gay? No, he destroyed his carnal capacity for the cause of some supernatural non-existent datum.
Your claim of "non-existent datum" is spurious at best. They are plenty of carnal capacities: stealing, lying, murdering, commiting adultery, etc., all of them have can have dire consequences both in the "here and now" and beyond.
And you think Paul suppressed whatever it was, merely because of "supernatural non-existent datum"? I don't think so.
Quite frankly, you (and I) would be in a world of hurt, if everyone took your advice and yielded to their carnal feelings. For example, I don't think you'd want your wife to do that, were she to have such feelings for another man.
That's b/c the author of the 7 deadly sins cast them in the most egregious light possible instead of trying to think through them and understand the different grades and nuances of each impulse. It's a turning away from knowledge of those concepts in favor of willful ignorance.
PLEASE!!! The people who try to "think through them" succumb to them, resulting in damage and devastation to themselves and (even worse) to others.
I'm sorry but the promise of the Church is to put lost people on the path to God. Divine grace in Christianity is not earnable though. It is a gift....another complexity. Walk the walk and talk the talk and you still might not have grace thrust upon you.
Incorrect, the walking the walk is (or at least, should be) an example and the result of the grace given by Jesus Christ. And, there's nothing complex about it. Love and grace is something that is GIVEN, not earned.
As the saying goes, "An apple tree isn't an apple tree, because it produces apples. An apple tree produces apples, because it's an apple tree." In other words, for the true Christian, the outward deeds are the RESULT of the Christ-like nature inside. The faith drives the works (the "walk"), not the other way around.
You think the Bible is Holy Scripture. I don't. I need arguments that are well supported....not cherrypicked verse. By your own admission, the non-existent kingdom of god comes first and all else comes second. I'm missing your point. You are putting supernatural fantasy ahead of the concrete reality of life.
Try that again. It's putting the kingdom of God ABOVE the kingdom of this world. Of, if you prefer, the supernatural reality above the natural reality. Your claim is that such DECAYS the "here and now" of things on earth. That is categorically FALSE!!
Putting your treasure (or heart) into the things of this world, that can easily be destroyed in the blink of an eye, is rather foolish. Why else do you think that so many depressed people aren't necessarily the ones who don't reach their earthly goals but are the one that actually DO reach them?
In short, they got what they wanted but didn't want what they got.
Christianity is predicated on "either/or"....either you are a believer or you are not a believer. There is no middle ground. Unlike Classical antiquity which offers the 'golden mean' where you have a thesis countered by and antithtesis merging (sometimes) into a synthesis. Choice is inherent in dialectical reasoning.
Try a little context please. The "either/or" reference was a response to your claim that focusing on a spiritual and Christian life means that the "here and now" (earthly life) is one of decay.
Again, such is categorically FALSE!! Many Christians I've known are happy and blessed people. And they exude such demeanor, REGARDLESS of their earthly circumstances. Rich or poor, well-fed or hungry, healthy or sick, with family or alone, they possess that.
