JL: Welcome back home, I would love to hear more about your journey with the WT. For instance, how did you get there? what convinced you? How long did you stay? What brought you out, was it over a long period and many things or one quick thing? Had you ever studied you Catholic faith and scripture before you became JW? Why and how did you come back to the Catholic faith? Did you ever miss the Church at times when you were JW? Did you find it difficult to believe any church after you lost your belief in the WT? Do you still struggle with certain things? As a JW did you ever read the bible on your own or were you even allowed? When you teach a home bible study, do you use the bible or WT books that tell you what the bible says? Ok I’ll stop with the questions. You might have to start another line, I think it would be very interesting and informative.
JL;
mostholyfamilymonastery.com/19_ncholycomm.pdf
Canon 844.3, 1983 Code of Canon Law: “Catholic ministers may licitly administer the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick to members of the oriental churches which do not have full communion with the Catholic Church, if they ask on their own for the sacraments and are properly disposed. This holds also for members of other churches,
which in the judgment of the Apostolic See are in the same condition as the oriental churches as far as these sacraments are concerned.”8] [Bold print added by me]
To whom the Church gives communion is a matter of Canon Law or discipline. Laws or disciplines can be changed when the Church sees fit. It is not a teaching revealed by our Lord that cannot be changed.
Something as basic as worshiping Christ as the WT did till the 1950’s then changed totally, to you cannot worship Christ, could not be a changeable teaching. The teaching would be a CORE teaching of the Gospel, either way you take it –do worship, don’t worship – and could’nt be changed. Either those who worshiped Christ before 1950 were idolators and not IN THE TRUTH. Or those after the change are not IN THE TRUTH, both could not be IN THE TURTH. Especially since Christ was supposed to have chosen those early WT believers, because they were the only ones on the planet teaching the TRUTH at that time per the WT.
Some of their changes may come under changeable teaching, each would have to be looked at separately. Also the WT says new light does not contradict old light, yet worshiping changed to not worshiping is a major contradiction and even contradicts their new light, old light law or dogma, depending on how the WT defines it.
JL: If you’re confused don’t feel alone, here are a couple links on Galileo from This Rock Magazine,
catholic.com/thisrock/2009/0907tbt.asp
catholic.com/library/Galileo_Controversy.asp
To make a long and complicated story short, as I see it. Galileo’s mistake was not his THEORY, but trying to tell the Church what it should be teaching. The Church had no problem with his THEORY. The problem was Galileo mixing his theory with theology.
There wasn’t in Galileo’s day and isn’t in our day a DOGMA which is binding on Catholics concerning the movement of planets. The Church is only infallible on matters of faith and morals not science. Although it was generally believed in that day, by most scientist and theologians, that everything revolved around the earth.
Just as the Immaculate Conception was generally believed, yet was not a DOGMA till 1848 when defined. It was believed, by some and not by other theologians before 1848. The Immaculate Conception was open to theological debate sorta as a theory till defined. I know my answer might be overly simplistic, but I hope it helps somewhat.
