7 Catholic Questions

[MattEZ]

Hey, I’m a Catholic but just had a couple questions that I’ve either been asked myself, or am confused about.

1. If Jesus died for the signs of the world, why is that only extended to people who believe that he is God? Shouldn’t everyone by default be saved?
2. Adoration is the physical presence of Jesus. But isn’t Jesus always present with us? Or is he only spiritually present?
3. We say that the universe hasn’t existed forever, and that God created it. But how should we respond when people asked us “who created God?” Doesn’t saying he has existed forever just mean we’re using the same argument they are?
4. In the Bible, the often quoted Matthew 5:28, the word for “woman” was translated from the root word which means “wife”, and “lust” from the root word meaning “covet”. If Jesus was linking conveting another’s wife, to the actual act of commuting adultery, then isn’t that rebuking what some say that simply having sexual thoughts about an unmarried woman is sinful? Do we get the definition of lust in the catechism from somewhere else?
5. I understand God not affecting our free will, but why does he no longer appear as he used to (the burning bush, the arc of the covenant, the vision to Isiah, etc)? Is the world a worse place, or since Jesus has come to save us does he no longer need to?
6. How do we know Mary was without original sin? What is the difference between offering he veneration and praying to God? Do people mix up what ‘praying’ to the saints actually is? Are other Christians right by saying we give Mary too much attention?
7. Why isn’t there more teaching on demons and their presence in our own lives? When evangelizing to non-Christians, I thought it would be important, especially for protection.

Thanks guys, hopefully I didn’t offend anyone. Even if you can only answer a couple of the questions that’d be great.

Cheers

 

[1ke]

Forum rules state one question/topic per thread.

I suggest you edit and break this into 7 different threads.

 

[Entwhistler]

Just taking a stab at question #1 and #3.

#1. Jesus did die for everyone thus everyone can be saved. However, a person must accept that salvation. A person who doesn’t believe in God can get to Heaven through “Invincible Ignorance” in which he or she doesn’t know enough to accept that salvation directly but tries to do his or her best to live a good life thus accepting it indirectly.

#2. To be perfectly honest, only atheists or agnostics who haven’t looked into arguments for God make this claim. God’s existence does not depend on the universe existing forever. Nor do theists argue everything came into being. Thus, the argument “what made God” doesn’t make sense. Theists argue that certain things needed creation but not all things.

 

[Kei]

1. They are! The animist in the darkest of forests too was redeemed. However, we have to take up of that redemption and live virtuously following Christ
2. See number 5
3. God is eternal and unchanging. The universe is changing and de facto is not the necessary metaphysical reality. Also, science indicates that the universe started to exist (ie Big Bang theory) as does reason such as Aquinas’ argument from motion demonstrates.
4. Lust is an inside feeling, we are to achieve perfection. This seems to be nitpicky. I don’t know much about this though.
5. I’d like to tie this in to #2. You say God is always with us, but clearly there is some difference between ie the burning bush and the way in which God is always with is, or you wouldn’t be asking this question. Likewise there is a difference in the Eucharist compared to the way Jesus is always with us, whenever two or three gather in His Name. Now onto this specific question. We do still get Heavenly apparitions. See Fatima, Lourdes, etc. Many saints have had visions of the saints or Jesus, etc. See St Faustina. Now the key to remember is that the Bible was written over a REALLY long period of time. Thousands of years’ worth. It’s not like this stuff was happening every day. But all these things are recorded in a condensed book.
6. She was called full of grace, the term used to describe a baptised Christian who is without original sin. Her immaculate conception is defined ex cathedra. All prayer to saints, etc. are for them to do things by God’s power or to pray to God. All creation declares the Glory of God. Creation is not in competition with God for Glory. He is much greater than we can fathom. We worship God by offering Sacrifice. Other Christians don’t have the Eucharist, so their idea of worship is not sacrifice but praying, so they get things mixed up, maybe.
7. There are lots of teachings if you know where to look, like books by exorcists. But it can be dangerous to learn about them if you get too fascinated. So only if you’re strong in your Faith should you seek that out.

 

[joeybaggz]

Suggest you get a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and read it carefully and completely. And possibly talk with a spiritual advisor on your questions. Simple answers to the questions you post are really not possible.
Oh and it is a tactic of the non believer and those who want to ridicule you and the church, to ask questions that there really are no empirical answers for. Who created God? is one of them. You cite others. People enjoy trolling Catholics by asking these questions and in all honesty, they really don’t care about the answers. They just want to mess with your mind (and probably your soul)

 

[MattEZ]

Ah, I didn’t know sorry. I tried editing it earlier and it said I couldn’t access that feature or something

 

[7_Sorrows]

Forum rules state one question/topic per thread.

I suggest you edit and break this into 7 different threads.

I have been here 10 years and that is the first i have heard of this rule. Many others have not followed this rule if it exists and I never heard any complaints.
Aren’t there enough threads already?!

 

[BridgetN]

If Jesus died for the signs of the world, why is that only extended to people who believe that he is God? Shouldn’t everyone by default be saved?

The Redemption is extended to everybody. If you reject it though, how can you be saved? Remember, you have a free will, and you choose whether you want to be saved or not. Faith alone does not save. You need to live your Faith.

 

[AugustTherese]

If Jesus died for the signs of the world, why is that only extended to people who believe that he is God? Shouldn’t everyone by default be saved?

Jesus paid for the sins of the world, therefore he redeemed humanity as a whole. However, that does not mean that He forgave every sin by His death and Resurrection. The merits of the Paschal Mystery have to be applied individually, most notably in Holy Baptism and Reconciliation, among other Sacraments, to receive the forgiveness of sins.

Hence:

"That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24

How can someone die in their sins if they were all forgiven on the Cross?

 

[steve-b]

Hey, I’m a Catholic but just had a couple questions that I’ve either been asked myself, or am confused about.

1. If Jesus died for the signs of the world, why is that only extended to people who believe that he is God? Shouldn’t everyone by default be saved?

He died for everyone. He doesn’t force anyone to believe in Him or obey Him. Therefore, as He said, few are saved

MattEZ:

1. Adoration is the physical presence of Jesus. But isn’t Jesus always present with us? Or is he only spiritually present?

Sacrament, covers the seen and unseen.

MattEZ:

1. We say that the universe hasn’t existed forever, and that God created it. But how should we respond when people asked us “who created God?” Doesn’t saying he has existed forever just mean we’re using the same argument they are?

Following cause and effect back for ever, we still have to say God is the uncaused cause of everything. Even Jesus didn’t convince those without faith. And when they wouldn’t agree and left Him, He didn’t argue with them, He let them go

MattEZ:

1. In the Bible, the often quoted Matthew 5:28, the word for “woman” was translated from the root word which means “wife”, and “lust” from the root word meaning “covert”. If Jesus was linking converting another’s wife, to the actual act of commuting adultery, then isn’t that rebuking what some say that simply having sexual thoughts about an unmarried woman is sinful? Do we get the definition of lust in the catechism from somewhere else?

Sin can encompasses the act of thought and obviously it encompasses the act of a deed.

MattEZ:

1. I understand God not affecting our free will, but why does he no longer appear as he used to (the burning bush, the arc of the covenant, the vision to Isiah, etc)? Is the world a worse place, or since Jesus has come to save us does he no longer need to?

He’s here in the Eucharist

MattEZ:

1. How do we know Mary was without original sin?

kecharitomene, = Full of Grace Lk 1:28 κεχαριτωμένη graced, perfect passive participle , as in freely graced by
God, perfectly (past present and future) it is forever from her beginning

Definitions of Greek grammar perfect tense

MattEZ:

What is the difference between offering he veneration and praying to God? Do people mix up what ‘praying’ to the saints actually is? Are other Christians right by saying we give Mary too much attention?

Veneration

MattEZ:

1. Why isn’t there more teaching on demons and their presence in our own lives? When evangelizing to non-Christians, I thought it would be important, especially for protection.

There’s plenty of information available.

 

[Catholicwife32]

If Jesus died for the sins of the world, why is that only extended to people who believe that he is God? Shouldn’t everyone by default be saved?

If you bought some tickets to a concert and gave them to a loved them, would that force them to go to the concert?

 

[Catholicwife32]

Adoration is the physical presence of Jesus. But isn’t Jesus always present with us? Or is he only spiritually present?

Adoration is adoring the Eucharist. During the Mass, the host and the win become the body and blood of Christ. We call this change transubstantiation. The accidents stay the same, but the substance changes.

This becomes clearer when we think of what transgender people are saying. They’re saying that their substance (what they are) is different from their accidents (their body parts). Now, we don’t believe this, BUT neither do the advocates. Afterall, they’re not arguing from substance theory. They’re arguing from social construct theory. They say that gender is a social construct–that is that it’s a word we ascribe to traits which are not objectively anything. They are a thing we socially construct. In fact, social construct theory pretty much argues that there are no objective things, but that we socially construct things through words to make sense of our morality. Thus, if someone is happier saying they’re a woman rather than a man, than we should just adjust our social constructs and start telling them “Okay, you’re a woman than. I accept that. Now you’re happy and I’ve helped you be happy.” I don’t think most people realize that’s what they’re saying though.

But anyway, we are to understand that the Eucharist becomes the true body and blood of Jesus just as our bodies are our bodies. If we think of our bodies as vehicles are souls sit inside, than our understanding of the Eucharist would be consubstantiation. We would ultimately believe that our bodies are not us which isn’t true. Our bodies make visible the invisible. When you touch my arm, you are touching me.

 

[Catholicwife32]

We say that the universe hasn’t existed forever, and that God created it. But how should we respond when people asked us “who created God?” Doesn’t saying he has existed forever just mean we’re using the same argument they are?

If you are imagining God to be some finite magical but invisible human being in some alternate dimension called Heaven, than you’re not imagining God. While the ontological argument attempts to get at a definition of God, generally, it is held as a bad argument for a proof of God’s existance because God cannot be conceptualized.

The ontological argument argues that God is the greatest thing there is. There must be a greatest thing. The greatest thing there is must exist because the moment you think you’ve got the concept of the greatest thing, you actually don’t. It fails the test because you can’t conceptualize God. Only when you think most abstractly do you get the logic. Because of this fact, this is usually the argument that trips atheists up the most. But usually they then turn around and say this is a non-definition and that it’s impossible to dispove God because no one can define God. They say it seems He must exist only because you’re doing mental gymnatics to make it seem like you have a definition when you don’t.

However, what you’re referring to is the first cause argument. If the world has a beginning, there must be something that caused it that was not caused. It must be an uncaused cause. This uncaused cause is an aspect of what God is.

Granted, then there’s the doctrine of absolute simplicity which says that God’s attributes and substance are one in the same. As such conceptionalizing any “part” of God as a “part” is you imagining God as a creature and not as God. Again, this gets into the fact that whatever you are doing to try to conceptionalize God is never actually wrapping your mind around God. While they believe these proofs demonstrate something, they insist that theists do conceptionalize God as a personal human-like being. As such they focus on the personal God not existing and say that the first cause could be anything. Hense, you’ll hear talks about discovering the God-particle. Or you’ll find atheists being more allured by pantheism in that they see all of creation as if it were God and that we’re all a part of God.

 

[Catholicwife32]

In the Bible, the often quoted Matthew 5:28, the word for “woman” was translated from the root word which means “wife”, and “lust” from the root word meaning “covert”. If Jesus was linking converting another’s wife, to the actual act of commuting adultery, then isn’t that rebuking what some say that simply having sexual thoughts about an unmarried woman is sinful? Do we get the definition of lust in the catechism from somewhere else?

I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I think by covert you mean covet. Whatever argument you heard is not one you understand well enough to articulate.

 

[Catholicwife32]

I understand God not affecting our free will, but why does he no longer appear as he used to (the burning bush, the arc of the covenant, the vision to Isiah, etc)? Is the world a worse place, or since Jesus has come to save us does he no longer need to?

The Eucharist is the true Body and Blood of Christ. That is far more significant than God’s voice coming out of a burning bush. The burning bush was a sign and the significant thing was that the bush was on fire but it was not being consumed by it. The arc of the covenant contained artifacts like the Rod of Jesse and the ten commandments, and manna. It was held as sacred and certainly there was a sense that God’s presense was there, but it never became God like the Eucharist becomes the true body and blood of Christ. I mean Jesus is God. He is the Word made flesh. So that and only that was God walking among us and today He is present to us in the Eucharist in a more real way than He ever was.

 

[Catholicwife32]

How do we know Mary was without original sin?

The Immaculate Conception was declared by the Pope ex cathedra. As such, this is one of the few dogmas of the Church that rests exclusively on the authority of the Pope. There are only two. Divine Revelation is contained in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, but what’s in Sacred Tradition and how to understand Sacred Scripture can be ambigious. As such, we have the Church as our guide. This does not mean that everything is understood or that there are no theological debates or doctrinal developments over time. But we believe in the authority of the Church because without her, we’d be stuck debating and speculating and coming up with personalized views all the time with no concrete answers. We could rest only perhaps on fundamentalism, but that is seriously flawed. The Church allows us to avoid turning the faith into a mere dead record of the past that we can never ask for clarity on.

What is the difference between offering her veneration and praying to God?
We don’t believe that Mary is a goddess. If she were a goddess, she’d have her own powers. We believe that Mary brings our requests to God and that any grace (whether spiritual or actual . . . meaning does it scantify us or is it something concrete in our lives that happens like a miracle) comes directly from her. God alone has that power. Praying to her (which is just communicating) is no different than asking our loved ones to pray for us.

We venerate her, meaning that we esteem her, but we do not place her importance above God.

Do people mix up what ‘praying’ to the saints actually is?

It’s hard to say. Someone with an immature faith may treat God as a genie, reducing prayer to making requests. It takes time to develop a relationship with God. The saints–who are human–can actually help us develop our relationship with God because they’ve gone down the road ahead of us.

Are other Christians right by saying we give Mary too much attention?

There are some superstitious ways in order to practice devotion to the saints, but usually, these superstitious practices cross over into us worshipping what we imagine or want God to be rather than God Himself.

 

[vallancec]

Wow! That is a lot of good questions. I’d grab a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and find what the church teaches. If you get questions from other people that’s a great way to answer their questions. If you still have questions ask your priest to coffee and have a chat.

 

[Catholicwife32]

Why isn’t there more teaching on demons and their presence in our own lives? When evangelizing to non-Christians, I thought it would be important, especially for protection.

I would recommend St. Ignatian spiritual exercises first, as its very important to understand that ordinary demonic activity isn’t dramatic and scary. Ordinary activity is also far more spiritually dangerous than the extravagant stuff. Be careful of superstition.