Am I correct to say this?

[dominikus28]

I don’t have any expert knowledge of theology or philosophy but I am debating a guy (friend of a friend) and I was wondering if what I was saying was correct.

Would I be correct to say: “Simply put, the Church (Holy Magisterium, Pope and Bishops not buildings) is there to tell us what to believe and we are to follow those teachings”

I arrive at this conclusion, because I don’t believe we normal people are able to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. That’s why the Church, has theologians and philosophers who have devoted their lives to thinking about this, debated certain things over centuries (Not everything was decided at one time, but even as recently as the 20th century there are new teachings that have been debated for centuries and have finally been resolved - I am referring to the Assumption of Mary). Those theologians have debated and arrived at conclusions from rigorous debate, unlike some of us who have spent 2 minutes thinking about it and concluded that abortion and contraception is justified.
That’s what I think whenever a politician says that they are Catholic yet there are pro-choice or something like that. I think “what the hell makes you think you can make such a conclusion for yourself?” “If you could make your own mind about what is right and wrong, we would have no need for a Church, because the purpose of the Church to to tell us what to believe.”

I appreciate any corrections and suggestions. Thanks

 

[DeOppressoLiber]

“Simply put, the Church (Holy Magisterium, Pope and Bishops not buildings) is there to tell us what to believe and we are to follow those teachings”

I would say: yes, no and sort of

Some of what the Church teaches is dogmatic fact and must be believed as the truth. Other teachings are clarifications on scripture that are generally accepted, other things are tradition (small t) and not completely necessary to uphold.
For example:
The actual presence in the Eucharist is a fact that one must accept.
Burial over cremation is a tradition. One can still undergo cremation if one chooses with the caveat that the cremation isn’t a statement in itself of ones rejection of resurrection.

 

[latin_rite]

The only thing wrong with theology is theologians. Those so called enlightened fools were the ones who gave Galileo all that grief. The Pope himself was fine for Galileo to go about teaching his theory. As long as he taught it as just that…A theory. This upset the theologians take on things, and they straight out lied about Galileo. You do not have to agree with theologians. theologians came up with limbo. Something the late pope dismissed. Because theologians were just straight out wrong. And they regularly do what they accused Galileo of doing…And that is teaching theory as fact In general theologians are no more smarter than you or I. They just have a far better gift of the gab. I don’t believe the Pope tells us what to believe in the strictest sence of the word. They just tell us whats what. And its up to us to believe. But i would take more notice of what the pope or bishops have to say than theologians. As what they say carry about as much weight as what you or i say.