Several CAF members have recently challenged me to ‘try belief’ and just act as if I were a believer in the hope that I would believe ‘by believing’. I thought about this, but found it hard to even start, given my unbelief. I decided to list all of those things I would have to accept before I could even contemplate such an experiment. Here they are, in order of magnitude, as I see them. That is, if I could accept 1) and 2) I might be able to begin religious practice, but only if I accepted all 15 could I begin to accept Catholicism. Note: I have put this in Non-Catholic religions because I thought it was a good fit, even though I don’t have a religion, although many on CAF say I do(!). And this is not a thread about atheism; it is a thread about Catholic belief.
Hoko:
First of all, I’d like to thank you for an elucidation that shows that you took efforts to phrase your sentences in a cordial manner, as tough as that may have been for you. I know that others are working on supplying answers to you as well, so, I guess, one more won’t hurt.
Observable things will be found, or have been found that only the existence of a God or gods can explain.
Such things already have been found. E.g., how a colossal, yet finite number of particles might have been squeezed into a dimensionless singularity. Also, how can an electron shell – that may contain only one electron – be 50,000 times larger than its related nucleus yet contain only a dimensionless electron. What is that electron
in? How all matter, from a MOHS hardness of 0.00 to 10.0, can be made up of such dimensionless particles, and yet have dimension, weight, mass, etc.
Of all the possible gods in which people do, or have, believed, only one, the God of Christianity, exists.
Proves that God and His rumor have been around for longer than people have, even though early man was so devoid of the abilities required to formulate a concept of God that answered most questions.
God created everything and everything depends on God’s existence for its continued being.
Of course: if everything consists of dimensionless particles and space, there would have to be a lattice maker/sustainer preventing all that we expect to be there tomorrow from dissolving back into invisible, infinite space.
God is all-powerful. God is all-loving. God is good.
Yes: even for the Nuns, Priests, Bishops and Catholics that underwent the horrendous Communist tortures of them, in Jilava (and other) prison, in Rumania, until about 22 years ago.
Before human beings existed, for billions of years on earth, and who knows how long on other planets, living things suffered great pain and distress despite their innocence and their creation by the all-powerful, all-loving, good God.
This idea is a hokomaization, i.e., something similar to an anthropomorphization, but with a more personal touch.
There is something called ‘sin’ which consists of going against the will of God.
Yes: a thing similar to disobeying your own father and mother.
Human beings, at some point in the past, sinned against God in a way that made all their offspring be born with ‘original sin’, which prevents them gaining eternal happiness.
The operative word is “may.” Have you gone to each and every party that you’ve ever been invited to? Has there been one which you adamantly refused to attend?
God is not a single person, but three, but still one none-the-less, and one of these people was sent to earth to be born of a virgin, suffer and die in order to overcome original sin.
Yes: something only “God [a Father, who] is all-powerful, God [a Father, who] is all-loving, God [a Father, who] is good. . . could and would do for his children. Wouldn’t your father do this for you . . . if he could?
Original sin, although overcome, still exists and is the cause of human pain and suffering.
Yes: attendant with original sin is “death,” the slow dismantling of the lattice of matter. But, such pain and suffering is never more than we can bear. No one has gone through anything worse than the Priests, Bishops and Catholics in Rumania since the ousting of the Nazis.
Humans, despite original sin being overcome, continue to sin. If they die in a state of serious sin, they condemn themselves to eternal pain and torment in a place created by the all-loving, all-powerful God.
Operative word: “if.” More operative words: “We just don’t know.” Although Hell has been revealed to man in numerous ways, WE just don’t know, and it is not ours to postulate anyone there. If anyone is in Hell, I have no doubt that God has given him/her/them a myriad of opportunities to extricate themselves from attending that party!
We know everything after (1) is true because scripture says so or, if it does not, the Church does, as God expresses his truth through these.
We know what we know, and not what
you say or think we know.
All contradictions in scripture are either minor, or can be explained.
Much the same way as all contradictions in life are minor or can be explained.
God can communicate with us through the Holy Spirit, and we can communicate with God, the angels, and saints through prayer.
Let’s just say that our Triune God can communicate with us and we can communicate with him.
Despite his omnipotence, God wants us to praise, worship and adore him, and will reward us if we do.
Yes: I’m sure your father would have hoped for filial love from you, wouldn’t he?
God is capable of intervening, and does intervene, in the material world.
All the time: “Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. ‘Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives’ is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ‘and God intervenes everywhere.’ (Father Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure)
If God is “in everything;” if he permeates “everything;” if he is that which supplies ‘reality’ to all that we sense; why is it so difficult to understand that he intervenes everywhere at his sole discretion?
God bless,
jd
but I read this in a talk by the Pope, so I thought I would pass it along: *