Typist,
It says…
It doesn’t say…
It says God is the way and the Truth and the Light.
Typist,
Where did I say I don’t have faith? I don’t share your faith, that is true. But of course I don’t see your faith as “the faith”. You are free to do so of course.
Ok, everyone is free to choose human beings as mentors over God, there’s no law against it. I apologize for a measure of bombasticness, which is of course an argument with my own argument.
That’s what you think somebody who lived 2,000 years ago said. It could be true. Or maybe not. Or perhaps some combination of the two. So long as we are looking to human beings and their texts as our authority, this problem will remain.
Which assumes that we, highly imperfect human beings with too many flaws to list here, know what correct beliefs are. Religion builds it’s house upon this flimsy foundation.
Wouldn’t God be capable of telling us how to live our lives without anybody else’s help? Why would an all powerful God require the services of a clergy class for his communications?but don’t you dare tell them how to live their lives! God’s not about that, don’t you know…
What I see is that everything that’s been created is then destroyed. That could change of course, but so far, that’s been the pattern, in every single instance, for billions of years.
And, of course, you have a direct line to God without any human intervention. May I ask where you even heard of God? Was it from another human being, perhaps?
As Christians we believe that our Sacred Scriptures are the word of God, not of human beings. Yes, human beings put pen to paper, but under the inspiration and guidance of the Almighty God. So this may be a problem for you, but not to those of us who believe.
You are exactly right. Highly imperfect human beings with too man flaws to list are really pretty lost on their own. This would include you, which places your opinion here in the same category as those you are bemoaning. This is why it required God to reveal himself to us and he did this by becoming man himself. And he did not build his Church on a flimsy foundation of human opinion, but rather on the solid foundation of rock.
God is capable of telling us anything he wants to tell us. What he has told us is that he wants us to be a part of his family, which is the Church. He has never told us that he wants us to be solitary beings who have no need for anyone else’s help. We are here to help each other; to feed the poor, clothe the naked, heal the sick, visit those in prison, etc…
That has been the case since the sin of our first parents. Christ came to change that; to give us eternal life and a glorified body which will never suffer decay. There will be a new heaven and a new earth which will never pass away.
And where can I find this book about what the creator is actually doing instead of reading what someone says he’s doing. I can’t wait to read it. Was this written by God or did he use a human being to write it?
You are correct for sure on one thing Lisa. The operative word is indeed “believe”. Amen to that. Liberal Christians believe they are following Christ and God’s word based on their faith and indeed you also believe, and as you said hope, you are following Christ and God’s word. You believe you are doing so by placing your faith in Catholic interpretation of Scripture, of history, and place your faith in the Magisterium. Others of faith believe differently than you do. We can each believe and think we know the truth and certainly Catholics on CAF believe they know. But the truth is we shall only know with 100% absolute certainty the one ultimate truth if in faith as we both believe, He shall come again. In the meantime we only walk by faith not by sight and God bless you and all who journey in faith with him. Peace.
You have listed your faith as “Agnostic”, meaning, I take it, that you do not subscribe to any particular faith tradition. Whatever you have faith in is not anything recognizable to anyone outside your own head. The more you post, the more it sounds like you only have faith in yourself.
Indeed. You’ve done it, and you’re far from the first to come in with this “faith in nothing in particular, NOT religion” idea.
God entrusted His church to human beings. I think God knew what He was doing.
Apparently you missed my earlier post on the difference between what you presume to be religion’s foundation (man’s claims), and religion’s actual foundation (direct revelation of God). Contrasting our strong faith in God with your “maybe it’s this, but maybe it’s that” inability to take a firm stand on anything (other than the fact that you like “faith”, not religion…but apparently not enough to pick a particular faith out of the many faiths that exist) doesn’t really make it clear how it is religion that is built on a flimsy foundation. It makes it sound like you’re projecting. We are built on the rock that is Christ.
Yes, and why wasn’t God incarnate as that lovely talking pug from the “Men in Black” movie? Everybody would’ve loved that. And why doesn’t God go to the UN and make a speech there that will end all the conflicts in the world, since all will of course naturally recognize His authority (since we don’t need anyone else to help us do that)? And why do good things happen to bad people?
This is a complete non sequitor. It has nothing to do with your original contention that “we have enough personal business to attend to”, and my response that religion is not a matter of personal business.
Typist, welcome to the non Catholic forum. This reminded me of something a former Roman priest now Episcopal priest once told me, “If we open ourselves up to God’s spirit, we will know in what way God is calling us to go”. God bless you Typist along your journey. You sound as if you believe one of the greatest commandments is to love your neighbor. Jesus taught the same. Peace be with you.
CMatt call me ever so practical but I think basing my faith on the words of Jesus, passed onto the Rock onto which His church was to be built, followed by 2000 years of incredible intellectual effort, tradition and the Apostolic Succession seems to have a firmer foundation than basing everything on current culture.
What do you mean by the phrase “love each other”? How is the general CAF membership failing in this regard?
Brilliant statements about chosing Truth over feelings,Lisa!
I posted earlier that it is the duty of faithful Catholics to admonish sinners according to the corporal acts of mercy. It is not very Christian like therefore to bless someone in their sin and say"I love you" and go on your way.I take your point and generally agree with your analysis, but it’s gone much farther than that for me personally.
Thank you for your welcome.
He sounds like a wise man.
Thank you much, and the same to you.
The smallest board I used was a 7 foot 6 inch board…It was called the Dewey Weber spoon…then I had a Bing…called it the Blue Cigar…9 foot 6…good Board…I was at Malibu and one of those professionals kicked me off a wave…forgot his name…some of my best memories are getting up and being in the water at around 5, wet suit and all…and after several hours stopping at McDonalds…on the way home…15 cent burgers, 10 cent fries…lots of memories…
If you can’t accept that people can sincerely be Catholic AND disagree with some of it’s teachings, then there’s nothing more to say.
We must be operating under different notions of hypocrisy, then.
Perhaps some Catholics see the church as being something other than whatever the clergy currently installed in Rome at any given point in time says it is?