Caught up in the dogma?

[MurphyPhx]

I am relatively new to the forum and have enjoyed diving in to a number of posts and their volley of responses. I am also a listener of IH radio during my 45 minute commute back and forth from work every day, which I find a welcome reprieve from most of the other dribble on the radio these days.

I am a cradle Catholic, attending Catholic Grade and High School, as well as actively involved in my parish through bible study and various ministries. As are my wife and three children.

A constant throughout the IHR open line Q and A as well as here online is it seems that there is so much concentration on extreme dogma of the church that I often wonder if we are concentrating with a microscope so much on whether it is a blade of grass that needs to be fertilized or a weed that needs to be plucked that folks are missing the true beauty and warmth of love that is beaming of the sunshine filled open plains in front of us.

It just seems that there is such focus and consternation over increasingly specific details, that we can get lost in the rules and interpretation and really miss the grand message that is truly laid out there for us of the birth, death and resurrection of Christ.

I fear like our brothers and sisters before us, Jesus warned about getting caught up in the rules (law) and missing the message of Christ and his love.

Thoughts?

 

[DavidFilmer]

I’m not familiar with IHR. But I am familiar with Catholic Answers - it is primarily a lay apologetics ministry. This particular forum is devoted to apologetics, So dogma is the main topic here, and we drill deep.

There are other forums here (and elsewhere) which focus on spirituality, Catholic living, etc.

It’s easy to see how a radio Q&A program could be dominated by questions about doctrine. If the show had a “no doctrine” policy, what sort of questions would be asked?

 

[fhansen]

I fear like our brothers and sisters before us, Jesus warned about getting caught up in the rules (law) and missing the message of Christ and his love.

Thoughts?

This is always a danger. The Law is to serve as a teacher-a guide-pointing us to something beyond what we immediately perceive- and serving to convict us of our inability to fulfill it. And yet we’re told that the Law is perfect. We need the guide (which makes it worth maintaining, clarifying, etc), but we need to learn to fulfill it in the way the New Covenant prescribes which is to come to love God and our neighbor as ourselves, with Gods grace since man never could accomplish this on his own.

 

[MurphyPhx]

IHR -

Immaculate Heart Radio

1310 AM PHX AZ

 

[Alexander_Smith]

What do you mean by “extreme dogma”?

 

[Barbkw]

IMR is also on iTunes.

 

[MurphyPhx]

I stayed away from examples in the initial post – mainly as not to offend.

Some are things like holding hands during the Our Father, yoga as a means of exercise, ability to go to a friend’s wedding based on certain parameters of the couple getting married, reading c.s. lewis. There are also a number of sexual rules that come up between married individuals. In some cases there have been such extreme cases where it would seem that having a healthy sexual life with your spouse would lead to a healthier life, and yet due to specific rules, individuals are basically informed to lead celibate lives as a married couple and offer up the sacrifice.

ps - IMR… got it.

 

[Alexander_Smith]

I stayed away from examples in the initial post – mainly as not to offend.

Some are things like holding hands during the Our Father, yoga as a means of exercise, ability to go to a friend’s wedding based on certain parameters of the couple getting married, reading c.s. lewis. There are also a number of sexual rules that come up between married individuals. In some cases there have been such extreme cases where it would seem that having a healthy sexual life with your spouse would lead to a healthier life, and yet due to specific rules, individuals are basically informed to lead celibate lives as a married couple and offer up the sacrifice.

ps - IMR… got it.

I don’t know what dogma you think is involved with holding hands during the Our Father, but I’m Catholic, and I never hold anyone’s hand no matter how crowded it is.

As for yoga, it is perfectly acceptable as exercise as long as there is no false spirituality involved. Stripped of that, it’s good for many things…

C.S. Lewis’ books are excellent, and provide a great example of heroic virtue even if it is not specifically Catholic. The image of the meek but strong lion as Jesus Christ is powerful, and the lessons learned by the characters can be readily understood by children.

As for weddings, I don’t know of any real restrictions in those regards. Unless there was a divorce, although Catholics recieve annulments in some cases, not sure how that applies to Protestants or non-Christians.

There are no sexual rules as such for married couples. If masturbation is morally wrong before marriage, it is morally wrong after marriage as well, and for the same basic reasons. The rules don’t change, and it is out of love for what is good that we abide by moral conduct following from natural law and the teachings of the Church.

As for your final point, I assume you are talking about cases where a couple cannot risk another pregnancy, or something else of that kind that would prevent normal sexual relations. Those kinds of situations can be exceedingly complex. It would help if you posted something specific myself or others could answer.