Christianity doubts

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rosejmj

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I was raised Catholic and have been practicing the Faith my whole life.
Lately I have been wondering if Christianity is really the truth. I would like to do some reading from the perspective of other religions and atheism to see if it makes sense and if it changes how I view Christianity. All I have ever really known is the Catholic Faith and I would like to look into other beliefs. There are many intelligent people that follow other Faith’s or none at all and I want to know there reasoning behind it so I can better know what is the truth. I have heard many of the Catholic arguments against different Christian churches, other religions, and Atheism, but I am still not sure if it is the truth.

It seems like some Catholics are against reading anything that could “endanger” someone’s Faith, but isn’t it better to understand what one believes and to seek the truth rather than to blindly follow what I have been taught all my life?
 
If you truly want to understand what you believe, then wouldn’t it make more sense for you to read more about your OWN faith rather than run around reading about everyone else’s?

If you’re already weak in your faith and having doubts, then going around reading about other religions makes about as much sense as a wife who is having doubts about her husband and decides to have dates with 10 other men to see if she still wants to be married to her husband or is the grass greener someplace else.
 
I’d have to second that. It’s okay to read other material to a degree but it should be done in prayer not in doubt. You open the door to demonic forces that way. Reading other expressions of faith is not for those weak in faith. Even being set in the faith can still have problems like questioning your own values. Just understand it’s a journey into the devil’s domain and you had better equip yourself fully with Christ before you tread there.
 
Something is off here…
rosejmj said:
All I have ever really known is the Catholic Faith and I would like to look into other beliefs.
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rosejmj said:
I have heard many of the Catholic arguments against different Christian churches, other religions, and Atheism, but I am still not sure if it is the truth.
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So, you claim that you do know Catholic arguments against, let’s say, atheism, and yet have no idea what atheism really is and what arguments are used to support it?
rosejmj said:
I would like to do some reading from the perspective of other religions and atheism to see if it makes sense and if it changes how I view Christianity. All I have ever really known is the Catholic Faith and I would like to look into other beliefs.
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If you really know next to nothing about other religions, looking for things written by representatives of them is going to be a waste of effort. You would get more from an overview of many religions, which can obviously be written by a Catholic.

I suppose you can also look around this very forum - you can see how representatives of other religions fare against Catholics.

So, why the specific interest in “reading from the perspective of other religions and atheism”?
rosejmj said:
It seems like some Catholics are against reading anything that could “endanger” someone’s Faith, but isn’t it better to understand what one believes and to seek the truth rather than to blindly follow what I have been taught all my life?
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Specifically trying to put your faith in danger is not “seeking for truth”. It is closer to “seeking a way away from truth”.
 
Other religions and philosophies believe something, whereas Christianity or Catholicism believes someone. There is no face to face in the first person in any other religion or philosophy than Christianity.

St. Augustine; if you were to read his “Confessions” I think you might be very surprised, pleasantly. (Modern English best)
Go to Mass often and talk to Catholics there - tell them why you are there - that is about equivalent to asking Jesus, “Who are you?” And some will talk, some will simply be polite because they also are seeking and don’t yet know how to answer.
  1. There are six W’s, or 5 W’s and 1 H, which are used in seeking to understand reality. “Who?”, “What?”, “When?”, “Where?”, “How?”, and “Why?” are the six queries.
I find with You, LORD, there is one answer to all six concerning Yourself:
  • I ask, “Who are You?” You answer, ‘I AM’.
  • I ask, “What are You?” You answer, ‘I AM’.
  • I ask, “When are You?” You answer, ‘I AM’.
  • I ask, “Where are You?” You answer, ‘I AM’.
  • I ask, “How are You?” You answer, ‘I AM’.
  • I ask, “Why are You?” You answer, ‘I AM’.
If I seek to go further, asking, “Who is the one answering, ‘I AM’?” (The Name | SoftVocation) “What is that one? When? Where? Why? How?” Were I to investigate in that way, I would be seeking to know you at a distance, as third person, examining You as if you were an experiment.

Cogitation versus Contemplation
  1. In the third person consideration of You, cogitation, I am not in your presence, but I am analyzing You as an impersonal object, thinking “about You without You”.
But in contemplation I am before You, face to face, eye to eye, and simply “look at You looking at me”.

Somewhere a poet of questionable repute [Lord Byron: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: CLVIII] wrote that our spirits dilate to the size of that they contemplate (or is it active rather than passive?) I consider that we also seek to shrink You to the size of a thought when in cogitation about Your being and meaning. Might be this why You sent your Son, who sent Apostles, and then their Successors, instead of a treatise? In person, do our spirits grow infinitely large to participate in all of You? Cogitate or Contemplate – You shrink to a 3rd person or we grow to see You face to face.

John Martin
 
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rosejmj said:
isn’t it better to understand what one believes and to seek the truth rather than to blindly follow what I have been taught all my life?
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Neither do you want to blindly reject what you have been taught all your life. First, learn everything there is to learn about the history of Catholicism before you indoctrinate yourself in other beliefs. I can tell you with perfect honesty, no other religion, Christian or otherwise, has the history, the provenance, and the gravitas that the Catholic Church has. Not even close.
 
I understand what you are saying. I think part of me wants to put my faith in “danger”. I think there is some anger at God or other people that is making me want to find reasons the leave the Faith. Maybe I need to focus more on addressing that.
 
MPat said:
So, you claim that you do know Catholic arguments against, let’s say, atheism, and yet have no idea what atheism really is and what arguments are used to support it?
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If someone wants to know about Catholicism we would recommend Catholic sources. I think it’s a double standard to ask people to learn about other faiths from Catholics.
 
Elf01 said:
If someone wants to know about Catholicism we would recommend Catholic sources. I think it’s a double standard to ask people to learn about other faiths from Catholics.
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That’s a bit irrelevant, for this specific situation is not really like that. In fact, the “clues” I highlighted point to some differences.

Anyway, to some extent the “double standard” is justified - truth and error do not have “equal rights”.
 
Elf01 said:
The truth should be able to stand up to scrutiny.
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That ignores the fact that a human also participates in the process… 🙂

Truth is not going to “stand up to scrutiny” when it is actually not so much scrutiny, as sabotage, when one is trying to look for excuses to reject truth. Or when one is just not doing a good job, is not prepared, is not in good shape.

For example, as we know, atheist “arguments” tend to consist mostly of claiming things with great confidence. To some, that might be intimidating and persuasive. For someone like that to face such “arguments” alone without a good reason is a bad idea.

On the other hand, let’s say, facing them in “controlled environment”, for example, this forum, where they at least would get a confident response, thus diminishing or avoiding the intimidation, is a much better idea.
 
I agree that reading non-Catholic sources can be risky for a Catholic who does not know his/her faith very well. On the other hand, I have to push back a little.

If I read only Catholic opinions about other faiths (or atheism), we may still doubt whether what the Catholic authors are telling us is the truth about that faith.

I like to think that my Catholic faith is relatively strong, and one of the things that has made it so has been to read non-Catholic material about non-Catholic faiths, and then discover that there are good, solid Catholic answers to rebut the material I am reading. In other words, the more I read about other faiths - even from non-Catholic angles - the more I am convinced of the truth of the Catholic Church. It makes my faith stronger.
 
John_Martin said:
Other religions and philosophies believe something , whereas Christianity or Catholicism believes someone . There is no face to face in the first person in any other religion or philosophy than Christianity.
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How about in Judaism? In the Old Testament God is fully personified yet not material, however He is present.
 
Mary888 said:
How about in Judaism? In the Old Testament God is fully personified yet not material, however He is present.
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Judaism is Christianity before the Word became flesh to enable us not to be afraid of being face to face friends with ‘I AM SAVING’ (YESHUAH, JESUS).
Judaism is not an Other Religion.
 
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Yes! I left the Church for 25 years. But I then began to seek the truth-to seek God-for myself and that’s when I “found” Him, several years later. I didnt know then that every step I was taking would eventually lead back to the Church.

To believe blindly is not to believe at all; it’s fear or hypocrisy-or both.
 
rosejmj said:
I understand what you are saying. I think part of me wants to put my faith in “danger”. I think there is some anger at God or other people that is making me want to find reasons the leave the Faith. Maybe I need to focus more on addressing that.
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It’s good that you’re self aware enough to recognize this. I agree that you should focus on the root cause of your disillusion. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be educated on other faiths, but in your case it seems there is more under the surface.
 
John_Martin said:
Judaism is not an Other Religion.
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In Judaism the Word did not became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. In Judaism the Messiah is still.expected since he was not (according to their sages) Jesus Christ. So, from a Christian AND Jewish perspective Judaism is other religion from Christianity based on the identity of the Messiah (important to both religions since God is personified for us).
 
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I never understood why people think it is wrong to explore and be open to other faiths, and yet we expect others to be open to the Catholic faith and want to convert people
 
As a general matter, it is not “wrong” to “explore” them in a sense of wanting to know more about them
  • from a scholarly perspective in order to add to the world’s knowledge through research or teaching
  • from an evangelical perspective in order to know the best ways to answer their apologetics arguments or convert people of the other faith to Catholicism
  • from an ecumenical perspective in order to build bridges and try to increase tolerance and unity to the extent possible with different faiths.
However, when you wish to “explore” other faiths because you think Catholicism might be wrong, you are putting yourself at risk because our Catechism says the way to salvation is via the Catholic Church, which is also God’s one true church. You can’t expect Catholics to approve when you seem to be putting your soul in danger.

We don’t “expect” others to be open to the Catholic faith either. We are fully aware that their fellow members of Non-Catholic Church X might be alarmed and think they are putting their souls in danger by wanting to become Catholic. Nevertheless, because we feel our way is the right way, we would try to encourage such people. It is likely that people from these other churches you wish to “explore” would encourage you to convert to their church also, and we regard that as dangerous because our Church has the truth.
 
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