Confidence in our faith?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ricatholic
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

ricatholic

Guest
Why do we feel there are so many threats to our catholocism?

We have a faith that Jesus distilled into a few simple concepts that can defend it from any quarter.

Yet we act as if the p(name removed by moderator)ricks of feminism, the media, the local vernacular, gay marriage and other annoyances can somehow hurt our church.

What does a catholic married couple have to fear from gays making commitments to each other, does that diminish our marriage in God’s eyes?

If the media “attacks” our church like with the abuse issue, can’t our truths and our actions be defended with evidence?

And does God really care exactly how many times and at which exact instant we kneel sit or stand?

Don’t we have enough confidence in what Jesus taught to rely on what He taught about how we should live than to act as if we need to protect our faith by using the methods of the enemies of our faith?

Peace
 
We can be confident in our universal faith and still concerned about how in our local communities our faith is lived out. Some of this even touches on the mundane things like when we kneel, what material the chalice we drink from is made of, etc. Catholicism is sacramental not just regarding the sacraments but regarding our daily Catholic life. We receive supernatural grace through natural means, and it’s in our nature to care about what we make of those natural means.
 
Ri,
You are selective on your p(name removed by moderator)ricks. How about racism? Can you believe that blacks are without souls and be a good Catholic? Should our church tolerate that view? One of your examples, gay marriage, is an assault on both natural and divine law. You are the one making up the “simple rules” and leaving out large parts of what Jesus actually said. I have every confidence in the Church, but none in you.
 
40.png
ricatholic:
Why do we feel there are so many threats to our catholocism?

We have a faith that Jesus distilled into a few simple concepts that can defend it from any quarter.

Yet we act as if the p(name removed by moderator)ricks of feminism, the media, the local vernacular, gay marriage and other annoyances can somehow hurt our church.

What does a catholic married couple have to fear from gays making commitments to each other, does that diminish our marriage in God’s eyes?

If the media “attacks” our church like with the abuse issue, can’t our truths and our actions be defended with evidence?

And does God really care exactly how many times and at which exact instant we kneel sit or stand?

Don’t we have enough confidence in what Jesus taught to rely on what He taught about how we should live than to act as if we need to protect our faith by using the methods of the enemies of our faith?

Peace
Click to expand...
The p(name removed by moderator)ricks you mentioned like feminism, the media, the local vernacular, gay marriage and other annoyances cannot overturn the universal Church, since Jesus Himself promised that even the gates of Hell itself cannot stand against it. **But ** the ideas they promote can still lead individuals astray from their faith, which is why they must be viewed with utmost concern by every Catholic who loves the Church.

Gerry 🙂
 
None of those “p(name removed by moderator)ricks” you mentioned can shake my belief in Christ’s Truth as handed on in the Church. However, they can all shaken the faith of many Catholics as well as making non-Catholics less likely to come to the faith. Christ said that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church, protecting the Church from teaching error. But he never said that every single human being is protected from being shaken or led astray. The more secular culture drifts away from the Truth, the more poorly disposed individuals living in that culture will be to receiving the Faith.

And when it comes to reason, the problem is not with the reasoning of Catholicism, it’s with the lack of reasoning on the part of those who don’t adhere to the Truth. How attractive, in the modern permissive culture, is a Faith that says all the things you love to do are actually bad. That says you are not allowed to give free reign to your desires. That says - in a time when every Joe Blow considers himself a "good person - " “You are a sinner.” People don’t respond to reason. They respond to what they want to hear.
 
As far as basic faithis concerned the problem is that faith is basic until someone asks a question that does nt appear to be obvious, the question is answeeed and that leads to more questions. The reason things are formalised is so that the bigger things become the more likely it is that abuses will occur, needless to say only minor abuses to start with but eventually they lead to major abuses and complete wrongdoing.

When we should kneel stand etc is not of itself a very big issue, but they can become issues when someone makes an issue of them and then as people attempt to make even more mileage from variation they will end up at a point that is wrong.

We humans require as much certainty as possible and that is what formalisation gives us.

Tim
 
Andreas Hofer:
None of those “p(name removed by moderator)ricks” you mentioned can shake my belief in Christ’s Truth as handed on in the Church. However, they can all shaken the faith of many Catholics as well as making non-Catholics less likely to come to the faith. Christ said that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church, protecting the Church from teaching error. But he never said that every single human being is protected from being shaken or led astray. The more secular culture drifts away from the Truth, the more poorly disposed individuals living in that culture will be to receiving the Faith.

And when it comes to reason, the problem is not with the reasoning of Catholicism, it’s with the lack of reasoning on the part of those who don’t adhere to the Truth. How attractive, in the modern permissive culture, is a Faith that says all the things you love to do are actually bad. That says you are not allowed to give free reign to your desires. That says - in a time when every Joe Blow considers himself a "good person - " “You are a sinner.” People don’t respond to reason. They respond to what they want to hear.
Click to expand...
Take some time to reread your post and consider how you feel about the general idea we are discussing and contrast that with how the church outwardly reacts.

First you agree ,at least to some extent, that y/our faith offers some immunity from the irrationality of the issues. Hence my use of the term p(name removed by moderator)ricks, compared to the faith and wisdom of Jesus’ teachings, there is no real threat .

But how do we act and what message does that send to secular society about how confident we are in our beliefs?

How does Gay marriage actually affect the covenents we have made with our spouses and God in the sacrement of marriage? Do we look at our spouses and say that our unions are lessened because a couple of men got hitched ?

Because when we react the way we have been, that is what we are saying to the world. And how does the world respond? Some may say that they do not care how we feel. But what of those that ask about the quality of the state of our marriages if our marriages can be impacted so much by the actions of other?

And concerning the rubrics of the mass and such, how far away from the original gatherings of Christians are they? We make hay over concepts that have little connection to our founder and more to the rites of the Jews and pagans.

So what gets lost in a ritual? The openess to thought and message of Jesus. Are we so afraid of what Jesus said and taught that we reduce His importance to “Rubrics”?

But isn’t that to be expected? How truely scary is the prospect of having to lead our lives like Jesus taught? It is more comforting to know exactly when to turn the page than to struggle with knowing when to turn the cheek.

It is easier to know ,by their posture, when other people are not giving glory to God properly than to know if that person is Jesus in the guise of the least.

So we suffer the p(name removed by moderator)ricks as if they were really a crown of thorns and lose the message of Jesus in the victimization of our faith.

Peace
 
ri, So Jesus is “lost” in the Mass? That is a new heresy even for you ri. Now you reject the Mass, Paul and his letters, and most of the gospels. Not to mention the Pope. How much more of Jesus’ real message will you reject? I will say it again you are NOT Jesus. Stop trying to make him in your own image.
 
40.png
ricatholic:
Why do we feel there are so many threats to our catholocism?
Yet we act as if the p(name removed by moderator)ricks of . . . . . .
Click to expand...
RI, we aren’t threatened by these “p(name removed by moderator)ricks”. The problem is that these things lead the innocent astray and cause damage to their souls. As the saying goes, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”
 
Catholics have every confidence in their faith because of the promises of our divine founder. Satan and his followers have a fate that has already been sealed. The problem is recognizing Satan as our enemy. Sinners and non-blievers need to hear the unvarnished truth in order to make an informed decision in choosing whom they wish to follow. We cannot soft soap evil.

Currently, the culture is on the skids and evil is invading the hearts and souls of countless people. We are at war with Satan, our enemy, and we must wage our battle with truth. We must love those that have fallen into such things as gay marriage. They are under attack but do not recognize the enemy or his lies. While loving them and all people, we cannot compromise or give tacit approval to their actions. To do so would not be loving them as Christ taught us. We do not show our love to sinners by ignoring their sins. Instead we pray, we work with them, and we try to help them see the truth.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top