Confusion about Institutions

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Tom7

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Hello

My question is (asked in a spirit of pure openness and non contention) can the whole truth be truly found in a Christian institution?

I am convinced in Gods existence, that Christ is the Son of God, the Holy Spirit is a gift which animates the Christian life and Scripture is from God, BUT my particular faith teaches things that simply trouble me, I am convinced in some of the doctrines being utterly untrue. However there are doctrines that I am convinced are true, some are fairly nuanced. If I left and became a Catholic for instance I am concerned that I will equally be troubled by things that trouble me also - I have read many apologetic articles on praying to Saints yet I still would struggle to accept it, to loosely quote C S Lewis “it would be like pulling the right strings in heaven to get a good hearing.” The saints is one contention in my mind, on the other hand other Protestant groups are accepting female bishops and flying rainbow flags (I believe the world may live how it wishes but Christian standards for marriage should be upheld in a faith group).

So in a nut shell - is it best to remain where we are as there is never going to be a place that has absolute doctrinal purity in our minds? The faith that I am in receives a lot of stick (those more savy will no doubt guess which group I belong too, I refrain from stating it for obvious reasons) yet I see genuine love amongst us, hard working people sacrificing time for Jesus (and God, that’s another give away) and holiness maintained amongst its members, there are things which concern me deeply, but I can mentally subscribe to 80% of its core doctrines.

What is your opinion?
 
Maybe you need more time to discern whether to change religion or not.
Praying to saints isn’t an absolute demand to Roman Catholics but if you assist to Mass (and this you must) praying to saints will be said and you have to accept it.

Have you read the writings of the Holy Church Fathers? Such as St. John Goldenmouth/Chrysosthom. Many times I imagine venerating Virgin Mary is specifically difficult since she never wrote anything herself and is quite a mysterious figure.
Tom7 said:
I am concerned that I will equally be troubled by things that trouble me also
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Jesus never promised freedom from troubles as we follow Him.
 
My troubles refer to intellectual troubles. Being able to accept certain doctrines and teach them to my children and people I meet.

Thank you for your quick response though.
 
Tom7 said:
My troubles refer to intellectual troubles. Being able to accept certain doctrines and teach them to my children and people I meet.
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I have troubles too accepting certain ideas I find in EO books. Especially since some of the Modern ones contain mystic visions or very clear advise “for Modern youth or Modern people” written by a hermit sage who probably only interacted with a few Modern men who visited him on Mt. Athos. What I do not understand I do not preach.
 
My advise would be to pull the reigns on making any big leaps. You need to know where you are leaping and understand correctly so that you can land firmly.

I would recommend listening to some apologetic speakers who made the leap. That would probably address some of your troubles, why they had them and what convinced them otherwise.

I particular like…

Dr. David Anders
Dr. Scott Hahn
Jimmy Akin
Tim Staples
Trent Horn

You can google any of them or find some of their podcasts on this site.

They’ve already taken the journey that you are on. I think their insight would help.

God Bless
 
I would say that you’ve already taken the first step by informing yourself about Jesus. Then the next step is to ask yourself, which Church did Jesus establish? Many claim to be that Church, so it falls to you (sorry!) to figure out which one is correct.

I begin with Matthew:
And Jesus came into the quarters of Caesarea Philippi: and he asked his disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is? But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?

Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
Matthew 16:13-19.
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Acts Chapter 1 tells us how Peter stood up and announced that, Judas’ bishopric being empty, another needed to be appointed “to take the place of this ministry and apostleship.”

So which Church can show the line of apostleship through the ages? I think you know my answer.

Once you’ve completed step two (figuring out which Church), then and only then do you worry about what doctrines are correct. For example, you may well have some disagreement with things you’ve heard that the Catholic Church teaches. But the odds are that it’s really a misunderstanding. Once you start to learn what the Church really teaches, you’ll probably feel better about joining.

Remember, many, many people out there are happy to tell you what the Catholic Church teaches and how wrong it is. But, unlike most churches, the Catholic Church has published a series of books that say what she teaches and backs up her reasoning. First, she published the Bible. Second, she published the Catechism (which sets out in organized form the moral teachings of the Church, with footnotes). And her source material is also online. So, for what it’s worth, it’s not simply an issue of “I like such-and-such doctrine; now which Church teaches it?”

That was rather long-winded. Sorry. I hope this helps.
 
Thank you for the time you took. I have mulled over your line of reasoning before with succession, it does intrigue me but I found it led to another dead end. The Coptic church and Eastern Orthodox Church also claim to stem from the apostolic tradition and it was the Roman Church that split from them in the 1100s. I would very much like your line of reasoning to be as simple as that, succession of Peter through the ages but it too I believe has many leaps of logic that is hard.

I agree totally with what you say about people telling me what the church teaches, in my own faith I have people telling me over and over again what I teach, when I reply no, I don’t believe that they argue with me…

Again thank you, I will continue to mull over what you have weitten
 
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