Depth of the catholic experience

[Pater_Familias]

Magaret, i couldn’t agree more .it is my submission/hypothesis that any pagan that constantly posts here triumphing their satisfaction is in a dreamworld since if they so satisfied then why are they searching here

 

[guanophore]

I am neither Catholic nor Chrisitan. I was raised by a Methodist mother and Mormon father. And because of my religion many problems have occured because they say that the reason they are doing these things is because they are Catholic. Our wedding incorporated both my husband and my beliefs. I can’t pray around them because I’m not Catholic and they are. Truth is subjective in a lot of instances. In England a cat is cat. But, in Franch it’s chat. Some people view a cat as a meal while others a household pet. All we have to do is to look at history to see that there are many sides to truth and it is not always so clean cut so black and white. So that is why I’m not Catholic in a nutshell.

If you are not Catholic and not Christian, then to whom do you pray? What ARE your beliefs? Truth is not subjective, Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. How we understand and apprehend the truth is certainly very individual.

 

[cheddarsox]

What is so sad (to me at least) about most of the above posts is that they fall into the same patterns I see on other forums.

1. I don’t believe this concept of God that I developed as a child and never bothered to develop further.
2. I want to do what I want to do.
3. God’s commandments aren’t the way I would have written them, so they must be wrong.
4. God doesn’t meet my expectations, so I’ll ignor him and invent my own.
5. I want to have sex with whomever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want, however I want. What amazes me is that in my experience this seems to be the “root cause” of most people leaving the Church, becoming pagans, atheists, and/or downright anti-religious (not that anyone here is all of those things, or left for that reason). This item “feeds backwards” into items 2-4.

That sex is the tool that Satan uses for his own purposes is to be expected. The holiness of our sexual differences and the act of co-creating new life with God are intrinsic to our very purpose - and marriage was the very first sacrament and covenant with mankind. One MUST understand this, or you will not understand much of Catholicism, God, our yourself.

If you are interested in this, I suggest googling “Theology of the Body”, or else read these 2 (easy) articles:

this link or this link.

I suppose that items 1-4 would fit why most people arent a particular faith, or left the faith of their childhood. Even people who convert TO Catholicism, they are rejecting whatever previous notions they had about deity and the requirements of deity on humankind.

If you were raised polytheists, and became monotheist, they would apply to you to. At some point, you came to the conclusion that what you had been taught did not hold water, and sought “truth”.

I would ask Catholics to try to read this thread with a heart of understanding.

People have asked me this question many times…why did you leave the Catholic church, why aren’t you a Catholic. But before I answer, it turns out they already have “my” answer formulated in their minds. They already “know” better than I do why I left…I left because I wanted my own way. No matter what I say, no matter how candidly I am willing to share my experience, they only hear their prepackaged answers.

OK, but you will never learn the true reasons if all you are willing to hear is your own reason.

the OP asked non Catholics to reply. A few did, and then you triumphantly swooped in with your list, and your attitude of same old, same old. Reduced real people, with real life situations, ideas and experiences to a “list”.

cheddar

 

[cheddarsox]

For all the first few posts, to put it simply… you can not speak of which you do not understand. You think like man thinks and it is why you do not understand the faith that was handed to us from God himself. Think you can grasp the mind of God?

My best advice. If you believe there is God, pray and ask Him to help you understand. Ask for the gift of faith. You cannot understand unless you first have faith.
And if you think you have…well, keeeeeep asking…He wouldn’t refuse you!

You are right, the Divine has not refused me! But I think you would be surprised by the faith I have been blessed with. You also assume you know the mind of “God” and that all prayer will lead to Catholicism, no one was more surprised than me by the truth!

 

[cheddarsox]

This very thought has run through my mind upon reading several people’s posts in recent past… and I’m still scratching my head here & there… It’s not as if the site name title/name/url or anything in it is ambiguous…

My apologies… no harm intended… It’s just something I don’t get

I can answer that one for my situation. I showed up here a couple of years ago because a question of Catholic dogma had come up in a discussion I was having with my husband. I found this site from a link on Jimmy Akin’s webpage.

I was raised Catholic, and so much of the discussion here was of interest to me. I thought I’d hang around for awhile and revisit some issues. I had left the faith in my twenties and felt it deserved another fair look see now that I had more age and experience under my belt.

Then of course there is a non-Catholic religions forum here, so I mostly hang here.

I belong to several online religion forums, it is sort of f a hobby of mine. Most deal with my own faith, but I belong to others as well, to learn, share, and to keep me in shape. Testing one’s own faith against that of others helps keeps one honest and in touch with what one believes.

There needs to be non Catholics here to answer questions that come up about other faiths, I assume that is why this forum exists!

cheddar

 

[KarenNC]

That begs the question why are you here on Catholic Answers ? I certainly don’t go to SDA sites and post messages think about it.

You asked the general question “from the heart, why aren’t u [sic] catholic [sic]?” If you did not expect to encounter non-Catholics on this forum, what was the purpose of your question?

This is the “Non-Catholic Religions” section of the forum, described as a place for comparing and contrasting beliefs. With whom do you plan to compare and contrast beliefs about non-Catholic religions if not with non-Catholics? I suppose all the Catholics could sit around and compare their opinions about them with each other, but that seems rather counterproductive if you want actual information rather than merely confirmation of your opinions.

Ricmat made some incorrect assumptions about my answers (and those of others). I followed up with accurate information at least as it applies to my situation. Is that not the purpose of discussion?

I came here initially after learning about an article posted in This Rock on Anti-Neopagan Apologetics from someone else with whom I am in occasional correspondence. That article showed a fair amount of ignorance of the reality of modern Neopaganism and I came over to read his response to it on the forum.

I have stayed for several reasons: because comparative religion and religious discussion is a hobby, because I have found a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding about Neopaganism (as well as other Christian denominations and other religions) here and because I have an interest in helping clear up such misunderstandings in the hopes that we can understand each other as people rather than as stereotypes. I have learned some interesting information about points of theology from Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

I am not searching. I have been down that road for decades and am finally home spiritually.

Every Catholic interested in evangelizing and proselytizing should be thankful for the gift given by those who are not Catholic and take the time to correct misinterpretation of their religions here. How can you expect to be successful in proselytizing if you do not accurately understand the basic beliefs of the people to whom you are witnessing?

 

[ALLFORHIM]

the OP asked non Catholics to reply. A few did, and then you triumphantly swooped in with your list, and your attitude of same old, same old. Reduced real people, with real life situations, ideas and experiences to a “list”.

Hi,
I would reply but I really dont want to deal with what cheddar said above.

Sometimes I would like to give my own experiences or opinions without threat of disapproval or wanting to debate or people trying to convert me.

When I start a thread and ask people certain questions–it is never my intention to debate them or tell them they are wrong but just to gather info. about what other people believe. I dont find the same courtesy from the catholics here. So I am careful how I post in certain threads.

 

[Mickey]

I imagine he picked it up from your public profile.

Yes. The profile says she is pagan.

 

[JoeyWarren]

I am neither Catholic nor Chrisitan.

As if Catholics are not Christian. That is just anti-catholic diatribe.

 

[KarenNC]

As if Catholics are not Christian. That is just anti-catholic diatribe.

In what way? She is explaining that she is neither Catholic nor is she a non-Catholic Christian, for the purposes of clarity. It would be like asking someone, “why aren’t you a marathoner?” A legitimate response is “I am neither a marathoner nor a runner.” All marathoners are runners, but all runners are not marathoners. All Catholics are Christian, but not all Christians are Catholic.

There are many on this board who are not Catholic but are some other strand of Christianity. There are many who are neither Catholic nor some other form of Christian. The question was asked of all on the forum, so it is reasonable to expect responses from non-Christians and non-Catholic Christians and reasonable from the point of actual communication to make the distinction in this case. Context is important. One would expect a very different answer from a Christian as to why that person is not Catholic than from a non-Christian, for whom the reasons will likely be very different as they do not share the same core beliefs. How does that equate to “anti-Catholic diatribe?”