Does this forum make you a better disciple of Jesus Christ

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Given the widespread use of all forms of social media, Internet discussion, etc., in time, we will have to more accurately assess the value, impact of these kinds of online exchanges on people and their ideas. At this point, I think rightly, we tend to belittle online activity and tell people to ‘get a life.’ Real life over e-life. And, this is, of course, usually the proper advice for ourselves and others. But I also think there is some sort of value to this kind of interaction - I don’t understand it - but there is a good side to people connecting like this. It just gets horribly abused, misused, some rely on it too much, groupthink, tribalism. But you can reach so many, touch so many, learn from people, affect what people think - if you do it right. People you would never reach otherwise to this extent. My point is it does affect you on some level. And you affect others. This is what we don’t really understand - we get the bad, but what about the good. It would be nice if people handled it with more sense of responsibility and importance.
 
I’ve been around teh interwebs for over 10 years, in a variety of sites including professional, fandom, health related and so on.
Yeah, folks fight around here, but it’s a pretty mellow place, all things considered.
I’ve learned stuff here and have had some pretty good takeaways.
But CAF can’t make me a better person–only my cooperation with God’s grace can do that
 
Yes I can understand that could be very grating and off-putting. (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

We are a diverse collection of people, from different countries and cultures, from widely different age-groups, with many different experiences, and widely different personalities,
so there is likely to be some approaches that are less appealing among any of us.
In general, we can only fairly accept that there are differences, try to avoid areas that only annoy us,
and respect that most people are just trying to help in some way.
 
yes, Im learning to relate appropriately to people with different opinions then I. Im learning from everyone who responds. Some opinions go in one ear and out the other, some, wiggle around in my brain and then get tossed, some tho, stick with me and settle down deep in my gut and teach me how to be a better Christian. You have to learn how to launder the post sorta speak.
 
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This Forum has made me Visibly Elect!
 
Absolutely not. The arguments are depressing and are about technical bits that have nothing to do with anything, the mods give anti-Catholic or “cafeteria Catholic” trolls too much freedom to monopolize threads, and people get attacked for expressing the Catholic faith as it has always and everywhere been taught. People try to rile us Church-believing Catholics to anger, and I’m not strong enough to resist the temptation to say something catty.

Sometimes I wonder why I come here. I think I’m addicted or something. Maybe it’s because I don’t get enough contact with Catholics.
 
I have been inspired by posts I’ve read here. I Believe many have increased my faith.
 
I don’t know.

Seeing many opinions makes me resent the Church a little, as a part of me cannot believe Catholics have such opinions or views. After a while it gets confusing, because you start to wonder what is the ‘right’ one, which side is God on. I noticed that I fell into the more unpopular side since I couldn’t agree on things that are more or less accepted by many here. I was definitely better off in my own little bubble. I was ignorant on a lot of things, but at least I had simpler and happier attitude. Of course, CAF is not the only one to blame.

But at the same time, I’m more aware of my faith. Before coming on here, I didn’t even know you couldn’t receive the eucharist in a state of mortal sin. I knew how to refute stupid claims about the church regarding abortion.

So I really don’t know what’s better. Ignorant+comfortable and happy in the Lord, or not so ignorant+have resentment in my heart.
 
Thank you for the valuable question. 🤔 I think the forum only serves in an ancillary role. However, it is useful. For example, if I would like a prayer request, I can find one easily. It offers an opportunity to learn how others think, so that I can change the way I might explain something. If I need a pick me up, I can participate in a humor thread. Also, if I have a technical question, typically someone here can answer it. It used to function better in all of these roles, however, back when we had more membership (this was a number of years ago).

The forum can provide more information than you might be comfortable with about how your fellow parishioners might be thinking. I’d think this could have a negative effect, but it wouldn’t have to, depending on one’s response.
 
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I have a love/hate relationship with this forum. It is a headache most times, especially now that there is no Ignore feature which made the old forum a lot more tolerable. However, I made all my devout Catholic friends on this forum, one of whom I have even met in real life. I would have lost either my sanity or my faith a long time ago if it were not for them. Despite how low CAF has gotten over the years, it serves an important role in connecting Catholics with each other when circumstances in life makes it hard for them to find devout Catholic friends in life, as in my case, as someone who is still a student and has limited mobility at this point in my life.
 
Well, when I first knew I wanted to convert these forums were basically the only interaction I had with Catholics because I did not know any practicing Catholics. It helped me a little. It helped me learn a bit more about the faith. And I think these forms could help someone only barely getting to know about basic Church teachings and apologetics.

Where I think these forums can be harmful is coming for advice on personal matters. Especially if one is overly sensitive. Sometimes I feel you can’t even tell this is a Catholic forum by the way some people talk to each other. Coming from a protestant background I can’t imagine it being the same way if there was a protestants equivalent to these forums. Thankfully I do not judge whether The Church is true or not by the uncharotibility of others. Also I have had my rants and vents about life’s problems on here so at the same time I can’t be too judgemental lol.

But I would say, in general, these forums have been beneficial to me more than harmful. As it specifically making me a better disciple of Christ, no, not really. Except on maybe a few isolated occasions. But it has not harmed me either.
 
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Nice thing about this place is that it’s not an echo chamber.

Ideas get challenged. People get corrected. It’s not a big deal unless you make it one.

The new format of the forums is also much better.
 
Lea101 said:
So I really don’t know what’s better. Ignorant+comfortable and happy in the Lord, or not so ignorant+have resentment in my heart.
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This is so true. I was a much happier ignorant Catholic before I wandered onto this website. But, man, was I an ignorant one. And agreed that ignorance is bliss, at least in terms of the state of the Church. Night and day. I notice even a few days off of CAF (and/or other sites) and I feel better again. Rejuvenated. But I don’t think that kind of ‘happy idiot’ kind of Christianity is necessarily something to seek, to brag about. I don’t think that is the same thing as a ‘fool for Christ.’ It’s a ‘fool for oneself’. So many think that peace in Christ just means being cool with things, feeling great.

Know thyself and thy faith. Take the bitter with the sweet. I would also caution that CAF, and especially the views expressed by the folks here, is hardly the end all of Catholicism or Christianity, but there is a lot of good information, along with the inevitable, upsetting strife, drivel, polemics.

I am glad, overall, I wandered here.
 
It’s a conversation. You say something, someone else says something bad. If you’re wrong, people can tell you about it.
 
Right, no doubt. But I am not a cradle Catholic. I mean I was a Catholic as a child then came back on my own as an adult. What this means is that you are not raised, instructed in anything really, you don’t have a clue about the liturgy, the Mass, etc. I don’t think cradle Catholics understand what reverts go through - we fall between cradle Catholics and converts, especially when you leave the Church quite young. I read the CCC myself but I really did learn a lot from CAF - of a more traditional bent than what I was exposed to elsewhere. Think Mother Angelica, that sort of thing. But there is definitely a right and wrong way to do conservative or traditional Catholicism. It can get a little over zealous, as can liberal Catholicism for that matter…
 
This forum -or rather some people on it- at one point planted doubts in my mind. I was able to conclude that God really does exist and that he really does love us (talking to an actual priest helped dispel my doubts), but seeing so many people here say things like “everything is a mortal sin!”, “everyone but me is going to Hell and that makes me ecstatic!”, “there are babies in Hell and I praise God for that!”, and so on made God seem like a heartless sadist (even though I know those people are wrong and have bible quotes and priest quotes and official church documents explicitly proving them wrong … though they reject this evidence too) and made me realize that even the church has vipers in it.

But like metal that got hardened by being struck, my faith is stronger from having to defend God from slander. I also think this site made me examine my faith more closely, instead of just leaving God off to the side.
 
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I think for the most part this forum and the people here are helpful with our journeys of faith when we keep in mind that some people are blessings, and some are lessons.
 
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