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PRmerger
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Indeed. And that is fulfilling the command to love God with our entire MIND.
[BIBLEDRB]Matt 22:37[/BIBLEDRB]
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[BIBLEDRB]Matt 22:37[/BIBLEDRB]
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StevenFrancis
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Hi Alan:Some of us are that shallow but not most of the honest CC’s I’ve met. And yes, there is such a thing.For myself, if it’s on a matter of faith and morals, the Church is welcome to say whatever. But if I find a discrepancy in the Church teachings, then I will investigate until I either resolve it or flag it as unresolved and move on down the road. Now, as an entirely separate issue, I might have one or more possible models of my own in mind … but if I have no specific reason to doubt whatever presents itself as Church teaching, then my ideas don’t matter and may be useful for personal use but not so much when talking with other Catholics. Common language, you know.
Honestly, it really amuses me that people assume that if I hold my own point of view over theirs it’s because I’m selfish and ego-centric and clinging to my precious binky-of-a-POV. That cracks me up, totally. People seem to think there has to be evil in every shadow. It’s kind of a socially implementable version of paranoia, coupled with quick judgment and/or stereotyping, inability to exercise non-dualistic thinking, and lack of self-control.
Alan
I don’t know you personally, and if you consider yourself to be cafeteria Catholic, and do so under different criteria than I have laid out, that’s of course quite possible. I was rendering the definition of cafeteria Catholicism which comes from my understanding of the term. It is most likely crude and basic, as most definitions are, and the nuances of each individual human being are not taken into account.
Most of my confrontations in this matter, on a personal level, have been with “pro-choice” Catholics on a range of bioethical issues, (primarily abortion), where the “cafeteria” Catholic will put a personal (generally politically motivated) opinion above the deposit of faith of the Church which is perfectly clear that life begins at conception, and so to end life by volition and forethought is therefore murder, rather than a “female medical procedure”, and strictly prohibited under the commandment and moral imperitive not to murder.
I know there are many others, but this is the only one I’ve personally encountered among friends. I know that many Catholics also disagree on contraception, gay rights, fornication, forgiveness, going to mass, veneration of Mary, etc, etc, etc,.
A cafeteria Catholic picks and chooses (hence the allusion to “cafeteria”), the doctrines of the Church, rather than deferring to the Church doctrines by obedience and faith. Is this an accurate representation of the concept? If not, then I must confess, that I don’t know the meaning of the term cafeteria Catholic, and so any opinion I would have on a concept which I am unable to define would be moot and pointless on it’s face, so please disregard.
Blessings,
Steven
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AlanFromWichita
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Thank you. That is EXACTLY my concern. For lack of a better term, in the past I have referred to this as “idolatry” because there was a time I thought that people were confusing the Church with God. Or the Bible with God. Or Jesus with Christ. What I didn’t realize, is that every creature, including but not limited to: living, dead, future, didn’t happen, wish it didn’t, inert, between molecules, etc. (just a shadow of a thought of what is all possible) is at the level of Absolute Truth, no more or less God than any other entity in our outside of those alluded to above.
So I can worship a rock, and God knows that I am worshiping Him. So we’re always in the palm of His hand, whether we believe it or not. The joy comes when we give up creating Him and find out we already have. Or did He create us? Chicken/egg.
I never wore that label until you gave it to me just now.
Actually this is the first time somebody has explained to me the bizarre thing that happened. I’ve been to exactly one charismatic conference, years ago, at a large ballroom Wichita. Amazingly inspired speaker, great band, and at the end the bishop said Mass.
Well she had an healing call and I felt kind of silly but wanted to know what it was about, so of course (i am very curious) I was brought to the front. I was looking toward the band when my wife tapped me on the shoulder (I was in the middle of the crowd with maybe 4-5 layers of people between me and the stage) and said, “she wants YOU.” I said, “really?” and made my way to the stage.
She was going down the line, praying in tongues, each one slain in the spirit, etc, until she got to me. She stopped and backed off a few steps and said to the entire assembly, “whoa! I don’t know what this is but it’s big. It’s huge. I’ve never seen anything like this in 32 years of doing this.”
During break, I asked her more about it and she says, “I don’t know anything more. All I know is it was huge, and I had no idea what it was.”
I said, “was it a good thing or a bad thing, can you tell?”
She said, “I don’t know. It was the strangest experience I’ve ever had. I have no idea whether it was good or bad.”
My wife (Julie) agrees her name was probably Marilyn, but I can’t remember her last name.
Now to end on a light note: does “Marilyn” say anything to you?
Alan
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Ubenedictus
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hahaha, alan are u a commedian? The charismatic ‘label’ came after reading your post, i don’t know why i arrived at it.
I saw you were suspened hope you didnt do any ‘unwholesome’ thing, i might not agree with 50% of your post but it reveals a certain ‘consciousness’ (hope i spelt that right), and i would love to rejd from you again.
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PRmerger
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Egads! Absolutely not! No Catholic can worship a rock and claim that she’s worshipping God! A rock is NOT the Creator. It is a created entity, and as such is not deserving of any worship.
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