Doubting faith and Christianity

  • Thread starter Thread starter Elena321
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
E

Elena321

Guest
Lately I have been doubting whether I believe in God or Christianity and wondering whether religion/s is all a man made concept to promote morals in society and social cohesion.
This would make sense for a society that was likely very immoral in Roman times etc and if people are promised the “reward” of heaven then this would have encouraged them to stay moral.

In these modern times now,things are different.
Even if religion is right,how do you know which one is true?
Eg:I was Baptised and born to a Catholic family/ethnic background so it is “easier” to follow belief about Jesus but how do I really know this is true and not just “conditioning”?
For example what if Islam is true instead?
Christianity/Catholicism and Islam both seem to share a lot of similar foundations like no sex before marriage,similarities or Lent with Ramadan,belief in sins,belief in afterlife,belief in God,no gay marriage,belief in modesty,belief in charity and compassion, and so on but where they differ is on the belief of Jesus Christ as saviour/messiah…
So how do I really know which “story” is true?

Or what about Hinduism?
It doesn’t really appeal to me as the notion of worshipping many Gods seems somehow primitive but maybe this is just my social conditioning too?

My sister says it can’t be worked out using the mind but if it’s “worked out” through some spiritual sense then why would one person receive the sense to believe in Jesus and another receive the sense to follow Islam(for example)?

Is it that God can be found in every religion but this doesn’t add up either as I think Catholic Church teaches this is not true?

I’m confused:confused:

Can anyone provide any insight please?
 
Pray for Holy Spirit discernment and Holy Spirit fellowship. The indwelling Jesus and the gifts and fruits of the talents will prove it.

Failing that, God has His ways of looking after people even then!

Gklory Be said.
 
It’s hard, but am not sure it’s possible to figure out using only our human intellect which faith is true…As Catholics, we believe the foundation of our faith is a relationship with Jesus, not just blindly following which moral system we believe is ‘right’. It’s why you can’t be best friends with someone you’ve never met.

Part of this is a gift of the holy spirit, you know, something that you just have, and you’re right, if you were born Catholic, I think that gift of grace from the holy spirit is more easily cultivated. You call it ‘cultural’, but I don’t think it’s that, I really believe the Holy Spirit is there, pouring graces on Catholic families that raise their children in the faith. The other part is your will: Do you want to form a relationship with Jesus?
 
Christianity is far different from every other religion. Based on the dating of Paul’s letters, by the year 50 AD, there were communities of believers across the ancient world, from Jerusalem to Ephesus to Athens to Rome. How do you explain the spread of a new religion, based solely on the testimony of some backwater hicks from Galilee, across the entire ancient world in a mere 17 years following the Crucifixion? There is nothing like it in recorded history.

The only other religions that can claim a rapid rise in the middle of recorded history are Islam and perhaps Buddhism. But neither Islam nor Buddhism purport to be based on public miraculous events like the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Islam claims that Mohammed received a divine book from God. Mohammed’s followers believed him, and then conquered the Middle East. Buddha was just a wealthy guy who was distraught by the horrible suffering of poor people in India, and taught his followers they could alleviate their own suffering by renouncing worldly pleasures. Neither of those claims compares to, “The man who was just crucified in front of everyone and buried in that tomb over there just rose from the dead!”
 
Elena,

The purpose of Christianity is not just for a society to be more moral. It is to enable to us to share in God’s very life.

The moral code is found in natural law. It means that it’s written into every person’s heart. We have a very difficult time as human beings following it. That is because we need God’s grace to do this, and we are mostly trying on our own. It wasn’t meant to be like that.

God wants to live in us, to transform us and to share His very life with us. He wants to be part of everything we do. Just purely out of love. That is what Christianity is for. This helps us to fight our concupiscence that prevents us from following morality well. But the purpose of morality is to live in the truth, to live the way that is best for us, the way that God made.

If there was no God, why would there be morality? Why would it be so similar across cultures and times? There are things we just all know that are wrong. Other things, come from revelation, from God to man, in Jesus. To the Church.

If there was no God, how would people even come to care about being moral in the first place?

Christianity is the religion that God revealed. When I say Christianity, I mean the way it’s been from the beginning, which is found in the Catholic Church. Protestants believe in Jesus too but they changed their view of salvation, Sacraments, etc, from what it was since the Apostolic times.

Think of it this way… God made the first human beings. Adam and Eve. They were immortal, they lived with God, their life was something we can’t really imagine now. But they were free… and they had to make a free choice, towards God and towards His love, but they didn’t. The original sin was pride, self will. So they separated themselves from God, who is their Father, and our Father, and their way of life changed. They began to experience an attraction for sin. They began to die.

The people multiplied on earth… the first people knew what had happened and about God, but later, when there were many people, and they spread around the world, they began to wonder about God. We can see through natural law and reason that there is a God. But we need His revelation about Himself to know anything very concrete. People felt a desire for God, for spiritual things, because they are there. If they had not been there, people would not have felt a desire for such things, because there would have been no purpose for it at all, in us as creatures. But because they didn’t know about God, they began to make up gods and goddesses for themselves, and made their own religions. These religions had some things that were from natural law or were correct, but in many ways there were false. They didn’t know who God is.
 
But all this time, God decided to rescue His creatures from all of this. He is our Father and didn’t want us to just die and be lost. We were made for Heaven but it’s not natural to us, we need grace to get there. And we lost this grace. People offended God very much with sin.

So God became a Man and took on our nature. He made the perfect Sacrifice for sin, that was from God, so it was perfect, and yet from Man too, so it was for us. God chose a people, the Israelites, to be born among from a Virgin. He prepared this people and gave them prophets. He protected them. They still offended Him but He was faithful to His promise.

That was the “true religion” before Christ. Now, it is Christianity. Because it is the religion that God Himself revealed, in Jesus. Our Lord taught His Apostles and they handed down these teachings to the whole Church. This Church is the Catholic Church. He made sure it’s infallible and gave it a visible representative of Himself, the Pope, so He could guide it. He gave it priests and the Sacraments to give us His grace. It is not just an institution, it is His Body, the mystical presence of Christ on the earth. It is a visible Body, as the Church is visible. Individuals in it sin, but God is still in it, because He promised He would stay with us until the end of time.

One day, Jesus would resurrect all of our bodies, and we would live as Adam and Eve did at first, only having chosen Him, not before the choice. But even here on earth, though we are mortal, we can choose God’s will first, and in this way live the way God intended.

God is our Father, and He loves us. He is the Holy Trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit, and He is Love… He is more than one Person, so it makes sense that He is Love. Before creation, in eternity, each of the Divine Persons loved, though there was not yet a creation to love.

Other religions don’t call God Father, or they don’t have the same view of God. In reality though, God is Love, He is our Father, and He is absolutely good.

Christianity is not just to be moral… it is God trying to reach us, because He loves us and wants to give us Himself, for us to share in His life… this goes with morality, because if we love God, we need to follow Him. Morality in the end is what is best for us as well. But I’m trying to say that simply a code of actions is not the whole purpose of our faith. It is a transformation of the heart, a life with God, and the actions go along with that. They’re necessary, but the end result is not just being a good person, but a saint.

Maybe it could help to read about some of the Saints in the Church as they show the purpose of Christianity very well through their very lives… St Padre Pio is a recent Saint and a great example. God worked through him to do many miracles. padrepiodevotions.org/

As for using our intellect… we can use our reason to figure out basic morality or even God’s existence. But certain other things are so above our nature that we need God to reveal them to us. This He did in Christianity, in the Person of Christ. We need faith to understand such things. Faith illumines our minds to understand God better. However, these revealed truths are not against reason at all. We just can’t reach them on our own. But once we receive them, we can reason about them with the light of faith and understand them better.

It is grace and faith that enable us to believe in them and understand them.

Try to make acts of trust towards God… ask Him for more faith and trust. Ask Our Lady too, God does not refuse her.

God bless you
 
40.png
PluniaZ:
Christianity is far different from every other religion. Based on the dating of Paul’s letters, by the year 50 AD, there were communities of believers across the ancient world, from Jerusalem to Ephesus to Athens to Rome. How do you explain the spread of a new religion, based solely on the testimony of some backwater hicks from Galilee, across the entire ancient world in a mere 17 years following the Crucifixion? There is nothing like it in recorded history.
Click to expand...
Great point. The rapid spread of early Christianity is evidence that it is true. For a more recent example, look at the rapid spread of Catholicism in the new world. At the time of the Protestant revolt against the Church, missionaries converted thousands of people in the Americas. Our Lady helped this effort by appearing to St. Juan Deigo. Interestingly, Our Mother also helped St. James to convert the Spanish.
 
Well, Islam denies that Jesus was crucified. In the book of Galatians, which was written by Paul, Paul says that he met with Peter. Paul’s entire message was based on the idea that Jesus was crucified and resurrected, so if Jesus had not been crucified nor resurrected, believe me, Peter and Paul would’ve had a big argument about it. They didn’t, though. We have more reason to believe in the crucifixion than almost any other event in history.

Another reason not to believe Islam is that it demeans women. Muhammad said that women are deficient in terms of their religiosity and intelligence. Surah 4:34 of the Qur’an says that men can beat their wives.
 
Elena321 said:
Lately I have been doubting whether I believe in God or Christianity and wondering whether religion/s is all a man made concept to promote morals in society and social cohesion.
This would make sense for a society that was likely very immoral in Roman times etc and if people are promised the “reward” of heaven then this would have encouraged them to stay moral.

In these modern times now,things are different.
Even if religion is right,how do you know which one is true?
Eg:I was Baptised and born to a Catholic family/ethnic background so it is “easier” to follow belief about Jesus but how do I really know this is true and not just “conditioning”?
For example what if Islam is true instead?
Christianity/Catholicism and Islam both seem to share a lot of similar foundations like no sex before marriage,similarities or Lent with Ramadan,belief in sins,belief in afterlife,belief in God,no gay marriage,belief in modesty,belief in charity and compassion, and so on but where they differ is on the belief of Jesus Christ as saviour/messiah…
So how do I really know which “story” is true?

Or what about Hinduism?
It doesn’t really appeal to me as the notion of worshipping many Gods seems somehow primitive but maybe this is just my social conditioning too?

My sister says it can’t be worked out using the mind but if it’s “worked out” through some spiritual sense then why would one person receive the sense to believe in Jesus and another receive the sense to follow Islam(for example)?

Is it that God can be found in every religion but this doesn’t add up either as I think Catholic Church teaches this is not true?

I’m confused:confused:

Can anyone provide any insight please?
Click to expand...
I suppose your question is whether God is true and which religion is true. Right?

In my personal experience, I am a cradle Catholic btw, there were times in my younger days that belief in God was not very impotant to me especially when it is hard to prove that God is actually real.

However, I was privileged because at some point in time, long story short I was touched by the Holy Spirit (a spiritual experience) and found myself changed and began to love God.

That convinced me that God is real. This was somewhat helped by the fact that I had a Christian background already and through that knowledge I could reason out what was happening to me.

To me the Catholic Church is the true Church and therefore has the whole truth; and because of that I do not think other religions are as reliable.
 
PluniaZ said:
Christianity is far different from every other religion. Based on the dating of Paul’s letters, by the year 50 AD, there were communities of believers across the ancient world, from Jerusalem to Ephesus to Athens to Rome. How do you explain the spread of a new religion, based solely on the testimony of some backwater hicks from Galilee, across the entire ancient world in a mere 17 years following the Crucifixion? There is nothing like it in recorded history.

The only other religions that can claim a rapid rise in the middle of recorded history are Islam and perhaps Buddhism. But neither Islam nor Buddhism purport to be based on public miraculous events like the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Islam claims that Mohammed received a divine book from God. Mohammed’s followers believed him, and then conquered the Middle East. Buddha was just a wealthy guy who was distraught by the horrible suffering of poor people in India, and taught his followers they could alleviate their own suffering by renouncing worldly pleasures. Neither of those claims compares to, “The man who was just crucified in front of everyone and buried in that tomb over there just rose from the dead!”
Click to expand...
I see want you mean,but at the same time,I think Muslims also believe that Mohammed “did” miracles?
So this is right or false?
 
Monica4316 said:
Elena,

The purpose of Christianity is not just for a society to be more moral. It is to enable to us to share in God’s very life.

The moral code is found in natural law. It means that it’s written into every person’s heart. We have a very difficult time as human beings following it. That is because we need God’s grace to do this, and we are mostly trying on our own. It wasn’t meant to be like that.

God wants to live in us, to transform us and to share His very life with us. He wants to be part of everything we do. Just purely out of love. That is what Christianity is for. This helps us to fight our concupiscence that prevents us from following morality well. But the purpose of morality is to live in the truth, to live the way that is best for us, the way that God made.

If there was no God, why would there be morality? Why would it be so similar across cultures and times? There are things we just all know that are wrong. Other things, come from revelation, from God to man, in Jesus. To the Church.

If there was no God, how would people even come to care about being moral in the first place?

Christianity is the religion that God revealed. When I say Christianity, I mean the way it’s been from the beginning, which is found in the Catholic Church. Protestants believe in Jesus too but they changed their view of salvation, Sacraments, etc, from what it was since the Apostolic times.

Think of it this way… God made the first human beings. Adam and Eve. They were immortal, they lived with God, their life was something we can’t really imagine now. But they were free… and they had to make a free choice, towards God and towards His love, but they didn’t. The original sin was pride, self will. So they separated themselves from God, who is their Father, and our Father, and their way of life changed. They began to experience an attraction for sin. They began to die.

The people multiplied on earth… the first people knew what had happened and about God, but later, when there were many people, and they spread around the world, they began to wonder about God. We can see through natural law and reason that there is a God. But we need His revelation about Himself to know anything very concrete. People felt a desire for God, for spiritual things, because they are there. If they had not been there, people would not have felt a desire for such things, because there would have been no purpose for it at all, in us as creatures. But because they didn’t know about God, they began to make up gods and goddesses for themselves, and made their own religions. These religions had some things that were from natural law or were correct, but in many ways there were false. They didn’t know who God is.
Click to expand...
But then why are there other religions like Islam or Judaism which believe in God but not in Jesus?
And if Christianity and Jesus is the truth then wouldn’t God want everyone to spread this to people but today,in modern society,there is no “spreading of this” -in fact,I am living in Australia,and here (probably unlike in America) religion is not usually talked about in everyday life,and when it is talked about in the media,it is 99% of the time spoken of in the negative.
In addition,it seems to me unrealistic/unlikely for people of other religions to become Christian (in first world countries) because most people stay the religion of their background/parents or simply “turn off” from religion.
Actually,religion is not “popular” here at all anymore,and especially with young people the majority believing in gay marriage (for example).
If the answer is that Christian Catholics should “evangelise” in the modern world through thei actions instead of their words then this confuses me to because there are also Muslims who do loving and compassionate things such as feeding the homeless and even some atheists/agnostics do too-so are they being Christian in a way too?

Regarding God wanting to live in us-in all honesty that sounds to me like a somewhat scary concept.I have been to Church many times and understand the “structure” of how Mass happens but still don’t grasp the concept of God living in and whether it is God,or Jesus or the Holy Spirit who does this,when it happens -eg:is it by an “invitation” of the will or does it happen when a person receives Holy Communion etc?
It sounds scary because then what if you sin or do something against Gods will?
 
If Muslims and Jewish believe in the same God as Christians -when they pray is that who they are praying to?
If that is the case then why doesn’t the Holy Spirit lead them to Jesus Christ when they pray?
Is it that God has a plan/purpose for people being Muslim (for example)?

It might sound weird,but can people be Christian without being Christian?
Ie:if an agnostic or Muslim follows what Jesus says in regards to loving God and your neighbour as yourself and be’s humble (as Jesus taught) and shows compassion and helps the “least of us” in society (as Jesus taught) etc are they “Christian” in some way without knowing it?

Or an atheist mum or dad forgiving a murderer of their son or daughter-would they be being Christian in a way without knowing it if that makes sense?
 
It’s sad that you are lacking in faith but i can totally relate, my faith has always been very low, inicially i thought faith would be something i’d build upon in time, we try to change our lifestyle in order to please God, just in case our sins are blocking us form him, but after a while i felt that all my efforts were for nothing, in a lot of ways, i feel weaker now than i did before my transition to Christianity, but it’s not over, gotta keep trying, strong faith is a blessing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top