Finding middle ground

[Ncors]

So what I’ve gotten from this Christian Catholic debate is that doing all the things Christ tells us to do is right. You should confess to a priest AND God, you should rely on faith AND works. You should obey all that God has to say. You should use the saints and Mary to reach out to Jesus, but never worship them as idols. You should just eat the Eucharist because Jesus says to “Do this in memory of me”. After all, if we were all deceived by any church, will God truly hold us accountable and sentence his own children to an eternity of torment because of someone else’s lies? I think he would understand the struggles in your own heart, rather than whether you went to mass every single Sunday of your life.

 

[Kei]

Catholics are Christians and yes you should listen to all Jesus says. Follow His Church.

Do your best, you know? But so often we do less. We have to abandon ourselves to His Mercy.

 

[pianistclare]

WE don’t “eat Eucharist”. We receive Him, Body, Blood Soul and Divinity" into our very selves.
There is no debate. It is what He commands for our eternal life.
Read up on it.
The Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn is a very accessible place to begin.

 

[Reuben_J]

Yes, it is true that we can be deceived. However, we can always ask for wisdom and search for the truth, and to be open to them.

If we are truly ignorant and therefore being decieved, the Lord will not hold it against us. But if we are given information but refuse to believe, then we should be accountable to our own actions and their consequences.

God bless.

 

[guanophore]

You should confess to a priest AND God, you should rely on faith AND works.

When we go to a priest for confession, we are confessing to God. The priest stands in the place of God, to give us absolution from God. It is also important to make an act of contrition on your own, before you go to confession.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Eph. 2:8-10

We are not saved by faith, or by works, but by God’s grace. Jesus shed blood on the cross is what saves us. We cannot earn it. We access His grace through faith. That faith is a certain kind of faith. Saving faith has the quality of a faith that works, a faith that shows our love for Him by following His commandments. So it is not so much “faith and works” as faith, working through love.

“…faith working through love…” Gal5: 6

You should just eat the Eucharist because Jesus says to “Do this in memory of me”.

He does say this, and it is important, but there is another reason to:

"Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” John 6:5 3

rather than whether you went to mass every single Sunday of your life.

What reason would you have not to go?

 

[chieft]

Sounds like you have a decent foundational understanding of the Catholic faith. Do not forget sanctifying grace from the Sacraments. The Catholic church is all about Grace.

I hope you have time to view. I found this a few Lent’s ago. The background noise is because original recording was recorded during Mass.