Friend; What'[s your Roadblock?

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Dear freinds in Christ;

Share with us please “what your personal reoadblock is.”

What’s preventing you from considering Catholism?🙂
I am learning about the Catholic faith, I agree with almost everything, except asking Mary to intercede for us. I believe that we only need Jesus to be the mediator between us and God, the whole Mary adoration makes me feel uncomfortable.
 
=AdamW;9924849]A few questionable practices in local parishes :(:rolleyes: (although that’s the sort of thing that can change with time), and some of the same questions about universal primacy that have been expressed so eloquently already.
Universal Primacy is an absolute MUST BE TRUE FACT…

I’ll provide a site for easy look up; but try to get pass your ouw opinion and SEEK the truth.

Read carefully the following passages: EACH is exclusive to the Apostles and LIMITED to them and their succesors. By virtue of the FACT that after the ressurection Christ COMMANDS [no options given] His Apostles to TEACH THE ENTIRE WORLD WHT HE HAD TAUGHT THEM…END QUOTE… SUCCESSION HAD TO AND HAS TO IN AN ABSOLUTE SENSE BE FACT AND GODS WILL.

Mt. 10:1-8
Mt. 1618-19
Mt. 28:16-20
John 14:16-17
John 20:21-22
John 17:15-19

http://www.drbo.org/

NOTE that is Mt. 28:19-20; John 14 and john 20 Christ speciafically and precisely passes on HIS VERY OWN GOLDY POWERS AND AUTHORITY to ONLY the Apostles and through them todays CC. NO OTHER CHRISTIAN FAITH; CERTAINLY NO OTHER “CHURCH” WOULD EVEN EXIST FOR 9 HUNDRED YEARS!🤷

AND WHAT I PROVIDE HERE IS but A SMALL PART OF THE EVIDENCE AVAILABLE.

God Bless and GUUIDE you friends,

Mt. 10:1-8
 
I don’t come from a Protestant tradition, but I believe the biggest stumbling (or road-) block is not Mary, nor the Doctrines and Dogmas of the Church, but the SELF.

Following Christ completely in and into His Church requires self-gift, which all of us fail to do. Even for us who already belong in the Catholic church struggle with this, and it’s even more intense.
Such self-gifting is rare, true, but it does happen, and not always in a good way. I have met quite a few Muslims and sola scriptura Christian fundamentalists whose life is wholly devoted to what the believe, who immediately give up anything in their life which they perceived to be ungodly (a practice which can have very painful effects upon families, in particular). They have that utterly submissive behaviour, but do not apply it to Catholicism because they do not believe Catholicism to be true.
 
I am uncomfortable with a number of things, but by far the biggest is the Catholic view of Mary. While this godly woman without a doubt deserves the respect of all Christians, I am very uncomfortable with the degree to which she is regarded in the RCC, both in doctrine and in practice. The Marian dogmas are regarded as absolute “must believes” if one is a Catholic. I can neither embrace them nor be comfortable with such ideas as consecrating myself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Although not yet a dogma, the idea of the proposed Fifth Marian Dogma is particularly troubling to me. Doctrine/dogmas should be reserved for the critically important matters of the faith, and I can see absolutely no reason for such a doctrine other than to merely elevate her.
 
IDoctrine/dogmas should be reserved for the critically important matters of the faith,
What verses in the Scriptures tell you what’s an important matter of the faith? :confused:
and I can see absolutely no reason for such a doctrine other than to merely elevate her.
All Marian doctrines only serve to enhance and nourish our understanding of Christ.

An impoverished understanding of Mary leads to an impoverished understanding of Jesus.
 
What verses in the Scriptures tell you what’s an important matter of the faith? :confused:

All Marian doctrines only serve to enhance and nourish our understanding of Christ.

An impoverished understanding of Mary leads to an impoverished understanding of Jesus.
If Mary is so important, why is she barely mentioned in the Bible.? I mean no disrespect,…I am just trying to understand why Mary plays such a huge role in the Catholic Church .I find myself being drawn ever closer to the Catholic faith but that is one area I am having real difficulty with.
Heather
 
If Mary is so important, why is she barely mentioned in the Bible.? I mean no disrespect,…I am just trying to understand why Mary plays such a huge role in the Catholic Church .I find myself being drawn ever closer to the Catholic faith but that is one area I am having real difficulty with.
Heather
Hi. Good question and what many Catholics would love to answer. You can expect many different answers to this depend on what strikes them as personal or important.
I would say there are quite a lot of verses mentioning Mary in the Bible and those should be sufficient. She should not draw attention to herself and besides, Marian spiritually stipulates that Mary is always bringing us nearer to Jesus. She is always pointing toward her son.

She is important because she is Jesus’ mother. No other human is given that privilege, and Mary is the one and only, Jesus’ real mother. Christianity preaches the importance of the family. Even the Trinity can be considered a family – The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit. The Church always recognized this since the beginning.

As for Mary in the Bible, consider this:
  1. She was there when Jesus was born.
  2. She was there during Jesus first miracle in his ministry.
  3. She was there when Jesus died on the cross.
  4. She was there (in the cenacle of the upper room) when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles during the Pentecost.
These were some of the most important events of Jesus personal life and we can find Mary always there.

God bless.
 
I guess there are two issues which stop me from being a Catholic.

One is the simple fact that for me personally, the Bible has too many unanswered questions, contradictions, absurdities and general issues of historiography and document preservation to warrant the claim of it being the ‘Word of God’. To my mind, any God who wished to speak to His creation would have done so with ONE book, unaltered and completely clear to all. Given the various Bibles used by the various churches, that is obviously not the case.

Secondly, and there’s already been a post about this, there is little about Christianity’s claim to be the Absolute Truth which could not be (and is) claimed by any other religious system or set of beliefs.
 
I guess there are two issues which stop me from being a Catholic.
One is the simple fact that for me personally, the Bible has too many unanswered questions, contradictions, absurdities and general issues of historiography and document preservation to warrant the claim of it being the ‘Word of God’. To my mind, any God who wished to speak to His creation would have done so with ONE book, unaltered and completely clear to all. Given the various Bibles used by the various churches, that is obviously not the case.
Most of the so-called contradiction in the Bible can be explained and that have been done many times. In any case, one can always find contradictions in any religious scripture. It is a matter of being agreeing to their explanation which of course depends on the individuals.

It is true different churches have their own translations which probably translated in such a way to justify their doctrines. The difficulty for those interested would be to find the true Church.
Secondly, and there’s already been a post about this, there is little about Christianity’s claim to be the Absolute Truth which could not be (and is) claimed by any other religious system or set of beliefs.
Basically spirituality is about faith – something we believe or want to without having to see it. I don’t see how it is different with any major religions in this aspect.
 
If Mary is so important, why is she barely mentioned in the Bible.?
One response: As Bishop Fulton Sheen said, “Mary is on every page of the Bible.”

Another response: where does the idea come from that the more times you are mentioned in the Bible, the more important you are?

Keeping Holy the Lord’s name is mentioned a few times in the OT and NEVER in the NT. Does that mean it’s not important?
 
The Bible is not about Mary. Its about God, the FAther Son and Holy Spirit, one God.
 
Most of the so-called contradiction in the Bible can be explained and that have been done many times. In any case, one can always find contradictions in any religious scripture. It is a matter of being agreeing to their explanation which of course depends on the individuals.

It is true different churches have their own translations which probably translated in such a way to justify their doctrines. The difficulty for those interested would be to find the true Church.
It’s not even a matter of the contradictions but also issues of theology. To my mind, the concept of the supposed sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross makes NO sense at all, either in terms of what I know of Jewish theology or even basic logic and philosophy, along with other concepts of Catholic/Christian belief. I’m hoping that being here on CAF may change that but at present, this is not the case.
Basically spirituality is about faith – something we believe or want to without having to see it. I don’t see how it is different with any major religions in this aspect.
I can certainly grasp that, but when a religion is claiming to be an ABSOLUTE truth, there has to be a higher standard of evidence to prove that claim than ordinarily required. An absolute truth by its nature has considered all possible viewpoints in its conclusion and then answered them or given response to them in such a way that any sort of doubt, error or alternate interpretation is pretty much destroyed.

To my mind any person who claims to have an absolute truth is likely lying, as such a standard is almost impossible.
 
Amen!

But Mary is about the Son.
True, we woud on never known about Mary if God had not chosen her to birth his son Jesus (his Word) to us, so we do have to have respect and admiration for her for that,

Bishop Fulton Sheen may see Mary on every page, but most of us see God.
 
Following a split of the Lutheran church I had been attending some years ago, I spent considerable time attending and studying some churches I hadn’t learned much about previously, including the Roman Catholic church. I found roadblocks to the idea of seeking membership in the Catholic church in its doctrines of papal infallibility/universal primacy, indulgences (and the concept of excess merit that lies behind it), and certain aspects of Marian theology. I ended up joining a traditional Anglican church because it raised fewer roadblocks for me than other options.
 
The Bible is not about Mary. Its about God, the FAther Son and Holy Spirit, one God.
Its not about St. Peter and the twelve. It isn’t about St. Paul. It isn’t about Abraham, or Moses, or King David, or Isaiah. Yet all of these, including the Blessed Virgin, point to Christ, and Him crucified.

Jon
 
Its not about St. Peter and the twelve. It isn’t about St. Paul. It isn’t about Abraham, or Moses, or King David, or Isaiah. Yet all of these, including the Blessed Virgin, point to Christ, and Him crucified.

Jon
Well said 👍
 
Bishop Fulton Sheen may see Mary on every page, but most of us see God.
There is no reason to create a dichotomy, as if Christians can ONLY see one and not the other when they read the Bible.

There is no need to create this “God and not Mary” or “Mary and not God” division.
 
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