From Catholic to....

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AJTheMan said:
" When we die, the mind, with all the tendencies, preferences, abilities and characteristics that have been developed and conditioned in this life, re-establishes itself in a fertilized egg. Thus the individual grows, is re-born and develops a personality conditioned both by the mental characteristics that have been carried over and by the new environment. The personality will change and be modified by conscious effort and conditioning factors like education, parental influence and society and once again at death, re-establish itself in a new fertilized egg. This process of dying and being reborn will continue until the conditions that cause it, craving and ignorance, cease. When they do, instead of being reborn, the mind attains a state called Nirvana and this is the ultimate goal of Buddhism and the purpose of life. Think of it being like radio waves. The radio waves, which are not made up of words and music but energy at different frequencies, are transmitted, travel through space, are attracted to and picked up by the receiver from where they are broadcast as words and music. It is the same with the mind. At death, mental energy travels through space, is attracted to and picked up by the fertilized egg. As the embryo grows, it centers itself in the brain from where it later “broadcasts” itself as the new personality. " – Buddhanet.net (Established by a Bhikkhu)

It is called Samsara in buddhism also. I tend to leave the terminology off of the message boards though because it is mostly meaningless to people who don’t already have some knowledge of it. For instance, instead of saying sangha, I’ll usually say “monkhood” so that Catholics understand a bit better. I don’t know much about Hindus but I think the goal they have is very similar. They hope to achieve nibbanna. Hindus believe that one must first be reborn into the Priest Caste. The Buddha was the biggest critic of the caste system at the time. He felt that anyone, like himself, could reach nibbanna without having to wait countless lifetimes to be reborn into the priest caste.

The reason why I say that Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation is because that would be fairly misleading as to what the dhamma teaches. Reincarnation is the idea that a permanent “self,” or soul, is reborn into new bodies. This idea of a permanent “self” is missing from Buddhism. The concept is similar but when you factor in the concept of anatta, you see how calling it “reincarnation” could be misleading.
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Thanks. I do not want to prolong the discussion here, but I appreciate you offering your points.
 
TedDC said:
And that’s precisely the attitude that helped motivate me to leave the Church!
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No - your apparent lack of faith was the driving force behind your departure. That’s what it ALWAYS boils down to.**
 
elvisman said:
No - your apparent lack** of faith was the driving force behind your departure. That’s what it ALWAYS boils down to.
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One day, when you grow up and become an adult, you’ll learn that the world isn’t as black and white as it seems now, when you’re a teenager.

I mean, I’m assuming you’re about 14 or 15, as the complete lack of compassion and understanding is what I normally associate with the immaturity of youth.
 
cheese_sdc said:
Not cool dude.
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Not cool?
Leaving the truth for anything else is a lack of faith - whether it be from poor catechesis or from one’s own personal pridefulness.

One must be held accountable for having left the truth so as to guide them back to it. Telling them that they are okay as long as they believe in only certain parts of that truth is not charitable at all.
 
elvisman said:
Not cool?
Leaving the truth for anything else is a lack of faith - whether it be from poor catechesis or from one’s own personal pridefulness.

One must be held accountable for having left the truth so as to guide them back to it. Telling them that they are okay as long as they believe in only certain parts of that truth is not charitable at all.
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What size shoes do you wear?
 
Originally Posted by michaeldaniels
I don’t care who this upsets…but it is the pure, unadulterated truth…THE ONLY REASONS any Catholic would ever abandon The Catholic Church, is because either A) They do not fully understand The Church’s teachings and have a very poor catechesis and they are leaving something they don’t even really know to begin with; or B) They truly know and understand all of The Church’s teachings, but out of complete arrogance, selfishness, and hardness of heart, they leave the Church because they want to live a lifestyle not compatible with being a Catholic.

**And that’s precisely the attitude that helped motivate me to leave the Church! **

The truth always hurts where it counts the most!
 
elvisman said:
And that is significant, because . . .
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Because I figure that you must have magical feet, to be able to be able to not only wear the the shoes of everyone who’s left Catholicism, but also walk a mile in them.

You must be an amazing person, to be able to pass judgment so easily.
 
Nicea325 said:
Originally Posted by michaeldaniels
I don’t care who this upsets…but it is the pure, unadulterated truth…THE ONLY REASONS any Catholic would ever abandon The Catholic Church, is because either A) They do not fully understand The Church’s teachings and have a very poor catechesis and they are leaving something they don’t even really know to begin with; or B) They truly know and understand all of The Church’s teachings, but out of complete arrogance, selfishness, and hardness of heart, they leave the Church because they want to live a lifestyle not compatible with being a Catholic.

**And that’s precisely the attitude that helped motivate me to leave the Church! **

The truth always hurts where it counts the most!
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Wow. Another magical foot person. You guys must be more common than I thought.
 
cheese_sdc said:
Because I figure that you must have magical feet, to be able to be able to not only wear the the shoes of everyone who’s left Catholicism, but also walk a mile in them.

You must be an amazing person, to be able to pass judgment so easily.
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Not passing judgement on anybody. I’m simply discerning basic logic.
There is no other reason to leave the truth than because of a lack of faith in that truth.

Give me one - ANY other reason one would leave the truth.
 
elvisman said:
Not passing judgement on anybody. I’m simply discerning basic logic.
There is no other reason to leave the truth than because of a lack of faith in that truth.

Give me one - ANY other reason one would leave the truth.
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You don’t discern logic. Logic flows from a true premises to a conclusion. In this case, your premise is flawed (The Catholic Church is the only Truth).

Now, we can talk about that 'til the cows come home, but the truth is that you don’t know Truth anymore than the next person, be he Pope, Pauper, or Prince.

And once you accept that, then you’ll be on to something.
 
elvisman said:
Not passing judgement on anybody. I’m simply discerning basic logic.
There is no other reason to leave the truth than because of a lack of faith in that truth.

Give me one - ANY other reason one would leave the truth.
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In addition, the very vocabulary betrays you. Do you have faith that a chair will support you? No. You sit in it perfectly confident that it will hold you up. There is no faith involved.

The fact that you have to have faith in your chosen Truth is telling. 😉
 
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