Help an atheist to "discover" Catholic Christianity

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Looks like you already have received a bunch of suggestions of what you could do to learn more about the faith and if it’s something you are being called to. (As a Catholic, I believe all people are called to be Catholic, but that could be a topic for another time.) If you’re looking to reconcile the whole faith versus reason aspect, which I assume as an atheist you are, I’ll give you two resources that helped me get over the perceived anti-intellectualisms that I found in modern Catholicism. The first is a book called Thoughtful Theism and the second are the documents of the First Vatican Council.
 
Todd_Easton said:
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Zaccheus:
“Mere Christianity” by Lewis is an excellent starting point if you want to know what Christians believe.

His other works of non-fiction are good sources too. I recommend “The Four Loves” and his autobiographical “Surprised by Joy”.
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Gigas97 said:
C.S. Lewis “Mere Christianity” is a very good book to start with.
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It should be noted that C.S. Lewis was an atheist convert to Anglican Christianity, which is nevertheless different from Catholic Christianity about which the original post is concerned, though they share many common elements.
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And Lewis was, at the time of Mere Christianity, of the more Catholic wing of Anglicanism.

Chesterton is also good reading.
 
JohnSadblack said:
I hope you will know how to help me. And I thank you in advance for your help.
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Catholicism/Christianity teaches that there’s something basically wrong/broken about the world we live in, including ourselves. And that this goes far in explaining why the world is as messed up as it is, why evil and falsehood exist in so many variants in human life. At the same time it teaches that something much “bigger” than ourselves is behind the existence of this universe and that order, goodness, and love, in fact, are foundational to it.

The main problem with humanity is that we may not even want to know about this “Something”, we may prefer ourselves and our ways-or the crowd’s ways- to it; all humans suffer in one way or another from an over-abundance of pride (which involves the fear of what others think); humility is never possessed in excessive quantities here.

But man, it’s said, was made for communion with God, ‘apart from Whom he can do nothing’, truth be told-and understood. We don’t exist without God, we don’t “live, and move, and have our beings” without God; we cannot possess the full peace and joy and happiness that He’s always desired for us and yet we’re free to ignore Him. But it’s also said that we’re made in His image, that we’ll never be free and happy until we find Him and that we have a built-in desire for Him which expresses itself whenever and wherever we seek for a higher Truth.

But God won’t force us to believe that He exists, or that He’s important; we can play god ourselves if we want-it’s a matter of the will. So we’re here to learn of His existence and of our need for Him and of the way that he heals this broken world as we finally turn back to Him. That’s why Jesus came, to reveal the full true “face” of God, so that we may know Him, and be reconciled with Him, and find meaning and purpose and value in life, giving up the “empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors” (1 Pet 1:18), giving up the menial values and desires and attractions of this world for something much bigger and more important. There’s much more.
 
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I would like to thank you all for your help and your advices (And especially your respect/sympathy towards me), it truly means a lot to me.
I need to think about all the things you said, some being a bit “too much” for me (For now at least) and some being good “food for thought”.
Sadly, because I do not live in the US, most of the books you advised me to read aren’t available. I’ll try to find similar ones. I also planned to buy a Bible and talk to a priest.
Once again, thank you a lot ^^
 
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May I ask where you live? Maybe I could point to some resources after some research.
 
JohnSadblack said:
I also planned to buy a Bible
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Not all Christian Bibles are created equal; some Christian traditions include more writings in their Bibles and some fewer writings. If you want to study Catholic Christianity, you might consider getting a Catholic Bible. Catholic Bibles, for instance, contain more pre-Christian, Jewish writings in their Old Testament section than the typical Protestant Bible; unlike the typical Protestant Bible, Catholic Bibles also include Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch, and longer versions of Daniel and Esther.
 
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It’s difficult to say what will resonate with you, but from my personal experience Bishop Barron and Fulton Sheen were instrumental in me rediscovering my faith after having abandoned it.

If you enjoy listening to Podcasts, Catholic Answers is excellent. I particularly enjoy listening to Patrick Madrid and Jimmy Akin.

A few more suggestions…
  1. There is a lot of misinformation about religion, Christianity and Catholicism. I was surprised to learn how often people make bizarre assumptions about what Catholics believe. Just read a lot.
  2. Accept that there are bad people in the church. We are ALL sinners and we all fall short. Don’t allow it to be a blanket statement on everyone or the church.
  3. Talk to God. Speak to him as you would a friend. Give prayer a try, even if it seems silly and you get nothing out of it. Just try.
  4. Don’t put pressure on yourself. Discovering God can be a lifelong journey for some. Just have an open mind and especially an open heart.
I really admire you for your inquisitiveness. Especially in this day and age when it’s so easy to look the other way. My prayers are with you.
 
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Yes, I see how finding resources could be difficult. I couldn’t find any French translations for the recommended books. How well can you read English?
 
I don’t have any difficulty to read and understand English written texts. The main problem is to find them.
 
JohnSadblack said:
I don’t have any difficulty to read and understand English written texts. The main problem is to find them.
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You can always spend some money to buy a Kindle - then just instantly download bought books from Amazon. I’m from Poland and it’s very comfortable for me.

Btw. i recommend you " Cold-Case Christianity" by J. Warner Wallace.
 
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Excellent remark, I didn’t think about that. Most of the books are available on Play Store. Thank you !
 
Play Store is a good idea too! Personally i prefer kindle because it’s more book-like, eyes do not hurt, light does not reflect, very long battery life etc. Good luck in your new journey John 😀
 
Steve Ray has some of his books in e-book form as well as Trent Horn. Upon This Rock by Steve Ray would be a good start. I even downloaded a free e-book by signing up for the Catholic Answers email list.
 
JohnSadblack said:
I also planned to buy a Bible and talk to a priest
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I take the first sentence in the Bible to be an absolute truth; ‘In the beginning; God created the heavens and the Earth’. The rest of the Bible is a lifetime’s journey trying to understand, to be inspired and encouraged by it.

In order to find God; you have to do something, and talking to a priest is a giant first step.
 
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