How “Catholic” were you before leaving the Catholic Church? Which one of these bests describes you?

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AgnosTheist said:
I agree 0%.

If God wanted us to take the Sacraments, he would have told us himself. 👍
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Surely you’re not implying that there is no scriptural reference to the sacraments are you?

Listen, I don’t have time to debate apologetics if that’s your aim - I don’t know. There are others here who are much better at that. And besides, I strongly believe it’s the Holy Spirit who leads us to the Truth. I shared my experience of walking away from the Catholic Church and what the consequence were/are by making that choice. My prideful disobedience separates me from the Truth and wants me to think that I know more than the Church and her 2,000 years of Tradition. My pride tells me that I know better and that “truth” is for me to define. It wasn’t until I became more like a little child and submitted myself to the Catholic Church that I have been able to live as I should.
 
ethant said:
Surely you’re not implying that there is no scriptural reference to the sacraments are you?
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the scripture is unreliable. even the jews dont believe in your books. and you christians are forever feuding on its obscure words.

no, thats got nothing to do with God.

if God wants us to change the way we live, he will tell us himself. DIRECT TO THE POINT. 👍
 
cheese_sdc said:
There is no such thing as a secure path to salvation.
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I said “most secure”, confession and extreme unction before death is pretty close.
Nope. Most denominations have baptism and marriage; many have holy orders.
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Baptism would be valid with the trinitarian format. That is the only valid sacrament outside of the Churches with Apostolic succession.
I appreciate it, but there’s only two people that should be concerned with my soul. Me and my wife.
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No. All Christians should wish for the salvation of all.
Thanks! 😃
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You’re welcome!

God Bless (again)
 
AgnosTheist said:
I agree 0%.

If God wanted us to take the Sacraments, he would have told us himself. 👍
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I’m more of a reader than a poster, but when Christ said “unless you eat my body and … you have no life in you”, how much more evidence do you need?

Life is in the eucharist!
 
bilop said:
I said “most secure”, confession and extreme unction before death is pretty close.
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I think that attaching “secure” to any means of salvation is somewhat misleading. But whatever floats your boat. 😉
Baptism would be valid with the trinitarian format. That is the only valid sacrament outside of the Churches with Apostolic succession.
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🤷 I find that attitude somewhat egotistic (on the part of the Church). Doesn’t marriage require only the bride and groom’s free will decision to marry? The priest or deacon is only present to witness it.
 
Oh, let’s see…

Baptized Episcopal, family converted when I was in first grade. I attended parochial school through second grade, and was homeschooled from then until high school (fortunately my parents were thoroughly qualified academics).
I went through first confession, communion, and confirmation.
In the couple years before I left the Church, I went to confession every couple-few weeks, attended daily Mass most days and, of course, Sunday Mass, and was discerning a vocation to religious life.

I thought abortion was murder, had no idea what this ‘gay/lesbian’ stuff was all about but I disapproved ‘on principle’, figured television sets were the mark of the Beast, visited a couple of pilgrimage sites and thought I saw the devil himself at one (pretty sure it was someone’s shadow now). I was raised about as hardcore as one can get without being a sedevacantist.

And then I realized the perspective I’d been brought up with wasn’t the only one out there, thanks to actually getting out and meeting people who weren’t coming from the exact same background. A while after that, I decided to see how others’ beliefs measured up, to start putting my own beliefs through the same wringer I put everyone else’s in, and… welp, mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. Weighed in the balance, and found wanting.

So from there, I tried to find out what I could believe. The answer was ‘not much’. If Jesus decides to come down and tell me who’s right, I’ll give it due consideration, but that’s all I’ve got. Same goes for Vishnu, Amaterasu, Ahura Mazda, Wotan, Zeus, Cthulhu, and so on and so forth. If any deity appears to me and demonstrates its existence beyond reasonable doubt, I’ll believe. Whether I worship is a completely different question. I would not worship a god who was, desired, or commanded evil; a mere demiurge may be greater than I am, but it still would not be worthy of my love and worship.
 
I was very Catholic that I defended the Catholic faith very much; those who know me here can read my posts and know how much I have done that. I can still defend the Catholic Church most of the time, since it has very close ties with Orthodoxy, though when it comes to the role of the bishop of Rome has in the Church, that’s where I would differ.
 
I was very into apologetics and very into Catholicism. I fit somewhere between traditionalist charismatic moderate?
 
cheddarsox said:
I was in discussion with the nuns who ran my high school (Franciscan) about becoming a nun.

I spent my lunch breaks in chapel in adoration in high school.

Had received all the sacraments of initiation.

Yet, looking back, and after talking with people who are deeply Catholic as adults, I know there was something in me that was never really Catholic. It was how I played out my very real and deep spirituality, but I never fully believed the doctrines.

I was good with the moral stuff, and spiritual disciplines, but not the theology.

cheddar
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Wow! This is like… me. Well, not being a nun, me not being a woman… 👍
 
cheese_sdc said:
🤷 I find that attitude somewhat egotistic (on the part of the Church). Doesn’t marriage require only the bride and groom’s free will decision to marry? The priest or deacon is only present to witness it.
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For a valid natural marriage yes. For a sacramental marriage it requires a Church that has actual sacraments.

God Bless
 
I converted when I was 18 and left many years later. I was a practicing catholic; mass on holy days, rosaries, confession, etc. But after learning more of the faith of th early church, I simply could not reconcile the current role of the Roman bishop to the ancient role of the pope.
 
thecoach said:
Reading the Bible showed me why I should leave.
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Oh, I see… by reading a “Catholic Book”, the Bible, you decided that Catholicism wasn’t for you anymore…

How old were you when you stopped going to Mass? How well did you understand your Catholic faith, when you left?

When did you stop practicing as Catholic and start practicing in another Christian denomination?

Did you go to Mass one day and then the very next day, decide that you didn’t want to be Catholic anymore because you saw something in the Bible? Or, did you do what many others have, which is not practice any religion for years and years and then, “all of a sudden” decide that you weren’t’ a Catholic anymore?

What did you “find” in the Bible the caused you to decide to leave Catholicism?

Do you know what “Apostasy” means?

Just curious…

I Hope and pray, that for your sake that one day you come home to Christ’s true Church, the Roman Catholic Church.

Peace 🙂
 
Here is another great article by Karl Keating – “CATHOLICS WHO DON’T THINK LIKE CATHOLICS”.
 
cheese_sdc said:
Scary? No, joyous!

There are many, many people in the world that will never be able to accept Divinity as defined by Catholicism. For them, they have to find their own path. Rejoice that they can find the Divine, in whatever tradition or method suits them!
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No! They NEED to find God, and the best way to do that is through The Catholic Church. Individual paths are wide roads and not of God or His Church.
 
adstrinity said:
No! They NEED to find God, and the best way to do that is through The Catholic Church. Individual paths are wide roads and not of God or His Church.
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/me wonders how this statement is different from the evangelistic preachers shouting about “being saved”.
 
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