How do you view doctrines?

[StrawberryJam]

I think you might have lumped several different things together. Most of the doctrines are there to assure people of what is True and what is not. These are not trivial issues. Most people who get stressed out over things are not stressed over the doctrines but over disciplines or over actual behavior. More than likely, they would find something else to stress over.

If I am wrong about what you are saying, I am sorry. Please feel free to correct my concept of what you are saying

You would be correct, I did lump several things together and I appreciate your correction on the terminology I admit my post was not clear.

It just saddens me that there are some out there that are so very terrifyed about matters that as you say would be disciplines/behavior based. But, can they really be seperate from doctrines? That is where it gets sticky I think. I can’t think of a behavior that wouldn’t have a link to a doctrine. Does that make sense?

Thank you

 

[ralphinal]

You would be correct, I did lump several things together and I appreciate your correction on the terminology I admit my post was not clear.

It just saddens me that there are some out there that are so very terrifyed about matters that as you say would be disciplines/behavior based. But, can they really be seperate from doctrines? That is where it gets sticky I think. I can’t think of a behavior that wouldn’t have a link to a doctrine. Does that make sense?

Thank you

It does. Basically, there are three kinds of people who stress over these things.

The first group are those who are poorly educated in the Faith. All they really understand are the behaviors and not the reasons. Because of that, they form ideas as to what is serious and what is not based on what they know. For example, the Church teaches that we should abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent. Many people know that part, but they do not know the reason for it. Now, let’s say that one of those people totally forgot that it was Friday (trust me, it happens) or that it was Lent (again, it happens). They eat meat. All they know is the discipline and not the doctrine. Suddenly, they feel like they are damned. The way to help these people is through education.

The second group are legalists. They see the actions as the same as the reasons themselves. It is in doing the action that we are saved, not in the faith that moves us that way. Like the first group, they can be helped with education.

The last group are known as scrupulous people. Taken to the extreme, they see everything as evil. No matter what, it is a serious sin. It is a form of OCD and must be treated as such.

The only way to separate the doctrine from the action is to teach one first then the reasons for the resulting actions. The real problem is that many Catholics were poorly taught and make no effort to learn on their own.

 

[spoiltvictorian]

Generally I view doctrines as true unless, of course, they are false. You see, doctrines are simply truths declared and recognized by a church, government, organization, etc. There is nothing special about them because we use that word, even though churches may believe special things about how we know what is true and what people should believe to be true.