I am guilty, I am not working hard enough

[bengal_fan]

Oh yes it does my friend. When they find out the truth and the truth is the history of the Catholic church. Remember, the church came FIRST, before the Bible. Before the NT.

actually, lots of different communities came first. each having their own version of the events of Jesus’ life. it’s why we have 4 different gospels (and there are many differences from a historical perspective) as opposed to 1 that was universally agreed upon.

my point is to not make history your God… it will fail you as it is not designed to give us meaning in life.

 

[water]

Some have converted to Catholic by learning its history; some have done the same thing, and they are still where they are.

Some others, with lack of academic knowledge but with simplicity and purity at heart, they find the Truth that others don’t.

The humble ones please God more.

 

[whatisthetruth]

editing

 

[whatisthetruth]

bump
Hi all,

I am sorry for not responding sooner, I was busy in another thread.

I posted this thread with one idea in mind, to see the reaction it would get. Quite frankly I am not surprised. I very much appreciate the sensitivity of the following people and their kind words

bengal_fan

God leads us to Him.
“keep seeking God. truly seeking God. and He promises to lead you into His truth, for all who seek will find.”

water
“keep seeking God. truly seeking God. and He promises to lead you into His truth, for all who seek will find.”
why me
I am certain that you have been a wonderful example of what it means to be catholic in your every day life.
Through your work in your workplace or through your work as a student you can bring santification into people’s lives. And in the end, there is no greater witness that you can give then to attempt to bring santification to others in work, school or in the home and to be an example of a saintlike life.

Righteousone

And aside from saying you are not doing enough, because you believe in christ is good enough for Him.

mercygate
Light’s on for ya. Door’s open!

psyche23
Your story is not unusual and is probably the norm. I am also compelled to continue learning. I find that the more I learn, the closer I get to both my Catholic Church and God.

I believe protestants are in general good people searching for answers.

my point is basically no, you’re not unique. And we are/were never meant to know if we’re doing enough. If we knew that, it would be too easy to just stop there or to only do the minimum requirements.

water
Don’t feel guilty if you are not doing enough, ask God for graces to do what He wants you to do, not what you think you would do for Him.
The nuns sitting inside a 4-wall room praying all day and night might do as much as a preacher walks on street and invites thousands of people to his church.
One will never do anything to be considered enough, but when he does with simplicity and purity, his work is pleasing to God.

Righteousone
You must study and research your faith. It will bring you to an understanding with God in the long run.

LilyM
Concentrate on the quality rather than the amount of what you do.

ralphinal
Your experiance is not unique. most of us feel like we aren’t doing enough. I;'ve been invited to churches and I’ve discussed jesus a lot with otehr Catholics and Christians.

God knows what you are capable of, and as long as you do what you can to help spread the Word, you’ll be fine. Just don’t NOT talk about Jesus when you can.

Thank you all again for your words of wisdom

However, some of your post have comfirmed my fears.

I am so sorry some of your posts is evidence of the total misunderstanding that we have of each other and quite frankly it is sad.

and I believe you will see from the following thread as to why I named this thread the way I did.

I found the root of the misunderstanding in my post with jmcrae

jmcrae

The Protestant doctrine of “Assurance of Salvation” is also known as “Once Saved, Always Saved,”

and means that if you recite the “Sinner’s Prayer” one time in your life, then you can sin your little brains out for the rest of your life, and still expect to go to Heaven.
This is why they go about in public, accost strangers, get them to pray the Sinner’s Prayer, and then notch their belt to signify that “another soul has been saved for Christ.”
They do no follow-up with the people, nor do they make sure that the person makes it to Church, nor help them with their questions about the Bible - because it doesn’t matter what that person does or believes; all that matters is that they prayed the Sinner’s Prayer - everything else is considered a “work of man,” and thus, of no value

jmcrae, I was waiting for someone to “spell” out the picture “**you can sin your little brains out for the rest of your life **” that many non Roman Catholics are sending in regard to salvation.

A total disrespect of God

jmcrae, I believe souls can be saved for Jesus Christ, but with the truthful understanding on not what?, but Who saves souls? and He is God.

Only God saves, agree??
NO prayer, NO man, No church recital…nothing saves but God

When God saves a soul is is a wonderful thing

and there are a lot of people who believe they are saved and in fact they are not.

We my Christian brother have a lot of praying and work to do.

if interested, all the text is in #106

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=206817

Now do you see why I started the thread?

Let’s work together and reach the lost souls of the world for the love of Jesus

God bless you all

truth

 

[Righteousone]

lol, i love the assumptions.

i have an MA in history with a specific focus on early church history. i am working on another masters in history. i think i’ve done my research. if mine isn’t good enough, try looking at all of the protestant history scholars. there are many.

if you truly understood history, you would be able to see how there are many interpretations of events. you can say, “the catholic church gave us the bible” and i can say, “a few people chose the books that should be included (books, all of which have some sort of suspicion as to who the authors really were) and excluded books that many others considered scripture. so ‘the church’ didn’t give us the bible, men gave us the bible.” history will not lead you to the catholic church unless that is where you want it to lead you. if you want it to lead you to atheism, it can just as easily (actually more easily) lead you there. or to islam. or to mormonism.

God leads us to Him. if we seek Him, and His church is the catholic church, He (not history) will lead us there.

But history WILL lead you to the Catholic church. Because Jesus christ is history, and all things were Catholic in belief when the Bible was compiled. If you want to get into (again), how the Bible came to be, so be it.

 

[lak611]

God leads us to Him. if we seek Him, and His church is the catholic church, He (not history) will lead us there.

In this, you are correct. We cannot convert anyone on our own. God does the converting. We can show people the Church and pray for them, but God must lead them to join it. My cousin married a non-believer. After 10 years of marriage, he decided to become Catholic. What led him to become Catholic was seeing his son preparing for First Communion. He signed up for RCIA that year. He was baptized, confirmed and received Communion at Easter Vigil. Two weeks later, his son received first Communion. My cousin never pressured her husband into joining the Church, but obviously the witness of the family guided him. However, it was God Who convinced him to join the Church.

 

[mercygate]

lol, i love the assumptions.

i have an MA in history with a specific focus on early church history. i am working on another masters in history. i think i’ve done my research. if mine isn’t good enough, try looking at all of the protestant history scholars. there are many.

if you truly understood history, you would be able to see how there are many interpretations of events. you can say, “the catholic church gave us the bible” and i can say, “a few people chose the books that should be included (books, all of which have some sort of suspicion as to who the authors really were) and excluded books that many others considered scripture. so ‘the church’ didn’t give us the bible, men gave us the bible.” history will not lead you to the catholic church unless that is where you want it to lead you. if you want it to lead you to atheism, it can just as easily (actually more easily) lead you there. or to islam. or to mormonism.

God leads us to Him. if we seek Him, and His church is the catholic church, He (not history) will lead us there.

If the bolded sentence(s) are true for you, then the whole Christian enterprise is in question – as many skeptics will say is true. But once you determine that the historical claims for Christ carry more weight than the claims against Him, it is the Catholic Church that “gave us the Bible”.

As you say, however, many have been led to atheism by recognizing only history divorced from the Church as carrying any weight. I, too, learned such history – in seminary of all places.

 

[MarcoPolo]

My closing 2 questions

how often do you invite people to your church or openly discuss the love you have for Jesus with them

how often have you been invited by people to their church or had a someone openly discuss with you the love they have for Jesus Christ?

I usually follow St. Francis’ tip, “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” Which is a form of Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men.” I try to do that.

Of course if I see interest from someone to the faith, I try to remember Peter’s words, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

Unfortunately, when explaining my faith, I have often been met with anger and accusations of having a Biblical “arsenal”, or that I “read into” Scripture, if I cite passages that supports Catholicism. So when that happens, I revert back to not using words.

 

[Al_Masetti]

I’m going to give you a prayer to say.

Prayer is everything. God provides inspiration.

It’s a very powerful prayer.

And many people have refused to say it.

This prayer can be said in front of Jesus in the Monstrance in a Eucharistic Adoration chapel.

Or, just by yourself when driving or anywhere … once a day … or many times a day. When facing difficulties or when things are peaceful.

“Dear Lord, Hold me in Your Arms, forgive me my sins, and make me the way You want me to be.”

It’s makes a commitment.

Here’s another prayer that I like:

"Dear Lord, Please grant me direction and guidance, cash flow and work. And go easy on the pain and dismemberment "

I say these all the time. No joke.

Often when I ask for something very specific, I also append the request for “no funny stuff”. Because sometimes requests can be granted … but in a very literal way. So be very careful what you ask for … you might get EXACTLY what you ask for.

I don’t mean to be flip, but prayers to Jesus, and to the Father and to the Holy Spirit are very powerful.

 

[holdencaulfield]

Many Protestants are very well stuck up. Many Catholics are as well, but Protestants think that because they read the Bible they are saved so they get all uppity about this.

 

[Righteousone]

Many Protestants are very well stuck up. Many Catholics are as well, but Protestants think that because they read the Bible they are saved so they get all uppity about this.

Well, that’s their problem…

 

[whatisthetruth]

Many Protestants are very well stuck up. Many Catholics are as well, but Protestants think that because they read the Bible they are saved so they get all uppity about this.

I am sorry you feel that way holdencaulfield about any non Catholic, of which group I am part of, in regards to salvation, being saved.

You will never hear me saying that

reading a bible,
going to church,
believing in God and or Jesus,
reciting a “Sinners Prayer”
going to confession

will save a person from the wrath of God and the fires of hell.

God bless,

Truth