If you are a Christian, what is the real reason for you not being a Catholic?

[whatisthetruth]

Firstly, , please answer questions with answers, and not links, and if you must use links, please link to the actual posting, which you can do by rightclicking the post number (#771) and copying the link (“copy shotcut”), which you can then paste into the later post. Thanks.

thanks for the info , I was not aware

I answer questions with links to save space in the post

I will not link and answer to you in the future , promise

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

I was just trying to say what is true now may change within a heart beat

If by living my faith, I fall off the narrow path and sin, God will forgive me when I sincerely repent and confess and then He will guide me on the right path again.

I have no idea when I will fall again. It could be tomorrow afternoon, next week, in five hours or in 5 seconds from now.

I try not to take anything for granted.

For me Christianity is a way of life
I have a desire to be like Jesus Christ in the way of my thaughts, actions and words each and every day of my life.

Heck 1 minute from now I may get an irate phone call and in anger slip and exclaim “gosh darn” but not that you know what I mean.

Well I just sinned. Now what do I do? I took the Lord’s name in vain.

Do I wait till I go to confession

or

repent and confess to God right there.

I would repent and confess to God right there

How about you?

thank you

truth

Pardon me for jumping in here, I would repent and ask for Gods forgiveness right then. I would then be sure to list it at Confession when I next go. Both need to be done.

 

[fbl9]

hi whatisthetruth;re post 785 good one lol…you got it backwards though you were supposed take the bus but took the plane…any how since you are on my doorstep i ask you in. ask you what you about all the beautiful things you saw will on the bus,you have no choice but to tell me you didn’t see a thing of beauty cause you would have missed it all from way up in the air. well as to you second post oGo responded exactly as i would have thanks oGo… now you may say what is the use of going to confesion,if i am already forgiven,part assurance and to heal the damage done by the sin.if like say you and a loved one had a fight,realising the wrong done each of you forgive one another.now you are feeling bad so you buy a gift to help make up for the offense you have done. that gift is can be likened to the pennance one recieves at absolution.

 

[onmyknees]

Hi whatisthetruth,
I have read most of your posts and you keep saying things like, I live out my Christianity as a way of life in every word, thought and deed. Somehow I take this as you don’t think that Catholics do this. We are Catholic Christians and we also try to live every moment of our lives in Christ. Loving God and our neighbor in everything we do. I talk\pray to Jesus all day long and I want to do everything for the love of Him! So I think we agree on this. I still don’t understand how you interpret John 20: 21-23 as Jesus meaning that all of us need to forgive each other and if we forgive we are forgiven like what we believe in the “Our Father” prayer, instead of what it actually says. Jesus said this to his apostles the first bishops\priests of the church,“If you forgive the sins of any, they forgiven; if you RETAIN the sins of any, they are RETAINED.” Also I don’t understand how you dismiss the Church’s interpretations of the scriptures. First, because Jesus gave the Church the Holy Spirit to guide them and second because they have gone back and studied the languages and cultures in the times that the gospels were written. Also I wondered if you have read the writings of the early Church Fathers (some of whom actually knew the first apostles)? When I talk to converts to the Catholic Church they often say that they converted after reading these and seeing how the Catholic Church today is still the same as the early Church, including all the parts of the mass! One more question, I know you have that wonderful relationship with Jesus but don’t you believe in Jesus when He left us the gift of Himself in the Eucharist. His flesh and blood. When Jesus taught this many left and "Jesus said to the twelve “Will you also go away?” John 6. I would love to hear your response. God bless!

 

[Namesake]

Hi whatisthetruth,
When I talk to converts to the Catholic Church they often say that they converted after reading these and seeing how the Catholic Church today is still the same as the early Church, including all the parts of the mass!

I think you are wrong about that. The RCC isn’t just like it was in the early days. There have been changes, just not enough in the right direction.

 

[whatisthetruth]

Hi onmywayagain

I’ve heard alot of people were i live say they are not welcome in a Catholic Church. Why do people assume that they wouldn’t be welcome to any Catholic Parish community? I jsut don’t get it.

I do not know who you are directing the question to but I can answer based on my experience.

First I want to say I am sorry you do not get it. Your church is probably an exception to what I am about to describe.

I have no doubt I would be welcomed in a Roman Catholic church.

However, based on my past experience, unless things have changed,.every Roman Catholic church I was in, including the one I grew up with the first 30 years of my life, it sure seemed if I did not say hi first, the only time someone would talk to me first is when the priest asked everyone to give your neighbor the sign of peace during mass.

One day I was waiting for my mom after mass just outside the main doors , the same thing.
There were a lot of people who walked past me and not one word.
When I would say hi to someone they said hi and kept on going.

In our church saying hi to someone just might result in an addition to your friends list.

Nobody seemed to want to stop and get to know and/or invite a stranger to their church.

It is another reason why I left the Roman Catholic church, I just did not feel welcomed and at home. I felt like a stranger even in my own church. sad but true

Let me ask you onmywayagain, do you have a greeter ministry at your church?

not just people to hand out bulletins and say hi.

**But actual greeters **

to extend a "we are so glad to see you today"

or introducing themself with a handshake

Hi my name is John and your name is?

an offering of God’s blessings,

May God bless you in the service

a wish to come back
we hope to see you again.

We believe first impressions are lasting ones, and what better way is there to be greeted at the door like I mentioned above?

From your question, your church probably does everything I mentioned. However, I can assure you that all churches do not, non Roman Catholic chuches included.

I hope that answered your concern

God bless

truth

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

I try not to take anything for granted.

For me Christianity is a way of life
I have a desire to be like Jesus Christ in the way of my thaughts, actions and words each and every day of my life.

Very good! Keep that up!

Heck 1 minute from now I may get an irate phone call and in anger slip and exclaim “gosh darn” but not that you know what I mean.

Well I just sinned. Now what do I do? I took the Lord’s name in vain.

Do I wait till I go to confession

or

repent and confess to God right there.

I would repent and confess to God right there

How about you?

You seem to think that you can be fully reconciled by simply saying “I’m sorry” and the wound you’ve created with the Body of Christ is forgotten.

In that case, I would “say I’m sorry” (contrite repentent prayer) and then go reconcile myself with Jesus in persona Christi to most fully heal my assault on the Body of Christ.

Should I not ever “make it” to reconciliation, due to, say, death, God will know, of course, of my intention to do what was necessary had I had the chance to do so.

What, other than the “easy comfort” of doing it “the easy way”, is so attractive about doing it (reconciliation with the Body of Christ) the way you do?

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

Quote: CalmD:
You choose to do SOME of what Jesus has told us to do,

I am not going to get upset at this assumption.
You have no idea how involved I am in my church so I will let this slide.

I’m not talking about your most likely beautiful and ardent work that you do within your community, so there’s no need to get upset.

You have proven yourself to be VERY holy, as far as I can tell in this short time, but this isn’t a matter of doing good things for the right reasons.

This is a matter of your actively, willfully, not doing what God has told us to do because you don’t understand that you need to do that which you feel, by personal interpretation of a sub-set of the deposit of faith, is unnecessary.

The fact the you are (relatively) innocent of understanding why you do as you do do and not as you should do makes you less culpable of this sin, but it doesn’t eliminate the sin, and the more you find out about HOW you are wrong, the more you are culpable for those sins of refusal.

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

quote: CalmD:
You choose to do SOME of what Jesus has told us to do,
…
and you think

Again an assumption, and in due respect how can you say WHAT I am thinking

I assume that you think you are doing all that God asks, because I assume that you are a very good person, which you continually prove over and over again.

that is all that is required

Ok now. I am curious. Required for what?.

Reconciliation with the Body of Christ is not most fully accomplished by what you do in your “confession procedure”.

You have decided that what you do is all that is necessary, which is technically true, except that it is not what God has told we humans to do to most fully follow Him, and we need to do ALL WE CAN and not simply the MINIMUM REQUIRED WORK to reconcile ourselves with the Body of Christ.

Please refer to the various writings on the CAF site (this website) and/or Church documents which explain “confession/reconciliation”.

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

quote: CalmD:
…while I choose to do ALL of what He has told us to do and I choose that, quite simply, because it is the most efficient way to serve Him as He meant us to so do.

Have you done it ALL already

or

is it your desire to do it all whatever it is that He asks of you?

One can’t do “it all already”. I must do what I must do when I must do it, which is to be prayerfully contritely penintent as soon after commiting sin, then when I can ASAP get to Christ Himself in person (in persona Christi) I must do what I need to do there.

You believe that you needn’t bother with the last part, mostly because it brings up any number of “theological difficulties” which you’d rather not face because they’re really quite uncomfortable, which is perfectly understandable considering your traditions.

You over “identification” with “the Good Thief” is troublesome to me. I would very definitely consider talking to a priest about it. Actually, several priests, as everyone varies considerably in dealing with such things and an aggreget of opinions might more reliably point you in the direction you need to travel.

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

You have summed up the “faith alone” thinking very well, and I find your summation of limited value, but of more value to those without the discipline to do what God has told us to do than not doing anything.

Thank you for some credit that is kind of you

You have proven to me that you are an exceptionally good person, and certainly more holy than my profligate self, and will always seek truth from within, and from, whatever “structure” you seek it in.

The Church has realized lately (aka the last 100 years) that no one is DOOMED before their time is up, and it’s up to God alone to allow any man to choose hell if he so wishes, and not up to any human to “pronounce” him damned.

But the Gospel message needs to be fully shown to everyone, and the result of refusing a portion of the full deposit of faith is a lesser chance of choosing God by choosing to hang-on to our “only necessary’s” in spite of what God has provided.

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

thanks for the info , I was not aware

I answer questions with links to save space in the post

I will not link and answer to you in the future , promise

You are SO adorable!!

Please do grace us with your presence as long as you can “stand” us “arrogant judgemental Catholics”!

Thanks again for bein’ you, you smiling Saint, you! We DO need to add you to the “most fully in communion with the Body of Christ” though.

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

I have no doubt I would be welcomed in a Roman Catholic church.

However, based on my past experience, unless things have changed,.every Roman Catholic church I was in, including the one I grew up with the first 30 years of my life, it sure seemed if I did not say hi first, the only time someone would talk to me first is when the priest asked everyone to give your neighbor the sign of peace during mass.

One of the reasons for this is that people are preparing themselves for an incredibly reverential event about to take place. Jesus is about to visit IN PERSON, and we each have various reasons for needing to prepare ourselves for that by considering why we are there. Our job at that point, before Mass, is to make ourselves most prepared for His visit.

That being said, we DO have greeters who welcome us very happily and personally, and my wife and I always get a huge smile and hello and hug, with the occassional mutual kiss on the cheek from our Father (who used to be Lutheran clergy!).

BUT, they do greet us sensitively in accord with our responsiveness, and always keep the decorum reverential.

Attending a Catholic Mass is not a “party”. It is a personal visitation in actual person of our Lord Jesus with His angels and all the Saints, and all the People of God in the Body of Christ, and that is not the time to be discussing “vacation plans”.

After Mass if one wants to make a friend, all that anyone in my parish needs to do is be a friend.

I doubt that it’s particularly “Catholic” that people who expect to be “instantly best buddies” who don’t initiate friendship are treated as “strangers”.

I, personally, find the “glad handing” of protestant churches to be irreverent, presumptuous, and a bit creepy.

 

[Preacher_Vern]

As for me, I know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for me and forgave me of all my sins, so that I can have the hope of eternal life, and to be with him for ever.

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

As for me, I know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for me and forgave me of all my sins, so that I can have the hope of eternal life, and to be with him for ever.

How do you accept his forgiveness of your sins?

 

[onmyknees]

I think you are wrong about that. The RCC isn’t just like it was in the early days. There have been changes, just not enough in the right direction.

Hi Namesake,
The dogmas have not been changed for 2000+ years and the little “t” cultural traditions have always been able to be changed. For example, circumcision, fasting and abstaining on penitential days, women wearing head coverings in church and priests being married or not. Jesus gave the keys to His church to Peter and his successors, guided by the Holy Spirit. What do you mean that there are not enough changes in the right direction?

 

[Namesake]

Hi Namesake,
The dogmas have not been changed for 2000+ years and the little “t” cultural traditions have always been able to be changed. For example, circumcision, fasting and abstaining on penitential days, women wearing head coverings in church and priests being married or not. Jesus gave the keys to His church to Peter and his successors, guided by the Holy Spirit. What do you mean that there are not enough changes in the right direction?

The Catholic church needs to change their view on birth control. That’s just one of many needed changes.

 

[Freshman88]

The Catholic church needs to change their view on birth control. That’s just one of many needed changes.

Yes - we should scrap our whole understanding of sex and marriage, the same understanding we have had for the last 2000 years.


Thankfully we believe in humility and obedience and those virtues ask that we submit to the faith of Christ’s Church.

 

[fbl9]

hi namesake…the book of Genesis 2:27,28 go forth and multiply… God not did say go forth to have intimate relationships without life…

 

[Freshman88]

Anyway, I think your going to be upset to find out that the Church is unchanging. The day the Church changes the teachings of the first century, is the day the Church ceases to be - thankfully we’ve been promised that this will never happen. This is tied into the idea of “ONE” catholic Church. We are united today by our teachings, and that unity of today extends to centuries before because we believe just as our ancestors had.