I wish I had time to copress this…
Part I
One thing I didn’t say is the following: Catholicism is an ancient faith. It is not only very cognitive, but also very mystical. I like the analogy of Catholicism’s Tradition and Scripture combined with its spirituality to antiques and its patina. Old to ancient objects build up a patina over time. Many experts with training and a love of art see the patina as the clear evidence [mark of the church] of the objects history and thus value. This innate value is often overlooked by the untrained eye and thus the idea of “I will improve it” by stripping it off and putting a fresh coat of varnish or paint they like…or thought it should have been. The problem is that once you strip a valuable antique of its historical beauty you get an object that appears nice…even pretty to beautiful, but the value decreases dramatically [retain Jesus Christ as savior without some or all of the sacraments thus reducing God’s sanctifying grace within us]. However, you do not have what was created in the beginning. You get something else that appears to be similar…and in many ways…it is similar. The core elements are there if lucky enough to “recreate” the original effects; however, what you have now is a modern twist of interpreted beauty [Protestantism] based on today’s standards that have adverse effects on the value [fullness of truth]…reduced to today’s standards. Now this analogy has its limitations and that’s another topic. But I hope the analogy helps. Read on to find out why I say this.
The same rings true for the ancient Church…“one holy catholic and apostolic church”. When “modern scholars” begin to play smarter than our ancient church fathers or even God they are merely subverting the ancient Traditions [along with the truth] passed down from the beginning. Those Traditions were not just passed down my the Apostles…they were passed down by Christ himself in the flesh.
The point I’m really getting at is that no one has it all in the palm of their hands. Even the Pope, thought brilliant, leans on the Holy Spirit for guidance. God leads us too. Yes…we need to learn the faith, but no one is capable of knowing it all…That is why we lean on the Church leaders for spiritual guidance. Sure we have the Holy Spirit prodding us here and there, but not quite the same as our leaders who will be held more accountable than us. But when it comes to teachings of the Church…that responsibility is in the hands of the Magisterium [another topic].
It was not merely the cognitive material that urged me on, but mostly the spiritual urging that led me back home. God showed me something that was keeping me from growing closer to Him [pride, resistance to the fullness of truth and submission] in my youth. He allowed me to venture into the wilderness of Fundamentalism … solo scriptura - all the while discovering its limitations. My mixed up background caused me to stumble, but God made something good out of bad [Joseph said to his brothers “God meant it for good”]. Furthering my point… I too feel the urge to “learn it all”. I get frustrated to learn more…but in time it will all be made known. Our state in life enhances or hinders our growth. It is part of God’s plan I guess. I hunger for knowledge of the faith, but the faith leads us to God in the fullness of time. [don’t you love these terms “fullness”] We will never know God completely in this life. We try…and should try…but we will not succeed by “knowing it” like Protestant’s fool themselves into believing. I’ve learned this after all these years. I finally understand that one little lesson…I can’t possibly know all the answers all of the time. Thus I lean on Him - confident that He knows best. In the fullness of time, God will use me and all my strengths and weaknesses to achieve His plan…not mine.
cont’d
And one great thing is that there is a huge wealth of information about the Catholic Church online. Of course, one has to be careful that they are not looking at schismatic or heretical websites. One thing I like to do is go to forums that are anti-Catholic and defend the faith. 