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ptmatthews
Guest
I am searching for the Truth but am having difficulties knowing what to ask and how to go about it. Any suggestions?
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fhansen
Guest
Seek…and ye shall find. Seriously.
Look anywhere and everywhere, open to the truth always, and you’ll find God-or He’ll find you. It has more to do with our earnestness and desire-as is the case with anything in life. Just don’t overlook places you think you may already know about. Read philosophy, read the bible, read Catholic literature, read testimonies of saints, read Buddhist material, read the Bhagavad Gita. You’ll end up Catholic, and a sincere one, appreciative of what truth others may have, but in love with God and His Church. And pray. IOW, seek. JMHO. That’s how it worked for me. You can’t force yourself to believe anything-that isn’t true faith anyway, just fear mainly.
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Catholic1954
Guest
Only the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth. You can start by reading, “The Catechism of the Catholic Church” and then call your local Catholic church and schedule an appointment with a priest for a chat.
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fisherman_carl
Guest
You are already farther ahead than many modern philosophers by acknowledging that there is a Truth. And desiring it. For desiring it leads to seeking it. Something that one must do in order to find. And once finding it can be like finding a treasure of incalculable value. In today’s world of relativism Truth is no longer seen as absolute. So you are already closer to the truth then the relativist whose only professed truth is that there is none. Which is a contradiction. By asking for Truth with a capital T you are looking for the ultimate Truth. Now, you have come to a Catholic forum, which means you expect Catholic responses. However, truth is true regardless of Catholic teaching. Thus, the only reason to accept Catholic teaching is if it is true.
Jesus is the founder and heart of the Catholic Church. Jesus describes himself as ‘The Way, the Truth, and the Life’. Jesus claims to be the ultimate Truth. Now, no one except God could be the ultimate Truth, since only God can create truth. We limited creatures can only discover truth. Truth exists for us to seek and to find. But only God can create truth and reality. We live in a reality that already exists, not created by us, but created by God.
God gave us an intellect and a will so that we can discover truth, to discover God. The highest purpose of our intellect is to know God. God gave it to us so we can come to know him. Only those who seek God are wise because God promised that if we seek him we will eventually find him. Those that don’t seek are not wise because they do not find him.
I recommend reading a book on this subject called ‘Ten Steps to Truth’ by Peter Kreeft.
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ptmatthews
Guest
Well I’m 19 and I was raised Catholic. I had strong religious convictions to the point that I even wanted to become a priest throughout my early to mid teens. The reason I come to this forum is because 1)It’s the only religious forum I know of and 2) I have seen other religious views besides Catholic on here. I will definitely read that book though.
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phil_at_dayboro
Guest
In Search of Truth,.
Well there are different interprutation of Truth , several people will make varying interpretations of the question,but ultimatly the answer is the same,
Truth is Faith,
There are some very interesting people you could listen to that explain the answer to this ,
Well there are different interprutation of Truth , several people will make varying interpretations of the question,but ultimatly the answer is the same,
Truth is Faith,
There are some very interesting people you could listen to that explain the answer to this ,
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womanatwell
Guest
Another book is Lee Strobel’s The Case For Christ. He was a journalist who did not believe and yet wanted to investigate the claims for Christianity. He interviewed experts and came away as a believer.
I have a short, free booklet which might get you started in thinking about evidence for the Truth of Jesus Christ called “Heaven’s Passport” which you can read and/or download from here:
womanatwell.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
Perhaps an unexpected place to look for Truth is in biology. The discoveries of the cells and development of organisms show awesome complexity. Only one God could have had the genius to form us, not separate Gods for separate people. I talk about this complexity in a booklet “Creation Biology” and video here:
womanatwell.blogspot.com/p/creation-biology.html .
I will pray for wisdom, knowledge and understanding for you.
J
JuanFlorencio
Guest
You had strong convictions and…, what happened then?
In ancient times, every time a new philosopher arose, looked around and said: “there is much falsehood and errors here! But I will open my mouth, and the truth will be pronounced”. And discourses multiplied, more and more…
And when Jesus of Nazareth preached to people, He said: “I am the Truth”.
I think the same word has two different meanings here. What is the truth you are looking for?
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fred_conty
Guest
Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the light”.
I have found in my own life that that is the truth.
Maybe you would like to start there.
I have found in my own life that that is the truth.
Maybe you would like to start there.
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TimothyH
Guest
You are searching for the wrong thing.
Search for unity with God instead. Integrate your life with God’s life through prayer and the sacraments.
The truth will come after that.
-Tim-
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ptmatthews
Guest
I finally admitted to myself that I am gay and because of this, I fell away. My spirituality and my sexuality do not work well together. So now I wish to find the Truth. The Creator. I do not wish to become straight, I wish to be sure that this is the cross I must carry. I want to make sure the Catholic Church holds the truth.
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Partinobodycula
Guest
There is, oddly enough, more than one truth. There’s that which is ultimately true. That which is knowably true. And that which people believe to be true. If you’re seeking the latter then there are many truths to choose from. Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism, Agnosticism. Any of these and many more will do. But while they may possess elements of the truth, none of them can ever be certain to possess the ultimate truth. As much as the believers in each of them may proclaim otherwise, you can never be certain of any of them. But if this is the type of truth you seek, then do what many people do, pick the one with which you’re most comfortable, and seek every means, rational or otherwise, to justify it.
If on the other hand you’re seeking the first one, the ultimate truth, then you’re out of luck, because you’re human. There are limits to what reason can deduce, and observation can discover. You’re trapped in what philosophers refer to as the egocentric predicament. The conscious mind can conceive of many things, but there are questions to which it simply cannot determine the answers. Like why is there something, rather than nothing? And where did I ultimately come from.
But between what’s ultimately true, and what’s believably true, lies what’s knowably true. It’s what Descartes referred to as “Cogito ergo sum”. I think therefore I am. And ingrained within the concept that I am, is the concept of what I am. I am the sum total of all the thoughts, experiences, and choices that define me. These are the essence of what I am. And what I am is the knowable truth.
And so you have to decide, which truth you’re looking for. Or perhaps more accurately, which one you’re willing to accept. But in either case, the choice will go a long way to determining not only what you believe, but what you are. For what a person believes is reflected in what they are. And the greatest gift of all, is that you get to choose.
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ptmatthews
Guest
But if there is a god, a creator of everything, the this god would have one of two qualities. Either it will pursue to form a relationship with its creations or it will not care about us as we are just a spec of dust. If this creator does want to form a relationship, then us humans would be able to find it and it would hold the ultimate truth. We may not fully understand it but we would be able to find it.
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ptmatthews
Guest
You speak as if you’re sure that the Church holds the Truth. I’m not sure of this yet so I cannot pray.
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Partinobodycula
Guest
I doubt that any of us are wise enough to determine what a Creator would do. It may simply be that He has given us the greatest gift of all, the freedom to choose. He has given us the justification to judge. He has given us the justification to hate. He has given us the justification to condemn. But most of all, He has given us the justification to forgive. Perhaps He is simply waiting now, to see which you will choose.
I think perhaps that the test isn’t between one religion or another, but between judgment and forgiveness. I wonder if He’s not nurturing a relationship, but a child.
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JuanFlorencio
Guest
Dear ptmathews:
I felt moved when I read your response: “I finally admitted to myself that I am gay and because of this, I fell away…” You admitted the truth…, and you have admitted it once again. I remembered the publican, who stayed outside the temple, stroking his breast and saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner”, and who, according to Jesus, “went down into his house justified”, because he acknowledged the truth. This is the way in which you put yourself in the presence of God: acknowledging the truth about you, like Adam in paradise, before he decided to wear an apron made of fig leaves to hide his nudity.
But there is more besides your admission, and because of that you need to forgive; and you will need to forgive many times in the future. I think this is at least part of the cross you must carry for the time being. You are young and will face many difficulties in your life. So, this is surely part of the cross you have today.
I hope you will always remain able to acknowledge the truth about yourself, which is a sign of those who are really in search of it. Compared to this, the search for powerful arguments to convince yourself or others about something is a childish attitude.
Do you want to make sure the Catholic Church holds the truth? At the university I once had to show if the Fourier’s law of thermal conduction was correct or not. It was not an easy task! It would have been easy to do a bad experiment and conclude: “Fourier’s law of thermal conduction is wrong!”. But if I really was in search of the truth about it, I needed to prepare myself, and prepare the experimental apparatus, and proceed with extreme care, acknowledging my faults when they happened, and starting again whenever it was needed. You have in your hands a question which is much more important than Fourier’s law. You need to run your experiment! Prepare yourself properly, and proceed with extreme care!
You and I are members of the Church. I am a sinner. I don’t hold the truth; but I aspire to be held by the Truth. It is a long way… Go ahead!
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Partinobodycula
Guest
JuanFlorencio,
I can deeply appreciate the sentiment behind this post. Because as a solipsist, one simple truth has long been paramount to my philosophy, be honest. If you don’t know, then admit you don’t know. If it’s faith, then admit it’s faith. Walk with the assurance of one who’s faithful, but the humility of one who’s human. Never say I know, when what you mean is I believe.
One of the saddest things about life, is that men do things that my heart beseeches them not to do, and I can’t change that. For they have beliefs that they will not question. And until they question their own beliefs, they won’t accept anyone else’s. They’re alone. Unreachable. Untouchable. Unchangeable.
People say that a solipsist is alone because they question what’s true. The dogmatist is alone because they don’t.
Faith is a necessary thing, and humility a righteous thing, because Truth is an inaccessible thing.
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ptmatthews
Guest
Even as a devout I would always question. It is how we grow. Me being childish can be a good thing. Children ask some very basic questions that force us to learn more about what we hold to be true.
J
JuanFlorencio
Guest
Certainly! If you don’t understand something, you must ask! But also you must be sensible.
If you are studying mathematics and you have doubts about a given theorem, you can request a demonstration of it. If it is not clear enough to you, it might be because you don’t understand one or more of the premises. Then, you can request the demonstration of those premises. But there will be a limit: it will make no sense if you request a demonstration of the axioms, because those are the very principles of all possible demonstration in the field.
If you are studying physics and you have doubts about a given statement, you can request a validation of it. Then, you might be offered an experiment so that you can see what was being said. If you are still unable to understand, it might be because you don’t know some concepts. You can ask about them. But I think it will make no sense if you ask, for example: “but why is it that the momentum in a system of particles is conserved after a collision?”, because that is a principle of the physical science.
If you ask a person about the reasons he has to perform a certain action, he might give you an explanation. And you could continue asking him if you want, but there will be a limit. For example, if he responds something like “because I love my daughter”, most probably there will be no further reasons: His love for his daughter will be the principle of some of his actions.
It is the same in religious matters: There are some principles which we accept by faith -if we decide so-, and we take them as a base to get to other statements. But it will make no sense if you request demonstrations of those principles, or if you want them to be shown to you in such a manner that you can see them, or hear, or taste, or feel, or whatever.
Also, there are some famous controversies about certain topics like “God’s Omniscience and human freedom”; or “God’s Providence and the existence of evil”, which are recurrent in this forum; and people exercise their intellect and their passions discussing about them for months, but no one convinces the other to accept his position. I don’t understand this kind of sports.
Now, all this is related to the conception of truth as an intellectual matter. But when Jesus said “I am the Truth”, I do not understand it as if he was saying that Mathematics, Physical science, History, Astronomy, etcetera, were contained in him somehow. Instead, I understand that if I obey his commands, and conform my actions to his actions, my feelings to his feelings, my thoughts to his thoughts, then I will grow exceptionally. And this is something that I must experience by myself. This is the experiment that I was suggesting you to run, and which requires great care and perseverance. I understood that it is in this sense that you are in search of truth. But if all you want is to exercise your intellect, then…, I think Mathematics will do.
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Neoplatonist
Guest
Love this!
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