Here’s my question: if you think a Church teaching, especially an infallible one, is full of baloney, why do you follow it? Why are you Catholic?
I was baptized (and therefore an indelible mark made on my soul) when I was an infant. The Church forever considers me Catholic. I follow teachings of the Church, to the best of my ability, even though I don’t agree with some of them, because that’s how I was raised. I can disagree with a teaching, but follow it, even if it’s hard to do. We all have free will. My will tells me to follow the teaching, to the best of my ability, even though it’s hard for me to do.
First of all, if you think that one of the Church’s teachings-especially one of the Church’s infallible teachings, is baloney (and I know from previous discussions that you have some issues with some of the stuff the Church has declared infallibly, namely that if both the Mother and child are going to die while the Mother is pregnant then the Mother is bound to die or else be in sin) then you essentially have issues with what makes Catholicism Catholicism-namely, her infallibility.
Yes, I sometimes have difficulty trusting the human element of the Church. My faith in God is as strong as it ever was, however, I don’t have much faith in other humans because after all, we are only human and capable of making mistakes. There is no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit guides the leaders of our Church, however, sometimes I doubt that they are able to put their own beliefs and biases aside and listen perfectly to the Holy Spirit – because we, as humans, are not perfect. The human leaders of our Church also have free will. Free will is not taken away from them just because the Holy Spirit speaks to them. It’s up to them to be open to the message and understand it correctly.
If you believe the Church can be wrong about issues she has infallibly spoken on, then you don’t believe in the Catholic Church, do you? For the Church is what it is because of it’s authority given to it from Jesus to teach without error on matters of faith and morals. If you don’t believe that, might you just be a Protestant?
So are you saying I should give up being Catholic and just be protestant? But there is no protestant denomination with the Trinity, the Immaculate Conception, the Transubstantiation, Reconciliation, etc…These things I agree with, and can only get in the Catholic Church…therefore there is no where else to go.
And also, if you believe a Church teaching is baloney, then to follow it is to go against your conscience…which you’re absolutely not supposed to do. So how can you follow Church teachings you think are baloney?
I can believe a Church teaching is baloney (because it just doesn’t make sense to me at all), but still relay the teaching when I encounter a situation in which someone needs the information. That’s not lying, but telling the truth because regardless of whether I believe in a particular teaching of the Church, it’s still a teaching. So it’s not contrary to my conscience to state that the teaching (whether I agree with it or not) is a teaching of the Church. I can also steer clear of situations that would lead me to compromise what my conscience tells me to be right, when the Church says it’s wrong. For example, I’d never work in the operating room in a hospital that does abortions…so that I will never be called to participate in one, regardless of whether the patient is in danger or not. Someone else needs to have that burden, not me.
I can understand having difficulty with certain teachings and doing your best to understand them properly and reconcile your views to theirs, but you seem to have admitted that his is not possible…you know yourself, you know that you will always believe these teachings are baloney, so you don’t believe them. So why are you Catholic?
Well first of all, I never said that it 'is not possible" or that I “will always believe such-and-such”. I just said that this is how I believe. If that changes in the future, then it changes, but I can’t just lie and say I believe something to be true or right, when in fact, I don’t. Whether or not I believe a teaching to be true, I still try to be faithful by following the teaching. I can’t force myself to believe something that I don’t. I am Catholic because I was baptized as an infant and raised in a Catholic environment. Disagreeing with some teachings does not make me non-Catholic. It just makes me a Catholic who doesn’t agree with every single thing that the Church teaches.
We all have choices to make in life. Let’s take IVF for example. At one point I considered it. When I found out it was against Church rules, I set it aside. That was my choice. I don’t agree with the teaching, and I was very disapointed, but I followed it. I could have said, 'oh well, that’s okay, they’re wrong anyway". But I didn’t.
It would be easy-peasy to be Catholic if you agreed with every little thing and did everything you were told as happy as a clam. I choose to be Catholic even when it’s hard. Or at least, I try to, to the best of my ability. Like everyone else, I’m not perfect. But I’m not going to lie about what I believe…There is no merit in agreeing with something for the sake of agreeing when in reality you don’t agree at all.
. Hope things are going well as a “non-Catholic Catholic Mormon” btw!