Is Life Teen an orthodox organization?

[palmas85]

Topher:

. An altar call by the way is used by protestants for people to “get saved” and that is not what happens at life teen. Having teens stand at the front of the Church, simply helps them to realize that the Church and the Eucharist is for them and not Just for their Grandmas. They too are called to live a life in Christ just as much as their parents are and this is just a device that helps them realize that.
And by the way, although our faith should never be based on emotions, emotions are not irrelevant. They are good because they are created by God. They simplyl need to be governed by reason. To believe otherwise is heresy.
And I don’t believe that the message of the Catholic Church is so weak that mordern worship music will destroy it.

Why would they have to stand or sway or sdance or sit or lay down or whatever at the front of the Church to realize the Mass is for them and not their grandmas? Yes, you are true, standing around the altar is just a device. But it is to make them feel special holy and singled out. It is just a ploy thats all, and there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for it. Protestant Churches need those type of things The Catholic Church does not.

True emotions come from God. But you hardly need to reach ecstatic states to experience God either. Trances, visions, voices conmvulsions, etc while all acepted as manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the right circumstances, are not standard and are often demonic in nature.

No modern music will not destroy the message. I didn’t say it would. I said the message was not so weak that it required these ploys in order to be effective in reaching people.

And if we are going to discuss heresy, couldn’t heresy also be the belief that you have to merge distinctly non-Catholic beliefs and practices into Catholicism to make it more revelent to a certain group of people?

 

[Topher]

palmas85:

Why would they have to stand or sway or sdance or sit or lay down or whatever at the front of the Church to realize the Mass is for them and not their grandmas? Yes, you are true, standing around the altar is just a device. But it is to make them feel special holy and singled out. It is just a ploy thats all, and there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for it. Protestant Churches need those type of things The Catholic Church does not.

True emotions come from God. But you hardly need to reach ecstatic states to experience God either. Trances, visions, voices conmvulsions, etc while all acepted as manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the right circumstances, are not standard and are often demonic in nature.

No modern music will not destroy the message. I didn’t say it would. I said the message was not so weak that it required these ploys in order to be effective in reaching people.

And if we are going to discuss heresy, couldn’t heresy also be the belief that you have to merge distinctly non-Catholic beliefs and practices into Catholicism to make it more revelent to a certain group of people?

Ah but Life Teen does not introduce non-Catholic beliefs. It is entirely faithful to the teachings of the Church.

 

[Prometheum_x]

palmas85:

Why would they have to stand or sway or sdance or sit or lay down or whatever at the front of the Church to realize the Mass is for them and not their grandmas? Yes, you are true, standing around the altar is just a device. But it is to make them feel special holy and singled out. It is just a ploy thats all, and there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for it. Protestant Churches need those type of things The Catholic Church does not.

True emotions come from God. But you hardly need to reach ecstatic states to experience God either. Trances, visions, voices conmvulsions, etc while all acepted as manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the right circumstances, are not standard and are often demonic in nature.

No modern music will not destroy the message. I didn’t say it would. I said the message was not so weak that it required these ploys in order to be effective in reaching people.

And if we are going to discuss heresy, couldn’t heresy also be the belief that you have to merge distinctly non-Catholic beliefs and practices into Catholicism to make it more revelent to a certain group of people?

The Church also makes use of many other devices in order to draw people deeper into worship of God. We have statues and icons, music, kneelers, candles, incense, crucifixes, etc. God has no need for those things, nor are they necessary for worshipping him. But they are useful and in no way contrary to the teaching of the Church – they are in fact proscribed by her. Yet we can look at any number of other religions to see music, candles, incense, and other such things incorporated into their religious ceremonies. Do we then avoid their use, especially since they were used in those other religions long before the beginnings of the Church?

 

[Topher]

palmas85:

Why would they have to stand or sway or sdance or sit or lay down or whatever at the front of the Church to realize the Mass is for them and not their grandmas? Yes, you are true, standing around the altar is just a device. But it is to make them feel special holy and singled out. It is just a ploy thats all, and there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for it. Protestant Churches need those type of things The Catholic Church does not.

True emotions come from God. But you hardly need to reach ecstatic states to experience God either. Trances, visions, voices conmvulsions, etc while all acepted as manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the right circumstances, are not standard and are often demonic in nature.

No modern music will not destroy the message. I didn’t say it would. I said the message was not so weak that it required these ploys in order to be effective in reaching people.

And if we are going to discuss heresy, couldn’t heresy also be the belief that you have to merge distinctly non-Catholic beliefs and practices into Catholicism to make it more revelent to a certain group of people?

Why do we do we have to kneel to realize that the Eucharist is the body of Christ? It is unnecessary but we do it none the less because it helps draw us into the mystery. And by the way, I don’t like all that trances and visions stuff either. It can be pretty dangerous stuff. As for heresy, the Life Teen is very committed to teaching the orthodox Catholic Faith. No heresy here. As for practices being non catholic, holy water was used by pagans before it was used by the Church, pagans had a sort of communion service before Christ institude the Eucharist, pagans used baptisms and ceremonial washings before the Church did. Christ and the Church sanctified and changed these things. So I really can’t see the problem with having modern worship music just because Protestants had it first.
And as for stuff being a ploy, one could easily make the arguement that all of the smells and the bells, the gregorian chant, the beautiful vestments and churches, the statues, and the stain glass windows are just a ploy to play on people’s emotions. But I don’t think that and I see no reason to think that about Life Teen.

 

[totustuusmaria]

palmas85:

I still cannot fathom the purpose of Life Teen. The only thing that I have seen it do is to create separate classes of worship and fostered the belief that teens for whatever reason cannot worship and should not worship the general community. This kind of brings back memories of my own teen years in the late sixties when the general opinion was we were the future, we knew best and don’t trust anyone over 30. Boy those were the days huh? All the dope you could smoke and all the free love you could handle. Seems like a lot of people would like to see those days return.

Here’s the purpose of Life Teen in a nutshell: The youth have an enthusiasm about them which, with a little encouragement often causes them to do seemingly radical things like street preach, read the scriptures, pray together, pray the rosary, fight for the Church (and oftentimes Tradition), and encourage eachother in the faith. Life Teen is trying to create at atmosphere where Teens don’t have to feel like they can’t use their enthusiasm for the Kingdom of God–or putting it positively where the “fire” which can be expressed in an extreme way in the youth will be permitted to grow. It does this with varying sucess. From my own experience from my own Life Teen programme, many many youth who would otherwise have gone off into drugs, alcohol, and sex instead came in contact with other teens who were burning with love for Christ and the Church and became themselves burning with this. However, my impression is that that mostly happened not because of the programme per se but because the programme gave oportunity for youth who would not of otherwise come together to share part of their lives. If there isn’t already this group of people who are strong in their faith, I can’t see Life Teen really doing all that much.

Even though I consider myself a Traditionalist (Trid Mass and everything) I’m not nearly as against Life Teen as many people who prefer what Paul VI called the “New Mass;” but I think Life Teen definitely needs some work.