I've always wanted to ask

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Convert_in_99 said:
For my non-Catholic brothers and sisters of all faiths:

I’ve noticed many of you have been at Catholic Answers Forums for many months (or years;)), what is it about these forums that keeps you returning to them again and again?

PS…We LOVE having you here! ❤️:flowers::hug1:
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I was raised Catholic and then converted to LDS for a little while. Part of the benefit is both of them being here is sort of interesting. I actually see them both as essentially the same so I try to stay out of the discussions unless I really have something to add. Occasionally a discussion revolving around Karma or reincarnation will develop and I'll hop into it with both feet.
 
Hello. This is directed at marymamma. I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your beloved son and your question about where he is now. What touched me most is the pain that you must be going through with such questions especially when you say that you won’t find out the answer until you die. Because I can appreciate your pain and would not want you to have to live for possibly a long time until you get that answer I want to say this based on my own experience.

You can ask the Lord for a sign now of where your beloved son is. You don’t have to endure years of questions and torment until you die to have your questions resolved. If I a mere sinner can feel compassion for your situation then how much greater will the good Lord desire you to be at peace and will grant you that peace IF YOU ASK HIM.

What happened to me explains why I can say this with confidence is: just over 2 years ago my father died. A couple of weeks after he passed away he came to me, I believe from purgatory. He just said my name. But I knew immediately beyond doubt that he was asking for prayer. I had read Maria Simmas book on souls from purgatory visiting praying people asking for prayer but even after reading the book I was sceptical but continued to pray for named souls in purgatory despite my doubts. Until that is when my father came to me. Then I knew it was true. Souls can and do come from purgatory to ask for prayer.

I believe God directs the the souls in purgatory who to go to for prayer, that is to Praying people as He would not direct them to people who don’t and wouldn’t pray.

That I believe is why my father came to me because I pray, for souls in purgatory every day. I prayed and prayed everyday for 10 months. All the while my list of souls for whom I was praying was getting longer and longer. I asked the Lord for a sign to let me know when my father got to heaven so that I could begin to shorten my list which was getting longer and longer. One Sunday evening, 10 months later at Mass I got my sign. I saw my father behind the altar, on the wall, high up. I saw his face with what I can only describe as a BEAMING smile. I knew then that he was in heaven and thanked the Lord. Since that day I no longer pray for him.

Please (you are likely doing it anyway I expect) pray for your son, offer masses, petitions. Ask the Lord for a sign when your son enters heaven. Then just wait. Keep praying. The Lord WILL I believe give you a sign. He is so good. The important thing is to keep praying and be patient.

May God bless you.
 
Oh boy! Lots to read! 😃

I haven’t read them all but I always find things like this fascinating. :bounce: My family has been a Catholic-Protestant mix for 17 years now, so I have lots of experience with various Christian denominations. The Jewish faith has always fascinated me as well, especially since converting to the Catholic Faith. SO many similarities. I definitely see that our beloved faith was given to us through our Jewish ancestors. Jesus Himself was a Jew first but you knew that. 😉
 
Convert_in_99 said:
For my non-Catholic brothers and sisters of all faiths:

I’ve noticed many of you have been at Catholic Answers Forums for many months (or years;)), what is it about these forums that keeps you returning to them again and again?

PS…We LOVE having you here! ❤️:flowers::hug1:
Click to expand...
I like the fact that we can have debates without resorting to nastiness (as per forum rules). There are a lot of intelligent people here who are willing to answer questions that I’d be hesitant to ask irl.
 
Lurked here for years as a protestant.

Then when i finally tried to sign up while on my journey, they weren’t accepting new members…so last year finally became part of the family of posters when they unlocked it.

Really great people of all denominations and faiths. This is unlike the fundamentalist sites i used to post on. People are decent and respectful here.
 
meltzerboy said:
. . . Then I realized I could clarify certain points about Judaism and Jews that Catholics and others have gotten wrong or don’t know about. . .
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I’ve read some of those posts in the past meltzerboy , and am grateful you put in the time to share some of the wisdom and enlighten us. Your contributions enrich these forums.

Thank you .👍
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
Fascination. I have been coming here for years, most lurking but reading so much that I just found interesting. Kind of confused how people could hold the same faith and yet be capable of serious disagreements on important things like politics and so on. Coming as I do from a fundamentalist lockstep agreement kind of background. Over time the links I followed helped awaken something in my heart, and I thought the variety of people who yet still followed the Catholic faith, however imperfectly, was a good barometer of where truth lay. I am now well into an RCIA programme and hope to become a member of the church come Easter. And you all, Catholic and not Catholic, played a part in that so thank you.
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How wonderful! Welcome aboard! 😃
Praying for you! :gopray2:
 
Spritus1 said:
Please (you are likely doing it anyway I expect) pray for your son, offer masses, petitions. Ask the Lord for a sign when your son enters heaven. Then just wait. Keep praying. The Lord WILL I believe give you a sign. He is so good. The important thing is to keep praying and be patient.

May God bless you.
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Wow! What an encouraging story!
Thank you from all of us!
 
I suppose I first came here in an attempt to learn about the tradition I fell away from decades ago and to learn more about the reasons I left. Hadn’t thought about anything religious or spiritual for decades-though I did read the bible on and off for the whole time-still do a bit.
It didn’t take long to realize the reasons I fell away were simply excuses born of ignorance of the tradition. Now that they’ve been cleared up the real stumbling blocks are at hand. And by cleared up I mean that I understand the church’s stance much better-though I may not agree with the stance.
As for why I’m still here. I suppose part of it is this is my social network. I don’t participate in things like facebook or twitter. I’ve learned quite a lot about Catholicism, as well as other traditions represented here and find the information interesting even though sometimes really frustrating. I also like that it is an active forum in that- I can participate and not wait 2,4,6 weeks or longer for a response. It seems more real time.
 
Convert_in_99 said:
For my non-Catholic brothers and sisters of all faiths:

I’ve noticed many of you have been at Catholic Answers Forums for many months (or years;)), what is it about these forums that keeps you returning to them again and again?

PS…We LOVE having you here! ❤️:flowers::hug1:
Click to expand...
Initially I came from watching EWTN, then listening to Catholic Answers and Called to Communion on the radio. I learned what I needed but, as Jon said, I enjoy coming here to interact with friends and see what the latest debate is. My faith has deepened as I have researched Early Christianity and doctrines of both my church and that of the Catholic Church.

God bless all!!

Rita
 
A couple of years ago, I wanted to become more serious about my faith, and wanted to read, write, say prayers for others, ask for prayers… then I started getting attracted to the non-Catholic Religions forum.

I married a non-Catholic, went to school with mostly non-Catholics in college, and wanted to expand my breadth of knowledge by reading perspectives from the Catholic and other faiths.

Since then, I at least read the forums around once per day.
 
I came here a while ago and lurked around. I had a bit of a traumatic welcome to Catholicism as a non-Catholic. I poked around the internet to find out if Catholicism/Catholics had the same overall distain of non-Catholics, or if that was more isolated to the particular area I’m at.

Got into a conversation after lurking and just kind of hung around ever since.
 
Spritus1 said:
Hello. This is directed at marymamma. I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your beloved son and your question about where he is now. What touched me most is the pain that you must be going through with such questions especially when you say that you won’t find out the answer until you die. Because I can appreciate your pain and would not want you to have to live for possibly a long time until you get that answer I want to say this based on my own experience.

You can ask the Lord for a sign now of where your beloved son is. You don’t have to endure years of questions and torment until you die to have your questions resolved. If I a mere sinner can feel compassion for your situation then how much greater will the good Lord desire you to be at peace and will grant you that peace IF YOU ASK HIM.

What happened to me explains why I can say this with confidence is: just over 2 years ago my father died. A couple of weeks after he passed away he came to me, I believe from purgatory. He just said my name. But I knew immediately beyond doubt that he was asking for prayer. I had read Maria Simmas book on souls from purgatory visiting praying people asking for prayer but even after reading the book I was sceptical but continued to pray for named souls in purgatory despite my doubts. Until that is when my father came to me. Then I knew it was true. Souls can and do come from purgatory to ask for prayer.

I believe God directs the the souls in purgatory who to go to for prayer, that is to Praying people as He would not direct them to people who don’t and wouldn’t pray.

That I believe is why my father came to me because I pray, for souls in purgatory every day. I prayed and prayed everyday for 10 months. All the while my list of souls for whom I was praying was getting longer and longer. I asked the Lord for a sign to let me know when my father got to heaven so that I could begin to shorten my list which was getting longer and longer. One Sunday evening, 10 months later at Mass I got my sign. I saw my father behind the altar, on the wall, high up. I saw his face with what I can only describe as a BEAMING smile. I knew then that he was in heaven and thanked the Lord. Since that day I no longer pray for him.

Please (you are likely doing it anyway I expect) pray for your son, offer masses, petitions. Ask the Lord for a sign when your son enters heaven. Then just wait. Keep praying. The Lord WILL I believe give you a sign. He is so good. The important thing is to keep praying and be patient.

May God bless you.
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Hi, I thank you so much for your response to me. As petra22 said, your story is very encouraging. I have prayed almost since my son died for a sign that he is in heaven, or even purgatory since my fears are so worrisome and scary to me that if he was there, then I would know he would be in heaven one day. I’ve prayed to God and to my son, both, for a sign although as time went on and I grew more and more depressed, my prayers haven’t been on a regular basis. I’m trying to do better. Most everyday, I don’t know if you would call it praying but I could be walking from one room to the next, for example, and start telling God how much I love Him and am so thankful for everything he has given me in my life. That may be it or I may talk to Him longer. It’s not planned. I do need to start working on a more focused prayer life.

You mentioned that you saw your father’s beaming face during church one Sunday and you knew that he was in heaven. I had something happen to me several months ago and it just confuses me. I’m not saying I don’t believe it or that I do…I just don’t know. Maybe you, or someone, could help. I had a dream. The setting was in a small town grocery store my parents owned that I grew up and worked in from the time I was twelve throughout most of my teenage years. It’s funny how so many of my dreams are based in that store though it’s been forty years ago. But there I was leaning on the check out counter reading or doing something looking down at the counter. All of a sudden I look up and there is my son in front of the counter with the biggest smile and looking beautiful and happy. I said “Gary, you are so slim now”, and he just smiled. My son died from super morbid obesity. Anyway this lasted maybe 5 to 10 seconds and I bolted up quickly in bed with my heart pounding and couldn’t fall back asleep after that. Could that have been a sign that he’s ok and in heaven?
 
I come here to share Islam with people. It is obligatory for me to share the message and let Allah do the rest. Another reason why I come here is to learn about Catholicism. I like learning about different religions.
 
marymmma said:
Could that have been a sign that he’s ok and in heaven?
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Hello marymmma,
My faith system and the bible both place a great deal of importance on dreams. Seeing your son in a dream would be a very natural reaction to your praying for your son. It means that your son is OK.
 
JonNC said:
Long story, but at the risk of making the situation too simplistic, ***a decision by the LCMS to allow unordained seminarians to preside at the Eucharist, in contradiction to the Augsburg Confession, Article XIV, ***nd my unwillingness to accept the practice as orthodox and doctrinal.

Jon
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WHAT??? That’s the first I’ve heard of that! When did that happen? Is it widespread? I’ve never seen that before! Am I going to have to take a drive up to our local Anglican Catholic Church now? If I can’t do Lutheranism, then I’ll go over to the Anglicans. That’s heresy. When did this happen and why didn’t anyone say anything? Anyway, I’m here for the conversation, which tends to be quite illuminating, indeed. This neat little tidbit above, for example, has inspired me to do some online research into the subject. I don’t see how the LCMS could violate one of the foundational principles of the Augsburg Confession and its Apology. Just shot my pastor an email inquiring about this matter.
 
Convert_in_99 said:
For my non-Catholic brothers and sisters of all faiths:

I’ve noticed many of you have been at Catholic Answers Forums for many months (or years;)), what is it about these forums that keeps you returning to them again and again?

PS…We LOVE having you here! ❤️:flowers::hug1:
Click to expand...
[1] the ability to SHARE our cherished Catholic Faith as God’s Truths

[2] To learn things that we many not have known

Thanks GBY
 
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