Minimum beliefs for Catholics in good standing

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Hello all,

I’m presently outside of the church, for example not attending mass etc. I want back in, but i cant force myself to believe what i think is false. What is the minimum someone needs to believe to be a catholic in good standing?

Please give specific answers. And hopefully a link. Or source.

If the answer is “the entire 1993 English language edition of the catechism of the Catholic Church”, than I’m still on the outs. If the answer is “10 credal statements properly interpreted” than there is more hope.

Thank you for your generosity in advance.
God bless and good day.
 
so the question is… What do you think is false?
 
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This is the profession of faith to be recited by those being received into the Church (who have already been baptized, but are being fully initiated). It is also recited by those who are assuming an office or receiving the sacrament of Holy Orders. My classmates and I had to recite this and swear an oath of fidelity just before ordination to the diaconate and, if I recall correctly, the priesthood. Pastors will recite it in the presence of the Bishop at the Mass at which they are installed.
PROFESSION OF FAITH
I, N., with firm faith believe and profess each and everything that is contained in the Symbol of faith, namely:
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
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With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed.
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I also firmly accept and hold each and everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals.
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Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise their authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim these teachings by a definitive act.
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So that’s pretty much it.

-Fr ACEGC
 
Two things. I don’t believe that Jesus was the foretold Jewish messiah and I believe that eternal hell is unjust.

I believe Jesus rose from the dead. That god exists. That Mary is ever virgin, but I’m caught up on the two above things.
 
Yep said:
Two things. I don’t believe that Jesus was the foretold Jewish messiah
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And why not? How could we have possibly gotten this wrong for so long? Who do you think Jesus really was?
Yep said:
I believe that eternal hell is unjust.
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Hell is quite just, actually, if you understand what the virtue of justice is. Justice is simply to give everyone what he deserves. God gives us free will. Free will is given to us for the purpose of choosing the good, and since God is goodness itself, free will is supposed to be used for choosing God. But God respects our free will, or he’d not have given it to us. If we use our free will for evil, that is, for that which is not God, why would he force us to go to heaven? Hell is what is chosen by those who by their actions continually turn away from God. Justice is to give everyone his due. To those who used their free will to choose God, they receive what it is that they wanted and what it is that they deserve, which is God himself. To those who used their free will to choose other than God, less than God, less than goodness–in a word, evil–then they receive also what they wanted and what they deserved.

To force those who do not want God to be in his presence forever would be unjust.

-Fr ACEGC
 
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You believe Jesus rose from the dead, and was born of a virgin, but but you can’t accept that He is the messiah?
 
I find this curious as well. To believe in his Resurrection is to affirm his divinity. He was not the political Messiah that he was imagined to be, but he was the anointed one of God. This is attested to in the Gospels–especially at his baptism.
 
  1. The messiah. The best I can tell is that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead and then his followers read back onto the Old Testament what was never there to make sense of what just happened.
  2. Hell. That makes a certain sense, but it always falls apart in my head when I think of specifics. Take a cartoonish example. Joe is a glutton. So his eternal reward is gluttony. God makes sure to sustain joe in existence for eternity in a self inflicted torture. It’s kind of beautiful in a way, but at the same time it makes me think “that’s it?” That’s joe’s eternal fate? God’s will is to sustain an island of evil for eternity into paradise?
I’d be quite happy if you could correct me and shed more light on the matter.
 
From what I can tell Jews throughout history believed that the messiah would be a political leader. I think it’s really pretty clear about this in the Old Testament. This is why so many of jesus’ followers were confused about him. Or at least one reason.

However, he really did rise from the dead. So… yeah, that’s where I’m at.
 
Yep said:
The messiah. The best I can tell is that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead and then his followers read back onto the Old Testament what was never there to make sense of what just happened.
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Okay, again, why do you think this? Please tell me the reasoning behind this. I’m not sure how one gets this from a reading of the New Testament, nor from the historical context thereof.
Yep said:
  1. Hell. That makes a certain sense, but it always falls apart in my head when I think of specifics. Take a cartoonish example. Joe is a glutton. So his eternal reward is gluttony. God makes sure to sustain joe in existence for eternity in a self inflicted torture. It’s kind of beautiful in a way, but at the same time it makes me think “that’s it?” That’s joe’s eternal fate? God’s will is to sustain an island of evil for eternity into paradise?
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His eternal reward is not gluttony. His eternal reward is himself. At the end of the day, all choices boil down to a choice for God or a choice for the self. We can legitimately love ourselves, of course, by desiring God for ourselves, since God is our highest good. But if we simply choose our own desires over and above God, then we get what we desire. I think you’re overcomplicating things a bit by oversimplifying them into your admittedly cartoonish example. Read a little bit more about what the Church actually says about hell.

-Fr ACEGC
 
Basically I watched a Jews for judaism video where a rabbi spent an hour going through Christian proofs for jesus’ Messiaship and dismantled them. I’d rather not post it on the general forum so others are not possibly tripped up.

The video explains much better than I can.

When I get down to it, I guess my difficulty is reconciling god’s providence and our free will. Everything is under god’s control. I was listening to the Sed Contra podcast and one of them said that god could save all but he chooses not to as salvation is a gift and and it is no injustice to not give a gift.

That makes sense, but it also makes God… be good in a technical sense, but be bad in a plain sense.
 
I think if you are really serious about it you should seek out a trusted Priest and chat him up…ask for some good reading resources and pray about it…maybe take those types of videos with the preverbal “grain of salt”.
 
Yep said:
From what I can tell Jews throughout history believed that the messiah would be a political leader.
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Not all. At the time of Jesus there were Essenes, who then disappear from history. I suspect most of them became Christians as they were more of a spiritual sect.
 
Yep said:
However, he really did rise from the dead
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Christians believe He rose from the dead. Jews do not. So when you say you believe He rose, you are accepting the Christian account of Jesus, not the Jewish account. So then why do you give so much preference to the Jewish version of the Messiah? By your own standards, the Jews were clearly wrong about Jesus. Wouldn’t it follow that they were wrong about the Messiah, too?
 
Yep said:
I want back in, but i cant force myself to believe what i think is false.
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It’s an interesting dilemma. Do you stay away so that you won’t grow? Or do you come back imperfect, so that you can work towards God? I think the answer is obvious.

If people weren’t let into the Church unless they believed every single thing the Magisterium taught there wouldn’t be hardly anyone in the pews.

In the parable of the Prodigal son, the Father accepts the wayward son back because he wants to come back. No questions asked. But who protests the Father’s decision? - the other son who has been ‘faithful’ the whole time. Was the other son very faithful in spirit? Or was he being dutiful for selfish reasons?
Yep said:
What is the minimum someone needs to believe to be a catholic in good standing?
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So I think this is the wrong question.
 
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Albeit there’s a Priest answering his questions, it always amazes me how one doesn’t see how they haven’t over come or come to know what the Original Sin is? That this Yep person believes his definition of Good and Evil is above God’s definition of Good and Evil. Does Yep even know and/or understand Genesis 1 thru 1:11?
 
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I would recommend taking a look at:

The Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed and the Tridentine Creed.
 
Regarding the Messiah issue. If Jews believe that the Messiah is to be a political leaders, then I have no problem saying I do not believe Jesus is that man.
OTOH, I certainly believe Jesus is the promised annointed one from the old testament.
It sounds as if you have problem with the former, are you sure about the latter?

Also, it’s fine that you watched one side of the argument, have you done any type of study of a Catholic argument for Jesus being the Messiah?
 
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