'My Story'

  • Thread starter Thread starter davidn87
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

davidn87

Guest
Didn’t know what to call this post.

My parents aren’t religious at all. I remember at primary school a Baptist minister would come to the school once in a while and tell us funny stories and things from the Bible, and in Music we’d sing a lot of hymns. I even remember Mum buying me a children’s picture Bible thing at one point, but until I entered my 20’s I never really gave much thought to God.

In 2005/2006 I remember after years of listening to Country music and the Gospel stuff they always do, after hearing a song called A Living Prayer at a concert, I started looking up Christianity on the internet. I remember at some point finding the sinner’s prayer and praying it.

I feel like I’ve had to keep my faith hidden from my parents because my Dad gets verbally violent anytime I bring up Christianity (or Israel, or anything like that). He reads all these weird books about other religions and conspiracy stuff, and whenever he quotes something out of it to me, eg ‘The church is EEEEVIIIILLLL’ he is always really angry and mad. But at the same time, he says he doesn’t believe in God, so I don’t know what he’s got to be so mad about since he doesn’t believe. Mum isn’t anything as bad as Dad about it all.

I’ve got all sorts of Bibles and stuff ‘hidden’ in my room, and for 2 or 3 years watched a non-denominational Texas church online before actually physically going to a local Baptist church last September. Again I haven’t told anyone in my family I’ve gone because I’m scared of how they’ll react. I listen pretty much to only Christian music (Kari Jobe, Tobymac etc) and post a lot of pro-life, family stuff on Facebook and pray all the time especially for my family. I do still sin.

Ok, basically rambling now…

I don’t know if I’m supposed to post questions in this section but anyway;

Ever since I started getting into pro-life stuff, I’ve been constantly drawn to Catholicism…but certain things keep me away.

The ‘extra’ books of the Bible.
Mary.
What I probably incorrectly see as ‘hatred’ of other denominations and their practices.

HELP!
 
davidn87 said:
Ever since I started getting into pro-life stuff, I’ve been constantly drawn to Catholicism…but certain things keep me away.

The ‘extra’ books of the Bible.
Click to expand...
Welcome to CAF and I’m sure you will find many people here who will pray for you, including me. As for your question on the “extra” books of the Bible, you have it a little backwards, even though this is a prevelant notion among non-Catholics. The original Bible, the one that was canonized by the Catholic Church, had these “extra” books so they are not really extra at all. They were removed from most Protestant Bibles as a consequence of the “Reformation”, but have always remained in the Catholic Church. You would do well to find a Catholic Bible that contains all of the books canonized as the word of God.
davidn87 said:
Mary.
Click to expand...
What is your issue with Mary?
davidn87 said:
What I probably incorrectly see as ‘hatred’ of other denominations and their practices. HELP!
Click to expand...
Yes, you would be incorrect. We consider you a brother in Christ who is not in full communion with the Church.
 
davidn87 said:
Didn’t know what to call this post.

My parents aren’t religious at all. I remember at primary school a Baptist minister would come to the school once in a while and tell us funny stories and things from the Bible, and in Music we’d sing a lot of hymns. I even remember Mum buying me a children’s picture Bible thing at one point, but until I entered my 20’s I never really gave much thought to God.

In 2005/2006 I remember after years of listening to Country music and the Gospel stuff they always do, after hearing a song called A Living Prayer at a concert, I started looking up Christianity on the internet. I remember at some point finding the sinner’s prayer and praying it.

I feel like I’ve had to keep my faith hidden from my parents because my Dad gets verbally violent anytime I bring up Christianity (or Israel, or anything like that). He reads all these weird books about other religions and conspiracy stuff, and whenever he quotes something out of it to me, eg ‘The church is EEEEVIIIILLLL’ he is always really angry and mad. But at the same time, he says he doesn’t believe in God, so I don’t know what he’s got to be so mad about since he doesn’t believe. Mum isn’t anything as bad as Dad about it all.

I’ve got all sorts of Bibles and stuff ‘hidden’ in my room, and for 2 or 3 years watched a non-denominational Texas church online before actually physically going to a local Baptist church last September. Again I haven’t told anyone in my family I’ve gone because I’m scared of how they’ll react. I listen pretty much to only Christian music (Kari Jobe, Tobymac etc) and post a lot of pro-life, family stuff on Facebook and pray all the time especially for my family. I do still sin.

Ok, basically rambling now…

I don’t know if I’m supposed to post questions in this section but anyway;

Ever since I started getting into pro-life stuff, I’ve been constantly drawn to Catholicism…but certain things keep me away.

The ‘extra’ books of the Bible.
Mary.
What I probably incorrectly see as ‘hatred’ of other denominations and their practices.

HELP!
Click to expand...
Welcome to CAF.

I/we will pray for you on your spiritual journey.

I’m going to give quick speedy answers, and I’m sure others will elaborate.
  1. “Extra” books of the Bible. We didn’t add them, Martin Luther took them out. That is why they are different.
  2. Mary, We honor her for what she did, accepting the enormous responsibility of being the Mother of God. We don’t worship her.
  3. Catholics love everyone. We may not like the practices or beliefs, and we have been known to point out the error of someone’s ways, but we should do it with charity.
Again, Welcome to CAF!!
 
Welcome, David.

No we don’t hate non Catholics…but sometimes we do seem to be the recipients of hostility and misinformation from those who are not Catholic. 🙂

Sections of this page of the official catechism/teachings of the Church, given in this link, explain Catholic attitude to non-Catholic Christians, the Jews, and those of non-Christian faith

scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p3.htm
 
davidn87 said:
Ever since I started getting into pro-life stuff, I’ve been constantly drawn to Catholicism…but certain things keep me away.

The ‘extra’ books of the Bible.
Mary.
What I probably incorrectly see as ‘hatred’ of other denominations and their practices.

HELP!
Click to expand...
Welcome! Since Mary’s purpose was to bring Christ to us, and ever after, to lead us to Him, it is through Mary’s intercession that you have been called to the Catholic Church. She appears so much larger from outside the Church than she does from within. What would be beneficial to you at this stage of inquiry is a copy of Catholicism for Dummies. It is an excellent, easily read and understood guide to the faith. It describes what the faith is, and perhaps more importantly, what it is not. I highly recommend it. I learn from it each time I read my copy.
 
Regarding Mary, perhaps you can find some answer in these links

forums.catholic-questions.org/search.php?searchid=13342244

We don’t worship Mary, we love her as our Mother and as Mother of our Savior.

We honor her only in as much as God honored her, sending the Angel to inform her that in God’s sight she was full of graces, and asking her to be Mother of His divine Son and redeemer of humankind. Amongst many billions of women throughout time, Mary was the woman God raised to the position of Mother of the divine Son
The honor is bestowed by God Himself, and we simply respect God’s assessment and God’s choice of Mary. Would it not be an insult to God to reject His predilection!

We acknowledge and follow Jesus’ lead in valuing her intercession, her prayer for us.
Jesus demonstrated that He valued Mary’s intercession, and responded positively to it, even when it wasn’t convenient to, and in his plan. See John 2 verses 1-11

When Mary put in her gentle request for saving the hosts of the wedding feast at Cana from an embarrassing social disaster, (as it would have been in that culture if a host family ran out of provisions at a wedding feast) though Jesus protested that it didn’t concern Him and it wasn’t yet time for miracle, He nevertheless worked the miracle at her request and trust, and turned water into wine so that the hosts did not run out of wine.

If it is acceptable to Jesus to allow His Mother to intercede for anyone, why would we not accept His example.

We love her whom Jesus loves dearly and whom the Father chose out of all women throughout time to be Mother of His divine Son.

David, may God bless you.
Your desire to protect unborn children surely delights Him
 
Trishie said:
David, these links may help to answer your questions regarding the books included in the Catholic bible

newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm

newadvent.org/cathen/03267a.htm

The following was written by a convert to the Catholic faith, who also previously was confused by what the Catholic bible includes.

beginningcatholic.com/books-of-the-catholic-bible.html

Kind regards, Trishie
Click to expand...
One of Mary’s best known sayings is found in John 2:5 She said to some people about her son Jesus “Whatever he says to you, do it.” She is still pointing the way to her son today and still encouraging is to do whatever Jesus says.
 
Welcome to CAF, and I am glad to see that you are expressing an interest in Catholicism.
davidn87 said:
The ‘extra’ books of the Bible.
Click to expand...
Although this is a common assumption among certain Protestant denominations, it is untrue — the Scriptures, that were canonized by the Catholic Church, contained these “extra books” (such as The Books of Tobit, Judith, Sirach, 1 and 2 Maccabees). We did not add any, Martin Luther simply took them out when he translated the Bible in the 16th century.
davidn87 said:
Mary.
Click to expand...
What are your issues with Mary? Protestant converts (or potential converts) may find it hard to accept the Catholic belief and dogma surrounding Mary; but you would need to specify your particular situation before I can really answer you appropriately.
davidn87 said:
What I probably incorrectly see as ‘hatred’ of other denominations and their practices.
Click to expand...
Indeed, there may be Catholics that denounce other belief systems (be it Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.), but, just as there are Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and atheists that denounce other belief systems, that is not the official teaching of the Catholic Church. I am not the most experienced to answer this question, so I’ll just leave my answer there, leaving the rest of the question to someone more knowledgeable than I.
 
Wow that’s amazing you feel yourself being drawn to the Catholic faith! You are in my prayers.

From what I gather there are quite a few non Catholics and Christians who think that Catholics ‘worship’ Mary (Our Lady) But it’s not like that…yes we pray to her, because Our Lord loves his mother so much and he cares so much about what she wants (like at the Wedding at Cana, she saw they had run out of wine, She said “They have no wine,” and Jesus replied, “O Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come.” Meaning he didn’t feel it was time yet to perform a miracle, but he did because he loved her and he knew she wanted it.

See, it’s through her that he came to this earth so save us, and when the angel appeared to her and asked if she would be the mother of Gods only begotten son, she courageously said yes (and she would have known it was going to be a hard road) because she had such faith in God, God chose her of all women because she was so spotless and ‘full of grace’ So she is also a wonderful role model for women. (Especially in todays world, when the media is pushing the likes of Rihanna and Lady gaga as rolemodels yikes!!)

So basically, it’s not worshipping, for example I like to talk to Our lady during the day, say the rosary, and just try to be like her. Because really thats doing something wonderful for Jesus too, because he loves her so much, and he dosn’t want his mother to be mocked and ridiculed. The world today is sooo horrible to Our Lady, especially because of her virginity. I guess that may be something you are questioning about too, because it seems impossible to have a baby unless you have had sex. Well we believe Jesus’ conception and birth were miraculous. He is the son of God after all. Mary loves us too like a mother loves her sons and daughters, she wants to help us 🙂

I think society today is all about needing proof, getting scientific and intellectual answers, but Our Lord wants us to have faith in him, trust in him, just to pray and let go of worldliness. We are called to be servants of him, doing his works instead of trying to get it to all make sense in our minds. It won’t all make sense until we are with him in heaven. We lost a huge hunk of knowledge when Adam and Eve sinned, sadly thats just part of original sin.

About the hatred of other denominations and their practices…so sad if you have seen hatred from Catholics, it’s not right, we should never hate anyone. Some practices from other denominations are sinful.

I’m not very clued up about extra books from the bible so I’ll just stop there I guess (finally! you think lol)
David, keep up your wonderful pro life work!! 👍 And you are very much in my prayers!!
 
MrsHappy said:
Wow that’s amazing you feel yourself being drawn to the Catholic faith! You are in my prayers.

From what I gather there are quite a few non Catholics and Christians who think that Catholics ‘worship’ Mary (Our Lady) But it’s not like that…yes we pray to her, because Our Lord loves his mother so much and he cares so much about what she wants (like at the Wedding at Cana, she saw they had run out of wine, She said “They have no wine,” and Jesus replied, “O Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come.” Meaning he didn’t feel it was time yet to perform a miracle, but he did because he loved her and he knew she wanted it.

See, it’s through her that he came to this earth so save us, and when the angel appeared to her and asked if she would be the mother of Gods only begotten son, she courageously said yes (and she would have known it was going to be a hard road) because she had such faith in God, God chose her of all women because she was so spotless and ‘full of grace’ So she is also a wonderful role model for women. (Especially in todays world, when the media is pushing the likes of Rihanna and Lady gaga as rolemodels yikes!!)

So basically, it’s not worshipping, for example I like to talk to Our lady during the day, say the rosary, and just try to be like her. Because really thats doing something wonderful for Jesus too, because he loves her so much, and he dosn’t want his mother to be mocked and ridiculed. The world today is sooo horrible to Our Lady, especially because of her virginity. I guess that may be something you are questioning about too, because it seems impossible to have a baby unless you have had sex. Well we believe Jesus’ conception and birth were miraculous. He is the son of God after all. Mary loves us too like a mother loves her sons and daughters, she wants to help us 🙂

I think society today is all about needing proof, getting scientific and intellectual answers, but Our Lord wants us to have faith in him, trust in him, just to pray and let go of worldliness. We are called to be servants of him, doing his works instead of trying to get it to all make sense in our minds. It won’t all make sense until we are with him in heaven. We lost a huge hunk of knowledge when Adam and Eve sinned, sadly thats just part of original sin.

About the hatred of other denominations and their practices…so sad if you have seen hatred from Catholics, it’s not right, we should never hate anyone. Some practices from other denominations are sinful.

I’m not very clued up about extra books from the bible so I’ll just stop there I guess (finally! you think lol)
David, keep up your wonderful pro life work!! 👍 And you are very much in my prayers!!
Click to expand...
It is possible that what some see as Catholic “hatred” toward other religious groups is really trying to point out some of the TEACHINGS of other churches or of
non believers that are not right or in accordance with the TRUTH. The host of the Vortex, Michael Voris is often accused of not being very “nice” for preaching the truth. Sometimes the truth is like surgery. It does hurt but at the end of the day it also can bring healing!
 
Welcome to CAF!- we are all sinners here.

You have friends here.

With regard to Mary, you can find a lot of info here. If you have only heard info from non- Catholics, there is much to understand.

Ironically, I just woke up from a dream where I was analyzing the Hail Mary prayer.

Hail Mary - like saying hi to Cesar, someone important, but still human, not God.
Full of grace - only fully human in history to be sin free. Mostly for the purpose of delivering perfection to the world. You can’t deliver perfection through error.
The Lord is with you - hard to argue differently, Jesus and Mary seem to always be close.
Blessed are you among women- I think it’s fair to say delivering God to the world is a big blessing.
Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. - well He is God Made man, His human attributes would surely be blessed.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen -

So we call her holy, she was the only other human to never sin and not be touched by it. Mother of God, fair enough, worthy of ‘hail’.
The last bit is all about asking this woman to pray for us. This line above all others should clarify her role for us. We don’t ask her to deliver grace or blessings, we ask her to pray, aka, ask God on behalf of us. God can deliver grace and blessings.

Welcome to CAF again and continue to be strong.
 
If I accept all this, what of my friends who are Protestant? Does anyone who doesn’t believe Catholic teachings go to hell? Are they not ‘real’ Christians?
 
davidn87 said:
If I accept all this, what of my friends who are Protestant? Does anyone who doesn’t believe Catholic teachings go to hell? Are they not ‘real’ Christians?
Click to expand...
We are taught that there is no salvation outside of the catholic church - but only God can judge of course…he knows the heart of every man - but I think he gives everyone a chance to get to know the catholic faith and become catholic at some point in their life if they were not born catholic. I am a cradle catholic and even during the times of my life when I have strayed off I have always known it is the absolute truth…I wish I could explain better but even when I have wanted so badly to believe it wasn’t right/the truth and unnecessary for my salvation I have had such a deep conviction that it is true even though I didn’t like it.

I understand that if you do accept all of this, it can be upsetting to your protestant friends and yourself…I made friends with someone who really wanted to come to mass with me and learn about the catholic faith and she became so strong and began to love the faith until one Sunday, the priest gave a talk about how the catholic church is the one true church, and he talked about the teaching of no salvation outside of the catholic church, and she never came back because she didn’t want to believe that about her friends…it was really upsetting for her, but I think if we remember that God gives everyone a chance to become catholic, we can pray that they will accept the truth, and plus, in this girls case it was wonderful for her because she HAD accepted it up until that point and she was loving it, but because she was sad for her friends she missed out becoming a catholic herself.

Because at the end of it all, we are not going to answer for our friends, we only answer for ourselves. Sure we can help our friends, love them and pray for them, but we are only responsible for our own soul in the end.

Hope this helped
Prayer and talking to Our Lord about it will help give you strength and ease your mind
 
davidn87 said:
If I accept all this, what of my friends who are Protestant? Does anyone who doesn’t believe Catholic teachings go to hell? Are they not ‘real’ Christians?
Click to expand...
In short, no, no one automatically goes to hell, or for that matter heaven.

It’s not us that know either. We get clarity thanks to the teachings of Christ to help us in our daily choices.

I wouldn’t use the term ‘not real’ for your friends faiths, rather, ‘fullness of Truth’ is what we are all searching for. Being apostolic, doing what God said to do in the Eucharist, and so much more depth, it points in one direction.

There can only be 1 truth, but there can be many half truths.
 
But who are they worshipping, who are they living for? This is seriously tearing me up inside.
 
davidn87 said:
But who are they worshipping, who are they living for? This is seriously tearing me up inside.
Click to expand...
All is in God’s hands, so that we can relax and pray for our mates. All who are baptised into Christ are considered a part of the Catholic Church - but they remain in an imperfect communion with her. So, all is not lost. We pray for them and try to show by our example what the fulness of faith does for a soul.

A suggestion: ring up the local parish and find out when they offer adoration of the Blessed Sacrament - also known as “holy hour.” You may then go and sit in Jesus’ true presence and pray, read scripture or just contemplate Him. It is the best-kept secret in all of Christianity.
 
davidn87 said:
Is that the same as daily mass?
Click to expand...
No. Adoration is a special time or hour, usuaully, in a side chapel, where the Blessed Sacrament or Eucharist is exposed and housed in a monstrance.

It is a time to spend in quiet reflection, prayer, read scriptures…as you keep company with the Blessed Sacrament.

There are parishes with perpetual adoration chapels. If the nearest parish to you does not have one, inquire which parish has.

Hope this helps.
 
davidn87 said:
Is that the same as daily mass?
Click to expand...
Rather than being a mass, it is a devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament (Holy Eucharist). It is a time to spend together with Him - in an extremely personal relationship. Amazing things can happen in His presence. If you do not currently believe that Christ is present in the Holy Eucharist, this is the perfect time and place to go and pray for your answer. Then, just be as patient with Him as He has been with you. Once you are aware that He is there, you will be changed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top