Non-Catholic? Why are you on this forum?

[tiemry]

I don’t think curious and suspicious are synonyms. As I stated I am curious why non-Catholics would be on a Catholic forum. I personally have never felt the need or desire to go to a protestant forum, neither to learn, convert or just out of curiousity.

How closed mind can one be. We must be open to learn and understand and love one another. For example, I am a White American Christian Woman, should I simply live in my little corner of the world and ignore and show no interest to learn about any other culture or Religion?
But you say you are not are not curious to learn about non-Catholic’s yet you ARE curious as to why we are here

 

[jpasta]

As a former Catholic, I used to read this forum a few years back…
I see my login and password still work…and have just started re-reading the different thread/topics. Just seeing what is going on.

 

[jpaul]

I am just curious to know what the reasons are that so many non-Catholics are on this forum. This is Catholic Answers. Are you here to convert - yourself - or us? Do you have a true curiousity or do you just want to show us the error of our ways?

Peace and all-good!

Personally, I welcome all non-Catholics in this forum. Regardless of motives. The truth will always be the truth. The Church has nothing to fear.

In our parish apostolate, we welcome all and any Protestant pastors in our radio programs for a dialogue (every Sunday afternoon) and in a friendly debate (every Wednesday everning).

By God’s grace, our local apologetic group is blessed with ex-SDA, ex-Baptist and ex-UCCP (United Church of Christ) members.

Ave Maria!

jpaul

 

[Philothea53]

How closed mind can one be. We must be open to learn and understand and love one another. For example, I am a White American Christian Woman, should I simply live in my little corner of the world and ignore and show no interest to learn about any other culture or Religion?
But you say you are not are not curious to learn about non-Catholic’s yet you ARE curious as to why we are here

Well, you quoted from something I said in post #9 which taken out of the context of the conversation makes you sound closed minded. Please read everything I wrote before you call me names.

 

[jpaul]

As a former Catholic, I used to read this forum a few years back…
I see my login and password still work…and have just started re-reading the different thread/topics. Just seeing what is going on.

Peace and all-good!

With our open arms, welcome back brother!

Ave Maria!

jpaul

 

[Tig]

Hi All, I am new to this forum. Just joined. I would not have joined if there were no non Catholics allowed here. I can think of nothing more boring than all sitting around and posting yup, yup that’s the way it is (insert Catholic belief there). I wanted a place I could talk and learn from my fellow Catholics but also a place where others of differing religions could participate. Non Catholics have a way of spicing up a forum, causing me to learn about their faith and learn more about my own. So for the mix!

-Peace-

 

[jpaul]

Susan,

You asked

I am a Lutheran pastor. I frequent this forum as a way to increase my knowledge of Catholicism and, on occasion, to explain Lutheran theology when I see that it is misunderstood. I do not expect to convert to Catholicism nor do I have any intention of urging Catholics to become Lutherans. I simply hope to engage in constructive dialogue on subjects of mutual interest.

I am dismayed by people who enter this forum for the purpose of attacking Catholicism just as I am dismayed by Catholics who feel compelled to flog Martin Luther over and over. Neither serves the cause of better understanding among Christians.

Peace and all-good!

Let us all pray for peace in our hearts and accept the truth with humility.

All glory be to our God!

Ave Maria!

jpaul

 

[jpaul]

Hi All, I am new to this forum. Just joined. I would not have joined if there were no non Catholics allowed here. I can think of nothing more boring than all sitting around and posting yup, yup that’s the way it is (insert Catholic belief there). I wanted a place I could talk and learn from my fellow Catholics but also a place where others of differing religions could participate. Non Catholics have a way of spicing up a forum, causing me to learn about their faith and learn more about my own. So for the mix!

-Peace-

Peace and all-good!

We are all brothers on the road and we on the right path!

Welcome!

Ave Maria!

jpaul

 

[Marc1152]

the prophet smith who said “like we are god was and like god is we may become” or something like that. <<<

The real doctrine of deification is a prime point within the Eastern Orthodox Church. We are to become like God by grace what he is by his nature. That is a far different idea than the Mormon one.
They are talking about becoming a SEPERATE GOD. They would tell you that God was once a man who advanced through various levels of attainment to rule over our present Universe. They say that you can also become such a God with your own little fiefdom to rule over.

Heresies often sound like authentic doctrines but then twist them into some else. Be very very careful around Mormons.

Marc

 

[jpaul]

I come here because in a way I learn how to be a better christian. Sometimes from just observing and listening things are seen better for what they are. Since I joined I have done more research on differing faiths and have gained more spiritualy from it.

We are happy for you!

God bless you!

jpaul

 

[Abira]

shhhhh. . . . . . . sneaking up behind Abira to throw her into the Tiber. . . shhhhh. . . . . .

ok…you’d never make 007 would you? lol

 

[DJgang]

I think this is a good question to ask…everyone probably has different reasons.

I started listening to Catholic Radio after seeing an advertisment on the side of the road. I started listening to Catholic Answers Live…next thing I know…I’m on the forum.

I’ve been through a lot spiritually in the past few years. I’m glad that I have been and am a member of this forum…because…

I’m starting RCIA next week!

After about four long years, that began with a road side ad for Catholic Radio…(and also the Church’s stance on abortion)…I’m coming home.

 

[JFonseka]

I actually got suspended on this forum for 2 weeks because I had a different opinion about something. But this thread is perhaps the best I’ve seen yet!

One does not get banned simply for having a ‘different opinion’, it’s how that opinion is presented and whether the content of that ‘opinion’ is generally acceptable for everyone to see.

 

[Mimi]

KarenNC;2564118]I originally came to the forum after learning about a particular article in “This Rock” entitled “Anti-Neopagan Apologetics.” As is frequently the case when folks in mainstream religions talk about Neopagan religions, the article got a lot of the information about Neopagan religions wrong.

What possible use for apologetics is incorrect information? Say, for instance, that one for some unknown reason wanted to convert a Catholic to one’s own religion, would it be helpful if one came up to the Catholic and said “You should convert to my religion because we don’t worship statues or dance the hornpipe on the church lawn with blue ducks tied to our heads every third Thursday” or is it more likely the person would think one was at best misinformed or at worst a loony and get as far away as possible?

If you want information about another religion you can either sit around with your co-religionists talking about your idea of what so-and-so believes, reinforcing any incorrect stereotypes and misinformation you may have, or you can actually talk to someone who follows that religion and maybe learn some accurate information. Doesn’t mean you will agree with it, but at least you are then disagreeing with something they really believe or do rather than something you just think they believe or do. I will say that my participation has been eye-opening about Catholicism.

So one reason I stick around is to help dispel incorrect ideas about those religions with which I am familiar, either through personal experience or study.

It is not entirely altruistic, however. The best way to practice apologetics is to debate with someone whose ideas are different from your own. They are going to do their best to poke holes in your argument, just as you are doing to theirs. It strengthens weak arguments on both sides. Honestly, the 8 months I have been participating here have strengthened my faith considerably as well as my ability to clarify and articulate why I believe as I do.

:clapping: Great post, Karen! I agree. I am trying to get my neighbor to address misconceptions she has about Catholicism so we can at least discuss certain things.

I’m also weird enough to think comparative religion and apologetics is fun ./

Oh no, you’re not weird! I like it too. I would just like to make it what I do for a living - well, maybe part-time anyway!

And Abira!! Come on in, the water’s fine!!n :yup:

Peace,
Mimi

 

[RebeccaJ]

I am just curious to know what the reasons are that so many non-Catholics are on this forum. This is Catholic Answers. Are you here to convert - yourself - or us? Do you have a true curiousity or do you just want to show us the error of our ways?

For the same reason I go to Mass, as a non-Catholic.
I am just trying learn. I don’t say much to anything at all outside of the non-catholic forum. I read, but it is all so outside of anything I know or understand that I just plain don’t have anything to add.

 

[Abira]

For the same reason I go to Mass, as a non-Catholic.
I am just trying learn. I don’t say much to anything at all outside of the non-catholic forum. I read, but it is all so outside of anything I know or understand that I just plain don’t have anything to add.

hey, if you’re attending mass and on here you already know more than the only three ‘Catholics’ I know lol…

 

[Mannyfit75]

What they said above:thumbsup: I have to admit though it became an addiction for me Now I am just getting bored. Same old topics–same old arguments

I also have to say though that ,through CAF, I met a woman whom Im going to meet this Saturday. To clarify, I am a married woman with children as she is as well. We started talking and became friends. I was going to visit family near where she lives so we decided to meet half way. We are both very excited. So see, CAF is good for something. She is bringing her husband and Im bringing my children. I have met some other great people here at CAF and I look forward to meeting them in heaven if I dont meet them in this lifetime.

Thanks for asking

The repetition of the topics are the same because we received new members everyday and many of these members are Non-Catholics.

I do think that if you want to make the topic interesting. I think we need to go into discussion in the issue of morality and faith, which is vital to all Christians.

 

[Jeanette_L]

I think this is a good question to ask…everyone probably has different reasons.

I started listening to Catholic Radio after seeing an advertisment on the side of the road. I started listening to Catholic Answers Live…next thing I know…I’m on the forum.

I’ve been through a lot spiritually in the past few years. I’m glad that I have been and am a member of this forum…because…

I’m starting RCIA next week!

After about four long years, that began with a road side ad for Catholic Radio…(and also the Church’s stance on abortion)…I’m coming home.

:extrahappy:

This is great news! I’m so excited for you! I just came home last year, have absolutely no regrets, although it has been a hard road. You don’t know how many people hate Catholics until you try to become one.

I will say a prayer for you, for strength and courage when needed, and for the peace that passes all understanding (the part that really amazes me) no matter what bumps are in the road.

God Bless You!

 

[Jeanette_L]

Susan,

You asked

I am a Lutheran pastor. I frequent this forum as a way to increase my knowledge of Catholicism and, on occasion, to explain Lutheran theology when I see that it is misunderstood. I do not expect to convert to Catholicism nor do I have any intention of urging Catholics to become Lutherans. I simply hope to engage in constructive dialogue on subjects of mutual interest.

I am dismayed by people who enter this forum for the purpose of attacking Catholicism just as I am dismayed by Catholics who feel compelled to flog Martin Luther over and over. Neither serves the cause of better understanding among Christians.

Hi Pastor!

I am a fairly new convert to the Catholic Church, and I have to say, I get more than a little uncomfortable with people on both sides who feel the need to be combative or pushy or arrogant when discussing their faiths, and there are plenty.

I think it’s great when people can come here and feel welcome enough to stick around and find true fellowship with Catholics and non Catholics alike.

I just watched a program last night called Common Ground, a sit down talk between a Catholic priest and an Evangelical pastor from the same neighborhood, who you could tell genuinely loved one another and it was so refreshing, I actually cried. The purpose was to ask questions and honestly explain their faiths, what was common and what was different, but in a respectful and charitable way. And there was a real beauty to this dialogue. You could feel the Holy Spirit working to tear down some walls.

I’ve had more than my fair share of run ins with some on both sides who were way less than charitable, it is heartbreaking, but inevitable in an open forum like this, that’s the price for our human freedom, right? And we would want no less than that freedom, so we press on.

Anyway, welcome to the forums. Hope you bump into more friendly than unfriendly folks and come away refreshed in your faith and love for Christ!

God Bless,
Jeanette

 

[Madaglan]

My story is probably a bit strange. I don’t consider myself a Non-Catholic, but nor do I boldly proclaim myself as a Roman Catholic (Latin Catholic). I started posting on CA before the great crash when all my old posts got erased. In any case, I would like to read over some of them to see how I have changed. I know I have changed. I started out as a die-hard ultra-montanist, a great admirer of the Jesuits and the Popes. I defended the charges against Catholicism from those who gravely misrepresented Catholicism. I still do, when the charges are clearly without foundation.

A lot has happened since then… I can’t really put it into words here. It would take hours. I’ve learned a lot, not only from book learning but, more importantly I think, from experience. A lot of things that go beyond the regular flow of man. I still go to Catholic churches, but I no longer have the same sense of conviction I used to about the Catholic Church being the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Not that I downright deny it; I just don’t know with the certainty of faith.

I could read all the Church Fathers, Scott Butler’s Peter and the Keys, St. Robert Bellarmine and a host of other exegesis masterpieces–and yet none of this moves me to belief. I might give intellectual assent to this or that, but faith is far more than intellectual consent to a series of facts, even ethereal ones.

To be quite honest, I’m in a mode of discernment right now: determining God’s will for me. The hard part for me is that I’ve never really experienced God in my life, and I am somewhat at a loss of determining what exactly God wills, since I cannot hear Him.

If religion were a game and my salvation did not matter, I’d become Byzantine, as Byzantine chant is very beautiful. Or rather, I would alternate between Byzantine and Traditional Latin Masses. But as Christianity is inextricably connected with salvation, I need to follow what is Truth rather than that which is Beautiful but may be excluding the Truth in key matters.

I don’t mean to be base: but for much of my life I imagined faith in simply terms of intellectual assent. I believed then as I do now, faith is a grace; but then (perhaps not conciously) I mostly saw faith as the nodding of the intellect to the propositions of the Christian faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again, the Creeds, etc. Then: Yes, I believe this (even if a paradox, it’s reasonable to believe this). But then I soon began asking: but how do I believe? Is this belief any different from, say, a belief that a certain political party’s platform is best for the country? I shockingly realized that my faith then, as it is now, is too rational, too philosophical, bound with propositions, words and not truly coming from the heart. Pascal wrote something that I’ve been pondering much: God is perceived with the heart and not the mind (or something to that effect).

In any case, I wonder now if faith is different from the intellectual assent, distinct from the structures of human wisdom. Only God knows where I will end up. Hopefully I follow God’s will for me.