Please enlighten me

[Hobble]

And don’t let 1.2 billion turn you off either…

What I mean is: If the Catholic Church is the one, true Church and even if all 1.2 of the Catholics in that Church were horrible people, that wouldn’t mean that the Church is no longer the one, true Church. No one should ever base their judgment of a religion / church / etc. based on the people in it. All judgments should be made based off the teachings and truths presented.

Anyone that is going to base their decision off the people in a particular religion shouldn’t have the right to be exploring other religions in the first place.

I agree, that’s what I’ve been trying to keep in my head. Just to remember that the people in the Church are still only humans and that they can be ignorant, rude, and judgmental at times, but it doesn’t mean that it’s what the Church teaches.

 

[JonNC]

The late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once said (circa 1975), not long before he entered Eternal Life, that if Catholic parents wanted their children to lose the Catholic faith he could think of no better way that to send their children to a Catholic University and make sure they took lots of theology courses. The rot of liberal biblical criticism and anti-Catholic and anti-Western historical revisionism (as well as post-modernism) was already well entrenched when Sheen made his biting warning.

Funny. My dad said similar things about many Lutheran colleges in the same time frame. At the Lutheran college I attended, in the required freshman theology course, not one Lutheran author was used - most were of the very liberal variety. It was maddening!

Sometimes, we Catholics posting on this forum go overboard–we lose sight of Charity–something I have done and beg pardon for. But the Catholic faith cannot be defended by mealy-mouthed, wishy-washy feel-good psuedo-ecumenicalism. We MUST say what we believe, why we believe it, and say so with confidence. On this particular forum, if someone says something that is egregiously against the teachings of the faith, I and my fellow Catholics will respond. That we must always do so with respect we must always keep in mind lest we too become stumbling blocks

True ecumenism comes from honesty in describing our beliefs, which can be done with charity and respect, and without the polemics of the past. The best threads on this forum are the ones where people of good will explain their beliefs (without belittling or condemning others’), listen to posters of other beliefs, then discuss their differences with respect.

When this happens, I love it here.

Jon

 

[heisenburg]

There is something that all of us tend to forget…

Both sides of the isle…

It is NOT our job to convince any one of anything… but simply to offer truth. Many times you can say what you need to say in two or three posts/follow ups…

Unfortunately, we want everyone to agree with us… so when they don’t, we push…

Offer your understanding as best as you can… listen to what others have to say…

But remember… it is only the job of the HS to convert mens hearts…

In Christ

 

[rtconstant]

Yeah, it gets rough here sometimes. I’m not pointing fingers because I’ve jumped the gun sometimes too. I agree though it would seem that this forum should be more geared towards discussion and understanding.

Debate is understandable in the Apologetics and Social Justice forums as one should know they’re inviting critique when posting in those. This one should be more for learning though. Now I’ve seen a lot worse than here in terms of heat in a religious forum. I’m not trying to make excuses though.

We might have to many groups in this forum though. Pretty much every group that isn’t Catholic is present here I don’t know though.

 

[Robert_in_SD]

Maybe I’m not understanding the meaning behind a “Non-Catholic Religions” forum, but I always thought it was for people who are Catholic and Non-Catholic to gain an understanding of each other’s beliefs.

What I see on here now are things that should belong in the Apologetics section because the topics generally are about someone trying to prove why Protestantism is wrong and the RCC is right. Another fun thing seems to be to find a tidbit from the news about a certain denomination/group and high five about their impending doom.

Any and all responses that do not agree with most the original poster’s opinions are met with snide comments and remarks and the term “anti-Catholic” is thrown their way.

Some may see this as a blanket statement, but it is no more so than the blanket statements I see towards those that are non-Catholics.

I just wonder how many are turned away from the RCC that stumble onto this site, which is quite easy to do if you type in “catholic beliefs” in google or yahoo.

Let the attacks begin.

No discussion forum is perfect, but my experience has shown me that this forum far outpaces the non-Catholic forums for courtesy and charity toward persons of differing faith traditions.

I agree with you that every forum has its lemons, but overall, the quality of (name removed by moderator)ut from both Catholic and other faiths is charitable and well-reasoned. Yes, it is a shame that some few people post some harsh things. But if you come to any site, you have to expect to deal with people of all types, including some who will challenge your intellect as well as your patience and restraint. The challenge is to stay charitable while remaining true to yourself. We all fail at this from time to time, right?.

Thanks for voicing your concerns. I hope that you will continue to post here, and overlook the flaws of some of us, who are not always the perfect christians in thought, word, and act.

Peace,
-Robert

 

[Peter_J]

Now I’ve seen a lot worse than here in terms of heat in a religious forum. I’m not trying to make excuses though.

I’m glad you said that. Something I’ve pointed out once or twice (I’m sure some Protestant readers are thinking “Oh brother, not this again.” ) is that in order to do a fair comparison you really need to compare the way Protestants are treated on a Catholic board like this one, with the way Catholics are treated on a typical Protestant board. (Just looking at a Catholic board and comparing the way the Catholics and Protestants treat each other on that one board is really an apples-to-oranges comparison.)

But like you said, rtconstant, we also shouldn’t make excuses. If the board can be improved, then we should try to improve it – even if it is already better than the typical Protestant board.

 

[Seminarian_Matt]

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