B
Bezant
Guest
xw2
- Status
G
GaryTaylor
Guest
“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” Man has lost his mind through lack of Love, thus God. Whats replaced this is a take your pick horror show.
C
Ciknay
Guest
After some thought, I disagree with this. Not on a notion that I simply don’t believe he was the son of God. But if God exists, and Jesus was the son of God, then I am not going to go to hell for not believing in him.
As my life isn’t being spent hanging out withs gangs, mugging people, abusing my body, abusing other peoples bodies, and desecrating what it means to be human (what that means is for a different thread), I believe that I am a good person.
If I were to die, I do not believe that I will go to hell for simply not believing in christ and God. That seems to contradict Jesus’ teachings. In fact, I will then willingly emrace God and Christ, as they will have saved me from this pitious thing we call life.
Not believing in Jesus isn’t an evil.
But many other things are.
H
Hail_Linus
Guest
G.K. Chesterton once wrote that the greatest evil in the modern world is that the virtues are running wild separate from one another. One person may be focused on the virtue of pity while ignoring the virtue of truth. Another may be focused on the virtue of truth while ignoring the virtue of pity.
Virtues running wild and apart from the other virtues is worse than evil because it is more difficult to notice than pure evil and yet the results can be just as bad or worse.
Abortion is a great example of this. A good number of pro-abortion rights people are indeed showing the virtue of compassion for women and yet they are not practicing the virtue of truth by ignoring that the fetus is a human being and women who undergo abortions are often suffer severe psychological consequences.
Virtues running wild and apart from the other virtues is worse than evil because it is more difficult to notice than pure evil and yet the results can be just as bad or worse.
Abortion is a great example of this. A good number of pro-abortion rights people are indeed showing the virtue of compassion for women and yet they are not practicing the virtue of truth by ignoring that the fetus is a human being and women who undergo abortions are often suffer severe psychological consequences.
G
gubernova
Guest
Abortion is not the greatest evil, intolerence and selfishness are… Abortion has become to much of a fixarion for the Church.
H
Hail_Linus
Guest
Your first statement sounded good. It seemed you were pointing out that there are underlying sins that are at the root of these induced abortions. I can agree with you there.
This statement, however, reminded me of another evil. Speaking with Euphemisms. Let’s rewrite your statement into the following straightforward phrase… “The murdering of millions of babies has become too much of a fixation for the Church.” Do you see how absurd that is? You see the term abortion should really only apply to natural abortions. People have taken the term abortion and are using it as a Euphemism for killing a “little one” (fetus).
P
PoliSciProf
Guest
The political philosopher Eric Voegelin put the greatest evil in a phrase that incorporates most of what is in this thread and which used to be a popular bumper sticker and lapel button: **“Don’t let them immanentize the eschaton!” It refers to the attempt to make the perfection found in the afterlfe (the eschaton) manifest in this life by acts of the human will. This covers most sins and political horrors.
N
Nicea325
Guest
I agree 100% with the pope. People are so in love with materialism it is unbelievable.
L
Legal_Eagle
Guest
Apathy
C
CHRISTINE77
Guest
Looking over this post I am seeing that a lot of the seven deadly sins are being mentioned as being the greatest evil, such as pride, greed, sloth and lust. I’m not sure what category abortion falls under. Anyways, all of them are bad and lead to evil.
In the Book of Proverbs, King Solomon stated that the Lord specifically regards “six things the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth.” namely:
A proud look.
A lying tongue.
Hands that shed innocent blood.
A heart that devises wicked plots.
Feet that are swift to run into mischief.
A deceitful witness that uttereth lies.
Him that soweth discord among brethren.
These seem to sum up what causes evil rather concisely too.
In the Book of Proverbs, King Solomon stated that the Lord specifically regards “six things the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth.” namely:
A proud look.
A lying tongue.
Hands that shed innocent blood.
A heart that devises wicked plots.
Feet that are swift to run into mischief.
A deceitful witness that uttereth lies.
Him that soweth discord among brethren.
These seem to sum up what causes evil rather concisely too.
N
Nausicaa
Guest
Christians who do not fight injustice. I know many of them, and it breaks my heart.
A
Archangelic
Guest
Relativism.
A
AnAtheist
Guest
The greatest evil is that people cannot differenciate. Like between atheism and paganism which are two completely different things. There is only we (the good) and the others (the bad). And perhaps some ugly.
The_Reginator
Active member
A
AnAtheist
Guest
Five minutes and someone is proud of his humility.
S
seeker57
Guest
I believe greed is the evil I see most frequently.
Whether it be corporate greed, such as the protesters on Wall Street have been railing against, or individual greed, it is purely self-serving and prevents people from acting in the best interest of those with whom they share this world.
Just my 2¢ worth.
Seeker
Whether it be corporate greed, such as the protesters on Wall Street have been railing against, or individual greed, it is purely self-serving and prevents people from acting in the best interest of those with whom they share this world.
Just my 2¢ worth.
Seeker
R
rinnie
Guest
The greatest evil today is the same as Yesterday. Simply SIN!! Sin exists in too many ways to list.
But when you SIN you turn away from the truth and Our Lord.
But when you SIN you turn away from the truth and Our Lord.
H
hn160
Guest
You are absolutely right, sin is sin, it makes no difference if it is abortion or whatever, man is a fallen creature.
The_Reginator
Active member
J
Joseph_Kemp
Guest
I believe the greatest evil in the world today is SCRUPULOSITY – an unnecessary fear of going to Hell.
Scrupulosity is absolutely horrible. It affects millions of people, both inside AND OUTSIDE the Church.
For example, most of the atheists I know avoid the Catholic Church for scrupulous reasons. Many atheists are generally interested in God, but they are often terrified of becoming tangled up in the seemingly endless strict rules and regulations of the Roman Catholic Church. They don’t want to become guilt-ridden over every little thing being a “sin.”
Of course, the Roman Catholic Church does not operate in this way. But many Catholics who are misinformed about their faith often present it as if virtually EVERYTHING in life is a sin, and that we are virtually all going to Hell, no matter what.
Here is a short list of several (false) things I have been told by strict, sin-obsessed Catholics in the past, that have made me afraid of going to Hell for nothing. Do any of these sound familiar to you?
1.) I must pray the Rosary every day. If I don’t, I am guilty of a lack of Charity in prayer, and will be sent straight to Hell for mortal sin. (I eventually learned that the Rosary is a DEVOTION. And no Roman Catholic has to pray devotions. Ever. They are total extras. It is no sin for a Roman Catholic not to pray the Rosary.)
2.) I cannot work on Sunday. This is an Offence against the Forth Commandment. Violating this will send me straight to Hell. (The Vatican actually teaches that you CAN work on Sunday. Just try not to forget to go to Church. There is an article all about this, here
mission.liguori.org/newsletters/pdf_archive/sa070101.pdf
3.) I cannot lie. Every lie (no matter how harmless) is a mortal sin, and will send me straight to Hell. (This is absolutely NOT true, according to official Vatican teaching.)
4.) I cannot waste anything. Even wasting one square of toilet paper is an Offense against God’s Bounty (Charity,) and will send me straight to Hell. (Okay, this one is just plain bizarre.)
5.) I must tithe (give 10% of my income to the Church.) If I don’t, this is mortal sin. Once again, I will be sent straight to Hell. (I eventually learned that the Roman Catholic Church does not teach tithing. At all. We give whatever we want, according to our conscience (Corinthians 2.) No pressure.) gimmor.com/thisrock/quickquestions/keyword/tithe
6.) I can have no rest or relaxation. If I am not out doing enormous penances, charities, and “good works,” serving the Church, volunteering at the soup kitchen, helping the homeless, etc., I will guilty of sloth and laziness, will be in mortal sin, and will be sent – you guessed it – straight to Hell. (This one particularly disturbed me. I am very solitary. I spend almost ALL my time by myself, and have no real inclination to do any of these things. I’m very shy. I was finally shown that all these things are simply there IF WE WISH TO DO THEM. It is most certainly NOT a mortal sin not to do them, according to official Catholic teaching. Millions of Catholics live alone, go nowhere, do no real “good works” to speak of. And the Roman Catholic Church has NEVER declared such people to be on the way to Hell. Apologist Jimmy Akin wrote an excellent article on this, here: jimmyakin.org/2006/01/fear_of_going_t.html ).
Atheists even have a term for Catholics who get fed up with all the guilt caused by these needless, imaginary “restrictions” and who leave the Church for some peace of mind: “Recovering Catholics.”
As if Catholicism is something that needs to be recovered from.
The Catholic Church as a whole has yet to acknowledged scrupulosity (unnecessary fear of Hell) for the awesome problem that it is. It drives Catholics out of the Church, and drives atheists to avoid the Church. There has as yet been no concerted effort on the Church’s part to address these very common needless fears about Hell, or to address many of the common theological mistakes that cause people to worry and suffer from fear of Hell for nothing.
I believe that scrupulosity is the greatest evil in the world today. There is at least one serious website run by the Redemptorist Order called “Scrupulous Anonymous,” which is specifically set up to help those Catholics suffering from needless fears about their salvation. It can be reached here: mission.liguori.org/newsletters/scrupanon.htm But in my opinion, this is far too little. Most people have never even heard of “Scrupulous Anonymous.” Serious discussions of needless fears about Hell almost never happen in the Church today. I cannot recall even hearing a homily about it. Such fears often go virtually unaddressed, leaving many people in the Church today suffering in silence, with no idea that the reasoning that is causing them such pain may in fact be wrong.
Scrupulosity is absolutely horrible. It affects millions of people, both inside AND OUTSIDE the Church.
For example, most of the atheists I know avoid the Catholic Church for scrupulous reasons. Many atheists are generally interested in God, but they are often terrified of becoming tangled up in the seemingly endless strict rules and regulations of the Roman Catholic Church. They don’t want to become guilt-ridden over every little thing being a “sin.”
Of course, the Roman Catholic Church does not operate in this way. But many Catholics who are misinformed about their faith often present it as if virtually EVERYTHING in life is a sin, and that we are virtually all going to Hell, no matter what.
Here is a short list of several (false) things I have been told by strict, sin-obsessed Catholics in the past, that have made me afraid of going to Hell for nothing. Do any of these sound familiar to you?
1.) I must pray the Rosary every day. If I don’t, I am guilty of a lack of Charity in prayer, and will be sent straight to Hell for mortal sin. (I eventually learned that the Rosary is a DEVOTION. And no Roman Catholic has to pray devotions. Ever. They are total extras. It is no sin for a Roman Catholic not to pray the Rosary.)
2.) I cannot work on Sunday. This is an Offence against the Forth Commandment. Violating this will send me straight to Hell. (The Vatican actually teaches that you CAN work on Sunday. Just try not to forget to go to Church. There is an article all about this, here
mission.liguori.org/newsletters/pdf_archive/sa070101.pdf
3.) I cannot lie. Every lie (no matter how harmless) is a mortal sin, and will send me straight to Hell. (This is absolutely NOT true, according to official Vatican teaching.)
4.) I cannot waste anything. Even wasting one square of toilet paper is an Offense against God’s Bounty (Charity,) and will send me straight to Hell. (Okay, this one is just plain bizarre.)
5.) I must tithe (give 10% of my income to the Church.) If I don’t, this is mortal sin. Once again, I will be sent straight to Hell. (I eventually learned that the Roman Catholic Church does not teach tithing. At all. We give whatever we want, according to our conscience (Corinthians 2.) No pressure.) gimmor.com/thisrock/quickquestions/keyword/tithe
6.) I can have no rest or relaxation. If I am not out doing enormous penances, charities, and “good works,” serving the Church, volunteering at the soup kitchen, helping the homeless, etc., I will guilty of sloth and laziness, will be in mortal sin, and will be sent – you guessed it – straight to Hell. (This one particularly disturbed me. I am very solitary. I spend almost ALL my time by myself, and have no real inclination to do any of these things. I’m very shy. I was finally shown that all these things are simply there IF WE WISH TO DO THEM. It is most certainly NOT a mortal sin not to do them, according to official Catholic teaching. Millions of Catholics live alone, go nowhere, do no real “good works” to speak of. And the Roman Catholic Church has NEVER declared such people to be on the way to Hell. Apologist Jimmy Akin wrote an excellent article on this, here: jimmyakin.org/2006/01/fear_of_going_t.html ).
- This is just a small sampler of the various terrifying lies that scare Catholics (and even atheists) on a daily basis. Why do we put up with such things? Are we not concerned with truth and morality? Such beliefs are devastating to a healthy sense of moral balance. But too many people – both inside AND outside the Church - simply seem interested in perpetuating such beliefs, instead of exposing the truth.
Atheists even have a term for Catholics who get fed up with all the guilt caused by these needless, imaginary “restrictions” and who leave the Church for some peace of mind: “Recovering Catholics.”
As if Catholicism is something that needs to be recovered from.
The Catholic Church as a whole has yet to acknowledged scrupulosity (unnecessary fear of Hell) for the awesome problem that it is. It drives Catholics out of the Church, and drives atheists to avoid the Church. There has as yet been no concerted effort on the Church’s part to address these very common needless fears about Hell, or to address many of the common theological mistakes that cause people to worry and suffer from fear of Hell for nothing.
I believe that scrupulosity is the greatest evil in the world today. There is at least one serious website run by the Redemptorist Order called “Scrupulous Anonymous,” which is specifically set up to help those Catholics suffering from needless fears about their salvation. It can be reached here: mission.liguori.org/newsletters/scrupanon.htm But in my opinion, this is far too little. Most people have never even heard of “Scrupulous Anonymous.” Serious discussions of needless fears about Hell almost never happen in the Church today. I cannot recall even hearing a homily about it. Such fears often go virtually unaddressed, leaving many people in the Church today suffering in silence, with no idea that the reasoning that is causing them such pain may in fact be wrong.
- Status