Question from a Seeking Jew

[BarbaraTherese]

Jew_Man_73:

Thank you everybody. Now that you all have explained it, the term makes perfect sense. In that respect, there are alot of “cafeteria Jews” too. By the way everyone, I grew up as a nominal Protestant (Me and my parents attended church every now and then and never prayed or read the Bible) and decided to convert to Judaism as an adult, since I was biologically half-Jewish. I haven’t attented temple in a while, though, because something is missing. I’m not sure what, but SOMETHING. I’ve visited alot of different temples, but none of them are fulfilling to me. I’ve been researching church history lately and the Catholic Church keeps coming up again and again. I’m sorry if this sounds rambling, but I’m seeking. My condolences to all Catholics on the death of the Pope, by the way. He was a righteous man.

Hi thre Jew_Man_73 and welcome to Catholic Answers Community in Cyberspace … thank you for your condolences on the death of Our Holy Father JP11. You do not sound rambling at all to me - but genuinely searching. Did you know that the term “God” is drawn from Greek meaning ‘the called and the calling’ . You are seeking because God sought you first. I too will pray (as I saw in another post ) that you will be enlightened in your search to that which you are meant surely to find.

Welcome aboard…hope to cathca again on The Board…

Regards, Barb
Bethany Place
South Australia
Sun. 17.4.05 0525hrs

 

[Jew_Man_73]

BarbaraTherese:

Hi thre Jew_Man_73 and welcome to Catholic Answers Community in Cyberspace … thank you for your condolences on the death of Our Holy Father JP11. You do not sound rambling at all to me - but genuinely searching. Did you know that the term “God” is drawn from Greek meaning ‘the called and the calling’ . You are seeking because God sought you first. I too will pray (as I saw in another post ) that you will be enlightened in your search to that which you are meant surely to find.

Welcome aboard…hope to cathca again on The Board…

Regards, Barb
Bethany Place
South Australia
Sun. 17.4.05 0525hrs

Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate thema ll. I have been doing some cross-referencing, and reading some prophecies. There seem to be alot, and they’re a bit overwhelming at times. And I ahve to admit, there have been some here and there that I haven’t understood. I’m open.

 

[nike248]

Jew_Man_73:

I actually visited a Catholic church this past week. Not sure why, but I cried. I’m not normally a crier.

You cried because you were home. I cried too when I finally learned who Jesus was. Get this, I was a Catholic for 18 years and I didn’t know that Jesus was God!

I just thought He was some guy going around telling everyone they were going to Hell. Talk about ignorance.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

k.

Jew_Man_73:

Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate thema ll. I have been doing some cross-referencing, and reading some prophecies. There seem to be alot, and they’re a bit overwhelming at times. And I ahve to admit, there have been some here and there that I haven’t understood. I’m open.

Hello again Jew_Man_73 …meeting you again in cyberspace…and good to see ya!:tiphat:
The Forum you are now in is The Water Cooler where any topic can be pondered. There are also two other really good Forums that may be of assistance to you in your searching. The first is Ask An Apologist and othe other is Apologetics…these two Forums focus on explaning Catholic beliefs. The other good Forum is the Forum on Scripture questions. If you go to our Home Page you will see the various Forums that may put more info at your disposal for pondering.

I am also wondering if you perhaps are talking to a priest about your ponderings of Catholicism…just to have someone to answer your questions and give you any info you may seek

While cyberspace is a wonderful medium indeed for communication and info and making the world a far smaller place as it were…we were created to relate face to face.

Often a good way to approach the question of talking to someone face to face is to make an appointment to talk with one of our Catholic Relgious Orders for men…ie. religious priests and/or brothers. These male religious orders are often well experienced in many matters including Scripture and how to guide the searching soul. No one should put pressure on you in any way (and don’t stand for it) continue to seek as long as you feel you have not yet found what you are looking for…the ahhhhhhh experience as Anthony de Mello called it in his book “Awareness” . DeMello is now deceased and had been a Jesuit Priest and respected spiritual writer.

Send regards Jew_Man_73 and truly admire what comes across as sincereity and integrity
God Bless
Barb
Bethany Place South Australia
Sun 17.4.05 1249 hrs.

 

[CARose]

Jew_man

I was reading this the other day and I thought of you. It’s Psalm 87 (OT) where it references that “… Babylon & Egypt I will count among those who know me: Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia, these will be her children and Zion shall be called ‘Mother’ for all shall be her children. …”

This is an example of how ultimately God desired that all the children of the world would be included in his family, as Catholicism teaches.

Hope this helps,

CARose

 

[Jew_Man_73]

CARose:

Jew_man

I was reading this the other day and I thought of you. It’s Psalm 87 (OT) where it references that “… Babylon & Egypt I will count among those who know me: Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia, these will be her children and Zion shall be called ‘Mother’ for all shall be her children. …”

This is an example of how ultimately God desired that all the children of the world would be included in his family, as Catholicism teaches.

Hope this helps,

CARose

“…and Zion shall be called ‘Mother’ for all shall be her children…” Very interesting. I marked this passage in my Bible. I’m going to ask the priest here about it. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

 

[theMutant]

Jew_Man_73:

Some of my Jewish friends are really frustrated with me, and they’ve been begging me to come back to temple. I did go last night, but I still felt nothing. The services are beautiful and reverent, but I don’t feel anything significant there. It’s rather empty. I went to mass last week, and I’m thinking of going again tomorrow. (Haven’t made up my mind definitely yet one way or another.)

Naturally, we think you should go to Mass, but, unless you find the atmosphere has become uncomfortable, I would suggest that you do go to temple; especially if you’re not sure if you will go to Mass. Maintaining the practice of religious observance and giving honor to God can do you nothing but good.

 

[Jew_Man_73]

nike248:

You cried because you were home. I cried too when I finally learned who Jesus was. Get this, I was a Catholic for 18 years and I didn’t know that Jesus was God!

I just thought He was some guy going around telling everyone they were going to Hell. Talk about ignorance.

I’ve known alot of Protestants and Catholics who didn’t know much about their faith. Your former ignorance doesn’t surprise me. You may not realize this, but alot of sincere, devout Jews don’t know alot about their faith either. Alot of Jews aren’t very familiar with what the TANAKH says.
It’s interesting that you said I cried because I was home. A few people at the local Cathoic church here told me that too.

 

[Jew_Man_73]

BarbaraTherese:

k.

Hello again Jew_Man_73 …meeting you again in cyberspace…and good to see ya!:tiphat:
The Forum you are now in is The Water Cooler where any topic can be pondered. There are also two other really good Forums that may be of assistance to you in your searching. The first is Ask An Apologist and othe other is Apologetics…these two Forums focus on explaning Catholic beliefs. The other good Forum is the Forum on Scripture questions. If you go to our Home Page you will see the various Forums that may put more info at your disposal for pondering.

I am also wondering if you perhaps are talking to a priest about your ponderings of Catholicism…just to have someone to answer your questions and give you any info you may seek

While cyberspace is a wonderful medium indeed for communication and info and making the world a far smaller place as it were…we were created to relate face to face.

Often a good way to approach the question of talking to someone face to face is to make an appointment to talk with one of our Catholic Relgious Orders for men…ie. religious priests and/or brothers. These male religious orders are often well experienced in many matters including Scripture and how to guide the searching soul. No one should put pressure on you in any way (and don’t stand for it) continue to seek as long as you feel you have not yet found what you are looking for…the ahhhhhhh experience as Anthony de Mello called it in his book “Awareness” . DeMello is now deceased and had been a Jesuit Priest and respected spiritual writer.

Send regards Jew_Man_73 and truly admire what comes across as sincereity and integrity
God Bless
Barb
Bethany Place South Australia
Sun 17.4.05 1249 hrs.

Thanks about explaining the other forums to me. I’ll check them out. I’ve been talking to the priest and RCIA director at the local church here. They’ve been really good about answering my questions, but I don’t want to bother them, so I post questions here too. They’ve also let me check books out from the church library.

 

[Jew_Man_73]

theMutant:

Naturally, we think you should go to Mass, but, unless you find the atmosphere has become uncomfortable, I would suggest that you do go to temple; especially if you’re not sure if you will go to Mass. Maintaining the practice of religious observance and giving honor to God can do you nothing but good.

Thank you for the encouraging words. I must admit that I’m surprised about the encouragement to go to temple though. Don’t Christians believe that anyone who doesn’t accept Christ as their savior will go to hell, including Jews?

 

[CARose]

No, Jew_man,

Catholicism does not teach that all who are not Catholic (or Christian) will go to hell, although that is a not uncommon misunderstanding of the Church’s teaching.

What is correctly taught is that all Salvation comes through the Church (which is the mystical body of Christ) and one can come to the Father only through the Son, who is Jesus Christ. But those who do not know Christ as the Savior are not culpable for their lack of knowledge. However, to those whom much has been given, much is expected, and this includes the Grace to know Christ.

• so one can come to the Father through Christ without realizing it was Christ’s sacrifice which made it possible.

Also, the Church teaches that we are to follow our conscience, with our reason in tow. If you grow to believe that the Church is in fact the repository of the fullness of truth and you then do not enter it, you would be culpable in the eyes of God.

But, at this time, you are seeking God. Until you know for certain where you belong in His eyes, I also would encourage you to pray and to do so at Temple if you aren’t ready to attend Mass.

I believe you’ve likely already been told, but just in case not, please, if you attend Mass, do NOT receive communion until you have been received into full communion through baptism and confirmation.

God Bless,

CARose

 

[Jew_Man_73]

CARose:

No, Jew_man,

Catholicism does not teach that all who are not Catholic (or Christian) will go to hell, although that is a not uncommon misunderstanding of the Church’s teaching.

What is correctly taught is that all Salvation comes through the Church (which is the mystical body of Christ) and one can come to the Father only through the Son, who is Jesus Christ. But those who do not know Christ as the Savior are not culpable for their lack of knowledge. However, to those whom much has been given, much is expected, and this includes the Grace to know Christ.

Also, the Church teaches that we are to follow our conscience, with our reason in tow. If you grow to believe that the Church is in fact the repository of the fullness of truth and you then do not enter it, you would be culpable in the eyes of God.

But, at this time, you are seeking God. Until you know for certain where you belong in His eyes, I also would encourage you to pray and to do so at Temple if you aren’t ready to attend Mass.

I believe you’ve likely already been told, but just in case not, please, if you attend Mass, do NOT receive communion until you have been received into full communion through baptism and confirmation.

God Bless,

CARose

Thank you for your response. Yes, one of the first things I was told was that I shouldn’t take communion. I sit in the pew when everyone goes up. Thank you for the clarification on the salvation issue. So, basically, it depends on what an individual knows about Jesus? For example, if I know all about Jesus and still reject him, I’ll go to hell. Or if I have never been told about him and have no idea who he is, I won’t go to hell?

 

[CARose]

Your judgement is between you and God, not something I can state one way or the other. The Catholic Church makes no definitive statements as to who goes to hell, merely that some have definitively gone to heaven (we call them Saints).

But in general terms, if one knows that Christ is God and that he came to save the world and this person still rejects Him, he is rejecting God. Hell is God allowing someone to not join him in heaven, having made that choice at the time of death by being in the state of mortal sin and turning one’s back on God.

But God knows the difference of what a person knows and what he is able to deny due to the circumstances of his life. We don’t know the truth of a person’s heart nor is it our place to judge. Judgement is for God alone.

God Bless,

CARose

ps I edited my previous post to add a line, “-so one can come …”
Check it out.

 

[Jew_Man_73]

CARose:

Your judgement is between you and God, not something I can state one way or the other. The Catholic Church makes no definitive statements as to who goes to hell, merely that some have definitively gone to heaven (we call them Saints).

But in general terms, if one knows that Christ is God and that he came to save the world and this person still rejects Him, he is rejecting God. Hell is God allowing someone to not join him in heaven, having made that choice at the time of death by being in the state of mortal sin and turning one’s back on God.

But God knows the difference of what a person knows and what he is able to deny due to the circumstances of his life. We don’t know the truth of a person’s heart nor is it our place to judge. Judgement is for God alone.

God Bless,

CARose

ps I edited my previous post to add a line, “-so one can come …”
Check it out.

Thank you. I think I’ll pick the priest’s brain about this too. This is interesting to me.

 

[CARose]

Hell is the absence of God, who is all Good, hence hell is the absence of anything good.

Not the place I’d like to spend eternity.

CARose

 

[Jew_Man_73]

CARose:

Hell is the absence of God, who is all Good, hence hell is the absence of anything good.

Not the place I’d like to spend eternity.

CARose

I’ve heard about hell, of course. Jews don’t believe in hell, so I haven’t had alot of exposure to the nature of it. I think I’ll talk to the priest. I’ll see if I can find any scripture passages that describe it.

 

[CARose]

A God who is all Good, all loving would never establish a way to salvation that assured that large populations of people had no hope of attaining Heaven by the mere circumstances of their birth.

God desires that all are saved. Our failing to be saved is through our own choice to do that which we know to be against his will, even if we don’t know him by name. If we know we’re doing something we aren’t supposed to do and do it anyways, that would meet the qualification for sin.

Love for God has been written on our heart and each of us has been given a personal guardian angel to help us to know the difference between right and wrong (it’s referred to as conscience). So, even without being Christian, you have an opportunity to know how to discern good from bad.

CARose

 

[theMutant]

CARose:

Catholicism does not teach that all who are not Catholic (or Christian) will go to hell, although that is a not uncommon misunderstanding of the Church’s teaching…

I had to jump off line for a bit. Excellent explanation, CARose!

 

[CARose]

Do you have a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church?

 

[theMutant]

Jew_Man_73:

I’ve heard about hell, of course. Jews don’t believe in hell, so I haven’t had alot of exposure to the nature of it. I think I’ll talk to the priest. I’ll see if I can find any scripture passages that describe it.

Not from scripture but the best description that I’ve heard is that Hell is God’s burning love for us experience by those who don’t want it.