Questions about Catholicism

[LordRayner]

Hello all, first, let me say I am in no way trying to stir up any controversy, nor upset anyone, I am merely trying to educate myself a bit more on religion. I was baptised catholic at the age of 9, and only went as far as receiving my communion. I did not really receive any education in the church, and after having completed a class recently on christian morality, I have been stumped on some things. Like, why is it that Catholics always believe that their particular church is the** church? I know many religions feel that way about their particular church, but I was not quite sure why Catholics believe it. I also read in scripture that yes, Peter was told he would be the rock of Jesus’ church, but the bible doesn’t really refer to any religion aside from Judasim and Christianity (not including pagan religions, or some of the other ones that have fallen to the way side). Why are some Catholics so judgemental of others? Religiously or personnally? Why does everyone take the Pope as the say all hear all rule and guide to the church, instead of reffering to scripture? Don’t get me wrong, Pope’s have tended to be great men, but they are just that, men. Why is it that in order to be absolved of your sins, you must go to a priest? Again, another man. Like recently, the Vatican announced the new deadly sins, like ecological ones. Don’t get me wrong, they are good guides to live by, but I see it as kind of making the rules up as we go along, adapting to the situations as they arise. Which is good and all, but making new things does not always follow the bible. The bible is supposedly unchanged since it was first written, that is suppose to be the rule and guide to our faith and practice, so why do people through history want to add to it? I know I have asked a lot of questions, lord only knows I have more, but I don’t want to ramble on much more. I wasn’t quite sure where to post this thread, so I hope it is indeed in the right spot. Thank you very much to anyone who can help educate me and clarify my issues.

 

[mahalia]

In your post there are way too many questions for one topic on family life.
If you want them answered, I suggest websites and books that are made and written to answer them.

 

[Em_in_FL]

Hi LordRayner and welcome to the forums!

First off… you have some GREAT questions… very common, in fact, so don’t worry about asking them!

I encourage you to check out the main site for these forums… catholic.com/. At the top left you’ll see a blue box labeled “library” with tons of fantastic information that should answer many of your questions about the Catholic Faith.

If you have any specific questions that aren’t covered there, I recommend checking out some of the other “forums” here (Family Life probably isn’t going to get you the best responses, so the moderators may actually move this post)…
Possibly the Apologetics Section would be ideal…

Again, welcome! I hope those links in the Library help to clarify a lot of the teachings of Catholicism!

 

[JustAnotherThou]

LordRayner - more than likely your thread is going to get moved to Traditional Catholicism, it is just a better place for it. There are many on here that will be better answering your questions than I. I am going to give you a link to this thread. forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=224628&highlight=deadly+sins
Be careful on what you read in the secular media. The Vatican did NOT issue 7 new deadly sins. That was just a really WEIRD twist that CNN came up with (actually I don’t know if it was CNN, but it was some secular media).
Best of luck, most of us on here are also still learning

 

[Ramalama]

LordRayner, I think most of the issues (and many more) are covered in the book Catholicism for Dummies. I’m a new Catholic and won’t try to address most of your issues. (I would just screw it up!)

In our RCIA class (the class most people go through to become Catholic) one of the people said something like, “Catholics believe their church is better than other churches.” She implied that was rather an elitist attitude. One of the other attendees said, “If it wasn’t, why would we be here?” That’s a very important point. If you can find a church where most people say there church isn’t the best one, you probably don’t want to be in it!

Good luck in your searching. God bless you.

 

[manualman]

Interesting questions! Let me take a poke:

• Judaism always considered itself the one, true religion. God revealed Himself to Abraham and was pretty clear that the other religions of the world were false. Jesus is the messiah promised in Judaism and he clearly stated that the ‘Kingdom of God’ now that messiah had come was to be not just for the Jews, but for all. To that end, he expanded the covenant with the Jews and created the Church and a teaching authority vested in his apostles and those they chose to replace themselves. Over time, that structure took on the name ‘Catholic Church.’ Given the above, it isn’t arrogance to claim to be the one, true faith. It’s just obedience to Jesus.
• Your next question indicates that you live in the midst of a Protestant influence, right? I say that because the way you ask the question suggests that you believe that the Bible is the only true and sure rule of faith. But the bible does not support that notion! “Sola Scriptura” is a comparatively modern invention started by Martin Luther. Before his time, Christians all knew that the Bible is ONE of the pillars of the faith, but never imagined it was the ONLY one. The bible itself clearly shows the apostles and their successors teaching with authority. Indeed, the REASON we trust the bible to be a reliable source of Christian truth is that it consists of the Jewish scriptures which were ratified by Jesus and the writings of the apostles (and arguably a few successors) who had the authority to infallibly teach the gospel. It is the authority Christ bestowed on the authors which confers authority on the bible. Protestants rarely reflect on how they ‘know’ the bible itself to be inerrant and totally sufficient.
• Any religion which contains elements contradictory to Catholicism cannot be entirely true. It can be partially, even mostly true and the Catholic Church teaches this (Read Lumen Gentium and/or Gaudium et Spes of the Vatican II documents). This isn’t arrogant or judgemental, it is inevitable logic. Our modern culture likes the idea of tolerance so much that it wants us all to pretend differences don’t exist. But they do and must be dealt with. How to do that is a hard road, not easily described and even harder to live, which is perhaps why so few Catholics really pull it off. You are correct that not a few get Pharisaical in their outlook. They are as bad off as those who think that contradictory ideas can both be true. Jesus never promised us it would be easy; quite the opposite!
• Why did Jesus leave us with apostles (and their successors, the priests and popes)? Same reason our nation needs BOTH a constitution AND a judicial branch of government. A bible without an authoritative interpreter is as useless as a constitution without judges; anybody can argue nearly anything and justify what he wants to believe. God is smart enough to know this and didn’t leave us with a mere book, but leaders who hold offices of authority and the Grace to teach the gospel rightly. Jesus himself explicitly granted to his apostles the authority to forgive sins or to NOT forgive them. From the very first days of Christianity they exercised this authority. Again, it is only in the last 500 years that any dispute on the matter came up. IMO, the reason folks don’t like it is the reason Jesus implemented the system: it is humiliating before it is liberating. Humans don’t much like humility!
• Far from ‘making it up as they go,’ the teaching authority of the Church reacts to new issues and challenges by reflecting on the PRINCIPLES revealed in the gospel and applying the logical conclusion of those principles consistently. Although Scripture is surely silent on the subject of strip mining it clearly speaks of the evils of stealing from one’s neighbor. Destroying water and air quality surely is a theft from one’s neighbor. In that sense it is entirely reasonable and indeed REQUIRED for the Church to weigh in on the morality of behaviors never dreamed of 1,900 years ago. Again, your question seems to imply a belief that the bible is a static document that appeared suddenly one day (‘when it was first writen’). The bible took thousands of years to write and it never claims to be the sole authoritative source of revelation. That’s a peculiarly protestant view inconsistent with history and the bible itself.
  Hope that helps some!

 

[Genesius61]

Again, welcome to the forums. In addition to the wonderful answers already posted here, I would recommend a book by Gregory Otis entitled “Catholic Doctrine In Scripture”. It is a very helpful tool. Every question you asked has a scriptural answer. I got the early, early version before it was in book form when I attended RCIA for a short stint before contracting Leukemia. Eventually I recovered and was received in to the Church.

I also wish you well in your faith journey, wherever the Lord leads you. Godbless.