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CMatt25
Guest
Steve, you quoted me and RadicaI and to be fair to Radical, it looked like what you quoted was from my post. Everything you said though is your faith and what you believe though.
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CMatt25
Guest
Fair enough. I should have used an extra “some”. Some need every “i” dotted and “t” crossed and some are not comfortable unless they have someone interpreting everything for them…
Peace.
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SteveVH
Guest
You could say the same for any person alive. What does that have to do with whether or not one is accepting revealed truth given to the Church or just making it up as you go along and fitting a set of beliefs into your own particular comfort zone. You did not address the point I was making. And, by the way, it is not just my belief, but rather the belief of the original Church. The Apostles were adamant about obedience to the truth they had received.
"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! " (Gal 1:8, 9)
What you will never find in the scritpures is any hint of “Go out and seek your own truth. All paths lead to God.” That is what I find among those who combine religions such as Christianity and Buddhism. They become their own arbiter of truth, choosing this and leaving that. The authority which they deny the Church is instead ascribed to themselves and they bemoan those who would question their private jugment or crediblity. Christ gave authority to his Church and did not subject the truth to every person’s private whims and notions.
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pangaious
Guest
No, the religions are not truly combined. Once they are, they cannot be reconciled. What they do is use elements of a religion while being a member of another, those elements that do not contradict one’s religion, of course.
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SteveVH
Guest
Kind of a “make up your own thing” scenario. If you call yourself Catholic, which requires one to believe that the Church possesses the fulness of truth, why is there any need to look elsewhere? Do you think you can improve upon 2000 years of Catholic teaching; that somehow we have missed the more perfect way to approach God?
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CMatt25
Guest
I do say the same thing about any person alive. None of us actually know for sure. Now that does not mean there is not ultimate Truth. Just that none of us were around thousands and thousands of yrs ago. Not in the Garden of Eden or at the time Christ walked the earth. So as the Apostle Paul said we walk by faith. Not by sight. Now certainly any of us can believe we know the Truth. You believe you know by placing your faith and hope in God, in the NT story of Christ, in Catholic interpretation of that story, in Her interpretation of Herself, in Her interpretation of history, in Her interpretation of Scripture. That’s great for you to have faith. Faith, hope, and charity are all good things. I wish you peace and God’s blessing in your faith journey always.
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pangaious
Guest
SteveVH, why do you and others insist on claiming that people like Thomas Merton were looking in other religions to find what they did not in they’re own? That is a stretch. You ignore the explanations given and go almost ballistic about something that just insn’t there. Mysticsm and contemplation has much in common in all religions, even though it obviusly has differences. Mystics are, therefore, bonded in a way that other are not, regardless of their religion and I think Thomas Merton proved that and also proved that they can learn from each other as he did and as the Buddhist did from him. Or are you now accusing him of not being a real Catholic? Do you think that he thought Christianity was incomplete?
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SteveVH
Guest
I don’t remember saying anything at all about Thomas Merton and I don’t remember going “ballistic” either.
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Sana
Guest
Although the Catholic Church has the full truth I don’t think it’s harmful to look at other religions for spiritual development, if that’s what Pangaious means. Sometimes looking at things from a different perspective gives you a fuller understanding and appreciation of faith. But incorporating any part of another religion into our own is wrong.
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kempo1
Guest
Not sure if you guys heard of the combo religion in usa called chrislam yes they are merging christianity with islam. Here is the problem i think, if you are just doing research no problem, but when you participate in the other religions customs you are going against everything that christianity taught us. How many times in the pauline letters do we read him trying to caution or correct the churches on issues of false doctrine. He was always adamately preaching and warning chritians what to look out for. False teachers who come in sheeps clothing preaching strange doctrines. We as chritians must be rooted and grounded in Christ and him only with no additions to it. He gave us everything we need through word and tradition to succeed as christians. It was completed at calvary with no additions. Why cant we see this? Why are you still searching? If you have questions he has already prepared the answers.
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SteveVH
Guest
CMatt, what I believe is that Jesus Christ was who he said he was and that belief is based upon what he said, what he did and the credibility of the witnesses to his life. I then observe what he did; he started a Church. I then consider the promises he made concerning this Church, keeping in mind that it is God himself who makes these promises. I then surmise, through both faith and reason, that the Catholic Church is that Church and therefore that it possesses the fullness of truth. This isn’t some guessing game which I hope I have right. It isn’t a matter of choosing Door B over Doors A and C and crossing my fingers. Your position, that nobody really knows (therefore anyone could be right) is misguided.
In any event, I wish you peace and God’s blessings as well.
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VikingGirlTBird
Guest
Hi Gate!
How are you?
People combine many religious elements, beliefs, practices, and etc from other religions and from other religious denominations with their very own religion, religious beliefs, and practices because they are learning about, studying, exploring, and “experimenting with” other religions and other religious denominations and are greatly influenced by other religions’s and other religious denominations’s religious beliefs and practices because they really accept, agree with, and love other religions’s and other religious denominations’s religious beliefs and practices, they really think that many of the other religions’s and other religious denominations’s religious beliefs and practices are the very best and right religious beliefs and practices for them, they really want to be more religious and spiritual, they really want to be more religiously and spiritually diverse, they are considering converting to another religion or religious denomination, and etc.
I learn about, explore, and “experiment with” other religions and other religious denominations because I am still learning about, exploring, and “experimenting with” other religions and religious denominations because I am extremely curious, I have free will, and I have the freedom/right of freedom of religion and I combine some of the other religions’s and some of the other religious denominations’s religious beliefs and practices with my very own religion, religious beliefs, and practices because I am greatly influenced by some of the other religions’s and by some of the other religious denominations’s religious beliefs and practices because I really accept, agree with, and love some of the other religions’s and some of the other religious denominations’s religious beliefs and practices, I really think that some of the other religions’s and some of the other religious denominations’s religious beliefs and practices are the very best and right religious beliefs and practices for me, I really want to be more religious and spiritual, I really want to be more religiously and spiritually diverse, and etc.
I believe that people (Like me.) should be extremely careful when learning about, exploring, and “experimenting with” other religions and religious denominations and combining many religious elements, beliefs, practices, and etc from other religions and from other religious denominations because it could be against their religion and their religious denomination, they could be excommunicated, Satan and demons could be misguiding them, they could be going to Hell, and etc according to many religions and religious denominations but, I also believe in their free will and their freedom/right of freedom of religion to learn about, explore, and “experiment with” other religions and religious denominations and combine many religious elements, beliefs, practices, and etc from other religions and from other religious denominations because it might not be against their religion and their religious denomination, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, other deities spirits, and etc could be guiding them, they could go to Heaven, and etc according to many religions and religious denominations. In general, I believe that people should always aknowledge that as human beings and citizens of countries (That have freedom of religion.), they have free will and the right of/freedom of religion but, also they should really learn about, understand, and aknowledge the personal/emotional/religious/spiritual/etc benefits and risks of learning about, exploring, and “experimenting with” other religions and religious denominations and combining many religious elements, beliefs, practices, and etc from other religions and from other religious denominations! PS: According to Christianity and Roman Catholicism, Christians are not suppose to “experiment with” and combine other religious beliefs and practices because they could be being misguided by Satan and demons, could be excomunnicated, could go to hell extremely unfortunitly.
Love,
VikingGirlTBird!
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Izdaari
Guest
I only follow one religion, Christianity.
However, in my last seeker stage before returning to my childhood Christian faith, I was a Zen/Tao/Lockean Natural Law kind of deist. And I never really discarded those beliefs, but absorbed them into my Christian faith. Why? Because IMO they weren’t wrong, they were incomplete. They’re valid explanations, so far as they go, of how the universe God made works, but incomplete because they were made without really knowing Him.
However, in my last seeker stage before returning to my childhood Christian faith, I was a Zen/Tao/Lockean Natural Law kind of deist. And I never really discarded those beliefs, but absorbed them into my Christian faith. Why? Because IMO they weren’t wrong, they were incomplete. They’re valid explanations, so far as they go, of how the universe God made works, but incomplete because they were made without really knowing Him.
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