Should I return to the Catholic faith?

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thephilosopher6

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I grew up Catholic. But after some formal biblical studies, I got into liberal theology. I denied things such as the virgin birth, the trinity, the historicity of the Old Testament, possibly some miracles, etc. Though, I never denied the resurrection which kept me within Christianity. The resurrection is actually quite hard to refute. Even atheistic scholars of the scriptures acknowledge this. The empty tomb and the fact that the very earliest Christians believed in the risen Christ for some reason is historical fact among scholars and historians. Anyway, back onto topic, my other views lead me to leave Catholicism and simply become nondenominational. I went to a nondenominational church over the years. Though, I did attend a Baptist church for a while since it was the closest to my location at the time. I also attended a very liberal Episcopal church a few times for some of their theological views. Anyway, this holiday season I returned to some of my biblical studies. This has lead me to come to believe in the trinity again, as well as some kind of real presence in the Eucharist. Though, I do not believe Christ said he was God or saw himself as God, the very earliest Christians for some reason did see him as God. At this moment, I can’t say I believe everything the Catholic Church teaches. This mostly includes Marian dogmas, including the historicity of the virgin birth. It also includes the ministerial priesthood since I can’t really find evidence for Christian belief in this until a little later on. Though, I can say I believe in the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome since we can find much evidence for this in all kinds of early Christian writings. Should I return to the Catholic Church? Should I talk to a Priest first and get advice about this?
 
It seems you already know the right thing to do. Make an appointment with a priest and talk with him about your beliefs and doubts. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

Meanwhile, this little prayer helps me. Lord, I believe. Help my disbelief.

God Bless you.
 
Salutations,
You are on a journey as we all are. CHRISTIAN, WORK IN PROGRESS.
The Trinity is in the Bible. The word Trinity is not. At Lazarus’s tomb, where Jesus wept, Jesus looks up to heaven and says,“Father, You are in me and I àm in You.” I think it is at the Last supper or when Jesus prayed in the olive grove, where Jesus said,“I must leave you, for another will come after me who is the Holy Spirit.” Anyway, mathematically, one has their Trinity. How is 3 persons in one God.? I am one person. I had been a child while my parents lived. I became a wife. I became a mother. Each title brought a certain behavior from me=one person. The shamrock is one stem with 3 petals or leaves on it. IT IS STILL ONE LEAF. It has been said by a few theologins, that God the Father thought of creation. That Jesus who is the Word (gospel of John) SPOKE creation. “LET THERE BE LIGHT,ETC” It was the Holy Spirit who is a power source did the work.That is 3 functions from the 3 persons or personalities of the One God.
The virgin birth was proven by the midwife who delivered Jesus. It is written down on some scroll with her name. Ask an apologist.
As you know, our church has had holy, spiritual times and times of corruption. Jesus showed us the church would not be perfect by enlisting Judas Iscariot
Out of 12, there was one rotten apple and he held the money !!! Curious!
I felt when the Pope’s became wordly, Jesus increased His apparitions of himself, His mother, and angels. So, there was an increase in Saints.
Yes, you should talk to a priest and maybe do an RCIA class. Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. You learn so much there.
A real, Bible believing Christian that is in a Bible believing Protestant church can go to heaven. But you left when you had questions in theology that the Protestant churches share in common with our church.
The real presence is shared in Anglican, Episcopalian, the Maranite Catholic Church and I day at an Assemblies of God revival, a female visiting evangelist, fasted and prayed before doing her teaching. It was cool, because she’d read one part of the Bible and she said this is a Methodist teaching. She read further and she said this is a Catholic teaching. Well, she had everyone think of their sins and ask God for His forgiveness before you go to communion because you are embracing the REAL JESUS. Never in scripture does it say this is a SYMBOL of the body and blòod!!! Right on,I prayed.
Yes, counsel with priest. Read your Bible and come home.
in Christ’s love
Tweedlealice 🙂 Angels rejoice when a soul comes home.
 
I would recommend that you join an RCIA class at the nearest church that has one. You may have to try another one that is right for you–if you live near several churches and have a choice. But that would be the first place to start. And speak to a Priest for direction. He will encourage you. God bless you on your journey of faith. I will be praying for you.
 
acadiANNA said:
I would recommend that you join an RCIA class at the nearest church that has one. You may have to try another one that is right for you–if you live near several churches and have a choice. But that would be the first place to start. And speak to a Priest for direction. He will encourage you. God bless you on your journey of faith. I will be praying for you.
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I know what you believe really well. I have studied theology. I don’t think RCIA would really help.
 
thephilosopher6 said:
I know what you believe really well. I have studied theology. I don’t think RCIA would really help.
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Sometimes when we know enough not to want to know more, we are really searching for faith. Faith is a gift, not the result of reasoned exegesis, albeit it is strengthened by it.

Thus, your first step is to pray, as a wise poster suggested. Many good people have been in your position, teetering on the brink but scared of the enormity of conviction of the mind.
Pray, talk through your doubts with a priest of some intellect, and wait for the Holy Spirit.
God bless you in your search.
 
As a start, read Frank Sheed’s book “Theology and Sanity”. You will love every bit of it. He is a thinker like you and he explains theology so well. I know you won’t be disappointed and it will help so much.
 
philosopher6,

Remember, Jesus said “Before Abraham was, I AM”. (He is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.)
 
Well I doubt anyone here is going to say no haha.

I agree with posts above
 
thephilosopher6 said:
I know what you believe really well. I have studied theology. I don’t think RCIA would really help.
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It probably will not help. RCIA is very basic stuff. And not everyone is on the same level of knowledge. Some people go into RCIA not even owning a Bible, let alone having read it for themselves. RCIA is more geared toward them. The teacher cannot get into heavy theology for one informed person sitting in RCIA when the other 99% of the people there have never even cracked open The Bible in their entire lives. I have a feeling if you sat in on a RCIA class you would only be frustrated. I say this as a member of the RCIA team at my parish and a convert who went through RCIA after already doing a lot of research on my own for a entire year before I entered RCIA.

I would recommend making a appointment to talk to a priest to talk about your questions and doubts. From my own experience, any book written by Professor Scott Hahn is good for into about The Faith, because as smart as he is, he writes simple enough that it is very easy to understand. God bless.
 
Welcome home, in advance (“love hopes all things”). 🙂

Have you read anything by G. K. Chesterton? I strongly recommend his writings especially: Orthodoxy, The Everlasting Man, and The Catholic Church and Conversion. You can find their texts online: cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/.

A taste of his wit and wisdom: “Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”
 
Mummsie said:
It seems you already know the right thing to do. Make an appointment with a priest and talk with him about your beliefs and doubts. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

Meanwhile, this little prayer helps me. Lord, I believe. Help my disbelief.

God Bless you.
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Agree. Pray to the Holy Spirit to give you guidance, direction, strength fortitude & wisdom to return to the Catholic Church. Make an appt. to speak with a Priest. God bless.
 
Yes, you should.

All the other things can and will be worked out, but the simple answer is yes, you should absolutely return to the Catholic Church. I was a Protestant most of my life, I was even a Youth Minister for some time and I thought the Catholic Church was a cult. Long story short, here I am. Struggling like everyone else, dealing with difficult problems like the rest of humanity, but history, facts and truth brought me to the Catholic Church and I had no idea it was going to happen. Liberal theology means nothing. Accurate theology means everything.

Someone else stated you may be searching for faith. I could talk a great deal about that from my personal experience, but I am not sure it would help you specifically. There comes a point where you, through education, and the things I listed above, you either accept Catholic doctrine or reject it. That, for me, was the first step of real faith in the Catholic Church. It seems you have already accepted the largest hurdle for most people…the Pope.

So, yeah…get to a priest, be honest, be blunt, listen to him and others and get back into the Church. It’s the only way you will ever know for sure. Also, you don’t have to agree with every single thing the Church says, though dogma is a different story. Even if you don’t understand yet, that is where the next step of faith occurred for me. Trust the Church. It’s been around since Christ founded it. Just because we may not fully understand something doesn’t mean we are correct. I have found time and study has helped me with many of the things I once didn’t understand.
 
I find it interesting that you claim to have studied theology, yet come up with things different than the theologians of the Catholic Church since Ignatius of Antioch have known ?

It may be where you studied theology which is the problem.

Try reading what the Church fathers like Ignatius and Polycarp.

The theologians of the Catholic Church are just a group trying to mislead people.

Study from a valid Catholic Theological source.

Jim
 
fred_conty said:
As a start, read Frank Sheed’s book “Theology and Sanity”. You will love every bit of it. He is a thinker like you and he explains theology so well. I know you won’t be disappointed and it will help so much.
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👍

(Fred: if you haven’t already, you should read his book, ‘What Difference does Jesus Make?’ He said that this was probably his personal favourite.
 
Dorothy said:
philosopher6,

Remember, Jesus said “Before Abraham was, I AM”. (He is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.)
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Jesus also said, “The Father and I are ONE.” Read the first Chapter of John, “And the WORD was GOD, and the WORD became Flesh and dwelt among us.”!! Prayers and God Bless, Memaw
 
A brief comment about the Marian teachings–the thing to remember is that they tell us things about Jesus more than they do about Mary. For example, Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos–God Bearer) was given to her by an early Church council to combat a heresy about the two natures of Christ (look up the first Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 to see that the Church has always had this authority to decide matters of faith and morals). Contrary to what you may have read/heard from your heretical theologians or Evangelicals, bless 'em, the Marian teachings are indeed biblical and quite in line with scriptural exegesis. You simply have been reading/listening to the wrong people–people who either have no faith or who are simply ignorant of Church history, Sacred Tradition (of which the Bible is but one part), or who have agendas to push. Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church not the Jesus Seminar or whatever other thing you’ve been going to for information.
 
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