So Utterly Confused

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Hi Ashley,

As I was reading your post, I was thinking that perhaps a Bible study course would help you.

Bible study courses provide explanations and information–by way of materials–for what you are reading in the Bible. You study at your own pace.

Here is a link to a free on-line Catholic Bible study course that you can look into–to see if you want to use it while you read your Bible.

agapebiblestudy.com/About%20Agape%20Bible%20Study.htm

You would also need to get a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church too, while you use this course.

Another alternative–if you don’t want to do something like this–would be to get another different Bible to read. That was already suggested by Catie.

I would recommend getting what is called a “study Bible.” It has notes already printed in it, and has explanations by Biblical scholars, for what you are reading. I was given a study Bible as a gift, and I found it to be really helpful.
 
batman6489 said:
Thanks for that. I’m glad you weren’t trying to harm me. I guess, when i asked my question, I wasn’t thinking of Plato. I’m not one that likes philosophy talk. I’m more succinct in just a simple way. Right now I think I need the children’s version, rather than a Plato version. =D
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I’m with you! I don’t have degrees in philosophy or theology, but there are things I can understand.
(we don’t have to have a degree in any subject to learn how to love the Lord.) I am not knocking theologians and philosophers: we need them.

The Baltimore Catechism had questions and answers that helped me understand. After going over the questions and answers with the volunteer teachers, our pastor came and expounded on the lesson to all the children for about 1/2 hour. He enhanced and explained the questions and answers very well.

Here is a question and answer from the Baltimore Catechism: You can look up that Catechism on line.

Q. Why did God make me?

A. God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world, so that I can be happy with him forever in the next.
 
batman6489 said:
This is my journey, but at the same time, if I decide to pursue the catholic faith, does that mean I have to agree with everything Catholic people teaching in order to become part of the church?
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That’s a pretty tall order, don’t you think? There are a set of Catholic dogmas and doctrines; and, “in order to become part of the Church,” I think it would be fair to say that you approach these all with an open mind – accepting what comes easily to you, and taking those that you initially worry about with an attitude of “if the Church believes in this, there must be a good reason; I need to be able to say ‘ok’ now, and keep working to find that reason, so that I can fully understand and be fully comfortable with the teaching.” Waiting until you reach full understanding… well, that would mean that almost no one would be Catholic! Believing while you work toward understanding (what St Anselm would have expressed as “faith seeking understanding”) is a good approach…
In my other religions (Protestant) I didn’t fully agree with everything that was being taught, and it was with one thing that keep coming up (adultery) in the position of the pastors, that made me turn away.
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By this I assume you mean that you knew of pastors who were caught up in adultery?
The “people in power” (priests, bishops, cardinals, pope) have the rule of no wife, but I do know about the sexual abuse also.
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Right. And here’s the thing: I see you’re from Kansas, so I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that, maybe, you’re proud of their accomplishments (even if they didn’t win the World Series). Now, Alex Gordon wasn’t having an awesome series – at the start of game 7, I think he had gone 3-for-24 in the series. But, there they were – the team had played well enough to reach game 7 of the World Series! Would you look at the shortcomings of one player, and say that the team – or the sport of baseball – itself wasn’t worth following? Of course not! You’d look at the one player and ascribe his failure to live up to his potential to him and him alone, right? So, yeah … maybe there are pastors, priests, bishops, cardinals, (and even popes!) throughout history who have failed to live up to the teachings of the Church. That doesn’t mean that the teachings are false, or that the Church itself is bad for setting a high bar that some are unable to meet, but just that some people fail (and are invited to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, turn back to Christ, and try again)… 😉
How am I to follow anything with so much sin in the world?
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Is ‘perfection’ – that is, the complete absence of sin – something that you expect to find anywhere in the world? If so, prepare to be disappointed in this life: sadly, temptation and sin are something that all people struggle with; some succeed with the struggle more often than others.
How do I know I found the truth that works for me?
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You don’t. Truth isn’t a “for me” kind of thing: truth is truth. If it isn’t true objectively, then it’s not ‘truth’. (This is a huge question in our post-modern world – we’ve bought into the notion that truth is only something that exists on a personal basis, and not something that holds up (or should be expected to hold up!) for all people. When someone, then, suggests that it is, it makes post-moderns laugh. And yet, does the earth only revolve around the sun for some of us, but not for others? Does Christ only die for the sake of some, but not for the salvation of all? Of course not: some don’t believe in these things, wishing instead to believe in a flat earth, or that Christ isn’t God… but it doesn’t make these things any less true.)
 
In addition to the Catechism and Baltimore Catechism, I too suggest joining a RCIA class. Which (as someone already mentioned) are not committal. It gives you a chance to learn about the Faith before making a decision.

Also, there is an EXCELLENT program called Symbolon (symbolonrcia.org) which you can use online via computer, smart phone, etc. it’s a little pricey, but very well done. Or perhaps there is a parish in your area that is using Symbolon, allowing you to access it form free.

Finally, EWTN and CatholicTV often have some good programs you can watch to learn things.
 
batman6489 said:
Hi. My name is Ashley Winters.

I’m not catholic, and I don’t know if I will be joining in the future, but I’ve been reading things online about Catholicism. I do have a NABRE, but when I try to read a little bit of text from a “helpful hint” from the Bible, I feel more lost and confused. I want to understand what I read but all I get is more questions. I’m quite scared to even open the Bible now, because it feels so different.

Any help?

And if you ask what questions I have, the list is overwhelming.
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I was once where you find yourself right now. I was lost and confused, and I didn’t know how to find the answers to the many questions I had. I have two suggestions for you, based on how helpful both were to me in my journey of faith. First, don’t be afraid to go back and reexamine some of the things you’ve already explored. There were Bible verses and books by authors I had already dismissed as wrong. The truth is, I wasn’t fully open to those texts when I first encountered them. The Holy Spirit had to come to me and properly prepare me to receive all the truth contained in them. Secondly, as I explored more deeply, I made an appointment to speak directly with a priest. He was more than happy to sit down with me and answer my questions. This might not be the best analogy, but sometimes when we don’t feel well, we ask all our friends and co-workers to help us diagnose our concern, without going to the doctor. The doctor can offer clarity pretty quickly because they deal with the concern regularly. The same is true of a priest. They have been there and done that. Sometimes, in the midst of a conversion, we (or at least it was true with me) think we are the only person experiencing what it is we are experiencing. It is good to go to the experts and let them help you sort through what it is you are dealing with. I found those two things helpful in my experience. I do realize it is different for everyone. My sincere wish is that you find the clarity you seek. I will pray you find the answers to the questions you seek.
 
Hi there. I joined the Catholic Church a few years ago, as an adult, after many many years of being very confused about religion and looking for truth and not knowing which religion to trust.
batman6489 said:
This is my journey, but at the same time, if I decide to pursue the catholic faith, does that mean I have to agree with everything Catholic people teaching in order to become part of the church?
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Well, if by “Catholic people” you mean the Catholic Church’s official teachings, then yes, God requires us to believe them. Not because He’s trying to force us to believe some things, but because what the Catholic Church teaches is simply the truth, and God is merely trying to help us to see things clearly, like He sees them. That said, some people who go to Catholic Church do like to spread errors, and that’s unfortunate. In general, if you can find some teaching in the Catechism, then it’s true.
batman6489 said:
In my other religions (Protestant) I didn’t fully agree with everything that was being taught, and it was with one thing that keep coming up (adultery) in the position of the pastors, that made me turn away. The “people in power” (priests, bishops, cardinals, pope) have the rule of no wife, but I do know about the sexual abuse also.
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That’s called the sin of scandal, and it’s definitely bad. You’ll find that, even in the Catholic Church, there are some people who are in positions of leadership who act hypocritically, and it just kind of sucks. But God never said that individuals in the Catholic Church are infallible. Rather, the Church’s Teachings themselves (called “doctrine”) are what is guaranteed to be true. So, just trust the Catechism. It’s pretty rock solid.
batman6489 said:
How am I to follow anything with so much sin in the world? How do I know I found the truth that works for me?
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Rather than looking for truth that “works for you”, why not look for the Truth that exists even if nobody existed? That’s what the Catholic Church has to offer. Eternal Truth, unchangeable Truth. The Truth is not something that sin can taint. The Truth is true even if everyone denies it. So yes, you’ll find some hypocritical priests. You’ll find some people who sin in the name of God. You’ll find that in every single religion. But don’t think of them, don’t look at them. Rather, look at the countless Saints that our Catholic Church has produced over the ages.

But most of all, take your requests straight to God with pure confidence that they will be answered. Ask for the Truth to be revealed to you. Have patience and confidence that it will be done. God cannot refuse someone who places their entire trust in Him! He loves a trusting soul, and gives it whatever it needs.

You’ll find a lot of people on these forums of all different kinds. Keep in mind that it’s just an internet forum. We’re not perfect, and we’re not infallible. So take everything we say with a grain of salt.
 
batman6489 said:
Hi. My name is Ashley Winters.

I’m not catholic, and I don’t know if I will be joining in the future, but I’ve been reading things online about Catholicism. I do have a NABRE, but when I try to read a little bit of text from a “helpful hint” from the Bible, I feel more lost and confused. I want to understand what I read but all I get is more questions. I’m quite scared to even open the Bible now, because it feels so different.

Any help?

And if you ask what questions I have, the list is overwhelming.
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I’m not sure what you mean by “helpful hint.” If you mean the book introductions and footnotes found in the NABRE, then I can say that they confuse many Catholics too. Instead of presenting the gospels and other New Testament books as trustworthy accounts of apostolic preaching, the NABRE introductions and footnotes seem to present them as works of pious fiction fabricated by later generations, hardly the solid foundation one would like to build one’s faith life on. My advice is that you ignore the NABRE introductions and footnotes for now and study the Bible with more traditional Catholic helps, such as Haydock’s Bible commentary. Among other places, a version of Haydock’s Catholic Bible commentary is available online here.

I would also suggest that a more systematic way to learn about the Catholic faith would be for you to read a popular Catholic catechism, such as the old Baltimore Catechisms or the recently published Youth Catechism (YouCat).
 
Todd977 said:
I’m not sure what you mean by “helpful hint.” If you mean the book introductions and footnotes found in the NABRE, then I can say that they confuse many Catholics too. Instead of presenting the gospels and other New Testament books as trustworthy accounts of apostolic preaching, the NABRE introductions and footnotes seem to present them as works of pious fiction fabricated by later generations, hardly the solid foundation one would like to build one’s faith life on. My advice is that you ignore the NABRE introductions and footnotes for now and study the Bible with more traditional Catholic helps, such as Haydock’s Bible commentary. Among other places, a version of Haydock’s Catholic Bible commentary is available online here.

I would also suggest that a more systematic way to learn about the Catholic faith would be for you to read a popular Catholic catechism, such as the old Baltimore Catechisms or the recently published Youth Catechism (YouCat).
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I totally agree with that. Never read the commentary that accompanies any Bible! Such commentary is usually not given a Nihil Obstat, and I’ve been very freaked out by some of them!

One book I would recommend is “The Gospel of Mark”, by which is a Catholic commentary by Mary Healy. I’m only halfway through it so far, but it’s very very very faithful to the Church’s teachings and tradition.
 
 
The depth of the Catholic Church is overwhelming. I think you have had very good advice about joining an RCIA program and beginning to study the Scriptures. I second the recommendation about Mary Healy’s Gospel of Mark commentary. It is excellent. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the Gospels but there is a lot of information there for you and Ms. Healy brings out a lot of historical and biblical references for her readers. It is a great starting place for reading the Scriptures. Also, I think the commentary for the Ignatius Study Bible, which is New Testament only, is excellent and spot on Catholic.

If I were just starting out my study of the Church, I would begin with the study of the Church’s authority. If you want to ask questions, this is where I would start (since you say you have so many) You might ask: where does the Church get her authority? Who is the head of the Catholic Church? What is papal infallibility and magisterial teaching and why should we listen to them? IF you can get a good handle on where the Church gets her authority, then all of the other issues start falling into place.

Just so you know, my answer to that question is that the Church gets her authority directly from Jesus Christ, when He established the Church upon Peter. He gave to Peter the “keys” to the Kingdom of heaven and earth and at that moment He gave the Church the power to “bind and loose” on earth and in heaven— meaning He gave the Church His own authority. (Matthew 16:18) Did you know that the Catholic Church can be traced back to St. Peter? He is our first pope! We have a record of every pope from Pope Francis to Pope St. Peter. I’m a big history buff so the history of the Church was important to me (even though some of it isn’t pretty).
 
batman6489 said:
The “people in power” (priests, bishops, cardinals, pope) have the rule of no wife, but I do know about the sexual abuse also.
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I decided to answer these questions in a separate post. I hope you don’t mind.

The Latin Rite of the Catholic Church adheres to the discipline of celibacy, some of the eastern Catholic priests can be married. At any rate, the discipline of serving God wholly and not being married is straight out of the Scriptures! I find it difficult to believe there are so many protestants who despise this practice of the Catholic priests and bishops when this is exactly what St. Paul practiced AND preached (1 Cor 7:7). The child abuse scandal has NOTHING to do with marriage. Check out the overwhelming number of sources that say that marriage has nothing to do with pedophilia. Many pedophiles are married, so the discipline of celibacy, absolutely does not turn a man into a pedophile. These men were pedophiles before they came to the Church, some may have been hoping to change, but most likely they were trying to place themselves close to children. That is how pedophiles operate. The percentage of Catholic sexual abuse and protestant sexual abuse is about the same, although you won’t hear that in news casts because the Catholic Church is one big institution, and protestant churches are fragmented. Schools have much higher rates as do sports clubs for kids. Pedophiles go where they can get to kids, it’s that simple.
batman6489 said:
How am I to follow anything with so much sin in the world? How do I know I found the truth that works for me?
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If you find a church without sinners, let me know. The truth is that if one says they are without sin, they are a liar. That’s in the Bible. We all know that the Church handled the scandal badly. The pedophiles who committed those crimes were slaves to their sexual disorders. The men who covered up for these priests were ignorant,many thought that those priests would repent and just not do it again.Remember, there is a lot more known about pedophilia today than was known in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Even more likely, the ones who covered up were slaves to their fear and probably pride. They may have been afraid of how they would look or how it would hurt the Church. At any rate, these are sins of individual men within the Church. But they are not sins of the Church itself. The Church has been made holy by Jesus. “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” Eph 5:25-27 These sins, and all sins committed by the clergy or the laity have no impact on the teaching of the Church, on the holiness of the Sacraments, or on the power of the Holy Spirit Who operates within the Church. I hope that helps.
 
Thanks for everyone’s advice.

I was going to RCIA, but my priest said I should stop, so I did. He told me that I should wait a year and try again.

I have a YouCat, but even that is confusing for me.

As for books, I’ll be getting some. I know it will take time. I’m just a very unpatient person. lol

Thanks again!

Ashley Winters
 
Prayer_Warrior said:
I decided to answer these questions in a separate post. I hope you don’t mind.

The Latin Rite of the Catholic Church adheres to the discipline of celibacy, some of the eastern Catholic priests can be married. At any rate, the discipline of serving God wholly and not being married is straight out of the Scriptures! I find it difficult to believe there are so many protestants who despise this practice of the Catholic priests and bishops when this is exactly what St. Paul practiced AND preached (1 Cor 7:7). The child abuse scandal has NOTHING to do with marriage. Check out the overwhelming number of sources that say that marriage has nothing to do with pedophilia. Many pedophiles are married, so the discipline of celibacy, absolutely does not turn a man into a pedophile. These men were pedophiles before they came to the Church, some may have been hoping to change, but most likely they were trying to place themselves close to children. That is how pedophiles operate. The percentage of Catholic sexual abuse and protestant sexual abuse is about the same, although you won’t hear that in news casts because the Catholic Church is one big institution, and protestant churches are fragmented. Schools have much higher rates as do sports clubs for kids. Pedophiles go where they can get to kids, it’s that simple.

If you find a church without sinners, let me know. The truth is that if one says they are without sin, they are a liar. That’s in the Bible. We all know that the Church handled the scandal badly. The pedophiles who committed those crimes were slaves to their sexual disorders. The men who covered up for these priests were ignorant,many thought that those priests would repent and just not do it again.Remember, there is a lot more known about pedophilia today than was known in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Even more likely, the ones who covered up were slaves to their fear and probably pride. They may have been afraid of how they would look or how it would hurt the Church. At any rate, these are sins of individual men within the Church. But they are not sins of the Church itself. The Church has been made holy by Jesus. “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” Eph 5:25-27 These sins, and all sins committed by the clergy or the laity have no impact on the teaching of the Church, on the holiness of the Sacraments, or on the power of the Holy Spirit Who operates within the Church. I hope that helps.
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Thank you for all your excellent posts! God bless you.
 
I think that the best introductory book on Catholicism is Father John Trigilio’s Catholicism for Dummies

It is in most libraries and used copies are very inexpensive.

Cheat Sheet for ‘Catholicism for Dummies’:
dummies.com/how-to/content/catholicism-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in Question and Answer format, available free online, sort of lends itself to browsing:

vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html

Of course, there is also a great deal of free apologetics material right here on the Catholic Answers website.

catholic.com/browse
 
batman6489 said:
Thanks for everyone’s advice.

I was going to RCIA, but my priest said I should stop, so I did. He told me that I should wait a year and try again.

I have a YouCat, but even that is confusing for me.

As for books, I’ll be getting some. I know it will take time. I’m just a very unpatient person. lol

Thanks again!

Ashley Winters
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Wait, what? The priest asked you to stop going to RCIA and try again next year? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that happening before.
 
batman6489 said:
Hi. My name is Ashley Winters.

I’m not catholic, and I don’t know if I will be joining in the future, but I’ve been reading things online about Catholicism. I do have a NABRE, but when I try to read a little bit of text from a “helpful hint” from the Bible, I feel more lost and confused.
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Hi Ashley and welcome.
The NABRE commentary is most confusing, contradictory and useless in my opinion. I’m hoping they’ll stop selling it soon.
Take it back to where you bought it and get an RSV-CE or the Ignatius Study Bible.

Also remember, the bible is the Word of God and so is infinitely rich and deep. It is to be read over and over, prayed over, and studied patiently,
but start with something like the Ignatius Study Bible which is clear and concise.

Please watch this, it may answer some of your questions:
reallifecatholic.com/video/#7750-video-grid/1/7766-where-are-you-going

God Bless you and I apologize for the distress and confusion this causes to so many.
 
sdegutis said:
Wait, what? The priest asked you to stop going to RCIA and try again next year? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that happening before.
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Yep. It is a long story, but I agreed with him. I’m facing a lot of attacks/persecution from the pathetic worm (aka devil). We decided to hold off, if this the path I want to take. I’m still a long ways from feeling comfortable. Just going to Mass is a struggle, though in a little bit I will be.
 
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