W
Wesley7
Guest
no.
- Status
I
Incomplete
Guest
I’m not sure what your question is.
D
DihydrogenOxide
Guest
Is it just me or did you just change your status from “undecided” to “orthodox christian” and add an icon to your signature…?
W
Wesley7
Guest
The Catholic work Theology of the Body defines marriage for procreation between and man and woman.
Where is the woman? . .
C
Cat
Guest
I am not sure what your question is. Is there a chance that you can re-write it in a way that is clearer? I’m wondering if perhaps English is your 2nd language, and that’s why it’s not clear.
Is one of these your question?–
- why is marriage ok between a man and a woman, but not between a man and a man?
- why priests are not married to women?
- if Jesus is the Man (groom), who is the “woman (bride)?” (I can answer that–the Church!)
My answer to your OP, as a convert, is that it is obvious from the Bible and from various historical writings that the Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus Christ founded and intended for His disciples to be part of.
P
Petergee
Guest
G
GaryTaylor
Guest
What exactly are you saying?
Social Justice, at this point is where you see every “other” church on earth fall by the wayside next to the CC.
Peace
T
TypesAndShadows
Guest
I found this answer disconcerting, because I had to doublecheck whether I’d somehow written this post and completely forgotten doing so! This is exactly my experience, and also exactly how I’d have explained it. Weird…
B
Bezant
Guest
I appreciate the Catholic Church’s longevity, view of Scripture through Tradition, its organisation and general consistency among the leadership and to a lesser extent, among the laity. I also appreciate the rich traditions and practices in the Church.
T
TrueLight
Guest
I too grew up in the Protestant church, so for most of my life I had a very close relationship with Jesus Christ. I had my moments when I “back-slid”.
What I find awesome about the Catholic Church is:
The Real Presence
The unbroken history of the Church
The Chair of St Peter
The Magisterium
The beauty of its rituals
The communion of Saints
What I find awesome about the Catholic Church is:
The Real Presence
The unbroken history of the Church
The Chair of St Peter
The Magisterium
The beauty of its rituals
The communion of Saints
T
Telstar
Guest
I think I could just respond with “all of the above”, because I can identify with just about all of the reasons that have been given for my being Catholic. I was born and raised in the Church, but I also had my period of ‘searching’ when I was young and stupid. I dabbled in lots of other religious avenues, looking for an alternative choice. It was in the early years following Vat II, when it seemed like the Church had started to fall apart, and I became disillusioned by some of the changes that were happening. I went off to find something ‘better’, but when I didn’t find anything better I became more and more agnostic.
Then, I finally got to the point where I decided that there was no God at all, and embraced atheism. I was pretty much mad at the Church, and ended up taking it out on God, accusing Him (or, the ‘concept’ I had of Him at the time) of all kinds of horrible things, including not being real. Growing up, I was a lot more spiritually inclined than most kids my age, so all the changes confused me to the point of not really knowing what to believe, anymore.
When I decided that not believing in anything was better than ever being ‘duped’ into believing in any more fantasies, I was absolutely miserable. My oldest sister-in-law was what I considered to be a ‘fanatical’ Catholic (we all referred to her as “Saint” Celine, and she probably is a real Saint, now.). Thank God, she never stopped trying to convince me that God was real, and the Catholic Church was the best place to find Him. She took me to see a person that she claimed was having visions of Jesus and Mary. I just went along with her to debunk it, so she’d leave me alone. But, that experience ended up being the turning point that brought me back to my senses. I started to pray to the Blessed Mother to get my faith back. Then, I had a very profound dream/vision that showed me what I was up against, and where I’d been heading. It literally scared the ‘hell’ out of me!
But, the one thing that has kept me in the Catholic Church ever since that time, has been the Holy Eucharist. There is absolutely nothing like It anywhere else in the world, or in any other religion.
Then, I finally got to the point where I decided that there was no God at all, and embraced atheism. I was pretty much mad at the Church, and ended up taking it out on God, accusing Him (or, the ‘concept’ I had of Him at the time) of all kinds of horrible things, including not being real. Growing up, I was a lot more spiritually inclined than most kids my age, so all the changes confused me to the point of not really knowing what to believe, anymore.
When I decided that not believing in anything was better than ever being ‘duped’ into believing in any more fantasies, I was absolutely miserable. My oldest sister-in-law was what I considered to be a ‘fanatical’ Catholic (we all referred to her as “Saint” Celine, and she probably is a real Saint, now.). Thank God, she never stopped trying to convince me that God was real, and the Catholic Church was the best place to find Him. She took me to see a person that she claimed was having visions of Jesus and Mary. I just went along with her to debunk it, so she’d leave me alone. But, that experience ended up being the turning point that brought me back to my senses. I started to pray to the Blessed Mother to get my faith back. Then, I had a very profound dream/vision that showed me what I was up against, and where I’d been heading. It literally scared the ‘hell’ out of me!
But, the one thing that has kept me in the Catholic Church ever since that time, has been the Holy Eucharist. There is absolutely nothing like It anywhere else in the world, or in any other religion.
C
Cathryn
Guest
I am a Catholic because I believe in Jesus Christ and everything he taught and commanded, including the Church he established, because he is Truth itself.
C
cheese_puff
Guest
I’m Catholic because… of Mary.
In my youth she gently taught me how to love her Son through her devotion.
As I grew so did my love and understanding.
In my dark hours when I felt alone and forgot how to love Jesus, she was ALWAYS close and would gently bring me back to truth and love.
In my rebelious hours when I felt I knew it all, again she would coral my thoughts back.
And finally, when I had ignored our Father, her Son and finally her, leaving myself exposed to all unimaginable evils, again, she kept me protected under her mantle and gently showed me the way home.
Yes, because of our Blessed Mother is why l am Catholic.
In my youth she gently taught me how to love her Son through her devotion.
As I grew so did my love and understanding.
In my dark hours when I felt alone and forgot how to love Jesus, she was ALWAYS close and would gently bring me back to truth and love.
In my rebelious hours when I felt I knew it all, again she would coral my thoughts back.
And finally, when I had ignored our Father, her Son and finally her, leaving myself exposed to all unimaginable evils, again, she kept me protected under her mantle and gently showed me the way home.
Yes, because of our Blessed Mother is why l am Catholic.
W
Wesley7
Guest
Was there a period in the history of the Roman papacy where Catholic adacemics and the Popes made a god out of reason? . .
G
GaryTaylor
Guest
What in the world are you talking about? And how many times have you been asked this on this thread?
E
Eileen_T
Guest
Sounds a lot like my journey. I really, really didn’t want the One True Church to be Catholic, but Faith and Reason convinced me it is, so I am Catholic.
R
Robert_in_SD
Guest
Very briefly - I’m a Catholic because I believe what the Catholic Church teaches regarding it’s position as the authoritative - one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. I’ve prayed and studied very hard about the issue, and am being true to my conscience. I believe this is the Church that God wants me (and all Christians) to be in full union with.
Peace,
Robert
R
Robert_in_SD
Guest
R
Robert_in_SD
Guest
G
Granpa_Lemon
Guest
I grew up surrounded by Catholics and I always found it to be a very odd belief system.
There is an obsession with Mary, with blood, the saints, every other day is a feast day of some kind. In an effort to learn more about it, I came to realize that it’s mostly just a lot of made-up stuff from centuries ago.
You can bash me if you like, I don’t really care. But, I am of the opinion that most of the rituals, the mission statement and the early “history” of the Catholic church are just figments of vivid imaginations.
I have no problem with Jesus.
I like him, but, I find some of his so-called followers to be mostly a bunch of kooks!
The first couple of hundred years of the church was a messy mish-mash of beliefs centered around Jesus. The many churches founded throughout Europe and the Near-East and Northern Africa had many, MANY differing viewpoints in how to arrange and organize the church. It really wasn’t an unbroken line of succession from Jesus down to the Pope of today. Most of the early popes were horrible people! Interested more in political power than anything else.
Anyway, Once Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire, things really began to take off. Thats why the Roman church is still in power today. Rome was the dominant economic, political, and military power of the day.
Constantine saw that the new religion appealed to the peasant masses and he used it to bind his subjects together under a common belief system. There used to be as many pagans gods as there were families in the Roman empire. This way, he could consolidate his power and his authority over the subjects of the empire.
If anyone should get a chance read some books by Bart Ehrman. I took a course of his way back in the early 1980s as a lark, and I still read his books today.
It is common knowledge among theologians and scholars that the Gospels were translated, re-translated and copied and re-copied and even changed along the way. Nobody was following Jesus around with a stenography pad taking dictation! The earliest book, Mark, was written a generation after Jesus preached. How accurate could a story be if written 30 years after the events happened? As time went by the scribes would copy the texts and re-copy them to send to churches all over the empire. But, some were added to, some were changed, some were made shorter. The copies that we have today are NO way the same documents that were written almost 2000 years ago. We know this because some scraps have survived through the ages, and almost all of them are different from one another!
So, in order to have confidence in a religion, I would think that you first need to have confidence in the books and scrolls and documents that you base your religion upon. If you wish to say that you have faith and that the Lord will provide, or something like that, fine, but, if all you have is faith…what does that really mean? You can believe ANYTHING you want to then. I could believe in a 6 foot tall white rabbit named Harvey if I wanted to.
All praise Harvey…the true messiah!
Also, how does anyone REALLY know if this is what Jesus really wanted? What if he came back tomorrow and said that you guys got it all wrong?
Of course, the Pope would disagree with me. He’s supposed to be the mouthpiece for Jesus in the interim.
What makes you guys think that jesus is coming back again anyway?
Where does he say this?
You don’t think that the idea of the General Resurrection is pretty bizarre?
But, Catholics don’t really know the Bible all that well. They just ask Father Bob down at The Church Around The Corner what to do so that they are absolved from all responsibility.
It’s a great belief system for the mentally lazy.
But, it is great exercise!
All that standing, sitting and kneeling is like Simon Says.
There is an obsession with Mary, with blood, the saints, every other day is a feast day of some kind. In an effort to learn more about it, I came to realize that it’s mostly just a lot of made-up stuff from centuries ago.
You can bash me if you like, I don’t really care. But, I am of the opinion that most of the rituals, the mission statement and the early “history” of the Catholic church are just figments of vivid imaginations.
I have no problem with Jesus.
I like him, but, I find some of his so-called followers to be mostly a bunch of kooks!
The first couple of hundred years of the church was a messy mish-mash of beliefs centered around Jesus. The many churches founded throughout Europe and the Near-East and Northern Africa had many, MANY differing viewpoints in how to arrange and organize the church. It really wasn’t an unbroken line of succession from Jesus down to the Pope of today. Most of the early popes were horrible people! Interested more in political power than anything else.
Anyway, Once Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire, things really began to take off. Thats why the Roman church is still in power today. Rome was the dominant economic, political, and military power of the day.
Constantine saw that the new religion appealed to the peasant masses and he used it to bind his subjects together under a common belief system. There used to be as many pagans gods as there were families in the Roman empire. This way, he could consolidate his power and his authority over the subjects of the empire.
If anyone should get a chance read some books by Bart Ehrman. I took a course of his way back in the early 1980s as a lark, and I still read his books today.
It is common knowledge among theologians and scholars that the Gospels were translated, re-translated and copied and re-copied and even changed along the way. Nobody was following Jesus around with a stenography pad taking dictation! The earliest book, Mark, was written a generation after Jesus preached. How accurate could a story be if written 30 years after the events happened? As time went by the scribes would copy the texts and re-copy them to send to churches all over the empire. But, some were added to, some were changed, some were made shorter. The copies that we have today are NO way the same documents that were written almost 2000 years ago. We know this because some scraps have survived through the ages, and almost all of them are different from one another!
So, in order to have confidence in a religion, I would think that you first need to have confidence in the books and scrolls and documents that you base your religion upon. If you wish to say that you have faith and that the Lord will provide, or something like that, fine, but, if all you have is faith…what does that really mean? You can believe ANYTHING you want to then. I could believe in a 6 foot tall white rabbit named Harvey if I wanted to.
All praise Harvey…the true messiah!
Also, how does anyone REALLY know if this is what Jesus really wanted? What if he came back tomorrow and said that you guys got it all wrong?
Of course, the Pope would disagree with me. He’s supposed to be the mouthpiece for Jesus in the interim.
What makes you guys think that jesus is coming back again anyway?
Where does he say this?
You don’t think that the idea of the General Resurrection is pretty bizarre?
But, Catholics don’t really know the Bible all that well. They just ask Father Bob down at The Church Around The Corner what to do so that they are absolved from all responsibility.
It’s a great belief system for the mentally lazy.
But, it is great exercise!
All that standing, sitting and kneeling is like Simon Says.
- Status