Surrender

[Namesake]

I have read several time on this web site comments about surrender to the authority of the RCC. Now the problem I am having with this idea concerns what constitutes abandonment of our God given ability to reason?

Are we supposed to give up (surrender) our intellectual ability to sort out truth?

 

[rpp]

I have never seen anyone use the word “surrender” in the context of checking our brains at the door of the Church.

No, what we are to do is to learn what the Catholic Church teaches and conform our conscience to it. If there is something that we do not understand or find difficult to agree with, then we should humbly learn more about it.

A person who never gets beyond “because the Church says so” is not a good Catholic. In fact such an attitude is dangerous becauase such people are easily lead astray. Just looking around here we can see that there are some who claim to be “faithful” Catholics yet, at best, improperly describe, and at worst distort, the teachings of the Church.

We need our intellect to help determine truth from falsehood. We also need our brains to help us truly understand the wonder of God, His creation and His mercy.

 

[Fidelis]

I have read several time on this web site comments about surrender to the authority of the RCC. Now the problem I am having with this idea concerns what constitutes abandonment of our God given ability to reason?

Are we supposed to give up (surrender) our intellectual ability to sort out truth?

Perhaps it will help you to look at it in this way.For the sake of argument, play along with me here.

• The Bible has a type of authority because it is the inspired Word of God. As Christians we don’t question that authority.
• The teachings of the Church as handed down from the very beginning (Sacred Tradition) and the teaching office of the Church (the Magisterium, composed of the Pope and the bishops) also have authority which, Catholics beleive, also come from God.

Now of course Protestants will dispute this last, and there can be (and have been) whole threads about this, but that is the position that faithful, practicing and knowledgable Catholics (and one that accepts Catholicism) starts with. If you can submit to the authority of the Scriptures, given by God, you can also submit to other God given authority.

As a 21st century westerner and a Protestant, submission to religious (or any other) authority is a hard pill to swallow. But if you dilligently and honestly investigate the claims of the Catholic Church for her authority, you may find that they make sense biblically, historically, and logically. Therefore, to be a Catholic does not mean leaving your brains at the door – it means accepting authoritative teaching that comes from the same source you already trust, then using your brains to study, meditate and apply those teachings in your life.

 

[Tomster]

I have read several time on this web site comments about surrender to the authority of the RCC. Now the problem I am having with this idea concerns what constitutes abandonment of our God given ability to reason?

Are we supposed to give up (surrender) our intellectual ability to sort out truth?

Pope John Paul II pointed out that freedom and truth are two sides of the same coin. We are made in God’s image, therefore we are free. But God is not only freedom, He is also Truth. Freedom and Truth are both united in God and are not in opposition. They should not be in conflict in us.

As images of God, we are free and are made for the Truth. Freedom guarantees that we can all search for the Truth, but Truth guarantees that all human beings have certain rights and are free.

The Church teaches the Truth which makes us free, and freedom guarantees that we can seek the Truth.

Freedom without Truth destroys freedom, and Truth must be sought in freedom

Pope John Paul II clearly teaches that each and every individual is free to seek the Truth and that the individual has the obligation to accept the Truth when presented with it.

For a good read on this topic, examine “Dominus Iesus” (“The Lord Jesus”), a document released by the Vatican in September 2000

 

[AgnosTheist]

Pope John Paul II pointed out that freedom and truth are two sides of the same coin.

Thats not true. In the days of the inquisition, when a witch reveals her truth she loses her freedom.

 

[ralphinal]

Thats not true. In the days of the inquisition, when a witch reveals her truth she loses her freedom.

At that time, they would have said that she gained her freedom from the sin. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.