the fullness of the faith

[blackstone]

Non Catholic Christians lack the fullness of the faith>
I have read this phrase on this forum a number of times.I do not believe this to be true. This is way. Romans 8:28 - And we know that all things work together for the benefit of those that love God, to them that are called according to HIS purpose.
We Find the next verse that God’s purpose for those of us that love God is that we be comformed or tranform in the image of his Son. That is the end results our faith. This is were our faith will eventually take us.
So now I suppose that you are going to tell me that catholic Christians love God more that protestant Christian do so that is why they have the fullness of the faith.

 

[FCEGM]

blackstone:

Non Catholic Christians lack the fullness of the faith>
I have read this phrase on this forum a number of times.I do not believe this to be true. This is way. Romans 8:28 - And we know that all things work together for the benefit of those that love God, to them that are called according to HIS purpose.
We Find the next verse that God’s purpose for those of us that love God is that we be comformed or tranform in the image of his Son. That is the end results our faith. This is were our faith will eventually take us.
So now I suppose that you are going to tell me that catholic Christians love God more that protestant Christian do so that is why they have the fullness of the faith.

Nope, not at all. By “fullness of the Faith” it is meant that the Catholic Church contains within itself all that Christ has given and revealed for our salvation (Sacraments, Scripture, Sacred Tradition, Divinely-revealed truths of faith and morals). It does not mean that all Catholics respond and correspond to these gifts of Christ. In fact, there’s no doubt that some non-Catholics can be far more committed to Christ and His work of Divine love than given Catholics. However, when a Catholic does respond and correspond fully to the “fullness of the Faith”, his spirituality and holiness will be of a level not surpassed by the holiest of non-Catholics, simply because he has availed himself of that fullness.

 

[rwoehmke]

Some time in the first half of the 20th century a man named Helaire Belloc wrote a book called “Heresies”. In that book he used an image of the Catholic Church as being like a whole pie.The whole including among other things all that the Church teaches based on Scripture, Tradition, and a teaching Magisterium. Another image I have heard lately is that the Church is like a three legged stool. Remove tradition or one of the other legs and things get un-stable. In Belloc’s book he made the statement that all Faiths other than Catholic cut a piece out of that pie and throw it away. It may be an Infallible Pope, it may be a consecrated priesthood, it may be the trinity, and so-forth. So when someone speaks of having the fullness of Faith it means that they accept all that the Church teaches based on Scripture, Tradition( big T) and the Magisterium or teaching authority. Acceptance means that while one individual or another may struggle with doubts or lack some understanding of something taught or proclaimed, the “body” as a whole accepts and believes all.

 

[johnshelby]

i’m not real crazy about the way some people use
that phrase either…

i’m a recent convert… i can tell you that when i was younger, and
more active in my church, ( Baptist ) i felt very fullfilled… i felt complete and had no doubt of my salvation…

i think that a better term for what i feel now, as a Catholic, is
a more fullness of truth… the things i believed before were true,
as far as my faith… (( i believed some untruths about the Catholic
church, but that’s not what i’m talking about ))… now, i believe
more ‘truths’, learned more about my God, and myself…

 

[Fidelis]

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

**What does “catholic” mean? **

830 The word “catholic” means “universal,” in the sense of “according to the totality” or “in keeping with the whole.” The Church is catholic in a double sense:

First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. "Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church."307 In her subsists the fullness of Christ’s body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him "the fullness of the means of salvation"308 which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. The Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost309 and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.

831 Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race:310

All men are called to belong to the new People of God. This People, therefore, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread throughout the whole world and to all ages in order that the design of God’s will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally gathered together as one. . . . The character of universality which adorns the People of God is a gift from the Lord himself whereby the Catholic Church ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks for the return of all humanity and all its goods, under Christ the Head in the unity of his Spirit.311

868 The Church is catholic: she proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers the totality of the means of salvation. She is sent out to all peoples. She speaks to all men. She encompasses all times. She is “missionary of her very nature” (AG 2).
307 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8,2:Apostolic Fathers,II/2,311.
308 UR 3; AG 6; Eph 1:22-23.
309 Cf. AG 4.
310 Cf. Mt 28:19.
311 LG 13 §§ 1-2; cf. Jn 11:52.

 

[mark_a]

johnshelby:

i’m a recent convert… i can tell you that when i was younger, and
more active in my church, ( Baptist ) i felt very fullfilled… i felt complete and had no doubt of my salvation…

i think that a better term for what i feel now, as a Catholic, is
a more fullness of truth… the things i believed before were true,
as far as my faith… (( i believed some untruths about the Catholic
church, but that’s not what i’m talking about ))… now, i believe
more ‘truths’, learned more about my God, and myself…

This is a nice post that agrees with what so many converts say.
The fact that you still love your previous faith and you feel even better about the Catholic Church is something special for the rest of us to admire.