Too legalistic at times

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SacredHeartBassist

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I just want to preface what I’m about to say with saying that I think it’s really important that we are well catechized in the faith and have a good understanding of sin and our relationship with God and participation in the sacraments. However I’ve noticed that us Catholics can sometimes wind up being scrupulous and missing the point of the gospel which is that we are loved unconditionally. We have to respond to that love but I feel a lot of you on CAF are too scrupulous to see that responding to love is different than following rules. I’m guilty of it too

It would be nice if I saw more posts on Gods love and mercy and how happy you are in the faith

Just my two cents
 
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I’ve come to believe there are three basic relational stances taken by human beings towards God and one another:

1-Love
2-Fear
3-Anger

Love relies on trust. Fear and anger rely upon law, regulation and control. Love is freeing. Fear and anger are imprisoning. Love is permissive. Fear and anger are controlling.
 
John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
 
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His commandments yes. But what about the micromanaged rules of the Church including every single aspect of intimate relations between spouses?
 
Matthew 16:19, “And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed in heaven.”

It is the Church which has the authority to determine how Christ’s commandments are to be interpreted and applied on Earth.
 
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Brendan_64 said:
It is the Church which has the authority to determine how Christ’s commandments are to be interpreted and applied on Earth.
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Yes, but many of the thousands of rules are not derived from anything Christ commanded.
 
The Church has the power to bind and loose. If the Church teaches it, it is the truth. The authority of the Church comes from Christ.
 
Without strict law you end up finding a way to be too tolerant of things that shouldn’t be tolerated. We are God’s children, children need clear boundaries.

Focus too much on forgiveness and you lose sense on the gravity of sin because “welp God loves me and He’ll forgive me anyway”
 
I know the church has the authority to bind and loose. Did you guys even read my post. I’m not even talking about worrying about manifest sin but we should also be focusing on love
 
Not what I was trying to say. But it’s like people here don’t focus on the love at all
 
Depends on how you look at things. I like knowing what’s expected of me, having clear cut boundaries is comforting, and that’s part of love. When I step out of line and I’m corrected, that’s love. Guess it’s just personal preference. I’m not a warm fuzzy feely person. Tough love and strictness is what I personally appreciate from people that care about me. If someone told me “oh it’s ok God still loves you” all the time id be fighting the urge to roll my eyes at that kind of softness, just isn’t for me. Others may need that and that’s fine.
 
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TheOldColonel said:
Love relies on trust. Fear and anger rely upon law, regulation and control. Love is freeing. Fear and anger are imprisoning. Love is permissive. Fear and anger are controlling.
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I can see you are one of the wise ones on here. I think you mean “Love is permissive” in a positive way.
 
You have a misconception of Gods love. His love is unconditional. Our love towards Him is what is not perfect.
 
SacredHeartBassist said:
but I feel a lot of you on CAF are too
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I tend to agree with the point you’ve made but if I were you, I’d be careful using language like this. Otherwise it comes across that you see yourself as the benchmark we all have to reach. And that is kind of like a Pharisee don’t you think? I have been guilty of being too petty , and forgetting the main thrust of the Gospel. But we all do that, at times, just it is harder to notice our own shortcomings. God Bless.
 
KevinK said:
Yes, but many of the thousands of rules are not derived from anything Christ commanded.
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Yes they are. You might not realize how, but they are. For instance, love God and love your neighbor.
These can be shown to include all sins.

Relations between spouses tend to follow logically from natural law.
 
True love and sin, I believe, are opposed. Yet, freedom makes all thing challenging.
 
SacredHeartBassist said:
However I’ve noticed that us Catholics can sometimes wind up being scrupulous and missing the point of the gospel which is that we are loved unconditionally.
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I’d qualify that statement with “…Catholics on CAF sometime wind up…”

Catholics I know in real life don’t pay attention to what’s discussed here.
 
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