Top 10 things you might not know about my religion

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faithsmind

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I wanted to create a quick list of amazing facts about my faith to share on social media. I was wondering if I could have some help brainstorming ideas. Bonus points if they are slightly edgy or humorous.

The following list are some points I’ve thought of at the moment. Please let me know any more ideas, what you would add or subtract, and if the ones I have are accurate. Rewording/revision suggestions are also welcome. Thanks in advance!
  1. Lucifer (Satan) was the highest angel in heaven. He and other angels chose not to serve God at the very beginning of time. As a result, there are now billions of evil angels (demons) who prowl the earth seeking the ruin of souls, as well as billions of good angels.
    ( and here I have a personal question- are these Angels in constant battle right now?)
  2. Ghost and hauntings are actually the result of demon (bad Angels) infestations of a home/place/object/ person. Prayers and objects blessed with prayers will help free those places of infestation.
  3. Science and reason are necessary aspects of our religion. Many Catholics have made significant contributions to the development of science and mathematics, including Galileo, Descartes, Copernicus, Pasteur, Pascal, and Mendel. Fr. Lemaître was actually a Belgian priest and astronomer who developed the Big Bang theory of the physical beginnings of the universe.
  4. The Shroud of Turin has undergone extensive, state-if-the-art scientific studies conducted by atheists, and was shown to be the actual 33 BC burial cloth of a man with all the same unique wounds (crown of thorns, whipping, spear wound in left chest) as the New Testament crucifixion account.
  5. The high altar of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome is directly above Saint Peter’s grave, the first human (shepherd Pope) of our established church on earth. culturaltravelguide.com/real-tomb-saint-peter-under-saint-peters-basilica#lightbox[auto_group1]/6/
  6. Jesus’s mother, one of the most famous women in history, never had a known grave site or any evidence of remains. This is because, like Elijah, tradition holds that her body was actually assumed into heaven. Elijah is recorded to have reappeared in the New Testament.
  7. Catholicism is the oldest and longest surviving organization of people in human history. As the saying goes, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
 
Number 1,2,4 and 6 are either simply speculative without an ability to be proven as factual or simply in error, such as #4. If I recall correctly, too, that there was a site venerated in ancient times as being the tomb of Mary. Even #7 may be factually incorrect.
 
faithsmind said:
  1. Catholicism is the oldest and longest surviving organization of people in human history. As the saying goes, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
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You might make a case that it is the oldest organization in Christianity (though every other ancient church objects), but it is not the oldest organization in the world for all religions. Some examples are given.

The Buddhist Sangha goes back to the founding of Gautama Buddha himself (so that’s more than 500 years before Christianity overall). Hinduism is very old, of course, but it is extremely diverse.

Shamanistic practices have existed for a long, long time, being observed not only in Siberia, but in Africa, North America, South America, Australasia, and elsewhere, especially among isolated peoples. Inuit beliefs can often be traced back to Siberia where there are parallels (and they migrated over 10,000 years ago, says the common theory). They have organized local communities with reasoned taboos and traditions.

Magickal practices, while not “organized,” have been practiced long before Christianity or even Judaism when we look to Babylonian polytheism and like faiths. The point is that there are organizations older than the Catholic Church, though that is very old nonetheless.
 
Tim_D said:
Number 1,2,4 and 6 are either simply speculative without an ability to be proven as factual or simply in error, such as #4. If I recall correctly, too, that there was a site venerated in ancient times as being the tomb of Mary. Even #7 may be factually incorrect.
Click to expand...
#4 has been scientifically proven.
1,2, and 6 are beliefs that the Catholic Church holds, yes. Afa Mary’s tomb, there is no evidence or historical tradition of her tomb.

I’m not sure I should include #7. Hatikvah brings up some religions. These are more a set of religious beliefs rather than a specific organization of people such as with the papal monarch set up with specific duties, rules, and powers. I did some further searches and it appears that there is a Japanese monarch which is still in power (with current duties similar to that of the current British monarch) that dates before the papal monarchy.
 
faithsmind said:
#4 has been scientifically proven.
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Provide some sort of evidence, then. Also, no one holds to a date of 33AD as the date of the crucifixion.
faithsmind said:
1,2, and 6 are beliefs that the Catholic Church holds, yes. Afa Mary’s tomb, there is no evidence or historical tradition of her tomb.
Click to expand...
There is an Eastern tradition of a location known as Mary’s tomb. I don’t care enough about the subject to look it up.

The other ones are not “beliefs” that the Church “holds.” The Church teaches very little about the fallen angels. Most of what we believe to be true about them comes from islam and mythology.

Finally, the Church does not teach anything about ghosts and hauntings.
 
faithsmind said:
I wanted to create a quick list of amazing facts about my faith to share on social media. I was wondering if I could have some help brainstorming ideas. Bonus points if they are slightly edgy or humorous.

The following list are some points I’ve thought of at the moment. Please let me know any more ideas, what you would add or subtract, and if the ones I have are accurate. Rewording/revision suggestions are also welcome. Thanks in advance!
  1. Lucifer (Satan) was the highest angel in heaven. He and other angels chose not to serve God at the very beginning of time. As a result, there are now billions of evil angels (demons) who prowl the earth seeking the ruin of souls, as well as billions of good angels.
    ( and here I have a personal question- are these Angels in constant battle right now?)
  2. Ghost and hauntings are actually the result of demon (bad Angels) infestations of a home/place/object/ person. Prayers and objects blessed with prayers will help free those places of infestation.
  3. Science and reason are necessary aspects of our religion. Many Catholics have made significant contributions to the development of science and mathematics, including Galileo, Descartes, Copernicus, Pasteur, Pascal, and Mendel. Fr. Lemaître was actually a Belgian priest and astronomer who developed the Big Bang theory of the physical beginnings of the universe.
  4. The Shroud of Turin has undergone extensive, state-if-the-art scientific studies conducted by atheists, and was shown to be the actual 33 BC burial cloth of a man with all the same unique wounds (crown of thorns, whipping, spear wound in left chest) as the New Testament crucifixion account.
  5. The high altar of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome is directly above Saint Peter’s grave, the first human (shepherd Pope) of our established church on earth. culturaltravelguide.com/real-tomb-saint-peter-under-saint-peters-basilica#lightbox[auto_group1]/6/
  6. Jesus’s mother, one of the most famous women in history, never had a known grave site or any evidence of remains. This is because, like Elijah, tradition holds that her body was actually assumed into heaven. Elijah is recorded to have reappeared in the New Testament.
  7. Catholicism is the oldest and longest surviving organization of people in human history. As the saying goes, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
Click to expand...
Please don’t share any of this. We already have more than enough well-meaning people making us look foolish. If you want to evangelize, point people in the direction of some of the excellent priests and bishops who regularly produce great YouTube videos.
 
Doesn’t Judaism pre-date Catholicism?

I’ve not seen any news that the Shroud was conclusively proven.

Connecting ghosts to demons isn’t something to point to as a significant fact about Catholicism.

I think you need to focus on important aspects of the faith, and not make trivia facts into more than they are.
 
on_the_hill said:
Doesn’t Judaism pre-date Catholicism?

I’ve not seen any news that the Shroud was conclusively proven.

Connecting ghosts to demons isn’t something to point to as a significant fact about Catholicism.

I think you need to focus on important aspects of the faith, and not make trivia facts into more than they are.
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Point taken. I guess I was trying to get people interested, thirsty to look for more info.

Jewish religion is not as definitively organized… Of course this can be argued.
I’m going to remove it.

Any suggestions to add to this list would greatly be appreciated, on-the-hill.
 
1neophyte said:
Please don’t share any of this. We already have more than enough well-meaning people making us look foolish. If you want to evangelize, point people in the direction of some of the excellent priests and bishops who regularly produce great YouTube videos.
Click to expand...
I’m trying to get people interested, and synopsize some points. I always feel like I’m force-feeding people when I post long articles and you-tube videos, however well-educated and well-spoken the priest or theologian might be. Don’t you think it’s a good idea to start with small bites? Peak someone’s interest, first?
 
I really don’t think what you are wanting to do is a good idea at all. I would not post any of it. I agree with the above comment that if you post this, it will make us, as Catholics, look foolish. There are better ways to evangelize that what you are suggesting. Your heart is in the right place, but the approach needs to be better thought out. I am not typically a “wet blanket” about innovative ideas. But please don’t.
 
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faithsmind:
  1. Ghost and hauntings are actually the result of demon (bad Angels) infestations of a home/place/object/ person.
Click to expand...
Ghosts aren’t demons. They’re ghosts. Big difference. Ghosts are lingering dead people, and we can pray for their salvation. Demons are fallen angels, the enemy of God and his angels and all the faithful.
Very dangerous to confuse the two and to misinform anyone regarding these things.
Careful.

God bless you
 
Well then, how should the great majority of fools and sinners, such as myself, evangelize on fb? Just be nice? Because it’s not working. I can evangelize the best I can as a parent. But for most of us, that isn’t working either. Does anyone here have any ideas beyond criticism of what’s already in front of them?
 
faithsmind said:
  1. Lucifer (Satan) was the highest angel in heaven. He and other angels chose not to serve God at the very beginning of time. As a result, there are now billions of evil angels (demons) who prowl the earth seeking the ruin of souls,
Click to expand...
How do you know that the number of evil angels is in the billions?
 
Tomdstone said:
How do you know that “Saint Peter’s grave” is authentic?
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:
Ok now you’re just having fun. 😉

Seriously, Tomdstone. I challenge YOU to make an interesting top ten list on Catholicism, geared towards non-Catholics. What would you put? How would you make it interesting?
 
Well then, perhaps we should come up with ten common misconceptions about Catholicism?
 
faithsmind said:
Well then, how should the great majority of fools and sinners, such as myself, evangelize on fb? Just be nice? Because it’s not working. I can evangelize the best I can as a parent. But for most of us, that isn’t working either. Does anyone here have any ideas beyond criticism of what’s already in front of them?
Click to expand...
I already gave you one superior idea, and you dismissed it. Whether you are attempting to evangelize as a parent, or on Facebook, or in any other situation, you will be totally ineffective if you’re just spreading a bunch of hocus pocus. No one cares about shrouds, graves, ghosts, or any other nonsense. At best, those are worth only a mild passing curiosity. There is only one question of lasting importance: Are we loved? The answer to this question is dripping off of every page of the gospels. It is also found in a Church who, at least on paper, relentlessly stands for the sanctity of human life regardless of how the world attacks it. THAT is what will pique the interest of the thirsty. Not whether or not Mary is buried somewhere, or any other ridiculous distraction. Not only are these things thoroughly ineffective, but as we’ve been trying to tell you, they make the Church look like a joke.

Go watch every Fr. Mike Schmitz video on YouTube. I guarantee you will find something worth sharing.
 
faithsmind said:
:rolleyes:
Ok now you’re just having fun. 😉
Click to expand...
None of the bones found there have been authenticated as belonging to St. Peter. See:
Roger T. O’Callaghan, “Vatican Excavations and the Tomb of Peter”, The Biblical Archaeologist 16.4 (December 1953) p.71.
 
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