Understanding my religion

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KimL

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Do I have to “fully” understand my religion to be a good Catholic?
I have problem with understanding the trinity and other aspects of the church. Do I need to grasp this? Or can i just leave it?
 
No you don’t need to understand fully to be a good Catholic. You don’t need to understand the Trinity, just believe in it. And prayer, penance, and the Sacraments make better Catholics than knowledge ever has.

ETA: The Pope has studied Catholicism almost his whole life and he doesn’t fully understand Catholicism, either. None of us do.
 
St. Augustine was one day walking on the beach trying to understand the Trinity. He saw a young boy digging a hole. He asked the boy what he was doing. “I am trying to hold the ocean.” (or something to that effect). Augustine replied, “That is impossible.” To which the boy replied, “And so is your trying to understand the Trinity.” Instead of trying to understand everything, sometimes we need to become comfortable with the questions we have and simply embrace the mystery.
 
No, it is useful to learn what you can but having faith doesn’t mean you have to understand.

We should all have faith like a child as Jesus said. A simple faith sometimes is much better than a convoluted non-faith.
Sometimes all we end up believing in if we focus on our own knowledge is ourselves, and without humility we make ourselves God.

Study the Catholic Church you will find God made it perfect, don’t study it and it still remains perfect.

God Bless
Scylla
 
KimL said:
Do I have to “fully” understand my religion to be a good Catholic?
I have problem with understanding the trinity and other aspects of the church. Do I need to grasp this? Or can i just leave it?
Click to expand...
I recommend Theology For Beginners by F.J Sheed.

For your info the contents are:
  1. Why Study Theology?
  2. Spirit
  3. The Infinite Spirit
  4. The Blessed Trinity
  5. The Three Persons
  6. The Human Mind and the Doctrine of the Trinity
  7. Creation
  8. The Nature of Man
  9. The Supernatural Life
  10. The Sin at our Origin
  11. The Redeemer
  12. Redemption
  13. The Visible Church
  14. The Mystical Body of Christ
  15. The Mother of God
  16. Grace, Virtues, Gifts
  17. The Sacraments
  18. Eucharist and the Mass
  19. The Next Life
  20. The End of the World
    Epilogue: The Layman and the Church
The book has both Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat.
Its paperback and 187 pages. USD 11 from EWTN although I’m sure it will be available in all Catholic bookstores. Frank Sheed makes Theology interesting and understandable.
 
You dont have to understand everything, you just have to believe it. Belief does not rely on understanding.
 
When you agree to believe everything the Catholic Church teaches, you agree to believe it because the Church teaches it, not because you understand it, or are even aware of it.

Of course you should endeavor to learn more of what She teaches each day. But note there are many things, such as the Trinity, that are mysteries. They are not *who dunnits *which have a solution. They are unfathomable truths. One can always learn more about them, but only God can grasp them in their entirety.
 
since it is not possible for any human being to fully understand the Truth as it has been revealed by God and as it is preserved and taught by the Catholic Church, the answer would be no, or we are all doomed. Augustine and Thomas, two of the greatest saints of the Church as well as two of the greatest intellects in human history, spent their last days in almost wordless awe as they confronted the reality that even they comprehended no more of God and His Truth than a rock on the seashore being washed by the waves understands of the vastness of the ocean and its wonders. No, the religion is not God, and the Church is not God, but it is the repository on earth of His authority to teach and transmit the truth, and yes we are obligated to assent to the truth and to that authority. No we are not obligated to understand it all.
 
KimL said:
Do I have to “fully” understand my religion to be a good Catholic?
I have problem with understanding the trinity and other aspects of the church. Do I need to grasp this? Or can i just leave it?
Click to expand...
You do not have to fully understand the mysteries of the faith (i.e., Transubstantiation, Trinity, etc), but you must certainly believe them with the deepest depths of your soul and will.
 
KimL said:
Do I have to “fully” understand my religion to be a good Catholic?
I have problem with understanding the trinity and other aspects of the church. Do I need to grasp this? Or can i just leave it?
Click to expand...
No, but you must accept these doctrines on faith.
 
KimL said:
Do I have to “fully” understand my religion to be a good Catholic?
I have problem with understanding the trinity and other aspects of the church. Do I need to grasp this? Or can i just leave it?
Click to expand...
Kim, the fundamentalists, Muslim and Christian, lost a great treasure in trying to reduce their faith to what is easliy understandable, with little effort. Our duty is to know, love, and serve God, who is infinite. We can never exhaust our growth in knowing, loving, and serving God. The Church provides truly fabulous opportunities to grow in our faith – opportunities that can more than fill a human lifetime.

We cannot fully understand God, but we can strive to view Him through the eyes of the saints. Imagine how our Mother Mary exprienced God as daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Spirit. What an extraordinary school of holiness! The first teacher of the Child Jesus, given to us as protector and guide! If you want a crash course on our faith, meditate on the mysteries of the rosary and the Hail Holy Queen, as did St. Alphonsus de Liguori (he wrote it up in The Glories of Mary).
 
No one can fully understand the Trinity, only God knows this mystery; our duty is to glorify, praise, worship, and follow God. It is okay not to uderstand the Trinity, but you should not loose faith in God.

Pax
 
No, you do not have to understand the Trinity. Further, we are all incapable of understanding the Trinity. It is what is called a mystery of our faith. Jokingly stated, if anyone understands the Trinity, I am sure the pope would want to talk to him, because he would like to understand it too. One of the things we can all look forward to when we get to heaven is that we will dwell in God and we shall see him as he is. I cannot even imagine how awesome this will be.
Deacon Ed B
 
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