What are the reasons I should (or shouldn't) become Catholic?

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AgnosTheist said:
Hey we are talking about God here, the ultra powerful electro magnetic perfecto big boss who killed somebody for making the mistake of trying to catch the Ark as it almost tumbled down the side of the road. And all you got to show is some stuff that was inaccurately remembered? C’mon! Arent you underestimating the concept of being ‘inspired’ by SUPREEEEME Being??? If the inspiration came from Buddha, I would understand the slight imperfections.
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:rolleyes:
 
AgnosTheist said:
I know, white catholics are diminishing fast and being replaced by asians, blacks & latinos. People from the 3rd world countries with ‘limited education’, where religion can still have a lot of meaning in life.
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From the fall of Rome in 476 until the 20th century, most people had “limited education.” The only education around was provided by the CC via monks/priests. You don’t have to be educated to be a believer, I pointed out saints in other posts who could not possibly have argued with you about doctrine, but their simple faith elevated them to sainthood.

I consider myself educated, and my faith is the ALL of my life.
AgnosTheist said:
I am looking forward for the first non-white pope. 👍
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Who cares what color his skin is? As long as HE faithful to the Truth of th CC.

I hate it when people vote for somebody because of what sex or race they are.
 
And errors arent the only problems with the bible, there is also a lot of Moral dilemmas and ethical inconsistencies. I am retiring for the day, so I will leave 2 hints:
  • amalekites- the slaughter of infants in the name of god (sure beats the Beslan massacre)
  • ananias & saphira - killed for covering up for themselves so they wont have to give all their money to the apostles.
 
AgnosTheist said:
And errors arent the only problems with the bible, there is also a lot of Moral dilemmas and ethical inconsistencies. I am retiring for the day, so I will leave 2 hints:
  • amalekites- the slaughter of infants in the name of god (sure beats the Beslan massacre)
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God’s primary concern in the Old Testament was the preservation of Israel.

Take a careful look at the origins and geneology of the Amalekites, and you will easily see why they had to go. If they had left Israel alone, no doubt they would have been allowed to live, but they didn’t.
  • ananias & saphira - killed for covering up for themselves so they wont have to give all their money to the apostles.
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They didn’t have to, anyway - they could have been honest about what they were doing. The Apostles were not trying to bankrupt people.

Their sin was that they tried to lie to God; not to the Apostles. They’d have gotten away with lying to the Apostles, and most likely there were lots of people who did.
 
Dear Agnos,

I invite you to read The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord, by stigmatist nun Anne Catherine Emmerick. I guarantee that it will change your view and life.

Then I would like you to read the 10 volumes of Direction for our Times, which have been dictated to Anne, a Lay Apostle, by the Father, the Son, the Blessed Mother and other saints. (Disclaimer–these have been printed with permission of Anne’s bishop, but have not yet been deemed authentic by the Magisterium of the Church). These can be found at thecatholicgiftstore.com
 
chesterton.org/gkc/theologian/whycatholic.htm

You can read the Chesterton quote online at the link above. Here are the first few paragraphs:
The difficulty of explaining “why I am a Catholic” is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true. I could fill all my space with separate sentences each beginning with the words, “It is the only thing that . . .” As, for instance, (1) It is the only thing that really prevents a sin from being a secret. (2) It is the only thing in which the superior cannot be superior; in the sense of supercilious. (3) It is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age. (4) It is the only thing that talks as if it were the truth; as if it were a real messenger refusing to tamper with a real message. (5) It is the only type of Christianity that really contains every type of man; even the respectable man. (6) It is the only large attempt to change the world from the inside; working through wills and not laws; and so on.
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Or I might treat the matter personally and describe my own conversion; but I happen to have a strong feeling that this method makes the business look much smaller than it really is. Numbers of much better men have been sincerely converted to much worse religions. I would much prefer to attempt to say here of the Catholic Church precisely the things that cannot be said even of its very respectable rivals. In short, I would say chiefly of the Catholic Church that it is catholic. I would rather try to suggest that it is not only larger than me, but larger than anything in the world; that it is indeed larger than the world. But since in this short space I can only take a section, I will consider it in its capacity of a guardian of the truth.
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The other day a well-known writer, otherwise quite well-informed, said that the Catholic Church is always the enemy of new ideas. It probably did not occur to him that his own remark was not exactly in the nature of a new idea. It is one of the notions that Catholics have to be continually refuting, because it is such a very old idea. Indeed, those who complain that Catholicism cannot say anything new, seldom think it necessary to say anything new about Catholicism. As a matter of fact, a real study of history will show it to be curiously contrary to the fact. In so far as the ideas really are ideas, and in so far as any such ideas can be new, Catholics have continually suffered through supporting them when they were really new; when they were much too new to find any other support. The Catholic was not only first in the field but alone in the field; and there was as yet nobody to understand what he had found there… .
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In the Bible Epistle Of Saint Paul To The Ephesians 4:5 - One Lord, one faith, one baptism-. *One Faith *would be the faith founded by our Lord Jesus Christ: Catholicism. How this is known to us, Who was the vicar of Christ? St. Pope Peter, and who is the vicar of St. Pope Peter? Pope Benedict XVI. Christ founded Catholicism through the apostles.

How we know that all faiths outside the Catholic Church are incorrect; for (one) they were not founded by Christ but by your average Joe, (Two) Mathew 16:18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church , and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

18 “Thou art Peter”… As St. Peter, by divine revelation, here made a solemn profession of his faith of the divinity of Christ; so in recompense of this faith and profession, our Lord here declares to him the dignity to which he is pleased to raise him: viz., that he to whom he had already given the name of Peter, signifying a rock, St. John 1. 42, should be a rock indeed, of invincible strength, for the support of the building of the church; in which building he should be, next to Christ himself, the chief foundation stone, in quality of chief pastor, ruler, and governor; and should have accordingly all fulness of ecclesiastical power, signified by the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
<>
18 “Upon this rock”… The words of Christ to Peter, spoken in the vulgar language of the Jews which our Lord made use of, were the same as if he had said in English, Thou art a Rock, and upon this rock I will build my church. So that, by the plain course of the words, Peter is here declared to be the rock, upon which the church was to be built: Christ himself being both the principal foundation and founder of the same. Where also note, that Christ, by building his house, that is, his church, upon a rock, has thereby secured it against all storms and floods, like the wise builder, St. Matt. 7. 24, 25.

18 “The gates of hell”… That is, the powers of darkness, and whatever Satan can do, either by himself, or his agents. For as the church is here likened to a house, or fortress, built on a rock; so the adverse powers are likened to a contrary house or fortress, the gates of which, that is, the whole strength, and all the efforts it can make, will never be able to prevail over the city or church of Christ. By this promise we are fully assured, that neither idolatry, heresy, nor any pernicious error whatsoever shall at any time prevail over the church of Christ.

<> (The info in red is from the Douay-Rheims Bible.)

Basically Our Lord is telling us that His Church shall never fall, therefore those who have started there own faith and broke completely off of the Catholic Church did so because they felt the our Lord’s Church has fallen, in turn they were indirectly saying our Lord Christ has lied to us and that they must correct the error God made.
 
Janet_S said:
There have been non-white Popes. Here is a list of the 265 Popes with biographical links.
newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm

Pope Victor (elected 189 AD) and Pope Miltiades (elected 311) were both born in Africa.
newadvent.org/cathen/15408a.htm
newadvent.org/cathen/10318a.htm

Most Popes came from Rome, but some came from other areas: Syria, Jerusalem, Antioch, France to name just a few.
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Being from Africa in those days more likely made you Greek or Roman (Cleopatra was Greek). North Africa was virtually ALL Graeco-Roman.
 
mercygate said:
Being from Africa in those days more likely made you Greek or Roman (Cleopatra was Greek). North Africa was virtually ALL Graeco-Roman.
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Agnos Theist said in a previous post “I am looking forward for the first non-white pope.”

We have probably already had one.

We have had Popes from all over the world, including three from Africa. It may have been more likely that these 3 Popes were of Graeco-Roman descent (white), but do we have a record of what they looked like?

We are the universal Church. No one should assume all our Popes were white.
 
Janet_S said:
Agnos Theist said in a previous post “I am looking forward for the first non-white pope.”

We have probably already had one.

We have had Popes from all over the world, including three from Africa. It may have been more likely that these 3 Popes were of Graeco-Roman descent (white), but do we have a record of what they looked like?

We are the universal Church. No one should assume all our Popes were white.
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. . . agreed. It is a non-issue for Catholics. We have a strict racial policy for the Papacy. You DEFINITELY have to be a certified member of the human race.
 
jmcrae said:
God’s primary concern in the Old Testament was the preservation of Israel.

Take a careful look at the origins and geneology of the Amalekites, and you will easily see why they had to go. If they had left Israel alone, no doubt they would have been allowed to live, but they didn’t.
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  1. Imagine yourself in their shoes: You are a toddler- Must you die for the sins of your grandfather (which could possibly have just followed orders)? Im sorry but my conscience just cant handle this. I have an adorable 6yr old daughter. 😦
  2. Israel’s other neighbors never left them alone either. The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians. Why were they not annihilated as well? Were the amalekites just a whim that the Israelites could not follow through with other people?
jmcrae said:
They didn’t have to, anyway - they could have been honest about what they were doing. The Apostles were not trying to bankrupt people.

Their sin was that they tried to lie to God; not to the Apostles. They’d have gotten away with lying to the Apostles, and most likely there were lots of people who did.
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  1. Oviously from the couple’s point of view they lied to the Apostles, not to God. But these apostles suddenly passed themselves off as the embodiment of God himself.
  2. They were killed for a little white lie that wouldnt even harm anyone. What ever happened to the idea that God is love?
 
Janet_S said:
Agnos Theist said in a previous post “I am looking forward for the first non-white pope.”

We have probably already had one.

We have had Popes from all over the world, including three from Africa. It may have been more likely that these 3 Popes were of Graeco-Roman descent (white), but do we have a record of what they looked like?

We are the universal Church. No one should assume all our Popes were white.
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Keep in mind, until the late 300s, the white race was mostly confined to Britain and Northern Europe. It is only after the fall of Rome that the white race began to mix freely with southern Europeans and north Africans. Prior to that time, they were all dark-skinned, like modern day Arabs, and perhaps even darker than that.
 
AgnosTheist said:
  1. Imagine yourself in their shoes: You are a toddler- Must you die for the sins of your grandfather (which could possibly have just followed orders)? I’m sorry but my conscience just cant handle this. I have an adorable 6yr old daughter. 😦
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Did you read their history? That “innocent” toddler has no conscience - she is the offspring of alcoholic brother and sister, who in their turn are also the offspring of alcoholic brother and sister, going back several generations - at the very least, she has fetal alcohol syndrome combined with mental retardation (this is the best case scenario). She murders without feeling sorry, or any emotion at all - she stabs you in the heart with that big knife in her chubby, strong little hands, merely because she loves to watch the pretty red fountain spurting out of your chest. (Have you ever had dealings with a child who has FAS? It is literally a nightmare. Now, imagine dealing with an entire tribe of these children, in a time of history when there are no cities, no doctors, no psychiatric medicines, and no hospitals.)
  1. Oviously from the couple’s point of view they lied to the Apostles, not to God. But these apostles suddenly passed themselves off as the embodiment of God himself.
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“Obviously,” how? :confused:
  1. They were killed for a little white lie that wouldnt even harm anyone. What ever happened to the idea that God is love?
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It was hardly a “little white lie” - and even if it were, how is any kind of a lie compatible with Perfect Love?
 
jmcrae said:
Did you read their history? That “innocent” toddler has no conscience - she is the offspring of alcoholic brother and sister, who in their turn are also the offspring of alcoholic brother and sister, going back several generations - at the very least, she has fetal alcohol syndrome combined with mental retardation (this is the best case scenario). She murders without feeling sorry, or any emotion at all - she stabs you in the heart with that big knife in her chubby, strong little hands, merely because she loves to watch the pretty red fountain spurting out of your chest. (Have you ever had dealings with a child who has FAS? It is literally a nightmare. Now, imagine dealing with an entire tribe of these children, in a time of history when there are no cities, no doctors, no psychiatric medicines, and no hospitals.)
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there is no such thing as an entire tribe of nutcases. there will always be a good person in every nation.

you are stretching it, just to justify killing babies. my goodness. like what they say, for a good man to do (or in your case, agree with) evil, that takes religion.
jmcrae said:
“Obviously,” how? :confused:
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  1. No person in their right mind would lie to god.
  2. Ananias was speaking to the apostles, not to God.
jmcrae said:
It was hardly a “little white lie” - and even if it were, how is any kind of a lie compatible with Perfect Love?
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1 Corinthians 4-8

*Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. *
  1. How is kindness compatible with killing a person for a white lie.
  2. Where is the justice in killing a person for telling a white lie?
 
AgnosTheist said:
there is no such thing as an entire tribe of nutcases. there will always be a good person in every nation.
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All I know about it is what the Scriptures say. When I read the history of the Amalekites, I’m just glad that they no longer exist.
  1. No person in their right mind would lie to god.
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Obviously, they do, or else it would not be listed as a sin.
  1. Ananias was speaking to the apostles, not to God.
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Which tells you something about the Apostles. After all, it was not the Apostles who struck them down - no human being ever laid any hand on Ananias and Sapphira.
 
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