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

[Delraek]

Contarini;

If it followed from our nature to worship, then atheists would not exist.

Metta
notself

IMHO, everyone “worships” something! If not God, then maybe money, power, fame, work, alcohol, sex, sports, exercise, etc. Something that will fill, even if only temporarily, the void that exists in each of us…

 

[notself]

IMHO, everyone “worships” something! If not God, then maybe money, power, fame, work, alcohol, sex, sports, exercise, etc. Something that will fill, even if only temporarily, the void that exists in each of us…

Yes, good point. Desire and aversion are the main motivators in the human species. It is a goal of my practice to control and eventually eliminate the extremes of these two mental states.

 

[Delraek]

Thank you for your thoughts. I recommend you read the book The Buddha by Karen Armstrong for a clear picture of the life of the Buddha and the part his family played in his life.

One of the most famous teachings of the Buddha was given by him to his young son Rahula. The Buddha’s wife and aunt became bhikkhunis (nuns) his son and cousins became a bhikkhus (monks). He did leave his family but he did not abandon them. They joined him in the Sangha (monastic life)

HI, notself,

I have a stupid question for you! I know absolutely nothing about Buddhism except for what I’ve read here, so bear with me. Since Buddhism does not include a belief in God, why bother? It sure doesn’t sound like an “easy” life and if you don’t believe in heaven or hell, why not just spend the time that you normally use to “meditate” or whatever, doing something fun or exciting? I’m not referring to anything that would have negative effects like stealing or getting addicted to drugs… just relaxing or fun stuff…

Lucky for me, I’ve been blessed with faith and have never really experienced what you have before leaving the Church. (I’m not saying that I didn’t think it was kind of boring when I was young, but I always believed in God.)

Oh, out of curiosity, how do Buddhists explain demonic possession? Do they just deny it altogether, or do they have another theory?

Guess I had a **lot **of stupid questions!

 

[manvega]

Remember that He starts
John 6:32
So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

 

[notself]

Delraek

HI, notself,

I have a stupid question for you! I know absolutely nothing about Buddhism except for what I’ve read here, so bear with me. Since Buddhism does not include a belief in God, why bother? It sure doesn’t sound like an “easy” life and if you don’t believe in heaven or hell, why not just spend the time that you normally use to “meditate” or whatever, doing something fun or exciting? I’m not referring to anything that would have negative effects like stealing or getting addicted to drugs… just relaxing or fun stuff…

As a Buddhist, I practice to end suffering. Suffering is wanting things to be different than they are. We want good times to last for ever. We want bad times to go away immediately. We crave the pleasant. We avoid or are disgusted by the unpleasant. We are tossed about by our mental states and our cravings and aversions like corks on a stormy sea. This is Suffering.

Buddhism is about ending suffering right now, this moment. The way to end suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration.

Lucky for me, I’ve been blessed with faith and have never really experienced what you have before leaving the Church. (I’m not saying that I didn’t think it was kind of boring when I was young, but I always believed in God.)

Oh, out of curiosity, how do Buddhists explain demonic possession? Do they just deny it altogether, or do they have another theory?

Guess I had a **lot **of stupid questions!

I think everyone needs faith. I have faith that I am on the right path. I have grown in my capacity for loving kindness, sympathetic joy, compassion and I even am starting to get a bit of equanimity. If your faith can give you these things then you are on the right path.

I think demonic possession and its treatment would be more of a folk belief than a teaching of the Buddha. I just did a quick search of the online index of the Pali Canon and could find no reference to demonic possession.

I think your questions were far from stupid. Thanks for asking them.

 

[po18guy]

The irrational system of the world (run by Satan) has subjected millions to slavery of all sorts… mental & otherwise. I was miserable and lost while in that system. I am now still (sometimes) miserable, but not lost. When i remember some of the good things i had whilelost, i sometimes wish - at least for a split second - that i wasn’t so “into Jesus” But then i remember that this life isn’t supposed 2b one long picnic. Jesus said we would be hated and persecuted and that we would have 2 pick up and carry our crosses…
does’nt sound like much of a picnic…

Jesus also said there are few who will be saved. Even to those who performed miracles in his name he said “Away from me, i never knew you…”

Amen! Judas cast out demons and performed miracles, until satan entered him. But, satan does not take you over. He must be invited.

Christ’s peace to you.

 

[qui_est_ce]

A number of saints abandoned their families–St. Alexis and St. Francis, just to name two (admittedly they weren’t married). And Jesus explicitly told us to “hate” our fathers, mothers, wives, children, etc., in order to be His disciples.

Edwin

We have to remember not to take the words literally, but to take the meaning literally. What Jesus meant by “hate” was that we should not let anything in this world be first before God.

 

[AgnosTheist]

We have to remember not to take the words literally, but to take the meaning literally. What Jesus meant by “hate” was that we should not let anything in this world be first before God.

Jesus made a wrong choice of words there. ‘Hate’ is just a very negative term.

 

[qui_est_ce]

I left Catholicism years ago for reasons I have discussed on other threads. Basically I could no longer believe in a God that needed to be worshipped. That just didn’t make sense. After many years I found an ethical and moral system with a transcendent goal that did not involve a God or a third party savior. Buddhists believe that each of us must save ourselves by moral action and by examining our own existence.

And that is precisely what I love about my Holy Catholic Church: the smells, the rituals, I am living in the present all the beauty of Salvation History.

When I go to daily mass at 6:30 every morning, I smell the candles, it is dark. I feel I am coming home. In the summer, when it is hot, I slip off my sandal and feel the coolness of the terazzo floor. In the winter, when it is freezing out, I slip off my shoe and feel the warmth radiating from the floor. I am truly living in the present, no yesterday, no tomorrow. And then the Eucharist. How much better can it get?

As I explore these teachings, I see an immediate impact on my life. As I meditate, I experience a realization of this truth.

Faith is a life-long journey, even if one has been born again.

But in my opinion the truth is like an elephant that is being described by a group of people wearing blindfolds each of whom is describing a different part. The goal of Buddhism is to take off the blindfold.

And Jesus has taken off the blindfold

 

[Contarini]

We have to remember not to take the words literally, but to take the meaning literally. What Jesus meant by “hate” was that we should not let anything in this world be first before God.

That’s not really relevant to the point at issue, is it? I don’t think anyone is claiming that Buddha literally hated his family. My point is that abandoning your family has a venerable pedigree in Christianity, and it is extremely unfair for Christians to cite it as proof that Buddha was “selfish.”

Edwin

 

[qui_est_ce]

I am sure that while you were Catholic, you never experienced the Real Presence, or if you did, not for very long… If you had, you wouldn’t have left… In that Presence (in the Church 24/7) is where whole and Absolute truth abides… “I will be with you always, evne to the end of the age.”

Amen:thumbsup:

(by the way, i agree with you about not being able to love a God who needs to be worshipped. But the Church doesn’t teach that God NEEDS to be worshipped. He doesn’t NEED anything from us… We need something from Him…).

God made us in His image and likeness (Genesis). He has written our names in the Palm of His Hand. We are thus born with a longing for Him. Our souls will not rest until they rest in Him (St. Augustine)

Some try to fill this longing with material possessions, power, greed, sex, drugs. But they never satisfy, until one comes to the realization that only God can fill this longing, the need for more, bigger, and better will increase and become an addiction.

 

[po18guy]

Jesus made a wrong choice of words there. ‘Hate’ is just a very negative term.

Agnos, we have never read the actual words used by Jesus. We read the translations, all of which are not accurate. I have heard that the original Aramaic term does not mean “hate”, but is more like “to prefer less”. English, being somewhat limited among the languages of the world, does not allow for an accurate translation here. Christ stressed that we should place God first in our lives, and all else second.

In our corrupt culture, “hate” has now become a crime, and that is how we are beginning to perceive it. Soon, it will be prohibited to hate evil and sin-it almost is now. The media suppresses the concept of sin and ridicules anyone who uses the term evil.

Peace be with you.

 

[qui_est_ce]

Jesus made a wrong choice of words there. ‘Hate’ is just a very negative term.

You must always take into context the audience, in order to understand history. Bible translators have the problem of trying not to put personal intrepretation vs literal translation, which often will not make sense to others. For example, should they translate, “It’s raining cats and dogs” which a literalist would say, yes it rained cats and dogs in those days, it says so in the Bible. But if the translator tried to change “cats and dogs” into “It rained heavily” and then it turned out cats and dogs had a symbolic meaning known only the the Jews of that era, we would miss out on the richness of the text and the symbolism.

Here is a good Biblical example.

When the Jews were stoning the woman caught in adultery (not Mary Magdelene!!), Jesus stooped and wrote in the dirt with His finger. Many today assume that Jesus was writing the sins of the stoner’s in the dirt. But the Jews knew only God writes with His finger (see Ten Commandments in Exodus). The first set of tablets was smashed. Jesus bent down and wrote again. The second set of Commandments was written by God.

So be very careful of judging God by our puny little minds.

 

[AgnosTheist]

Agnos, we have never read the actual words used by Jesus. We read the translations, all of which are not accurate. I have heard that the original Aramaic term does not mean “hate”, but is more like “to prefer less”.

i am familiar with that kind of reasoning. “prefer less”, “love less”, and yet most of the translations use ‘hate’. for me thats a stonger evidence that the aramaic word “miseo” means “to hate, pursue with hatred, detest to be hated, detested”

bible1.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=3404&version=kjv

English, being somewhat limited among the languages of the world, does not allow for an accurate translation here.

which is one of the reasons not to fully trust the bible. you can never be certain what its actually saying.

 

[AgnosTheist]

When the Jews were stoning the woman caught in adultery (not Mary Magdelene!!), Jesus stooped and wrote in the dirt with His finger. Many today assume that Jesus was writing the sins of the stoner’s in the dirt. But the Jews knew only God writes with His finger (see Ten Commandments in Exodus). The first set of tablets was smashed. Jesus bent down and wrote again. The second set of Commandments was written by God.

I think a more perfect God would not have conveyed his message through the limitations of a local culture. That is if he/she intended the message to reach all cultures and all time.

Anyway, whether or not jesus wrote on the dirt, whatever that means (its obvious the jews did not understand it), its irrelevant to the point that he made…he who has no sin, cast the first stone.

 

[Keikiolu]

Quote:
Originally Posted by qui est ce forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_cad/viewpost.gif
When the Jews were stoning the woman caught in adultery (not Mary Magdelene!!), Jesus stooped and wrote in the dirt with His finger. Many today assume that Jesus was writing the sins of the stoner’s in the dirt. But the Jews knew only God writes with His finger (see Ten Commandments in Exodus). The first set of tablets was smashed. Jesus bent down and wrote again. The second set of Commandments was written by God.

I think a more perfect God would not have conveyed his message through the limitations of a local culture. That is if he/she intended the message to reach all cultures and all time.

Firstly,… “A more perfect God” is a nonsensical thing to say.

Secondly, you should read “The Founding of Christendom”, which has a good explanation for the way God has progressively revealed “His message”.

( Since there is no culture which is a non-local culture, you’ve once again demanded an impossibility as a proof for God. You’re quite clever in finding ways of doing that! I applaud you for your ingenuity. )

Mahalo ke Akua…!
E pili mau na pomaikai ia oe. Aloha nui.

 

[AgnosTheist]

Firstly,… “A more perfect God” is a nonsensical thing to say.

you are just being too literal. that means to imply that jesus aint a true god.

( Since there is no culture which is a non-local culture, you’ve once again demanded an impossibility as a proof for God. You’re quite clever in finding ways of doing that! I applaud you for your ingenuity. )

my friend, there are ways of conveying a message without relying on cultural symbols. Like the golden rule: pure message, zero culture. Anyway, much of jesus teachings are not bound by cultural symbols.

 

[Keikiolu]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keikiolu forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_cad/viewpost.gif
Firstly,… “A more perfect God” is a nonsensical thing to say.

you are just being too literal. that means to imply that jesus aint a true god.

Apparently, we disagree about Jesus’ divinity. Huge surprise there…! I’m not sure how the phrase you wrote and your opinion of Jesus are connected, but you’ll explain it, or not, as you see fit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keikiolu forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_cad/viewpost.gif
( Since there is no culture which is a non-local culture, you’ve once again demanded an impossibility as a proof for God. You’re quite clever in finding ways of doing that! I applaud you for your ingenuity. )

my friend, there are ways of conveying a message without relying on cultural symbols. Like the golden rule: pure message, zero culture. Anyway, much of jesus teachings are not bound by cultural symbols.

You can certainly reduce ALL the wisdom of Christianity into “catholic (universal) symbols”, such as your formulations of the golden rule,… but even that must be transmitted by a particular language, which IS a specific culture’s symbol set.

You didn’t address my statements about your need to prove that God doesn’t exist, usually by demanding proof in some impossible way, so I’ll just take that as an admission that that is indeed true.

Thanks for the concession,… and have a great day.!

(( …we can laugh about the irony of that,… don’tcha think!? ))

 

[AgnosTheist]

You didn’t address my statements about your need to prove that God doesn’t exist, usually by demanding proof in some impossible way, so I’ll just take that as an admission that that is indeed true.

Im not an Atheist. I believe in the Divine.

 

[po18guy]

i am familiar with that kind of reasoning. “prefer less”, “love less”, and yet most of the translations use ‘hate’. for me thats a stonger evidence that the aramaic word “miseo” means “to hate, pursue with hatred, detest to be hated, detested”

bible1.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=3404&version=kjv

which is one of the reasons not to fully trust the bible. you can never be certain what its actually saying.

Boy, you REALLY have doubts! However, that is why we do not accept literalist views of scripture-they make no sense, and do not reflect the full context and meaning of the quotation. This is also why bible Christians have so many difficulties explaining scripture, and why they tend to ignore certain parts. Taken literally, or in isolation, they make no sense. But, we have much more than the bible, as you will soon see.