Why do people not believe--how did it happen?

[Tom317]

So many Catholics and non-Catholic Christians have dumped entire chunks of the faith. People divorce, hook-up, shack-up, abort, contracept and fornicate as if those things were never considered sinful.

How could we have fallen so far that so many people do not even give a second thought to such actions?

People let their families know they are moving in with so-and-so as if it is some great wonderful news. Women and men casually tell their friends that they were not ready for a child, so they aborted the baby because it would not be fair to the baby to come into a world in which his/her parents were not ready.

People of a wide range of ages now hook-up for sex, intentionally planning on having nothing but the sex and then out.

Of course there are many other things going on, yet how did we get so far that right is now wrong and wrong is now right?

I am in painful confusion and would like to read some views of some sound minded Catholics. Just 30 years ago all of those things were considered terrible moral sins, yet today they are considered nornaml and really not sinful at all.

Help?

 

[1ke]

How could we have fallen so far that so many people do not even give a second thought to such actions?

Well, you see, Eve gave Adam this apple…

Seriously, Original Sin dims our intellect and weakens our will.

The Sacraments give us grace, unfortunately not everyone avails themselves of the freely offered Grace of God.

 

[Kevin42]

I was listening to a priest on EWTN I believe, and he had a great explanation on what went wrong in the 60s, right after Vatican II. All that was preached was love, but no one was taught what true love was. No one was taught about the hardship love endures, and the sacrifice it entails. Furthermore, too many people have been told, that God loves you no matter what, and therefore you don’t need to change. There is no greater way to drive people away from the faith than to tell them that God doesn’t really care all that much whether they sin or not. If God didn’t care if we sin, why did He send His only son, Jesus the Christ to us? The idea God doesn’t care really if we sin kind of undermines the faith, and thus, people lose faith because it doesn’t make sense and is pointless in their eyes.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

So many Catholics and non-Catholic Christians have dumped entire chunks of the faith. People divorce, hook-up, shack-up, abort, contracept and fornicate as if those things were never considered sinful.

How could we have fallen so far that so many people do not even give a second thought to such actions?

People let their families know they are moving in with so-and-so as if it is some great wonderful news. Women and men casually tell their friends that they were not ready for a child, so they aborted the baby because it would not be fair to the baby to come into a world in which his/her parents were not ready.

People of a wide range of ages now hook-up for sex, intentionally planning on having nothing but the sex and then out.

Of course there are many other things going on, yet how did we get so far that right is now wrong and wrong is now right?

I am in painful confusion and would like to read some views of some sound minded Catholics. Just 30 years ago all of those things were considered terrible moral sins, yet today they are considered nornaml and really not sinful at all.

Help?

Well,
Even though these things have been happening since the begining—In our lifetime my mother always says itstarted to happen when they took prayer out of the schools.

 

[Tom317]

Well,
Even though these things have been happening since the begining—In our lifetime my mother always says itstarted to happen when they took prayer out of the schools.

Yes, without doubt those sins have happened since the beginning. Yet, today they are no longer thought of as sins by the vast majority of professing Christians. IMO, that is a sweaping change.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

Yes, without doubt those sins have happened since the beginning. Yet, today they are no longer thought of as sins by the vast majority of professing Christians. IMO, that is a sweaping change.

Yes I agree and raising children today is a nightmare. My daughter had me listening to herCD today–that she had made and the song had the "F"word in it and she thought it was ok because the message of the song was so so

Maybe part of it is also because most christians arent willing to take a stand for morality or take a stand for Christ because they dont want to stand out. It is hard to stand out because you are made to feel different. I struggle with this but am getting stronger.

They are so many of us who are christians but yet the minority trouble makers are the ones who speak up and make such a stink–society caves.

Just my :twocents:

 

[Al_Masetti]

In my opinion, the Catholic Church in the United States stopped teaching.

They got rid of the Baltimore Catechism because it became unpopular to require children to memorize stuff.

No more teaching, no more explaining, …

So what happened was that no one actually knew anything anymore.

How can we expect people who were never taught and who never learned to know anything?

It doesn’t matter whether it is long division or the multiplication tables or the Periodic Table of Elements … or the Baltimore Catechism.

 

[pumpkinbeast]

It’s been a very slow, very gradual process, with tiny slips throughout the years, on so many fronts, it would be impossible to figure out where it originated. Every suggestion that the posters above me have made are valid, and add those together with many, many more, and you get today’s world. Something didn’t suddenly change, just like that.

I heard somewhere once that a pope had a vision of Satan talking to God. Satan was allowed to pick one century in which to cause the most havoc; he picked the 20th century. It’s an interesting theory, at least… I could be wrong, and I hope to God I’m not, but I think we’re starting to see a very gradual turn-around where abortion is concerned… The change back to a more moral society is possible, but it will take many, many years, with many efforts by many people to change things, bit by bit, back towards God.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

So many Catholics and non-Catholic Christians have dumped entire chunks of the faith. People divorce, hook-up, shack-up, abort, contracept and fornicate as if those things were never considered sinful.

How could we have fallen so far that so many people do not even give a second thought to such actions?

People let their families know they are moving in with so-and-so as if it is some great wonderful news. Women and men casually tell their friends that they were not ready for a child, so they aborted the baby because it would not be fair to the baby to come into a world in which his/her parents were not ready.

People of a wide range of ages now hook-up for sex, intentionally planning on having nothing but the sex and then out.

Of course there are many other things going on, yet how did we get so far that right is now wrong and wrong is now right?

I am in painful confusion and would like to read some views of some sound minded Catholics. Just 30 years ago all of those things were considered terrible moral sins, yet today they are considered nornaml and really not sinful at all.

Help?

The root of this disaster is all from Protestantism. With the Jesus prayer salvation and Once Saved Always Saved mentality sin eventually ceased to be sin.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

The root of this disaster is all from Protestantism. With the Jesus prayer salvation and Once Saved Always Saved mentality sin eventually ceased to be sin.

 

[Tom317]

It’s been a very slow, very gradual process, with tiny slips throughout the years, on so many fronts, it would be impossible to figure out where it originated. Every suggestion that the posters above me have made are valid, and add those together with many, many more, and you get today’s world. Something didn’t suddenly change, just like that.

I heard somewhere once that a pope had a vision of Satan talking to God. Satan was allowed to pick one century in which to cause the most havoc; he picked the 20th century. It’s an interesting theory, at least… I could be wrong, and I hope to God I’m not, but I think we’re starting to see a very gradual turn-around where abortion is concerned… The change back to a more moral society is possible, but it will take many, many years, with many efforts by many people to change things, bit by bit, back towards God.

It is thought (though not proven) that Pope Leo XIII had that vision in 1884, and the well known St. Michael prayer was created to help combat the evil.

 

[jburgherr]

The answer is, man, left to its own devices is, lazy, self centered, and wants to “feel” good about himself(herself) and his (her) lifestyle at all cost. Eternity be damned!

Our society now values the message of Hip-Hop thugs over the message of Christ’s salvation.

The evil one is a master of planning and making strategic strikes at man’s Achilles heel. He has waited, watched, and guided man in the erosion of virtue after virtue of our once Godly culture. The speed of our societies downfall has accelerated so rapidly, it is much like watching a snowball heading for a cliff…for its final fall to oblivion.

Make no mistake, we are in a war of princes and principalities of the spiritual realm.

“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen”

 

[Pug]

Just 30 years ago all of those things were considered terrible moral sins, yet today they are considered nornaml and really not sinful at all.

Help?

I don’t know. If you have a generation that says it is wrong, but only give social reasons, and doesn’t back it up as a moral wrong, then I think the generation of people that they raise will use this information to analyze their situation socially only, and not morally. This will lead to most of them choosing to live together, because they only know it as wrong for social reasons, and not moral. So if it seems to cause no harm socially, they move in. The only thing they have stopping them is that their parents don’t like it. It’s not like they have learned it is wrong, as in WRONG. They weren’t taught that living together is anything on par with killing, for example.

Of course, once enough couples are living together, it becomes difficult to see the social wrong on an individual level. You still might, though, with statistics.

The question is, why did the original generation only explain it in social terms, and not moral? Had learning it on those grounds always been sufficient before?

 

[dylanschrader]

The answer is, man, left to its own devices is, lazy, self centered, and wants to “feel” good about himself(herself) and his (her) lifestyle at all cost. Eternity be damned!

Our society now values the message of Hip-Hop thugs over the message of Christ’s salvation.

The evil one is a master of planning and making strategic strikes at man’s Achilles heel. He has waited, watched, and guided man in the erosion of virtue after virtue of our once Godly culture. The speed of our societies downfall has accelerated so rapidly, it is much like watching a snowball heading for a cliff…for its final fall to oblivion.

Make no mistake, we are in a war of princes and principalities of the spiritual realm.

“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen”

Absolutely. Amen.

Fortunately, Christ has defeated Satan and the other demons. We just have to make sure we’re on the winning side.

 

[blessedtoo]

So many Catholics and non-Catholic Christians have dumped entire chunks of the faith. People divorce, hook-up, shack-up, abort, contracept and fornicate as if those things were never considered sinful.

How could we have fallen so far that so many people do not even give a second thought to such actions?

People let their families know they are moving in with so-and-so as if it is some great wonderful news. Women and men casually tell their friends that they were not ready for a child, so they aborted the baby because it would not be fair to the baby to come into a world in which his/her parents were not ready.

People of a wide range of ages now hook-up for sex, intentionally planning on having nothing but the sex and then out.

Of course there are many other things going on, yet how did we get so far that right is now wrong and wrong is now right?

I am in painful confusion and would like to read some views of some sound minded Catholics. Just 30 years ago all of those things were considered terrible moral sins, yet today they are considered nornaml and really not sinful at all.

Help?

I think many generations have considered themselves to be the worst or most morally corrupt. Yet, as another poster pointed out, this may be the first to completely reject the reality of sin.

I heard one of the apologists on CAL speaking the other day about the genesis of the Nicene Creed. He said that while Catholics today see the Church as fractured and falling into all types of heresy, our current condition couldn’t possibly compare to the near disaster that occurred during the early years of Christianity when the dissenters nearly ripped apart the Church. That little snippet from that show really helped me to put things into perspective.

 

[jmcrae]

I blame the atomic bomb.

Two generations grew up under the idea that we could just suddenly be swept from the earth with no warning whatsoever, and that the human race would simply cease to exist.

Preserving society for the distant future seemed like a pointless waste of time, under the circumstances - we raised our children the way one raises a child who has a terminal illness - we wanted them to get as much fun out of life as possible, and experience as little pain as possible. Because we as an entire society believed that the children weren’t going to survive until adulthood anyway, the notion of providing them with adult skills seemed absurd - better to let them have all the fun they can now, and deal with the consequences in Eternity.

After all, it’s God’s job to forgive …

 

[Al_Masetti]

I think many generations have considered themselves to be the worst or most morally corrupt. Yet, as another poster pointed out, this may be the first to completely reject the reality of sin.

I heard one of the apologists on CAL speaking the other day about the genesis of the Nicene Creed. He said that while Catholics today see the Church as fractured and falling into all types of heresy, our current condition couldn’t possibly compare to the near disaster that occurred during the early years of Christianity when the dissenters nearly ripped apart the Church. That little snippet from that show really helped me to put things into perspective.

Interesting take on this question.

Not sure if I’m totally in agreement,

HOWEVER … a story … one day some years ago, I, totally by “accident” was walking past St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. On impulse I went in and daily morning Mass was just getting underway.

The priest was Cardinal O’Connor, himself. He had a nasty head cold for which he apologized and said he would keep his homily short. That day was the Feast of St. Athanasius. The Cardinal said that if we thought the problems of the Church today are bad, they are NOTHING compared to what St. Athanasius faced. The prevailing heresy of that time was that Jesus was not divine. St. Athanasius fought that heresy for [he said] 75 years. My understanding was that he even fought excommunication for fighting the heresy.

Anyway, I have never forgotten that homily.

And whenever I encounter someone named Athanasius, I ALWAYS tell them that story. [A lot of folks don’t know where their names came from. So I try to “fix that” if I can.]

 

[Church_Militant]

How are we surprised by a spiritual warfare? :ehh:

What are the weapons that we have been given to wage war against the wiles of the enemy? :bible1:

Consecrate yourself to the battle set before you.

 

[Mijoy2]

So many Catholics and non-Catholic Christians have dumped entire chunks of the faith. People divorce, hook-up, shack-up, abort, contracept and fornicate as if those things were never considered sinful.

How could we have fallen so far that so many people do not even give a second thought to such actions?

I’d suggest it is because it has become easier and easier to accept these sins today. Once the slide begins gravity takes command and we accelerate towards the bottom.

Contraception, electronic media, internet services that make “hooking up” much more easily then ever before, the false images of happy celebrities/idols on television and other media leads our way. All this tells us that not only is pursuing pleasures acceptable but they are also encouraged. The most glamorous is the most blessed. We idolize the gorgeous. We attribute gifts from God as something we earned or somehow brought about ourselves.

When a natural disaster, man-made disaster, death of a loved one or some other tramatic event occurs in our life look how quickly do we drop our pleasure seeking activities and drop to our knees. Pleasure seeking has become all to easy and acceptable. God punished pleasure seekers in the Old Testament. I believe we are to learn from this how it pains God to witness it now, where it’s more flambouyant then ever before.

I’d predict (not so brilliantly) that if the day comes that our lives get substantially more difficult our pleasure seeking will cease to be our most sought after pursuit and God will once again take a front seat in our lives. We confuse pleasure with joy. We can only hope and pray that God’s mercy will be understanding to our warped sense of what is important. Maybe He’ll be forgiving towards those who are followers of these falsehoods. Maybe He’ll be more merciful to those of us who are deceived because of the times we live in.

I elect not to bet on it.

 

[Tom317]

I’d suggest it is because it has become easier and easier to accept these sins today. Once the slide begins gravity takes command and we accelerate towards the bottom.

Contraception, electronic media, internet services that make “hooking up” much more easily then ever before, the false images of happy celebrities/idols on television and other media leads our way. All this tells us that not only is pursuing pleasures acceptable but they are also encouraged. The most glamorous is the most blessed. We idolize the gorgeous. We attribute gifts from God as something we earned or somehow brought about ourselves.

When a natural disaster, man-made disaster, death of a loved one or some other tramatic event occurs in our life look how quickly do we drop our pleasure seeking activities and drop to our knees. Pleasure seeking has become all to easy and acceptable. God punished pleasure seekers in the Old Testament. I believe we are to learn from this how it pains God to witness it now, where it’s more flambouyant then ever before.

I’d predict (not so brilliantly) that if the day comes that our lives get substantially more difficult our pleasure seeking will cease to be our most sought after pursuit and God will once again take a front seat in our lives. We confuse pleasure with joy. We can only hope and pray that God’s mercy will be understanding to our warped sense of what is important. Maybe He’ll be forgiving towards those who are followers of these falsehoods. Maybe He’ll be more merciful to those of us who are deceived because of the times we live in.

I elect not to bet on it.

I think you are correct.

I will add that many people think God punished people in the OT, but does not in NT times. However, if we take a step back from the issue, we will see the obvious point that the OT accounts covers many thousands of years, during which God had chastised humanity many times. Yet, the NT covers a mere fraction of the time of the early Christian Church, and the NT era is still unfolding. I would argue that God has chastised us many, many times in the NT era, those chastisements have simply never been written in Scripture because the Canon is closed and the last prophet has already walked the earth.

I personally believe that the book of Revelation is a narrative history of the Church from its earliest days until the end of time, and is written in a way that cannot be easily understood.