Why is Catholicism better?

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Loka…Please do not treat our intelligence as if it were an impediment. Nothing we say on this forum will convince you that The Catholic Church is the one true church. The Catholic church started the first hospitals and universities. It gave education to those that would not have received it. Catholic’s have made many scientific discoveries in genetics, The Big Bang was postulated by a Catholic monk. The church provides the major portion of the worlds charity work. I pray someday you will return to the church to experience it’s mystery, sacraments, consistency and beauty. God Bless You!
 
KimberlyCat said:
Loka…Please do not treat our intelligence as if it were an impediment. Nothing we say on this forum will convince you that The Catholic Church is the one true church. The Catholic church started the first hospitals and universities. It gave education to those that would not have received it. Catholic’s have made many scientific discoveries in genetics, The Big Bang was postulated by a Catholic monk. The church provides the major portion of the worlds charity work. I pray someday you will return to the church to experience it’s mystery, sacraments, consistency and beauty. God Bless You!
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Of course Christians have done good things most groups have. And again you don’t have to convince me but why can something that is a matter of faith be certain?
 
In short,

Catholicism is logically, theologically, philosophically, and historically most sound.

The existence of multiple gods falls apart at the philosophic and theological level, leaving there to only be either one God or no gods at all. But looking further, there being no gods at all also falls apart.

As this is a short answer, I will not get into the reasons, but they can be found online.
 
Lokadottir said:
Of course Christians have done good things most groups have. And again you don’t have to convince me but why can something that is a matter of faith be certain?
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If I could answer that question I wouldn’t be sitting here in my PJs doing laundry. I would be living in a resort on the beach and visiting The Vatican to hang out with the Pope. All I know is that when I walk into a Catholic church God is present. I don’t know how to explain it. I am actually new to the church and I’m in RCIA. I used to be agnostic. My best friend and love of my life shot himself last year and I too wanted to kill myself. I could not work, sleep, or function. I almost had to file for bankruptcy. I was channel surfing one night and came across EWTN and at that very moment Mother Angelica said, “If you have a troubled heart go and sit in a Catholic church and spend some quiet time with Jesus.” So I did out of desperation. My spirit was healed within 30 minutes and ever since that night I have felt so much peace and happiness in my life it is almost overwhelming.
 
JonNC said:
…In many other religions, people are expected to died for their god.

Jon
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um…Not an entirely accurate point unless you expand on that. Christians are expected
to be willing to die for the Truth, as in the days of Emperor Nero. That is actually one of
the reasons I don’t buy into the Rapture Hypothesis, among other things, for in the days
of Tribulation, many will have to standby their Christian principles, even unto death.
 
You say your goal is not to live forever, but I do not believe you. It is not a logical statement. It does not answer the reason why we are here, which is essential in religion. You would make more sense if you purported yourself as completely non-religious. Pagan and new-age religions attempt to answer the questions of who we are and why we are here the same as Christianity. If you belong to one of them (or perhaps a hodge-podge of several), then you are exploring the possibility of life after death.
 
JonNC said:
To expand: in Christianity, God chose to die for His people. AFAIK, this is unique to Christianity. In many other religions, people are expected to died for their god.

Jon
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Beautiful!👍
 
Judas_Thaddeus said:
um…Not an entirely accurate point unless you expand on that. Christians are expected
to be willing to die for the Truth, as in the days of Emperor Nero. That is actually one of
the reasons I don’t buy into the Rapture Hypothesis, among other things, for in the days
of Tribulation, many will have to standby their Christian principles, even unto death.
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I never said they wouldn’t. But in the context of my full post;
  • To expand: in Christianity, God chose to die for His people. AFAIK, this is unique to Christianity. In many other religions, people are expected to died for their god*.
I think it is pretty accurate.

Jon
 
I don’t understand. So you ask us why do we insist that Catholicism is right. Well, because we believe in what the Catholic Church teaches.

It would make little sense to believe in something which doesn’t claim for itself to be true. It’s not like only Christians claim to have the truth.
 
JonNC said:
I never said they wouldn’t. But in the context of my full post;
  • To expand: in Christianity, God chose to die for His people. AFAIK, this is unique to Christianity. In many other religions, people are expected to died for their god*.
I think it is pretty accurate.

Jon
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Sorry, you didn’t say anything about Rapture, I know, I was just throwing my thoughts out.
Perhaps I’m being a *little *too nit-picky.
 
Lokadottir said:
Hello ladies and gentlemen! I noticed that a previous thread about paganism was closed. Let’s try this again. Let’s see if we can all manage to be big boys and girls and play nice! (To be perfectly clear, this includes myself and all are welcome to call me out if I behave poorly.)
So something that bothers me about Christianity is its monopoly on truth. Can anyone explain how this makes sense. I don’t take issue with you believing its true. I believe my own to be true but I’m also aware it is indeed a faith. I have found it to be true through spiritual experience but that can only apply, logically, for me.
Why the insistence that Christianity/Catholicism has it right?

(To clarify I’m not Wiccan and I have listed my religion specifically you can look it up its not too hard I promise!)
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Doesn’t every religion believe they have it correct, even the Baha’i faith? Catholicism believes it has the full truth, at least as much as was given by G-d to mankind. It does not deny, however, that other religions may have partial truths. Still, I think most other religions believe the same. What does your form of Paganism believe about having the truth?
 
Lokadottir said:
** I have found it to be true through spiritual experience but that can only apply, logically, for me. **
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Since you have stated the above you must surly know the answer to your own question. Since you must clearly know the answer your purpose in asking must be based on two things: 1 you are still searching, or 2 resentment of Christian certitude.

If you resent Christians and their faith there is no answer to your question because you have perhaps become polarized to what you perceive and believe.

If you are still searching then I challenge you to do this(think of it like a spell recipe): Pray for the Blessed Virgin to lead you to Christ(radical I know but as an open minded pagan you certainly would be open to it more than most). Pray to Jesus, tell him you don’t like his followers, his rules, his morality and you resent the arrogant hypocrisy of the Church, but you would like him to reveal himself to you according to is will. Don’t do this once but over and over like you might chant a spell. Lastly ask Jesus to pour out his mercy on you it is a simple prayer and it goes like this: “mercy Jesus, mercy Jesus…”.

Oh and one more thing don’t worry for now about your sins. I don’t care if it is dope, porn, booze(not accusing just in case sin is a problem)…if you open your mind to Christ these things will in time loose their hold on you.

Peace.
 
M1Garand said:
Since you have stated the above you must surly know the answer to your own question. Since you must clearly know the answer your purpose in asking must be based on two things: 1 you are still searching, or 2 resentment of Christian certitude.

If you resent Christians and their faith there is no answer to your question because you have perhaps become polarized to what you perceive and believe.
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My issue comes from insisting to others that Christians have found the truth despite, objectively, their spiritual experiences being totally equal.
 
Lokadottir said:
My issue comes from insisting to others that Christians have found the truth despite, objectively, their spiritual experiences being totally equal.
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So your problem is with the certitude but why? You are insisting to others (Catholic Answers forum) that you have found the truth. Why do you do this if you have “issues” with this behavior from Christians?

Why don’t you admit it you dislike Christians. You find their morality false and hypocritical. You think they are backward and uneducated. You feel that they force through law their world view upon you. You hate not all absolutes but Christian ones, right? I am not attacking you I am asking you to be honest because I think you are angry at God for some reason. Maybe there is a behavior you cant come to terms with, maybe you suffer or someone around you suffers or perhaps you were mistreated by a so called Christian. You are deeply angry maybe and that anger is misdirected at God who perhaps you blame for your problems. Maybe You are still searching and you are not really satisfied with your truth. If you where truly no longer searching I think you would be at peace and you would not be concerned with what Christians think.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but you see I have been where you are, wondering in the dark night of the soul. Please try my suggestion if you wish.

Peace.
 
Lokadottir said:
My issue comes from insisting to others that Christians have found the truth despite, objectively, their spiritual experiences being totally equal.
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Catholics do not insist that we have FOUND the truth, but that we have RECEIVED the truth. It was given to us by God, not found by us.
 
Lokadottir said:
I believe my own to be true but I’m also aware it is indeed a faith. I have found it to be true through spiritual experience but that can only apply, logically, for me.
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If it’s really true, then it applies to everyone; not just to you. There is no such thing as something that is “true for me but not for you” unless we’re talking about personal preferences.

Truth isn’t a personal preference, though. It’s something that is (the sky is blue), even when nobody is aware of it at all (at night, or during a storm).
 
Lokadottir said:
Let’s see if we can all manage to be big boys and girls and play nice!
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How about you try to challenge yourself with the study of Catholicism on your own rather than coming to random users to challenge what they have received. A decent start-up is the Handbook of Catholic Apologetics by Peter Kreeft. Or even easier, the Handbook of Christian Apologetics by the same author. You will not be able to refute those works. But if you think you can, the Summa contra Gentiles of Aquinas gently awaits.

Once you can go through those and remain attached to whatever you are following, then we can talk about why is Catholicism better, since at that point you will at least have a minimal grasp of what Catholicism is. People must actually know non-Euclidean geometry, the theory of relativity, and digital communications, in order to understand why they are better than whatever came before them. Otherwise it may so happen that they end in one of the equivalents of the Flat Earth Society.
 
Lokadottir said:
Hello ladies and gentlemen! I noticed that a previous thread about paganism was closed. Let’s try this again. Let’s see if we can all manage to be big boys and girls and play nice! (To be perfectly clear, this includes myself and all are welcome to call me out if I behave poorly.)
So something that bothers me about Christianity is its monopoly on truth. Can anyone explain how this makes sense. I don’t take issue with you believing its true.** I believe my own to be true but I’m also aware it is indeed a faith**. I have found it to be true through spiritual experience but that can only apply, logically, for me.
Why the insistence that Christianity/Catholicism has it right?

(To clarify I’m not Wiccan and I have listed my religion specifically you can look it up its not too hard I promise!)
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How were you introduced to this faith “northern tradition pagan”? Who passed it down to you and from whence did it come? How do you know that it is “the truth”? 🙂
 
Lokadottir said:
mmmm…
See I feel an answer about why your doctrine is better that relies on your doctrine is weak at best.
I don’t believe in one God so your argument becomes illogical to me. Your defense of your faith relies on your faith. I believe this is fine as long as you don’t present it as the end all be all.
Logically speaking (because objective truth is discovered through logic) how can you know?
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If you believe in God at all, you believe in one God.

God and gods are not the same thing.

From a Christian perspective, you are a monotheist or an atheist. Those are the only options. Plural “divine” beings must logically either be
  1. Creatures of the One God
  2. Powerful beings existing in an essentially atheistic universe–i.e., a universe whose ultimate character is impersonal; or
  3. Manifestations of God to our limited perceptions.
The “pluralist” perspective you seem to hold makes sense only on supposition 3. On supposition 1 you are wrong. On supposition 2 we are wrong, and God as we believe in Him simply does not exist.

If God exists, then the question is: how do we know God?

In answer to your original post, Christians believe that God has decisively revealed Himself in Jesus. Hence the “insistence” to which you refer. Jesus is the unique incarnation of the divine Logos–the Word that sustains all things and is co-eternal with the Father. Thus, not only are the gods in sense 1 subject to the one God, but they are subject to Jesus; and the “gods” in sense 3 (i.e., the many ways in which people perceive and interact with the supreme reality we call God) are also subordinate to Jesus.

The problem is that it’s hard for Christians to say that all things are subordinate to Jesus without understanding this in terms of earthly conquest and empire, and indeed as an expression of our own superiority.

Edwin
 
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