Why is Catholicism better?

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Tantum_ergo said:
Not only that, but did any of those ‘rising from the dead’ cults have their ‘Risee’ die for others? For SINFUL others? I don’t think Osiris said, “oh, my people are sinful. I will become a man like them, die and rise for them, so that they be saved from death and have eternal life. . .” I think Jesus is unique in that. . .
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Except most cultures don’t view humanity as so inherently bad as to need a diety to DIE for them.
 
Lokadottir said:
Thank you for your kind question!
So, this is actually a point of embarrassment for me. I became interested in Norse mythology through the movie “Avengers.” However i did not convert for this reason.It only caused me to research the mythos. My conversion was far more significant than a crush on some actor. I made a relationship with Loki during one of the many emotional breakdowns I prone to at the time. I had normally turned to God during those and had always found comfort until that night. I found none until I turned to Loki. This made me realize one of two things: either both were viable, or it was all placebo so it really doesn’t matter.

After that I started researching modern paganism. At first I was very eclectic and I looked at multiple pantheons. I eventually zeroed in on the Norse pantheon where I found myself most at home. I then started nosing around Asatru but I found it too fundamentalist given our lack of resources and more importantly because of the hatred towards Loki and His family. I eventually stumbled on a set of online shrines that had Aesir, Vanir, and Rökkr. (northernpaganism.org/general/index.html) Northern Tradition is more open to personal gnosis and holds personal revelation from the Gods to be just as important as what we know from history.

And how do I know its true?

I don’t. I can’t. That is the reason Catholics and Christians sometimes frustrate me. They remind me of the kid who got upset when there stopped being just one answer in English class. “But am I RIGHT?” “We can’t know.” kid has existential crisis
No one can know for sure what is the truth. So I picked the system of belief that I found truth in and which fulfills my spiritual needs best.
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And prior to your “conversion” to paganism, what religion were you raised in by your parents?
 
livingwordunity said:
Is there anything in Catholicism or in your remembered experience of going to Mass that you particularly miss?
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The community of it and having people who share my beliefs around me. (and my parents never stole my rosary like they stole my altar items)
 
Lokadottir said:
That is the reason Catholics and Christians sometimes frustrate me. They remind me of the kid who got upset when there stopped being just one answer in English class. “But am I RIGHT?” “We can’t know.” kid has existential crisis
No one can know for sure what is the truth. So I picked the system of belief that I found truth in and which fulfills my spiritual needs best.
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This right here is the difference between paganism and monotheism. You believe that you have to go out in search of divine meaning and discover it yourself. Thus, you get angry when other people claim that what they’ve found is superior to what you did. What you fail to see is that Christians don’t claim to have discovered Christ. We understand that HE came and sought US out! We understand that He loved us enough to become incarnate as a man and suffer the consequences of our fatal flaws (sins) in his own flesh to demonstrate how much He truly loves us. True, you can’t measure Him in a beaker, weigh Him or measure Him with a ruler. If you could, you wouldn’t be choosing faith, you’d be coerced. Thus, He chooses to remain deniable to those who insist on it.

You’re right that if Christianity were something “figured out” by mere humans it would have no pride of place over any other religious system constructed by man. But we don’t claim to have figured it out. It was GIVEN to us by God himself who loved us and delivered himself up for us. “How Loki makes you feel” is not an impressive substitute for us. Our faith is not a tool for making ourselves feel good, it is about submitting our will to Him who is greater than we are.
 
manualman said:
This right here is the difference between paganism and monotheism. You believe that you have to go out in search of divine meaning and discover it yourself. Thus, you get angry when other people claim that what they’ve found is superior to what you did. What you fail to see is that Christians don’t claim to have discovered Christ. We understand that HE came and sought US out! We understand that He loved us enough to become incarnate as a man and suffer the consequences of our fatal flaws (sins) in his own flesh to demonstrate how much He truly loves us. True, you can’t measure Him in a beaker, weigh Him or measure Him with a ruler. If you could, you wouldn’t be choosing faith, you’d be coerced. Thus, He chooses to remain deniable to those who insist on it.

You’re right that if Christianity were something “figured out” by mere humans it would have no pride of place over any other religious system constructed by man. But we don’t claim to have figured it out. It was GIVEN to us by God himself who loved us and delivered himself up for us. “How Loki makes you feel” is not an impressive substitute for us. Our faith is not a tool for making ourselves feel good, it is about submitting our will to Him who is greater than we are.
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PRECISELY. It can’t be measured and systematically proven which is FINE. The issue I’ve been hoping would be addressed is the fact that you assert it as truth so vehemently that it is treated as though it is measurable.
See and this idea of do what these books say is a kroger-brand substitute for ME. That has kinda been part of my point here. Yay it works for you that is wonderful. It didn’t for me.
 
Lokadottir said:
That has kinda been part of my point here. Yay it works for you that is wonderful. It didn’t for me.
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If you’re looking for a God to serve you and make you feel good about life, then I can certainly understand why Christianity “didn’t work for you.” It’s because you’re looking at things backwards. He’s God. We’re not. We work for Him, not the other way around…
 
manualman said:
If you’re looking for a God to serve you and make you feel good about life, then I can certainly understand why Christianity “didn’t work for you.” It’s because you’re looking at things backwards. He’s God. We’re not. We work for Him, not the other way around…
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I don’t expect to feel good all the time. I don’t now nor did I before. But I was unable to create a relationship with the divine (whatever nature that truly is) within Christianity.
 
Catholicism is a communal religion. We Catholics encounter God in Jesus Christ. As adopted children of God we seek reflection of the divine splendor in “the other”, our neighbor. Going to church, we worship and pray as a community. We establish and maintain our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with our fellow Christians. We encounter God in each other, as a reflection of the divine.

Thus, we have no need to seek other gods or demigods in Norse or other mythologies.
 
Ontheway said:
Catholicism is a communal religion. We Catholics encounter God in Jesus Christ. As adopted children of God we seek reflection of the divine splendor in “the other”, our neighbor. Going to church, we worship and pray as a community. We establish and maintain our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with our fellow Christians. We encounter God in each other, as a reflection of the divine.

Thus, we have no need to seek other gods or demigods in Norse or other mythologies.
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Thank you for answering why it works for you.
 
manualman said:
This right here is the difference between paganism and monotheism. You believe that you have to go out in search of divine meaning and discover it yourself. Thus, you get angry when other people claim that what they’ve found is superior to what you did. What you fail to see is that Christians don’t claim to have discovered Christ. We understand that HE came and sought US out! We understand that He loved us enough to become incarnate as a man and suffer the consequences of our fatal flaws (sins) in his own flesh to demonstrate how much He truly loves us. True, you can’t measure Him in a beaker, weigh Him or measure Him with a ruler. If you could, you wouldn’t be choosing faith, you’d be coerced. Thus, He chooses to remain deniable to those who insist on it.

You’re right that if Christianity were something “figured out” by mere humans it would have no pride of place over any other religious system constructed by man. But we don’t claim to have figured it out. It was GIVEN to us by God himself who loved us and delivered himself up for us. “How Loki makes you feel” is not an impressive substitute for us. Our faith is not a tool for making ourselves feel good, it is about submitting our will to Him who is greater than we are.
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Your right, that is where Christians and Pagans differ. We dont go around throwing our beliefs at people like they are established facts. They are called “beliefs” for a reason.
 
None of them girls are proper pagans ya all no.

Yo pagans are nt u thnk u r but no.
 
Skadi said:
Your right, that is where Christians and Pagans differ. We dont go around throwing our beliefs at people like they are established facts. They are called “beliefs” for a reason.
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Ah yes, our terrible and arbitrary dogmas that have so bedeviled history. :rolleyes:

If everything IS arbitrary and truth can’t be known, you have a great point, I’ll grant you that. But if you’re wrong and the moral principles revealed and Grace granted by God through Christ really ARE the truth and THE way to redemption and salvation, then equating the two imperils civilization itself (not to mention your individual soul).

From your perspective, I suppose the only thing to do is wait and see. Western civilization has largely cut itself off from its moorings in Christianity. If Christianity is just one path of spirituality among many such a thing should have no ill civilizational effects. If, however, Christianity IS the one true faith, then the abandonment of it in favor of “your faith is as good as mine-ism” should be expected to accompany a civilizational decline. So all we really need to do is sit back and watch what happens, I suppose. That would be good enough if I were content to sit back and watch people destroy themselves. But I’m not, so it’s not. Instead I have to tell people about Christ - even if they think me terribly arrogant for it.
 
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