Why "practice" religion?

[PathDiagnosis]

Having a community to belong to is very important. Religion provides that community in a way that allows you to have contact with a wide variety of opinions and outlooks - more so than belonging to a school or a political party.

Not that you shouldn’t support your school,or belong to a political party, but belonging to a religious community gives you a broader perspective.

Even if I were to stop believing in God or in the Sacraments, I think I would still come to Church on Sundays, just because of that.

I believe in the Catholic faith because it’s the only one that makes sense to me.

I also don’t think you have to know every detail about every other religion before rejecting them. Anything pantheistic or polytheistic is out already, in my case, because I know by reason that there is only one God. So, as soon as I know it’s pantheistic or polytheistic, that’s all I need to know before crossing it off my list.

Anything that didn’t come into existence until hundreds or thousands of years after its’ founder died and went to Heaven is also out, for being speculative rather than experiential.

Which pretty much leaves you with Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam. Except that the form of Judaism established by Moses no longer exists, and nobody knows which form of Islam was established by Mohammed. So we are left with the Catholic Church, which is known to have been established by Jesus Christ, is monotheistic, and has a sensible moral code.

Thus, the winner is: The Catholic Church. :yeah_me:

I believe the Catholic Church has the most credibility: history, Scripture with Sacred Tradition, Apostolic Succession, etc. I agree with you on that Protestantism makes no sense to me. A Protestant defending Christianity without the historic credibility of the Catholic Church and Sacred Tradition is like trying to learn physics without calculus or geometry without a protractor. All polytheistic religions have basically zero historic backing…out like you said

I just don’t know if the historical evidence for Jesus Christ that at least suggests he truly rose from the dead will ever convince me.

 

[jmcrae]

I just don’t know if the historical evidence for Jesus Christ that at least suggests he truly rose from the dead will ever convince me.

Having eliminated all of the other choices, and this being the only choice left, therefore, however improbable it may be, it must be true. (Sherlock Holmes may have said something like that at one point, I think - when the impossible has been eliminated, the improbable must be considered.)

 

[Incomplete]

You said in an earlier post that you enjoyed holy hours. Did you stop enjoying it? You said you had a relationship with Jesus. What made you think you don’t anymore?

For me, I struggle daily with unbelief. I’m convinced that if God IS, the Church is what she claims to be. One reason to stay within the Church is because those claims just might be true.

The other is this: I am a better person for it. I know, I know, atheists can be good people, too. In fact, one of my closest friends was an atheist until recently.

But that striving to keep being a better person, to continue to grow in the kind of love that results in treating people better (for example, arguing less with family, not gossiping, thinking through things ethically in a way I never did before, in a way that benefits the people around me)…how do you keep your mind on continuing to grow in goodness if you have no reason for it? What I’m trying to say is this: through going to Mass and learning scripture, and through prayer and other things, I keep focussed on God. If God IS, He is worth love and worship. Focussing on Him makes me want to be a better person, and especially to be more full of love, to treat even those who don’t care for me with love.

For me, it’s worth that. And I’m not saying an atheist can’t do that, but for me, if I was an atheist, I would be thinking about things like family, my job, what to do for entertainment…without the focus on God, I would not have the constant reminder and desire to grow. I might want to be a better person, but I wouldn’t have the daily framework that keeps me growing.

If the God that Catholicism preaches does, indeed, exist, He is worth worship and love, worth giving yourself completely to.

 

[PathDiagnosis]

OK,

As a former Catholic I understand what Catholics mean when they believe the Catholic Church is the original church established by Jesus Christ, God Incarnate. Can any non-Catholics express their certainty about their religion?

I mean, it’s hard for me to live a lie. As a professional, I assist medical doctors with diagnoses that other medical doctors use to treat patients. I examine material under a microscope and pre-diagnose patients. Maybe this is where I get the fear of making a mistake and/or living a lie.

If I were to “practice” Catholicism, Methodism, Lutheranism, Judaism, Islam, whatever…die…and all of it wasn’t true after all…I just wasted time.

How do you live with such thoughts?

Peace

 

[Incomplete]

OK,

As a former Catholic I understand what Catholics mean when they believe the Catholic Church is the original church established by Jesus Christ, God Incarnate. Can any non-Catholics express their certainty about their religion?

I mean, it’s hard for me to live a lie. As a professional, I assist medical doctors with diagnoses that other medical doctors use to treat patients. I examine material under a microscope and pre-diagnose patients. Maybe this is where I get the fear of making a wrong mistake?

If I were to “practice” Catholicism, Methodism, Lutheranism, Judaism, Islam, whatever…die…and all of it wasn’t true after all…I just wasted time.

How do you live with such thoughts?

Peace

What would you do with your time to make it better? After all, if it isn’t true, your time is worth nothing. You are just doing things to take up time, and it doesn’t even matter if you extend somebody’s life, because one day they will no longer exist anyway. If you make the whole world better, so what? It will cease to exist one day as well.

Catholicism is not a waste of time if God IS, and if He isn’t, then life is nothing but spending time from your date of birth to your date of death.

 

[Bezant]

I practice because I want to bring God into the center of my life. And it’s usually fun.

 

[PathDiagnosis]

OK,

So I’m sitting here at my computer on a day off from work because I have the time and luxury to do so. Meanwhile, people are starving to death in “third world” countries. I’m not comfortable with “God blessed with me with being born to well do to parents, a good education, a career that pays well above average for people of my age (26), an apartment , a computer, internet, etc”.

Ever see the picture of the vulture about to eat a child (maybe)? Who is that child? Did the child seek God? Saved according the “through no fault of their own…etc” outlined in Lumen Gentum 16 (see earlier post)?

flickr.com/photos/alex978/1016152029/

 

[jmcrae]

If I were to “practice” Catholicism, Methodism, Lutheranism, Judaism, Islam, whatever…die…and all of it wasn’t true after all…I just wasted time.

But you would have no way of regretting it. If all that happens is that the lights go out and that’s the end, you can’t say to yourself, “Oh, going to Church was a waste of time, wasn’t it?” You won’t be there to worry about it.

Whereas, if it turns out to be true, you will be regretting not participating in it for longer than anyone on earth can even imagine.

Also, even if it turns out not to be true, it is never “wasted time” to go out and be with other people, support them in their struggles, help with various service projects, and listen to inspirational music and preaching.

 

[Incomplete]

OK,

So I’m sitting here at my computer on a day off from work because I have the time and luxury to do so. Meanwhile, people are starving to death in “third world” countries. I’m not comfortable with “God blessed with me with being born to well do to parents, a good education, a career that pays well above average for people of my age (26), an apartment , a computer, internet, etc”.

Ever see the picture of the vulture about to eat a child (maybe)? Who is that child? Did the child seek God? Saved according the “through no fault of their own…etc” outlined in Lumen Gentum 16 (see earlier post)?

flickr.com/photos/alex978/1016152029/

Are you saying that because you are not comfortable with this, God does not exist?

 

[Warrenton]

I mean, it’s hard for me to live a lie.

Hard and easy both. When the doctors for whom you work find a case they cannot treat, do they say to the patient: “Your bad luck. You’re a goner and there’s nothing we can do.”

No, they tell the person it’s a hard case, but they will try, right?

Does it bother them that they make a lot more money when other doctors in the world make far less? Do they think the money they command is a lie? No.

Does it bother them that despite their salaries, Uncle Sam still subsidizes their industry through medicaid and medicare, which is rife with fraud? Probably not.

We can’t stand in the middle of the road all day questioning whether a truck is going to strike us or not.

I just wasted time.

If there be no God, it is a waste of time. Everyone knows that.

So, while you waste your time, decide if you want to be good or evil.

How do you live with such thoughts

Either way, get to work - time’s a wasting.

 

[jmcrae]

OK,

So I’m sitting here at my computer on a day off from work because I have the time and luxury to do so. Meanwhile, people are starving to death in “third world” countries. I’m not comfortable with “God blessed with me with being born to well do to parents, a good education, a career that pays well above average for people of my age (26), an apartment , a computer, internet, etc”.

If you were a Catholic, you could do something about it - the Catholic Church is the largest charitable organization in the world, and every time you put something in the collection plate at Mass, more money is made available to help the causes that the Church supports, including feeding, clothing, and housing the Third World.

 

[PathDiagnosis]

I’m not saying God doesn’t exist. I accept the possibility of God existing but question to whole notion of practicing religion: praying, going to Mass,relationship with God, Sacraments, etc.

A part of me, or maybe just me in general- misses Catholicism.I occasionally go to Mass with friends. I’m almost certain, or as certain as possible, that if a God exists, He indeed created the Catholic Church.

I just am no longer convinced (by historical evidence) that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate.
Can some of you explain how you came to this conclusion? As previously mentioned, I’m familiar with such evidence ( Didache, Pliny the Yonger, etc, etc, etc) but it’s not enough for me

Religion is so strange (I don’t mean that in a negative way) and immaterial. I mean, I can’t see Original Sin under a microscope or how it goes away by Baptism .(ordinary means thereof). A Pope attaches indulgence to a particular prayer? So intangible. If I was a Catholic, I would just accept that saying a prayer from the “heart” would grant me an indulgence?

Peace

 

[CompSciGuy]

I practice religion because practice makes perfect. God is perfect. Therefore practicing makes me more like God (theosis).

So you do practice religion? Because your religion field says “non-practicing Roman Catholic.”

 

[Bezant]

So you do practice religion? Because your religion field says “non-practicing Roman Catholic.”

He means he’s not Roman but Eastern.

 

[Incomplete]

I’m not saying God doesn’t exist. I accept the possibility of God existing but question to whole notion of practicing religion: praying, going to Mass,relationship with God, Sacraments, etc.

A part of me, or maybe just me in general- misses Catholicism.I occasionally go to Mass with friends. I’m almost certain, or as certain as possible, that if a God exists, He indeed created the Catholic Church.

I just am no longer convinced (by historical evidence) that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate.
Can some of you explain how you came to this conclusion? As previously mentioned, I’m familiar with such evidence ( Didache, Pliny the Yonger, etc, etc, etc) but it’s not enough for me

Religion is so strange (I don’t mean that in a negative way) and immaterial. I mean, I can’t see Original Sin under a microscope or how it goes away by Baptism .(ordinary means thereof). A Pope attaches indulgence to a particular prayer? So intangible. If I was a Catholic, I would just accept that saying a prayer from the “heart” would grant me an indulgence?

Peace

God is completely unlike us. So if He does exist and created the Catholic Church, you don’t have to understand everything. Just put your trust in Him to not guide His church wrongly.

 

[PathDiagnosis]

I live in an east coast city where Catholic churches abound (relative to rural areas and other areas of the US). Maybe soon I’ll go to a chapel and pray the Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It makes me feel “good” and I return to the practice of Catholicism. Will I return because it makes me feel good or because I came to the conclusion via historical evidence (as much as possible, it’s faith after all)?

No one doubts that meditation, especially the Rosary is at least mentally and physically beneficial (affect on heartbeat, breath, etc).

Things like this bother me.

 

[Incomplete]

You confuse me.

In post 5 you said this:

I stopped believing that if there is a God, He created the Catholic Church.

A couple of posts ago, you said this:

I’m almost certain, or as certain as possible, that if a God exists, He indeed created the Catholic Church.

Could you clarify?

 

[jmcrae]

I live in an east coast city where Catholic churches abound (relative to rural areas and other areas of the US). Maybe soon I’ll go to a chapel and pray the Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It makes me feel “good” and I return to the practice of Catholicism. Will I return because it makes me feel good or because I came to the conclusion via historical evidence (as much as possible, it’s faith after all)?

Why isn’t your personal experience enough?

I should think that you would only require historical evidence, if you had no personal experience that doing these things is good.

No one doubts that meditation, especially the Rosary is at least mentally and physically beneficial (affect on heartbeat, breath, etc).

Then that’s a good enough reason to do it.

 

[Incomplete]

I live in an east coast city where Catholic churches abound (relative to rural areas and other areas of the US). Maybe soon I’ll go to a chapel and pray the Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It makes me feel “good” and I return to the practice of Catholicism. Will I return because it makes me feel good or because I came to the conclusion via historical evidence (as much as possible, it’s faith after all)?

No one doubts that meditation, especially the Rosary is at least mentally and physically beneficial (affect on heartbeat, breath, etc).

Things like this bother me.

Why does it bother you? As stated before, if God does not exist, you are not wasting your time. If He does, you are spending it in a great, great way within HIs church.

And how much is enough historical evidence? Just because you don’t get an ah-ha moment doesn’t mean Christianity isn’t true.

God can lead you through enjoyment and desire.

 

[PathDiagnosis]

You confuse me.

In post 5 you said this:

I stopped believing that if there is a God, He created the Catholic Church.

A couple of posts ago, you said this:

I’m almost certain, or as certain as possible, that if a God exists, He indeed created the Catholic Church.

Could you clarify?

I mean:

I stopped believe that if there is a God and He created the Catholic Church.
If there is a God, it is most probable, given historical evidence , the He created the Catholic Church.

typing too fast