Posted on 10/24/2011 7:56:07 PM PDT by ventanax5
The upbringing I underwent in New South Wales, Australia —partly in Sydney, but mainly in the village of Mulgoa— was one of complete, although predominantly quiet and civil, atheism. Both my parents (who are now dead) spent their childhood as Presbyterians, but shed religious belief soon after attaining adulthood.
My father was the philosopher and political polemicist David Stove. During his undergraduate years, he fell under the spell of the militantly atheistic guru John Anderson of the University of Sydney's philosophy department. Except that "fell under" seems a much too gentle phrase to describe what my father and thousands like him experienced at Anderson's none-too-scrupulous—and, where females were concerned, lecherous—hands.
To those who, like myself, are too young to have known Anderson (he died in 1962, the year after my birth), the mystery of his charm to hordes of students will always be impenetrable. Certainly nothing in Anderson's viscous prose explains his charismatic appeal. It is only fair to add that by the time I was born, this crusading fervor on his acolytes' part had mellowed;
(Excerpt) Read more at whyimcatholic.com ...
Sounds like not just an atheist, but a black magic atheist who didn’t even grok the powers that worked through him.
(I mean not Stove, but his mentor.)
I read up till the part where the father hanged himself. That whole family sounds unstable and the father was clearly obsessive. I don’t think it would have mattered what he believed, it was mental illness that ran his life, not religion nor lack thereof. And the son is heading down the same path, just with a different flavor.
I’m not a Catholic but that was a lovely lovely testimony. Thank you for posting it.
Is that what you meant to say?
Which is probably why you ascertained the argument that Catholicism provokes mental illness.
Had you carried on through the piece
“Had I known that the opposite was true (and that my Catholicism has been more important than anything else in blunting the sharpest edge of illness), I would never have hesitated for so long.”
You would not have drawn the conclusion you did.
Psychology has this failing: it tells us nothing about how we will act when the props are knocked out from us.
The mother had a debilitating stroke and the father hanged himself. The whole family sounds unstable?
I found this article very moving and have book marked it. Mr. Stove is a first class mind. I hope I can find other essays by the man.
I had listened to forty years of disgruntled Catholics (Converts to Protestantism) tell me what Catholics believe, I finally found out for my self. The pastor of my church would ask what are you protesting? I think the history of persecution by representatives of the Roman Catholics of the Church. There certainly a lot of Protestant churches coming apart by their wondering away from their Bible and faith and far to many Catholics are wondering (clergy and laity) too. I just have one question how do you write so many words about conversion and not mention Jesus? I guess I infer the name. I certainly know Pope Benedict XVI knows who saves him. I do empathize his reference to prayer and considering how much Son of God prayed I better muddle myself through this lack of time spent in communion with God. His audience is to avowed atheist (agnostic) fellows.
Constantine_the_Great
Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity
there is only one reason people have been taught to discredit and denounce God and Jesus ..
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
and most are just too damn stupid to know, and too damn lazy to find out, because they didn’t learn about the communist goals in school .. where they have removed God from
No, that his father was a mentally-ill atheist, and this guy is a mentally-ill Catholic. I hope you don't believe that becoming Catholic renders someone immune to any mental disorders, because not even God promises that.
I did see that quote, I just think time will tell, and that he, like his father, will find that nothing really cures what the real problem is. I’m sure for a long time his father thought atheism was the answer.
I'm not a huge fan of psychology, but I have come to the conclusion that we are all distinct personality types who will indeed act in predictable ways under stress. The faintly depressive will go full-on depressed. The mildly suspicious will turn completely paranoid. The asocial will withdraw more deeply. The somewhat obsessive gets worse, and so on. We all lean in one direction or the other.
Remember, she was living on cigarettes and booze. Father was obsessive, mother sounds depressive, both elevated atheism to a religion of its own with creeds and sages... yes, these were some unhappy people searching for peace. They didn't find it. This guy thinks he's found it. We'll see. Everything works at first.
Mesmerism is one of Satan’s tools.
No, but I do not discount the work of Satan in this world, either. I don't think most mental illness can be reduced completely to some biological cause. There seems always to be at least some spiritual/psychological component.
Well, that’s the difference with Christ. He heals people.
So what is your problem with the guy? It seems to me he is a Christian.
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