Posted on 10/31/2008 9:49:19 AM PDT by NYer
Being a good neighbour implies sociability, which doesn’t always get to be strictly on our own terms.
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I don't believe it serves mine, either. I also think it encourages beliefs that are anti-religion.
If Catholics are Christians why do you make such a big deal about your Catholicism? As thankful as you are for being “led by the Spirit there” and all...
Take for example my identity is in Christ, my Baptism is in Christ, Ive died in Christ, etc. The Catholic church cant do any of those things for you...whats your hang up with Christianity?
I disagree. What do you mean by “strictly on our own terms.”
Nobody made a big deal about Catholicism until the notion was advanced that a Catholic was out-of-bounds for offering a Christian defence of Hallowe’en from a Catholic point of view.
Does your prayer kind of sound like this: I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I believe in Purgatory.- C.S.Lewis, Letters To Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, chapter 20Mind you, the Reformers had good reasons for throwing doubt on the 'Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory' as that Romish doctrine had then become.....
The right view returns magnificently in Newman's DREAM. There, if I remember it rightly, the saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken away and cleansed. It cannot bear for a moment longer 'With its darkness to affront that light'. Religion has claimed Purgatory.
Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would in not break the heart if God said to us, 'It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy'? Should we not reply, 'With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather be cleaned first.' 'It may hurt, you know' - 'Even so, sir.'
I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering. Partly from tradition; partly because most real good that has been done me in this life has involved it. But I don't think the suffering is the purpose of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much better than I will suffer less than I or more. . . . The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much.
My favorite image on this matter comes from the dentist's chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am 'coming round',' a voice will say, 'Rinse your mouth out with this.' This will be Purgatory. The rinsing may take longer than I can now imagine. The taste of this may be more fiery and astringent than my present sensibility could endure. But . . . it will [not] be disgusting and unhallowed."
Viewed in this way, and not with some of the excesses that had grown up around the doctrine (thanks to Sister Mary Attila, Aunt Drusilla and their ilk, who meant well but were sometimes a little fuzzy on theology), it makes perfect sense.
I and my family are converts to Catholicism from the (shudder) Episcopal Church. I studied things pretty thoroughly before we converted.
No, it’s more like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
I was extolling the virtues of my CHURCH... not mySELF.
And sometimes my prayer sounds like this:
“Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Lots of evangelicals love C.S. Lewis, so I wonder why more of them haven’t raised objections about his views on the subject of purgatory.
He also believed in the Real Presence.
Unusual for a man raised in Protestant Belfast . . . !
But you have to remember what his day job was -- professor of medieval and Renaissance literature. As his fellow countryman (and candidate for sainthood) John Cardinal Newman said, "to be deep in history is to become Catholic."
A lot of my closest evangelical friends (well, former closest friends - they dropped me like a hot potato when I converted) read nothing more of Lewis than Mere Christianity and the Chronicles of Narnia. But there’s so much more to read than those two, so it’s likely that they haven’t encountered his sacramental views.
“to be deep in history is to become Catholic” -> Amen, sister! I’ve also seen it quoted as this: “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.” But the effect is the same nonetheless.
“’To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.’ But the effect is the same nonetheless.”
It’s vastly different. I’m not Catholic and I’m not protestant. Maybe Lewis meant all non-protestants were Catholics but if he did, he was flat wrong, and was reading the wrong history books.
“......and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
And thank you that I’m not a legalist, as one of those who read their Bible and sincerely attempt to apply to their life.”
If you’re not Catholic, and you’re not Protestant, does that make you Orthodox? I suspect the manner in which I quoted it leaves that possibility as well.
BTW, the quote was John Henry Cardinal Newman, not Lewis.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
It was Newman, not Lewis. And I think where he was going with that is that a close reading of the history of the Church and a history of the Reformation is very enlightening.
We celebrate some Jewish Holidays.
In fact, back home we had a family that would come to our Christmas celebration and would send us Latkas for Hanukkah.
The first time the youngest daughter walked into my sister's house for Christmas, she said, “It's just like the Soap Operas!”
Those were the days......
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