On Fifteen Years a Catholic ("How can you join a church that tells you how to think?")

Catholic World Report ^ | April 20, 2012 | Carl Olson

[NYer]

Ping!

[BigCinBigD]

I thought telling you how. To think was a hallmark of every religion?

[ex-snook]

What’s the problem with believing the truth?

[raygunfan]

the church doesnt tell you what to think...you have the free will to accept the grace offered, and think along the lines of the church and Christ’s teachings....

[knarf]

Nothing wrong with being taught HOW to think, but everything wrong with being told WHAT to think.

A matter not thought through is unsettled still.

[Salvation]

And therein lies the answer to the question that opened this essay, the question presented to me not long before I became Catholic. How could I join a Church that tells me how to think? How could I not join the Church founded by Jesus Christ, the household of his Father, infused with life by her soul, the Holy Spirit? How could I think—or desire, or choose, or will—to do otherwise? And how can I, given the grace to be a Catholic, not stand up for my mother, the Church? “Because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the faith” (CCC 169). She teaches us how to think because, alone, we know not how. Or why. Or Who.

AMEN!

[Salvation]

I’ve heard him speak. He is also a dynamic speaker as well as writer.

[HangnJudge]

The Church does not tell you what to think,
One Voluntarily Submits to it’s Teachings

some interpretations of Islam may force Submission,
but Christianity doesn’t

Voluntary Submission is required for
Confession, Contrition, and Penance

[al_c]

I just celebrated my 20th anniversary of becoming Catholic. Been growing ever since.

[RobbyS]

Very clear-minded view.

[353FMG]

I must’ve been a mind-numb robot.

I was twelve when I wondered into a Catholic church, one Sunday afternoon during Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

I saw a man in gold vestments, swinging a gold smoking object while pointing it at a gold monstrance which had a White Object in it, saw the smoke, smelled the incense, heard the bells while everyone was quiet. Looked at the many statues and, somehow I knew that this was for me. I shall always remember that scene.

That was a lifetime ago, and I never looked back.

[CynicalBear]

>>the pillar and foundation of truth<<

What does a pillar do? It upholds something doesn’t it. It doesn’t create something or define something. It upholds or supports what is there. It’s the same for a foundation. It doesn’t generate something. It supports what has been built. The RCC wants people to think that it generates truth. That it can edict something which isn’t in scripture and the followers must believe it. Mariology is completely made up by the RCC using age old pagan rituals and beliefs. It has no foundation in scripture. What the RCC wants followers to believe about “the pillar and foundation of truth” is a fallacy.

[SumProVita]

Here is another true story that can make us all think.

Although there is a TON of good stuff here, scroll down to
FATHER Lazarus El Anthony — THE LAST ANCHORITE — A hermit of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Coptic Church in the Egyptian desert

Lazurus El anthony was a university lecturer in literature and philosophy in Australia, an atheist of 40 years and a Marxist. Then his mother died.

And he entered the desert.

His autobiography is MOST interesting.

http://stpaulbr.webs.com/foryourprivateretreats.htm

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“The RCC wants people to think that it generates truth.”

The Catholic Church has NEVER, EVER taught that or supported that idea.

[arthurus]

That it can edict something

Is "to edict" a sort of Protestant verb? like "to fellowship?"

[Miss Marple]

Thanks for posting this. I am reading Pope Benedict’s book on the Eicharist, written while he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. He discusses the dissension after Vatican II and says that some poeple thought that making mass more “everyday” was what Christ wanted. He said this is why we had a series of churches built with multi-purpose areas rather than a separate church and parish hall. This struck me because that is how MY parish church was until about 8 years ago, when they gathered enough money to build a separate church and leave the mulit-purpose room to be the parish hall.

I also have struggled with parishioners who seem like they would be more happy as Methodists or something else non-Catholic, but instead are within the Church complaining and pushing false doctrine. I struggle with the abysmal music, my personal share in the sufferings of Christ.

Yet I cannot be anywhere else. One of the reasons I joined was BECAUSE of obedience, something I knew I needed to learn. And I joined because I cannot escape the idea that this is the Church Christ founded.

Now I must tell you I probably will not be here anymore. I have appreciated all the posts you have put up, but this place has become very unpleasant and is not on my list of places to visit. I came upon your post by accident.

So thank you for all of your work here over the years, and may God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit bless you for it.

[CynicalBear]

>>The Catholic Church has NEVER, EVER taught that or supported that idea.<<

Then show from scripture the bodily assumption of Mary.

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“Then show from scripture the bodily assumption of Mary.”

Something doesn’t have to be explicitly in scripture to be true, nor does something not appearing explicitly in scripture mean it was “generated” by the Church. Also, the Assumption is seen by orthodox Christians in Revelation 12.

[MarkBsnr]

What’s the problem with believing the truth?

It depends upon the individual's focus. If the individual is focused upon the truth, then everything is good. If the individual has a particular belief system in place, then 'truth' becomes not an absolute, but a fluid.