"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." - Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23
I do have to say that you have a unique ability to turn every discussion into a gratuitous attack upon the Church. It saddens me to think that you derive some perverse pleasure and satisfaction from it. Insulting me and the Church is not helping convince anyone of your Christianity and only evokes my pity and prayers. Whatever injury you may have suffered at the hands of Catholics and those acting in the name of the Church you would best serve yourself and God by finding a way to forgive.
For all of the postings you have made the one thing that is clear is that you were extremely poorly Catechised or have an extremely vivid imagination. I would only hope that you would learn the actual doctrines and history of the Church and base your criticism on fact and not fancy. Those within the Church need to hear legitimate and constructive criticism, but your attacks only cloud the real problems in vitriol.
Peace be with you.
It seems you do not want to miss a chance to criticize anyone who left the Roman Catholic Church under the pretext that they "just didn't get catechized correctly". Metmom is correct, God does NOT take pleasure in our suffering and the verse you quoted speaks about what anyone who desires to be a disciple can expect. We WILL have suffering in this world - Jesus warned us repeatedly - but to suggest that God is pleased when we do suffer is wrong. He takes NO pleasure in the wicked suffering, what makes you think He does with His children?
Nothing Metmom has said about her upbringing in the Catholic Church contradicts my experience nor that of the many others that have also left and post here. Perhaps it is your own "unique ability to turn every discussion into a gratuitous attack upon" former Catholics that is at issue. You also cannot know what is in our hearts that compels us to speak about these things. Why does ANY criticism of your church insult YOU? Are you suggesting none of it is truthful or based upon facts? That kind of tactic, as you should know by now, doesn't work.
Then I guess you don’t know what dying to self means.