OK, maybe "issue" is a harsh word. Perhaps it is more, things I don't understand or perhaps that I question. Some of it is Christianity as a whole some is strictly Catholicism. Here it goes...
If God is good and loving then why is there a hell? It seems a bit contradictory that God who loves us all so much would send us to hell for being sinners? I was taught growing up to love the sinner but hate the sin. I do not have to love how you live your life to still love you. God is good and awesome and loves us so much, so it seems that the existence of hell for those who try to be good but fall short doesn't quite fit with that..
I have heard that many people consider much of the church to be full of hypocrisy. While I do not think this is true all the way around, I can see, to a point, where people are coming from in some respects. For one thing, paying money to the church for any kind of ceremony should be optional. It makes no sense to me that in order to get my child baptized I have to pay $50. It should be, "A donation to the church would be greatly appreciated. Any amount up to X amount. However, we understand that not everyone is in a position to do so and no one will be refused in any way do to financial restraints" Just sayin....
Now this topic is a bit risque but here it goes....masturbation. I have three little kids. When my eldest was three I caught him sitting on the couch poking his boy thing because, as he said, it felt good. At that age, he has no concept of sexuality. So I have to wonder, is it a sin, or is it natural?
I'm not technically allowed to take communion and I completely disagree with why. My marriage is not blessed by the church. We eloped. I can't get my marriage blessed because he's not Catholic. So because he's not Catholic I can't get it blessed and because I can't get it blessed I can't be in good standing. Somehow, that seems wrong to me.
Is it possible there is a little truth in all religions? I'm not saying I don't believe Catholicism isn't #1, because I do. But I can't help but wonder if maybe there is a grain of truth in other places. Many religions have the same basic message, "Love others and do to them what you would want them to do to you." Just a thought.
If God works through us, through our very hands, quite literally, than why is it hard to believe that perhaps birth control is him working through us to prevent pregnancy. Not only is birth control able to be used for the purpose of prevention, but it is also useful in the treatment of some gender specific illnesses such as PCOS, endometoriosis, and amenorreah,
So that's what I've got for now. =)
-God Bless
**A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR**
The intent in this piece is to ask questions, encourage conversation, and discuss in a spiritually healthy manor. The Catholic Church and The Bible are the final authority on all subjects. I do acknowledge that this particular piece reads in a manor which may suggest disapproval or argument against certain teachings, however, that is not the intention or goal of this piece.
1. Hell is NOT for people who "try to be good but fall short." Hell is for Satan and his demons. God doesn't want any of His people to go to Hell. That was not the plan. However, he let us have free will instead of forcing us to worship him. Eve chose to disobey God, and ever since, so has everyone else that has ever lived (except Jesus). (Rom 5:13)
ReplyDeleteGod is a perfect, holy God. So perfect and holy that we, as sinners, cannot even be in Heaven with Him. So that's why He sent his son, to die for us and take our punishment. If we accept him, our debt is paid and we are made Holy as well. (Rom 5:15)
We don't *earn* our salvation. God gives it to everyone as a free gift. We just have to accept it. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." (Eph 2:8-9)
I do think that God did the most loving thing of all. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8). All of us continually turn our backs on Jesus every day. We tell him we are better than Him and we know more than Him when we choose our way over His. But He sent his son anyways, and he offers salvation to anyone that wants it, no matter how sinful we are.
God didn't create Hell to send people there. Hell is for Satan. If people choose to go there too, He allows them that choice. But He goes to every possible measure to make sure that if we want to be with Him in Heaven, we can.
I still have issue with the idea that a good person who lives a right and "righteous" life would go to hell because he's not religious. Something about that doesn't seem like an all loving God. I feel like if God is good and God is loving (which I feel that he is) than you, at least, wouldn't burn in hell fire for eternity because you didn't have religion. Does that make sense?
DeleteIt does make sense and it's a common issue people have with religion. But as much as people don't like this--people have to realize: we have free will. God doesn't make us believe in Him and He doesn't send us to Hell. He created the world to be perfect. We said "no thank you" and did our own thing. He sent His one and only son to save the world. People still said "no thank you" and did their own thing. Today, every day, we have the choice to follow Him. If we still say "no thank you"--God isn't going to force us to go to Heaven if we keep turning Him down. He gives us a bajillion chances. He works things out in our lives so we see Him, whether it is through nature or conversations like this one or whatever.
DeleteBut God doesn't "send people to Hell for not having religion." He does everything He can to draw us to Him. When we say "no thank you" for the bajillionth time--well, at some point it's: "okay, that's your choice."
2. I agree. I've also never gone to a church that made people pay to be baptized. In fact, my husband baptized both of our boys on our living room floor himself. He's Catholic, I'm "almost-Catholic but not quite" lol (they keep trying to convert me!) He says its okay, so that's what we did!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, SOME people in the church are hypocritical, just like SOME people in the entire world are hypocritical. The church gets picked on more, but then again, the church SHOULD be held to a higher standard. I have no problem saying that the church has issues. Jesus came to help the sinner.
Hmm, I was taught to believe that that is only OK in an emergency situation, or in a situation where someone WANTS to be baptized but doesn't have the ability to get it done in the church. For example, people were giving each other last rights and baptizing one another in the twin towers before they fell on 9/11.
DeleteOr a story I once heard of two little boys who met on the beach. One boy was baptized and Christian, one was not. The boy who was baptized talked to other boy about his faith and the boy wanted to baptized as well. He went home and told his parents of his desires, and the boys parents said they were not Christian and he could not get baptized. The next day, the boys met again and the unbaptized boy told his new friend his parents would not allow him to be baptized. The baptized boy said he would do it for him, and he did.
I agree that there are good and bad people in everything touched by man. There is no innocent organization of any kind. There will ALWAYS be one bad apple in the bunch.
Also, through further research I've found the money thing is a parish based decision.
Good. It's important to distinguish between what one particular church messes up, what the church as a whole messes up, and what God's truth actually is. So many times it isn't God that people have a problem with, but the way that God's people portray God.
Delete3. I'll send you a CM PM on this one...
ReplyDelete4. Can't comment on this since I'm not Catholic and our marriage isn't blessed either.
5. Yes, there absolutely is. The whole world is God's and everything in it and you can find truth anywhere. (I find it through raising my kids, which is the subject of my blog). BUT other religions have a lot of non-truths too. So you can learn about them, sure, but then come back and compare them to the Bible, bc the Bible is the gold standard.
6. I have no problem with this. But then again, I'm not technically Catholic either.
Hope that helps some!
1. I once heard a phrase that helped me. "Hell is full of volunteers". In other words, God does not send people to Hell, people choose it. I've been visited by Jehovah Witnesses and read their "literature". Their argument against Hell is very similar to yours. I asked them if they felt that a judge is bad or unjust if he sentences a person who has broken the law to prison. Each of us has a choice and we choose to break God's laws, we must accept the natural consequences of that choice. However, God in His infinite mercy sent us His Son, and if we accept Him and all the Grace He can give us through the Sacraments He established, then we can be forgiven of our mortal sins, the sins that can separate us from God eternally.
ReplyDeleteIf a man lives a righteous life but has no religion, will he go to hell?
DeleteAccording to Christianity, yes.
DeleteAlthough--if he has never ever ever heard of Jesus and has literally had no chance to accept him, that's a different story. But for people who have had the chance to accept him and who have decided not to--yes.
Think of it this way: If it were your birthday and you were going to throw a big party--who would you invite? The "good people" of the world? Or your closest friends? I think that's how it is with Heaven. God invites everyone. The ones who accept His invitation and have a relationship with Him are the ones that go. Those who say "no thank, I'll just chill over here on my own" don't.
If a person is not Catholic through no fault of his/her own but lives a life of grace (without sin), the Church teaches that he/she can go to heaven. This is what the Catechism says:
Delete"846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337
848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."
2. I donate to the Church not because I have to but because I want to. I have never heard of anyone denied a Sacrament because they did not donate. Helping to support the Church is completely voluntary. When you think about it, it takes time and resources (heating or cooling, lights, etc.) to open the Church to conduct any type of ceremony.
ReplyDeleteAll of your points are valid and make perfect sense. I have no problem tithing or giving what I can. I would feel differently if once they had learned we were unable to pay it they had offered us a payment plan or said well this money goes toward keeping our parish up and running, can you give what you can or even give what you can now and then pay the rest when you're able. But they didn't. They basically said too bad too sad.
DeleteMy other issue about it is that my husband works two jobs and is gone from roughly between 4 and 5 am until about 9pm Monday-Friday and is therefor unable to attend the mandatory classes. But they wont let me attend the class without him and they wont hold the classes on a different day. They then expected us to take the classes somewhere else if we were able to, pay for them, and still pay them for the Sacrament. It wasn't until my dad told them it wasn't the right and Christian thing to do to a struggling family who only sought to bring their child to Jesus Christ and to God and said he no longer felt like this was the parish for him that the offered to waive their fee IF the other church also made us pay.
I've looked into it, and it seems to be a parish to parish thing, so I suppose my "judgment" is more on the parish itself rather than the Church as a whole.
"I suppose my "judgment" is more on the parish itself rather than the Church as a whole."
DeleteThis is a HUGELY important distinction! If your church is not everything you should be, can you find a different one?
3. A child that young does not understand the difference between right or wrong. For something to be a mortal sin (the kind of sin that cuts us off from God), the person has to know that it's wrong and do it anyway with free will (not forced to do it). To a certain degree curiosity about the body is natural, however, as we grow, we learn that we are not like the other animals who are governed solely by their instincts. We have a reason and intellect. For his own protection, you will probably instruct him that this is not a healthy behavior because he could cause damage to his delicate private parts (i.e. injury or infection from touching with dirty hands). He will learn that this is not a behavior he can do in public, why? Because it's unacceptable to do so, and why? Because anything to do with our sexuality is sacred and private. Sexuality is a beautiful gift from God, given to us to enjoy with our mate for life (husband or wife, of the opposite sex, of course). Lust is a temptation that Satan uses to sell us short of the beauty of God's plan. When lust rules us, when we chose to cheapen love, that's when we sin and in our soul we know it. Your son is too young to realize this in his conscience but eventually, his conscience will tell him. He probably will have the world, however, telling him that it's perfectly normal and healthy to masturbate (just read the filth propagated by Planned Parenthood to young people). If a young person grows up thinking that self pleasure is ok, that person will be vulnerable to the "wisdom" of the world that sells promiscuity and cohabitation as ok too. By the time marriage arrives, there is very little that remains new between the spouses and all of those experiences become ghosts between the couple (even the solo ones) and affect their intimacy. As parents, it is our sacred duty to protect our children's innocence and help them form their conscience properly so that they will learn the right path, God's path, that leads to a more fulfilling love life than the hedonistic mockery of lust labeled as love that the world influenced by Satan sells.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. I fully understand what you're saying and that kinda clears it up a bit for me. =)
Delete4. I have a friend married to an atheist. They had their marriage blessed in the Church and she can receive Communion. I think you need to research more to understand this better. If neither of you have ever had your marriage blessed in a Christian church (the Church recognizes marriages in the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist, Episcopal churches) then you might be free to marry in the Catholic Church. If either of you had been married in a Christian church before, you might have to seek an annulment. If you both have only been married by the civil authority (justice of the peace) and at least one of you is a baptized Catholic, you might be able to get your marriage blessed in the Church. Have you actually spoken to a priest about this yet? It is not that it's impossible to get your marriage blessed but rather that it will involve some work on your part but hopefully you will consider it worth it.
ReplyDeletePhysically, nobody can prevent you from going to Communion...nobody is going to ask you if you do go. However, it's important that you understand the reasons why you should not. If you are living with a man and having sexual relations without having had your union made a Sacrament by the witness of the priest (Matrimony), you are living in sin (fornicating) in the eyes of God and therefore in the eyes of the Church. This is considered a mortal sin and the bible warns us that receiving the Eucharist in mortal sin is a sacrilege and an even graver sin (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). So if you were to choose to receive Communion in this state you would not receive any grace from the Eucharist but would be "eating your own condemnation" as that passage states.
I want to clarify that while the Catholic Church does recognize other Christian marriages, they are still not considered valid in the Church. Catholics must have their marriage convalidated in the Catholic Church to be able to receive Communion.
DeleteThe annulment situation is only if either had been married to someone else in a Christian Church.
I've done more research and I misunderstood before. I now know what I have to do. =) Thank you. =)
DeleteApparently, only one of us needs to be baptized and confirmed Catholic, which I am. We go to the priest and petition for recognition. The priest than writes to the Bishop asking for permission. For the bishop to agree, my husband needs to agree to raise the kids catholic (which he does) and show that he understand the catholic vows and plans to stay true to them. Once the bishop agrees, we pay the fee if there is one, attend the classes, and then we can receive the Sacrament with two catholic witnesses present. =) Thank you for the information.
I look forward to hearing when it comes to pass :-)
Delete5. Why would anyone want to settle for only partial truth instead of the fullness of the Truth and the fount of graces that is found in the Catholic Church? I love reading conversion stories of Atheists, Jews, Muslims, Christians of many denominations, Non-Denominational Christians, New Agers, Pagans, etc. that when they followed the Truth to it's fullest were led to the Catholic Church. There is an awesome show on EWTN with these amazing stories. You can watch them on youtube:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+journey+home&sm=3
I've looked into becoming other faiths in the past because of some of issues. Many of which you know and I have since researched and found truth in.
DeleteFor me, to know which faith is the true and full faith, it all comes down to how the church was formed.
The Catholic faith is the oldest of the Christian faiths and is one Jesus himself formed through St. Peter. Therefor, how can any other Christian faith claim to know more when they were formed a great number of years later, and by man, not by Jesus. This is the reason I am Catholic and this is the reason I try so hard to understand the things within the faith that I do not understand, so that I can better fully accept the Church. Does that make sense?
This is exactly why I am leaning towards the Catholic church too. I was raised Protestant, but since I've been learning more, Catholicism is making more and more sense. I still have a lot of learning to do, though!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete6. Not everything that man creates comes from God. Take the atom bomb for example. In my opinion, birth control is more destructive than the atom bomb.
ReplyDeletea) It destroys marriages. Couples who contracept have a 50% rate of divorce. Couples who practice Natural Family Planning have only a 2% rate.
b) It destroys lives. It has been proven that hormonal birth control does not always prevent conception but it can prevent implantation. It's impossible to quantify how many lives have been lost to contraception. Abortion stems from the contraceptive mentality and that we can quantify. According to the Guttmacher Institute (affiliated with Planned Parenthood) about 50% of abortions are done by women who were using birth control that failed. Each year 1 million babies are aborted, so that means that 500,000 babies per year are aborted because the mom had sex with birth control that failed (she wanted the pleasure but not the baby).
c) It destroys womens' minds:
Their memory (http://researchmatters.asu.edu/stories/hormone-birth-control-shot-linked-memory-loss-2059)
Depression and anxiety (http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/most-common-birth-control-side-effects)
d) It destroys women's bodies:
Loss of bone density: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/sep2002/nichd-06.htm
Elevated cancer risk: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/oral-contraceptives
High risk of strokes: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=118178
Where did you learn that hormonal birth control prevents the illnesses you mentioned? Yes, they are often used as treatment but they never cure the underlying cause. This article in a secular magazine explains how it appears that Gynecologists just throw hormonal birth control as a panacea for the problems without finding the root cause or curing the illness.
http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/birth-controll-pills
a. That doesn't mean that birth control CAUSES people to get divorced. Just that the type of people who are more likely to use NFP are more likely to stay married. Switching birth control will not make you divorce or stay married.
DeleteWhat about non-hormonal options like condoms?
Luv makes a very good point, thank you. =) I read the information on webmd, but it's possible it just it was used in the treatment and not the prevention of.
DeleteBrittany raises a good question. I can't wait to see what luv has to say. =)
I think in their heart of hearts women know that when they're on birth control, they become like objects at the beck and call of their husband for their sexual satisfaction. Looking back at when I used the Pill and when my husband had a vasectomy, I KNEW and I felt it every time we were together. He was not giving himself fully, freely, totally and fruitfully. I tried to fool myself into thinking that it was good (we could have sex whenever we wanted!) but inside I felt used. When my husband agreed to have the vasectomy reversed and practice NFP, I immediately felt the difference. Because of special circumstances, we were trying to avoid having a baby so we would abstain when I knew I was fertile (It's amazing how our bodies give us so many clues through temperature, changes in cervical fluid, etc.) so he would respect me and we would find non-physical ways of expressing our love. It's like a built-in courtship. And the times when I was not fertile, we could give each other fully to one another, it strengthened our relationship. Birth control doesn't cause divorce directly but over time, the selfishness and deep seated discontent adds up and couples grow distant...divorce follows.
DeleteI did not feel that way when I was on birth control. I'm not arguing that it is right (not sure where I stand on that). Just that BC does not have to lead to selfishness, divorce, etc.
DeleteI plan to answer all of your posts this evening. Thank you for all the feedback, you've all provided wonderful opinions I have enjoyed reading.
ReplyDeleteHey. It doesn't send an email when you reply, so I just saw that you replied. I'm super busy with work tonight, but I promise to come back and reply again!
ReplyDeleteSo... there hasn't been any activity on this blog in a few weeks now--I am hoping you will still check it and read the replies I left for you.
ReplyDeleteI would strongly encourage you to come on over and check out my blog too. I blog about finding faith in my day to day life as a stay at home mom. I think you might find my posts useful to you as you continue asking questions. One post in general is getting some really great discussion on this same topic. Check out: http://17hourdays.com/my-religion-got-it-wrong/
Anything other questions? I would love to keep talking to you!
I look forward to reading your blog, Brittany. I love conversion stories :-)
DeleteWell, I wouldn't say I qualify as Catholic yet, but I do blog about my journey. Come check it out!
Delete