Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Check out passages early on in the text such as:
"personal reasons - the pastor who crowned himself king and looks down on all"
and
"Nearly 50 percent of the respondents offered negative comments about their parish priests, whom they described as 'arrogant,' 'distant' and 'insensitive.' "
I was raised Catholic.. was infant baptized, received first communion, was confirmed, went to Sunday school, went to a Private Catholic school (K-6th grade), went to confession, did penance, and was even an altar boy for a bit. It did nothing for me. Throughout all of Sunday school, we never did go through the gospels. You'd think a Religion that professed Jesus as Lord would want to teach their kids about him. I did get to learn about religious rituals (Mortal/Venial sins >> which isn't biblical but man made doctrines, etc). The most I learned about Jesus Christ was watching the movie "Jesus of Nazareth" once in class. This religion did nothing but only plant the seeds of rebellion.
Most of my family are professed Catholic. Some are more dedicated than others. Some do the church thing to give themselves a good healthy religious pat on the back maybe for a perceived insurance policy. I can thank this Religion for my inability to reach my 90 year old grandmother with the gospel message. She has her "Religion" and will most likely go to the grave with it. I do not believe she is saved, but I hope I'm wrong. My mother is a very dedicated Catholic that does a lot for Churches (prolife, "communion calls"), but I'm afraid she has not submitted to Jesus Christ but is trusting her good works to save her. She is also very hard to reach with the Word as I've tried many times. If you don't have the little black suit with white collar than there's no use to even try it seems. Don't even try to demonstrate how "Mary" is not necessary mediator between God and Man but only Jesus Christ. That will get emotions rolling. They take Jesus' primary role away from Jesus Christ as High Priest and sole Mediator away from him and give it to his earthly mother. Last I checked, God is a Jealous God that doesn't give his glory to another. There is very little Biblical knowledge regarding many Catholics I know. It's because they don't stress knowing the Scriptures.
I'm very thankful God's showed me the truth in his Word with me never getting sucked into it all. What a mess Catholicism has made of things for me and my family. IMO.
Last edited by Mikelee81; 08-11-2012 at 06:33 PM..
I was raised Catholic.. was infant baptized, received first communion, was confirmed, went to Sunday school, went to a Private Catholic school (K-6th grade), went to confession, did penance, and was even an altar boy for a bit. Throughout all of Sunday school, we never did go through the gospels. You'd think a Religion that professed Jesus as Lord would want to teach their kids about him. I did get to learn about religious rituals (Mortal/Venial sins >> which isn't biblical but man made doctrines, etc). The most I learned about Jesus Christ was watching the movie "Jesus of Nazareth" once in class. This religion did nothing but only plant the seeds of rebellion.
Most of my family are professed Catholic. Some are more dedicated than others. Some do the church thing to give themselves a good healthy religious pat on the back maybe for a perceived insurance policy. I can thank this Religion for my inability to reach my 90 year old grandmother with the gospel message. She has her "Religion" and will most likely go to the grave with it. I do not believe she is saved, but I hope I'm wrong. My mother is a very dedicated Catholic that does a lot for Churches (prolife, "communion calls"), but I'm afraid she has not submitted to Jesus Christ but is trusting her good works to save her. She is also very hard to reach with the Word as I've tried many times. If you don't have the little black suit with white collar than there's no use to even try it seems. Don't even try to demonstrate how "Mary" is not necessary mediator between God and Man but only Jesus Christ. That will get emotions rolling.
I'm very thankful God's showed me the truth in his Word with me never getting sucked into it all. What a mess Catholicism has made of things for me and my family. IMO.
I'm really scratching my head about the bold. Thus, you have decided that you are saved but, because your Mother and grandmother are Catholic, their salvation is in doubt. Now, isn't THAT presumptuous and arrogant?
What denomination are you? That will speak volumes. While you may be Protestant, you are clearly not an Episcopal, Lutheran or even a Methodist, none of whom are apt to make such judgments.
Thanks to this sub-forum, I shut down when I hear the word "the truth." That expression has become religio-babble, just like there is psychobabble (Dr. Phil = "how's that working for you?"). Christianity cannot be distilled to "the truth." There is much more to it than that.
I'm really scratching my head about the bold. Thus, you have decided that you are saved but, because your Mother and grandmother are Catholic, their salvation is in doubt. Now, isn't THAT presumptuous and arrogant?
What denomination are you? That will speak volumes. While you may be Protestant, you are clearly not an Episcopal, Lutheran or even a Methodist, none of whom are apt to make such judgments.
Thanks to this sub-forum, I shut down when I hear the word "the truth." That expression has become religio-babble, just like there is psychobabble (Dr. Phil = "how's that working for you?"). Christianity cannot be distilled to "the truth." There is much more to it than that.
John 14:6... Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life... Jesus Christ has the keys of Hell and Death not a Religious institution. I do not know who is saved or not, but I do know if we are not seen as perfect in Christ than we will not be with God. Our relative righteousness will not pay the debt. This is what the Scriptures teaches.
John 14:6... Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life... Jesus Christ has the keys of Hell and Death not a Religious institution. I do not know who is saved or not, but I do know if we are not seen as perfect in Christ than we will not be with God. Our relative righteousness will not pay the debt. This is what the Scriptures teaches.
This is just as overused as the expression "born again." You did not reveal what type of church you attend.
Any others with concrete examples and stories related to lapses in Catholicism?
I converted to Catholicism at the age of 19 after attending mass at a local church off and on for many years. I had grown up in a pretty unstable family with no religion (except occasional forays to the Protestant chapel on the Air Force base on Easter) and I think I was searching for something beyond "this world." At the time, I thought, if you are going to be Christian, you might as well be Catholic, since they were "there first." (I was astonished to find out years later that some people don't think Catholics are even Christians. Very bizarre.)
Many aspects of Catholicism I still find beautiful. When I was in my early twenties, I found the ritual aspects of the religion very comforting.
What led me away from Catholicism were some of its political "stands." I am pro-choice (although would never have an abortion myself) and pro-gay rights (I have a lesbian sister, although I was sympathetic to gay rights before I even knew this sister existed). I know some Catholic churches would still welcome me, but many wouldn't.
I have lapsed Catholic friends who left the church when all the sex scandals came out. Honestly, I can see blaming the church as an institution (and individuals involved, of course), but not the church at its core (as I understand it). So that wasn't a reason for me.
I have a big problem with so-called Christians who somehow believe that yelling I AM SAVED as loud as they can means they can also be the most nasty, mean-spirited, intolerant, smug, self-righteous people in the world, and never do a good thing for anyone besides themselves, and yet they somehow are "saved." Yuck. The Jesus that I knew through Catholicism would puke at that. (OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but hopefully you get my point.)
For years I have thought about attending a local Episcopalian church. They have many of the rituals of Catholicism that I found so comforting years ago, but they don't expect you to "check your brain at the door" as fundamentalist churches seem to want you to do, and their social politics are more in line with mine. But so much about religion goes so far against my intellectual leanings ... I don't know if I will ever go back.
Are you a lapsed Catholic? If so, what were YOUR reasons?
I converted to Catholicism at the age of 19 after attending mass at a local church off and on for many years. I had grown up in a pretty unstable family with no religion (except occasional forays to the Protestant chapel on the Air Force base on Easter) and I think I was searching for something beyond "this world." At the time, I thought, if you are going to be Christian, you might as well be Catholic, since they were "there first." (I was astonished to find out years later that some people don't think Catholics are even Christians. Very bizarre.)
Many aspects of Catholicism I still find beautiful. When I was in my early twenties, I found the ritual aspects of the religion very comforting.
What led me away from Catholicism were some of its political "stands." I am pro-choice (although would never have an abortion myself) and pro-gay rights (I have a lesbian sister, although I was sympathetic to gay rights before I even knew this sister existed). I know some Catholic churches would still welcome me, but many wouldn't.
I have lapsed Catholic friends who left the church when all the sex scandals came out. Honestly, I can see blaming the church as an institution (and individuals involved, of course), but not the church at its core (as I understand it). So that wasn't a reason for me.
I have a big problem with so-called Christians who somehow believe that yelling I AM SAVED as loud as they can means they can also be the most nasty, mean-spirited, intolerant, smug, self-righteous people in the world, and never do a good thing for anyone besides themselves, and yet they somehow are "saved." Yuck. The Jesus that I knew through Catholicism would puke at that. (OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but hopefully you get my point.)
For years I have thought about attending a local Episcopalian church. They have many of the rituals of Catholicism that I found so comforting years ago, but they don't expect you to "check your brain at the door" as fundamentalist churches seem to want you to do, and their social politics are more in line with mine. But so much about religion goes so far against my intellectual leanings ... I don't know if I will ever go back.
Are you a lapsed Catholic? If so, what were YOUR reasons?
Thank you for a very thoughtfully worded post. I can DEFINITELY relate to the bold and will NEVER entertain fundamentalism as a result. I've been to their services with friends who converted and it feels more like a "pow-wow" than it does an occasion for worship.
I don't attend regularly. I believe in less than 100% of what they offer, which automatically throws someone into the realm of "cafeteria Catholicism." I've been to both Episcopal and Greek Orthodox services, with the latter being more palatable to me.
The reasons I have issues with the Catholic church are:
(1) ominous or smug clergy from Catholic school days who were crappier teachers than those in public schools who were actually affable and dedicated
(2) peers in the parochial educational system who were wrongly kept there because their parents greased the school's palms, with the clergy pandering to the wealthier families in the parish/student body,which made me all the more turned off because I met some exceptional people in public state universities
(3) smug clergy in parishes, experienced as an adult, who shouldn't be there, in my opinion, and who don't have the humility to be servants of Christ
(4) unwelcoming attitudes in many parishes, experienced as an adult, to those who aren't married with kids, are involved in parish activities, show up in their SUV, hold pot lucks in their homes and, again, grease the parish's palms
I hate parish shopping. Many of the suburban churches are very tightly wound, and I'm not interested. There's always a few downtown parishes that tout how liberal they are and, again, I'm not interested.
I'm just kind of "tired" of the drill.
So, it's more of a problem with the institutional "uptightness" than it is with the faith. In essence, I agree with the findings in the article in the OP.
So, it's more of a problem with the institutional "uptightness" than it is with the faith.
I can agree with that.
And I just looked at the article ... how could I forget the church's stance on birth control or divorce as reasons for leaving. And a little story: a guy who was a year ahead of me in high school converted to Catholicism as an adult. He was probably the smartest person to ever graduate from my high school, I mean IQ of 150+. He has embraced Catholic fundamentalism. He is webmaster for a fundamentalist Catholic web site (I forget the name) and it has a question-and-answer section in which people write in with any question they have about Catholicism, catechism, etc. One elderly man wrote in asking if masturbation was really a mortal sin, because he lost his wife years ago and sometimes desires sexual release but doesn't want to have sex outside of marriage. The reply was, yes, it's a mortal sin, don't do it. Now most of the questions and answers I find interesting and enlightening, but I read that one and thought, you've GOT to be kidding, you're telling this lonely, elderly man that he is going to hell?
Anyway, I could see myself going back someday, maybe because I wasn't raised Catholic and therefore didn't deal with parochial school, priests seeing themselves as kings, etc. I guess I don't see the manifestations of the church -- the priests, etc. -- as "the church." Of course I just laughed at that, because maybe that means I was never really Catholic.
Most (not all) of the smartest people I know are atheists. Intellectually, I lean that way too, but I WANT there to be more.
I was brought up catholic. As a child went to church and catholic school til ninth grade. But nothing really made me do anything more for my church. I mean i didn't like going, I was bored and couldn't wait to go home. I even almost got held back in ninth grade for failing religion. But around the age of 17-18 I was working with a man that happened to talk about what he was learning. Short version-There is an association in Switzerland that has weekly services. Now in these services there is a medium that speak directly from the spirit world. They have been doing this for over 50 years. This guy that i was working with has taught me, through these journals, so much information that i couldn't learn or understand just by reading the bible. I am 27 now and I have such a strong faith behind me. I still have a lot to work on but these teaching help me understand what i have to do.
These journals has information that fills in the blanks for me. Like when Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day, I don't hear anybody say what happened during those three day...these journals explains everything that happened and the significance behind what happened. This is just one of many examples of topics that i came across.
Location: where people are either too stupid to leave or too stuck to move
3,982 posts, read 6,685,474 times
Reputation: 3689
robert whats yours religion (rather what do you believe in) ?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
