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So, as you may or may not know, I have been undergoing a crisis with regards to faith for the past few years.

I was raised a Bible believing, pentecostal, charismatic, tongue talking Christian.

The problem is that I no longer believe The Bible is the infallible word of God.

But, I am not exactly an atheistic heathen either.

I do believe in God, I do believe in Jesus, I do believe in the Virgin Birth, I do believe in the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension. I also believe in the Big Bang, Dinosaurs and evolution. I do not believe that accepting both sides is a contradiction.

What I do not believe in is the 6,000 year old Earth, the 6 day creation story, the Tower of Babel story, Noah's Ark, etc. To be honest with you, if the God of the Bible is who it says he is, then I don't think he cares.

So, I have been doing some reading about Catholicism. The Pope seems to be a level headed guy and The Church seems to have moved into modern times for the most part, without giving up the core of the religion or the traditions. I'm thinking this is a good fit for me.

So what do you Catholics think? Is Catholicism right for me?

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So, as you may or may not know, I have been undergoing a crisis with regards to faith for the past few years.

I was raised a Bible believing, pentecostal, charismatic, tongue talking Christian.

The problem is that I no longer believe The Bible is the infallible word of God.

But, I am not exactly an atheistic heathen either.

I do believe in God, I do believe in Jesus, I do believe in the Virgin Birth, I do believe in the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension. I also believe in the Big Bang, Dinosaurs and evolution. I do not believe that accepting both sides is a contradiction.

What I do not believe in is the 6,000 year old Earth, the 6 day creation story, the Tower of Babel story, Noah's Ark, etc. To be honest with you, if the God of the Bible is who it says he is, then I don't think he cares.

So, I have been doing some reading about Catholicism. The Pope seems to be a level headed guy and The Church seems to have moved into modern times for the most part, without giving up the core of the religion or the traditions. I'm thinking this is a good fit for me.

So what do you Catholics think? Is Catholicism right for me?

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While I am no longer a Catholic and a Practicing Zen Buddhist, I feel the Buddha's words fit here..

(Paraphrased)
"Do go on Blind Faith or someone's word, even mine. You must go out, experience and reason to see if the practice is right for you"

While Gautama was talking about the Dharma(his teachings), this can be applied to any faith. I suggest you go to Catholic Services, talk to a Priest, read up on what they believe, etc...see if this works for you. Faith is a personal choice only you can make, so experience it for yourself to see if for yourself.

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The bible is not meant to be read as a literal or a exact historical refrence. Read it allegorically read it prayerfully. There is a deeper more spiritual meanings to the stories in the old and new testemant. Read early church history and things from early church fathers as well as commentary from jewish leaders and you will learn how to read the bible. Reading the bible literally you run into several contradictions. Reading the bible it is obvious that there are different teachings for different people. As paul said most only know the "milk" of the gospel which is the death and resurection of jesus. These believers do not have the spiritual teachings they need because they are still "babes in christ". The bible has been corrupted by the gentile church which became the orthodox church. Constintine made christianity in his image.

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So, as you may or may not know, I have been undergoing a crisis with regards to faith for the past few years.
I was raised a Bible believing, pentecostal, charismatic, tongue talking Christian.
The problem is that I no longer believe The Bible is the infallible word of God.
But, I am not exactly an atheistic heathen either.
I do believe in God, I do believe in Jesus, I do believe in the Virgin Birth, I do believe in the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension. I also believe in the Big Bang, Dinosaurs and evolution. I do not believe that accepting both sides is a contradiction.
What I do not believe in is the 6,000 year old Earth, the 6 day creation story, the Tower of Babel story, Noah's Ark, etc. To be honest with you, if the God of the Bible is who it says he is, then I don't think he cares.
So, I have been doing some reading about Catholicism. The Pope seems to be a level headed guy and The Church seems to have moved into modern times for the most part, without giving up the core of the religion or the traditions. I'm thinking this is a good fit for me.
So what do you Catholics think? Is Catholicism right for me?

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That is no quest for Truth.
Men who genuinely seek after an unchanging truth don’t settle for one “that is right for you”…but they never rest until they find the only one that matters.

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might want to look at this. it might help you make your decision.

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/denominations_beliefs.htm

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Motown, I have to ask…just what about the Bible do you believe is true…but you still keeps you awake and makes you uncomfortable?



If I can shoot straight with you, what I’m reading is that you understand the human hearts need for God, that man cannot live without Him…but ultimately he has to fit into your mold.

The most serious problem isn’t whether or not you believe if there were dinosaurs walking with men…but are men sinners in need of a Savior?



I read all these comments declaring what you are… but do you understand what the Bible tells you that you are not?

Are you simply a religious man who live a good life and wants to add some extra God for good measure ….or are you a sinner…a broken man in need of a savior?

Just why did Jesus die and rise again?



The are many Catholics and Baptist (fill in the blank) who will tell you whatever you want to hear….but the only Catholics or who are telling you the truth are the ones who will tell you that the most important question to ask your heart is not first what you believe about the Pope….but what you believe about Jesus.



The "core” of salvation is not religion my friend. The world has plenty of religions, shoot, it sounds like you may be on the right track to simply making up your own new version.

There are even plenty of jesus's to go around ...but only one Jesus Christ.

The core of salvation is Truth…and there can only be one Truth.

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I would not go so far as to say that the Catholic "Church has moved into modern times" as this is getting close to saying that the Church can change doctrine to suit modern ideas.  Some people would hope that the Church would move into modern times on issues such as artificial contraception, same sex so-called marriage, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, etc.  That will never happen because the Church has always taught that such things are wrong.  I would think of it more as the church has always had it right, and sometimes the world gets it right (when it agrees with Her.)

In terms of science and faith, the Catholic Church teaches that there can be no contradiction between the two because they come from the same God.  They are complimentary.  Genesis is not a science book meant to define exactly how God achieved the creation of the universe.  It has a different purpose entirely.

Catholicism may be a good fit for you.  If you are having trouble reconciling Scripture with science, perhaps you are looking at one or both in the wrong light.  The Bible came from the Church, not the other way around, so in order to accept the Scriptures as the Word of God, you must first accept the authority of the Church.  Everything stems from that as Christ founded one visible Church on earth, with Peter as the head.  If you can accept that, then maybe it is the right choice.  Read the Catechism, go to Catholic.com and read what they have there, attend Mass if you haven't already, pray about it and ask lots of questions.  It is a process of discernment.

Here is series of 12 videos that may be helpful to you: God and Modern Physics.  I will keep you in my prayers.

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Far from it.



I dated a die hard Catholic girl for a short bit. I wouldn't say that Catholicism is even close to 'moving into modern times'.

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Not sure where you are in Texas but go here and search for a local Orthodox Catholic Church. I belong to an OCA parish but most Orthodox Churches are in communion with each other although not with the Roman Catholic Church which broke away in 1054.

Plenty of good reading here on Orthodox beliefs.

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Maybe on issues like contraception and priest being able to marry they are holding fast to the old ways, but I am not interested in those ideas as they are meaningless to me.

I am inclined to base my faith on the idea that Christianity should teach you how to behave towards your fellow man and how to live a life that is acceptable to God. The Bible should not be the basis for world history, the origins of The Universe and the origin of species.

That may sound like a trivial matter to determine the direction of your faith, but to many Christians it is outright heresy.

 

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I believe it fair to point out that Roman Catholics believe it was the other way around.

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One owes it to themselves to research early Christianity and the earliest Church fathers. The orthodox Church wasn't created till Constantine created it in the 4th century.

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So which church do you recommend one research for an unbroken connection to the time of Christ? Did Constantine have an affect on the Church? Of course he did. But the Church is still our best connection to the beginning, a great example is the Liturgy of St. James which predates Constantine and is still in use by the Orthodox Church.

ETA Whoops, it looks like the current version of the Liturgy of St. James is believed to have come about during the 4th Century so the version we use doesn't predate Constantine.

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Indulgences (buying a departed relative's way out of purgatory) again a Roman Catholic addition that was added to get money from people; the Orthodox Church doesn't even believe in purgatory.

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From (me) raised as a Catholic:

I was taught at  a young age who I could play with - no Methodists, no Lutherans, etc.  

As I got older, I was told who I can marry -  no Methodists, no Lutherans, etc.  

They help the Spanish Inquisition for Galileo for his studies and theories - they placed him under house arrest until his death - it only took them two or three hundred years to exonerate him.  

Wow, what an open minded religion!

And, the bible was written by humans, that have been known to embellish stories. Not to mention, why were so many sections of it left out?

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With all due respect, sharps54, that is not what an indulgence is.  If you would like find out what an indulgence actually is, you can read it here.  I would argue, and I am sure you would disagree, that you will find the doctrine of purgatory in scripture and writing of the early Church.  Corruption surrounding almsgiving and indulgences came later.  Let's not turn this into a Catholic-bashing thread.

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Galileo was not placed under house arrest because the Church opposed his studies & theories.  He was punished for teaching his theory in public as if it was fact.  There was also a lot of politics and personal conflicts involved.  Can you give any other examples where the Catholic Church persecuted scientists?

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No one ever said the Church was "open-minded".  Why would it be?  We claim that Jesus Christ had a set of teachings which he passed on to his apostles, some was eventually written down, some taught orally, which was not subject to change.  

Galileo was not placed under house arrest because the Church opposed his studies & theories.  He was punished for teaching his theory in public as if it was fact.  There was also a lot of politics and personal conflicts involved.  Can you give any other examples where the Catholic Church persecuted scientists?

The Scripture Must Be Fulfilled

Understandably, the prophecy of the betrayal produces agitation and curiosity among the disciples. “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus: so Simon Peter beckoned to him and said, ‘Tell us who it is of whom he speaks.’ So lying thus, close to the breast of Jesus, he said to him: ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered: ‘It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it’” (13:23–26). . . .

Jesus’ answer, as given here, is quite unambiguous. Yet the evangelist says that the disciples still did not understand whom he meant. So we must assume that John retrospectively attributed a clarity to the Lord’s answer that it lacked at the time for those present. John 13:18 brings us onto the right track. Here Jesus says, “The Scripture must be fulfilled: ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me’” (cf. Ps 41:9; Ps 55:13). This is Jesus’ classic way of speaking: he alludes to his destiny using words from Scripture, thereby locating it directly within God’s logic, within the logic of salvation history. . . .

John gives a new depth to the psalm verse with which Jesus spoke prophetically of what lay ahead, since instead of the expression given in the Greek Bible for “eating”, he chooses the verb trogein, the word used by Jesus in the great “bread of life” discourse for “eating” his flesh and blood, that is, receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist ( Jn. 6:54–58). So the psalm verse casts a prophetic shadow over the Church of the evangelist’s own day, in which the Eucharist was celebrated, and indeed over the Church of all times: Judas’ betrayal was not the last breach of fidelity that Jesus would suffer. “Even my bosom friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me” (Ps 41:9). The breach of friendship extends into the sacramental community of the Church, where people continue to take “his bread” and to betray him.

Jesus’ agony, his struggle against death, continues until the end of the world, as Blaise Pascal said on the basis of similar considerations (cf. Pensées VII, 553). We could also put it the other way around: at this hour, Jesus took upon himself the betrayal of all ages, the pain caused by betrayal in every era, and he endured the anguish of history to the bitter end.

The Mystery of the Betrayer

John does not offer any psychological interpretation of Judas’ conduct. The only clue he gives is a hint that Judas had helped himself to the contents of the disciples’ money box, of which he had charge (12:6). In the context of chapter 13, the evangelist merely says laconically: “Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him” (13:27).

For John, what happened to Judas is beyond psychological explanation. He has come under the dominion of another. Anyone who breaks off friendship with Jesus, casting off his “easy yoke”, does not attain liberty, does not become free, but succumbs to other powers. To put it another way, he betrays this friendship because he is in the grip of another power to which he has opened himself.

True, the light shed by Jesus into Judas’ soul was not completely extinguished. He does take a step toward conversion: “I have sinned”, he says to those who commissioned him. He tries to save Jesus, and he gives the money back (Mt 27:3–5). Everything pure and great that he had received from Jesus remained inscribed on his soul—he could not forget it.

His second tragedy—after the betrayal—is that he can no longer believe in forgiveness. His remorse turns into despair. Now he sees only himself and his darkness; he no longer sees the light of Jesus, which can illumine and overcome the darkness. He shows us the wrong type of remorse: the type that is unable to hope, that sees only its own darkness, the type that is destructive and in no way authentic. Genuine remorse is marked by the certainty of hope born of faith in the superior power of the light that was made flesh in Jesus.

John concludes the passage about Judas with these dramatic words: “After receiving the morsel, he immediately went out; and it was night” (13:30). Judas goes out—in a deeper sense. He goes into the night; he moves out of light into darkness: the “power of darkness” has taken hold of him (cf. Jn 3:19; Lk 22:53).

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Do I believe that I am a sinner in need of God's mercy and Jesus' sacrifice? Yes.

Do I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, crucified died and was buried, and on the third day rose again? Yes.

Do I believe that faith without works is dead and that faith must also show fruits such as love, charity, humility and grace? Yes.

Do I believe that God everything which exists was created over a 144 hour period 6,000 years ago? No.

That may seem insignificant, but it is not. Most of the Christians I know would call it heresy.

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They help the Spanish Inquisition for Galileo for his studies and theories - they placed him under house arrest until his death - it only took them two or three hundred years to exonerate him.  

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People do that all the time... I see them on CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews...

Maybe we should all round them up? Put them in camps?

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although not with the Roman Catholic Church which broke away in 1054.

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Bruno: when he publicly defended Copernicus, the Inquisition arrested him, tortured and burned him at the stake.
Campanella was tortured seven times by the Inquisition for a number of heresies, one of which was writing Defense of Galileo.
These are a few that I know of

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Sadly, it's too late. The Catholic basher's are here. Pulling out the same old Chick Tracts.

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So, as you may or may not know, I have been undergoing a crisis with regards to faith for the past few years.

I was raised a Bible believing, pentecostal, charismatic, tongue talking Christian.

The problem is that I no longer believe The Bible is the infallible word of God.

But, I am not exactly an atheistic heathen either.

I do believe in God, I do believe in Jesus, I do believe in the Virgin Birth, I do believe in the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension. I also believe in the Big Bang, Dinosaurs and evolution. I do not believe that accepting both sides is a contradiction.

What I do not believe in is the 6,000 year old Earth, the 6 day creation story, the Tower of Babel story, Noah's Ark, etc. To be honest with you, if the God of the Bible is who it says he is, then I don't think he cares.

So, I have been doing some reading about Catholicism. The Pope seems to be a level headed guy and The Church seems to have moved into modern times for the most part, without giving up the core of the religion or the traditions. I'm thinking this is a good fit for me.

So what do you Catholics think? Is Catholicism right for me?

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You might be interested in reading a book called "Rome Sweet Home" by Scott Hahn.  It describes his journey from strict evangelicalism to Catholicism in a way that is easy for people to follow.  Basically, he set out to prove the foibles and fallacies of Catholicism and ended up convicted (his word) that Catholicism was actually the Church as founded by Jesus.

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I suppose that I am more than a little intrigued by the claim that Scott comes from a background of "strict evangelicalism."

How do you define "strict evangelicalism"?

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Maybe on issues like contraception and priest being able to marry they are holding fast to the old ways, but I am not interested in those ideas as they are meaningless to me.

I am inclined to base my faith on the idea that Christianity should teach you how to behave towards your fellow man and how to live a life that is acceptable to God. The Bible should not be the basis for world history, the origins of The Universe and the origin of species.

That may sound like a trivial matter to determine the direction of your faith, but to many Christians it is outright heresy.

 

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Well, hopefully we won't hijack this tread too much.

Dr. Hahn's bio is here: http://www.salvationhistory.com/personnel/Dr.%20Scott%20Hahn  Read between the lines while looking at his educational background and you'll see some of what I mean by noticing from whence his education came..

In general, I would say that strict evangelicalism is on par with "sola scriptura" - the belief that if it ain't in the Bible, it ain't really real.