This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

I'm Catholic

milady

And the resurrection!

You're right. I can remember being asked at primary school, what is the most important celebration in the Church's calendar. Was it the Birth of Christ or the Death/Resurrection of Christ?

My logic told me that if Christ hadn't been born He wouldn't have existed to die for us - my teacher reminded me that unless Christ had died to atone for our sins, we would not be able to look forward to eternal life with God!

I pose the same point - if Christ had not been crucified He could not have been resurrected. Which is the most important? Or are they of equal importance? :wink:

Reply 21

Lodesterre

yawn

I pose the same point - if Christ had not been crucified He could not have been resurrected. Which is the most important? Or are they of equal importance? :wink:

God was borne into human form (while still being fully God) to die for our sins. There is no separation between the two: they are one and the same.

Although some find this hard to grasp, it is pointless arguing about it while you are alive. You have to be eternal.

Reply 22

UpliftMof0

OP

2

I Dont go to confession not because I dont want to confess to God but because its my belief that if i can pray directly to god (through jesus) and thank him and ask him for help then there is no logical reason why I shouldn't be able to ask God's forgiveness in the same way. My own personal thoguhts on confession is that knowing a person (The priest) is on the other side of the screen can help people to truelly own up to their sins, that soudsn weird but it makes sense to me. I am quite a consciencious person to begin with and I dotn feel I need another person there to make me feel regret for my sins, I feel that anyway.

Lets not let this turn into a debate now folks (ok,ok,ok i know its in a debating subforum but where else could i put this?) I'm sure one of you is quite capable of starting a new thread abot whats more important, although I would agree with Lodesterre on that.

Anyhow. I promised an account of where my faith comes from.

I guess it is all based upon my family as the origin of my faith. My parents are christian (one catholic the other prodestant) so I have always believed in God, THats just how I was broguht up. We pray before our main meal and when someone in the extended family is seriously ill my parents encouraged me to pray fro them before i went to sleep (something I didnt always do when my faith wasnt as strong as it is now). So my family is definatly the basis of my faith.

My brother has also been quite an influence on me in this way (my other brother is an athiest) he went awy to christian/catholic youth camps and retreats and what not and so he gave me my first glimpse at a church I hadnt experienced before.

Im sure there are many people who are broguht up in christian familys, who go to church every sunday or not, who really arent particualry reliant or faithful abotu their religion, the majority of my friends are/were like that, going to church but didnt really know what it was all about. I foudn church boring and fairly un interesting, a chore. but like i said, my brother gave me a glimpse of something more.

When I was 12/13 I became friends with a girl who was a born again christian from the elim-pentacostal church. she told me about how her youth group was starting up a youth alpha course. Now alrthough I found church boring I have always been intrigued by god and have always had afairly spiritual life, when i was told off for doing something wrong and i would be in my room crying i would be telling god i was sorry for screwing up, for messing around with my parents, for making them angry. anyhow i took an interestin the alpha course and went along. THe church group invited me to join them going away to a christian camp, called funnily enough, faith camp.

So i went alnog and had a great week, this was exactly what i'd been looking for enthusiastic young people like myself with a powerful and loving god who showed himself to me and gave people gifts, the gift of toungues, of prophecy etc. I was raelly into it and That week i gave my life to god. at that point i really wouldn't have classed myself as a catholic, amongst the 'free-churches' there is a lot of disdain aimed at the catholic churhc and its 'hypocritcal ways' so i certainly wouldnt call myself a catholic back then. However as my mum asked i went along every sunday still and i still appreciated that what the preist had to say was the Lords word and had meaning for me.

After about two years i began to think that christianity really wasnt for me, this happy clappy energetic atmosphere that we are all supposed to have around us 100% of the time really wasnt doing it for me nad more thna anything else I found i was lack-lustre about everything, i just didnt have time to give to anything else. and to be fair I had really been struggling with my faith. I kept feeling that If God was really there and really wnated me to follow him he would do something, give me a sign, speak to me physically and it never came.

This is a strnage situation here because at this point I fell out with god. I didnt stop believing in him I had an argument with him I decided to tell him "lord if you love me if this is right for me than give me a sign show me that christianity is the right thing for me lord show me that its all real" I gave God an ultiamtum and of course it didnt work. so I stopped praying i stopped going to the free church in my town and gave up. I still went with my parents to catholic church but that was it, there was nothing to be learnt there, it was jsut a 45 minute drag that couldnt finsih faster.

Now about two years on I slowly noticed that my faith in god slowly built up again, i certainly wasnt praying to him but i was very much aware that maybe he is there, and it was just me that was going the wrong way about it, that born-again christianity wasnt the right path for me and that maybe it would happen some other way.

this is where the story takes a strange twist.

I hadnt really told many people that I was no longer christian (I made a rather big hoo-ha about it at my school when i was and tried to start up all sorts of christian prayer groups and whatnot.)and so a girl i knew in the year below came to me one day and started asking me questions about christianity, how i became christian, once she learned i wasnt any longer she started asking about why i wasn't anymore. She would ask me for christian music and christian websites, i gave her links to www.thewordismusic.co.uk (a great resource btw) which is a christian radio. I told all about my experiences. and i focussed a lot on what to be weary of, the fakers the people who really psuh on your forehead to make you fall back, the people who lie to themselves so they can lie to an audience about their experiences, there not bad people I did it to myself, i thoguht i had a vision, i didnt, i realised soon after but i understoodf how it could happen. so most of all i told this friend of mine that the most important thing was to be careful, go ahead and lsiten and be attentive but jsut be careful and dont let anyone brainwaash you, dont let anyone tell you your gonig to hell.

This girl, on my advice, with a group of friends went off to soul survivor this year and so god, through me - and at that time i wasnt christian -brought them to him. I always find that a great testement to the many ways that god works you know?

I can see it now but god was definatly looknig to take me back into his arms this summer though, I was aware that all of a sudden i was being surrounded by people who were christians, my then girlfriend was christian, one of my new friends was a christian and this girl i had been talkngi about was also christian so god was letting me mingle with the right people :smile:

anyhow. The parents of an old friend of mine get in touch with my parents rather randomly and they get talknig and they go out for meals and then they invite me to go to a catholic camp with my old friend, who I hadnt seen for something like 8 years. I thoguht yea waht the heck, not really thinknig about it. we met up to make sure we still got on and that was all swell and then suddenly it was the week before this camp.

I went away and found the company, the Nuns, the priests, the weather was all so welcoming and i learnt so much from the dominican nuns woh help organise the camp and from the people around me that i relised this was what I had been looking for.

Its funny because once i had got over the accusations of hypocrasy against the catholic church I began thinkngi about how the dynamic of a free church could be brought into catholicism and I was under the impression that speaking in toungues and the laying on of hands wasnt existant (outside the sacrements i mean) SO i cam eup with the idea of a dynamic catholic church. just a random thoguht one day.

Then at this camp i meet a nun who is praying over people, in toungues, the whole shaboodle (although unfortnatly she must have been so used to results that she felt the need to try and force me to keel over when she prayed for me, that did rather spoil my evening a little). but it introduced me to a whole side of catholicism i didnt know existed and as a result i was overjoyed at what i had found. I was at home with these people.

In any case I realise I have written an awful lot and probably havent answered any questions but simply caused more. feel free to ask me.

ARE THERE ANYMORE CATHOLICS OUT THERE????

Reply 23

sherunsaway

2

I'm officially a Catholic, have done my first holy communion and have been confirmed but now I'm completely lapsed, haven't been to church in 2 years since the old priest left (the new one totally sucked) and now can't see the point in religion. Wonderful.

Reply 24

UpliftMof0

OP

2

ok if it wasnt clear in your other post i tihnk i get the message now that you wish you had been raised in a religious environment??? correct me if im wrong :smile:

Reply 25

sherunsaway

2

Religion can make you feel good, so I suppose that would have been nice, but I think my upbringing has just confused me more than anything else.

Reply 26

Person

13

I'm not religious, but the Christian side of my family is Catholic. There seem to be more Catholics up my way than average in England.

Reply 27

yawn

17

Often we can't hear God talking to us because we aren't listening.

This thought was provoked by something UpliftMofO said on his last post.

Find a quiet place, sit with your eyes closed and your mind open, and listen - you might be surprised when you realise that God is with you. :smile:

Reply 28

yawn

17

sherunsaway

Religion can make you feel good, so I suppose that would have been nice, but I think my upbringing has just confused me more than anything else.

Ask the Lord for the gift of wisdom. In fact, if one has been Confirmed one will have already received it through this sacrament - you need to seek it out by way of prayer and meditation.

Reply 29

Spud

sherunsaway

Religion can make you feel good, so I suppose that would have been nice, but I think my upbringing has just confused me more than anything else.

Firstly, you're totally correct - religion can make you feel good, despite the thinking of non-believers or faltered believers.

Your point about upbringing is also very valid - many people are brought up going to church, but see it as a routine and see it as a chore. This is partly to do with the seemingly boring nature of teaching in some churches, but is the exact reason so few young people are strong in faith. Another problem is that some young people try to rationalise everything in the Bible, from the miracles to the story of creation. The Bible is an extra-ordinary book, and things need to be accepted or looked at metaphorically, rather than taking everything directly.

Reply 30

milady

9

yawn

Ask the Lord for the gift of wisdom. In fact, if one has been Confirmed one will have already received it through this sacrament - you need to seek it out by way of prayer and meditation.

yeah, that's a good idea.

i recommend reading the bible as well, esp a gospel. I like the bibles where they print what Jesus says in red, so it stands out.

Reply 31

UpliftMof0

OP

2

milady

yeah, that's a good idea.

i recommend reading the bible as well, esp a gospel. I like the bibles where they print what Jesus says in red, so it stands out.

I've never seen a bible like that before. but it sounds like a good idea though!

yawn

Often we can't hear God talking to us because we aren't listening.

This thought was provoked by something UpliftMofO said on his last post.

Find a quiet place, sit with your eyes closed and your mind open, and listen - you might be surprised when you realise that God is with you.

Trust me when i say that thats exactly what I did, and sure i found out a lot about myself but I never heard God speak.
Personally I see it as god simply deciding that then wasnt the right time to talk to me. I dont know why, im not one to claim to understand God but that is how I see it.

Reply 32

yawn

17

UpliftMof0

Trust me when i say that thats exactly what I did, and sure i found out a lot about myself but I never heard God speak.
Personally I see it as god simply deciding that then wasnt the right time to talk to me. I dont know why, im not one to claim to understand God but that is how I see it.

Fair enough, my friend.

Can I just add though that sometimes, the way in which we expect things to happen doesn't always happen that way.

I remember someone who was bereaved saying they felt such a sense of loss because they could no longer see their loved one. Another commented that our loved ones remain with us for as long as we have a need for them to be with us - just that they don't necessarily manifest in exactly the way we might expect them to. It could be the slightest touch on the arm or maybe the merest breath of air on the cheek, or even the momentary whiff of scent that one always associated with them, or even a happy memory of times shared flooding back at an unexpected moment.

What I am trying to say in all this is that perhaps the fact that you learnt much about yourself might have been God giving you this insight to enable you to 'grow'. :smile:

Reply 33

UpliftMof0

OP

2

Yea, I'd say that chances are you were right. At that time however I wasnt't able to understand this and i was so desperate to be able to talk to my christian friends about what god said to me or whatever? I have learnt a lot since then of course but at the time it frustrated me :smile:

Reply 34

hawk_gets_bird

UpliftMof0

w00t go me! hehe. um basically the purpose of this thread is too see how many people there are out there in TSR land who are committed, enthusiastic christians who also happen to be catholic... like me in fact! its a rarity or so I'm led to believe. I mean It wasnt until I went to a catholic youth camp that I found out that others existed. SO yup, just say hey you catholics you! :biggrin:

im an atheist.....but i am committed to it.

I admire people with blind faith... i think im just to cynical to believe it.

Reply 35

nikk

15

yawn

Good on ya Howie. Tell it like it is. As you say, it's not too much to expect. After all, Jesus died on the cross for us lot. :smile:

The film 'passion of christ' rocked! :cool:

Not that I am religious but I liked the film lol.

Reply 36

UpliftMof0

OP

2

hawk_gets_bird

im an atheist.....but i am committed to it.

I admire people with blind faith... i think im just to cynical to believe it.

I wouldn't call my faith blind, althoguh obviously for it to be faith there is an element of .... err faith (lol) to the whole thing, im sure you get what I mean there, I have not proof but things that point in that direction.

In the same way that you have observations on life that point toward the non-existance of god, i have made observations in the past that make him seem like a very real entity to me.

Like I said before I'm not gonna preach and as a 'committed' athiest I doubt you want to hear it, but I dunno, if you wanna ask me anything, or I dont know just fancy a decent argument or something :P pm me.

Reply 37

hawk_gets_bird

UpliftMof0

I wouldn't call my faith blind, althoguh obviously for it to be faith there is an element of .... err faith (lol) to the whole thing, im sure you get what I mean there, I have not proof but things that point in that direction.

In the same way that you have observations on life that point toward the non-existance of god, i have made observations in the past that make him seem like a very real entity to me.

Like I said before I'm not gonna preach and as a 'committed' athiest I doubt you want to hear it, but I dunno, if you wanna ask me anything, or I dont know just fancy a decent argument or something :P pm me.

lol! sorry, i didnt know what to call it! fair enough mate! i respect you r beliefs!

everyone believes in something, i believe ill have another drink :wink:

Reply 38

Howard

5

hawk_gets_bird

im an atheist.....but i am committed to it.

I admire people with blind faith... i think im just to cynical to believe it.

Very few atheists are committed. Most of them cry out to God "why me?" when they learn they have cancer or quietly pray for a family member that's hooked up to a life support machine after a car accident.

It's easy to be a "committed atheist" when life is all plain sailing but we soon start to see cracks appear in the atheist's level of commitment to a Godless world as soon as life starts delivering some heavy duty blows.

Reply 39

john !!

14

yawn

Often we can't hear God talking to us because we aren't listening.

bingo. Im sure if I were "listening", ie., if I was insecure about not knowing everything, if I was lonely, or just wanted something meaninful to believe in, I'm sure I'd find god as well.

Unfortunately I'm far to cynical to ever convince myself of god, so I'm doomed to the sad truth in my mind that we are alone!

how depressing.,. lol

I'm Catholic

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you