As a southern Baptist I know I have no dog in this fight, but why do practicing Catholics put up with this? Just wondering.
I am a Roman Catholic, and there is one thing which I know of Southern Baptists: they try to the best of their ability to "walk the walk & talk the talk". For them there is only black and white...no grey. No ambiguity over what is and is not a sin. They use scripture (as we Catholics formerly did) as the ultimate reference guide to living in the ways of Christ.
For that, I applaud and support Baptists and all evangelical Christians - for sticking to their guns!
Unfortunately my beloved Catholic church has suffered through some 40 years of utter madness and confusion. Our church is rife with ambiguity about right and wrong. Our priests believe and preach (for the most part) what you and any good Christian would clearly see as heresy and apostacy - which our church, in its traditional teachings also views in this way.
The problem lies in the fact that the shepherds are nothing but wolves, and have lulled us Catholics to sleep, feeding us poison for the soul, instead of preaching loudly and clearly about sin & its consequences.
So Catholics are - for the most part - asleep....deeply asleep. I wish we would wake up, as a church, and rid ourselves of these apostates who lie to us from the pulpit, and fill our children's minds and souls with garbage.
Our problem is simply that we have trusted far too much. That we have not used the brains which God gave us for discernment of truth from falsehood.
First off, we don't have much of a choice. Bishops are appointed, and we have to remain civil (but not silent, thank God!)
Secondly, it's a good reminder that "life ain't fair,"--and that suffering is a good thing.
Finally, we have Purgatory, the place where one must go to get one's soul perfectly purified in preparation for the Beatific Vision. (Assuming we are not going straight to Hell....)
At any rate, Purgatorial sufferings CAN be mitigated by Earthly sufferings.
Having had Rembert Weakland as my Bishop for about 25 years, I figure I'm in pretty good shape, now...