Posted on 02/23/2007 8:32:11 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Walking away from mass on Ash Wednesday, I found myself examining my belief in the Catholic faith. While I felt proud to sport my new "smudge" — the term my roommates gave the ashen cross on my forehead — and even became angry when others looked at me with confusion.
I realized that I do not agree with what the Catholic faith stands for.
From the time I was born up until my senior year of high school my parents made me attend mass with them every Sunday morning. They staunchly believed that the teachings would instill a sense of community and would give me morals to live by. They ultimately succeeded in their wish, but as I grew up going to church left me increasingly angry and confused.
I have always been taught that God welcomes and loves all people. Priests and Sunday school teachers present you with an all-loving God — he is your friend, your creator and most importantly your guide in life.
As I became a teenager though, my Sunday school teachers started adding a disclaimer next to "all-loving." I started realizing that he is only all loving if you are a Christian heterosexual man or woman who follows every commandment to a tee.
Too bad if you're gay, God doesn't love you any more. If you're a woman and have had an abortion you might as well give up because God is going to smite you. And if you believe in other religions, forget it.
According to one of the Ten Commandments, "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." that's one of the worst possible offenses.
These statements and others left me feeling at odds with my faith, so much so that I have taken three courses in Bible study. While I respect those who believe in the Christian faith, the biggest question I have been struggling with is how I can believe in a God that loves me conditionally.
As I continued in the Catholic faith more loopholes presented themselves. God doesn't approve of gay people, but he does approve of incest. In the book of Genesis, Eve gave birth to two sons named Cain and Abel. When they were teenagers Cain killed Abel in a field near their house. God decrees that Cain, his wife and children must live in the field where Able was killed as a punishment.
Where did Cain's wife come from? Did she fall from the sky? Did Cain sleep with Eve? This question is one that I've posed to my friends and even some of my old Sunday school teachers. Their answer was always that God made another woman for Cain to procreate with.
This answer and many like it have simply left me feeling even more perplexed. I'm sure I am not the only Catholic on campus that began questioning her faith after coming to college.
So where do we go from here? I am left in what seems to be a small but growing group of Catholics who are now realizing that their all-loving God is really a sham. It's a lot like finding out that the all-powerful Oz is really just some guy behind a curtain.
The ongoing struggle that I'm experiencing with my faith is something I fear will never be resolved. Do I still go to church, should I still consider myself a Catholic or should I abandon all hope of ever finding any real answers?
The only real answer that I have come up with is to add more disclaimers to my abridged version of Catholicism.
For those that are struggling with the same questions that I am the only wisdom I can provide is this: find your own way.
These days I've started to create my own faith foundation. In my opinion God is all loving and would not shun a person because of sexual preference, hard decisions they've made or their religion.
Some people have asked why don't you just switch to a religion that you agree with? Although that seems like the perfect solution, I know that no matter what religion I switch to there will always be aspects of it that I don't agree with.
Some Catholics may call me a fair weather Christian because I only believe in part of the Bible and don't attend church regularly. But I've started realizing that it's more about being a good person and having morals that you believe and not about being a "model" Christian.
While my current opinions on the Catholic faith have left me at odds with my parents and my strict Christian friends on many occasions, these obstacles haven't stopped me from following what I truly believe. I can't pretend to be what I'm not.
Now when people ask me "What's your religion?" I answer I'm Catholic and then add my own disclaimer: I'm Catholic but on my own terms, ones that aren't built on prejudice.
Quoting from (possibly faulty) memory:
A thousand difficulties do not equal a single doubt. -- Ven. John Henry Cardinal Newman.
Hey, Shannon - it's not about you.
What "definition" would that be, and who came up with it?
How so? From a Catholic POV, did Cain's wife fall from the sky, did Cain slept with Eve, or did God make another woman for Cain to procreate with, and is it heresy for someone to believe otherwise?
What a ridiculous strawman this little girl creates.
"Can God make a burrito so spicy, even He can't eat it?"
It would not be heresy to say that Cain slept with Eve. (Sick, but not heretical. :-0)
The other two answers you mention are heretical. If you think about it, someone not descended from Adam and Eve did not participate (federally) in the Fall, so you have some theological issues there.
Polygenism was condemned in the encyclical Humani Generis of Pope Pius XII, but of course he was only upholding the received teaching.
One of those daughters was Cain's wife. Yes, that would also be his sister ... You know Murphy's Law of Relativity, right? If you go back far enough, we're all related. Brother. Not only are you and I both descended from Adam and Eve ... we're both descended from Noah. How do you think Noah's grandchildren managed to "be fruitful and multiply"? They married their First Cousins. The Biblical prohibition on incest comes much later.
Does the Catholic Church agree with the criteria for bishops in I Timothy 3:2-5?
ArrogantBustard's #5 responded to me, saying "Lousy answers? That answer is (from a Catholic POV) blatant heresy" . My own #3 stated that the responses quoted from friends and old Sunday school teachers were "lousy answers", esp. given that some came from Sunday school teachers. AB's response was read as saying my answer (singular noun) was heretical, not of the "lousy answers" (plural noun) being heretical.
AB, if I misunderstood your post #5, please ignore my post #24 entirely.
"If my parents didn't have any children, chances are I won't either."
Carl Jung, hardly an orthodox Christian, made an astute observation about disillusionment. Disgruntled Protestants change to another denomination. Disgrunted Catholics typically become atheist. I add my prayers to yours for this young lady.
Yes: "2 It behoveth therefore a bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, of good behaviour, chaste, given to hospitality, a teacher, 3 Not given to wine, no striker, but modest, not quarrelsome, not covetous, but 4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all chastity. 5 But if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
2 "Of one wife"... The meaning is not that every bishop should have a wife (for St. Paul himself had none), but that no one should be admitted to the holy orders of bishop, priest, or deacon, who had been married more than once. "
Their answer was always that God made another woman for Cain to procreate with.
The author spoke in the singular, there; so did I. I was not referring to your answer, but to theirs.
These college (or high school) student crises of faith are all alike.
I wonder if there's a lesson in that ...
As I became a teenager though, my Sunday school teachers started adding a disclaimer next to "all-loving." I started realizing that he is only all loving if you are a Christian heterosexual man or woman who follows every commandment to a tee.
This is one of the things about mainstream Christianity that turns off some people. Only about 1/3 of the world's population calls itself Christian. That means that, even taking them all at their word, by mainstream theology 2/3 of the world is condemned to eternal damnation. A lot of people have trouble believing in that.
LOL......can you say........where's the"cafeteria"??
Seriously though, I found myself laughing and crying simultaneously as I read this piece. Laughing because she seems to believe that she's pioneering a spirituality which is both original and authentic. There's an air of pretentiousness about her half-baked theological ruminations.
Crying, because she's an archetypal member of the lost generation of Catholics. Poorly catechised (from the sounds of her understanding of the Church's position on homosexuality and abortion), caught up in secular humanism and drifting towards shipwreck on the rocks with nobody to guide her spiritually. There are millions like her.
There but for the grace of God, go I.
I did like the "fell from the sky" answer, though. Reminded me of the opening credits from Mr Bean...
Mainstream conservative Protestant theology might say that. Catholic or Eastern Orthodox theology does not.
If any of those 2/3rds are saved, they are saved through the merits of Christ. Perhaps God chooses to save some without formal church membership, perhaps not. In any case, we are called to preach the Gospel to everyone, not to theorize about the fate of those who cannot or will not hear it.
Some line comes to mind about a "herd of independent thinkers". ;-)
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