Why'd you pick all the gloomy stuff to believe? (and all the dumb bigoted Catholics to learn it from?)
Heck, my dad had a "wife still living", as they used to say, when he and mom got hitched,but somehow 48 years later, give or take, I became a Catholic and, if you leave out some of the worst and sappiest hymns ever inflicted by banal and maudlin musicians on an unsuspecting populace, it's been great! And recently my parish got a WONDERFUL organist with actual TASTE, so now the music is good too!
Being Catholic (or hanging around Catholics) is no excuse for not thinking. You gotta use the wits God gave you. And one way to do so is to make sure you go to a parish with priests who love Jesus and have two wits to rub together. Don't listen to that other B.S.! This whole world was made by "the Love that moves the sun and other stars" and if you were the only human in it, and you needed God's Son to die for you, He'd do it in a heartbeat!
There are still plenty of people who think I'm illegitimate, and on my own toot I AM! Completely! No intrinsic redeeming characteristics whatsoever! None that aren't tainted by sin, anyway.
But for some reason, I keep hearing God say, "Once you were no people, but now you are MY people!"
I bet if you keep listening, you'll hear it too.
Excuse me. I have these fits occasionally.
I may be a Baptist, but I am proudly a Christian first.
I have had learned even more about Catholics from Soooothing Dave.
Thank you Mad Dog.