I've never been to a RC church but I've heard that many times."That kind of thinking was not good enough for me and it's why I sought to know what was the truth from the Bible"
I hear that!
"I think the real problem is that many Catholics do not know why they must believe something, just that they are supposed to, no questions asked"
To be fair,they certainly aren't the only ones.I think it would be difficult to find anyone that understood completely everything they believed.In fact,it seems many people don't even know what they believe,let alone understand it."Faith cometh by hearing" so I suppose what ever is heard the most,is trusted the most,regardless of wether it's right or wrong.
The trouble really starts when we go to the Scriptures to try and justify what we already believe and in relation to that I honestly think I was blessed to have zero religious anything in my life until one fine day 8-)
To belong to a body that declares itself "the one true" anything would make for a lot of inner turbulence should it be found to be just plain wrong.More so if that was where your assurance came from.
Thank you for your comments. I agree with them. This last part, I believe, may just be the gist of the problem we have experienced so many times on these threads. It is really hard to admit we can be wrong about something. On this subject of Purgatory, the Catholic Church has set itself apart even from the Orthodox Church - there are other areas as well, but this is one where they differ sharply. Combined with the Catholic Church's proclaiming that they are "infallible" on matters of faith and morals when making such proclamations, for someone to prove from Scripture that they could actually be wrong about something is unthinkable. The whole house comes crumbling down if even on one dogma they are found in error. It's why so many just accept it and don't worry and why so many here defend their church so vociferously.
I thank God that you have come to the knowledge of the truth and pray that, in some small way, the discussions we have here can open more eyes to that same knowledge. God bless you, mitch5501!