The seven sacraments, baptism, penance, commumion, confirmation, marriage, holy orders (for priests), and last rites are ceremonies that to a degree are duplicated in Protestant churches and in mon-church society.
In Catholic tradition each of these must be performed by a priest, and having them performed by a priest is a cornerstone of salvation.
You could be the best-behaved, sin-abstaining, charity-doing, most devoutly-believing, bible-reading person on a desert island, but without an ordained priest performing the sacraments your chances if getting into heaven are “unknown.”
Atheiests and bad-behaving Protestants sometimes use the Catholic belief in the sacraments as false teachings, a power-hungry attempt by the church to maintain a stranglehold on power.
At that point, why be anything? Is your fear that following Protestant teachings would end up with you being punished? From our conversations, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Wouldn’t it be better, then, to just not ascribe to any organized religion and follow and live the teachings as you believe them to be?
So speaks someone who only knows separation of Church and State. Back at that time Catholic rulers forbade their subjects to worship as Protestants whereas Protestant rules forbade Catholics from meeting. The rulers, not any church denomination, decided the faith of the people. When the State made an accusation of heresy, the person/people accused usually ask to have the Church rule (as the Church was much more lenient). We do have one exception of one person during one inquisition. As for Protestant atrocities against Catholics…neither group has any reason to be proud.
So…if these things prevent someone from considering Catholicism, it should also prevent them from considering Protestant denominations. Maybe Buddhism, then? Ooops, nope. They have their atrocities against us as well.
Must be why Jesus was so gun-ho on preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As far as I know, all three of us–Catholics, Protestants, and Buddhists have long since turned away/repented of those behaviors. Repentance. Forgiveness.
Ah, but I have no fear of Protestant teachings–I simply lack interest in pursuing them. I do have an interest in Judaism. As for not joining any organized religion…I compare it to having a well and not drawing from it. A well with nothing drawing from it eventually dries up. A pond grows stagnant. On my own, like a pond or a well, I am simply not enough to keep myself from drying out or going stagnant.
Seems to me too be splitting hairs. Once one is saved and guaranteed a place in heaven or paradise or whatever it is, with God for all eternity, what need do they have of evidence? To whom are they trying to prove their salvation? To others? To God? To themselves?
Once salvation is guaranteed and cannot be lost, the motivation to do any good works, or even to not do bad works, is greatly reduced. Reduced to the point of nonexistence.
If salvation is attained and guaranteed without works, then don’t do any. Now, I know you will disagree with that statement and I don’t care. What I am interested in is why you disagree with it.
I think when Catholics say “left up to the will of a loving God,” they are saying “We know that devotion and the sacraments work. We don’t know if ‘whatever you come up with’ will work.”
So if a person (moi) is not living on a desert island, and not living in Saudi Arabia wgy would he NOT avail himself of the sacraments and weekly church attendance?
In my case the answer was ego,
although at the time I would have used terms like “nonconfimist” or “free thinking” or “chaff” and “herd.”
So it’s more of a social thing? Maybe I’m just to anti-social to understand lol One of the biggest burdens in my faith (for me) is all the meetings and feasts and general socializing. I have made my biggest progress and feel closest to God alone, reading books, meditating, journaling, praying, etc.
No, it is definitely not social. I am pretty much the proverbial hermit when it comes to socializing, which I avoid. Period. Homilies at church introduce new thoughts and new possibilities in an atmosphere where I am not required to do any socializing or mingling. I am fine with listening and pondering what others say. I challenge myself to put into practice what I have heard that day. I simply don’t want to chat about it. I hide behind, “Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” a lot–certainly more than Jesus intended.
I find a metric ton of content online through podcasts, YouTube channels, PDFs, online libraries, etc. That’s my preferred medium anyway. I have never gained much from in-person study circles or the services we have in terms of new ideas. I only attend out of sheer obligation hoping one day I am “deepened” enough to gain something out of it I guess.
Love that logo! There is a lot online, I agree. Hermit, shy, and introverted as I am, I have to (begrudgingly) admit community is important. About all I can do is be present and show my support. It is not much, I agree, but the little I have, I give.
Yeah, simply being present is a win for me, too. We do nearly all of our services and activities in our homes, so I try to contribute by hosting things. Then I can focus on food and tea and general bustling about. We gotta find our niches, us introverts lol They’ve thrown a wrench in my strategy by asking me to be on a committee for youth, though.
