I was raised as a Catholic, walked away from it?

Question

After 30 years I came to accepting Christ, now I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone who truly wants to go to heaven can buy into Catholicism. I know it's the apostate church and there's a ton of doctrine that cannot be supported in the bible. When will you Catholics learn how to read a bible and let the Holy Spirit teach you the truth instead of buying into religous propaganda?

Answer 1

I was like you born into what we were told was "the only true religion". So many of their doctrines are made up by their popes and not in the bible at all, as you were saying. It's sad that Catholics are so mislead. But to tell you the truth, alot of them know the truth but still choose to be Catholics because it's easier to think you can go to heaven by going to church every Sunday and giving them your money and recieving "the seven sacroments" rather than admitting your a sinner and giving your life to Christ.

Answer 2

The Catholic Church does not use Holy Scripture as the only basis of doctrine. It could not. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

There were hundreds of Christian writings during the first and second centuries. Which New Testament writings would become official was not fully decided until about 400 AD.

Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like:
+ The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
+ Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the Ten Commandments)
+ The Communion of Saints
+ Which writings include in the New Testament?

Things that are even more modern like
+ Slavery is bad. Slavery is never declared evil in the Bible. This was one of the justifications for slavery in the Confederate States.
+ Democracy is good. The Bible states that either God should be the leader of the nation like Israel before the kings or kings should be the leader, "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." This was talked about a lot during the American Revolution.

This second source of doctrine is called Holy Tradition.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

I always laugh at the idea that having been a Catholic somehow grants you authority to speak against it. For example, you speak of "tons of doctrine that cannot be supported in the bible", and yet you don't mention even one of these doctrines as evidence.

Merely having been a Catholic, for however long, doesn't mean you know anything about it. Perhaps you had the misfortune of being educated in the faith by lackluster teachers? Perhaps you did not take the initiative to futher learn the faith on your own, and when you did, you encountered anti-Catholic literature?

I also get a kick out of the idea that, when one encounters a Church Doctrine that is difficult to understand -it's the Church that's wrong, not the individual! Do you really think you can outwit more than 2,000 years of the Catholic Church's collective discerment?

Answer 4

I was brought up very loosely w/ regard to religion, we just believed & if we wanted to go to church on Sunday there was a bus that would come pick us up & we would leave a note for our sleeping parents. When I got older (like Junior High, & High Sch.) I was like u have to go to what? Confirmation? What's that? What's a first communion? In my eyes even then I was like what does that have to w/ God? It seems as tho it is more for the parents, like when they baptize babies. As I understand the bible, baptism is something u voluntarily agree to not sin, and follow Jesus Christ as your saviour. Jesus was 30 something when He went to the river! Not 3 months or whatever! God has always left religion open (in my life anyways) for my own interpretation. And I thank Him LITERALLY everyday for the way he guided me & wanted me to be. Catholics seem like the scribes of the old days, concerned w/ the glory of man, not God. Like the pope, seem to like the important seats in the churches. And look at all the evil that has gone hand in hand w/ the "mother church", the inquisition (which by the way made me sick to my stomach,& brought tears to my eyes while reading about what they did to people) the pedophilia, & I've heard that even the nuns had their own les affairs! I'm all for being free & all, but to say one thing & do another is HYPOCRISY! Jesus didn't like hypocrites then, I'm pretty sure He doesn't now. Anyways, I completely agree. I just hope there are good God loving Catholics too. My only solace in what that church has done (as they are not the only abomination of a church) is "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord", we must have faith in that my brother.

Answer 5

I'm not a member of any organized religion...I'm an Episcopalian. Makes it much easier to agree with your point. The answer is they won't learn. For the large part, most organized religions are successful in recruiting and retaining members because they provide a platform where themembers don't have to think for themselves. They are spoon fed their believes, their moral fortitude's, their actions and in many cases their political views. Most theological atrocities in both act and doctrine are supported under the guise of "tradition". What most people don't realize is that many of the traditions of the church are due very much because the church was for a long time integrated with the government. (I'm not talking so much about the USA or modern times-all you left wing ACLU nut-jobs-don't bother responding). There is little chance that modern free thinking can or will replace two thousand years of "traditional theology".

Answer 6

now why is it that everyone here discredits the Bible with out even researching anything about or in the Bible itself. everyone just agrees with the critics that the Bible is wrong and could not possibly be right. the critics are wrong, don't just look at the "religious" point in the Bible, why don't you also look at the historical points in the Bible, I know most of you think that the Bible is not historically correct. that's a big fat lie that was put out there by Bible critics. and don't say "no it wasn't", stop being so lazy and ACTUALLY RESEARCH IT YOURSELF. it's easy to take someone else's words and take them as true, then turn your back and forget about the Bible and everything in it. try reading these books: The Great Jesus Debate, Grant R. Jeffrey, isbn-0-921714-56-4, A Ready Defense, Josh McDowell, isbn-0-8407-4419-6. so go ahead read these books, after you read them, compare your critics' arguments to what they say in these books and let me know how they stand up to them. STOP TAKING EVERYONE'S SUPPOSITIONS AND GUESSES ABOUT THE BIBLE AND FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF

Answer 7

first of all, sounds like this is a rethorical question... im not sure you want an answer... what you are describing is not exclusive to catholicism, you can see it in any religion in the world... most people are followers, not leaders; so a few leaders take control and the rest of us just follow... i was also raised a catholic and havent practiced in years, but i have learned religion is a very personal thing that is better left alone...

Answer 8

I do understand your perspective but as you said it took you 30 years. Have compassion, grace and understanding, you will reach people further through prayer then an open attack in an open forum.

We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Answer 9

I hope that you avoid religion in general for if you attend a church on Sunday then you are still under catholic influence regardless of what the sign out front says.

Answer 10

I was raised a Christ-believing Protestant. It only took 20 years to fully walk away from it. I've now been an atheist for over 20 years. Now I cannot for the life of me understand why more people don't realize that gods just don't exist. I know there's no Heaven, no Hell, no gods, no angels, no devils, no ghosts, no fairies, and no bogeymen. When will you Christians really read the Bible honestly and see how bogus it is, instead of buying into the god superstition?