Why is it that when you ask a catholic about their faith/religion/rituals, most of them give you a website to read their Catechism of the Catholic religion?
Why can't they just answer, biblically?
`
2007-07-19 16:57:36 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Wolfeblayde ...my question was asked to those who use the Catechism as the First resort. And for you to assume that I’m trying to ‘browbeat’ you is ‘not exactly a kind and loving way to treat another human being.’ Every religion has a set of rules/tenants of faith that they go by. I’m not saying anything bad about that. I just want to know why a lot of Catholics just post websites? Do you think we’re going to visit each website or read the entire Catechism in one sitting? If I ask “where do you get your belief on purgatory,” why can’t I just get a simple answer instead of, go to www.......
2007-07-19 17:28:18 · update #1
Some of us can and do give Biblical answers to questions. Unfortunately, we also tend to be told that we're "misquoting" or "misusing" Scripture when we do by overzealous folks who choose not to believe what we tell them.
So what you've done is put us in a Catch-22 position. If we support our doctrinal points with Scripture, we're wrong, and if we don't support them with Bible quotes, we're wrong. Under the circumstances, can you blame us for falling back on the Catechism as a last resort? It does a thorough job of explaining our beliefs and supports doctrinal points with Scripture.
And I'm going to be blunt here, but if you're just out to argue us down about what we believe, then you're not genuinely looking for answers. You're just trying to browbeat us into agreeing with you or prove your own preconceived ideas. That's not exactly a kind and loving way to treat another human being, no matter what their belief system happens to be.
Edit:
You may not even be aware of it, but your tone in this post comes across as combative. You didn't specific "some Catholics" or " a few Catholics." You said, "When you ask a Catholic. . ." You make sweeping statements about an entire group of people as if you have the right or the knowledge to speak about all of them.
Suppose for a minute that you were black or Hispanic, and I said, "Why do blacks like watermelon so much?" or "Why do all Hispanics steal?" Those are stereotypes, and you'd be justifiably upset at me. That's what you've done in this post: you've pre-judged an entire group of people based on one factor -- our religion.
And apparently you missed the "if" part of that last paragraph. Perhaps I should have used the word "Then" in the next sentence to indicate that the two ideas are logically connected, which they are. If you are just trying to argue us down, THEN you are browbeating us and not actually looking for information. Perhaps I should have made that clearer.
Your defensiveness in response to my post does lead me to wonder again what your motives for asking this question were. It certainly appears from your tone that you wanted to portray us in a negative light.
2007-07-19 17:05:44 · answer #1 · answered by Wolfeblayde 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, I'm not a catholic and obviously can't speak for anyone else's reasons for doing anything, lol, but I suspect there is a little more to it than some people suggest.
Firstly, Catholicism is a very old Church. They've been arguing about the Bible and aspects of it for over 2,000 years, and the arguments get a little tired and a little old.
Also, these arguments are *complex*. A couple of thousand characters on Y!A may not be enough to explain where the belief in purgatory comes from!
Many catholics are not brought up in their faith to regard 'chapter and verse' as of the same importance as interpretation and spiritual awareness (partly because most of these things have been argued out to the satisfaction of the leaders of the faithful over centuries), so while they honour the Bible as the Book of their faith, they leave the study to the theologians and practice their religion through prayer, contemplation, adherence to the tenets of the faith and observance of the important rituals of the church.
It's actually a different way of looking at how faith works to that in which most protestants are raised, and therein lies the problem, and the reason they cannot explain their faith to you on your terms.
It's like asking someone from, say, France, to explain their law against murder in English and using US contextual markers, because otherwise you can't understand them. You know they have a law, you know they follow it, you know it's pretty much the same law you follow, but language and culture prevent a deeper understanding ~ of similarities OR differences.
If you really want to understand a foreign language, or a 'foreign' religion, you may have to consider speaking with people in their own language, which means that first of all you have to learn it.
As I said, I'm not a catholic, or religious at all, but it seems to me that the faiths which shape our world are worthy of study, so perhaps this is something you'll need to do if you have a sincere desire to understand :-)
Best wishes :-)
2007-07-20 01:16:41 · answer #2 · answered by thing55000 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
There are many fine Catholic websites that do offer apologetics backed up by Biblical verses. However, it's the Protestants who tend to be fixated on the whole "Sola Scriptura" (Scripture only) doctrine, whereas Catholics are not. We don't whip out Bible verses for every imaginable occasion, because our church doesn't teach that doing so is necessary. We're not going to beat anybody over the head with the Bible. Don't get me wrong; Scripture is very important, but to us, so are the traditions and teachings of the Church. If you want to truly understand Catholics (rather than just argue with them), then you must understand Catholic doctrine. Hence the Catechism.
2007-07-20 00:08:13 · answer #3 · answered by solarius 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Many can and do. Catholics do not actually study the bible much. Many are very well versed in the bible and in the teachings of the church. However any Catholic should be able to tell you are their faith / religion / rituals. I am a former Catholic and could probably do a pretty good job at it.
2007-07-20 00:01:12 · answer #4 · answered by Patti C 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The catechism has the Biblical references for every section in the text.
2007-07-20 00:03:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because they are bored by salesmen and would rather have you read about it than being tricked into proving their religion's worth.
2007-07-20 00:02:08 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
because that website does answer it biblically. we worked hard on them
2007-07-20 00:00:57 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Probably because they're wrong about Jesus, and you're right. Right? Do I get best answer?
2007-07-20 00:01:30 · answer #8 · answered by jonjon418 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Because there are too many add ons to the bible to keep straight in their heads.
2007-07-20 00:01:52 · answer #9 · answered by austin 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋