Being catholic?

Question

Does being a catholic mean that you can do what you want, then when you go to confession God, completely forgives you?

Do you need to be "born again"?

How do you become a catholic?

I'm really ill informed on this sect of christianity, but it looks interesting.

Answer 1

No, sins are either venial (which you can atone for) or mortal (you cannot be forgiven). As far as I can tell, murder of millions can be forgiven, but anal sex cannot. There is no born again for Catholics. You become Catholic by being baptised by a Catholic.

Answer 2

Let's take these one at a time:


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Confession only "works" when the sinner is truly sorry for his/her sins.

There are two problems with your argument:
1) It assumes God is a fool, thus He cannot tell when a sinner's repentance is sincere or not.
2) It also assumes man's capacity for sin is greater than God's capacity for forgiveness.

God is not fool, and will not absolve the sins of a sinner when he/she is not 100% sorry for their sins - even if they've received the Sacrament of Reconciliation.


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Absolutely. Catholics are born again in Water Baptism. If one is Baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one has been born again - even if they don't realize it yet.


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One is instructed in the Beliefs and Practices of the Catholic Church. For children, Catholic parishes educate via CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program). For adult converts, there is the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.

In both cases, becoming a Catholic entails the reception of three of the seven Holy Sacraments: Baptism, (first) Holy Communion, and Confirmation.

Answer 3

As you are an insomniac, I will bombard you with web sites, until you fall asleep.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic - PLEASE NOTE: there is more than 1 'Catholic' humans follow, because of language, temperament, and just being human; but they have exactly same faith.

Actually 3 web sites isn't a bombardment, ah well time for bed. Good reading.

umm, just reread your last statement. Historically your backwards, as all the Christian faiths branched off of the Catholic church. Jesus appointed Peter the 1st Pope, and from there unbroken is a line of Popes to Father Benedict, today.
None of Christian churches are older than the Catholic church.
The Protestants were first, then the church of England, then the gates were open, and every human that didn't like what they heard formed a sermon, church pulpit, which is fine, but so few know any history - it's always a question in R&S, and is in the search for questions box (top of page).

Now I have a real bombardment going on.
Later,
Peace.

Answer 4

Yes, Catholics are blessed to have recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the forgiveness of sins, but that doesn't mean we can just do whatever we want. That would be a sacrilegious use of confession. It would mean that we were not truly sorry for our sins, and that we made no effort to avoid repetition of the sin.

Yes, we must be born again. Catholics believe that we are born-again at our baptism.

One becomes a Catholic through baptism, confirmation, communion, and living a sacramental life by attending mass regularly, receiving communion, and going to confession at least twice a year.

For persons over 17 years of age, you need to enroll in a RCIA class (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.)

Peace be with you.

Answer 5

First of all, Catholics don't get to do whatever they want...who told you that?! Believe me, they were just pulling your leg or they are just as ignorant about my religion as you are, but at least you kinda recognize that something isn't quite right here in Denmark. When you go to confession, the idea is that whatever you are confessing you really mean to either change or stop doing, or are going to put in a good effort to stop it(whatever 'it' is). According to the Roman Catholic faith, if a penitant(one who confesses) is truly sorry for their sins, then by the grace of God and through His ministering Priest(there is a proper proceedure for going to confession, and one must have received proper instruction/education concerning it--this is no joking matter, for your soul is involved! ) once the prayers and confession have taken place, the blessings and pennance have been performed as instructed, then your sins are forgiven. This is not just a case of saying "Hey, I'm sorry!" and then you leave and go out and do whatever over and over. If you are serious about looking into the Roman Catholic rite of possibly becoming a Catholic, I would either ask some of your friends(someone already a Catholic??) or co-workers if they go to church and could you go with them(see what a Mass is like) or maybe have them recommend a Catholic Church that may be near where you live/work. If not, go to the yellow pages and look under places of worship. Call the Rectory(a building where the priest lives & staff take care of appointments, etc.) and ask for an appointment with the priest in charge(addressed as "Father") and tell him you are interested in learning about the Roman Catholic faith. He will probably suggest you join an adult education Catchecism class(where you learn the foundations of our religion, what we believe in & why, why being a Catholic is different from other religions) or perhaps his church sponsors a program on Bible study or something. The important thing is that you have already taken the first step....you asked the right question. Now go out and seek the right answers for you. Faith is something you want for yourself, and it won't come to you just because you want it to. My patron saint is Saint Michael...so I will just ask St. Michael to watch over you in your quest for knowledge on the Roman Catholic faith. Guard dog

Answer 6

As a recent convert I'll do the best I can here, but for a complete understanding you are going to want to talk a local priest in your area...google maps is a great way of finding one if you don't know where one might be.

So:

1) Yes and No, if you confess your sins and repent you are forgiven. But you really have to be sorry, you can't just go into the confessional telling the priest you have impure thoughts, and then go and **** off to the Playboy you keep under your bed...you have to try

2) No, Catholics believe that once saved always saved

3) Assuming you are an adult, you would go through RCIA which is Right of Catholic Initiation for Adults. They'll help you through the process

Answer 7

Once you are baptized - Any Catholic can baptize you, but usually priests do the honors - you are then Catholic. That's the first sacrament - there are 6 more, but it's not like degrees of black belt - you don't want them all. The next one you would be going for sounds like Penance, which cycles our your soul each and every time. Nice for the notorious Catholics like Hitler, Mussolini, Napolean, Capone, etc. Technically you are not supposed to use it like this, but I suppose you could just lump that one in with the rest of your sins. You know: confess to leveraging the grace of God for a guilt free weekend at the Chicken ranch, and God may just smile on you and rejoice. (Our God, contrary to the Papacy's official word, is quite the rebel.) Hope that gives you a good start. Amen and God Bless!

Answer 8

Being Catholic is one of the strictest religious disciplines on the planet. WWF? babies.

All Catholics understand that we must be born again in the spirit. We call it Pentecost, and we celebrate it every year in order to make it a part of our daily life.

I was born into it, but had to be indoctrinated when I joined the RC. I took 8 years catechism and a couple years active in youth group. I think for new converts it is a one year course. (once a week). Daily readings from epistle and gospel, daily prayers, Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office and Matins. (Insomniacs welcome!)

Practice makes perfect and reading some literature helps, just like any discipline, it requires study.

Answer 9

It is interesting that people will say that being a Catholic means that you can do anything you want, go to confession, then everything is alright. Has it ever entered your head that non-Catholic Christians believe the same thing, except that they do not believe you have to go to confession?

Answer 10

Being Catholic means living the Faith. It means living the greatest commandment Jesus gave us: “Love the Lord you God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength.”

Being Catholic does NOT mean doing what you want and then being forgiven in confession, do it again, confession… repeat process, etc. Being Catholic means repentance. It means turning away from sin as Jesus taught. It means being baptized in the holy name of the Trinity and being born again. It means LIVING the faith day by day and NOT just being a name-only Christian.

The way to live the faith is to immerse yourself in the core of it: prayer. We must devote ourselves daily to adoring, glorifying prayer of our Creator. It’s how we enter into communion with Him and grow in love and faith of Him.

To become Catholic means you need to be taught the Faith as Christ taught it. In human terms, this means RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). These are educational classes that teach the Faith (which I went through during my conversion). It is the best thing you can do for yourself.

The Faith starts with prayer. Then you must be taught. Seek and you shall find.

God bless and take care.

Answer 11

mm
well. if you want to become catholic all you have to do is get baptised (the priest pours holy water over your head and you are christened). contact you local church about that one.

you basically go to church once a week and confess your sins and god will forgive you.

Born again is when you become christian as in baptist or anglican.

you will just be converting.

there are rules but they arnt strict because they are mostly old things like no sex before marriage etc.