The Family of God?

Question

Question: Which seems more like a family to you

1) A lone Father and his son, all alone, with no mother, and a bunch af brothers and sisters in some catatonic comatose sleep state
2) A Father AND a loving mother, brothers and sisters who are always celebrating feast days and birthdays, and come together every day to break bread at their Father's table?

The Catechism Of The Catholic Church speaks about the "supernatural appreciation of faith (sensus fidei)" as a "characteristic" of the "body of the faithful". Catholics and protestants can sling Bible quotes all day, but when I put all the scriptures aside for a moment, my "sensus fidei" tells me that number 2 (above), which is the Catholic view of the Church, is far more loving and familial than number 1 (above), which is the barren, stripped down vision of my seperated brothers and sisters, the protestants

So which choice, 1 or 2, seems more like a family to YOU ?

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1chpt2.htm#art2

Answer 1

Number 2 is the family. That is the family I believe Jesus wanted us to all become. To come to unity each and everyday.

Answer 2

I am an Anglican/Episcopalian protestant. I venerate Mary and the Communion of Saints. Though I am denied the communion of unity, I often visit Catholic cathedrals and chapels for this very reason. The sheer artwork of the altar or the stained glass can be enough to connect me with God.

I find this attitude is fairly common among Anglicans. We don't agree with claims about authority - apostolic succession, infallibility of the teaching office, and so on, but that doesn't mean I throw away 2000 years of such a rich tradition.

My early life was spent in the charismatic-Evangelical movement. Yes, there the feminine aspect of God and the special-ness of Mary, and the post-death value of the saints is completely denied. This suppression has seriously negative consequences for the psyche, in my opnion, and I think it is why among patriarchal and severed visions of the family of God you find fundamentalism and absolute certainty in the face of mystery such a common phenomenon.

If by their fruits we will know them, it is worth saying that a spittle-flinging John Hagee railing on homosexuals looks a lot different from Pope B16's comments on relativism, do they not?

Answer 3

Well, I grew up Mormon, and that's what I was taught from Day 1 - that God is basically a perfected version of us, that God has a wife (well, I learned later many wives, but that's besides the point), and that we are all the literal spirit-children of God.

This doctrine has a real appeal to those who treasure their families, and the promise of being able to spend the rest of eternity with your family after death is a powerful one... of course, you have to be a faithful Mormon, but that's a given, right? =)

When I think of the divine, I think of an all-enfolding blaze of light, when I can imagine the divine presence at all. I imagine a state of being without borders, without colors, all-loving and all-accepting. That, to me, is what God could be like.

I have a hard time accepting much of what any version of the Catholic church tells me - not just with my own experiences with the Mormon "do not question authority" church, but with the Catholic church's own track record with being just plain *wrong* so many times... Galileo, the Inquisition, attitude towards Hitler, the politics, indulgences, corruption ... even burning Hus at the stake for translating the Bible into a language the common man could read!

Speak of your own accord, your own reasoning, sure, but don't expect on Catholic doctrine to impress me in the slightest.


Saul

Answer 4

I would call either example a family, and I dont quite understand how these examples relate to a church body.

So single parents arent considered family in your church?

Or are you talking about multiple deities?

and furthermore, as a catholic, are you saying Jesus had brothers and sisters?

Answer 5

The catholic church is a counterfeit church, designed to imitate the Church of God. Why then should a man consider this imposter?

Answer 6

2 of course. And the Protestants also share this biblical view. It is not just a Catholic view. It is God's view.

Answer 7

#2

Answer 8

Wow, according to you the rest of us are catatonic. I really am going to thoughtfully ponder the rest of your thoughts and consider them after being told how cold and wrong I could be. *rolls eyes*

Answer 9

Catholic crusader huh?
So far your last two "questions" have repelled me further away from your faith. So as a crusader you're pretty ineffective.

Answer 10

Neither, because both versions have banished some of their brothers and sisters to hell. And I was one of those, and that was nonsense.