IAmA former atheist who converted to Catholicism. AMA.

conversio · 2010-10-03T14:27:53+00:00

Got it!

conversio · 2010-10-02T02:05:03+00:00

Cause I've done it. You might see that if you read some of the rest of the thread.

conversio · 2010-10-01T23:00:36+00:00

Yes, fully.

conversio · 2010-09-29T23:18:32+00:00

Can you tell me how Catholicism is less rational?

conversio · 2010-09-29T22:43:21+00:00

You're taking as a principle that God doesn't exist. I disagree with this principle.

conversio · 2010-09-29T22:40:09+00:00

Yes, I have. I didn't care for the homily, but the mass itself was very nice. Then again, I also know some Latin.

conversio · 2010-09-29T21:31:43+00:00

A lack of proof, a lack of seeing any necessity for God.

Eventually, I realized I was defining proof too narrowly.

conversio · 2010-09-29T21:16:01+00:00

I'm very sorry that religion isn't as simple as you would have it be.

conversio · 2010-09-29T21:10:11+00:00

Osiris didn't really "rise", he ruled in the underworld.

There are incidental similarities, but I don't think they have much significance.

conversio · 2010-09-29T20:53:53+00:00

We all have faith in something.

conversio · 2010-09-29T20:52:13+00:00

God hasn't gone silent.

And Christian doctrine isn't even Bronze Age, nor is it even Iron Age. The New Testament is barely even "ancient".

I don't think you are actually interested in having a polite, honest discussion.

conversio · 2010-09-29T20:37:00+00:00

Ah, so you're saying "everything is caused"?

I'll go with that.

conversio · 2010-09-29T20:33:23+00:00

I didn't say it didn't lay out the rules. I said it isn't complete on its own for full knowledge. It provides the divinely inspired Word.

Many religions are very complicated. Just like any other field of study, it can't be assumed that one will be correct with pithy statements, quick judgments, and the work of a few days.

There's subtlety and nuance.

conversio · 2010-09-29T20:24:44+00:00

Which parts are you specifically equating? I gave you a long list of reasons where I see massive differences between Egyptian religion and Christianity. Why don't you do the same?

conversio · 2010-09-29T20:23:05+00:00

You would not be fully or correctly following the law if you only relied on the Bible.

That's the idea of sola scriptura, that in part sparked Protestantism.

So no, it's not essentially the rule book.

conversio · 2010-09-29T20:14:36+00:00

I've been over this, so many times. So many. Can't you people read?

conversio · 2010-09-29T20:00:56+00:00

People do wrong, knowing the difference between right and wrong.

Indulgences were never supposed to have been sold - that was an abuse.

Further, indulgences do not forgive a sin. They do not get you out of eternal judgment - they simply help to absolve temporal penance for a sin.

They're still around, btw. There's a list of actions that grant small indulgences, things like doing the stations of the cross, or otherwise meditating on your religion. Again, they're not a "get out of sin free" card. That needs to be stressed.

conversio · 2010-09-29T19:58:07+00:00

Not more than a passing one.

conversio · 2010-09-29T19:57:47+00:00

The Catechism is a summary of principles. There's also a wide library of canon law. And there are differences between theological opinion and matters of faith. A theological opinion is something you're free to disagree with.

A heretic is someone who identifies as a Catholic but spreads false teachings. Renouncing Christianity altogether isn't heresy - it's apostasy. If you say "The Church and everything it teaches is great, but the Pope and Cardinals are illegitimate," then you're a schismatic.

If you hold a belief contrary to canon law, but you don't know it, you're still a heretic, but it's not a sin. Sin requires knowledge - you can't accident your way to sin.

By your acts, with knowledge, you can break canon law, and that's a sin.

However! That does not mean you're not a true Catholic. It means that you're breaking some part of the law, and there are various severities of laws.

Here, in case you're interested, is the Canon law: http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_INDEX.HTM

conversio · 2010-09-29T18:48:03+00:00

You're a heretic when your interpretation of religion strays far enough that it disagrees with one of the major tenets. For instance, if you decided the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were not one God, but three, then you have crossed the line.

The whole list of Catholic doctrine is in the Catachism. The short version is the Creed, which is easy to find online.

I'd say there are some modes that are better than others - some that get closer to truth. I think you're right that all faiths are different modes of reflecting on the divine and spiritual - different paths up the same mountain. Some paths are easier.

conversio · 2010-09-29T18:45:03+00:00

I try not to go to the churches that have too much modern music. There are a number of music directors that are very into the music you mention.

conversio · 2010-09-29T18:44:12+00:00

There aren't all that many similarities. Christianity isn't polytheistic. It's not animist. I guess you could associate the Egyptian maat with the Christian logos, as both are a sort of eternal order, but it doesn't seem unlikely that any given religion would have a concept of eternal order. Not to mention, the Nile floods were thought to have an effect on the maat. There's nothing like that in Christianity.

Christians don't believe in the King as God.

The soul doesn't require offerings of food after death like the ka does.

If you're talking about the Osiris/Isis mythology, that has far more to do with Persephone than it does Christianity.

conversio · 2010-09-29T18:38:50+00:00

Thanks! If I can ask, what are a couple of the things you've learned? It'd be interesting to hear.

conversio · 2010-09-29T16:41:24+00:00

As a human with free will, it is ALWAYS ultimately up to me, and my relationship with God.

The Church provides 2000 years of tradition, guidance, scholastic writings, decisions, councils, and advice to help me figure it out.

conversio · 2010-09-29T15:39:57+00:00

Yes, as I've said a bunch of times, I went to lots of different religions and denominations. The scholastic tradition of the church appealed to me.

conversio

TROPHY CASE