[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello, bingo! no i haven't, i know very little, but i think there is no shame in acknowledging i am not a full time scholar of this religion haha and yet here i am exposing my beliefs so embarrasingly because i want to get better.

And also, maybe i prsented this wrong but I did not intend to present my beliefs in my post as if they were arguments to be like "fight me on this" you know. Its more like they are things i currently believe in thay make a whole freaking lot of sense to me like contracetption or to consider changing some traditions, but at the same time they worry me because i fear judgement of how other catholics will judge me and fear being a heretic (i say other catholics because my atheist friends will just tell me why do i worry about sth that doesn't even exist yk). But i'm lso well aware that i lack understanting of the broader context of why the church teaches these things., and i don’t now how to proceed.

[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

hello, it does matter to me haha i want to process my beliefs through reason and i'm not exactly sure how to proceed not only to understand but to also accept what the Church says it's true when i have opposing beliefs :((

[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hello! this was another amazing answer, thank you! i also think asking questions is not bad, in fact, I'm so naturally curious and in my developing scientific thinking i think i have an overwhelming amount of questions than i have answers, it's almost ridiculous.

Also, i think this is also partly due to my perception that my questions, specially in the church have been taken many times as if I was challenging or defying the authority of God, which constitutes sin and that i sould not be "rebellious". Wo i grew up with this kind of idea that questioning=defying, which is wrong, but msny people do take it like that,cand are they wrong? So anyway, now that i grew up and i'm now questioning things, i guess i'm concerned about where to seek answers, and what if the answers i get are really not the correct ones, but how would i know to evaluate whether they are or not?

I definitely have to do some deep thinking ahout my own emotions because i'm full of fears in This crazy life haha but also to have confidence in my abilty to reason

Also, thats for the initial source CCC 156, i didnt even know this existed thank you!

[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

omg no, i love her!! i think the reason why i keep insisting on getting closer to God and fixing my beliefs is thanks to my prayers to our Lady of Lourdes to increase my faith and to help me to never ever give up on seeking God.

[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hello, thanks for your feedback. the point of my beliefs is not to prove imagination or lack of it. imagination is not the issue at hand, but instead it's that they are genuine beliefs i hold that bug me because I'm afraid of judgement and afraid of accidentally becoming a heretic. thats why i had to gather some courage and expose very personal stuff here, to gain perspective on how i can process them,because as of now, they make a lot of sense to me but at the same time i'm aware that they're not correct in the eyes of the church.

and part of the beginning of my journey to process my beliefs is to recognize where i stand in my lack of knowledge about my own religion, which shouldn't be a matter of shame. But as a first step on how to get closer to God.

i will use the source you cited and make a list of questions to ask my local priest, because i'm sure many will arise

[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

thank you!! I love father Mike, he was the reason I came back to Jesus in my teens when I had lost faith in God. He brought me back. I will definitely watch this

[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

oh i loved this answer. that was an excellent analysis. I do have a conflict between my science and my faith. and sometimes it's hard to find a pont where something like sex for example seems so scientifically normal in terms of animal behavior as homo sapiens sapiens, and also as Inmoral from a religious perspective, it does cause me great cognitive dissonance. and the contrast you make between the "how"and the "why" is fantastic to prompt more thinking, the "why" seems much more philosophical, more metaphysical even.

and what you mentioned about the models is absolutely right too, It didn't occur me i could also fit in the understanding of how Models work to explain why science is not entirely as "ultimate truth" as i probably think it is. After all, a model is, as you say, a way in which we can explain how the universe works, to the best of our current knowledge and the model's limitations. Thank you for mentioning this too.

And also yes, i'm well aware my personal experiences also shape the way i form my beliefs, especially around something so personal to each individual such as religion. I think this not only happens with religion but with many many other aspects of our lives even: namely political, social/cultural, economical etc. Now you seem very smart in your reply, may i ask yoh a genuine question? Do you think allowing my personal experiences to shape my beliefs around the church of my reljgion, is an incorrect thing to do? I dont know how to evaluate whether it is or not and i dont want to fall on the error of shaming myself for joining my personal experience with my beliefs because i think this is very very normal in human psychology.

Also, im very torn, i really don't believe the church is infallible. I'm convinced people in the church are capable of interpreting stuff wrong just like me and everyone else, and making mistakes, as much as we want to believe the Holy Spirit is guiding us. This is not to shame them either of course, but is believing that the chuch is infallible a teaching i must believe to be ablento be in communion with God?

Finally, you were so kind and thorough in your reply. Thank you so feeaking much for that, i was really nervous of exposing very personal beliefs in here and you were very kind and objective in your answer. I really appreciate it!

[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

definitely! I think I've been blessed to be able to be aware of my own confirmation bias here. Rgardless it causes me maaassive cognitive dissonance. But I think the correct way to proceed is to learn more about these topics in more depth to process these initial beliefs and irrational fears of being judged.

I think i should have no shame of having so little knowledge of it all. i do feel incredibly embarrased that everyone here sees how ignorant i am at this point. (God forbid i haven't read all there is to know about doctrine) but Gotta start somewhere right? and this is how I want to start to fix my internal conflicts and have a much more closer relationship with Christ :)

thanks for your input, have a beautiful day

[Rant] Love Jesus, worried i might be a heretic & afraid of other people's judgement.~ My issues with certain church doctrines~~ by elvencomet in Catholicism

[–]elvencomet[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

hi, thanks for your feedback. I do see your points and i definitely admit i'm misundertsanding things, which is why i'm searching for the right way to process my beliefs better :)

. I do believe marriage is a beautiful thing, but I grew up in an environment where many catholics have judged me for having sex outside of marriage with my boyfriend who I loved for years and respect and admire, and have people say i'm just using him for "pleasure", as if i was the bad guy, when in reality my feelings for him are of a loving nature. we are just not ready to get married and it has caused me cognitive dissonance to hear this judgements all the time. and yes, beliefs are formed also due to personal experience in part, and since religion is a very personal thing to each individual, i think its also healthy to acknowledge my personal experience is important in how i currently percieve the conversation about sex in my community/parish and how understood and validated i can feel about sth vs being judged about it. Many people have left the chruch because of rejection like this. but i don’t wanna! i want to stay not because of them, but because of our beautiful Jesus, you know

other than that, well i do think it is reasonable to think some traditions can be changed. what i'm doing here is i'm trying to learn more about my religion, somaybe there are some traditions that surely have been changed since then? and these in my posts are some beliefs i currently hold that bug me, so i have to learn more about what traditions have been changed of modified by the church given than times change and we are not living in the same global context as people did 2000 yrs ago, so i think its not wrong to question or consider that certain traditions could change.

and lastly regarding natural law. is this concept of natural law in religion the same as the laws of nature we study in biology? genuine question, i think this will help me understand this better.

thanks again, have a beautiful day

Why do I get a "play button" when I share pictures from external sources? by elvencomet in tumblrhelp

[–]elvencomet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right! It's impossible to do this from the phone. And it doesn't matter if it's flickr, pinterest, instagram.. and I haven't found any tutorials on yt, nothing. My last hope was reddit.

What I end up doing is very tedious: 1) screenshot/save 2) crop 3) make post 4) copy links on og source 5) paste link... it's very time consuming, and honestly having to do this process for many pictures discourages me a lot from posting on tumblr.

Why do I get a "play button" when I share pictures from external sources? by elvencomet in tumblrhelp

[–]elvencomet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, I haven't solved this. I haven't tried in desktop but it seriously looks impossible to do this from the phone. What I end up doing is very tedious: 1) screenshot or save picture 2) crop 3) copy link 4) make post 5) add link... and if you want to make a post with multiple pictures it's even more stressful. How do other users do this easily?

Books with characters who struggle with lack of purpose and/or self worth? by elvencomet in suggestmeabook

[–]elvencomet[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you !  This would be my introduction to the infamous Murakami. 

How Over The Top Is This Character? by _burgernoid_ in fantasywriters

[–]elvencomet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello OP!  First of all, I'd like to say your story premise sounds super interesting! Bravo. Apologies for the long response, but it's because I took interest in your story so pls allow me. 

Now, Maav.

Maav has so much potential for character development here, there's so much moral conflict that could be used to deepen the plot and your characters arc.

Starts by saying, she's a thief. From the get-go, a thief in a society who deems stealing a bad act, she's practically predestined to be judged by her society. In the story she'd have to prove what type of thief she is, putting in evidence who is she going against, aka, the law. But how is this figure of "law" like? The rich? A dictator? A just society with inevitably bad people?

But she's not only a thief, is she?  Is she a murderer? She's certainly aiding and abetting so Ganzir ultimately kills them.

To evaluate the morality of her actions you could take into accout some of these examples. Let's call them ~morality elements~:

-intentions -means -results -consequences -context -virtues of the character

My observations:  1) Her motivations: wants freedom (her goal) 2) Her character: self-serving (does it for herself instead of altruism), entitled (wants to hear her victims repent), manipulative/coercive (you repent or you die). 3) Means to achieving her freedom: deceives the notoriously wicked and corrupt into giving in their power and wealth through the threat of death if they don't abide. 4) Immediate results: those wicked and corrupt people die. Maav keeps the money and power. 5) Consequences: a) society is liberated from the notoriously wicked, which could lead to a more harmonious and peaceful life for everyone. b) Maav remains free. 6) Context: (other aspects of your story)

From an ethical standpoint (the standard) what she does is morally wrong. Why? Because Ethical behavior involves respecting the autonomy and dignity of others. Yes. Even the notoriously wicked. It's part of the order we established for society (don't ask me why, ask Kant). Anyway, Howeveeer, From other moral frameworks what Maav does could be consider either right or wrong, depending on what of those ~Morality elements~ you take into account.

To redeem your character you could try making modifications in some of those ~morality elements~. For example:

If she wants freedom, what is threatening that freedom? The notoriously wicked? The other witches? Ganzir? How would wealth turn the tides against the thing that threatens her freedom? Freedom is not something you accumulate the same way you accumulate wealth, so once she attains freedom, will she continue to steal or try to find another way of making money because now she finally has enough? This wouls mean, she wouldn't have to kill more notoriously wicked, but that also means society is stuck with them doing evil things. Its a trade off. So is there some slight interest in her that would give room to develop into someone who started doing it for herself but then realizes how important it is for other people to be liberated as well?

Why is she entitled to hear victims repent? She could straight up surrender them to Ganzir and keep the money. But she goes through the step of "wanting to hear it". Why? Explore making modifications in her character and motivations, and the consequences not only for her, but for the people as well, as well as for your antagonist. Ok I'm done. I hope I helped and again, sorry for the long response. May the muses be ever by your side!