Hello

[ChoG]

I have signed up here in the hope of having some questions answered.
I was raised in an active Christian(Catholic) environment and attended private Catholic schools for 10 years. All quite a long time ago now.

Catholics are, as I'm sure most of you know, discouraged from reading the bible and so I began to do so, only in my mid teens. I was shocked and dismayed at the contradictions contain therein, immediately and quietly beginning to seek the truth of the message.

I had nobody to turn to. Priests are sworn to a litany and are therefore unable to answer difficult or probing questions with anything more than a platitude. Others always seemed to have a particular barrow to push and frank, open discussion has never been possible.

I have always retained my love of Jesus. I am however, after long years of discovery on the subject, quite "out there" with many of my interpretations of what the bible tells us.

My hope is to have some of the beliefs I now have, either replaced with a more logical alternate belief or have them perhaps confirmed through what I trust will be a learned resource, which I find here at my disposal.

Some of what I put forward may, on the surface appear disruptive/ Please, consider the fact that it is all in good faith with a desire of nothing more than to learn the truth. Thanks.

 

[zippy2006]

I have signed up here in the hope of having some questions answered.
I was raised in an active Christian(Catholic) environment and attended private Catholic schools for 10 years. All quite a long time ago now.

Catholics are, as I'm sure most of you know, discouraged from reading the bible and so I began to do so, only in my mid teens. I was shocked and dismayed at the contradictions contain therein, immediately and quietly beginning to seek the truth of the message.

I had nobody to turn to. Priests are sworn to a litany and are therefore unable to answer difficult or probing questions with anything more than a platitude. Others always seemed to have a particular barrow to push and frank, open discussion has never been possible.

I have always retained my love of Jesus. I am however, after long years of discovery on the subject, quite "out there" with many of my interpretations of what the bible tells us.

My hope is to have some of the beliefs I now have, either replaced with a more logical alternate belief or have them perhaps confirmed through what I trust will be a learned resource, which I find here at my disposal.

Some of what I put forward may, on the surface appear disruptive/ Please, consider the fact that it is all in good faith with a desire of nothing more than to learn the truth. Thanks.

Welcome :wave2:

It was a Catholic priest who brought me back to the faith, answering all of my questions much more thoroughly than anyone on TOL ever has. Also, reading sacred scripture has always been an important part of Catholicism. It was, after all, the Catholic Church which preserved the Bible throughout the ages.

:e4e:

 

[OMEGA]

You should tell all this to Cruciform and Chrystosos
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Catholics are, as I'm sure most of you know, discouraged from reading the bible and so I began to do so, only in my mid teens. I was shocked and dismayed at the contradictions contain therein, immediately and quietly beginning to seek the truth of the message.
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Here you will learn the Truth.

If you have any questions, you can Send me a message anytime.

Here is a Group picture of me and all my Scholarly buddies on TOL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXOIqVmxHWA&feature=related



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[Nathon Detroit]

Welcome to the jungle. :up:

 

[Tambora]

Welcome.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

My hope is to have some of the beliefs I now have, either replaced with a more logical alternate belief or have them perhaps confirmed through what I trust will be a learned resource, which I find here at my disposal.

Some of what I put forward may, on the surface appear disruptive/ Please, consider the fact that it is all in good faith with a desire of nothing more than to learn the truth. Thanks.

I was also raised Catholic and therefore fell-away (like many do) and became a God hating atheist.

It wasn't until Christianity was presented to me in a much more logical, biblical way that I found Jesus.

I hope I (or this forum) can be of help to you in some way.

 

[Spitfire]

I have signed up here in the hope of having some questions answered.

You've come to exactly the right place if you're looking for hundreds of different answers.

Catholics are, as I'm sure most of you know, discouraged from reading the bible and so I began to do so, only in my mid teens.

No one ever discouraged me from reading the Bible. Though I guess it could also be said that no one ever vigorously encouraged me either. It's thanks more than anything else to my own initiative that I know scripture as well as I do now (not that I claim to be an expert.) But I was never taught to think there was anything forbidden about the Bible beyond that it needs to be handled carefully, which is already written in the Bible itself.

I think, things being the way they've been in "Catholic" schools for the past 50 years, teachers and priests sometimes have the cynical attitude that no one will bother to read the Bible anyway, so why encourage them? Or that those who do are only looking for points of potential controversy. Else, I would say most Catholics I've ever known who take the faith seriously wish that other Catholics would read the Bible more and with greater reverence.

I had nobody to turn to. Priests are sworn to a litany and are therefore unable to answer difficult or probing questions with anything more than a platitude. Others always seemed to have a particular barrow to push and frank, open discussion has never been possible.

It's true that some priests seem to have pet issues that they are so hung up on that this results in a lack of the holistic understanding of the faith necessary to answer the difficult questions. But all that's resulted in that I've noticed is that there's a tremendous amount of variance from one priest to the next how insightful or (seemingly to me) helpful the answer to any given question may be. I definitely don't understand what you could mean about how (all?) priests are "sworn to a litany."

Fortunately, most of the difficult questions are quite researchable with the expenditure of a little individual effort. While seeing that, despite everything you've heard, answers do exist, you also deepen your own understanding of the issues and even begin to see how there's some truth to the platitudes.

I have always retained my love of Jesus. I am however, after long years of discovery on the subject, quite "out there" with many of my interpretations of what the bible tells us.

That... seems to be pretty invariably happens whenever someone adopts the "it's just Jesus, the Bible, and me" mentality. But, "out there" relative to what, specifically, I wonder?

My hope is to have some of the beliefs I now have, either replaced with a more logical alternate belief or have them perhaps confirmed through what I trust will be a learned resource, which I find here at my disposal.

When you do, you may want to provide a little background information about what you've already learned about the positions of other confirmed or even so-called authorities on the issues, and why you are unhappy with their explanations. That ought to help ensure you don't just end up with more platitudes.

 

[Dena]

I've never heard my Catholic friends talk about being discouraged from reading the Bible. Anyway, welcome to TOL.

 

[Totton Linnet]

Welcome

 

[Town Heretic]

Good luck in the batter's box, rookie. The bases may not be loaded but the inquisitors here frequently can be. So look for the heat but mind your head.

I have some familiarity with Catholicism, being reared in the Episcopal Church which shares a great deal in common, though the Episcopal faith has always been a bit less dogmatically mired (or foundationally secure, depending on your vantage).

Welcome!

:cheers:

 

[annabenedetti]

Catholics are, as I'm sure most of you know, discouraged from reading the bible

That's news to me. Discouraged? By whom in particular? A priest? A bishop? Certainly not by any doctrinal teaching of the Church.

I had nobody to turn to. Priests are sworn to a litany and are therefore unable to answer difficult or probing questions with anything more than a platitude.

Individual priests vary in their abilities. How many did you seek out?

Others always seemed to have a particular barrow to push and frank, open discussion has never been possible.

What particular barrow or barrows would that be? Specifics please. I'd like to see where you're coming from.

 

[Sheila B]

Welcome to the fray. I hope you enjoy this motley crew.