Why We Need Ex Christians To Come Back To The Church

[chefranden]

After many years of seeking I've returned to the Church. It feels good to be home.

 

1. The church needs you...

 

2. The world is better when you seek happiness as instructed in the Catechism. Happiness is the hole puposely left which needs filling. It can only be filled by seeking out God. You can become closer to God only through Charity. Charity is defined as loving one another the way Christ loved us. That means loving each other more than yourself or at least attempting to.

 

3. The story is about love.

 

 

1. Sure I'd go to your church if I was allowed to teach Sunday School to point out the bullshit of "the story".

 

2. What evidence do you have that this is the case? I was unhappier when seeking the god who never shows up. So if it is personal experience that you cite for evidence my personal experience negates your personal experience. What evidence do you have besides warm fuzzies?

 

3. It doesn't read that way to me*. If it is about love, it is about pathological drunk daddy love. I can do better without a dad who promises to cook me if I don't X.

 

Edit to add footnote.

 

*1 Samuel said to Saul, "I am the one the LORD JESUS sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the LORD. 2 This is what the LORD Almighty JESUS says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy [a] everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.' "

[chefranden]

...yeah that's fine...i'm a scientist. i wasn't attacking science, only pointing out that it can't make an attempt at explaining absolute truths. Religion however does make such an attempt. I like the Christian truth cause it seems obvious that if you treat everyone really really nice. Stuff is better.

 

 

Sorry but religion won't find absolute truth either. I don't think that science is looking for this truth, but attempting to discern what is real.

 

IMHO there is no "absolute truth" to find, but if there were humans wouldn't know it. Any truth is relative to the beholder. You think the Catholic Catechism is the truth, I think the Lutheran Catechism is the truth. How are we going to tell the difference? War? Its been tried. Maybe we are both wrong; maybe the Muslims have it right. But which Muslims? Sunni? Shi'a? Druze? Sufis? The only thing we know for sure maybe is the speed of light as being the same for all relative views.

[chefranden]

if I treated you better than I treat myself, wouldn't your world be better?

 

 

Absolutely! When can you start? Both my cars need washing and the garage needs cleaning. I like foot rubs a lot, but hardly ever get one. I'm tired of cooking too. While you are at it could you do the laundry? thanks.

[Legion]

I lost religion when I studied biology.

I'm sorry I missed this Truthseeker.

 

I would be interested in hearing more about this. I have become a lover of biology. Yet I also suspect there are some important things missing from much of contemporary biology.

[Scarlett]

Don't look for how stuff works in the world, ie. evolution, big bang, bla bla bla, that is the stuff of science. There are questions science can't answer. Like why evolution, why the big bang, why I exist. Go back to the basics.

 

I beg to differ. I believe one day science will be able to answer all of those questions; after all it is all about learning and discovering how the universe really works. We already know why evolution happens: changing in environment, mutation, natural selection, etc...

 

 

 

Look for your reading to touch your spirit, not satisfy your intellect.

 

How do you know that satisfying my intellect doesn't "touch my spirit"? Maybe I get greater joy out of reading a science book than I ever have the bible?

 

 

The world is better when you seek happiness as instructed in the Catechism. Happiness is the hole puposely left which needs filling. It can only be filled by seeking out God.

 

Again, I strongly disagree. I am quite happy being an atheist. I don't have any holes that need to be filled and certainly not by invisible beings.

[Grandpa Harley]

I think Little Lord Fauntleroy has flounced cos we didn't go back...

[gradstu09]

I think Little Lord Fauntleroy has flounced cos we didn't go back...

 

I'm sad I missed it....

 

But it was a fine read on an Easter morning!

[MesaGman]

Of course the Mother Church, WANTS US. BUT.... we don't want her! Your starting argument, asks us to seek happiness.... That's what we're doing seeking happiness. And we're most quite happy.

[Crazycatlady]

After many years of seeking I've returned to the Church. It feels good to be home.

 

I'm glad the church is your spiritual home. It is not, however, mine.

 

The church needs you. The body of Christ is the members of its church. We don't need robots we need people that love each other. You people have gone through torment destroying the childish parables taught to children. You've become intellectuals and have every reason to turn away.

 

Thank you sincerely for simultaneously complimenting and insulting me. It wasn't only intellectualism that drove me away, there was personal gnosis as well.

 

I say turn back and look closely one more time. Don't look for how stuff works in the world, ie. evolution, big bang, bla bla bla, that is the stuff of science.

 

Science is the only way we can objectively examine how the world works. Hate to break it to you, but that's the God's honest truth, dearie.

 

There are questions science can't answer. Like why evolution, why the big bang, why I exist. Go back to the basics.

 

Okay, Hindu and Buddhists seek to understand the world and to answer these questions by observation through mediation. Their understanding of the universe is much closer to what we understand through careful and controlled observation (ie. science) than how the Bible explains it. They also do not require faith, just a willingness to attempt the method.

 

Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Look for your reading to touch your spirit, not satisfy your intellect.

 

I don't think I need to read it. I think I can still recite it from my CCD days. I didn't realize the Catechism was supposed to touch the spirit; I thought was just a way to explain the church's many teachings.

 

Some members of the church have made a mess of things. They've embarrassed us. They made decisions that don't seem to jive with the teachings.

 

Duh! That applies to any group of people.

 

But WE are the church. It is the body of people that make up the body of Christ. And you are the thinking people. If you could get back on track you are powerful. You might see what is important and what is not.

 

Begging your pardon, but I am not the church. I don't like the implication that I am off track. This is my life; I'm living it. I know what is important for me, you don't.

 

 

The story is about love.

 

The story is about worship, sacrifice, and punishment of nonbelievers. Okay, that's an over-simplification, but so was your statement.

 

If you've been following recent political events you might agree we could use some love. We need community. The church needs you to come back. We need to be a united people, we need thinking leadership, under God, living with focus, and making the world a better please.

 

I think we need to love and acceptance people who choose different life paths. Under which God should be united? The jealous Jewish god? The Christian god who condemns nonbelievers as the enemy? Allah who demands submission and condemns any non-Monotheist? Krishna who states that all paths lead to him? Loki, the trickster? Whom? Why?