Cabshear Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Hello all, my name is Chris, I haven't been on here for years. I became doubtful of my catholic faith years ago and gave into a lot of the modern atheistic and scientific philosophy. I have been becoming more agnostic lately and I have a deeper inclination to communicate with fellow Catholics. my doubt of my faith came from many books I read like Dawkins, Ayn Rand, Sam Harris, stuff about Buddhism, even the occult. I am hoping to find something in my catholic faith that can help me through these concepts and return to where I feel that I should be thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seven77 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 welcome, @Cabshear...i think you've come to the right place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabshear Posted July 29, 2015 Author Share Posted July 29, 2015 welcome, @Cabshear...i think you've come to the right place... thank you, I hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Please ask us any questions you may have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabshear Posted July 29, 2015 Author Share Posted July 29, 2015 Mostly the notion that with the continued rise of science Christianity will become like many religions and fade into myth. The notion that there exist virtually no evidence for Christ. The concept of original sin as something to continually plague man with guilt, to control him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Mostly the notion that with the continued rise of science Christianity will become like many religions and fade into myth. The notion that there exist virtually no evidence for Christ. The concept of original sin as something to continually plague man with guilt, to control him. What kind of evidence for the actual existence of Jesus Christ would you be looking for?Which scientific discoveries contradict Catholic belief? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarysLittleFlower Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 (edited) Mostly the notion that with the continued rise of science Christianity will become like many religions and fade into myth. The notion that there exist virtually no evidence for Christ. The concept of original sin as something to continually plague man with guilt, to control him. Welcome Chris I used to be very unsure of God's existence and I'm a convert to the faith. So I kind of relate trying to seek the truth. One thing that impresses me is that everything that has come against the Church has not conquered it through the ages. Like the Roman Empire, Soviet regime etc. Saints were raises up for those times as today. As for science, its not against faith at all. In fact the Church teaches that faith and reason go together. I know Dawkins may disagree but he doesn't speak for Catholicism, and I've found some of his quotes sounding very angry. I don't know the man and can't make assumptions if he's angry at religion or not. But the adjectives he sometimes uses puzzle me. He might be critiquing a caricature of the faith not the real thing. As for the existence of Christ... There are pieces of historical evidence like non Christian historian of the time who documented a great darkness over earth during the Crucifixion, there's evidence for Pontius Pilate... The disciples left Jesus at the Crucifixion (at least a few) and St Peter denied Him, yet later they came back, left everything to travel the earth and risk their lives to tell the message and then be martyred. What suddenly changed? If Christ hadn't risen from the dead why would they have this sudden and very extreme change? As for guilt - don't even non religious people feel guilt for wrong actions? However if they ignore their conscience it gets quieter and quieter. But its still there. The Church teaching helps to form our conscience and make sure we don't reject it. But all have it I remember as a child, I just knew certain things were wrong though I wasn't told and grew up completely unreligious (I wasn't even aware of church if my memory is correct). In the end, what type of evidence do you seek? What do you think.about praying every day to find God "if He is there"? In the end none of us are able to convince you. Its not humanly possible but is a grace from God. But feel free to ask anything and welcome to the forum God bless you! Edited July 29, 2015 by MarysLittleFlower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabshear Posted July 29, 2015 Author Share Posted July 29, 2015 I guess I have come the end of trying to find solutions from philosophy, which was my hiding place from religion for so long. I mean no offense by my questions, I am looking to return to my catholic faith. Just working to defeat doubt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatitude Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I guess I have come the end of trying to find solutions from philosophy, which was my hiding place from religion for so long. I mean no offense by my questions, I am looking to return to my catholic faith. Just working to defeat doubt Firstly, I don't think that our faith is about finding answers and explanations for everything, putting all the universe's difficult questions into a tidy box. It's more about finding ways to love, and through loving, we discover some answers. C.S. Lewis said it best: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun is risen, not only because I see it, because by it I see everything else." One of the most loving things we can do for another person is to try and understand them, and respectfully accept that our knowledge of them will always be too limited for us to completely grasp who they are. The authors you listed, especially Richard Dawkins, make no effort at understanding people - instead they just rant and set up religious strawmen to knock down. I think this is why you aren't satisfied with their answers, because you're genuinely seeking to understand, and those books don't possess that same respectful quality. This may sound strange, but I think that we need doubt sometimes - it keeps us humble, and paradoxically it encourages trust in God, because it means walking in the dark for a time. I think you need to ask yourself why you tried to hide from religion. What was it that frightened you? This might be the starting point to living your faith again. A simple prayer that Blessed Charles de Foucauld used to pray when he was emerging from agnosticism into Catholicism may help, too: "My God, if you exist, let me know you." Do you have a church nearby? Try to go in and spend time before Jesus in the Eucharist, whenever you can, even if it's only for five minutes. I will ask Bl. Charles to intercede for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritasluxmea Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Welcome back Cabshear. Did you have an old account? If you want to get it back, you can probably contact dUSt about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarysLittleFlower Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 One thing I've found helpful is that the more we know God the more we love Him, but also - we understand Him through loving Him. Understanding of God is not against reason and reason can be involved but its also quasi experiential. I would recommend that in addition to trying to find answers to questions, prayer can provide the grace to understand and have faith in the answers it doesn't need to be a painful search. Just be honest with God including the doubts if He is there. Have you ever been to Eucharistic Adoration? The Church teaches Jesus is physically there. Its one of the things that brought me to the faith. Even if you don't know currently if Jesus is there, Adoration might be a good place tothink over these questions and ask for grace God bless you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anomaly Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I guess I have come the end of trying to find solutions from philosophy, which was my hiding place from religion for so long. I mean no offense by my questions, I am looking to return to my catholic faith. Just working to defeat doubt You really aren't going to get much help posting here in general on PhatMass. Find yourself someone in real life that you can talk to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I guess I have come the end of trying to find solutions from philosophy, which was my hiding place from religion for so long. I mean no offense by my questions, I am looking to return to my catholic faith. Just working to defeat doubt We are all in the same boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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