Challenging our Faith

[Mystic Rose]

Is this wrong or is it right?

The Lord tells us plainly that our Faith will not be based on emptiness, or blindly on Him, so if this is true then shouldn't we have a way to find certain aspects of our Faith out?

Testing the accuracy and Truthfulness of our Faith and comparing with others, is all part of the this process. When we have found the Truth then it will become obvious to us as it will stand up against all things no matter what is said.

As a Catholic, my Faith and it's validity is continually being tested by others. So, therefore in order for me to accurately say to others that what I believe is True I have to believe that it is True myself. We as Christians are told to aquire the accurate knowledge that will bring us to Him and to the Truth of the Lord, and in doing this our Faith is then justified.

I will willingly tell you that in the Church I do assent to even those things that I do not understand and I have Faith in them as I should, but this does not mean that I stop asking the questions to find the answer.

Now I am going to take this one step further, when I ask you this, should we still be comparitively studying? IOW should we be comparing what we do learn against the teaching of others so that we can be assured that we arebeing taught the Truth? And if we do not comparitively study then how are we to know?

Is it wrong to question the beliefs of others so as to gain the Truth? Is it wrong to even debate it out with someone or other people at times for this knowledge and Truth?

My belief is that it is not....

You know many people challenge the beliefs that I believe in, but if they did not challenge them then how would they know the Truth about them to begin with? I have found that in a lot of instances that there is quite a lot of misconceptions on the part of others as to what we believe and the practices we take part in, and how we Worship. How am I to be able to help understand the things that I have learned unless I can then tell them? In this I have encountered many people that have told me that they were Catholic before and yet still have no real idea of what we really believe, as they have not been properly Catechized. (Taught)

On the other hand, there have been many things that I thought in my past that I learned in Protestantism, that I have learned more about now than I ever knew before....

The plain and honest Truth is this, that if you have a set of Truths, that have been interpreted as truths for you and for your congregational viewpoint then they are subject to inspection and questioning from others that do not hold the same viewpoint. They are subject to debate as to whether there is validity to them from those that do not believe in them the same way that you do, and this must be observed with Christian Love and Charity.

This will mean that not only do the Teachings themselves come under attack but the writers of them as well, because if the teachings can be found lacking then obviously the writer might have been lacking as well. So it must then be determined if the writer was qualified to write the teachings themselves by the criteria set forth and that is then the job of the congregation to help others see the criteria has been met. A good example of this is the Catholics, we do have the Holy See. He can be at times, when speaking Ex Cathedra, about doctrine and morals only, an infallible teacher. Now, to others this is a very hard concept to understand and accept, but I do accept and understand. So, therefore because of my understanding and Faith and because I am part of the congregation in question it is then on me to explain why this is so. IOW our teachings on it and how I came to accept it as such.

I can never expect that everyone will listen to me or accept what I have to offer as the answer. All I can do is offer the knowledge that I have and then let them make the choice themselves. I will tell you though that I have learned that forcing someone to accept will not work, it must always be a choice of their Free Will.

Thus the reason we discuss and debate these issues everyday.....

Lovingly
Mystic Rose

[rolandjs]

Mystic Rose:

While a firm believer that not everything believed within Christendom is equally true and/or equally Salvific, I do believe we can certainly do as you have indicated in your delightful and insightful thread starter -- discuss, debate and argue [philosophically speaking] one with another amongst differing Christian Faiths.

One of the best ways to further listening one to another is to continue the great ambiance and attitude you have created here over into said discussions and debates. If we remember that others have cherished and treasured beliefs, doctrines and practices, we can both respect the fact they cherish and treasure X-point and [we can] disagree with X-point.

To me, one of the fastest ways to cause a cessation of the other listening to [the universal] you is to disrespect and disparage the Belief Set of another while trying to triumphantly trumpet [the universal] your particular Belief Set.

I hope I will start a wonderful dialogue here with my beginning comments!

Roland
04/16 addendum: corrected my spelling of one word :)

[Our Lady of the Snows]

MR, what I find for myself is that hving come to the place I am at now, I do not docomparitive study to test my beliefs, but to better understand the beliefs of others.

For me, it comes down simply to this. Is the Church Who She says She is? Can She err in matters of faith and morals? If She can't, then I don't need to compare what She teaches me to what others teach in order to test them, for I already have assurance that they are indeed true, even if I don't understand them well.

<y journey into Catholicism was a journey in experiencing this. So many teachings of the Church did not make sense when held up to the light of what I had been taught for 30 years. But I learned to put aside the fact that I didn't understand, and allow the Holy Spirit to show me, in His time, the truth.

Always, without fail, even the hardest issues finally yeilded to this gradual revelation of truth through the teaching of the Catholic Church. This has been put to the test in seeming countless times and in countless ways . . yet, the beauty of the Catholic faith consistantly remains unmarred and the turths undefeated.

Through this I have learned that I have nothing to fear, even if something new appears on the scene that seems like it could demolish a belief, for each time that has happened, by patiently waiting for the Holy Spirit to reveal the fallacy or more fully reveal a truth I had not fully understood, I have found that the Catholic faith remains strong and intact, unshaken.

So there is no reason for one who is solid in their Catholic faith to fear any examination of it. As far as testing it though, on purpose, I don't see the need to do so for myself. For me, it has been tested countless times already and has never been shown to be found wanting in any way.

It is very important to let those who are seeking to challange our beliefs, for how will they learn? Their openness to the truth though should dictate how far we individually allow them to go with us. And it is ver important that we are ready with the answers they need, for each one will need something differnt to help them understand a particular truth.

And that is one of the beauties of the Catholic Faith. It is so rich and full. allowing us to delve into it treasures to find what wll help the one seeking the truth in the best way. There is no end to what we are offered through the Church and what we have at our disposal to offer to others truly seeking to understand.

We have nothing to fear.

The only concern I have is when those who are not strong enough in their faith to withstand an onslaught that appears to destroy what the Church teaches, open themselves to it. Many have left the Catholic Church because they did not understand their faith to begin with and others came into their lives, attakcing it in ways that seemed to utterly demolish their beliefs. Only those who are strong enoug in their faith should allow it to be challenged like that.



Peace