What is the true religion? First step is to look at both terms, true and religion.
Truth means the correspondence of our ideas with the way the world really is. Hence, if I say this thing is a tree, and it actually is a tree, my statement is true. If I say it is a tree, and in reality it is...
In a Christian understanding, God most certainly does not "create" sin. Sin, by definition is not a "thing" but is rather the absense of a due good--something that should be there or done, but isn't.
Perhaps a poor example. The Crusades were never about persecuting non-Catholics, they were purely defensive campaigns in a protracted war of Muslim conquest. The Crusades are certainly not something I would take to be sacrilegious on the whole, though I would grant that there are occurances...
I think there has been a general shift in the importance that society places on religion itself, or even the notion of intellectual integrity. In a consumerist society, these things are not prized.
The phenomena of people calling themselves Catholic (for instance) and not practicing or...
I would agree that we cannot know the Bible's authority from the Bible itself. That would indeed be a circular proof and illogical.
So, lets assume that we cannot say that the Bible is inspired, we can at least appreciate it as some kind of historical record (the accuracy of which could be...
1 Corinthians 11:
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread,
24 And giving thanks, broke and said: Take ye and eat: This is my body, which shall be delivered for you. This do for the...
4) Is it a Mortal Sin for the individual voter to cast their ballot for a pro-abortion politician? The Principle of Double Effect dictates that it is morally permissible to choose an act even if evil results along with the good if the following conditions are met:
A) The object of the act is...
Just a minor point here, but the Church is not treatening to withhold the Sacrament from voters insofar as they would be denied Holy Communion, but is resserting that voting in a particular matter would be mortally sinful and hence a person would have to refrain from the Sacrament.
Voting is...
I will continue with the other questions that I listed in my first post.
2) Should the Church deny Holy Communion to such a politician because of his public stance against her teachings? The Churchs duty to deny Holy Communion in certain circumstances is outlined in the Code of Canon Law...
Sunstone, for one thing, there are other candidates aside from the two, so saying that a person should not vote for one because of his position does not constitute an endorsement of another other candidate. I have many Catholic friends who are voting third party.
Whether or not Sen Kerry personally thinks abortion is wrong or not is not something that I can reasonably debate, but will only say that I will not concede that to be his person opinion because of his active support of it. It isn't just a matter of tolerating a practice which he personally...
Catholics confess their sins to a priest, especially mortal sins, because we believe that a serious sin is a conscious and willful decision to disobey God, and as such we place ourselves outside of His Divine Life. Confession is the way that Christ established for us to receive His forgiveness...
Well, this topic seemed in sore need of a Catholic to explain some things.
There are 5 questions that seem to be at the heart of the current question regarding the Church's policy regarding abortion politics and Holy Communion.
1) Does active support for legalized abortion make a...
I meant to address this back when you responded, but I was too busy at the time. Baptism is the sacrament of Christian initiation, but a baby that is baptized Protestant is not Catholic, for the term Catholic properly refers to those in full communion with the Church sharing all 3 bonds of...
The question of "greater being" is meaningless, but as far as which had a greater influence, I would say St. Thomas. Personally, I tend to like Thomas better for his systematic approach, and obviously Aristotilean philosophy is superior to Platonism.
Linus,
It is the same.
Matthew 23:
8 But be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master: and all you are brethren.
9 And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, Christ.
Christ admonishes...
We are using translations from the original languages as best we know them, but since there was disagreement on how it should be translated, I thought it would be helpful to bring in the Latin as an arbiter of sorts. I cannot read ancient Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic, but with the Latin it is...
Linus, I have never seen anything like that before. Very interesting. I found the source of the problem which occurs eariler in the chapter.
Douay-Rheims Version, Acts 14:
6 They, understanding it, fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the whole country round about: and were...
Zero Faith, Mr. Sprinkles, and Ceridwen,
The Catholic Church teaches that the bread and wine used at Mass truly become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus He is substantially present, though the Eucharist retains the accidents of Bread.
Because in...