What Catholic teaching or doctrine do you find most challenging or difficult to understand and why?

Apologetics
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Interesting, thar there is both a Peter and a Peter1. I am also a Peter, so is my screen name composed. Perhaps I should change my screen name to something more creative.

On a general note, coming from evangelicalism, the Bible is my reference book for faith. I find it both relieving and frustrating that the catholic church has used its ruling right to make rulings. With some rulings I do not agree, but other rulings I wholeheartedly support.

Example forced marriage. There are not clear verses against forced marriage in the Bible, but the catholic church has made the ruling that such a marriage can be nullified.

I am befiddled why the catholic church do not promote Lordship salvation. Perhaps they want to be also church to the secular people, and that is why a holiness doctrine like Lordship has not been decreed.

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The Bible tells us that Christ gave the Apostles and their successors the authority and responsibility to “loose” and to “bind” (Matthew 18:18).

Are you referring to “arranged” Marriages? We had a couple in our Church (Catholic) from India and their Marriage was an arranged and they were very happily Married. However, I have a friend from the Middle East (she was raised Muslim, but is now Catholic) had a horrible arranged Marriage. Her Husband would beat her if she added too much salt to his food or not enough salt to his food. She tried fighting back once, but the beatings she received were twice as bad as when she just took it. It was not a happy Marriage. But, Christ rescued her and she is now one of the most joy-filled Christians I have ever met!

Can you explain in your own words what “Lordship salvation” is? I have never heard this term before.

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Peace to all,

To me, logically, “Lordship Salvation” is loosely defined from the logical Sacramental formulas through the Wondrous Mysteries in The Catholic Faith and to me and quite off the cuff is through two natures and is created from The Father, creator God and through two Gods and Lords, Mary and Jesus from Immaculate Flesh Immortality through Holy Spirit incorruption for Jesus becoming in all mankind through the Christ in all and “Lordship Salvation” in all generalization is the autonomy from the manifesting Power of The Holy Spirit Family One God in being becoming able to stand before the Holy Family self-righteous and justified before Him becoming from death of the flesh through Holy Spirit resurrection life in both natures becoming again in all One Holy Spirit Family One God in being, in all generalizations.

Loosing and binding are to me secular laws pertaining to the Authority of the Church as Loosed or Bound in Heaven from the Vicar of Christ on earth bound or loosed from the Moses Seat trusted as bound on earth and verified through the Eternal Priestly Authority of Jesus as it is in Heaven, I believe.

To me, Logically we cannot judge the secular belief in Salvation, and we render to God and We render to secular Caesar, and Secular Caesar makes the secular laws and also renders to God, logically, both God and Caesar render to the Same God, OMNILogically, I believe, uniting all as One in being through both natures becoming in One Body becoming again in all Divine Secular Flesh Body, One Holy Family One God in being, to me, as I jump in maybe out of turn, thanks again for your kindness.

Peace always,
Stephen

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Hm I guess there is a spectrum between forced and arranged. In a forced marriage, the element of free will is lacking. A priest told me, that the Catholic Church want to assert that it was your “full and free will” to get married. Example a shotgun marriage would probably not be considered a free will marriage.

Yes, Lordship salvation means that you make Jesus Lord and King in your life. You enter into a relation with him, but with the understanding that He is the master. I do actually think, that especially with people being child-baptized (and while I do believe that child baptism is effective for salvation), these people have never entered into a committed relationship with Jesus, and allowed him to come and rule in their life.

In practice you would most likely join a church where there is a high focus on Jesus being Lord and ruler. The idea of Lordship salvation is probably closely tied to the idea of adult (re)baptism, namely that you must make a formal public profession of faith in connection with your baptism. As a pentecostal christian, I used to have an undercurrent feeling, that I should always strive to see Jesus as my Lord, and not just as a buddy.

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We enter into a covenantal relationship with Christ, which is the deepest form of relationship.

I think one of the reasons that the Catholic Church has pushed Confirmation back, rather than do Confirmation as infants like the Eastern Orthodox do, is so that the youth can choose this relationship with our Lord and that their faith might be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. I personally think that Confirmation should be earlier (maybe around fourth grade), because by the time too many young people reach the age of current Confirmation, they have already chosen a relationship with the world or a sort of hybrid relationship (serving two masters or lukewarm Christianity).

You can usually tell who is cooperating with God’s grace and who isn’t bases on the fruits of the Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, chastity, modesty, and love.

Some of us need more of His grace in certain areas than others. For instance, some individuals are by nature may have low-impulse control (meaning they are easily tempted). Others may suffer from depression and therefore less joyful. I inherited my Mom’s RBF and people think I’m either depressed or angry when I’m not specifically smiling : )

When it comes to modesty, I like to bring up how well dressed the Mob was when they went to Church. Extremely dapper, but inside, they may have much in need of God’s grace (for they were in the Mafia after all). I believe their modesty stemmed from ego or appearances and less about a relationship with God. And there can be a young lady who has great love for God, but dresses immodestly, because she doesn’t know any better. But, as her Faith matures and her relationship with Christ grows, perhaps she will be more aware of how she is living her life. Same goes for the Mobster.

I think of St. Augustine and how his mother (St. Monica) Prayed for his conversion. He was not Baptized nor Confirmed as a baby. Augustine was baptized on Easter Vigil, April 24, 387, by Bishop Ambrose in Milan. He was Ordained a Priest in 391 AD, and then appointed coadjutor Bishop of Hippo in 395 AD. He later became the Bishop of Hippo after the death of Bishop Valerian. He had a son with a woman prior to his conversion and his son, Adeodatus, was also Baptized alongside Augustine around the age of 15 and died shortly there after (cause of death unconfirmed ; ) My point is, that even the worst of sinners can encounter Christ and enter into Covenant with Him.

And just as anyone who enters into a Marriage can be a bad Husband, so too can Christians who have been Baptized reject God who remains faithful. If someone wants to walk out on the relationship, they choose to suck.

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Right, so what is your experience of that relationship on a daily basis? Do you hear Gods voice, do you see God’s guiding hand, and so forth? What are the things that you must take care of in order to maintain that relationship?

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Cade_One,

Earlier you wrote that God does not send us to Hell. I asked you who you thought was casting the person into the lake of fire as mentioned in Revelation 20:15? I’d still like to know who you think is doing the casting.

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StephenAndrew,

"re: “Jesus was crucified Friday out of the Tomb of Jerusalem by Saturday 3 am, I believe.”

Two things about your post -

In your previous post, you said that the Messiah was in the Tomb on Wednesday night, Thursday night and Friday night.

Now you’re saying He was only in the tomb for one night. Which one is correct?" rstrats

Peace to all,

So true, rstrats, The Tomb is the City of Jerusalem.

Right, Jesus arrived in the Tomb of Jerusalem on a Donkey, in Jerusalem on Wednesday, I believe.

Peace always,
Stephen

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“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and [a]communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,” according to the New American Standard Bible (NASB) on Bible Gateway. This verse introduces the book of Revelation as a revelation from Jesus Christ, given to him by God, to show his servants what must soon happen. It also mentions that God sent this revelation to John through an angel.

To me, I believe John is the Disciple He loved the most from the cross, who took Mary home with Him, “Ecce mater tua, Behold Your Mother.”

Logically we have to know, we also were at The Cross before we were even born, He spoke to us by name, we are the Disciple he also loved the most because He only loves with the most love, from teh cross He calls us by Name, Disciple, He looks at us all from the cross points to His Mother and speaks to us all by name, “Disciple, Behold your Mother” and we take Her home as John. John was with Mary for perhaps 40 years and also wrote The Book of Revelation, written by His Servant perhaps with the help of Our Mother, Mary, the First Disciple and First Christ in through New Eve and Mother of God and perhaps the person with the “special protected” knowledge informing all of whom is casting, and I believe is only our own soul.

Peace always,
Stephen

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The idea or concept that Jesus had to suffer terribly in order to pay the price for our sins is very disturbing to my heart.

I have no doubt that Jesus has the power and authority to forgive us for our sins, on behalf of our Eternal Father. But I do not feel that he has to endure punishment on our behalf in order to accomplish this.

My conviction is that we are not these temporarily manifested material bodies which are made of transformations of mud and water. Rather, we are eternal spirit souls, just as God is eternal, with no beginning and no end. When we depart from the body, at the time of “death”, the material body no longer shows signs of life, and begins to decompose. But we are eternal spirit souls. We are not these material bodies.

One who understands, by direct perception, that I am not this material body, no longer identifies with the pains and pleasures of the flesh and blood. Therefore he becomes indifferent to material dualities, and becomes situated in the on-going pleasure of the spirit.

Yes, Jesus could endure crucifixion…….even up to the point of being more concerned about those who were crucifying him, and asking God to forgive them, at the same time as he was crucified. This degree of heartfelt compassion and love is because he is not afflicted as you or I would be afflicted if we were crucified.

Therefore my conviction is that to be told that Jesus had to suffer terrible agony because I am a sinner …….. this I cannot accept. I am a sinner. This I accept. And Jesus was crucified. This I accept. But that Jesus, who could perform all manner of miracles, such as walking on water, commanding the wind to stop blowing, healing the sick (even long-distance at times), feeding a great assembly of people with a few morsels of feed, seeing future events (like the crucifixion) with acceptance………such a personality who comes to us, from another world, the spiritual world……….such a personality does not suffer the dualities of the flesh as we would.

My conviction is that Jesus can cleanse us of the reactions of our sins. But he does not have to suffer in order to do this. And, the way in which he cleanses our hearts, is by sharing his love of the Father with us. When we imbibe the taste of love of God through the process of intimate association with Jesus, within our hearts, all attraction to our sinful activities are automatically vanquished, without separate endeavor.

I also believe that going to confession, and then engaging in the same sins repeatedly, is like using Jesus as a door mat. Jesus may forgive us for behaving in this way. But our Heavenly Father, who loves His son, will not. These are my convictions.

Jesus does not want us to feel guilt and shame. Jesus tells us: “Rejoice!” These are my convictions.

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Peace to all,

To me Logically, the living waters of The Baptism of Saint John the Baptist transforms flesh becoming sanctified immortalty from Lord Mary sanctifying from the Power of the Holy Spirit through the Immaculate Conception for the Immaculate Flesh becoming in all through the New Eve for all mankind becoming into the Catholic Church sanctified through both natures, Spirit and Life becoming in One Body through the New Eve, I believe.

Peace always,
Stephen

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One teaching that bothers me is the marital debt. I know this teaching has been misunderstood and abused.

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