Another thread I was reading got me thinking (and we know no good can come of that). I'm mostly referring to Catholicism here. Over the past 2,000 or so years Catholicism has seen many, many changes. Things have been added, discarded, tweaked, etc. Where would you, as a believer, draw the line though? What is legit and what is not. Let's say, if tomorrow the Pope institutes a new doctrine saying that you may not enter heaven unless you begin donating 5% of your annual income to the church, is it legit? Would you do it? There are other rules that were made up at some point that people tell others to obey. I know St. Thomas Aquinas laid the smackdown and condemned all of the things he enjoyed doing before he was born again and that ruined some of the fun (I think that's where the 7 deadly sins originated in their current form). Indulgences, for example. That was a legit rule at some point in history. At that time, was that as legit as anything. One day homosexuals are evil abominations, the Pope has a press conference, and the next day they aren't so bad. How can shit just change like that? I understand it with the government, but religion is supposed to be truth. I don't really see how the "word of God" can be amended and subjected to human judgement. What I'm curious about is how do you believers decide what to follow and what not to follow? I know that not everyone follows every rule laid down in the bible and other religious texts. How do you decide which rules you will follow? What makes it ok to follow some, some of the time, and not others?
you can please yourself, on whats legit or not . I think you'll find nobody follows any real rules, they change them as they see fit. if god cant follow the seven deadly sins, how do you expect, any religion to follow them.
Dear Monkey, Yes, Religion is supposed to be true. And especially Catholicism should be true, but you need to realize that Catholicism has integral problems that even Christ predicted. He said there would be Weeds among the Wheat. The Prophet Simeon who died on the day the Baby Jesus was presented to him at the Temple... his dying words were that Christ would be contradicted. And he has been. The Catholic Church of the Paulist Bishops and even the Popes is largely Anti-Religious in that it follows paulist doctrines. HOWEVER, the Catholic Church is also the Institution of the Saints of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Religious, Ascetic and Mystical Orders. All the funny rules that boggle your mind are from the Catholic Church of the paulist Bishops -- those silly priveleged fat cats who still get their Bishop Hats not from any special holiness but because of the Same Old Same Old -- Aristocratic Family Connections and Money. Certainly it would be foolish to have any high hopes from such as they. But the Apparitions of Mary, and the Saint, and the Religious Order (what's left of them) are genuine enough.
