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?
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?