What are your views on Catholics? -- LiveWire Teen Forums

But actually I am reminded of a fourth reason.
In a situation of doubt, the wisest thing to do is adhere to the local ordinary. In Britain, that would inevitably be either a Catholic or and Anglican Bishop. That is debatable which, but I *think* the Anglicans no longer have valid orders. So in that case it is the Catholic one.
The situation of doubt is between "Catholicism" and "Orthodoxy" - and adherence to the Catholic ordinary doesn't mean that Catholicism is the correct interpretation on an absolute level only that it is not something discernible from this position in history by individuals, it is something that has to be worked out by the Church. Maybe in hundreds of years it will be. In the mean time unless obvious apostasy happens it's best to just avail of the sacraments, be obedient, trust in Christ and the Holy Spirit to eventually bring whoever is in error into the fullness of truth.

And now I look back I think this was the deciding reason, because it shouldn't be up to me to shop around for something, its really a tragedy that I have to - and it really is a painful thing. But eventually truth will out, in the meantime - in the thick of history surrounded by all the turmoil of peoples commitments and emotions, I for one cannot be expected to know the answer to this. The person I asked about it when I was trying to decide put it thus on his blog (though I could not find the specific entry there anymore :( and had to find someone's quoting of it which missed out some good bits but ho hum):

This culture of consumerism has also affected the consideration of the Apostolic Churches against each other. If a man considers Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy as equally available products, and chooses whichever he likes more, he is acting in a spirit that is inimical to both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, and really to any traditional religion. Such a choice is neither Catholic nor Orthodox; it is simply consumerist. It fails to treat conversion as a response to prevenient grace, and makes it a matter of having the necessary taste and intelligence to pick the best Church.

Often this takes the form of a series of contingencies: If the Catholic Church were to do this, then I would leave it. If the Catholic Church were instead to do that, then I would return. The most obvious objection to this is that it is not his prerogative to demand that problems be fixed within his lifetime. But worse, that sort of thinking in itself places a man outside of the Church; if not sacramentally, at least intellectually. It places him outside of any Church, for he regards them from a superior vantage. Or to continue the previous metaphor, he regards them like a consumer in a grocery store picking out a jar of peanut butter. This sort of thinking is poisonous to any real sanctification, because he who engages in it is never a member of the Church, of any Church, in the guileless and entire way that Christianity demands.
An apologist who acts utterly convinced in such arguments will only make a fool of himself, because a man cannot be convinced that his position is correct if he is not even smart enough to understand the controversy. His conviction is nothing more than a function of his sympathy for a particular side, and that usually is determined by things unrelated. He is simply choosing whom to trust. It should also be remembered that no matter how intelligent and clever and convincing an apologist is, there will always be someone more intelligent, more clever and more convincing to argue the opposite position. A man whose conversion is purely intellectual, made for reasons entirely within his own comprehension, can expect his faith to last until he meets the smartest heretic in the world. Apologetics at best are a means of dispelling lingering doubts for a man who is already responding to the prevenient grace of conversion, so that he may move on to something more substantial.

I think the person was annoyed too because he says also on his site "if one wants to know which religion to profess he should ask the Holy Ghost not some stranger with a pretty website". Which is probably true, but everything was happening all at once back then.

Post edited at 8:55 pm on Nov. 6, 2008 by osmoticdespair

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