Hi everybody, my name is Modesty and I'm excited to be a new member here! I've always been interested in religion, and I was in the process of converting to Catholicism but I halted that because of some doctrinal issues. I consider myself a general monotheist now until I figure out which religion/path rings true to me. So far I've investigated Zoroastrianism, Baha'i, the Sikh religion, Eckankar, and a ton of different Christian schools of thought/denominations. I'm looking forward to learning about new religious paths and ideas and getting to know you all! - Modesty
Welcome Modesty, don't be afraid to check out the Left Hand Path subforum in Alternative Groups! We don't bite . . . too hard
Thank you for the welcome! I'm not too knowledgeable about the more esoteric/magic-based (hope that's the right term) religions out there; my interest is mostly in monotheism. But I'm open to learning about all types of religious thought, so I'll definitely check the sub forum out!
Surely we can do that! Modesty welcome! I find beliefnet.to be an interesting source to dig out of your beliefs various alignments with other religions. Take a look around, we provide resources and discussion.
Welcome to the forum. I was a bit surprised that you had not listed eitherJudaism or Islam among the traditions you have explored.
Thank you! I am definitely interested in Judaism (it's a beautiful and fascinating religion), but for whatever reason I've just gravitated towards exploring other traditions so far. Islam is something I briefly explored and decided wasn't for me. I am interested in other Abrahamic faiths other than Christianity though, such as Druze and the Yezidis.
Haha, thank you so much! I'm very excited to have found this forum, as I don't really know anybody irl who enjoys discussing religion.
Hey. I'm new top. Can I ask, what interests you in catholicism when compared to the other religions mentioned? Welcome
Hey there! Once I started to really study religion and take the time to see what and why people believed, monotheism seemed like the most logical claim. From there, I started studying the different monotheistic faiths. I hit on Christianity and out of all them (loving history as I do!), Catholicism had the strongest historical claim to being the authentic expression of Christianity. I was actually really close to being brought into the Church but I decided I couldn't do it. I just have too many issues with Catholic dogma. I'm still certain about monotheism though, so I'm going to see where to go with that
Thank you! I am aware of Beliefnet! I think I'm signed up to their emails, but I haven't really read many of their articles recently; I should do that!
Hiya Modesty – As one of the catlicks here, I'd agree, but the the Eastern Orthodox hold a different view (it's a 'No, I am Spartacus!' kinda thing.) I tend to regard us as twins separated a millennia after birth, and Christianity as a religion tragically separated from its Judaic parentage. My own species of Catholicism regards anything later than about 1,000AD as 'suspiciously modern', I just can't keep up with the younger folks (other than a few notable exceptions). Sheesh! Who doesn't?
As a former Catholic, I think it might be safe to say that the people who have the most issues with Catholic dogma tend to be the Catholics themselves, lol. I find the stereotype of Catholics as just blindly following Church tradition and agreeing with Church dogma very interesting. I don't think I've ever known a Catholic that celebrates all of the feast days and actually agrees with all of the official doctrine. Even TradCaths tend to be pretty annoyed at everything the Church has done post-1968.
Oh, definitely! I can't remember who exactly said it, but I know one pope used the analogy of a pair of lungs when describing the Eastern and Western churches (AKA, the Church needs both sides to breathe).
100%, there's a lot of division within the Church- it's not a homogenous situation. I was initally really into the more traditional faction of the Church, but ultimately radtrads were what drove me away from Catholicism.
The closer one gets to truth, the more division one finds. It is not surprising, as satan doesn't want us to find it. Divide and rule is his 'trademark'.