[quote:1zlh8kl6]It is not okay to question everything about the Faith. Dogmatic teachings and Canon are the rule and are not to be questioned. They are the rock upon which Peter and the Apostles defined our Faith by. If we are to question our Faith, or any part of it, I would suggest only after prayer, reading of the Gospels and Scripture should one question the faith and do so of competent authority, ie Priests, Deacons, etc… [/quote:1zlh8kl6]
Yet that seems to contradict the Not forming your consciousness a sin?[/url:1zlh8kl6] thread. If I can work this out for myself so I’m content, I will. You can bet that I’ll be asking everyone who knows anything about it, including my priest and local seminarians, but of all my personal qualities, serenity is the one I need to cultivate most. I can’t stop asking questions and I don’t question Church teachings as much in the “This sucks! Convince me it’s not” tone that I might have taken on here. It’s more in the, “What is it? Why? When was it brought in? Who believes it? Who doesn’t? What would happen if we believed differently?” manner. What can I say? Insatiable curiosity.
I’ve been alternating reading the bible and The Book of the City of Three Ladies by Christine de Pizan while I wasn’t studying, and I think it ought to be read more often when asking questions about Christian feminism. Its author, a woman writer of the middle ages, systematically defends women against attacks claiming that they are naturally more sinful than men and altogether useless, but the positive image she paints of women, being virtuous, doing good whenever possible, and loving God and her husband steadfastly, is probably what I needed to read in alternation with the Bible, since she has a habit of picking up biblical teachings, passages, or people, and examining how they can be applied to real women.
If I’m annoying any of you, I apologise and I can quiet down.
…But not yet. Just a minute.
[quote:1zlh8kl6]First, the questionable beliefs of gnostic groups also included dangerous Christological errors (such as a “Jesus” who never had a physical body.[/quote:1zlh8kl6]
I’ve read something very similar to this nowadays. In a magazine my brother subscribes to about theological issues, the author explained that it didn’t matter at all whether or not there was a real, living, breathing Jesus and in all probability Jesus didn’t exist at all, but the emotional significance of the myth was enough to stand on its own.
It made me surly for quite some time. The Bible isn’t a book of fairytales.