- This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 5 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hello all,
I am not a member of the catholic commuinity and as such do not wish to tread on any toes,cross any lines,overstep my bounds or seem in anyway disrespectful.
However, I have a few questions that I hope someone will take the time to answer.
Incidentally I’m sure I’m reiterating tired old questions,please be patient with me.
1. The chatholic church,as well as all other religions at some point but we’ll stick to catholicism has undergone revisions for lack of a better word during the course of its existence.Is this due to necessity ? and do you see it as a watered down version or an updated more accurate version of your faith?
2. One of your core beliefs as I understand it, is that God sent his only son to die for our sins offering an opportunity for salvation.But if God is omnipotent why not get things right the first time and spare his perfect and completely innocent son from torture ? In other words why make people sinful in the first place if he knows he’s going to fix us down the line?
3.Regarding abortion, after conception it is possible for a zygote to split into two,as happens when identical twins are created.Given the right conditions these two zygotes will become two separate people.However these two zygotes can also reform back into one zygote.This is inelegantly phrased but can one soul become two and then back into one and if so what happens to one that disappears?
Welcome
In reply to your first question. We all, as individuals and as a community are or should be in a constant state of reform. Reform in this case does not mean watering down, or changing truth, but growing and correcting ourselved when we err. With specific regard to necessity, I would say yes, but possibly not for the reasons you would suppose. Throughout the history of the Catholic Church various ideas have developed that have stayed away from what was handed down from the Apostles, who learned from Jesus what his mission and teachings where. When issues arose, or questions came up there was a natural need to clarify, just exactly what we believe.
To your second question. The problem is not that God made creation imperfecty, but rather that we have free will to accept or reject what God has revealed to us. God desired from the beginning our love to be given to Him freely, not as robots who cannot think for themselves.
As for the both parts of your last question. As Catholic, we don’t claim to know when the soul and the body are united, All we know is that the earliest it could occur is at the union of the sperm and egg. Splitting Zygotes becoming twins, I’ve heard of Re-uniting, into one person, this I’ve not heard of, are you asking about chyronic twins perhaps? Well while the church does not define exactly when the soul is infused (the theological term) into the body, and defaults to the earliest it could occur, and as every life is of value to God, we oppose the direct killing of that life. If there is a real question as to the existance of more than one person in one body, (lets make it simple and use the example of a two headed infant) One “head” is baptized absolutly and the second is usually baptized conditionally, ie, the person baptizing would say, something to the effect of “If you are a second person, I baptize you….” So we always default with the intent of the greater good in mind.
Thank you for such a quick reply,pleasant and educational .The idea behind life beginning at conception is a preventative measure,I can understand that safe rather than sorry. Incidently i sit on the fence when it comes to abortion.
As for freewill, omniscience surely takes freewill into account and it therefore becomes determinism in the eyes of God.
I’m fairly sure the two zygotes can rejoin,I’ll check my sources.
Again thank you, I enjoy hearing the points of view of others.
[quote:3w013s67]As for freewill, omniscience surely takes freewill into account and it therefore becomes determinism in the eyes of God.[/quote:3w013s67]
There is not time or space to post the entire phlisophical means of coming to the conclusions that are ascribed by the Catholic Church on this web site. However there are other web-pages and sources of a deeper explanation. I’d rather if you wish that we use those to save from typing my fingers to the bone.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.