As Catholics we are not required to believe the two stories of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis are literal. (Chapter one and Chapter two have a different order of Creation.) What we must believe as Catholics is that God is the Creator of the Universe and all that it contains. That at some point God infused immortal souls into creatures and gave them free will. That they chose to disobey God. While we call them Adam and Eve, we are not told by the Church that we must believe it happened as detailed in the First book of the Bible. We are not bound to believe that the world was created in seven literal 24 hour days, etc. We are bound to accept that had God wished to he could have done all as it is written in the Biblical text, but at the same time are free to accept any plausable scientific theory as long as we include in it 1. God did it. 2. He gave mankind immortal souls. and 3. Mankind has free will.

Now there are other things that flow from this, such as humans were created to love and have a relationship with God, and were originally intended to live a life free of sickness, and death. We have inherited the stain of original sin, and the propensity to sin, but the being creatures of God, we have also the potential to be restored to what God originally intended before the first sin, and our actual sins. That is made possible by Christ Jesus. We will in heaven understand all that God is and has done for us fully, in this lifetime we only have a glimpse of His goodness and love.

SO what your trying to say is that your catechism is for the summery of your faith? How often is YOur catechism used in the Education of teenage CAtholics?

Many links to sources where you can find out how accurate your sources are have been given to you. I sense a fear that you may find out that what you have been taught is not what reality is. Yet something brings you back. Since you simply make rude comments, both to the Catholics on this forum, and even your friend, but give no support, I can’t really give your statements much credence based on your shotgun approach and your ad hominem attacks.

No I don’t think you are ready to go to a priest, you don’t seem ready to listen to anyone who presents anything you don’t want to hear. It’s fine if after giving an honest look at something you reject it, but to reject it outright without honest investigation seems a bit juvenile.

Not all of us learn the same way, or grasp things the same way, so too the same truths of the Catholic Church are presented in a different way, by different Catechism authors.

There are two Catechisms that the Catechism of the Council of Trent, and the Current, CCC, which have a semi official status. But because of all the languages and Cultures that the Catholic Church is composed of there are Catechisms that have been endorsed or authorized by National groups, as was the case for the Baltimore Catechism in the USA. However while these Catechisms did carry the endorsement of the Catholic Bishops of various countries and language groups, that did not stop the publication of other Catechisms which all in the past had to be reviewed, and given an Imprimater, or permission to be printed and sold as a book that did not contain error. (More on Imprimaters sometime later, as they do not make a book an “official” Catholic Book, as some anti-catholics mislead people into believing.)

The Catechism of the Council of Trent was published to counter some of the new Theological ideas coming from Luther, Zwigely, and Calvin, as well as to form a uniform manner of learning the Faith. It is one of the earliest Catechisms in print. You have to remember that prior to Luther’s day, all books were either copied by hand, (Usually in Monastic settings) and very expensive. Most people could not read, because books were so rare, Newspapers and Magazines did not exist. After Guttenberg invented movable type, and books could be printed much easier, and at a much lower cost, it became within the reach of many to learn to read, and own a book. It is also important (I think) to note that the first book that was printed with movable type, was the Vulgate, a Catholic Bible.

I think what some non-Catholics don’t understand, being taught that the Catholic Clergy has a stangle hold on people’s minds, and forces Catholics to follow a strict blind obedience. The reality is that Catholics have quite a bit of freedom to read a variety of books which look at Cathoic teachings from a variety of viewpoints.

I KInda like how James’ “shotgun approach” was answered but not mine…..way to educate me in your faith guys. I have questions but James only had statements…