Another good refutation of the "it's all the Church's fault" argument are the recent works of sociologist Rodney Stark, who suddenly (he used to describe himself as the "village atheist" ) has produced a series of books defending monotheism, the church, the Crusades, etc. against their over-educated despisers. ("It takes years of social scientific graduate training to believe such nonsense," he says at one point) Most specifically, see "The Victory of Reason," we he asserts was won by . . . wait for it . . . Roman Catholicism.
We must be defenders of the faith. That means defending the Catholic Church (church founded by Jesus Christ).We are here to learn and we have learned about many writings that "knock" the Church. It really is quite simple so do not get caught up in the retoric of the theologins.......A word to the wise!!!
The Catholic Church is definitely not to blame for the mess in the world, but individual Catholics ARE certainly to blame. We abort, contracept, divorce, fornicate, (and probably lie, steal, fail to help others) at the same rate as non-Catholics and perhaps even atheists (no stats on that). If Catholics really LIVED the FAITH the world would be a far better place. Catholics of the past two generations have not been catechized, nor converted, and people much older than that grew up believing whatever Sr. or FR. said was the TRUTH. Since Vatican II many of these Sisters and Fathers have gone over the cliff in their beliefs and practice. Perhaps the coming persecution will awaken us to what Christ has been calling us to do and to be since He left this earth physically. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Faith, and we have definitely been in a huge drought for decades.
Interesting that critics of the middle ages look down on ascetical practices. But in our day, we laud bodybuilders, marathon runners, triathlon participants, vegans, and others who concentrate on self-discipline for one reason or another, generally not spiritual.
As another source debunking the "it's all the Church's fault" see the recent works of sociologist Rodney Stark, most notably "The Victory of Reason."
ReplyDeleteAnother good refutation of the "it's all the Church's fault" argument are the recent works of sociologist Rodney Stark, who suddenly (he used to describe himself as the "village atheist" ) has produced a series of books defending monotheism, the church, the Crusades, etc. against their over-educated despisers. ("It takes years of social scientific graduate training to believe such nonsense," he says at one point) Most specifically, see "The Victory of Reason," we he asserts was won by . . . wait for it . . . Roman Catholicism.
ReplyDeleteWe must be defenders of the faith. That means defending the Catholic Church (church founded by Jesus Christ).We are here to learn and we have learned about many writings that "knock" the Church. It really is quite simple so do not get caught up in the retoric of the theologins.......A word to the wise!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic Church is definitely not to blame for the mess in the world, but individual Catholics ARE certainly to blame. We abort, contracept, divorce, fornicate, (and probably lie, steal, fail to help others) at the same rate as non-Catholics and perhaps even atheists (no stats on that). If Catholics really LIVED the FAITH the world would be a far better place. Catholics of the past two generations have not been catechized, nor converted, and people much older than that grew up believing whatever Sr. or FR. said was the TRUTH. Since Vatican II many of these Sisters and Fathers have gone over the cliff in their beliefs and practice. Perhaps the coming persecution will awaken us to what Christ has been calling us to do and to be since He left this earth physically. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Faith, and we have definitely been in a huge drought for decades.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that critics of the middle ages look down on ascetical practices.
ReplyDeleteBut in our day, we laud bodybuilders, marathon runners, triathlon participants, vegans, and others who concentrate on self-discipline for one reason or another, generally not spiritual.