bzzzzzzzzz..is that a fly or a hornet
or just another curious mind at work, David
yes, I took some questions as too personal [thus meaningless to anyone outside my self and wife] but I will offer responses as i see fit.
I purposely started this thread to ferret out the
quality of anti-catholic bias, btw, one that is well-deserved when scrolling thru centuries of CC behaviors as a political power and bizarre approaches to other religions, cultures and emerging sciences.
Though it is well-deserved, is the criticism accurate? The latter point is what I am after, not avoiding the criticism..do you know what the hell you are talking about when you talk nasty about Scientology?
To properly study cult behavior I have a vast resource in CC history alone that allows for a deeper grasp of this phenomenon than study of one or a thousand small sects like RSE.
Even all lumped together into some kind of inscrutible mess--not the way to go, D.---all cults cannot define one cult. This is a yearning for an easy stereotype. If you want that about the CC, rejoin RSE...
This very human problem that repeats itself throughout our history in all religions has a name[s]: Lifton called it "ideological totalism." Lalich calls it "bounded choice." both insist that the harm possible is a matter of degree to which the principles behind ideological totalism are in force.
Those forces ebbed and flowed throughout CC history in different ways depending on the place and time and environmental stressors. RSE is a modern new religion in a specific context, a mere 40 years in existence.
1. What criticism 'if any' do you personally have about the CC?
If any??? are you kidding? I do not have all year to answer this, but consider this: The CC is so massive that it lacks the agility to properly address the rapidly changing world of human development.....Vatican 2 was a start with John 23 in the 1960s but the CC as a body is ready for another Vatican Council asap...female priests anyone? Even this present pope has written that the CC would be better off keeping to the essential Gospel as a smaller force, more efficient in the world. The way I read it, he hints that this shakeup of the old institutions within the CC---a time when Satan will shred the CC from within--is a major test of what is true.
2. What concrete and meaningful changes [governance] and doctrines would you like to see abolished or set in place by the CC / hierarchy/system?
None.
But the right pope with a solidly elected magisterium could make a big difference..
Imo, the essential CC interpretation of scripture is as sophisticated as it gets in any denomination. Nuances however remain [eg, what is the 'virgin birth'; the body and blood of Christ] and that is primarily up to the individual Catholic to struggle with in the end. The CC offers a doctrine as a guide or statement of faith, but doctrine is never absolute. If one veers too far from doctrine, then quit the CC--or they might "excommunicate" you anyway and make it easier for you. Of course, one has to accept that there is a Gospel as defined by tradition...
The old saying is: if you are going to be a heretic [one who chooses], you'd better be right or you are just making another false choice.
On the subject of your marriage and present relationship.
Your more serious CC practices came after your wife converted to the Catholicism in 1987, I am interested to understand...
3. What do you mean by more serious CC practices Joe?
applying the good in the Gospel without fanfare, recognition, or thought of reward.
4. Was your wife's conversion to Catholicism to facilitate conditions for a valid CC Sacramental Marriage?
No. But my annulment was....
5. Was your wife drawn to the CC before she met you?
Hell no...her mother and dad avoided Christianity in raising the kids. She was around some Edgar Cayce types in Spain looking for Atlantis in 1973, eg. It was written up in Newsweek:
bzzzzzzzzz..is that a fly or a hornet
or just another curious mind at work, David
yes, I took some questions as too personal [thus meaningless to anyone outside my self and wife] but I will offer responses as i see fit.
I purposely started this thread to ferret out the
quality of anti-catholic bias, btw, one that is well-deserved when scrolling thru centuries of CC behaviors as a political power and bizarre approaches to other religions, cultures and emerging sciences.
Though it is well-deserved, is the criticism accurate? The latter point is what I am after, not avoiding the criticism..do you know what the hell you are talking about when you talk nasty about Scientology?
To properly study cult behavior I have a vast resource in CC history alone that allows for a deeper grasp of this phenomenon than study of one or a thousand small sects like RSE.
Even all lumped together into some kind of inscrutible mess--not the way to go, D.---all cults cannot define one cult. This is a yearning for an easy stereotype. If you want that about the CC, rejoin RSE...
This very human problem that repeats itself throughout our history in all religions has a name[s]: Lifton called it "ideological totalism." Lalich calls it "bounded choice." both insist that the harm possible is a matter of degree to which the principles behind ideological totalism are in force.
Those forces ebbed and flowed throughout CC history in different ways depending on the place and time and environmental stressors. RSE is a modern new religion in a specific context, a mere 40 years in existence.
1. What criticism 'if any' do you personally have about the CC?
If any??? are you kidding? I do not have all year to answer this, but consider this: The CC is so massive that it lacks the agility to properly address the rapidly changing world of human development.....Vatican 2 was a start with John 23 in the 1960s but the CC as a body is ready for another one asap...female priests anyone? Even this present pope has written that the CC would be better off keeping to the essential Gospel as a smaller force, more efficient in the world. The way I read it, he hints that this shakeup of the old institutions within the CC---a time when Satan will shred the CC from within--is a major test of what is true.
2. What concrete and meaningful changes [governance] and doctrines would you like to see abolished or set in place by the CC / hierarchy/system?
None.
But the right pope with a solidly elected magisterium could make a big difference..
Imo, the essential CC interpretation of scripture is as sophisticated as it gets in any denomination. Nuances however remain [eg, what is the 'virgin birth'; the body and blood of Christ] and that is primarily up to the individual Catholic to struggle with in the end. The CC offers a doctrine as a guide or statement of faith, but doctrine is never absolute. If one veers too far from doctrine, then quit the CC--or they might "excommunicate" you anyway and make it easier for you. Of course, one has to accept that there is a Gospel as defined by tradition...
The old saying is: if you are going to be a heretic [one who chooses], you'd better be right or you are just making another false choice.
On the subject of your marriage and present relationship.
Your more serious CC practices came after your wife converted to the Catholicism in 1987, I am interested to understand...
3. What do you mean by more serious CC practices Joe?
applying the good in the Gospel without fanfare, recognition, or thought of reward.
4. Was your wife's conversion to Catholicism to facilitate conditions for a valid CC Sacramental Marriage?
No. But my annulment was....she is my wife whether in the CC or not...no religion is my God.
5. Was your wife drawn to the CC before she met you?
Hell no...her mother and dad avoided Christianity in raising the kids. She was deep into some Edgar Cayce types in Spain looking for Atlantis in 1973, eg. It was written up in Newsweek. My wife, then 20, was the leader's personal assistant!
see:
http://www.apollonius.net/atlantis.html
of the Ancient Mediterranean Research Association headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Our Founder and Director is Professor Maxine Klein Asher, formerly of Pepperdine University. The Co-Founder was Pepperdine Professor Julian Nava, who later served as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico under President Jimmy Carter. I first became acquainted with Dr. Asher in 1973, because she was in the news for her expedition to Spain to prove the discovery of the Lost Atlantis. Accompanied by Spanish undersea diver Francisco "Paco" Salazar Casero, she travelled with a university group to Cadiz. Paco, she reported later, took some underwater photos of Atlantean artifacts. But, as luck would have it, they were diving and exploring too close to a top-secret naval facility and got "chased out" of Spain as spies, fearing for their lives, and sought refuge in Ireland.
This entire event in Spain was a major cult experience for her gone awry---a delusional odyssey.
Would she have any interest in CC had she not met me? I have no idea
Would you have met your wife without RSE
That is a similar question. We are creatures of our relationships---to assess personal reality and know who we are, we rely on feedback from those around us.