
It is good that you actually have had experiences of Catholic religion.
I have to admit myself that for decades I left it ( as a teenager your parents can't force you anymore),
and I came back to it around 2 years ago. So what made the difference?
May be because I went straight for the very austere Catholic flavour , before our actual priests got - unfortunately- infiltrated and corrupted. But the time they resisted was long enough for to learn what was important before moving on. And interestingly, their "purest" staff also moved on, their litterature changed as if the "Holy Spirit left".
Catholicism has benefits on the self-development side, that one can not find in other methods ( islam, bouddhism, libertarianism, judaism, socialism, nazism ( as some here are into it), etc).
Let's take confession.
If one comes across a very well trained priets ( specially those that worked in settings where people have confessed really hidden crimes as well as how they went about hiding these for a very long time), the confession is worth it. They will discuss with you about your sin : the gravity of it, the consequences on the potential victims and society at large, the real meaning of sin as a real offense to God and why so - for those who have difficulties with the concept pf God in what ways sin is a real offense to what is good in creation. Not only that, but a very well trained priest will help you find out how this sin was prepared into you so as to wait for the right time for you to do it ( same concept of seed of sin planted in the ground ). A very well trained priest might help you dig into your past environment to discover how you were influenced. A very well trained priest might also help you confess other sins that were attached to it , and you might even discuss all the other potential sins you might have jumped into in the future if you did not have the chance of confessing in good conditions.
Now tell me where you get that? Only Catholicism with a very high quality priest.
If you have not experienced how difficult it is to confess: how can you know how it is if you have not experienced it?
Also, after a good confession, you feel like your heart is like "cleansed". You feel lighter, more joyful, more optimist: if you have never experienced a good confession how can you find out about it?
This is why I said that it is only after practicing that one starts to really understand this Catholic religion.
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The danger of brainwashing and propaganda : it is clear and obvious that this is the one thing to look at for. This is why, it is important to be very carefuk to check the quality of the priest, and to always have doubts :
* does he practice what he preaches?
* can he be easily mislead and corrupted ( I'd say that is a big one)?
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The story of the couple.
Few questions:
- Was the couple forced to give anything ? No. They could have refused to give anything, and be fine. Of course they did not , as they showed by their action, that what was important to them was how they were seen by the other people. Image issues.
- Was the couple forced to give ALL of what they sold ? no. But they said they were giving ALL of what they sold, when in fact they actually hide one part and lied about it. Why did they hide part, lied about it, and attempted to mislead Peter?
- Once they showed they were willing as a team to lie, to hide, to mislead the leader, to mislead the TRUST of the leader in front of ALL the followers : what else down the line would they have been willing to do?
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I think one important aspect of Catholicism is real, pure and innocent love. This includes loving one's ennemies. This is actually much easier the more one confess properly, got miracles occuring in one's life thanks to God, and start doing real charity actions.
"real, pure, innocent lov" is something I am now trying to understand as it seems very much linked to the miracles that occured. Though I have been trained in STEM ( postgrad), BECAUSE I have experienced bouddhism ( again here being careful of brainwashing), found out a little bit about islam, I have experienced a lot of self-development methods, I actually believe in these miracles ( including resurecting the deads) an these miracles make sense if one understand what people call "the mysteries of Catholicms). Next I will be reading much more about the miracles, the links with purity of the heart, and why those who managed to do these miracles did not seem to brag about their abilities, become arrogant or feel superior to others; basically how they handle their success.