Why are you catholic

[Colleen]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' date='Jun 14 2005, 07:38 AM']GK Chesterton has a good quote that I always use (well, I shorten it to "because it's True") but Chesterton's quote is something like "there are 10,000 reasons to answer the question why am I a Catholic, all amounting to one reason: because Catholicism is true." (that's not the EXACT quote, cuz I can't find it, but it's pretty close)
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Hehe, you said what I was going to say. I did find the quote, actually. Chesterton said, "The difficulty of explaining 'why I am a Catholic' is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true." It's from his essay called [url="http://www.chesterton.org/gkc/theologian/whycatholic.htm"]Why I Am A Catholic[/url].

He continues, "There is no end to the dissolution of ideas, the destruction of all tests of truth, that has become possible since men abandoned the attempt to keep a central and civilized Truth, to contain all truths and trace out and refute all errors. Since then, each group has taken one truth at a time and spent the time in turning it into a falsehood. We have had nothing but movements; or in other words, monomanias. But the Church is not a movement but a meeting-place; the trysting-place of all the truths in the world."

I love Chesterton.

[quote name='catholicmomof4']I told her that if I came to her extremely thirsty, I would want her to give me a FULL glass of water with ice not a half empty cup of lukewarm water. I want something cold and wet to quench that thirst![/quote] I like that analogy!

[lifeteenchick527]

hot guys! lol

God Bless

LTC :hearts:

[Fides_et_Ratio]

[quote name='Colleen' date='Jun 14 2005, 02:59 PM']Hehe, you said what I was going to say. I did find the quote, actually. Chesterton said, "The difficulty of explaining 'why I am a Catholic' is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true." It's from his essay called [url="http://www.chesterton.org/gkc/theologian/whycatholic.htm"]Why I Am A Catholic[/url].

He continues, "There is no end to the dissolution of ideas, the destruction of all tests of truth, that has become possible since men abandoned the attempt to keep a central and civilized Truth, to contain all truths and trace out and refute all errors. Since then, each group has taken one truth at a time and spent the time in turning it into a falsehood. We have had nothing but movements; or in other words, monomanias. But the Church is not a movement but a meeting-place; the trysting-place of all the truths in the world."

I love Chesterton.

[quote name='catholicmomof4']I told her that if I came to her extremely thirsty, I would want her to give me a FULL glass of water with ice not a half empty cup of lukewarm water. I want something cold and wet to quench that thirst![/quote] I like that analogy!
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Yeah, that was it! My 3rd favorite Chesterton piece! lol. (the first two are (thus far) The Everlasting Man and The Man Who Was Thursday)

[Colleen]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' date='Jun 14 2005, 05:29 PM']Yeah, that was it! My 3rd favorite Chesterton piece! lol. (the first two are (thus far) The Everlasting Man and The Man Who Was Thursday)
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I love [i]The Man Who Was Thursday[/i]! It's hilarious. I'm still determined to read [i]The Everlasting Man[/i] eventually, too.

I really like that quote of Chesterton's because it's straight to the point and obviously, so very true.

[Brother Adam]

"Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life"

Suppose that sums it up for me.

[Fides_et_Ratio]

[quote name='Colleen' date='Jun 14 2005, 06:37 PM']I love [i]The Man Who Was Thursday[/i]! It's hilarious. I'm still determined to read [i]The Everlasting Man[/i] eventually, too.

I really like that quote of Chesterton's because it's straight to the point and obviously, so very true.
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"The Man Who Was Thursday" was my first Chesterton, so I have to love it (and it's not hard!).

Yeah, anytime anyone has ever asked me about my choosing Catholicism the first words are "Because it's true... G.K. Chesterton has this awesome essay about Catholicism and why he chose it, but his opening words encompass everything I could want to say--there are numerous reasons for my being Catholic, but they all boil down to the truth of the Catholic faith. I'm Catholic because it's true." And then depending on who was asking me, occasionally my friends and I will discuss the Bible for a while, or they just roll their eyes.

I never say it in a smug/snotty manner-- I just don't know how better to put it! Everything always comes down to its Truth.

[philothea]

[quote name='inDEED' date='Jun 13 2005, 11:39 PM']Hot chicks...
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[philothea]

[quote name='jezic' date='Jun 14 2005, 11:07 AM']why woudl the Catholic Church seem forbidding?

Years of separation and bad feelings between both groups didn't help things any, but that shouldn't affect you so much today. As a Christian above all you should seek the truth, that may not always be easy but why would that stop you?
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Mickey's_Girl explained it really well. I wasn't raised Protestant, though -- I didn't have any religion at all. When I asked Catholics about their religion, they wouldn't talk to me. I concluded the Catholic Church was a secretive group you had to be born into.

[karin]

i think i was asked that when i was 12. I said "because it is THE church Jesus founded, the first church and that must means its right since Jesus founded it. I want to follow what Jesus laid down for me." I dont think my answer would be much different now.

Of course there is the Eucharist I might also mention because it is a Major factor. It realy for me depends on the situation.

[curtins]

The Catholic church is the one TRUE faith founded by GOD HIMSELF!
Its the only way Im gonna end up in heaven and not downstairs, plus I love God and its awsome to serve him and live out, defend, and spread his faith

[Snowcatpa]

[quote name='catholicmomof4' date='Jun 14 2005, 03:46 PM']I was just asked this yesterday by a friend that was just "astonished" that we would convert to Catholisism ! This is how I explained it to her....

I told her that if I came to her extremely thirsty, I would want her to give me a FULL glass of water with ice not a half empty cup of lukewarm water. I want something cold and wet to quench that thirst !

Well, churches are the same. We go to church to quench a need, a thirst for Christ and I want a church that will fill my entire need and quench the thirst I have for our Lord ! Most (and I said most) protestant churches teach "truth" but it is only part of the truth. You can only find the fullness of truth in the Catholic Church. No other church offers the real and physical presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I want that! I want to recieve the Lord EVERYDAY ! You can not find that anywhere else !

Thanks and glory be to God forever !
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I LOVE that. That is a great metaphor for how other churches have truth and can help quench your thirst, but they're never going to fill it because only Catholicism is the one true faith.

[ilovechrist]

i agree, that metaphor is quite useful.

i've simply told them that there isn't any religion out there that can answer the questions to life like Catholicism can. it gives you all the answers you need (i've never gotten a question unanswered by a layperson or religious)... and gives you more gifts than any other belief can.

[philothea]

I would probably be too stunned to answer if anyone asked me why I was Catholic. It's too fundamental... like asking me why I prefer to breathe an oxygen-based atmosphere.

Nothing else works...?

[Old_Joe]

JPII once said, "It is the innate vocation of every human being to love."
Also, It was either St. Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinas who said this about our relationship with God, "Every person has a God shaped hole in their soul, and only God can fill it." Of course when I brought this up in my Bible study, one of the guys pictured something like Bugs Bunny running through a wall leaving an outline of himself.

[let_go_let_God]

The Catholic church is so full and beautiful in faith. The Catholic Church is the church that Jesus founded. Even though most Protestant churches separated from the Catholic Church, this is where I love to be. There is also the fullness of the sacraments, from natural conception to natural death.

Look at the Eucharist. "This is my Body" "This is my Blood" everyone that was following Jesus at that time left him except the Apostles. When they left him Jesus didn't recant and say "No, no come back it was only a metaphore! You don't really have to eat me! Come back, is wine and bread good enough!?" Jesus stood and watched them leave humbly. When he saw the Apostles there still he asked if they were going to leave him too. The Apostles said just what I want to say. "But Lord, to whom shall we go?" I don't want to go anywhere else. In the Catholic Church I am complete.

God bless-
LGLG