A recent popular thread on Reddit asks: Why did you leave your religion? This was featured by Microsoft on their START page and includes many interesting questions.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Does religion oppose science? Was the world really created in seven twenty-four-hour days? Why are my questions not answered?
Why does the church cover up for child molesters?
Why does the church condone abuse, and urge wives to stay married to abusive husbands?
Why does the church have so many rules? Can Christians be compassionate and progressive? Can Christians be Democrats? Are Christians hypocrites?
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15q6o6w/why_did_you_leave_your_religion/?rdt=55182
Although I was born Lutheran, my Internet persona is purposely vague as to which Christian to which denomination I belong. I do believe that all believers should join a local church, so we can encourage one another, as Hebrews exhorts. My preference is to study all mainline Judaeo-Christian traditions, including all Christian traditions that adhere to the basic creeds, whether they say they are credal churches or not, for guidance on how to lead a godly life, as well as Stoic and moral philosophy.
Many more book links are in the Book Review blogs referenced.
YouTube video for this blog: https://youtu.be/h-Fs0GGxM_k
We have a channel philosophy video which is basically my personal testimonial on my beliefs and philosophy. The title of my channel is Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History, I do not include Theology in the title because I strive to avoid polemics, I do not wish to argue why one branch of Christianity is truer than all the others. There are many other channels that do this respectfully. In person, I would readily reveal this, as it is no secret.
Our Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History: Ancient and Modern Classics
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/our-philosophy-for-this-blog-reflections-on-ancient-and-modern-classics/
https://youtu.be/Si0TsO5bNr0
The probing questions we ask today are not new questions, they have been discussed for centuries and millennia, some are discussed in the Scriptures themselves, if we know where to look.
One harmful prejudice is that we should not read the teachings of the Church Fathers because somehow they are Catholic or Orthodox, and must be ignored because they are not biblically correct. This is categorically false, most of the writings by the Church Fathers are biblical commentary! The Church Fathers originally coined the words and phrases we use to discuss grace and redemption and justification. If Protestants have no problem reading Billy Graham, they should have no problem reading the Church Fathers, as they are the Billy Grahams of the early church. Just because you read the Church Fathers does not mean you need to convert to Catholicism or Orthodoxy. Many Protestants read the early Church Fathers; it was Protestant ministers who translated many of their writings into English in the late 1800’s. If we deny the credibility of the early Church Fathers, we are denying ourselves the wisdom of the ages.
Book Review: Early Church Fathers Library – 38 Volumes in 3 Series
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/early-church-fathers-library-38-volumes-in-3-series/
Book Reviews on Apostolic and Early Church Fathers
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/book-reviews-on-apostolic-and-early-church-fathers/
How To Read Ancient Works, and Book Reviews on the Apostolic Church Fathers
https://youtu.be/I_2q4BiRBlU
We like to reflect on the Vatican II decrees, and the Catholic Catechism that summarizes these decrees, as well as the writings of the medieval Jewish rabbis, because these are some of the most well thought out positions in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Bishops around the world provided input on the Vatican II decrees and the Catholic Catechism.
Book Reviews, Reform Councils of Trent and Vatican II, and Vatican I
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/book-reviews-reform-councils-of-trent-and-vatican-ii/
https://youtu.be/cuKVG24Bf78
Book Reviews, Commentaries of Torah and Talmud, Medieval Rabbis and Modern Rabbis and Scholars
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/book-reviews-commentaries-of-torah-and-talmud-medieval-rabbis-and-modern-rabbis-and-scholars/
https://youtu.be/mvstpk88TxI
We have many future videos we refer to, and many are topics people would benefit from hearing, they are on our front burner, so you should see them either in late 2023 or maybe early 2024. If there are any you are particularly interested in, please let us know in the comments.
WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE? “A really traumatic thing happened to my family, who had been raised me as a Christian, a few years back. My mom and dad randomly told me they no longer consider themselves Christian, but it’s totally okay if I do. I told my mom that I, too, felt like I had lost my religion.
It all came down to the same basic question: Why would an omniscient, omnipotent, loving God allow such horrible things to happen in the world he created? I REALLY resent the notion, which people say all the time, that nothing is an accident and God has a plan for everyone. I find it really offensive, actually.”
Another thread: “I’m sorry, but cancer in children should not be a part of Gods’ plan, or anyone’s plan. I would rather believe in nothing than believe in something that promotes pain in one of their most beloved creations.”
This question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” has a technical term, biblical scholars refer to it as theodicy. Personally, this word and concept tells us more about ourselves than truths about God.
How did the ancient Jews and Christians respond to this question? One answer is that this is the theme of the Book of Job in the Old Testament. This very simple question and is both very easy and very challenging question to ponder. The Book of Job has drawn much interest from philosophers as well as theologians. What does God reveal to Job from the whirlwind? God just basically announces his sovereignty and his Almighty power. So what is the answer to the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Simply put: Because they do.
We forget that the ancient world of the Bible was a much less friendly place than the modern world, and yet they still believed and hoped in God, and were willing to become martyrs for their faith. The ancient Greek and Jewish cultures were warrior cultures out of necessity. Ordinary people in the ancient world didn’t look forward to collecting Social Security and having a secure retirement. No, their worries were much more basic: they worried that one day a very hostile city state would defeat and rape and plunder their city-state, execute all the military age men, and enslave the women and children.
Ancient Warrior Societies, Blog 1, The Warrior Ethos of Ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/ancient-warrior-societies-blog-1-the-warrior-ethos-of-ancient-greece/
Ancient Warrior Culture, Ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel
https://youtu.be/7QAZ_s6zw4E
Ancient Warrior Societies, Blog 2, Greek and Roman Armies and Navies
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/ancient-warrior-societies-blog-2-greek-and-roman-armies-and-navies/
Ancient Warrior Societies, Blog 3, World of the Old Testament
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/ancient-warrior-societies-blog-3-world-of-the-old-testament/
Ancient Warfare in Ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel. Did Joshua Massacre Pagans in Promised Land?
https://youtu.be/9xKxqAbJ2qY
Ordinary Life and Justice in Ancient Athens, Rome, and Israel
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/ordinary-life-and-justice-in-the-ancient-world/
https://youtu.be/vl8KGL5Yx2w
Indeed, slaves were the employees of the ancient world. Slaves were either born into slavery, or they were captured during war, or by pirates, or were abandoned as infants in the marketplace by those too poor to raise then.
People suffered more and died younger in the ancient world. There was no aspirin, many people died from fever or indigestion. The infant mortality rate in the ancient world was incredibly high: between a quarter and a third of infants died in their first year of life. So many women died in childbirth that Roman wives often updated their wills when they learned they were pregnant. Most people died before fifty.
Slaves in the Ancient World, Blog 1, Were Slaves the Employees of the Ancient World?
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/slaves-in-the-ancient-world-blog-1-were-slaves-the-employees-of-the-ancient-world/
Slaves in Ancient Greece and Rome, Blog 2
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/slaves-in-ancient-greece-and-rome-blog-2/
https://youtu.be/O67cmVRvBtA
Why Doesn’t the Bible Condemn Slavery? Perspectives from Jewish, Christian, and Stoic Traditions
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/why-doesnt-the-bible-condemn-slavery/
https://youtu.be/Tz8EVYLuYoc
Teachings about Slavery in the Bible, the Stoics, and by the Early Church Fathers
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/teachings-about-slavery-in-the-bible-and-by-the-early-church-fathers/
https://youtu.be/poyvJajCXnE
To the ancients who lived in a warrior culture, Stoic philosophy is very appealing. The Stoics don’t ask the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Instead, they admit that good and bad things happen to everyone, that the rain falls on both the bad and the good. Bad things happen to good people, that is part of life. The real question is: How can God help us endure and prevail over our suffering?
Why does an Almighty God permit suffering in this world? Since most suffering is caused by bad people, this question is about whether free will should be permitted to bad people. But since we are all imperfect, the question is really this: Do we want to be God’s puppets, so we always do what is right?
Seneca, Moral Epistles, Blog 1, Living Well, Dying Well
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/seneca-moral-epistles-blog-1-living-well-dying-well/
Seneca, Moral Epistles, Blog 2, Stoicism and Living a Godly Life
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/seneca-moral-epistles-blog-2-stoicism-and-living-a-godly-life/
Seneca, Moral Epistles, Blog 3, Loving Philosophy, Loving God, Loving our Neighbor
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/seneca-moral-epistles-blog-3-loving-philosophy-loving-god-loving-our-neighbor/
Seneca, Moral Epistles, Blog 4, Stoic Concepts of Virtue and the Good
Seneca, Moral Epistles, Blog 4, Stoic Concepts of Virtue and the Good
Seneca, Moral Epistles, Blog 5, On the Benefits of Friends and Keeping Score
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/seneca-moral-epistles-blog-5-on-the-benefits-of-friends-and-keeping-score/
Seneca, Moral Epistles, Blog 6, Stoicism and the Golden Rule
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/seneca-moral-epistles-blog-6-stoicism-and-the-golden-rule/
Seneca, Moral Epistles, Blog 7, Precious Stoic Nuggets of Wisdom
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/seneca-moral-epistles-blog-7-precious-stoic-nuggets-of-wisdom/
Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic Philosopher, Short Biography and Sayings
https://youtu.be/wgD8skYi3I0
Seneca: Stoic Sayings on Virtue, Friendship, Pleasure, Joy, and Philosophy
https://youtu.be/m4mcP2F9c4w
Epictetus, Stoic Philosopher
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/epictetus-discourses-blog-1/
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/epictetus-discourses-blog-2/
https://youtu.be/Dhd543kov-E
Marcus Aurelius, Blog 1, Friend, or Foe, or Both, of Christianity?
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/marcus-aurelius-blog-1-friend-or-foe-or-both-of-christianity/
Marcus Aurelius and Christian Persecutions: Friend or Foe?
https://youtu.be/-uQxq1O9xSY
Marcus Aurelius Blog 2, Others will be irritating, but not I!
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/marcus-aurelius-blog-2-others-will-be-irritating-but-not-i/
Marcus Aurelius Blog 3 Genuine Friends Don’t Keep Scorecards
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/marcus-aurelius-blog-3-genuine-friendships-have-no-scorecards/
Marcus Aurelius Blog 4 Be critical of yourself, be gracious towards your neighbor
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/marcus-aurelius-blog-4-be-critical-of-yourself-be-gracious-towards-your-neighbor/
Marcus Aurelius Blog 5 Seeing life’s misfortunes through the eyes of our neighbor
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/marcus-aurelius-blog-5-seeing-lifes-misfortunes-through-the-eyes-of-our-neighbor/
Marcus Aurelius: Meditations: Stoic View of Life
https://youtu.be/0qHpReZYhv4
Early Christianity was deeply influenced by both rabbinical Judaism and secondarily, by Roman Stoic philosophy. Close study of the New Testament reveals this heritage, but it is especially evident in the writings of the early monastic writings. Platonism itself was also deeply influenced by the stoic thought in Greek culture. This is stoicism with a small-S, see our Channel Philosophy video for more explanation.
Philokalia, On the Character of Men and the Virtuous Life
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/philokalia-on-the-character-of-men-and-the-virtuous-life/
https://youtu.be/UWqhOMkieqQ
We plan to reflect on a book of essays by scholars on the tie between stoicism and Christianity in the near future.
RELIGION PROVIDED HALF-TRUTHS: “Because I learned too much. This led to asking too many questions. Science provided answers or at least an honest ‘We don’t know. Yet.’ Religion provided lies, half-truths, and curses for asking the questions.”
BELIEVED IN EVOLUTION: “Everyone kept telling me that I wasn’t a real Christian if I believed in evolution. Because when I was asking hard questions, the only answer I would get is ‘It’s part of his plan.’”
Historically, the Church was not opposed to scientific inquiry. Among the early Church Fathers, St Augustine is particularly intellectually curious about scientific matters. The best example is St Augustine’s Confessions, which are both confessions of sin as well as confessions of faith, and also a confession of his scientific inquiries.
In his youth, St Augustine also doubted the logic of the Christian faith and Church teachings. The Latin Bible of his day was not the Vulgate, which was later translated by St Jerome, his contemporary, but was rather a more primitive Latin translation that had many problems. Many intellectuals of his day did not respect Christianity because of the backwardness of this translation, it affected the credibility of the church itself. St Augustine initially left the Christian Church and spent a full decade in a heretical sect which is analogous to many of the new age sects today.
Summary of St Augustine’s Confessions of Faith and Repentance
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/summary-of-st-augustines-confessions-of-faith-and-repentance/
https://youtu.be/sIpx5qJMGvw
Many people only read the first nine books of this autobiography, his Confessions, and ignore the last four books, but these are key to understanding the Confessions. Book Ten reflects on the spiritual lessons he learned when he converted back to Christianity. The last three books are the most interesting because he reflects on the spiritual aspect of the Genesis Creation story and his scientific inquiries. These inquiries and his approach lead many scholars to declare that he is also the father of psychology.
Summary of St Augustine’s Confessions of Faith and Repentance
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/summary-of-st-augustines-confessions-of-faith-and-repentance/
https://youtu.be/sIpx5qJMGvw
St Augustine ponders the question of TIME. He points out that while God creates night and day on the first day of creation, he does not separate the night from the day, and create the sun and the moon and the stars until the fourth day. What is time? How could the days of Creation be twenty-four-hour days when the heavenly bodies were created on the fourth day?
St Augustine ponders the question of MEMORY. Even the ancients observed that memory is imperfect, and that it fades with age. But the soul is everlasting. How is our memory bound up in our soul? How can an imperfect memory co-exist with an immortal soul? To St Augustine, memory is an unresolved puzzle.
In addition, St Augustine, in his book on Christian Teaching, or on Christian Doctrine, answers this question: Why do so many Old Testament verses appear to be so brutal and un-Christian? The most famous example is that passage in the Psalms where the Jews declare that they wish to bash the bash the heads of the Babylonian babies on the stone steps? How can a loving God approve of this violence?
St Augustine teaches us that each section of the Bible should be interpreted as affirming the core Christian teaching of the two-fold Love of God and love of neighbor, that is: You should Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your mind and with all of your strength, and you should love your neighbor as yourself. Any verse that seems, on its face, to violate this principle, MUST be interpreted allegorically. As a matter of fact, the Babylonian babies verse is a favorite of the eastern monastic Church Fathers. The allegorical meaning is that we should eliminate all the sins in our life, both large and small, there’s no sin so small that we should not repent of it and seek to eradicate it from our soul.
St Augustine: On Christian Teaching, aka On Christian Doctrine, How To Read Scripture
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/st-augustine-on-christian-teaching-how-to-read-scripture/
https://youtu.be/uQCnAJMPoos
We are also planning to reflect on the theory of evolution and its social impacts, including the famous Scopes monkey trial in the early twentieth century.
EXPERIMENTED WITH ATHEISM
“Experimented with atheism, and when I told my classmates, they bullied me, decided there that god is not real and just a way of manipulating people (in my opinion).”
We will be reflecting on the key work by Ludwig Feuerbach, the late nineteenth century German philosopher who inspired not only Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Frederick Nietzsche, and many modern atheists, but also Karl Barth the theologian. In his introduction to his Commentary on Romans, Barth listed Feuerbach as an inspiration in ensuring his beliefs were genuine. Feuerbach observed that when many pray to God, they are actually praying not to God himself, but to the vision of God that they have constructed in their own minds. This is indeed a trap that we can all fall into.
FELT DETACHED, NO ANSWER TO QUESTIONS: “My parents raised us Catholic; I did my first communion and then started CCD classes once a week.” CCD mean Cofraternity of Christian Doctrine and is Catholic Catechetical instruction.
“I became skeptical because a lot of what they said just didn’t make sense to me, so I began asking questions. I would just ask, ‘Why?’ several times a night, and it began to aggravate our group leader. Finally, he told me, ‘If you have so many questions, maybe you’re not in the right place.’ I could not agree more! I got up and walked home.”
For some reason, in some Catholic dioceses and parishes, the CCD classes are not taught by the priest, but are rather taught by a devout layman. Unfortunately, many devout laymen are not deeply educated in theology, they are just basically taught the party Catholic line as it is commonly understood on the internet and in the pews, and often they are not conversant with the teachings of the Church Fathers, ancient or modern, and sometimes oppose Pope Francis and the Vatican II decrees. They are frustrated and offended when people dare to question them.
Pope Francis Mentions Abortion in Gaudete et Exsultate, With a Prayer From Pope Benedict
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/pope-francis-mentions-abortion-in-gaudete-et-exsultate-with-a-prayer-from-pope-benedict/
https://youtu.be/jF-fsMvYsak
Pope Francis Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, On Fraternity and Social Friendship
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/pope-francis-encyclical-fratelli-tutti-on-fraternity-and-social-friendship/
https://youtu.be/WmT12-PFrt8
As a practical matter, if you wish to take CCD class from a priest rather than a layman, a good tactic to try is to attend the cathedral. Cathedrals have so many priests attached to them that priests usually perform all the tasks themselves, including CCD classes, and in many dioceses, they tend to be more progressive than devout laymen.
This leads to other important questions: Should you attend church? What church should you attend? Most simply select their church out of convenience, or because their spouse has attended the church all their lives, or some other some other criteria. But realistically, and this is especially true for Catholic or Orthodox Churches with Confession, you need to select a church where you respect the spiritual direction of the priest or pastor.
Do Christians Need To Go To Church? Which Type of Church Should You Attend?
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/do-christians-need-to-go-to-church-which-type-of-church-should-you-attend/
https://youtu.be/LvfH9DIAVxU
But we should consider the advice of St John Climacus in the first chapter of his Ladder of Divine Ascent. Although we should follow the advice of our spiritual fathers, we should, in the beginning, select as our spiritual fathers someone whose spiritual advice we trust. This is because if he advises you, in a matter of morals, to do something you don’t want to do, you should be very reluctant to ignore his advice.
This last caveat is not in the Ladder of Divine Ascent, our saint advises us to follow ALL advice of our spiritual father. But the reality is that the monastic writings are intended for monks whose spiritual fathers are accessible all day, every day, and who are connected to their daily spiritual struggles, but this is never true for laymen who may see their priest or pastor or rabbi only once or twice a week. Sometimes in small devout parishes or synagogues, the priest, pastor, or rabbi tries to spiritually control his flock, but this can be spiritually dangerous and harmful.
John Climacus: First Step of the Ladder of Divine Ascent
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/st-john-climacus-first-step-on-the-ladder-of-divine-ascent/
https://youtu.be/Fco0W3bt5GA
CORRUPTION: “Corruption. The last straw was finding out how they protected child molesters. The last vestige of my Catholicism is rooting for Notre Dame football.”
Indeed, the issue of child molesters is a very valid concern. Christianity is based on the concept that when we repent of our sins we can be healed and changed. Also, in the seventies, the cultural assumption was that psychologists could counsel you and heal you and make you normal. The unfortunate reality is that many people with addictions, particularly sexual addictions, are expert liars. Doubly unfortunate, many child molesters choose professions where they can be in close contact with children, including teachers, youth pastors, and priests.
We must remember the Catholic Church is unique among many institutions in that it has centralized diocesan personnel files, whereas many Protestant churches are congregational, which means that the personnel files are only maintained in the local churches. It is much easier for opposing attorneys to get access to the centralized Catholic databases.
The Catholic Church founded the Virtus program in 1988, many dioceses require all who volunteer for ministries to attend. This program teaches how you can detect molesters and how you can prevent abuse. They may permit non-Catholic congregations to participate, you can inquire.
IGNORING OR CONDONING ABUSE: “Abuse disguised as the word of God felt and witnessed over and over. In church, at school, at home, on the playground.”
First, let me answer another question posed: “When my ex-husband was mentally and emotionally abusive, I was told I needed to stay with him and be a witness to him. When I decided to leave him, the church told me I would ruin my children’s lives and my mom said I needed to really pray and make sure it’s what god wanted me to do. When I was a single mom to five kids, the church I grew up in treated me like a social pariah until they needed a volunteer.
All I ever got from church was guilt, shame and fear. I have never ever been happier and had more joy, true, felt down to my bones joy, not the fake joy they claim at church, than I have since leaving three years ago. I’m never going back.”
There is growing realization among all denominations, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, of the seriousness of this problem. The need to protect women and children from abuse far outweighs any concern of outward propriety or the state of the abusing husband’s soul. Also, based on my experiences as a facilitator in divorce support ministry, you must assume if your husband is abusing you, he is capable of using of abusing your children, and if he is abusing your children, he is capable of abusing you.
The Bible may counsel against divorcing your husband, but the overriding concern of Jesus and all the church officials should be your safety, and more importantly, the safety of your children. Separation is not divorce. If you are in an abusive situation, you need to separate and be in a safe place. Once that happens, then you can pray and ponder what you should do in your situation. Though you should not rush into it, divorce can be advisable, particularly if it compels your ex-husband to pay child support.
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/06/26/how-church-can-help-or-hurt-women-abusive-marriages
There is a non-denominational national divorce ministry available called DivorceCare, and also a Catholic divorce ministry called Catholic Surviving Divorce. You do not need to be officially married, and you can either be divorced or separated to participate in these ministries. If properly run, they are not going to bug you about converting.
https://www.catholicsdivorce.com/
SO MANY RULES: “A rule for this. A rule for that. A rule for everything. Rules, rules, rules. They are useful guidelines. But if we blindly follow them, is it really a good thing?
Retain your ability to think for yourself and weigh each decision carefully because you have to live with them.”
This concern about rules-based Christianity is found most distinctly in the Catholic Church, although it is found in all churches. Why do we have rules? Simply put, if we desire to live a godly life, we need instruction on how to do it.
Even in the Catholic tradition, the Vatican II decrees also decry the overemphasis of rules. As St Augustine once famously quipped, if you Love God and love your neighbor, you can do whatever you wish. This is intended for mature Christians.
However, one reason why I enjoy reading the Jewish medieval rabbis is they take to heart that blessings in the first Psalm, “Blessed is the man whose delight is in the Law of the Lord, on his Law he meditates day and night.” The is Law as Gospel. Likewise, the modern Catholic Catechism summarizes both the moral law and also most of the questions priests are asked by the devout in Confession and elsewhere.
Why are Catholics culturally so concerned about rules? Historically, in the Middle Ages the Catholic canon law governed family law in Europe, until the modern states assumed this responsibility.
Legalism is not all bad. As populations are converted to Christianity, historically they first become literate so they can read the Word and sing the psalms in the Mass. Next, the formerly barbarian nations, when Christianized, adopted a rational legal system.
ARE CHRISTIANS PROGRESSIVE? ARE CHRISTIANS COMPASSIONATE? “For me it was a combination of the anti-LGBTQ attitude, the racism, the misogyny and the general political attitude of many members. I felt stifled by the idea that my purpose in life as a woman was to be a wife and mother. That is a perfectly acceptable life goal/plan, but it wasn’t what I wanted out of life at all.”
CAN CHRISTIANS BE DEMOCRATS? “My parents are both Democrats and I heard a lot of crap about it from other members of my ward even as a young kid and I hated the idea that the people I vote for determined my worth as a person and as a Christian.”
We have a video on why you can be both a Christian and a Democrat. We must remember Protestant Christians deeply influenced the abolitionist movement in the 1830s which led to the abolition of slavery after the Civil War. Today an evangelical Christian ministry, Promise Keepers, is centered around racial reconciliation. Also, the social justice movement of both the Catholic and Protestants deeply influenced the New Deal of FDR and seeks to reduce poverty in our society not just by helping individual poor people, but by improving their lives through governmental action, providing them the education and assistance needed to land a good job with a living wage so they can feed, clothe, and house their families with dignity.
Why This Old White Christian Abandoned the Republican Party
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/why-this-old-white-christian-abandoned-the-republican-party/
https://youtu.be/94_2OYuZpJs
Promise Keepers: Black Lives Matter To These Evangelical Leaders
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/promise-keepers-black-lives-matter-to-these-evangelical-leaders/
https://youtu.be/02MWE1ANlWo
We have a series of reflections on the early civil rights movement and the history of abolition civil war and reconstruction plus other videos that show the direct and indirect links between Nazism and the American Jim Crow segregationist laws and movement
Many churches are wrestling with the LGBTQ issue. In the Catholic Church there have been disparate approaches to this issue by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, working through Father Martin, who is currently the editor of the leading Catholic magazine, America, and is a leader in the LGBTQ ministry in America.
Before he was pope, Benedict witnessed the worst cases of child molestation by priests, and he compelled the Catholic Church to face up to the problem of child molesters among the clergy. His view was based on his experience as the Vatican policeman on this issue, and at one time was advocating not permitting anyone with homosexual tendencies into the Catholic seminaries.
Father Martin has a different perspective and a different life experience: he heard confessions from many priests. His experience is that many Catholic men who have homosexual tendencies are drawn to the priesthood because they can serve the church without the culture expecting them to get married. His experience is that very few of these men become molesters.
Building Bridges to LGBT Community: Father Martin and Popes Benedict and Francis
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/the-church-the-catholic-catechism-and-the-lgbt-community/
https://youtu.be/F3BmZFYlqiU
HYPOCRISY: “I was raised Christian, and for a long time, I became agnostic due to the hypocrisy of organized religion. I’ve actually come back into my faith over the past few years because I’ve realized my issue isn’t with God; it’s with the people who claim to speak for him.”
Religion is not about them, about what they believe, about how hypocritical they are. Religion is about you, whether you want to live a godly life, and whether you are willing to accept God’s grace and assistance to live a godly life.
If you are dissatisfied with your current religious tradition, IMHO, you should first study the other religious tradition, read the early Church Fathers, read the works of the founders of the religious tradition that appeals to you. But before you convert, you should then study your own religious tradition, so you can share what you have learned. Perhaps your dissatisfaction is from your inaccurate perceptions of your own religious tradition.
One message of the Vatican II decrees is that the Catholic Church has much to learn from their separated brothers, and the reverse is also true, that Protestants and Orthodox have much to learn from their Catholic brothers. Indeed, the Catholic Church before and after Vatican II are two very different churches, not theologically, but in how the Catholic Church confronts the modern world.
Vatican II is unimaginable without the Church’s experiences under the fascist regimes of World War II. The Catholic Church was burned when the friendly fascist regime of Mussolini went full Nazi just before the start of the war, initiating the persecution of Jews to please Hitler. Vatican II embraces democracy as the safest political regime for the church to thrive under, as totalitarian regimes can flip from friends to deadly foes in a heartbeat.
What Happened at Vatican II, Embracing Democracy and Modernity
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/what-happened-at-vatican-ii-embracing-democracy-and-modernity/
https://youtu.be/vHtYu6UtiuE
DISCUSSING THE SOURCES
St Augustine’s Confessions is like a modern testimonial, he shares his spiritual journey, these are both confessions of sins and beliefs. He answers many questions modern seekers ask about Christianity in a very readable and inspiring book.
Father O’Malley has written many captivating books on the history of Trent, Vatican I, Vatican, the Jesuits, and many other histories. IMHO, you do not understand Catholicism until you have read the Confessions and O’Malley’s book on Vatican II.
The writings of the early eastern monastic Church Fathers, including St John Climacus in the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the Philokalia collection, influenced the Western monastic movement. Since these were written in the first millennium, they are within both the Orthodox and Catholic traditions.
There are many misconceptions about the 1619 project, this is simply a collection of essays on the injustices blacks endured during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow segregationist eras in America.
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