I've been raised Catholic but I can't accept it? Help?

Chew;

I understand. I once had your problem. You are cursed with intelligence. You are trying to understand what cannot be understood. Let me tell you what some of the smartest men in history have said.

1. Ask to believe so that you may understand, not to understand that you may believe. -- Renee Descartes

2. Saint Augustine was watching a child on the beach and trying to understand God. The child took a spoonful of water from the sea and poured it into a hole in the sand. He did this, spoonful after spoonful, for a while. Finally, Augustine asked "Child, what are you doing?" The child stopped and said " I am going to put the sea into this hole". Augustine was puzzled. "How will you do this when the sea is so vast and the hole is so small". The child smiled. "I will have that sea into this hole before you understand God." At this, the child vanished. The point, you cannot fit the master of the universe into a three pound brain.

3. The Big Bang was a moment of infinite brightness -- Steve Hawking.......... Sounds like someone said "Let there be light"

Intelligence such as ours, my friend, can be a curse and a gift. We use our intelligence to understand the world. Those things we cannot understand are hard to accept.

The Bible says the universe was created in 7 days. Science says it was 14 billion years. Recall that what we call days were not created yet. So, who knows what a day is to God. The Bible says the fishes were the first living things, then those that crawl on the ground, then the birds of the air. Man came last. How did a tribe of nomads from the middle east know three thousand years ago what took science until a hundred and fifty years ago?

Pray for faith. Choose to believe. Read the writings of the early Christians. God gave you your intelligence. Use it. For people of intelligence like us, it is impossible to prove that God exists. It must be a choice.

There are miracles that prove he is real. The miracle of the sun in Fatima in the early twentieth century was witnessed by a hundred thousand people. A science professor from the University of Lisbon, Portugal, was there. He published his findings as scientific fact. "At no point was I excited or distracted."

The proof is there. Unless you choose to believe, you never will. It is human to doubt. It is also human to believe.

Good Luck and God Bless

First, you appear to be equating salvation/eternal life with one's membership with a particular church corporate. Scripture does not support this view.

Second, you opt for "science" in regards to things like the "big bang" creation of the universe, but ignore the primal cause of said big bang. Something, or someone had to make it happen.

Evolution itself contradicts science, for science declares that life only comes from life. Evolution claims life came from non-life through a Frankenstein scenario. Much is ignored in evolution by science. If evolution were true, then you would have come into existence through a budding off process from a parent.

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I'm not Catholic but I know a lot about it. You don't seem to have heard this, but the Catholic church doesn't accept the Bible as true. It doesn't believe in the Creation story, but in the Big Bang and evolution. That's one reason why I'm not Catholic, that the Catholic church doesn't follow the Bible. The Bible says we are to know and use God's Word (Ephesians 6), but the Catholic church doesn't teach that also. It is very far away from the Gospel in many ways, which is about our need for Jesus because we're sinners. God is loving and forgiving, but He is also just. That is why Jesus' sacrifice was God's plan for salvation. Jesus, who was innocent, paid for our sin so that we could be forgiven.

Scientific theories postulate that the known universe did in fact have a beginning with what is called as “The Big Bang”.

It makes no logical sense for anyone to assert that "absolutely nothing" could have produced that initiating bang to create the universe.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

There are many examples showing God's existence, but one has to be able to look and realize its truth. Accept it instead of doubting it, see it instead of shutting your eyes and you will believe that God exists. Consider how the usefulness and attractiveness of things produced by human beings are not accidental qualities when present but are a result of our intelligent nature and our natural delight in order, balance, and beauty. In a similar way, it is unreasonable to conclude that the surpassing usefulness and attractiveness of things throughout nature are accidental qualities but it is rather more reasonable to conclude that they are the result of the existence of a surpassing intelligence which also delights in order, balance, and beauty. Creativity is at the bedrock and pinnacle of the existence of all living and non- living things and it is up to each person to attempt to explain his or her natural reverence for this illustrious state of affairs. The Bible says that God created everything and was quite pleased with his work.

Look around and look at the world. Do you see only the trees but not the interdependent forest? Obviously, God exists, because His creation is not only one thing, but all the instructions for all the physics of the biosphere of the world, the galaxy that the world is in, and the universe that the galaxy is in -- and is the driving force behind it all. The living cells that were designed and created to be self- replicating cells or organisms.

Each system intermingles, is interdependent, with others. The "universe of life" operates according to sophisticated and precise instructions to form trillions of cells to correctly make one life, for example, one human. How do you believe that we have lungs specifically to breathe & eyes specifically to see? The Bible indicates that God is the being who spoke the first words and that God is the source of all life (which would entail all the plans, genes, and the living cells needed to process the plans).

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." C.S. Lewis

God Bless

My view of the Catholic church is, basically, that despite the many things I consider as non-biblical and extra-biblical within Catholic liturgy and traditions, the belief that Jesus Christ came to earth, born of a virgin, to die for the sin of mankind is a central truth both the Catholic Church and my Christian view hold in common.

That being expressed, I differ greatly with any belief or system of belief that puts forth a view that Christ plus anything is necessary for the salvation of a person’s soul. Whether Catholic or Protestant, I not only disagree very strongly with, but completely reject any “faith system” that says the individual can do anything other than believe on Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection in order to be born again into God’s eternal family (the Gospel).

One reason for the confusion about God is that people have tried to understand Him as if He were mortal. But, if God is "infinite," as He is, then man's attempts to explain God will always fail. Men's minds are finite (limited) and therefore cannot possibly comprehend the infinite (unlimited) God. How can a limited mind encompass a God who is unlimited? Any God that can be fully comprehended by man's mind must also be a finite god - not the infinite God of Christianity! The Trinity is beyond human comprehension because God is infinite and therefore beyond man's ability to understand (Ps. 50:21, Is. 55:8-9).

If men cannot fully understand finite things, are they not presumptuous to assume they can understand the infinite God?

1 Ti. 6:20 is a warning against any man-made philosophy or supposed science which is contrary to the Word of God. Dr. Henry Morris, head of the Creation Research Institute, served for 28 years on the faculties of major universities, including 13 years as chairman of the Civil Engineering Department at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Morris believes there are absolutely no contradictions between the Bible's record and science. He testifies, "[T]he revealed Word of God [is] supported completely by all true science" (Morris, The Twilight of Evolution). True science is that science which is fully tested and proven, as opposed to that "science" based upon mere unprovable theory. Examples of "science falsely so called" in our day are theistic evolution, the JEDP theory, and form criticism.

Faith comes through hearing the Word of God (Ro. 10:17). Truths such as creation and salvation must be received by faith (He. 11:2). Without faith it is impossible to please God (He. 11:6).

I was raised Catholic and am now an atheist. I would recommend you read the bible then watch some religious debates and see what you think afterwards. I thought Christianity had too hard of a time defending itself against science, or even simple logic.

Also remember that being non-religious doesn't make you a bad person as some people would have you believe. Good luck defining your beliefs!

From my understanding God created everything using science. Someone once said magic is just science we don't understand. God uses a high form of science that only someone with the power of God can do. You can easily believe in science and religion. If you can't agree with catholics find missionaries of other religions and talk with them and see if they fit your viewpoint better I am personaly a Latter Day Saint of the Church of Jesus Christ a.k.a. Mormon

huh catholics have no issue swith Big bang or evolution... in fact Catholics belive in them..FYI

Big bang was discovered by a catholic priest Georges Lemaître

Darwin based his studies of evolution on a catholic's priest's study Gregor Mendel..he is also given the honor of ""father of modern genetics"

i suggest you reseach Catholic contribution to the scientific world... Roger Bacon was a catholic commisioned by the pope ...he invented the modern scientific method...

teh catholic church also invented the banking system, western law, hospital system and university system.

If I were in your shoes, I would start reading and learning more about other religions.. Maybe you will find one that satisfy you.. read about Islam and Judaism for example.. if none of what you read makes any sense.. then you can start being Godless

keep in mind that if there is a "real" religion out there, it would be one and only one... there cant be more than one true religion

best wishes buddy

Just let go. I did.

People always freak out over what's going to happen to them when they die. Think of it this way:

You had absolutely no recollection of the world or your existence before you were born. Why would you have any recollection of the world or your existence when you die?