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Friday, November 05, 2010

Comments

Mikhail

I have the Catechism sitting on my bookshelf along with the Ignatius Press Companion but sadly, they're gathering dust. Your post is a good reminder that I could make time to read through them every so often.

Please pardon my ignorance, but I have a query about something: Would anyone mind explaining the reason(s) that pronouns when referring to God are sometimes capitalized and sometimes not? They are not capitalized in the Cathechism, nor are they for speeches, addresses, and encyclicals on the Vatican website. Similarly, I'll read in books by Catholic authors where words like "incarnation" and "the fall" and "original sin", etc. are not capitalized. Is this merely an editorial decision? I suppose I could understand the non-capitalization in publications where there is disdain for religion, particularly Christianity and Catholicism, but otherwise I cannot figure it out.

Thanks in advance! AMDG!

Fernando Umberto Garcia de Nicaragua, Prefectus Minimus: The Jacksonian Institute

Mikhail, be sure not to overlook this gem:

841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

Incredible.

Sharon

I have heard that a Catechism for Teens is in the works. Is this correct?

Jacob S

Mikhail: From what I understand, in English people used to capitalize pronouns when they referred to kings or rulers of any flavor. This practice was extended to God as He is the King of kings. We don't tend to capitalize references to earthly rulers at all anymore. Some people kept the practice when referring to God, some haven't. I tend to capitalize pronouns referring to Him myself, but it's not necessary. Note also that the original Hebrew did not have capital letters, so it's not a matter of preserving an original practice either.

Reverend Doctor Victoria A. Howard, Anchoress

In spite of my degrees, I am a simple woman. Often, the catechism goes right over my head; so I keep in mind the two commandments of love especially and the Ten Commandments with the greatest fidelity I can. Every new situation makes for a different interpretation of these precepts of God, so I try to remain abreast of the developments in the Church as they come. Love in my heart is always evolving into something greater than ever before. I have written a lot in my short lifetime, but it is all suitable for an eighth grader in level of proficiency. In this way, my writing remains accessible to all. I hope soon to be published to the world. I ask all who visit this site to pray for my new order of nuns, the Howardine Sister of Joy, that it might be approved by the pope. I love Pope Benedict XVI more than any other pope I have known because of his humility which is so obvious in the way he carries himself. He is truly the man of the hour and one day he may make the century.

Jack V.

"There is but one God and he is complete and holy in and of himself. Jews, Muslims and Christians believe that God is One; all other major religions are pantheistic (everything is God), polytheistic (there are many gods), or atheistic (there is no God). Monotheists also believe that God is Other and He needs no other. Christians believe that God is Trinity: one nature and three persons, the greatest mystery of the Christian Faith."
Question: Are you labeling all other religions into one of those categories? I can see how religions like Hinduism appear to be polytheistic, but I am currently taking a Comparative Religions course and the similarity between our Holy Trinity and Hinduism's countless deities have a strong resemblance. Most people (including me before I started to take this class) view the multiplicity of Hindu deities as polytheistic while in fact the many Aspects of a select few deities account for the many gods and goddesses. The term ishta refers to one's chosen ideal of God, and this can be Brahma, the equivalent to our God the Father, Krishna, a Christ-like figure, and Shiva and or Vishnu that can be seen as the Holy Spirit. I'd argue that the three Abrahamic religions are not the only religions that transcend the labels of pantheistic, polytheistic, and atheistic.

Brad

To put a finer point on CCC 841: the Muslims "profess to" (notice how the CCC would read if those two words were removed) be Abrahamic via a claim to be the descendants of Ishmael, but today this is often taken as fact and not simply as a claim. The Church in her wisdom knows better and leaves their claim open for discussion, shall we say.

To Jack V.: I, like you and many others, once had my faith severely mutated by some academic's comparative religion course. I wonder, do these professors have any faith themselves other than relativism? Or even that? Or less: atheism? I wonder what is in their hearts versus what they would admit to.

Alas that in my case, my protestant professor and a protestant university did nothing but try to convince a bunch of young Christians that they should become hindu. I mean that.

Any similarity between the Trinity and hindu idols is mere coincidence. The world is full of coincidences and pablum! The world itself is filled with tricks and cul-de-sacs that are designed to lead souls astray and into ruin.

Regarding ishta: this is simply the ancient ignorance of any form of paganism (yes, hinduism is paganism) that still haunts new age thought: design your own god according to your own comfort zone.

Judeo-Christianity is the only one where an objective God reveals himself to us as he is and as he wishes us to know him as, as opposed to proud men creating a god according to their tastes. If you want to be my friend, you must get to know me. You can't just ignore my invitations to meet me and instead dream up how you think I am. After all, a camel is a horse designed by a committee who never went out into the barn.

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