Catholics are the original Christians
Yes, that is true. Catholics are the first Christians and the religious organization maintains the core, original doctrine without compromise. Over the centuries social changes have caused for religious changes, but no matter what those were they were all decided because it was concluded that they were in accordance with that original doctrine.
There may have been some mistakes, but the thing about keeping the original doctrine is that no matter what the mistakes are, you can look back at the original doctrine and recalibrate current organiztional definitions so they match without discrepancy.
Protestants are untrustworthy for knowledge of Christianity. They do occasionally know some facts, and I have benefited from many a Protestant scholar of theology, but in general the lay person is a complete idiot with Christian beliefs that are entirely corrupt and not at all true. In fact, their beliefs are poisonous, toxic, and self-destructive because of how they are a perversion of truth.
The reason being that Protestants make no effort to maintain adherance to the original truth. They are totally off on their own doing something that is not all in accordance with the spirit or purpose of why Christianity was founded or what makes it true and good. Most specifically, their entire culture is one based on Satanic rebellion to monotheistic divinity. That is in their terms of Satanic. As in the evil being who thought he knew better than God and was thrown down to Hell to suffer pain for the first time in his existence. Protestants reject monotheistic authority in favor of no authority, no law, no truth.
Protestants are actually quite horrible and not to be trusted, but they are also total imbeciles so they are not intentionally evil, just slaves to evil because they obey with trust, lack understanding, and are fundamentally in opposition of a singular Christian religious authority confined by the doctrinal law of ancient scripture. Not the details and identified evils, but the heart and soul of ancient scripture. Why it is considered scripture and says what it says, not what it points out about evil.
So if you are unfamiliar with Christianity, learn from Catholic authority, and skip the Protestant distractions and attempts to corrupt your understanding entirely. They are a hindrance, an obstacle, and one that only causes grief with no assistance, benefit, or help in the form of Christianity. They may be helpeful in other ways, but not as Christians because they don’t actually believe in Christianity. They believe in something else that they want to believe is Christianity, but is not.
The best example I can give to demonstrate the inadequacy of Protestant knowledge is the rite of Christian initiation.
As I mentioned before, in Catholicism for a non-Christian adult to become a full member of the Church it requires a rather lengthy and rigorous initiation. In my personal experience that was one year of practice and study then culminated in baptism, and then another year of practice and study that culminated in confirmation. The confirmation is the formal conclusion of the initiation, and admitance as a full member of the Church just as the pope. The religious authority in organization and structure is obviously vastly different, but both the pope and the lay person are equals in membership.
It is never a matter of envy, jealousy, or superiority for members to recognize the pope as the singular authority at the head of the Church, and in fact it is a great honor of the highest respect by all members to recognize the pope as the pope because of how devoted and true they are as Christians in comparison to the average lay person. Everyone is the Christ! Everyone as individuals is the Christ as Jesus was a man. At the same time, everyone as one corporal being of spirit is also the Christ as Jesus was resurrected. Does that make sense? We do not look at the pope like he is the Christ because that would be denying the Christ that is ourselves and making an idol of a human being in the worst way of blasphemy and sacrilege.
However, if there needs to be a decision that affects the entire body of Christianity, we accept the pope’s judgment because he is the best qualified person to decide something that affects everyone as Christians. That is only as Christians, not as human beings, men, or women, but as Christians. You still have full authority over your own body and choices, but when it comes to Christianity that is maintained with a universal standard to identify as relative to. You are not expected to be perfect, but you are expected to do your best to be good and to reject evil.
Protestants say something like… you don’t need to do all that to be Christian. You just need to have faith in Jesus.
However, what is the point of being Christian and having faith in the Christ if you do not do anything about it? What good is it to confess Jesus as your savior if you do not know what sin is or why it is necessary to be confessed? I don’t know about you but it is totally unnatural to me to think of a human being, a man, as a divine concept. It is a revolting and repulsive idea that is loathsome, so why would you not want to understand why it is significant to say Jesus is that?
You really just want to accept that the divine god of perfect human goodness was crucified as though it were necessary for your own good without understanding why? What kind of savage, violent, demon possessed fiends are you!? That makes no god damn sense! There is no reason to accept that, and every reason to reject that!
That is why the year of study before baptism is important. It helps cultivate the understanding of what it means to confess faith in the Christ. Not a total understanding of theology, but a total understanding of the fundamentals. Fundamentals like, what it the word “God” means, how it is three concepts as a singular concept being the divine “Father”, divine “Son”, and Holy Spirit (non-personal non-bodily like omnipresent divine wind). Not ever only one of those things, but all three at all times no matter what perspective may be used. That teaching is a tool used to help one see the truth, not the truth itself.
Additionally, for sacraments to be most effective, such as what the act of baptism is, you need to understand what is happening unseen when that occurs. That requires contemplation, teaching, and practice of faith. Otherwise someone is just pouring water over your head like you are Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood! Just go take a bath for all the good that does!
You have a serious psychiatric disability if you think those essential concepts of Christianity are self-explanatory, because they are not even remotely evident of the truth simply by seeing or experiencing them. Consider the crucifix, and thank heavens Catholics still use that image! You must not forget what happened or lose sight of that in comparison to what it accomplished! It is not for the personal glory of Jesus triumphing over evil as a man, because that is irrelevant and vain nor the motivation for his passion, it is to know what evil is so that you can better understand what good is.
Not eating pork? Nobody cares. Giving to the poor, probably good but why is that good? Can’t they just work? Why don’t they have money on their own? Why doesn’t anyone else give money? You need money too so why should you share? People should understand instinctively why it is good and not need to answer those questions, but some people ask those questions and then use them without understanding of why they are asking them as a justification to not do something good, and in fact they do evil instead. That is not a simple concept to grasp!
Maybe it seems… simpler than usual when I write it like this, but what that concept is remains incredibly complex and the only reason it seems simple is because we have a lot of tools at our availability to use to perceive it. Tools in the form of knowledge and words. Seeing Jesus crucified on the cross is not an image of good. It is an image of evil. Not because evil is worshipped, but because evil is rejected as something simple, conceivable, understandable, and universally hated. That is easy compared to knowing what is good and why it is good.
You may enjoy some ice cream and think it tastes good, but that is not what the word “good” means. That is a use of the word “good” to describe something you are feeling. Where does that feeling of “goodness” come from, and why is it better than anything else? That is a much more difficult topic to explain and express, but it can be known, was known long before the time of the Christ, and is eternally relevant to all human life.
Rather than asking why you should give alms to the poor, ask why you shouldn’t deny them alms. Understanding the concept of evil is infinitely simpler than understanding the concept of good.
Additionally, if you are participating in a religion, it is for the benefit of spiritual goods. So why would you want to reject things like sacraments or rites of divine experience when that is the very purpose of a religion! I guess technically it is not necessary to have all those dance steps, but they accomplish what is necessary, they make that most efficient and productive, and they are enjoyable in ways that nothing else is because of the spiritual good they do which cannot be duplicated by frauds or deceivers.
That is why a two year long initiation is necessary for Catholics. It is a big deal. It is not just saying you believe something and then getting on with your life as if that gives you the authority to be king of all creation. It is a heavy responsibility, a burden of most importance, and a matter of more gravity than anything else. For everyone’s safety, not just your own, you need to understand how important it is and know how to use it correctly before you pick it up, because if you misuse it, the consequences can be catastrophic to everyone’s safety.
footnote 1: yes, the male attributes of “God” are necessary and purposefully male. However, that is not to diminish the value or importance of femininity. It is to describe what the divine essence of man is like. Whether you approve of it or not is irrelevant because it is reality. Men will kick down your door to slaughter you and your entire family or save you. Fact. You need to live with that truth, whether you are a man or woman, because it applies to men and women both as being subject to it or as subjecting others to it. That will never change. For the benefit of feminine sanctity and significance in the grand design of monotheistic religion, there is the addition of Mary, aka Mariology, in Christianity.
On the subject of Mary, I am more inclined to side with the opinions of Protestants, because I find it unnecessary and irrelevant. However, it is not an obstacle, it does not get in the way, it is not problematic. It is for the benefit of people who find it integral to their understanding. A special tool of knowledge for special needs, and not a disability either; more like a specialty. There is reason and logic behind it too which I studied because of how uncomfortable the concept of anything unnecessary is in this subject of theology because it implies the presences of evil. Mary fits into the Christian cosmos and is fine.
Personally, I reject my own father, my own mother, and the identification of myself a son without hesitation. I revile all three of those concepts, and I revile all family metaphors as a result, so those tools of spiritual understanding are not helpful at all to me. Ask any person who grew up in an abusive household or suffered the worst trauma at the hands of their parents and they will tell you the same thing. People like us grow up hating the concept of giving authority to someone without justification other than biological relation. Biological authority is a lie, a deception, and a great evil.
There is no biological authority, and the very concept is an affront to the true source of all power and authority which is divine. Abusive, cruel, and hateful parents who treat children as property, animals, puppets to possess, or objects, do so by perverting the truth of authority of power by claiming it as their own. Having someone in your care does not give you power over them, it gives them power over you. If betray them, do them wrong, treat them disrespectfully, dishonorably, and without dignity, they will reject you when they are no longer in your care or forced to rely upon you because that was not a consensual choice and you did more harm than any perceived good accomplished.
For further study of Mariology, I recommend the works of the theologian John Henry Newman. When expressing my concerns about the theological significance of Mary during my studies, my professor, like any good professor, anticipated them and could address what I was conflicted about. Sometimes it is not enough to just teach the source texts, and you need to direct a student to the source texts directly because of the kind of power a source text has as a source itself. We were not studying Mariology at the time, but it was applicable to a topic of Christology, and Newman’s writing was recommended for further reading if I was so inclined in my personal time to seek understanding in that subject.
Newman was Protestant clergy who then converted to Catholic clergy, ostensibly by what he came to understand specifically through the subject of Mariology, so it may be uniquely helpful for Protestants who reasonably find that a stumbling block. I guess it’s kind of like Black Lives Matter. BLM professes a truth that is true, is irrelevant, is unnecessary to know, but is helpful to some people because of the context that expressing that truth has in the greater picture of life. By itself, it is a hateful idea, but when expressed as relative to another hateful truth, that being the legacy of white supremacy, systematic racism, and unjust* inequality, it has meaning, purpose, and value as a good.
It is not a problem. However, at the same time the perceived good of BLM, is also a good because it is relative to another good truth, which is human rights and equal dignity of all people regardless of race. The concept does not remain true without either the corresponding evil or the corresponding good. It is not a problem unless it is being made into a problem to cause people to stumble.
For anyone who desires to be a scholar of humanity, the culture and history of black race is an important component. Some people probably can just understand the key point without going into depth, but others may want to devote their lives exploring that component and become experts of the application of its knowledge to humanity. However, for people who are not scholars of humanity, you can understand the key points of the primary subject without needing to know all the components.
Those key points, imho, are identifying universally equal human rights and dignity, the importance of humanity’s desire for Freedom to include necessary access to unlimited expression while maintaining limited restraints to forms of expression, and the significance of humanity’s search for meaning, purpose, and the objective goals for our individual and collective passions as human beings. Understanding the significance of racial diversity is unnecessary if you already understand that all races are equals in value for humanity. Furthermore, differentiating race should not occur unless absolutely necessary because it introduces the evil of racism.
By introducing racism into a concept, one must then account for the presence of that evil so it doesn’t corrupt the entire matter, and that requires extra steps that require the use of tools to simplify the complexity of problem. For example, think about the quadratic formula in algebra. Here is the quadratic formula: bleh. Use that to get the answer. How did someone think this up and why is it important… don’t ask me kid, I just work here. Those complexities are all present at work within a known and accepted conceptual tool, bleh, but unless you have the time, ability, and reason to go through them all, better to stay focused on that task at hand. For racism, the tools that exist are laws against discrimination, the ability to enforce those laws by a government, and the justification for a government to have the authority to do so.
FOR FUCKS SAKE!!! DO YOU SEE WHY YOU CANNOT DEVIATE FROM THE CORE DOCTRINE OF THE USA!? IT FUCKS UP EVERYTHING THE USA HAS ACCOMPLISHED AND DOES FOR ALL PEOPLES AND NATIONS!!!
The oaths sworn to the citizens by national officials to serve and defend the Constitution are vitally important, and if they are fucked up, that problem is so severe and catastrophic that it undoes the entire structure of civilization. Not the structure of national authority, the structure of human civilization. Without the structure of human civilization, where do you think that leaves human beings!? DEAD! EXTINCT! FINITO! CAPICE!?
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Fortunately, there are solutions in place and procedures to follow in the event that someone fucks that up. They are written in the Constitution too, as if the problem is so common that they knew it would happen eventually in that place that it is most devastating to occur at despite all manner of preventing it. That is just what the reason for the problem does. It constantly tries to get there and destroy everything for everyone on purpose and that is how the source of the problem is removed because it is easily identifiable and contained at that one point.
However, those solutions and means of preventing the collapse of human civilization and human extinction will do no good if they are not used as intended. So what the fuck are you waiting for!? The instructions are clear about what you have the power, authorization, and means to do. Arrest the filthy, vile, imbecilic, coward and traitor who is the person and former president, Trump, and court martial him for treason in a time of war. He was in a military role at the time, and military law is higher than civil law, which is why civil law does not have jurisdiction.
Worry about everything else that needs to happen and will happen after that. Put out the god damn fire first, and then start figuring out what to do about the damage the fire caused and reasons it started and why it became so devastating. If you don’t put it out, all that work you ingrates and slothful leeches for politicians are complaining about and unwilling to do despite it being the jobs you volunteered for, is only going to increase! If you don’t ever do anything, then we will all die in the fires of war, which in this day and age involves WMDs.
If that takes too long, you will be forcefully removed from your duty and replaced by someone like me who will do what needs to be done to put the fire out, even if that requires a bullet through your brain. We are not going to lose all of our lives, the lives of our loved ones, and all that we live and work for, just so some old, wretched, fools can be evil, lazy, and arrogant because they want to kick their feet up and lounge in retirement instead of work in the jobs they voluntarily applied for, were employed under a contractual agreement of the highest order by both written contract and oath, and all for the direct purpose of fulfilling the duty and responsibility they are instead brazenly ignoring and refusing to do!