Confessions of a Tormented Catholic

maybe we should mass u2u this person and tell her to get back to his/her thread. This is really annoying, and somewhat disrespectful.

Actually, if you check her profile you will find she hasn't logged on since 22-4-05. 7 days after her post asking for help, and 3 days before the first reply.

I am just glad she hasn't been back to the thread to see how her one line statement that she was a Catholic turned a cry for help into what it became.

[ These practices harm and don't help. People need to hear the truth of the salvation found only in Christ and what HE HAS already done on the CROSS! And how He delivers us from evil.


EXCEPT for the fact he was NEVER on a cross.
He was on what we would call a torture poll, or stake.
Jesus does not deliver us from anything, it is his father who does,
Jesus was simply a mortal man.

Originally posted by Selective_ID
[ These practices harm and don't help. People need to hear the truth of the salvation found only in Christ and what HE HAS already done on the CROSS! And how He delivers us from evil.


EXCEPT for the fact he was NEVER on a cross.
He was on what we would call a torture poll, or stake.
Jesus does not deliver us from anything, it is his father who does,
Jesus was simply a mortal man.

he was indeed a mortal man. just like dalai llama and other people we don't even know about they reincarnated again and again. each time they grew in spirituality and were able to utilise the energies within em. that's why they could perform "miracles' to a certain point. excact same way why people can heal minor wounds and increase healing rate of larger ilnesses.

still the fact remains jesus was just a mortal man. and like so many others you can call on him and many other souls who reached that stage of enlightenment (and we will to eventually after x amount of reincarnations). so instead of blindly calling on jesus and give him more work then he can handle (thats why he cant always do as you ask) try calling on other individuals...merlin, dalai llama, st. germain, dr usui, Pendragon and many many more. they can all help you in excactely the same way.

the rising of jesus...quite funny actually. his apothels mainly, robbed the cave he was buried in at a time the rest were asleep. people thought jesus had risen again, but they only saw his "ghost". yet another myth to the cult named christianty making sure this "religion" would keep excisting after all these millenia.

this thread drifted from giving advice/help to a damn religious thread after that croatia guy so stubbernly kept going on. so might as well add to it, rename the title of thread and keep going.

Originally posted by Selective_ID
[ These practices harm and don't help. People need to hear the truth of the salvation found only in Christ and what HE HAS already done on the CROSS! And how He delivers us from evil.


EXCEPT for the fact he was NEVER on a cross.
He was on what we would call a torture poll, or stake.
Jesus does not deliver us from anything, it is his father who does,
Jesus was simply a mortal man.

Ok now i really gotta chime in here. let me guess....you are a Jehovahs witness right? I can end this really quick. Your religion is false. Not by the basis of my own opinon but because i need only to look at one thing...and it discredits it all.

Your "new world translation of the bible" which was developed in the late 50's i believe...there is a reason why it is different from the original version of the bible. which let me mention i dont mean the KJV (which JW's always quote when they come to my door...funny how they quote a book up to a certain point and then switch to the NW translation when it begins to disagree with their rederic.) i mean the original Hebrew and Greek The men that translated your "bible" were not educated on EITHER language. While much has been made of the translators' claim to anonymity, workers at the Bethel Headquarters were aware of what was happening, and the translators made no attempt to keep themselves anonymous during the translation period. According to Bill Cetnar, who was present during this period, the five known members of the committee were: Nathan H. Knorr, then President of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society; Frederick W. Franz; Albert D. Schroeder; George Gangas; and Milton Henschel. All five men have been members of the Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body. Of these men, Franz alone is said to have had a University education, and even he dropped out after his second year. None of the members was a qualified Biblical language scholar.18 Although Franz claimed under oath to be able to read both Hebrew and Greek, he was not able, when pressed, to translate from the Hebrew a passage which scholars stated should give no difficulty to a second year Hebrew student.That the committee made a generally quite competent job of the translation, apart from the inadequacy of some grammatical points, and the introduction of theological bias, would seem to be due, not to the committee's knowledge of the original languages, but to an unquestionably high standard of research into the various translational tools available. Because of its claimed anonymity, the committee is not able to reveal how it did its work, nor can it respond to its many critics.

Remember only one in 5 of the men were educated. None of them spoke greek or hebrew...AND the one man that new greek was not greek himself and only had 2 years worth of education in MODERN greek. Which NOT ONE scholar will disagree that MODERN and ancient greek or gramarically VERY VERY different.

So basically with that simple fact right there...it debunks the whole religion. Because it does not coincide with historical text. So you can i suppose have it as your own religion...but not christianity.

also if jesus was a mortal man then what would be so great about him dying for our sins. I could have just done it myself. to be "simply mortal" is to be the absence of perfection. Why the heck would God send his son for us if he was just as imperfect as we are.

By the way...with your UNHISTORICAL reference to the torture stake..how do you think Jesus died exactly? i mean literally..during his crucifixtion what do you believe to be his cause of death?

Kind Regards,
Digital Grl

Originally posted by Selective_ID
[ These practices harm and don't help. People need to hear the truth of the salvation found only in Christ and what HE HAS already done on the CROSS! And how He delivers us from evil.


EXCEPT for the fact he was NEVER on a cross.
He was on what we would call a torture poll, or stake.
Jesus does not deliver us from anything, it is his father who does,
Jesus was simply a mortal man.

no he wasn't.

John 10:30
The Father and I are one

John 14:5-9
Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, " I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him. " Philip said to him, "Master show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say , 'Show us the Father?'

John 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, wwas not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here nad see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and believed."

You see, the Church has it right. The holy trinity.

Originally posted by Selective_ID

Jesus was simply a mortal man.

This is the question everyone has to answer. Who do You say Christ is. That is the question that will decide where a person will spend eternity.

Was He the Savior come to redeem a person or is He just another man. One answer brings life the other death.

Originally posted by dbrandt

Originally posted by Selective_ID

Jesus was simply a mortal man.

This is the question everyone has to answer. Who do You say Christ is. That is the question that will decide where a person will spend eternity.

In other words, believe our way or go to Hell. Where is the objectivity and open-mindedness of modern man? Do we need to try and fit life to some archaic institution and book?

Having said that, if Jesus was a man, he was a great teacher.

Nothing more.

Originally posted by howmuchisthedoggy


In other words, believe our way or go to Hell. Where is the objectivity and open-mindedness of modern man? Do we need to try and fit life to some archaic institution and book?

This isn't my way, it's God's way to be restored to Him.

o·pen-mind·ed (pn-mndd)
adj.
Having or showing receptiveness to new and different ideas or the opinions of others. See Synonyms at broad-minded.

OK, lets be open-minded. Next time someone abuses a child, let's all be "receptive" to this idea. Next time there's a school shooting let's be open to the new idea that a kid had problems with some classmates. He solved the problem as he saw fit. Now these classmates can no longer be mean to others and this shooter can once again begin to feel better about himself. I know how about this, anything goes as long as it feels "right" for you and the circumstances your under. Sure, we're gonna lose several billion people, but once we get down to just a few thousand the problems a should stop.

Please don't be open-minded to the fact that there's a christian God who says you don't have to be like this. I can change you, if you let me.

Originally posted by supremetechgoddess
Any ideas what I should do or what this could be? I have been told by several people (psychics, shrinks and "normal" ones) that the impressions they get don't make sense, that my life (or moreoften they use the word "destiny") is like the plot of a bad movie. I know that somehow I made a mistake (bigger than the playing cards) and that I am supposed to do something, but I don't know what to do because I genuinely can't tell if whatever it is has my best interests in mind.

This is a quote from the original post on this thread.
This is not about religion or being saved vs not being saved.

Could we please get back on topic?

Heres my view i guess though you probally dont need help now after the 20 or so posts spouting religous quotes and or going to see a priest/not going to see a priest because it wont help you and so on in my opinion you should maybe cleanse your room.

Or try to get in a better mood if you arent in a good one already because if they are what im thinking they are they probally feed off negative energy that your producing from your situation. Forget about the religon forget about it all together and try to improve your life and thus they should go away i know a few times ive been down in the dumps and seen these creepers myself they tend to feed off this energy.

and people wonder why i dislike christianity. it's not so much the book and what's written in it but how wrong and hypocritical the followers are.

lets interperate the parts we want and how we want as we see fit. everyone that disagrees automatically knows nothing and should (just like in history) shut up and if it was possible be killed for so called heretic behaviour. grow up christians

It's taken me some time as I've seen this thread running to get up the courage to come back online. I rarely have access to internet and in combination with my afore-mentioned problem, I am in the midst of moving and finishing up my junior year in college.

To the Jesus Freaks -

You guys are jerks and you totally missed my point. Nuff' said.

To my Defenders -

The World needs more people like you.

To those who believe I need medication -

I agree. Found anything that works? I sure haven't.

To the Buddhist -

You've definitely got a point. I find that I am much more relaxed when I am practicing Tae Kwon Do. It doesn't stop things from gnawing at me, but it definitely deters them.

To the person who had mentioned "riders" -

I have long known about these things. My father calls them leeches. I attract them in droves, but I know how to make them stay away. I should've also mentioned that my family is Slovak and very old-world Catholic so we know a thing or three about chasing off nasty things. I was concerned because what I haven't been able to get rid of is something my family can't do anything about, and that's what's scary.

To the man who sent me the prayer -

Thank you again.

Signing off,

Sarah

Originally posted by dbrandt
I can change you, if you let me.

dbrant...i agree with most of what you said except the quote i posted from you sent off an alarm to me. umm...you cant change anyone. The holy spirit may CHOOSE to work within you to further his message to a specific person. therefore YOU do not have the power to change anybody.there is a plan for everyones life and you are not always necessarily going to be apart of it just because you tell them the message about Jesus if the Holy spirit does not feel it is the right time...do you get what i am saying? sometimes other events need to take place in order to change a person that doesnt necessarily involve you. When people say things like they have the power to change people it kinda makes me upset because it becomes all about personal pristege and not about God working in the world doing good things. Too many people go around spouting off things like "I converted this person...or "i changed this persons life" when really you were just at the right place at the right time and GOD was doing all the work. Does that make sense? as a christian i think you get what i am saying. and im not trying to like pounce on you or anything. Its just something i see people of religions...particularly my fellow christians that really bothers me.

Kind Regards,
Digital Grl

Originally posted by DigitalGrl

Originally posted by dbrandt
I can change you, if you let me.

dbrant...i agree with most of what you said except the quote i posted from you sent off an alarm to me. umm...you cant change anyone.

The "I" in my quote was God talking. I wasn't talking about me, I should have said God can change a person if you let Him.

Originally posted by dbrandt

Originally posted by DigitalGrl

Originally posted by dbrandt
I can change you, if you let me.

dbrant...i agree with most of what you said except the quote i posted from you sent off an alarm to me. umm...you cant change anyone.

The "I" in my quote was God talking. I wasn't talking about me, I should have said God can change a person if you let Him.

So true, and same to you Digital Grl. It is all about that first seed being planted in one's heart and then watering that seed. But to the poster who called me a jerk because I missed the point: I appologize for trying to help, and for being human and making an err.

Apparently there's been some serious miscommunication here.

I have no problem with help - in fact, I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want suggestions. But as the moderator has mentioned, I was looking for advice pertaining to the subject of this forum, Paranormal Studies.

I hate to disappoint anyone, but I really don't feel that telling me to change my religion is a fair or helpful answer to my question.

Perhaps I should have been more specific - I was wondering what kinds of things (besides mental imbalances) might act the way that the stuff that was bothering me did.

Not everyone's a jerk, honestly, I just really hated seeing dozens of posts all saying that Jesus will make the monsters go away. That doesn't tell me anything I haven't already heard, and frankly I don't believe that swearing off the beliefs that have been passed down in my family for hundreds of years will make me any safer or happier.

The only people I was calling jerks are those who came to this thread solely to bash Catholics. I mean, it had to be pretty clear from my original post that I wasn't going to appreciate people attacking my religion.

Just my two cents,

Sarah

Okay, but I am still a little confused. I don't mean to start a fight or anything, but how is calling on Jesus going against your religion?

Originally posted by supremetechgoddess
Okay, so this is a really long story...

Wow, I was just discussing this with my freinds the other day. I too share in your RCC upbringing. When I was younger I used to experience some simlar phenomena. I used to have dreams, in which the future presented itelf to me. I began to finish people's sentances and thoughts, as a fourth/fifth grader. My dad who definitely had his sentances finshed for him every once in a while, began to ask me questions about my dreams. He then explained to me the thoery of Deja Vu, that past experiances that cloesly relate to present situations can be misinterpreted as clairvouyant drams. After I disclosed the nature of the dreams I was having to him (as best i could at that age) i began to have the dreams, less and less, until they went away completely. More recently after seeing "what the %&#$ do we know" and the thoery that what we see is no diffrent from what we imagine as far a sbrainwaves are concerned. I am beginning to occasionally have these dreams again. I am unable to put into words the feelings I have when these things happen during my day, after vividly dreaming of them the night before. It is very frustrating, ang you almost feel embarassed trying to explain it to someone who is looking at you like you have a few screws loose.

You are not crazy!!! you, like most "schizophrenics" simplly see the world in a way which others cannot grasp or comprehend. Thier brain operates without bias to reality, is this nececarily an ilness at all, the answer is no. Medicine is our staple, in our quest for truth (which is mistaken usually for the search for scientific proof) we don't realize our potential, and we dismiss these people as handicapped, and then we bastardize their perception by giving them shock therapy.

The feeling of being followed is the being that resides within you, for some reason now you fear it, and the underlying emotion of fear you fee is a result of your connetion to your inner spirit. Your spirit (the thing that makes you able to predict and name the cards) is basically telling you it is imprisoned within you. you had a special connection with it, and now it has been deined. You are worried you have lost the chance to connect with yourself spirtually, and your soul (which determines the way you see the word) sees a desolate and bleak future where your concious mind sparates furter from that which represents the connection to the spirit.

My reccomendation to you is to find someone who can show you how to meditate and ponder the mysteries of the unverse as you see it. You must learn to understand the symbols in nature, that are around you at all times. Meditate upon yourself, and your relationship to the unverse, as well as the unversal conciousness.

I would contend that your thought prcesses, and your family's history with schizophrenia, are merely symbols of your uniqueness in your ability to see the world differently. You are one of the misunderstood souls, that lie ahead of the capabilities of our modern scientifc understanding of how the brain works.

Tryptamines, which induce schizophrenic states in some, Have been known to induce very vivid spiritual experiences. They block your brain's ability to link objects with cohesive words and description, leaving sights and sounds to endless posibility. If you are interested in altered states of conciousness i would reccomend reading Pihkal and Tihkal.

The first symbol is already manifest in your fear of mirrors and corners. Corners represent a box, in your case a containment vessel of some sort. This vessel seems to you I can only imagine, as something ominous, that you cannot escape. The fact that the mirror is frightening means that your body represents the same thing that the corner symbolizes, a conatinment for your soul. Right now the walls are closing in on your soul and it is doing everything it can to hold on. The diety is within you, not necesarily the church. The fear of doors, as far as i can see is symbolic of you wanting to escape the bounds of soeting (possibly your religion) but you are afraid, to let go of a belief so engraved, that it would be like removing a part of your self, or your history. It is where you go when you need stability, and now it is being questioned. All these feelings are normal, except one, the pain in your chest, as described as under your heart. This pain is either an acid reflux reaction due to an extenisve amount of worry, or it is your heart chakra trying to tell you something. The best thing to do is meditate, to ponder the nature of the pain, the reason you cause it to exist.

The only thing that you can do is pracitce behaviors throughout the day, turn the lights on and off to show yourself that It is you that has control over them. Walk through doors that frighten and mystify you, look in the mirror and smile, eminate and embody positive energy. See corners as cozy rater than foreboding, put furniture in the corners to ddistract yourself from them, but don't ignore them. You know yourself, that something is not right, and you are the only one who can fix it truly. By means of psychology, psychaiatry, or the cnfidence in the ability to regulate and balance the self. Dont let people's ignorange, and preformed notions about religion cloud your perception. It is your choice to believe, but don't just settle for belief in soething that cannot be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt. You should actively evaluate your life at every stage. Maybe if you are thinking of leaving the religion, or condiering the relevance of your involvement in it. Talk to someone, a priest, a close friend, someone who represents a pillar of strength. Don't drop the religion and run from it, maybe take a brek from it, maybe allow yourself a taste of what is out there, and if you don't like it or it doesn't fit you, you can always go back to where you started, and pick up where you left off. Few opportunities in life ever work this way, take advantage.

I have come a long way from secret retreats with my youth group, where priests and preists in training "prayed over us" causing some to faint, and then speak in tounges (I was one of those) when i got back from that retreat (feeling sicker tha ever i might add, fever, chills, hallucinations) I did not go to another youth group metting of the RCC again. I was confirmed shortly after, I left and never looked back. When my parents visited the church and complained in a parent-minister meeting about the ceremony, not only was it denied by the priests completely, but my mom was basically called a heritic for even suggesting that this went on. She renounced her faith the day after.



[edit on 3-5-2005 by Eyeofhorus]