Catholics: What do they believe in?

 

Here are some fundamental principles that Catholics follow:

1) Belief in the Holy Trinity.

One person (a god) is actually three entities. Father, son and holy spirit. That's a tough one to work out. Why can't there just be three gods? I asked a priest this question and he just said that some things are beyond the comprehension of us humans. Also, if the three entities have always been around, how come one of them is the son of another one? Maybe it's just a translation mistake, or something. Maybe it would be better if they were just called One, Two and Three. though I guess that suggests a hierarchy of 'command'.

2) Faith in the incarnation.

"In Christian theology, the incarnation is the belief that the pre-existent divine person of Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, and the Logos (Koine Greek for 'word'), was "made flesh" by being conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary." I copied that. Well, we have it on good authority that no bonking took place. Hey, and Joseph was in no way involved. Jesus was becoming man (on a temporary basis) to save us all from sin. I think God the Father created Original Sin when that woman Eve ate forbidden fruit. It's probably a good idea for all of us to stay away from apples. Just in case. I wonder why God the Father just couldn't cancel His original sin idea. That would have saved Jesus needing to be nailed to a cross. I'm assuming that being nailed to a cross hurt.

3) The Authority of the Church.

That just means that the church is the boss, and you can't really argue with it.

4) The Sacraments.

There are seven of these:

Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage & Ordination.

I'm still working my way through these, though some are more obvious than others. To be a Catholic, for example, you have to be baptised. Once this is done, whether you asked for it or not, you're in. I don't know how you get out if you change your mind or were too young to object in the first place. I know that, after marriage, you're allowed to have sex. The Eucharist is where that transubstantiation thing comes in. You evidently receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ. For whatever reason.

5) The Eucharist.

I don't know why this one gets mentioned twice. I think we've already covered it.

6) The Virgin Mary and the Saints.

I do feel sorry for all the other women who didn't get to have a virgin birth. Though maybe a lot of them enjoyed the bonking bit. Mary missed out on that. Saints are basically people who got their shit together on a certain level. A lot of them got killed for it. I don't think I want to be a saint. I'll stick with plumbing.

7) Belief in the Aftetlife.

An eternity in Heaven for some. However, there is also Purgatory and Hell. If you go to Hell, you're stuffed for eternity. Hence the saying, "Have fun boys, but don't sin."

8) The Role of Good Works.

This one seems a bit unspecific. I'm sure atheists do good works just because they want to help people. Do Catholics do good works to build up their chances of getting into Heaven? I imagine it would be hard to shake off that self-serving consideration. Does this mean that atheists are basically better and more caring people? I don't know.

Could there not have been a way for an all seeing
god to avoid this solution?

Well, there you go. That's me looking into the Catholic deal for today. It's Sunday but, because I'm not yet baptised, I don't have to go to Mass. AND no plumbing today. Ah, life is good!

Understanding the 'Hail Mary'.

Hail Mary, full of grace,

The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art Thou amongst women and

Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb Jesus.

Holy Mary, mother of God,

Pray for us sinners now and

At the hour of our death.

Amen. 

People often get confused about the fourth line. It's talking about Mary's womb and not that of Jesus. Jesus does not have a womb. If it did mean that the womb belonged to Jesus, it would have a comma, "Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." Jesus was conceived by an immaculate conception. 

Okay, this also makes the fifth line a bit confusing too. "Holy Mary, mother of God." It's talking about the Jesus part of God, not the father part, the guy who made her pregnant. Remember that God is like three people all rolled into one. 

Sort of like this, but I'm not sure 
if the Holy Spirit is a lady or a man.

Also, it's not saying that Jesus is a fruit, that's just there for imagery. If it was talking about a fruit, I'm sure that it would be more specific. "Blessed is the banana of thy womb Jesus."

Also note that 'grace' does not have a capital letter, so it's not talking about another woman.

Immaculate conceptions don't happen much. In fact, there is only one on record. Why didn't God the father just do the job himself? Simple, Mary was on Earth and God was in Heaven. You can see that it was a little bit inconvenient. Fortunately, God had another method. It was good that Joseph knew to back off.

See how these prayers really make sense, once you analyze them? That's where atheists get it wrong. They dive in without thinking.

I've borrowed this phrase from Robert (a blogger and Catholic), "Have fun boys, but don't sin."

Trainsubstation.

 I hope I've got this right, but evidently when you receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ at a Catholic mass, it's called Trainsubstation. I don't know why the process is compared to a train.

Oops, silly me, I've just done some research online. It should be transubstantiation. What a big word! I've been reading the Catholic Catechism too. Nothing to do with cats.

This is a summary of the church's doctrine. Today I'm going to get some rosary beads. It is supposed to be good to pray to the mother of God. I'm also thinking of getting baptized. I'll give it a few weeks because things are pretty busy at work. There seem to be a lot of toilets breaking down. I wonder what toilets were like in the time of Jesus. They probably didn't flush. Maybe you just went in a river and hoped that no one was drinking the water downstream. 

I'm going over to reread Geon's posts soon. Just to pick up a few hints on what to write about. Gosh, he's a funny guy! It was a bit naughty though when he commented as different people. I don't think that Richard of Richard's Bass Bag was very impressed by that. Well, it was at least a Venial Sin. I wonder why Geon doesn't believe in God? He evidently went to a Catholic school. He was in a class called 3P - Richard mentions it quite a bit. I'm assuming that 3A was the smartest class, then 3B. Richard was evidently in 3G, so he's quite a bit smarter than Geon. Still, Geon does do good jokes.

I'd better go and read my Bible, then it's time to go and unblock some toilets. What on earth are people putting down their toilets?

See you later.

Hi all.

 My name is Rick Tim Bagno. I'm starting this blog because I've come across a little blogging community that I would like to be part of. I'm a plumber by trade and I live in Auckland.

This is just a short introduction to get things going.