Ask a Catholic

[Randy Carson]

Randy, I do hope you'll see this and answer, as I am curious to actually nail down a theist and get them to answer this one, something which so far I have not been able to do.
With all of history behind us, and all that is to come ahead, how do you feel knowing your faith is but one of thousands of religions that have arisen, and will eventually decline and fade into nothingness? How do you still believe in a system that will inevitably be lost to time in the centuries to come, becoming nothing more than a footnote in historical academia?
TL;DR - your religion will one day be lost to time and is in the grand scheme of things, utterly irrelevant. How do you reconcile with that?

How do you feel knowing that your own life here on earth - all that you love, all that you dream, all that you have accomplished - will eventually fade into nothingness?

Where will you spend eternity?

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I'm not sure about that, but I have seen the resulting darkness when people close their minds. 

How do you define 'close minds'?

Do I have a close mind because I don't buy into your religious claims?

No, you have a closed mind because you have bought into a false world-view that denies my claims.

It's not permanent, but it can be fatal. Think on that. 

[AFTT47]

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My, you're clever. 

Sarcasm aside, have you figured out yet that you are not being taken seriously? Do you honestly think we haven't heard this same nonsense dozens of times before? Here's a suggestion: Pick a specific topic. Respectfully present that topic in the appropriate forum without the ridiculous holier than thou attitude. You'll get your discussion. If you do well, you'll earn our respect - even if we don't agree with you.

But barge in here like a clown and think you're going to wow anybody...sorry, we've been around the block a few times. We've seen better.

I'm the new guy here, but you've been a member of this forum for what? Four months? And you have the audacity to say "we" as if you are a forum elder.

Dude, in MY home forum, I have 10 years of membership and thousands of posts. Talk to me when you've paid some dues.

Please? 

I'm not speaking as a member of this forum; I'm speaking as an atheist. I've been on atheist forums since the days of usenet, prior to the web. I've seen sanctimonious types like you come and go. I've also seen thoughtful theists come in and make an impression, change people's way of thinking. If you want to be one of the latter, you'll have to do better than this. No skin off my back though. You want to provide free entertainment? Have at it. 

[Randy Carson]

Q#1:  Are there any hot nuns?  

Q#2:  Have you ever been fondled by a priest?

Q#3:  Do you know any catholic atheists like Mother Teresa personally?

A#1: Yes.

A#2: No. (very few Catholics have)

A#3: Have you actually READ the book yourself? Or did you just skim a few headlines and get the rest of your information from this forum? 

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I'm the new guy here, but you've been a member of this forum for what? Four months? And you have the audacity to say "we" as if you are a forum elder.

Dude, in MY home forum, I have 10 years of membership and thousands of posts. Talk to me when you've paid some dues.

Please? 

I'm not speaking as a member of this forum; I'm speaking as an atheist. I've been on atheist forums since the days of newsnet, prior to the web. I've seen sanctimonious types like you come and go. I've also seen thoughtful theists come in and make an impression, change people's way of thinking. If you want to be one of the latter, you'll have to do better than this. No skin off my back though. You want to provide free entertainment? Have at it. 

Thank you. 

[Simon Moon]

No, you have a closed mind because you have bought into a false world-view that denies my claims.

My mind is wide open to any claims that are supported by demonstrable and falsifiable evidence, and valid/sound logic. As soon as yours are, I will be compelled to believe them. 

It's not permanent, but it can be fatal. Think on that.

This sounds vaguely like Pascal's Wager.

If so, please...

[Anomalocaris]

I'm a Catholic. You have questions. Let's get started.

Where did you go wrong?

[Iroscato]

How do you feel knowing that your own life here on earth - all that you love, all that you dream, all that you have accomplished - will eventually fade into nothingness?

Where will you spend eternity?

Shame, I was hoping you would at least make an attempt at answering it. But I'll play along in the hopes you directly address it somewhere down the line.
I draw strength from it. I know that I'm a very small link in a chain that has existed long before I was born, and will continue for a long time after I die, and my legacy - no matter how small, or how forgotten - will have at least made its own contribution in shaping the world. I realise that this is the only experience of life I will ever have, and that rarity makes it all the more precious to me. So I have worked (with stops and starts, mind you, it hasn't exactly been a smooth road) to be the best man that I can, and help others who need it, and love those close to me. This cosmos is vast, and old, and to know that I and everyone I know play out their lives in a very small corner of space and time is both liberating and refreshing. Empires have risen and fallen, cities have crumbled, civilisations have been lost, confident religions created and destroyed, continents shifted and mountains eroded, planets coalesced and shattered, stars shone and then died. Against this vast canvas, we have evolved and tried to make sense of this incredible natural machine that gave rise to us.
The human experience is a gift, borne from a chain of events set in motion billions of years ago by natural forces that were able to shape and guide molecules in exactly the right way so that we could be here, in our ordinariness, to ponder those events. I have used that gift as best as I know how so far, and once my time on this planet is done, then I will cease to exist as a conscious entity.
As for where I will spend eternity - the same place I spent the 13.7 billion years before I was born...non-existence.

Now, would you kindly address my question?

[Cephus]

I'm a Catholic. You have questions. Let's get started.

We're sorry, are we supposed to pity you?

[rexbeccarox]

My, you're clever. 

Sarcasm aside, have you figured out yet that you are not being taken seriously? Do you honestly think we haven't heard this same nonsense dozens of times before? Here's a suggestion: Pick a specific topic. Respectfully present that topic in the appropriate forum without the ridiculous holier than thou attitude. You'll get your discussion. If you do well, you'll earn our respect - even if we don't agree with you.

But barge in here like a clown and think you're going to wow anybody...sorry, we've been around the block a few times. We've seen better.

I'm the new guy here, but you've been a member of this forum for what? Four months? And you have the audacity to say "we" as if you are a forum elder.

Dude, in MY home forum, I have 10 years of membership and thousands of posts. Talk to me when you've paid some dues.

Please? 

Oh wow.  You want to talk about audacity?  You've been here, preaching at the forum for, what, an entire day?  And you've already started two threads to preach at us?

Talk to me when you've paid some effing dues, you sanctimonious...

I have a better idea:

Mod hat on.


Preaching is considered spamming on this forum.  If you don't stop, you will be booted.  Thank you.


Hat off.

[Whateverist]

Really? That's preaching? Certainly isn't preaching about religion.

[Nope]

I know many Protestants who don't consider Catholics to be 'real' Christians. Have you had any Protestants try to reconvert you to their faith? Do you believe that someone can  be both a Protestant and a Christian? How would you react if one of your children abandoned Catholicism?