im frustrated by my own woke centrism in being able to see where people of the 3 main "branches" of christianity are coming from with their arguments about why theyre right and the other groups are wrong. the problem is as i research more this feeling is actually only increasing
gonna make a thread right now about what my vibe is on all this stuff while i make dinner for girl who is sick. probably interesting to get some insight. i can see everyones “point” while also i recognize that not everyone can be right so, in kind of a unique spot
i also dont mean any of this disrespectfully, im actually just trying to figure things out. guess ill start off by saying i do go to a catholic church right now and i do like it but, have kind of been on the edge of fully “signing up” for a while.
i guess my main wall there is, im not really so willing to fully submit what i think and my thought process to an outside human authority. heres a good example. the pope recently altered no. 2267 of the catechism of the church to declare the death penalty “inadmissible”
so like whats the deal with that. if it was ten years ago i would have to be cool with the death penalty but now since the pope changed the rules i have to think its inadmissible? or do i just think the church is wrong about that one thing... or what
pretty unclear about what the official stance is on how much i could disagree with the pope and officially be catholic. also its weird because i wasnt born into the church, id be like signing up, so it makes me feel like im trying to sign a contract while also wiggling out of it
at the same time i do really like the Catholic Church, its a huge influence on my spiritual life, i mean i go to one, most of the books i read are catholic so, theres my wall im at there. simultaneously when i read about the protestant reformation im not like, wow these guys suck
i mean i can totally imagine being a poor german person seeing people sending all their money to rome and then going to rome and seeing the new saint peters basilica and being like... okay something is wrong here. but obviously i love and cherish the art. another catch 22.
then when i read the first hand documents and the actual accounts of things like luthers trial and he says the pope can be wrong and everyone freaks out im like... is this that crazy? of course the pope can be wrong 🤔
but then going full protestant, i just dont see how its tenable to run + maintain christianity without some large institution like the church. like if everyone is running around just doing what they want the whole system would fall apart and fail to be passed on. another catch 22
then i look over at the orthodox situation and it seems cool but whenever i read about it, it kind of makes me feel like when i used to be into tibetan buddhism and i hit this wall of “okay this is cool but im never going to be tibetan”. im not of any eastern people or culture.
thats obviously not a philosophical or theological argument against the system at all but idk man i just read about it and i feel like there is some insurmountable wall where its just always going to be super foreign to me. in terms of actual theological or philosophical info,...
i feel like there is this other paradox where i see the main “argument” of orthodoxy against rome as (very oversimplified), we dont recognize the authority of the pope, we have our own bishops and leaders and authority here leading us that we follow.
okay... but then isnt it slightly paradoxical for me then living in the southern US to go and submit myself to the patriarch of constantinople and the patriarch of moscow? i just feel like the argument flips because, those places have nothing to do with me. so why would i do that
i also feel like (im really not talking shit, im just painting a picture of where im at as someone trying to figure things out) that the problem in Protestantism of, “well how can you all agree on anything and get things done” is latent in orthodoxy, which is never discussed imo
as far as ive read in many places, there are things one leader recognizes that another doesnt, and sometimes these are big things. like dont the patriarch of Constantinople and of Moscow disagree on stuff like recognizing certain regions, like Ukraine for example, as autonomous?
that doesnt mean the system is like “wrong” or something, i just feel like the argument against protestantism of many competing lateral authorities all disagreeing could also be put down there. like i read about orthodoxy trying to organize even a conference and [...]
some groups wont even go or recognize the conference. but that doesnt necessarily mean that then submitting to the will and authority of one falliable individual and group is correct. so..... what then. maybe none of this matters at all (quite possible).
ultimately i wish i was just born into a church so i could just roll with that but having to choose a side sucks so much because like i said i can really see where everyones coming from, and thats only being exacerbated by going deeper into the history and documents themselves.
will check out the replies .. since ive apparently brought so many cool and disparate people together to reply to this, will say that regardless of specific doctrinal differences i really really enjoy the weird god inclined cyber crew that i get to talk to + interact with on here
dont really have many christian friends irl (working on it) and my family really does not understand it at all so, its really cool for me having this circle of people around and i think its more efficacious than most people would expect.
i get a large number of dms from people telling me that this large scale network, of which i am just a tiny peripheral node, played some role in them changing their lives or getting back into their faith and stuff so ... your posting has some effect beyond ur immediate perception
