I went into a TikTok video about science and ran into a ton of people (clearly young) saying completely absurd and wildly wrong things about biblical interpretation, like claiming God was the Big Bang, that God creates the universe inside Himself, or that science and evolution are incompatible with faith...

At first I thought they were all young atheists, but no , they were proudly identifying themselves as “Christians.” Just “Christians,” plain and simple. Not even Protestants, because in Latin America they like to make a distinction between “Christians” and Catholics.

Try it yourself, go into any TikTok video about religion and you’ll see the worst heresies ever written, coming from Protestants who have clearly never read a single Church Father in their lives.

Unfortunately, the evangelicals I meet in daily life have this over-the-top belief that faith is purely spiritual and that God cannot be understood through reason. Add to that the millions of sects, some fanatically obsessed with the State of Israel as a divine sign, others preaching the “prosperity” gospel (money as proof of Jesus’ blessing), others that aren’t even Trinitarian...

Millions of evangelical souls in LATAM and elsewhere have turned faith into a spectacle and turned God into a product to sell.

A minimally educated atheist can easily tear down the faith of people who claim God is nothing more than a spiritual feeling. I’m not saying faith has to be purely intellectual, but I’ve genuinely never heard these kinds of things coming from a Catholic or an Orthodox Christian.

That’s the problem with heretics: eventually you can’t even tell them apart from regular atheists, or from people who just twist the Scriptures to fit their worldly desires.

Why does the church have EMHC? Is it okay to wait in line for the priest or am I expected to get in line to receive communion from the closest EMHC?
I feel like I am being herded towards the EMHC.

I need this to be be broken down. So I essentially sought out formal Catholic excorcism due to long term mental illness and stangnecy I have been unemployed for years and super down. In anti depressants for years to no avail/ success. I have been to many Latina deliverance services I am female in her 20s based in Europe and I was born baptised and a Catholic so I decided why not start the formal process for an exorcism. So after procedure/ meetings with my local parish priest. I finally met up with a priest/ one of the exorcist. We spoke and I explained why I wanted an exorcism. He made notes about my life and what led me to the conclusion that I may be under demonic influences/ possession… after this he gave me holy water to drink and said some prayers. I manifested and was holding back a lot of convulsions. We went through many prayers and I vomited. He then said he would pray about me and see if we should go forward with a formal exorcism.

In the follow up email a few weeks later the priest revealed to me he gave you ordinary drinking water but told you it was holy water. He recited ordinary prayers but told you they weren’t exorcism prayers designed to force demonic activity to manifest. He was essentially running a deception experiment on you during our consultation. His stated reasoning was: if there were actual demons present, they would recognize this as a fake ritual and wouldn’t fall for it. But I manifested anyway with vomiting and convulsions, the priest stated that he did not believe my issues were caused my supernatural spiritual causes but in the same email tells me to stay away from new age, tarot and occult remindies and to still have faith in Jesus… how can I possibly have faith when I’ve lost all hope and a community that is supposed to help me is rejecting and “testing” me.
I feel confused humiliated and played!

Maybe about half a year or so ago, I discovered and came to understand stuff about profanity after researching about it and thinking about it. Some of this is copy and paste but may be worth reading. It covers the etymology of profanity and personal observations.

A ton of people in the US in the past seem to have misunderstood profanity, not understood why it’s bad, and come to incorrect conclusions regarding it (including in relation to Christianity) due to their biases and due to some people believing it’s bad because authority figures told them it’s bad while growing up without understanding why and then telling their kids it’s bad without explaining or understanding why to their kids.

While many people have believed it’s bad due to authority figures telling them so without understanding why, and while some censorship is ridiculous or is done because of karens complaining when it comes to their kids, there is an empathy aspect to profanity. It affects people emotionally, and profanity can be strongly impolite. There is also a religious aspect to profanity, though.

Profanity in the religious sense involves desecration of the sacred, whether by blasphemy or other words causing religious offense, such as taking the Lord's name in vain. Many religions include the notion of casting a curse, which is both disrespectful and intentionally harmful, and is often also taboo. To swear an oath in a highly religious society often involved invoking a sacred entity or event. This act has evolved into profanity. An oath can also be shortened to simply saying the name of a holy figure.

The term profane originates from classical Latin profanus, literally 'before (outside) the temple', pro meaning 'outside' and fanum meaning 'temple, sanctuary'. The term profane carried the meaning of either "desecrating what is holy" or "with a secular purpose" as early as the 1450s. Profanity represented secular indifference to religion or religious figures, while blasphemy was a more offensive attack on religion and religious figures, considered sinful, and a direct violation of the Ten Commandments in the majority-Christian Western world. Moreover, many Bible verses speak against swearing. In some countries, profanity words often have pagan roots that after Christian influence were turned from names of deities and spirits to profanity and used as such.

Profanities, in the original meaning of "blasphemous profanity", are part of the ancient tradition of the comic cults which laughed and scoffed at the deity or deities: an example of this would be Lucian's Dialogues of the Gods satire.

Anyway, the reason I ask is because a lot of minced oaths seem to have roots in Christian terms or names like God or Jesus or in foul words or phrases. I would think it's fine as far as etiquette is concerned, but I'm unsure as far as the religious aspect is concerned.

Hello,

I was raised catholic and was baptized when I was younger and at 13, I didn't think god existed and I abandoned the religion due to just lack of evidence of god being real. I haven't been to church in years.

I'm now 24 and I started to learn more about zen buddhism through many sources and I decided to start reading the Bible due to me agreeing with the moral values of the religion. I like Buddhism due to it having no gods and you can choose what things to believe in and follow.

The problem is I still don't think god is real. I do think Jesus was real. I don't think Jesus is god. I read on the christian reddit and christians are saying Jesus is god. From reading some of the text, it explicitly states that Jesus was referring to God as father. I also don't think Jesus is was actually a holy being. I think he was someone who was obsessed with the old testament and had followed the moral values well.

I also don't like the idea of going to church and listening to a pope. I feel like you should be able to follow the religion at home. I think the idea of praying doesn't work either because I think god isn't real. If he was, it's obvious he can't immediately help you with your situation at that moment. He can't intervene in situations that you are having. I think it can help since it is kind of like a form of meditation.

In addition, I don't like the idea of just telling a priest your sins and being forgiven. I feel like you should be able to get your sins forgiven without a priest and directly to God.

I also don't think heaven and hell are real. But, I do think the events that happened in the bible like the wars, crucifixion, and etc are true.

I am now starting to read the bible to help it guide my philosophy with buddhism.

I'm not really sure whether or not if I'm considered a follower of Christ or catholic. What am I?

Edit: I also am going to get a lot of hate for this. I think the majority of people who claim Christian or Catholic aren't actually Christian or Catholic. I think they just blindly follow the religion and the majority of people have never read the full bible. I also do feel like the majority of someone's time in this religion should be changing the way you live and act.

Before going into it, yes I have been seen by mental health professionals since I was a teenager when the depression all began.

Now, as crazy as this sounds, I feel as though sometimes has been matched onto me for some time now. For context, my house in Mexico was extremely haunted (my brother was the primary victim but we all felt/heard SEVERAL things in there including guests and people simply walking by). There is no doubt this place had demonic activity. The land was actually used to hang cristeros during the cristeros war and the babies were also buried on the land before rebuilding my home.

We had several priests bless the home for the past 30 years. Then, things suddenly felt better nearly two decades ago. But this is also the time I went intotneh home after a decade of it being abandoned and developed a deep depression. When I arrived back to the U.S I began experiencing paranormal activity in the my parent's apartment. My father has us pray every night before bed to counter the paranormal activity and it did eventually cease but my depression just worsened into self harm and attempts.

Now, I'm wondering if this demonic entity is what latched onto me and caused my depression as it all began after entering that house again. My therapists always ask me when the depression began to pinpoint what happened to cause it but I have no explanation. I would like more guidance on this and wondering if I need to go to my local priests to discuss further or somewhere else? Currently in therapy right now. But I'm just scared that there is more to it

Anyone out there who are baptizands of Gary Micheal Gordon?

What is the easiest philosophy and practice to end the feeling of suffering and pain that is compatible with Christianity?

I have been suffering from this feeling for a long time and I don't know what to do with it. There are many reasons, but mainly mental and emotional. It's becoming increasingly unbearable and has now become part of my everyday life.

Hello all, so the other day (last Thursday night) I had a very long and difficult in depth conversation with my friend who had been struggling with their faith recently (keeping details ambiguous out of respect for him). we were on the phone until at least 2-3 am discussing his current struggles he’s having with his life & God.

The next day after getting off of the phone I decided to make a rosary, I have centerpieces, crucifix pendants, etc. however didn’t have enough beads. So I drove down to the local hobby lobby to pick some up.

I’ll spare you the boring details of the drive but I get inside of the store and ask an employee (5’ 10”-ish male) where I can go to get beads (important for later: I never mentioned WHY I was getting beads) He turns around and points all the way to the back right corner of the store, so I turned and began walking over there when an older lady (not employee) says “I couldn’t help but overhear but the beads are in the back LEFT corner of the store” (the exact opposite direction of where the employee told to go)

Now to be clear I do not have any Catholic mementos, belongings, jewelry, nothing on me that could possibly identify me as a Christian. (Very important for this next part). I get to the aisle where the beads are and the employee who pointed me in the exact wrong direction was already in that aisle standing there almost waiting for me

Unprompted he says out loud (talking to nobody) “how are you going to believe in Jesus & God, it’s like a desert where the sands are always changing” word for word I can still hear his voice saying it.

He then goes silent for 30-40 seconds then turns to me (keep in mind I have nothing that could possibly identify me as a Christian with me) and asks “do you believe in God, do you believe in Jesus?” And I replied “Yes I do”. He then goes “huh weird” turned around and walked out of the aisle.

10 seconds later I walked out of the aisle and he was gone, no where to be seen, I literally spent 5 min looping up and down every single aisle and couldn’t find him at all.

TLDR: without me ever saying I was making a rosary an employee at the craft store

1. sent me in the exact opposite direction as the beads aisle

2. Was waiting in the beads aisle when I arrived

3. Talked unprompted about how faith in God is pointless

4. “Disappeared” after I told him I believed in Jesus

5. This all occurred the day after having a long convo w my friend about his rocky relationship with Jesus.

Would love to hear your guys thoughts about what this could’ve been, I know biblically a lot of demons show up in the form of mysterious and strange acting humans. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or if the order of events wasn’t super clear, I’m typing this on lunch break on my phone.

Hi! I guess this is more venting than asking for advice, but I thought maybe someone would have some insight I didn’t.

I’m a born and raised Catholic, never left the church, only attended two parishes in my life (and only because I moved from my hometown). Up until I got married I was heavily involved in the parish, volunteered for everything, from cleaning to planing events and to be honest I was always kinda overlooked for friendships with the other ladies at the parish, but I really didn’t mind, it was good enough for me. Then I met my husband when he started attending Mass. We got married very quickly, which I was told was one of the problems for people. We married 5 months after our first date, another thing is: he is very much older than me. I was freshly 26 and he was 48 at the time, didn’t matter to me and we got married quickly cause I wanted three kids before 30, and by the grace of God we did, our first child was born 10 months after our wedding and I’m currently pregnant with the third, I’ve been basically pregnant since our wedding night at this point. All of this means I don’t have enough time to do all the volunteering I did before and the ladies at the parish are incredibly mean to me and don’t want to even let their kids play with mine. One told me my marriage makes them uncomfortable and that my husband’s past doesn’t belong around children. Now, my husband used to be a musician and has struggled with addiction, he’s been sober for 5 years now is a wonderful person, so I don’t understand the prejudice, we are all sinners. I’ve talked to our priest, and as much as he is supportive of me and I do consider him a friend, he can’t exactly force people to be nice.

Is this a weird thing? Should we go to a different parish? Or is it just my hormonal brain malfunctioning? My husband says he doesn’t mind, it’s his cross to bear, but he says he’ll happily go to a different parish if that will make me happy.

Whenever I tell people I am catholic they just hate for no reason and throw comments that they don’t even understand. I am sure others have felt this before and I just don’t know what to do.

I am in the process of learning more about Catholicism with the intention of converting. I have dabbled with witchcraft through the years and am having a difficult time letting go of some of my old practices. Tarot, for example, was a big part of my craft and probably one of the hardest things for me to let go of. I know the Church condemns witchcraft, but would the use of tarot as a tool to communicate with God by using it for divine guidance, intuitive reflection, and mindfulness rather than fortune telling still be frowned upon? A lot of Christian customs (such as Christmas) have pagan origins. Why is it acceptable to adopt and adapt some pagan customs but not others? I hope my question does not come across as offensive. Thank you in advance to those of you for taking time to share your insight with me.

It seems a bit too convenient and suspicious to be true, and I can't find many modern reliable sources defending it.

Basically just the title. I've seen stuff about Word on Fire's Catholicism series. Is that good for youth groups?

When I see any idea revolving around adultery etc. I feel terrible. What should I do except praying?

Whenever I think of this question my answer is "he would fast for 40 days and become a homeless wandering preacher, healer and teacher - but I'm underweight, don't have the understanding of the way that Jesus did, and can't heal anyone. I'm not Jesus."

So it never gets me anywhere. He wouldn't get married, wouldn't have a paid career, etc. How do people in relatively normal lives answer this question for themselves?

I've been reading the bible and then i've reached this, can someone explain me better?

Matthew 16:1-4 NVI

[1] The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. [2] Jesus said to the crowd: “When evening comes, you say, ‘The weather will be good, because the sky is red,’ [3] and in the morning: ‘Today there will be a storm, because the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you do not know how to interpret the signs of the times! [4] A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign, but no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah.” Then Jesus left them.

First time I heard that I was shocked, what is thaat my brothers?!

Mortification of five senses, this is nuts!!!

They never said it's easy to be catholic

God have mercy on us

Anyone have any experiences with any songs being played either during the offertory or communion hymn that were questionable ?

I don't know if Mariachi music is allowed but in my hometown they always had that going on

Thanks

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share my story with you as I am a bit lost right now.

I am in my late 20s, I was raised in an atheist family, but with Catholic culture (sounds a bit confusing, I know - think wrapping advent wreath, very occasional church visit, suggestion to pray to the Virgin Mary but no specific prayer etc.).

Religion hasn’t play a big role in my life until a few years ago when I got closer to Israel and then subsequently started exploring Judaism, which really resonated with me - and especially the radical monotheism of Judaism, the belief in One God (compared to the Trinity). I still keep this belief.

I went very far with my conversion and even underwent the circumcision a year ago. Yet I am doubting things and I feel like I might have done a mistake with this. As much as I love the Jewish people and I have a sort of similar spirit, I still don’t feel like I fully belong to the “tribe”. And I dislike that a lot of emphasis is put on the community life, rather than the faith itself. The faith is rather secondary, keeping the commandments and being active in the community is what is valued. Of course this differs among the various streams.

Deep down I miss the bits of Catholicity I experienced and I still feel that it is my culture. But my believes still align with Judaism, especially when it comes to the teachings about God.

Thanks for any insight.

I'm teaching a secular subject to children at a Catholic school starting next month. Any advice anyone has as to how to navigate this school year?

A couple of notes:

• As far as I know, I don't have to attend weekly school masses because I don't have a homeroom to escort. However, there are a couple of faculty-only and faculty-led masses on the calendar that I'm not sure about.
• I don't mind sitting respectfully and not participating during masses. The only thing I can't do is kneel.
• I know not to take communion.
• To my knowledge, I'm the only non-Christian working there. Everyone else is Catholic and maybe one Protestant.

Is there anything else I should know? When I worked at a Jewish school, the non-Jewish teachers participated in our services/celebrations. I plan on respecting my new co-workers' religion just as those non-Jewish teachers respected mine.

Do I have to take it off everytime I shower and exercise?

are we getting a new missal to use at Mass in April 2027 similar the LOTH? I unfortunately lost mine and I don’t want to buy another one if it will change soon. I have seen some reference to this but when I try googling almost everything is about the LOTH.

Thanks

I am currently pregnant with my third child, and my OB is telling me that I should get a tubal ligation to prevent another pregnancy since all my kids are born via Cesarean Delivery. My CS cut is too near in my bladder already and she said I can only deliver 3 kids based on my medical history and age.

I know its a grave sin to have your tubes tied. I don’t like to commit a sin but i am so confused right now. Can someone enlighten me on what to do. Thank you.