The "guilt" Of A Catholic Upbringing

[Zealous Donkey 0]

I haven't been on these forums much lately but even back when i was a daily reader I never saw a post by anyone who had any idea of what they were talking about when it came to the Catholic Church. I get frustrated when people comment so negatively about something they have spent almost no time researching or trying to understand. While reading another thread the subject of Guilt was brought up. This guilt was apparently due to a Catholic upbringing and by the tone of the posts (there were more than one) was a very negative thing. The Guilt attributed to a Catholic upbringing is hard to comment on other than a case by case basis. This "guilt" has become common in the lexicon of anti-Catholic literature. Hopefully those who suffer from Catholic Guilt will participate in this thread and share what exactly they feel guilty about. One way to explain some of this 'guilt' may come from some basic tenants of Christianity. Here are a couple of examples. Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. For Christians, Matthew 7:13-14 is a very uncomfortable passage. It says that only a few will make it through the gates of heavan but many will enter through the gates of Hell. Alot of "conventional" thinking about Christianity is that as long as you don't sin too badly and are basically kind to people then you have nothing to worry about. The Matthew passage seems to challange that notion. I grant you this will mean nothing to an athiest, but for Christians it calls for a more serious investment and sacrifice than is conventionally taught in Christian Churches. The Catholic Church actually believes Mat 7:13-14 and tends to err on the side of caution when it comes to care of human souls. If those with a Catholic upbringing start to feel guilty about living a selfish pleasure seeking lifestyle that Hollywood and the vast majority of mainsteam media portry as "normal" and healthy, then I don't understand why Christians would consider this a bad thing. Believing in God enough to actually fear him is to open the first door to understanding the truth about everything.

[HollywoodAFD 0]

Release the hounds!

[SBriand 4]

I haven't been on these forums much lately but even back when i was a daily reader I never saw a post by anyone who had any idea of what they were talking about when it came to the Catholic Church. I get frustrated when people comment so negatively about something they have spent almost no time researching or trying to understand. While reading another thread the subject of Guilt was brought up. This guilt was apparently due to a Catholic upbringing and by the tone of the posts (there were more than one) was a very negative thing. The Guilt attributed to a Catholic upbringing is hard to comment on other than a case by case basis. This "guilt" has become common in the lexicon of anti-Catholic literature. Hopefully those who suffer from Catholic Guilt will participate in this thread and share what exactly they feel guilty about. One way to explain some of this 'guilt' may come from some basic tenants of Christianity. Here are a couple of examples. Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. For Christians, Matthew 7:13-14 is a very uncomfortable passage. It says that only a few will make it through the gates of heavan but many will enter through the gates of Hell. Alot of "conventional" thinking about Christianity is that as long as you don't sin too badly and are basically kind to people then you have nothing to worry about. The Matthew passage seems to challange that notion. I grant you this will mean nothing to an athiest, but for Christians it calls for a more serious investment and sacrifice than is conventionally taught in Christian Churches. The Catholic Church actually believes Mat 7:13-14 and tends to err on the side of caution when it comes to care of human souls. If those with a Catholic upbringing start to feel guilty about living a selfish pleasure seeking lifestyle that Hollywood and the vast majority of mainsteam media portry as "normal" and healthy, then I don't understand why Christians would consider this a bad thing. Believing in God enough to actually fear him is to open the first door to understanding the truth about everything.

I think I made a post about how my wife has "catholic guilt" and you decided to take it a little to seriously. or maybe it was someone else's post but it all sounds familiar. My wife is not catholic. She was raised in a catholic household but didn't go to church as she was never interested and luckily her parents didn't "force" her. She didn't do any communion or whathave you blah blah blah. Though every now and then when she makes a comment about that fat guy crossing the road she says she feels guilty for saying it. It really has nothing to do with God, it has to do with her realizing what she said may have been funny, it was mean. Sadly she got that from me, she was pretty nice but I ruined that for her. Oh well. Our problems, not yours. But she calls it catholic guilt because at times when she did something wrong as a child it was put in her head that god will punish her for it because her catholic mother said so. And that is really not far off from any devout catholic I know hence why I am not catholic. Youre right though, I don't know everything about the catholic religion but that is obviously by choice as I have better things to do on Sunday morning that to hear how God will punish me this time. ( I have been to catholic churches for mass many times in my life and none of them made me coming out feeling....happy) Anyway, now I am just rambling on. Sorry if I offended your religion.

[Zealous Donkey 0]

I think I made a post about how my wife has "catholic guilt" and you decided to take it a little to seriously. or maybe it was someone else's post but it all sounds familiar. My wife is not catholic. She was raised in a catholic household but didn't go to church as she was never interested and luckily her parents didn't "force" her. She didn't do any communion or whathave you blah blah blah. Though every now and then when she makes a comment about that fat guy crossing the road she says she feels guilty for saying it. It really has nothing to do with God, it has to do with her realizing what she said may have been funny, it was mean. Sadly she got that from me, she was pretty nice but I ruined that for her. Oh well. Our problems, not yours. But she calls it catholic guilt because at times when she did something wrong as a child it was put in her head that god will punish her for it because her catholic mother said so. And that is really not far off from any devout catholic I know hence why I am not catholic. Youre right though, I don't know everything about the catholic religion but that is obviously by choice as I have better things to do on Sunday morning that to hear how God will punish me this time. ( I have been to catholic churches for mass many times in my life and none of them made me coming out feeling....happy) Anyway, now I am just rambling on. Sorry if I offended your religion.

You didn't offend me, in fact I was responding more to the responses to your post than to the post itself. I believe there was a post that began " thats the problem with Catholics" and then went on to incorrectly state several views of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church does teach about Hell and that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. The Catholic Church didn't just make up a story about Hell, it was passed down through the years and eventually put in the Bible. Now you can choose to not believe what is in the Bible, but if you are a Christian and claim to believe the Bible then spending eternity in Hell has to be the most terrifying thought one could have. If Hell is a real place (and I understand you don't believe that it is) then guilt or fear of Gods punishment would be a healthy thing if It kept you from committing mortal sin. I think it is not a bad thing to have a well developed conscious which causes you to feel guilty when you treat someone else poorly or unfairly. If a Catholic upbringing causes such a thing then I think it should be commeded. It seems to me that today a underdeveloped conscious is alot bigger problem in our society.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

Believing in God enough to actually fear him is to open the first door to understanding the truth about everything.

Fear of the Dark is pretty much the basis of all religions, at least western ones. I respect Christian religions that dollop out a healthy helping of fear, instead of Sissy-ing and Hippy-ing up their religion with love.

[JLocke 0]

Fear of the Dark is pretty much the basis of all religions, at least western ones. I respect Christian religions that dollop out a healthy helping of fear, instead of Sissy-ing and Hippy-ing up their religion with love.

Don´t the "Catholic" think something in the style: 1. God2. Priests3. The rest of the humansAnd I don´t understand why the priets are above the rest of the humans?

[CaneBrain 95]

Jews have guilt too. It comes from our mothers.

[SBriand 4]

Jews have guilt too. It comes from our mothers.

Your guilt should also be because you started slavery according to some people in the homo thread. tsk tsk.