Why the Church isn't Rational

Council of Vatican II

During the election of hte Pope, there was a lot of dialogue about how a Pope from the US would be a great Pope. People tried to predict how the conclave would decide on a new pope.  While the theory of picking the best candidate for the job via qualifications works for most positions of responsiblity, it does not work within the Church. Here's why. The cardinals in the conclave didn't think about who to pick. The Church doesn't operate in a totally rational way. It oes much, much better. The Church operates by praying and reflecting. ather than making a decision themselves, they pray to God on how to decide certain solutions to problems. As such, they can acomplish much more than any other institution. They have an infinite pool of knowledge and wisdom to guide them, which means they always make the best decision. The first proof of this is how they are cut off from the outside world. In any other kind of election, current events dictate policy actions. However, with the Church, current events never seemed to matter. Why? Because the Church is guided by God, who is not bound by time. He is eternal, meaning he can make hte bst decision for the long term and the short term. The second, and most compelling, argument as to why hte CHurch determines their leaders through God is the fact they picked then-Cardinal Bergoglio. He was not really a candidate for hte Papacy, let alone a front runer. THe reason nobody saw it coming is because we are finite biengs. We can't see and understand everything that goes on and understand how it impacts the Church, but God can. That's why Bergoglio was chosen. THe Church is guided by God and uses God's will to determine decisions.

Difficulties in Ecumenism

Since the Protestant Reformation, a common question has been: When will the Church try to reunite? While there have been efforts to restore Christian unity,they have been slow and tedious in nature. Why? This comes from a variety of reasons. First, there are many denominations with ideological differences. For instance, some believe there should be no hierarchy. Others do not believe in the Eucharist. Some even believe that the Blessed Trinity doesn't exist. This makes uniting the Church incredibly difficult. The second major roadblock in ecumenism is a lack of cohesion between these individual churches. Many of these churches have no hierarchy or structure, meaning trying to unite people by discussing ideological differences is essentially stonewalled, as there is really no easy way to determine how to settle them. This means the
whole process becomes even more tedious and slow.

What should we do about homosexuality?

A botorious issue of today's age is that of gay marriage. While the Catholic Church has denounced homosexuality, many seem to believe everyone who is catholic must also hate homosexuals. Many Catholics thing god himself hates gays. In fact, that goes against every grain of catholic teaching. God loves all of us despite our sins. That's the idea behind Catholicism. Christ died so we can be redeemed for our sins. Rather than doing things like hate parades, Catholics have the obligation to pray for those who struggle with their sexuality, just as we pray for all sinners.

Reaching for the Sky

It's baseball season now and as well know, very often when players hit homeruns they point to the sky referencing God. Is this an honor? Is it disrespectful? Should people cross themselves before they bat? Is it okay to pray for something as objective as a game? Is it different than thanking God for your talents and abilities?

In Luke 18: 9-14 the man looked down to pray to God as a sign of being humble and honoring God to the utmost respect. The action of pointing to the sky, as a batter rounds the bases, celebrating the homerun they hit as the other team sulks at the damage done is not necessarily bad. It is all about what they are pointing to and even more so why. If one is rounding the bases looking up pointing to the sky to do it as an unsportsmanlike gesture it is received as a gesture of disgrace to God. God's goal is not to show lust.

However, done in the honor of God and for the Greater Glory of God is what it  should be about, doing it out of respect and appreciation of God. In hand, by doing so it should not be done to simply appear like a man of God. As a result, part of this appreciation is thanking God, being aware of where his God given talents comes from. So in doing this, realizing the source of their prosperity and opportunity, they honor God.

Therefore, the act of pointing or crossing yourself is not bad; in fact, it is good as long as it is in and for the Greater Glory of God. It shows how God is everywhere and in everything gracing the world with his grace giving mankind the opportunities they receive. Our talents and abilities come from God; as a result, the least we can do is honor and try and aid God in his message.

What is Love

What is love? Other than a classic song by Haddaway, it is some kind of connection between people. The catholic definition of love can be seen in 1 John 4:8, which states: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." Love is a way we become closer to God. We are created to become closer to God. As such, that which brings us close to people also brings us close to God.

The question may arise if love is subjective. One chain of reasoning is God is love, God can be known objectively, and thus love is objective. This is mostly true. However, it has one flaw. God cannotr be known objectively. We can rationalize that he exists and what Enid but we cannot believe in the core of our being his existence objectively. Everyone comes about finding God in a different way. In the same way, people come about finding love in different ways. The answer is that we can define God and love objectively but we cannot truly feel God and love objectively because feeling is a subjective thing. Refer to the above post about reason for further explanation of the distinction between feeling and reasoning.

Reason is Not Enough

While the existence of God could be, and has been, proven through rational arguments, it is insufficient to merely know that God exists. Rather, one must believe in God. What's the distinction? It's simple

To know something is to understand why it's true.  You can accept that someone has good intentions without truly believing it. Nearly everyone, if not absolutely everyone, has experienced a moment where they have lost an argument. The other person is correct, you were wrong. They're arguments trumped yours, yet you still feel a conviction in what you were arguing for. That conviction, that subconscious determination to be correct, is your belief. Now, how does that factor into faith? Faith is believing. No matter how many rational arguments people make about why God exists, there is not one that can thoroughly convince you. Rather, you must predispose yourself to the possibility of the existence of God.  As a true Catholic, when asked "Why do you believe in God," your answer should not be a listing of Aquinas' five ways. That is knowing his existence, not believing in it. Rather, to believe, your answer, whether verbal or not, must be "Because in the core of my being I know he's there." There shouldn't be a rational answer. Heck, the answer I gave is wrong insofar as it is put into words. Rather, your belief and your faith (key word here) should be an irrational conviction. You can't confine everything to language. You can't describe true faith of God's existence in the words of any language. Rather, you have to feel it. Why? God doesn't wait around for language to set in. God isn't a part of language. No! God is greater than language. God is greater than the human mind can comprehend. God is greater than our rational conceptions of everything that ever has or will exist. Rather, believing in God is a passionate faith that you know you need not prove, because God is with you.