1740 Threats to freedom. the exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man, “the subject of this freedom,” is “an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly goods.” Moreover, the economic, social, political, and cultural conditions that are needed for a just exercise of freedom are too often disregarded or violated. Such situations of blindness and injustice injure the moral life and involve the strong as well as the weak in the temptation to sin against charity. By deviating from the moral law man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth.
Catechism of The Catholic Church #1740
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The restrictions that the catholic church wants to habe on believers and none believers is confusing. The free will gives us the right to express our selves as well as the chances of failure in order to learn from our mistakes.
what is divine truth? who has direct or indirect communication with the Creator? if so please ask for better ideas what we have is not working
@Mariano: The restrictions the Catholic Church places on behavior are not confusing. There are two, and all of the rest support these two: Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and Love your neighbor as yourself. Here, the word love does not indicate an emotional state but rather a decision made to pursue the highest possible good of the other even when, and especially when, the other party does not “deserve” it. Thus, we are to choose no action that would cause an individual to between God and us – such as having sex outside of marriage, or engaging in homosexual acts – as this would not lead the other party to the highest possible good and thus would be a violation of the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are not to abort the unborn, for they belong to God and only God has the right to decide when their life should end. Contraception is not permitted because it is an attempt to dictate to God when and where He may bring another human soul into the world.
The world is not perfect, nor will it ever be because it would require all men and women to obey God’s laws in order to achieve that. Since we do not and will not all obey, there will continue to be sin, sorrow, and tragedy in our world. Don’t blame the exercise machine because the fat guy doesn’t use it, blame the fat guy for failing to get up and use what he has been given.
The Catholic Faith is the one place that I find true freedom. All sin is enslaving and only when freed from those sins is one truly free to be who one really is. The confusion that Mariano speaks of comes most often from those who misunderstand what the Catholic Church teaches. Free will is not the ‘right’ to express ourselves but free will gives us the ability to choose either right or wrong. But right is still right and wrong is still harmful. Sin breaks our relationships with God and with others. As to where to find the authority on Divine Truth, I would suggest the Magisterium and its guidance by the Holy Spirit. Thank goodness, I have never had to kill anyone in order to learn from my ‘mistake’ that it is wrong to do so. I have never had to be enslaved to drugs or alcohol or pornagraphy to learn from those failures that freedom is not found there. I appreciate the life-giving lessons of right and wrong that I have been taught.
True freedom is being free from sin, which as Ruth said, is indeed enslaving. The question on Divine Truth comes from one of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. At confirmation, we recieve these many gifts one of them being Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, and Fear of God. (this one doesn’t mean being afraid, on the contrary, it’s having a reverence and deep respect and love for God and his Blessed Mother. As I may have mentioned before, the “fear” is afraid of offending God like it would be to offend your own parents.) This is of course my understanding on what is Truth. We have a free will to do what we need or should do as far as choosing between right and wrong. What I always believed is to pray(which is a way of talking to God) and many times to even talk to a priest,deacon,sister or other clergy for they know well of how to explain and teach the catechism. I’ve always been brought up with the belief and understanding of seeing Jesus and Mary as “heavenly parents”. Just like you wouldn’t want to upset or disappoint your parents by disrespect or other occasions of sins that cause them anguish and sorrow; Likewise it should be with God. Out of the love of God and the fear of offending Him being that he is soo kind and loving is one good reason to be the best you can be. One should want to avoid sin and occasions that could lead to sin that would injure Him more than he’s already been injured by the hardness of heart and many other offenses of men. One should first come to know God through prayer and to understand what he spoke of to his disciples and Apostles so often about many different things in the Bible. Hopefully, later on, you can grow to love Him and then serve him. It’s not wise to believe you have to “experience” everything in order to know it’s not good for you. One already has an inner moral compass to know what is good or not so good. I’ve always been taught, “When in doubt, say to yourself, What would Jesus do in this situation?” Really help me and hopefully it’ll help you too.
Hello Jesus, I have been challenged on my faith lately, I don’t want to waver in my love for you. But the dogma of all christian belief challenges me in a way that is driving me away because of Christian ignorance of the obvious avoidance of what sience is showing us.
Also to here people say pray for the protection of there kids. My son died. No one can tell me I did not pray hard enough but yet me son is dead. I will never understand why you allowed him to die. I still love you, please help me understand. Tired in Vancouver