Two parts of your son's experience strike a chord with me. One was C.S. Lewis's treatment of the problem you mention, which is why we should grant any validity to intellectual judgments if our intellect is a random and meaningless accident. The other was a conviction that a universe so ordered (for me it was the inverse-square law) couldn't be written off as random chaos. I ended up in the Episcopal church, which also relies on Petrine primacy and the Nicene Creed.
You are both intellectuals it seems. My husband and I are churchless too although we watch an on line service frequently. Raised a Methodist, baptized and confirmed, I no longer attend the church where my oldest Daughter still sings in the choir. They followed the Covid rules of masking for an outdoors service and forbid singing. I saw that this enormous conference didn’t stand up for its congregations whereas smaller Catholic and other churches managed to.
Trite saying: God works in mysterious ways. True saying: God works in mysterious ways. As one who spent my entire youth immersed in Roman Catholic doctrine and dogma, which left me an agnostic, or perhaps more accurately, one who simply did not care, I find it hard to comprehend what makes Catholicism such an attractive choice for believers in Jesus. In my case, the questions that arose after "apostatizing" began with the one famously posed by Leibnitz: why is there something rather than nothing? Looking for a "scientific" (or more accurately, materialistic) answer took me down a dead end, from which point I sought other paths. Eventually, the Bible began to provide answers, and I chose to accept the ones it provided because they were the most reasonable ones on offer. At a certain point, I realized that there was only one question worth answering, viz., was Jesus who he said He was and once I eliminated all other possibilities, I decided He was. (I could have gotten to that point a lot sooner had I read Lewis earler, but to everything there is a season.) I respect my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, but can't accept the teachings of the church on too many points to agree with them on anything beyond those principles that are essential to Christianity. As Luther put it: on essentials, unity; on everything else, charity. I pray for the best for you and your son.
I think the concept of faith is not found in understanding doctrine, but is found in the pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ through his faith. There is no greater testimony of the works of God than the willingness of Jesus to be sacrificed as the perfect Lamb to save mankind. By trying to live like Him, we can know Him. A young boy was lost by his parents who left their Passover caravan to find him. After three days, they found him in the temple studying with the learned. All were amazed by his understanding of scripture.
Well written about not accepting the extrabiblical doctrine of the Roman Catholic faith. George Mason and his church drifted long ago from sound doctrine as well.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
I believe those searching for the truth of this created world and their point and purpose in it should simply start with Jesus, rather than exploring the myriad of doctrines and faiths that dot the earth.
It’s a timesaver, for one thing, and as He said Himself, the Way to the truth, which also just happens to be Himself.
Your article shames me for being a somewhat lackadaisical Catholic. I was raised a Catholic by two very devout parents, which for many years caused me to rebel against them and the Church. I have since returned to the Church but still, too often, take the Church and its teachings for granted. I suppose at times familiarity breeds laziness.
I admire your son for his journey and his devotion in a world that mocks Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.
Cradle Catholic here; former altar boy when the Latin Mass was The Mass. Fell away in college; a Godded world simply made no sense; I knew better. Ha. A few 2x4s between the running lights -- more reverently Godly or at least angelic interventions -- and Faith was reborn, in like manner to that which you describe. The intellectual side of the house (in like manner) took much longer. Most significantly (to me) there are the Five Unanswerables; from From Whence Matter? through to From Whence Morality? and the eloquent apologia of Prof Lewis. I always said that I perceived the Catholic Church as Christianity with training wheels but at least it had adult leadership. (And then came Francis and now Leo and far TMI about the Manworkings.) Everyone's Journey is unique; many thanks for relaying yours and yours.
This is how faith often works when it is real. The heart is captured before the mind finishes briefing the case. Ethan’s story matters because it rejects both cheap sentimental religion and sterile internet atheism. He did not convert because Catholicism was easy, tribal, fashionable, or inherited. He wrestled with truth, beauty, cognition, miracles, authority, apostolic continuity, and the impossibility of “me and my Bible” Christianity for most of human history. Then the evidence arrived: Lourdes, Fatima, Padre Pio, Lanciano, the Shroud, the Resurrection. Faith did not abolish reason. Faith summoned reason to its proper work.
This is proof of the adage that Earthly things must be known to be loved while Divine things must be loved to be known.
I love that phrase!
Two parts of your son's experience strike a chord with me. One was C.S. Lewis's treatment of the problem you mention, which is why we should grant any validity to intellectual judgments if our intellect is a random and meaningless accident. The other was a conviction that a universe so ordered (for me it was the inverse-square law) couldn't be written off as random chaos. I ended up in the Episcopal church, which also relies on Petrine primacy and the Nicene Creed.
If it is any comfort, none of us know our children; we just think we do.
You are both intellectuals it seems. My husband and I are churchless too although we watch an on line service frequently. Raised a Methodist, baptized and confirmed, I no longer attend the church where my oldest Daughter still sings in the choir. They followed the Covid rules of masking for an outdoors service and forbid singing. I saw that this enormous conference didn’t stand up for its congregations whereas smaller Catholic and other churches managed to.
Trite saying: God works in mysterious ways. True saying: God works in mysterious ways. As one who spent my entire youth immersed in Roman Catholic doctrine and dogma, which left me an agnostic, or perhaps more accurately, one who simply did not care, I find it hard to comprehend what makes Catholicism such an attractive choice for believers in Jesus. In my case, the questions that arose after "apostatizing" began with the one famously posed by Leibnitz: why is there something rather than nothing? Looking for a "scientific" (or more accurately, materialistic) answer took me down a dead end, from which point I sought other paths. Eventually, the Bible began to provide answers, and I chose to accept the ones it provided because they were the most reasonable ones on offer. At a certain point, I realized that there was only one question worth answering, viz., was Jesus who he said He was and once I eliminated all other possibilities, I decided He was. (I could have gotten to that point a lot sooner had I read Lewis earler, but to everything there is a season.) I respect my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, but can't accept the teachings of the church on too many points to agree with them on anything beyond those principles that are essential to Christianity. As Luther put it: on essentials, unity; on everything else, charity. I pray for the best for you and your son.
I think the concept of faith is not found in understanding doctrine, but is found in the pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ through his faith. There is no greater testimony of the works of God than the willingness of Jesus to be sacrificed as the perfect Lamb to save mankind. By trying to live like Him, we can know Him. A young boy was lost by his parents who left their Passover caravan to find him. After three days, they found him in the temple studying with the learned. All were amazed by his understanding of scripture.
Well written about not accepting the extrabiblical doctrine of the Roman Catholic faith. George Mason and his church drifted long ago from sound doctrine as well.
John 14:6
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
I believe those searching for the truth of this created world and their point and purpose in it should simply start with Jesus, rather than exploring the myriad of doctrines and faiths that dot the earth.
It’s a timesaver, for one thing, and as He said Himself, the Way to the truth, which also just happens to be Himself.
Your article shames me for being a somewhat lackadaisical Catholic. I was raised a Catholic by two very devout parents, which for many years caused me to rebel against them and the Church. I have since returned to the Church but still, too often, take the Church and its teachings for granted. I suppose at times familiarity breeds laziness.
I admire your son for his journey and his devotion in a world that mocks Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.
Cradle Catholic here; former altar boy when the Latin Mass was The Mass. Fell away in college; a Godded world simply made no sense; I knew better. Ha. A few 2x4s between the running lights -- more reverently Godly or at least angelic interventions -- and Faith was reborn, in like manner to that which you describe. The intellectual side of the house (in like manner) took much longer. Most significantly (to me) there are the Five Unanswerables; from From Whence Matter? through to From Whence Morality? and the eloquent apologia of Prof Lewis. I always said that I perceived the Catholic Church as Christianity with training wheels but at least it had adult leadership. (And then came Francis and now Leo and far TMI about the Manworkings.) Everyone's Journey is unique; many thanks for relaying yours and yours.
This is how faith often works when it is real. The heart is captured before the mind finishes briefing the case. Ethan’s story matters because it rejects both cheap sentimental religion and sterile internet atheism. He did not convert because Catholicism was easy, tribal, fashionable, or inherited. He wrestled with truth, beauty, cognition, miracles, authority, apostolic continuity, and the impossibility of “me and my Bible” Christianity for most of human history. Then the evidence arrived: Lourdes, Fatima, Padre Pio, Lanciano, the Shroud, the Resurrection. Faith did not abolish reason. Faith summoned reason to its proper work.