spazz

I was sitting in my religion class today and my teacher stated that the catholic theology itself was perfect but, even if the church acts contrary to what it teaches the theology remains perfect. I was just wondering some of your opinons. Also if anyone could inform me if the main core of the catholic theology has been drasticaly changed throughout the history. (if you show this please provide a source so i can check it out.)

Philosoft

How do we observe what is "Catholic Theology" other than noticing how self-described Catholics behave?

Amos

No that has nothing to do with it and the church holds that not even the pope is perfect. Many, and a great many Catholics have reached perfection . . . which now becomes a realtive word because perfection is "beyond judgement." To be 'set free' from the law is perfection because the law has been fulfilled.

Amos

Infallible means perfection and indicates that the Catholic church is in charge of its own destiny. Its ability to change over time and adapt to its surrounding means that in the end all things are relative and perfection is a condition of being. This is non-social, non-rational, and non-possesive and means that you can be social, rational and even rich but are not attached to these or any attributes.

It is not exactly true to say that the church can act "contrary" because the church described here is truth and not an entity that can be wrong. Such is the beauty of ultimate truth. By the "church acts" is meant the clergy, pope and people.

Philosoft

What? Do we or do we not know what is "Catholic theology" independent of observing the behaviors of self-identified Catholics?

Selsaral

I guess we can read the bible, where their perfect god tortures his loyal followers, murders entire civilizations, murders innocent children etc. Obviously 'perfect' means preaching one thing, damning your children to hell for all eternity for defying it, but then defying it yourself in example.

Amos

But I did not say all of them were perfect. Perfection is a reality and no human is perfect but every man is perfect. Perfection must necessarily exist for imperfection to be known in the same way as a the concept God must before it can be denied. So man (perfection) is needed for humans (imperfection) to be known and that is why redemption is needed to restore the original nature of man as man.

The nice thing about Catholics themselves is that they are human and therefore sinners and should not be the place for you to look at the truth of the church.

Amos

The church has a censorship on bible reading because it often leads to the evils describe in it when read with curious eyes. Apart form this, and if intepreted properly, it becomes the motivator for humans to seek and find liberation from their dual nature wherein only good and evil exists. This liberation returns us to the state of man werein we are free from the conviction of good and evil (sin and virtue).