Posted by Julie on March 20, 1999 at 05:45:05 {MWoa9zs0COcKs}:
In Reply to: Written to Catholics or JWs? posted by Cygnus on March 19, 1999 at 23:44:57:
I can assure you, Jaypeeto would have PLENTY to say but, being as he was not "raised in the Church" he has a different perspective than I. I believe is was Mum who wisely pointed out recently that converts are often more zealous than those "raised" in any given faith, and she's right (as usual). They also may be more knowledgable, in some cases, this being more applicable to Catholics than JWs.
Anyhow, I always crack up when I see people telling me about how the Church "controls its members" and that sort of thing. Nonsense. I studied with a JW for a long time, things went awry and I dug up the truth about "the Truth". I felt a little guilty, at first, for having even considered the WT nonsense. Then it occured to me that no one there (at my church) knew I was gone and, sadly, no one probably cared. It was then that it occured to me that we (Catholics) really are on our own. So ironic to see how "controlled" I am and didn't even realize it.
Another glaring fact that critics of Catholicism seem to overlook is that Catholics are so different from each other. I can't imagine a group of people that have less unity of thought. While it's true that every church in the world reads the same section of bible at Mass every Sunday, each priest determines the sermon (homily), discussing those readings.
After Vatican II, chaos reigned supreme and things have not changed much since then regarding all the different directions the people of the church are going. The changes I have seen I personally approve of heartily, especially the encouragement of reading Scripture. I hear it all the time and must admit I don't ever recall hearing such urgings as a child. Progress.
My view of the whole thing is this, and it is not an original thought but most applicable:
"Every subject's duty's the king's but every subject's soul's his own."
That site is full of long held myths. How very commonplace.
What did you think of it?
Julie