Denise Dee wrote:
I don't think 'rational' and 'spiritual' are necessarily in opposition. But I'm not looking for some sort of philosophical discussion about the meaning of words such as 'rational' and 'spiritual', I'm looking for practical guidance.
On choosing a religious or spiritual path to follow, on what basis do I choose? If religion X and religion Y and religion Z all disagree, how do I decide which one is correct, how do I decide which is the best path to follow?
I could write the name of each religion and spiritual movement on a separate piece of paper, fold each piece of paper, put them all into a box, give the box a good shake, and then pick out one at random, and decide to follow that path for the rest of my life.
Would you recommend that way of choosing a path to follow?
If not, then what way would you recommend to decide which of the very many spiritual paths to follow? How do I go about deciding which to choose?
Even if I decide, having been born into a Christian family, that I should choose Christianity, how do I decide which Christian religion or denomination to follow?
Even if I decide, having been born into a Catholic family, that I should choose Catholicism, how do I decide which type of Catholicism I should choose to follow. Even in the short time I've been on the Ave Maria forums, I've been made aware that are at least two, probably three or more, different types of Catholicism. There are 'traditional Catholics', there are 'liberal Catholics', there are 'modernists', there are Catholics who disagree with Pope Francis's version of Catholicism, and so on.
Does it even matter which branch of Christianity I choose to follow as long as I believe in Jesus and live as good a life as I can?
If I don't necessarily exclude non-Christian religions, that makes the choice even greater. There's a confusing array of religions and spiritual movements to choose from. So how to choose?
Hello. I've been where you are at, what ultimately convinced me that the Catholic faith is the only one that we should follow was history ultimately. No other church in the world can make a serious claim that they're the true church of Christ. None of them have a direct link to Christ and the apostles such as the Catholic church has. Those links are proven with scripture, historical documents, and simply because almost every protestant church borrows some Catholic doctrine and accept the trinity. Why do they need to borrow our doctrines if they're the true church? Think on that.
Ephesians verses: "4 One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling.
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism." = Catholic Faith
Fear not sister in Christ, the church is Christ's greatest grace to us.