Theology

Why I choose Catholicism...

This is not necessarily a defense of Catholicism, but more an explanation. This is because, as one might have already assumed, I am not necessarily a particuly neatly denominational person, I like a lot of things from a lot of different denominations; and there are a lot of things that personally I could see myself subscribing into.

The reason that I put my faith into the Catholic Church is two-fold, the first is that the Catholic Church has, on a most basic statement to statement level, agreed with the majority of my already preconceived beliefs on what it ought to mean to be a Christian... This is by no means an argument for Catholicism, as there are many, many Catholics; so many as 1,5 billion members world-wide, but it does add to the idea of "Gods Church"... The truth is likely not going to be found in a denomination with three locations in Kansas, as that would be unfair for the people who are outside of Kansas, and outside the range of these places.

The second most reason is that the Catholic faith has provided a great deal of comfort, support, and nurrishment throughout my own personal faith journey; I feel that Catholics are some of the nicer Christians that I have meet, and that is coming from someone who is skeptical of Christianity in general, and I feel that Christians in general have a hard time being kind, and I believe that the Catholic Church is not one of those Christian Churches.

The Christian Church, on a little rant here, has a really negative perception, which is mainly caused by Non-Denominatal, (Southern, Non-Confessional) Baptists, and fringe groups like Staitway Truth Ministries. These seem to be, in my humble opinion, the cyst on the Christian body, and should be cut off from the classification of Christian... As they do not believe in the most important part, which is works, which proceeds and is directly in union with faith.

"So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." [Luke 2:17, NRSVCE]

There are many more reasons why I choose Catholic, though the other reasons revolve interpersonal, and impersonal relationships; and that would not apply for you; therefore, I ask that you go, and truely seek... What worked for me was to pray the Lords Prayer "My Father who is in Heaven...", followed by the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, forgive me of my sins for I am a sinner, amen." and then saying the prayer of the Holy Spirit, "Breathe into me, Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy..." followed by a imprompteu prayer, and then repeating it for as many times as you can... Usually totaling 4 times for me, but I encourage you to pray for more than I did... As I am not the goal but the baseline.

In Defense of Swedenborg

In Swedenborg, there is not very much opposition, or at least that I can find, of his works and life. This is mainly because not very many people know of him, or even really care enough about Christian Denominations to stumble acrost him, and therefore, many do not end up finding out who he was. But to me, Swedenborg is a great example of what it means to truely love and devote your life to Christ; and it shows thorugh the people that believe to his works.

This is not to say that I would call myself Swedenborgian, though I believe that there are some things that I can see myself believing in... This being that on Soteriology, which is the study of Salvaiton in the name of the Lord Jesus... I believe that there are multiple different levels of Hell, though I believe that the seperation of them is arbitray, and there is really one heaven and one hell, but I believe that there are seperable states of hell...

Furthermore, I also believe that it is not necessary to claim Jesus Christ as our Lord in order to reach Heaven, though I do believe that it is necessary in order to access the Kingdom of God... This is because all people inherently will end up getting a good place in the end-times, however, some people who are evil, will congregate in evil, and they create hell for themselves... Because of this, I believe that while Satan is a thing, I believe that he is more the representation of evil than the direct creator of it.

However, I do not perscibe to the idea of Restorationism, and I believe that Restorationism is extremely harmful for all (Abrahamic) groups, including Islam, Baha'i, etc. As it takes that there is some form of esoteric knowledge, which comes from Gnosticism; unless you are a Mandaenist, this is an objectively not good thing to have with you... And therefore, I believe that he should be viewed more like a slightly more mystic, regular Christian than a Restorationist in the same way that Mormons hold Joseph Smith, as that is a very dangerious thing to hold to a man, especially a man who does not claim to teach the same thing as the Gospel.

Therefore, I only accept the commentaries on scripture, (though less of his literal commentary and more the generalness of his commentary) and his views on Heaven and Helll, as I believe that he did see those things, however, I do not believe that the first person that he meet was Jesus, but it was some person; this is because of what the Spirit said to him...

"[Swedenborg] I was in London and had dinner somewhat late at the resturant where I used to eat, and then had a chamber by myself; where I amused myself by the mentioned subject of the sciences and the scripture. I was hungry and ate with good appitite. Towards the end of the meal, I noticed something like a dimness before my eyes, it darkened and I saw the floor covered in the most hideious like snakes, frogs, and such creatures. I was startled because I was completely conscious, and comprehension rational. Eventually darkness prevailed, but suddenly, it was dispelled and I saw a man, sitting in one corner, since I was then all alone, I was quite amazed when he started talking, and said, 'dont eat so much'" [memoirs of swedenborg, Carl Robsahm]

This, I do not believe, was the Lord Jesus, as why would Jesus say "Don't eat so much" to a supposed prophet? I do not necessarily take very much fear in the darkness, and the snakes and frogs, as while these are used to refer to false prophets, Swedenborg did in fact like Reptiles, and there are more than one explanation to that... I believe that this was not God, but the Devil... And God did reward Swedenborg for not falling for the devil. This is why I believe in the idea of him being a interpretor, like John Wesley or Martin Luther, than of a Prophet, like Joseph Smith.