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Catholic Dilemmas

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Page21: Revised 05/19/2000

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On this page: | What is a Dilemma? | Do Dilemmas Have Solutions? |

Main List of Catholic Dilemmas
Fasting Dilemma	Bible Dilemma	Salvation Dilemma	Marriage Dilemma
Unforgivable Sin Dilemma	Other Christ's Dilemma	Celibate Priests Dilemma	Tithing Dilemma
Unanimous Consent of Fathers Dilemma	Eucharist Dilemma 1	Eucharist Dilemma 2	Eucharist Dilemma 3
Eucharist Dilemma 4	Eucharist Dilemma 5	.	.
Forbidden Books Dilemma	Mass Dilemma	Mary Dilemma 1	Mary Dilemma 2
Vicar of Christ Dilemma	Freedom of Conscience Dilemma	Scapular Dilemma	Purgatory Dilemma
Catechism Dilemma	Excommunication Dilemma	Birth Control Dilemma	The Saint That Ain't Dilemma

What is a 'Catholic' Dilemma?

On this page we present moral dilemmas faced by Roman Catholics, and only by Roman Catholics. For our understanding of the term, dilemma, I will use all three definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary as shown above. These dilemmas are uniquely Roman Catholic because they arise from the dogmas, doctrines and Traditions of Rome.

I shall present each dilemma as one or more statements of incontrovertible facts, followed by questions that highlight the difficulty, quandary, pickle, enigma, jam, kettle-of-fish or quandary in which Roman Catholics find themselves when faced with the contradictory teachings of their church.

If you are a Roman Catholic surfer, you need to at least know what dilemmas exist for you! Don't be surprised if you can not answer most or all of them. It is not your fault. Especially if you are over forty years old, your church taught you what to think and what to believe, but not how to think about spiritual matters. The younger crop of Roman Catholics has access to much better apologetic training for those who wish to take advantage of it. It is my opinion, however, that in general, Rome would much rather have a herd of lemmings than a cadre of thinkers - such folks have a way of leaving the Roman Catholic Church once they start to discover the discrepancies between Scripture and the teachings of Rome.

You probably would not even be at this site, and on this page, if you had not exercised your God-given ability to think and choose. Be warned: you are on dangerous ground. Why? First, because you are thinking for yourself and not blindly accepting the stock teachings of Rome. Second, because your search for solutions will demand that you study the Word of God, Scripture, the Bible, for yourself, and Rome warned you for centuries that such a study is sinful and dangerous to your faith. That ban has now lifted, so at least you are free to study the Bible for yourself (but not free to come to any conclusions that disagree with the RCC!). Lucky you; unlucky great-grandfather Guido!

Are There Solutions to these Dilemmas?

• Remain petrified between the two until you die: after that you will certainly learn the truth (but you might find yourself in the wrong place when the light comes on).
• Strive to defend the indefensible: then live with the frustration of futile striving.
• Try to ignore the problem: then watch it eat you alive because you don't have the solution.
• Ask your priest for the solution: then go home and wonder why he's no better informed than you are.
• Seek the answer in Roman Catholic books: and be fascinated at how they dance around the real dilemma with answers that have little to do with your questions - if they address it at all.
• Accept the fact that your church is wrong -- and be ready for flak from family and friends.
• Accept the fact that your church is wrong -- and ask God to lead you in what to do next.
• Close your mind and just believe what Rome tells you -- if you are up for intellectual suicide.

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| Main List of Catholic Dilemmas |

Catholic Dilemma: Fasting

• FACT 1: Vatican Council II abolished the Catholic practice of Friday abstinence from meat.
• FACT 2: Prior to Vatican Council II, Roman Catholics who deliberately ate meat on Friday committed a 'mortal sin' and went to hell.
• FACT 3: After Vatican Council II, Roman Catholics who eat meat of Friday do not commit a 'mortal sin' and can go to Heaven.
• FACT 4: Jesus instituted Communion as part of a great feast (the Passover Seder).

The Dilemma

The devout Roman Catholic person is constrained (forced) to enjoy a hot dog at a Friday ball game with the 'knowledge' that his or her dad and mom are, at that very moment, burning in an eternal Hell for doing exactly the same thing back in the 1950 World Series. He or she is constrained to believe that God changes His laws to conform to the whims of the Roman Catholic Church. He or she also knows that God has declared: "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them." (Malachi 3: 6-7)

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Catholic Dilemma: Reading the Bible

• FACT 1: Until the present generation, the Roman Catholic Church forbade her people to read the Bible for themselves under pain of 'mortal sin.' That is, the Catholic who owned or read the Bible was de facto condemned to Hell.

Evidence:

The Bible was placed on Rome's Index of Forbidden Books list by the Council of Toulouse/Toledo in the year 1229. It remained there until the index was discontinued at Vatican Council II. Anyone reading or owning a 'forbidden' book was anathematized, or cursed and remanded to hell for doing so.

Cannon 14 from the Council of Toulouse says that the Roman Catholic Church:

"Forbids the laity to have in their possession any copy of the books of the Old and New Testament.... and most strictly forbids these works in the vulgar tongue."

Roman Catholic apologist Karl Keating confirms this fact when he writes that, "the bishops at Toulouse restricted the use of the Bible until the [Albigensian] heresy was ended." (Page 45, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, by Karl Keating). The peculiar thing is that the Bible remained on the Index of Forbidden Books for another 730 years! In his dance with truth, Mr. Keating takes care to omit this little fact.

Still More Evidence. This teaching was confirmed at the Council of Trent (Session IV, April 8, 1546 Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures). The Council of Trent went further, stating that anyone who dared study Scriptures on their own must "be punished with the penalties by law established." With incredible audacity, the Council of Trent went so far as to forbid even the printing of and sale of the Bible! Anyone daring to violate this decree was anathematized, or cursed and damned to Hell for it. (Dogmatic Cannons and Decrees of the Council of Trent..., pages 11-13; Copyright 1977, 1912, with Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat. Tan Books and Publishers, P.O. Box 424, Rockford, IL 61105)

Still More Evidence Liguori, the most respected of Cannon Lawyers in the Roman Catholic Church, wrote that, "The Scriptures and books of Controversy may not be permitted in the vulgar tongue, as also they cannot be read without permission."

And Yet Even More Evidence Pope Clement XI (1713), in his bull Unigenitus, wrote that "We strictly forbid them [the laity] to have the books of the Old and New Testament in the vulgar tongue."

• FACT 2: Since Vatican Council II (1965) The Roman Catholic Church now permits her people to read the Bible, and even offers an 'indulgence' of three hundred days off of Purgatory time for doing, if they read in for at least fifteen minutes at one sitting. (The Holy Bible, Douay-Confraternity version Title Page overleaf.)
• FACT 3: Vatican Council II confirmed all pronouncements of the Council of Trent, which, as we see above, forbade the Bible to the people.

The Dilemma

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