/lit/ - Literature

>>22584367
I like Catholics, second best Christian group after Orthodox

>>19450323
> I’ll continue to believe that Jesus was an enlightened being and that the Bible is not inerrant, and that the other writers possibly held misconceptions about Jesus’ teachings, or that at least most Christians completely misinterpret everything
You can only hold this position by disregarding what the Gospels clearly teach, and throwing out whichever verses don't agree with your preconceived notions. John clearly records that Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to the apostles to guide them into all truth - for you to claim that the apostles then were led into falsehoods and incorrect lies, is a form of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. If you die believing that despite Jesus' clear teaching that the Holy Spirit guides the apostles into all truth, they were still led to believe falsehoods and lies, you will face the eternal consequences of believing Jesus and the Holy Spirit to be liars. What will your defense be at your particular judgment, then?

There is a reason why every single ancient apostolic Christian denomination is in agreement about what 99.9% of verses mean, and agree on almost every single major point of doctrine. The only major denominational divisions on interpretations are between Protestants and other Protestants, all of whom arose 1500 years after Jesus Christ created His Church on the rock of St. Peter (Matt. 16:18) - the same Church which He promised the gates of Hell would never prevail against.

Please, be careful when leaning on your own understanding. Do you want to risk your eternal salvation by believing that Jesus Christ is a liar, and that the Holy Spirit did not guide the apostles into all truth, and that the Church fell into error almost as soon as Jesus created it? Is that a smart bet to take? What is the cost/benefit analysis of such a belief, compared to adhering to the ascetical/mystical tradition of the apostolic churches?

I bear no ill-will towards you, friend. I just ask that you please think deeply about your decision, and that on such an important matter, you ask God to show you the truth, with the honest and humble submission that you will follow wherever He wants you to lead, even if it is not where you want to go. I believed in the gnostic-perennialist-theosophic system too, but when I opened myself up to God and let go of my attachments and biases, and let Him lead me where He wanted me to go, I found that it was all false. I hope you do the same. God be with you.

>>10163911
I don't know much about the NASB besides being Protestant, so my claim to inaccuracy would just be the lacking of the deuterocanonical books. It is best to have a Bible carrying all the Biblical books rather than less or more.

The ASV shares this same issue and phrasing issues that are popular Protestant interpretation of doctrinal views. Such as "highly favored" rather than "full of grace" in the arrival of the angel to Mary.

Sorry to be brief but Bible translations aren't a forte at all. Hope that helped.

>>10163958
>so prayer is a Protestant invention?
Certainly hope this was sarcastic.

RECOMMENDED

>GENERAL

The Bible (Ignatius Study Bible Recommended)
The Catholic Catechism

>accepted English versions of Bible

NABRE
Douay Rheims
RSV

>THEOLOGY

>novice

Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Ratzinger
The Last Superstition by Edward Feser
The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
Mere Christianity
CATHOLICISM by Robert Barron
Outlines of Moral Theology by Francis J. Connell

>intermediate

Scholastic Metaphysics by Edward Feser
Natural Theology by Bernard Boedder
The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy by Etienne Gilson
Real Essentialism by Oderberg
Against Heresies
City of God
Christianity for Modern Pagans
Intention by Isabelle Anscombe

>advanced

God: His Existence and His Nature by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Summa Contra Gentiles
Summa Theologiae
On the Incarnation
The Didache
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church
Divine Names by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite


>SPIRITUAL LIFE

>novice

The Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales
Story of a Soul by St. Therese
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
Nihilism - Fr Seraphim Rose

part 1/2

>>9880980
>intermediate

The Interior Castle
Spiritual Exercises by St. Ignatius
Dialogues by St. Catherine of Sienna
True Devotion to Mary
True Devotion to the Holy Spirit

>advanced

The Cloud of Unknowing
The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross
The Desert Fathers
The Philokalia
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis

>MEMETICS

Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World by Rene Girard
I See Satan Fall Like Lightning by Rene Girard

>HISTORICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Rome Sweet Home
The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day
After Virtue
Christendom I: Founding of Christendom
Theology and Social Theory by John Millbank
Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy by Bernard Williams
Life of St.Anthony by Saint Athanasius
Life of St Francis of Assisi by Saint Bonaventure
Silouan the Athonite by Archimandrite Sophrony
The Autobiography of St. Ignatius Loyol
The Formation of Christendom by Christopher Dawson
The Dividing of Christendom by Christoper Dawson

>FICTION

Don Quixote
Diary of a Country Priest
The Divine Comedy
Paradise Lost
Silence by Shusaku Endo
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Faust
Les Miserables
The Canterbury Tales
The Man Who Was Thursday
The Brothers Karamazov
A Man for All Seasons
The Pillars of the Earth
The Lord of the Rings
The Chronicles of Narnia
Lord of the World
Parzifal
Joseph of Arimathea: A Romance of the Grail
The Arthurian Cycle
Quo Vadis

Jesus, St. Augustine, Luther, Darius the Great and Cyrus the Great.