/lit/ - Literature

The Bible

Ecclesiastes

>>16476792
Read Confessions

>>16476792
Fuck off, you're not interested in Christianity you're a disgusting nazi and a rapist

>>16476794
There has to more than just that though right? Like any writings of saints or religious figures I should read?

>>16476800
Yes, read >>16476798 and then the sermons of St. John Chrysostom and you should have a pretty good idea of Christianity. What is your religious background thus far? I can give more specific recommendations that may be useful depending on your situation

>>16476800
Yes. You should read the Nag Hammadi Library, it's a continuation of the NT and the road to truth.

>>16476807
I've been an atheist all my life. I know close to nothing about Christianity other than the basic Jesus died for my sins, heaven and hell and all that.

>>16476794
This. The Orthodox Study Bible is a great resource alongside Bishop Ware's books and The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Don't dive straight into theology or hardcore books, this religion prides itself of spiritual guidance so talk to a priest before reading anything beyond those (i.e. don't listen to /lit/).
t. convert
>>16476799
Based schizo
>>16476810
Don't do this

>>16476792
have you read the Bible?

>>16476819
>don't do this
Why do you bar people from reading further into the history of Christianity? You faggots are the worst, I'm so glad christianity is fucking dying.

>>16476819
you're a nazi, in auschwitz you weren't brainwashed, raped or tortured despite your bitch nazi liberal propaganda. It also wasn't longer than a month on average. It certainly wasn't 3 god damned years and it wasn't in the presence of a mass of jews who jews off at you being tortured. Laughing of course. You're a rapist, you're a nazi and you're a cockroach for your senses. You're a nazi

>>16476834
>read the Nag Hammadi
>I'm so glad christianity is fucking dying
found satan

>>16476792
what a faggy post
You've already made up your mind while you're not even Christian which means you're purely into it for cultural reasons, i.e. you just need a father figure and you're just latching onto "le based tradcath" meme instead.

>>16476816
You may want to start with something like CS Lewis’s Mere Christianity (broadly good for Western Christianity) or maybe Kallistos Ware’s The Orthodox Way if you feel drawn to Orthodoxy. These will give you a good grounding in the basics of what Christianity is, and then when you read the Bible or works of proper theology you’ll have a basis from which to start instead of just going on vague cultural impressions

>>16476846
Nigger, gnostic texts are an important piece of Christian history regardless of whether you disagree with them or not. Let people read whatever they want and go fuck yourself.

>>16476867
Not really, most of them are contradictory nonsense. Plotinus makes more sense, and if you really cared about spiritual understanding you would've just recommended greek metaphysics. But instead you had to shill that lust for knowledge "muh Creation bad" shit so I am obliged to disregard you. Especially if you hate Christianity, which you already established. This is why we have priests, a lust for knowledge is a sin, and without the guidance of a spiritual father you're basically trying to pollute people's minds with paranoia and doubt before they have faith. The "letting people read what they want" sentiment is why we have clergy. If you want gnosis go be a Muslim, their women are hot and they have hookah, but gnosticism simply has no place in Christianity.

>>16476799
Take your meds

>>16476953
>Learning new stuff is a sin
Shut the fuck up

>>16476953
t. augustinian nigger, unironically kill yourself with the amount of incel cope your ilk has produced

>>16476792
Read the Puritans

>>16476994
Nice shelf. Despite being crazy I've always appreciated your guy's comfy aesthetic.
>>16476974
No, but reading too much before your ready can result in sin (despair/lust)

>>16476792
>I wanna be a Christian, what literature should I read?

As a supplement to the other recommendations, I would strongly recommend reading conversion stories. There is no one path to adult conversion. Sometimes it happens very quickly, sometimes very slowly. The Holy Spirit is endlessly inventive. Although there is no one, fixed path, reading such tales can open your mind and spirit to the operations of the Spirit in your life. (Indeed, OP, your initial post is likely the result of what's called prevenient grace.)

There are many such collections. One of the best is called Spiritual Journeys, edited by Robert Baram. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Although out of print, here is a link to reasonably priced used copies:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003YIZDR0/

If you'd like a book that sits squarely in the /lit/ camp, try: Thomas Merton, The Seven-Story Mountain. Merton was an adult convert who became a Trappist monk. He was also a very gifted writer. Seven-Story Mountain is a classic. People will be reading it 100 years from now.

Another very fine memoir by an adult convert is: A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken, an American whose conversion was triggered by his friendship with C.S. Lewis while studying at Oxford in the 1940s. Vanauken subsequently converted to Catholicism, as recounted in his follow-up memoir, Under the Mercy.

>>16476973
Fuck off nazi

>>16476792
>what literature should I read? Nothing protestant please
Don't read the bible then.

>>16477167
>Don't read the bible then.

Sigh.

What institution do you think preserved and selected the books of he Bible, anon?

See:
>Henry Graham, Where We Got the Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church

Text: http://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/protestantism/wbible.htm

>>16476792
I posted a list the other day. My own conversion was slow and muddled, starting with CS Lewis before moving onto Chesterton and later serious philosophy/apologetics. In any case, I made my way through Baptist, Methodist and Anglican churches before finally finding the fullness of truth in Catholicism, and have remained in the years since. Many of these books continue to help me on my journey and I hope that some do the same for you.

Apologetics & Theology
>Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics - Aristotle
>Why We're Catholic - Horn
>Essential Catholic Survival Guide - Catholic Answers
>Mere Christianity, Miracles, Screwtape Letters - Lewis
>The Everlasting Man - Chesterton
>Lectures - Newman
>A Shorter Summa - Kreeft
>Aquinas - Feser
>City of God, On Christian Teaching - Augustine
>Handbook of Catholic Apologetics - Kreeft, Tacelli

Prayer & Spirituality
>Turning the Heart to God - Theophan the Recluse
>Introduction to the Devout Life - Francis de Sales
>Imitation of Christ - Thomas A Kempis
>Interior Castle - Teresa of Avila
>Collected Works - John of the Cross
>Ladder of Divine Ascent - Climacus
>The Cloud of Unknowing - Anon
>Theologica Mystica - Dionysius
>Preparation for Death - Alphonsus Liguori

Conversions
>Confessions - Augustine
>Orthodoxy - Chesterton
>Story of a Soul - Therese of Lisieux
>Seven Storey Mountain - Merton
>Lives of the Saints - Butler

Fiction
>The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons - Dostoevsky
>War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Father Sergius - Tolstoy
>Divine Comedy - Dante
>Diary of a Country Priest, Under the Sun of Satan, The Imposter - Bernanos
>The Power and the Glory, The End of the Affair - Greene
>Brideshead Revisited - Waugh
>Silence - Endo
>The Name of the Rose - Eco
>Death Comes for the Archbishop - Cather
>Short Stories - O'Connor

>>16477203
I'm thankful for it but that doesn't change the fact the bible wasn't as easily accessible to the broad public (much conveniently).

Doesn't change the fact that catholics altered parts of the bible to justify their rule.

Doesn't change the fact that the Council of Nicea was established as a political (rather than spiritual) tool.

>>16477210

Misc
>Great Christian Thinkers: From the Early Church through the Middle Ages - Ratzinger
>Jesus of Nazareth - Ratzinger
>The Church of the Fathers - Newman
>Liturgy and Personality, The Art of Living - Hildebrand
>The Life of Christ - Sheen
>Can a Catholic be a Socialist? (The Answer is No) - Horn, Palahniuk
>Hauntings, Possessions and Exorcisms - Blai
>Slaying Dragons: What Exorcists See and What We Should Know - Fraune

>>16477210
Despite the atheist shilling, the name of the rose (both book and movie) deepened my appreciation for the Church's aesthetic.

>>16477229
>I'm thankful for it but that doesn't change the fact the bible wasn't as easily accessible to the broad public (much conveniently).

Graham addresses this Protestant myth in Where We Got the Bible.

>Doesn't change the fact that catholics altered parts of the bible to justify their rule.

No. Never happened.

>Doesn't change the fact that the Council of Nicea was established as a political (rather than spiritual) tool.

The canon of the Bible was not fixed at Nicea. Rather, at the Council of Rome in 382 the Church decided upon a canon of 46 Old Testament books and 27 in the New Testament. This decision was ratified by the councils at Hippo (393), Carthage (397, 419), II Nicea (787), Florence (1442), and Trent (1546).

>>16477264
Ok friend, I'll look into it.

>>16477229
Catholics have one interpretation of the Bible mandated for all members of the Church. Their teaching is laid out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which has remained largely unchanged. One Church, One teaching.

There are several hundred Protestant sects, all differing over which of their own interpretations is the correct one.

>>16477229
The Dead Sea scrolls dispel the myth that Catholics altered the Bible over the years. It's remarkably unchanged.

>>16477272
>atholics have one interpretation of the Bible mandated for all members of the Church. Their teaching is laid out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which has remained largely unchanged. One Church, One teaching.
Kudos to them. Catholic theologians defending their faith doesn't make it anymore real than atheists defending theirs.
The true Church is following Jesus words, no matter the physical temple, number of followers or political institutions "christianity" had become.

>>16476953
>N-no no don’t seek new knowledge just listen to my pedophile priests, trust us we would never lie to you

What a retarded obvious demon poster

>>16476792
>I wanna be a Christian, what literature should I read?
None.
Theological literature exists to make you rationalize staying in organizations after all your actual faith has run out.

>>16477017
Who is crazy?

>>16477296
Read the plato and the plotinus, the demiurge is not evil. Also, our priests marry and have children, no one diddles kids.
>demon
coming from the anon who said
>so glad christianity is fucking dying
which is literally a sign that all of you a demonic. Iranaeus and Plotinus btfod you two thousand years ago.
>>16477311
Idk, anyone who colonized America had to have been pretty crazy. You guys are cool though; tulips, nice hats and such

>>16477294
However, Jesus' words have been translated from other languages. For example, the word today translated as "sexual immorality" in many Bibles comes from what used to be "fornication", which itself proceeds from the original Greek "porneia", which was a word specifically used to denote any sexual relations outside of marriage. To look to the original translations and original meanings of Jesus' words, we have one authority to rule on different interpretations, otherwise you have what you see with Protestantism- a mass of little-educated people, full of pride in thinking that their interpretation of Jesus' message is the "true" one.

Unfortunately, this usually leads to people picking the easy messages of Christ and ignoring the tough ones. "Do not judge, lest ye be judged" rather than "remove the plank from your eye, SO THAT YOU CAN MORE CLEARLY REMOVE THE SPECK FROM YOUR NEIGHBOUR'S" ; "I do not condemn you" rather than "go and SIN NO MORE", which also comes immediately afterwards.

>I wanna LARP
But you can already

>>16477294
>The true Church is following Jesus words
Christ is the Word of God made flesh. The Word gave the Apostles his gifts so that they would make His Church. Outside of those gifts there is no Church, Christianity lives by its traditions.

>>16477350
This is all contextless. You haven't read the Bible through. It's painfully obvious.

>>16476799
>I wanna be a Christian ... Nothing protestant please
>Fuck off, you're not interested in Christianity
What? Is this the old "catholicism != christianity" meme? If so, you're dumb

>>16477368
I have, actually. What makes you think that? God is Love, but Jesus is also God, and Jesus speaks of Hell more than literally ANY OTHER TOPIC in the NT. You do know that, right? Having read it all through and everything?

>>16477350
>little-educated people, full of pride in thinking that their interpretation of Jesus' message is the "true" one.
>Blessed be the poor (humble) in spirit.
Agreed. Which is why having some guidance on your faith is not that bad, but it such guidance can't limit your christian journey.

>>16477294
Protestantism was a mistake. Pride was the sin of Satan. How prideful do you have to be to think you know better than 2,000+ years of Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas and some of the greatest theologians the world has ever produced?

I blame America's hyper-individualism which intrinsically undermines the personal humility and obedience necessary for true Faith.

>>16477258
Oh no way, there's a movie? I loved that book, and it sparked my interest in Medieval history/lit

>>16477385
Yet the guidance will never limit that journey. My faith has only broadened and deepened in the Catholic Church, in a way it never did outside of it. I used the think the tingly feeling religious rock music gave me in Baptist churches was the Holy Spirit, and while I do believe the Holy Spirit is present in those Churches, nothing comes to the depth of the Catholic mystics or of the Sacraments.

>>16477365
Jesus came to destroy the human traditions set up by the teachers of the law and pharisees.
He never told us to venerate saints, reenacting the last supper, fancy ourselves pretty physical churches and statues, set up a new religious class and a "head" of the church.
Much of that is pagan cope.

>>16477368
No, you don't get to dismiss him like that. Actually refute him, go ahead and do it.

>>16477415
>Jesus came to destroy the human traditions set up by the teachers of the law and pharisees.
That’s pretty funny, because everything we know about Jesus itself comes from a human tradition dreamt up by Paul and his followers

>>16477399
yes, starting Sean Connery even

>>16477410
> I used the think the tingly feeling religious rock music gave me in Baptist churches was the Holy Spirit, and while I do believe the Holy Spirit is present in those Churches, nothing comes to the depth of the Catholic mystics or of the Sacraments.
I feel you. I do have a care for a more traditional view of religion, mind you (excluding the human clutter of culture). While I find communal living important for experiencing spirituality, nothing can substitute the personal relationship I've with God, no matter the sect.

>>16476792
How deep do you want to go?
The Church Fathers should be somewhat accessible, especially Gregory of Nyssa and such. They will give you the overall feel of what to look out for in scripture, in application of scripture etc.

If you want to go a little deeper, I've learned a lot from David Bentley Hart, an American Orthodox Philosopher, in whose books I've for the first time encountered the argument of contingency explained so well that I find it valid to this day. Although I disagree with his other arguments, he has a very good way of putting things.
>Polytheistic gods don't transcend this world, but belong to it. On the other hand the God of great monotheistic traditions is the source of being, which in every moment donates being to all existence, he is the infinite of which the finite is taken.

Another author known for being able to put things well is C.S.Lewis, now I know he's not Catholic or Orthodox, but if you ever need a layman's introduction that will remain deep within you even when you get on to advanced stuff, read him. This is Lewis on the idea of hell:
>There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done."
Stunningly put.

If you want to go in real deep, study symbolism. Church Fathers will help you out here, but both secular academic books (M.Douglas) or religious thinkers (M. Pageau) will help a great deal. I'm currently reading The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis for the second time, making notes and I find it very helpful to really think like Christ presumably thought.
>Heaven = immaterial things (information, authority, promise, intention...)
>Earth = material things (letters, power ... )
>Water = unclear mediation between heaven and earth (shapeless, ambiguous, takes and gives life randomly)
>Dry ground = clear mediation between heaven and earth (stable, can produce food, place for life...)
Reading the Bible with these symbolic tools is precious.

>>16477431
Good. That's why I'm christian, not (God forbid) P**line.

>>16477415
>Jesus came to destroy the human traditions

False. I will preface this by saying Jesus is King, the Way, the Truth and the Light. I truly love Him and am not worthy of Him.

Demanding a Biblical basis for everything always seems foolish to me since the Bible wasn't effectively compiled (By the Catholic Church) for several hundred years after the fact. Early Churches operated on Tradition, and one of the earliest Church documents, the Didache, details belief in the Eucharist, Confession and other sacraments by the earliest Church. Christ also said the gates of hell would not prevail against His church, and the Catholic Church was the only church in the world for well over 1000 years, so I don't know how you square that one.

> Vain repetitions
If prayed with contrition and desire to know God the repetitions thselves are not vain. The original is also translated as "empty words". Christ himself gave us the Our Father to recite repeatedly, the angels in heaven say the same words over and o er again, and Jesus himself prayed the same words for hours in Gethsemane

>Veneration of the Dead
Necromancy and contacting dead for information is outlawed however we are frequently encouraged to pray and intercede for one another throughout the NT. Saints are alive, not dead, there's no issue in this. Revelation shows the prayers of the Saints rising like incense and the Lazarus parable illustrates we can wish well for the dead.

> No man father
Christ was not speaking literally here. Throughout the NT people are still referred to as father. In the same passage he also forbids calling people teacher/doctor and master, but throughout the NT he and disciples also continue to use the terms. It's about putting God first and clearly not intended for a literalist interpretation.

> Priestly Celibacy
In Matthew 19:10-12 Christ states that celibacy is superior for those who can handle it

>>16477447
That doesn’t even make any sense. You’d have to ignore the entire New Testament, and pretty much all of Christianity in order to be free of the influence of Paul

>>16477348
I don't really read American Puritans. Just English ones.
The American ones all were congregationalists and became Unitarian heretics eventually. The churches descended form them are all extremely liberal.

>>16476792
It's funny you say that, I was about to start a thread with that exact theme. I have had this list for about 2 years now and is a compilation of literature that /lit/ recommends for Catholic reading. If anyone would like to add to it, please feel free to contribute.
Holy Bible
Apologia prima: Justin Martyr
Apologia secunda: Justin Martyr
Epistle to Diognetus: Unknown
The Apology to Autolycus: Theophilus
Octavius: Felix
Apologeticus: Tertullian
De Carne Christi: Tertullian
Contra Celsum: Origen
De viris illustribus: Jerome
Apologia contra Rufinum: Jerome
Summa Theologica: Aquinas
De Arte Cabbalistica: Reuchlin
Pens馥s: Pascal
Alciphron (or The Minute Philosopher): Berkeley
Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul: Lyttelton
Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Gilbert West
G駭ie du christianisme: de Chateaubriand
Testimony of the Evangelists: Greenleaf
Apologia Pro Vita Sua: Newman
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Philothea: de Sales
Life of Christ: Sheen
The Imitation of Christ: Kempis
Orthodoxy: Chesterton
Selected Writings: Eckhart
Interior Castle: Teresa
Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius
The Divine Comedy: Dante
True Devotion to Mary: de Montfort
Introduction to Christianity: Ratzinger
The Works of Joseph de Maistre
Dark Night of the Soul: John of the Cross
The Cloud of Unknowing
Confessions: Augustine
City of God: Augustine
Six Books on the Priesthood: Chrysostom
Writings: John of Damascus
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
The Rule of St. Benedict in English
On the Incarnation: Athanasius
On the Holy Spirit: Basil
On the Unity of Christ: Cyril
Tome of Leo: Leo
Disputations with Pyrrhus: Maximus
On the Divine Images: John of Damscus
The First Seven Ecumenical Councils: Davis
The Everlasting Man: Chesterton
On the Marks of the Church: Bellarmine
The Major Works: Anselm
Fear and Trembling: Kierkegaard
The Didache
The Path to Salvation: Theophan
Unseen Warfare: Scupoli
The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way
The Philokalia
Ladder of Divine Ascent: John CLimacus
The Church History: Eusebius
Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi: Ugolino
The Golden Legend: de Voragine
Early Christian Lives
The Crusades: Riley-Smith
A History of Christianity: MacCulloch
The Popes: Norwich
Monologion and Proslogion: Anselm
The Praise of Folly: Erasmus
Ockham: Philosophical Writings
Scholasticism: Pieper
On Christian Doctrine: Augustine
Summulae de dialectica: Buridan
Little Book of Eternal Wisdom: Suso
Practice of the Presence of God: Lawrence
Writings: Ambrose
Enchiridion Symbolorum: Denzinger*
Catechism of the Catholic Church: John Paul II
On the Holy Mass: Gueranger
Catena Aurea: Aquinas
The Seven Storey Mountain
Commentary: Lapide
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma: Ott
Catechism of the Summa Theologica: Pegues
The Anathemata: David Jones
Summa Contra Gentiles: Aquinas
The Consolation of Philosophy: Boethius
In the Beginning... by Pope Benedict XVI

>>16477210
>>16477233
>>16477272
>>16477293
>>16477350
>>16477380
>>16477452

Laudate Eum. Glory to God in the highest.

>>16477463
Message was too long, only one missing was "Scotus: Philosophical Writings".
Apologies for the random kanji in the titles, I'm not sure why it added those, I think changing my computer language for a bit fucked with the unicode.

>>16477452
>>16477454
“‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Done. Everything else is the color of the sprinkle you want on top of christianity's vanilla ice cream.

God bless.

>>16477502
James 2:14-26
James 2:19
Matthew 7:21

Just off the top of my head

>>16476798
This is the best answer. I recently finished it. It's so refreshing to see an honest account of sin before coming to the light.

>>16477533
Good. None of that interferes with His commandments.

>James 2:14-26
Just don't commit good deeds because you hope to go to heaven or are afraid to go to hell. Do it because you love (or is grateful to) God and by extent, Jesus and your neighbour.

>James 2:19
Tell that to the Mohammedans and the jews.

>Matthew 7:21
Yes, being in X or Y church isn't enough to save you. Your actions and intent will.

Just because I criticize catholicism doesn't mean I'm by default a Prot.

>>16477567
>jews
oops there's a typo there, I meant talmudites.

>>16476860
> ctrl f
> C.S. Lewis
There we go, good reccomendation anon. Even if OP feels drawn to orthodoxy a lot of C.S. Lewis's work still applies

Question to any of the sincere Christians in this thread: Have you ever had a religious experience, or at least some experience that assures you that what you believe is true? I'd like to become a Christian, and have tried praying, but do not know how to become one without such an experience.

>>16476792
If you want real christianity (i.e. catholicism and mostly orthodox) you shouldn't read the bible alone. It's a collection of books from different places and different times. Some is poetry, some is allegory, some is literal. Your best bet (imo) is a study bible (some cath version), 'Catholicism' by Robert Barron, and the Summa Theologica by Aquinas.
Good luck, it's a lot of reading. I'm slowly coming into Catholicism myself after being half-ass poorly raised Catholic (baptised and first communion but nothing else and barely went to church except holidays)

>>16477598
No, I'm only christian because mommy forced me to attend mass before i got molested by my local priest. Homosex isn't a sin btw.

>>16477272
>>16477350
>>16477293
>>16477380
>>16477533

These infographics are **terrific**. Thanks for posting them. I've been hoping for awhile that some smart Catholic would put together a nice set like this.

>>16477605
The guy makes these and posts them on the catholicism reddit if you're interested in more of this
Reddit's not my shtick for a community but it do be having good info on occasion
inb4 >reddit

>>16477598
Yes, my religious experiences are felt on my dreams, when I'm close to nature, overcoming something challenging or when close to like-minded christians.

But don't fret for a big revelation.
Matthew 12:39-41.
Read the book of Jonah for context, or at least after he went to Nineveh.

>>16476792
Ok tradcath

>>16477605
>terrifically bad right guyse?
>smart, cucktholic - choose one. lel xdxdxdxd

>>16477598
Pray. Ask for God's help -- his light. Trust that God is good, and all-powerful.

I would recommend the books I recommended to another anon above, and for much the same reasons: >>16477058

>>16476792
>I wanna be a Christian, what literature should I read? Nothing protestant please
The absolute irony of this statement

>>16477630
ty

>>16477723
You laugh alone.

>>16477723
>marries a nun

>>16476792
Ratzinger's intro to christianity

>>16477781
No he doesn't.

>>16477816
H-hot

>>16477630
The Catholic reveals his final form

If orthodox and catholics could come together they could destroy Protestantism and restore christianity.

>>16476792
Confessions
City of God
Apologia Pro Vita Sua

tragic sense of life

>>16477380

I think your verses apply only in that moment in that time to the few chosen.

What is your reply to the verses below?


1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

graven : an object of worship carved usually from wood or stone : idol.

pope benedict 16 has a book called introduction to christianity. his name is ratzinger

>>16478167
1. Agreed, Jesus is the one mediator between God and Man. Priests are instruments that mediator uses to do his work on Earth.

2. I assume you mean here the statues of Saints? In which case they are not worshipped, and the Church forbids their worship. There may be some Catholics prone to superstition who are more fond of those statues, but they are to evoke the image and memory of the Saint they depict so we can grow in our own faith by remembering the great Christians of the past. When God commanded the temple be built, he ordered statues of angels to be carved, too. It doesn't mean those statues were worshipped.

>>16477229
>wasn't as easily accessible to the broad public (much conveniently)
Maybe because producing books was fucking expensive? Maybe because 90% of the population was illiterate?
>muh Rome didn't allow vernacular
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations_in_the_Middle_Ages#Early_medieval_vernacular_translations

>>16476792
Rene Girard

>>16476792
Read Peter Kreeft's catechism

>>16476994
Nice heretic shelf, heretic.

>>16478331
>so we can grow in our own faith by remembering the great Christians of the past.

I feel like admiring past Christians with the intent of strengthening ones faith is the wrong way to go about strengthening ones faith because

1. No man is free of sin
2. Scripture and prayer are more of a direct approach
3. How weak is your faith that you need to rely on the actions of past Christians

>When God commanded the temple be built, he ordered statues of angels to be carved, too. It doesn't mean those statues were worshipped.

Angels are an abstract, past Christians are not

>Priests are instruments that mediator uses to do his work on Earth.

From my experience, and we can agree to disagree, the churches are excellent at manipulating what you learn and how you interpret it, it is an unnecessary (info) filtration system. In my view this is a repetition of the scenarios that happened to Jesus when he started preaching outside of the churches.

>>16476839
Jew spotted

different anon replying here.

>>16478536
>I feel like admiring past Christians with the intent of strengthening ones faith is the wrong way to go about strengthening ones faith

The Catholic understanding rests on NT texts such as:
>Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.
1 Cor 4:16

>Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
1 Cor 11:1

Likewise, in Hebrews 11 and 12, sacred Scripture holds up to us the faith of “the ancients” (Hebrews 11:2). The heroes of the Old Testament are holy examples for us.

Thus, by the same logic as seen in Paul and Hebrews, the lives of great Christian saints can present fruitful patterns for imitation in our own lives.

>>16478338
COPING

>>16477853
Restore paganism, dipshit.

The Writings of St. John of Damascus

Dante, Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, and Blake

>>16476792
This should be a good intro to American Christianity.

>>16476792
The Bible, the Didache, the Apostolic Ordinations, the Apostolic Fathers, the Great Apologists, Church Fathers, Desert Fathers, Desert Mothers, and the The Doctors of The Church before the 8th Century A.D. On this order

>>16480091
The monastic Rules of the Church, such as the Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia, are also a good source of literature

>>16478450
>"There is no appropriate category in Catholic thought for the phenomenon of Protestantism today (one could say the same of the relationship to the separated churches of the East). It is obvious that the old category of ‘heresy’ is no longer of any value. Heresy, for Scripture and the early Church, includes the idea of a personal decision against the unity of the Church, and heresy’s characteristic is pertinacia, the obstinacy of him who persists in his own private way. This, however, cannot be regarded as an appropriate description of the spiritual situation of the Protestant Christian. In the course of a now centuries-old history, Protestantism has made an important contribution to the realization of Christian faith, fulfilling a positive function in the development of the Christian message and, above all, often giving rise to a sincere and profound faith in the individual non-Catholic Christian, whose separation from the Catholic affirmation has nothing to do with the pertinacia characteristic of heresy. Perhaps we may here invert a saying of St. Augustine’s: that an old schism becomes a heresy. The very passage of time alters the character of a division, so that an old division is something essentially different from a new one. Something that was once rightly condemned as heresy cannot later simply become true, but it can gradually develop its own positive ecclesial nature, with which the individual is presented as his church and in which he lives as a believer, not as a heretic. This organization of one group, however, ultimately has an effect on the whole. The conclusion is inescapable, then: Protestantism today is something different from heresy in the traditional sense, a phenomenon whose true theological place has not yet been determined."
- Benedict XVI

>>16480050
>tfw someone posts your chart

>>16476994
This might be the most based post I've ever seen in a Christian thread.

>>16480359
Thank you anon. Have a good evening.

>>16476792
Scriptures: Passion > Law and Prophets > Paul > Gospels > Rest of NT
And the early Eastern Fathers because the believers of those times and places were closer to the culture, language, cosmology, and religious expectations of the apostolic age, alongside Christianity coming there on a civilization already used to philosophy, while in West it came to Barbarism with bad side effects.

>>16477598
Yes I had multiple confirming experiences and after the first shocking one loved ones started to have them too particularly during my prayers.
Read the Scriptures to get all you need.

>>16476792
Read the gnostics.
Gnosticism was the true Christianity crushed and snuffed out by the Satanic temporal power of the Catholic Church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic_texts

>>16476799
Okay /leftypol/

>>16477604
take your meds

Letters of St. Ignatius

Read the Gospels if you haven't yet. Then read the Catechism of the Catholic Church to understand Catholic beliefs specifically.

More importantly, go to church, pray, give alms (if you can), volunteer, and try to stop any habitual sins (e.g. porn, being unkind).
If you seriously desire to follow Christ, doing these things is exceedingly more important than reading anything.

>>16476792
>Nothing protestant please
so you want to know what kind of cigars and rum to leave at the base of the skull faced virgin mary you light candles under while praying to win the lottery?

catholics are the superstitious jungle monkey niggers of central america and central africa

>>16477350
Porneíā is also the source of "porn", while pórnē is translated as harlot and whore and why porneíā and pórnos are also rendered as whoremongering and whoremonger.
IMO fornicate, fornication, fornicator, and fornicatrix could be the most uniform renditions for those terms.