Original Sin?

The Church or myself don't do anything. We are not manipulating or intimidating. All I do is clean up the pieces when people come to me after living their lives the way they wanted to and it all falls apart. I don't go out to the streets and yell at people that they need to convert and change their lives. My Church is full of people who have been hurt by living a hedonistic secular materialist life and they are seeking a change. They are in need of being loved, forgiven, and set free so that they can start again.

The thing people aren't falling for anymore is the secular morality that continues to cause so much confusion, pain, and unhappiness. I don't have to do anything, the people of God are so good that their consciences won't be able to continue living a selfish life. It is only a matter of time until you too realize this.

Quote: FrGamble

. The thing people aren't falling for anymore is the secular morality.

There is nothing like facts to trump
wishful thinking. This is from the
Boston Globe:

"Fifty years ago, the great majority of Catholics in this country confessed their sins regularly to a priest. Confession, after all, is one of the seven Catholic sacraments. But now only 2 percent of Catholics go regularly to confession, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Georgetown University—and three-quarters of them never go."

In Europe it's even worse, almost nobody goes.

Georgetown Univ reports that attendance at mass
was over 90% 50 years ago, and is down to a
pitiful 33% today. And falling.

So throw stones at secularism all day long, it's
winning. With every day that passes, the Church
and it's god become less relevant. You can't fool
people forever, apparently.

I had to laugh at this post. Trust me the Church will still be here long after whatever secular ideology is in vogue has long since destroyed itself and left people empty. Just take a look at history to prove this point.

Yes, not as many people are going to confession today as they had in the past. This too will change.

Quote: FrGamble

Trust me the Church will still be here long after whatever secular ideology.

No doubt. There's still a Flat Earth Society,
after all. I suspect a toothless, broke cult
like the Church is becoming can hang around
for a long time too. Shrug..

Do you somehow think this is the worst the Church has gone through?

Quote: FrGamble

Do you somehow think this is the worst the Church has gone through?

The problem for the Church now is what
it always tried to squash. Keeping it's
ugliness confined within its walls. With
modern communication, we all see the
Church's dirty laundry flapping in the
wind. And it's no longer growing in
the worlds affluent countries, where most
of it's revenue comes from. The poorer
countries is where it's flourishing, and
that's a burden financially, not a blessing.
Always follow the money, even in religion.

Thank God for modern communication because along with the dirty laundry we also see the goodness of the Church striving to constantly reform and deal with its problems unlike so many modern states and institutions. We see the reality of people like John Paul II and Pope Francis and Mother Teresa who shine out in our world like lights leading us to service and love. The history of the Church is in its saints. To focus on the dirty laundry is to focus on the sinfulness of mankind that the Church, made up of human beings reflects. However, the Church is an example of the resilience and goodness of humanity redeemed by Christ.

The places where the Church is flourishing is not because it is a burden, if you though for a second about your argument you would realize its idiocy. It is because in such places the Church is often the only institution that provides for an cares for the poor and needy while governments and other institutions fail miserably.

Quote: FrGamble

It is because in such places the Church is often the only institution that provides for an cares for the poor and needy while governments and other institutions fail miserably.

That's fine, but what pays for them doing
that is flourishing in the affluent countries,
which they aren't anymore. I read the Church
has seen this financial problem coming for
decades and done nothing to counteract it.
The sexual scandals cost them billions in
payouts (that's billions with a 'B') and at the
same time their best revenue streams were
drying up. For a large corporation it would be
bankruptcy time, which has already happened
to 12 archdiocese in the US alone. The latest
being the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
With more to follow.

This guy makes a sign and look at the
reaction from Christians. Pretty funny.

Quote: Evenbob

This guy makes a sign and look at the
reaction from Christians. Pretty funny.

So nobody finds it ironic that a guy makes
a sign that says Jesus doesn't love you, and
he gets Jesus people spitting on him and
tearing the sign out of his hands?

This perfectly illustrates the phony 'love'
that Christians are always braying about.
Jesus loves you, he loves you unconditionally.
But this is the love his followers see and
express, hostile love, vindictive towards
people they don't like. This isn't love at
all, it's a twisted thing, as I keep pointing
out to FrG.