God Created Us "In His Image"?

[Bigdaddydvo]

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Would you say the same thing about a belief in astrology?


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Astrologist don't have anywhere close to the record of academic or intellectual achievement that Catholics have produced, so no I wouldn't.


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And don't you think that most or all of those Supreme Court Catholic justices are apt to be skeptical of some of the specific beliefs of their religion?

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If they are fully practicing Catholics, then their skepticism would be at most minimal. The fact that Justice Scalia has 9 children probably reinforces this point.

[BluffTHIS!]

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And don't you think that most or all of those Supreme Court Catholic justices are apt to be skeptical of some of the specific beliefs of their religion?

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To believe in the whole, does not mean that one cannot have minor doubts about some of the parts that one is asked to accept on faith. There are plenty of mathematical and physics concepts that only a handful of people in the world can truly understand or be considered qualified to discuss. And even in such a small handful, there are often disagreements. So if some of those justices do have some specific doubts, that doesn't cause them to question the whole belief system which they practice day in and day out, not just on Sundays. Justices Roberts, Thomas, Scalia and Kennedy (and Alito if confirmed), go to Mass every Sunday and practice their faith. No doubt like myself and the other catholic posters here, it is that constant experience of faith in their lives that helps them to accept God's word on trust despite any minor doubts.

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... go to Mass every Sunday ...

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Well, that's useful to justice in the world! Most commendable!

[David Sklansky]

"To believe in the whole, does not mean that one cannot have minor doubts about some of the parts that one is asked to accept on faith"

I am saying that I would bet the Catholic Supreme Court Justices have stronger doubts than the average practicing Catholic. Because their intelligence almost forces those doubts on them.

[RJT]

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"To believe in the whole, does not mean that one cannot have minor doubts about some of the parts that one is asked to accept on faith"

I am saying that I would bet the Catholic Supreme Court Justices have stronger doubts than the average practicing Catholic. Because their intelligence almost forces those doubts on them.

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I have to disagree, David. I think it works this way. Once one decides to go with a God versus no God and then chooses the personal God of Christianity; one still always has (some) doubts (about whatever). And Jesus/God understands this, we believe (mostly from what Jesus said).

But, after one is at this point it is mostly a matter of trying to strengthen one’s faith and understanding and not so much succumbing to or dwelling on these doubts.

Although, you could be correct. I don’t think they doubt because logic tells them it can’t be. Because, again, I don’t think they come to the decisions to begin with by logic, but by a conscious choice. In other words, they might doubt that their decisions to choose a God and/or the Xn God at times. But, the more one studies the Bible one is not more inclined towards doubting it (I think it is to the contrary.)

[BluffTHIS!]

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I am saying that I would bet the Catholic Supreme Court Justices have stronger doubts than the average practicing Catholic. Because their intelligence almost forces those doubts on them.

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I think you would be making a bad bet. This is because they are in fact more intelligent and thus would be more likely than the average catholic to really know the articles of their common faith better and accordingly are much more likely to have thought about those doctrines at length. Thus their belief is a more informed one, and less dependent on psychological factors or on just having been raised from childhood in that faith.

[PokerAmateur4]

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From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

I. "IN THE IMAGE OF GOD"

"Of all visible creatures only man is 'able to know and love his creator'. He is 'the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake', and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity."

Man has both a spiritual and a corporeal nature, and it is the spiritual nature that was made in a likeness of God, that is an eternal soul, though of course not a mirror image of the infinite godhead. And of course the second person of the Trinity took on the same corporeal nature as His creatures during His life on earth. If I remember correctly, the mormons actually believe that God the Father also has a corporeal body and produced Jesus through physical generation with Mary, though I do not consider them christians because of such theology among other doctrines (although they provide a better example of living according to christian morals than most).

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I thought image meant appearance, not quality of nature.

[A_C_Slater]

God is a giant gaseous vertabrae.

[BluffTHIS!]

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I thought image meant appearance, not quality of nature.

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How would you describe the appearance of a soul?

[PokerAmateur4]

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I thought image meant appearance, not quality of nature.

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How would you describe the appearance of a soul?

[/ QUOTE ] Never seen one to my knowledge. What point are you trying to make?