www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall POLL (revised): Where are people religiously at this forum ?

Slavipodvizhnik,

If your intent is to explain why you or someone else chose the rare cases scenario, I am perfectly happy with accepting that as the final response. It needs no argument if that is the case. My point still stands that someone chose that abortion is "OK, but it should be discouraged," as well as homosexual marriages, reincarnation, Jesus is not God, Mary is not the Mother of God, lack of confession, lack of recognition that confession is even needed, etc WHEN the people identify themselves as Catholic or Orthodox now AND that they intend to be so in the future AND that they have recently received the Eucharist.

I am not trying to argue the issues, but pointing out that these issues are major points of disagreement when taken in their totality and that they are coming from people who are active in their Orthodox and Catholic churches and expect to continue to be so.

Dear Wondering,

In this case, we are in 100% agreement.

Alexandr

Dear Wondering:

Please consider this: more than a third of those responding to the poll were raised Christian, but not Catholic or Orthodox. For those of us who were not raised Catholic or Orthodox (and some who were, for that matter) there are certain teachings of the Church about which we find ourselves saying, "This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?" Now this is not the same as saying that those teachings are not true. It is a source of pain to me that I claim to be Catholic but struggle with accepting certain teachings of the Church, and I suspect that it is a source of pain to others in a position similar to mine. I would suggest that offering prayers on our behalf is the best way to address your concerns.
In peace,
Ryan

Ryan,

I will pray for you, and ask you to please pray for me as well. We each have our crosses and struggles. I will keep that in mind and pray for the needs of all. Thank you.

One of the questions asked refers to:

Catholic, Mar Thomas

There are two Catholic Churches of the Mar Thoma Tradition:

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

There is also one Orthodox Church under two jurisdictions:

The Malankara Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Archdiocese

The Protestant body eminating from the Mar Thoma Tradition:

The (Malankara) Mar Thoma Syrian Church (of Malabar)

There are some interesting data, at 37 responses.

Most everyone agrees on the basic teachings of Christianity (the Trinity, Christ, etc.). Happily, most everyone believes in the Eucharist. And, most everyone prays, gets to church on Sunday, studies and reads the Bible, volunteers, does good deeds, etc.

Also remarkable --and very encouraging-- was the very strong support for monasticism. 100 % of respondents think it should be encouraged.

More remarkable --and disturbing-- are the 20% of respondents who think sex outside of marriage can be ok, the 35 % who think gay marriage (or civil unions) can be ok, and the 35% who think abortion can be ok.

However, I can see (after the discussion on this thread) that I was imprecise in the options I offered for the abortion question. I should have made one option that allowed for abortion "only to save the life of the mother (like in an ectopic pregnancy)" and another option for allowing abortion "in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother." I think the breakdown would have been more nuanced, and the responses would have been more consistent with Church teaching.

Unsurprisingly, everyone (100%) believes in heaven, but hell is a less popular belief (78%).

Interestingly, Jesus Christ (78%), the wonder of nature (76%) and mystical experiences (70%) were the three most popular reasons given for belief in God. Also interesting, living in closer union with God (73%), becoming a better person (68%), and liturgy (65%) were the three most important things in religion to respondents. This strongly implies (among other things) that efforts at evangelization by Eastern Christians should emphasize the mystical and liturgical and transformational parts of Eastern Christianity, in order to find more like-minded people.

Finally, I find it truly remarkable that only half of the respondents believed in the Eastern Catholic Churches (either as a means for Church unity or as their spiritual home). The other half either didn't believe much in them or didn't know what their future would be. Perhaps not coincidentally, 11 % of respondents were not sure what religion they would be five years from now.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in the poll and for some interesting comments.

And, I hope that more people will choose to participate in the poll.

-- John

Dear John,

Another question that left me perplexed was one on hell. There was no option for the theologumenon that although hell does exist, perhaps God in his Mercy may find in someway for it not to be eternal and will somehow bring his fallen sheep back into the fold.

Michael,

About the Mar Thomas Churches, I only listed one option for both of the Mar Thomas Catholics. I decided that they wopuld know who they are and pick that choice. I didn't list the other Mar Thomas churches because, then, I would have to list many other churches besides, and the list would have been unworkable. I wanted to list several of the Eastern Christian Churches without having too long of a list. I hope people understand this and are not offended by it.

About the hell question, I tried to include the idea that hell is temporary as one of the options. That was the the second option: "hell exists, for a while, till the next reincarnation or spiritual evolution."

Be well.

-- John

<bump> The new poll is available; please take it if you haven't yet !

-- John

<bump> The new poll is available; please take it if you haven't yet !

-- John

Hello,

You know, you're right. The bad thing about it is that there are not enough options.

You see, culturally I am Hispanic (Mexican, to be precise, "Chilango" for those who care about those things), my skin tone is quite European, my face has some definite African strokes. I have birthmarks, er... elsewhere on my body... that tell of Asian ancestry (most probably through Native Meso-Americans) and my father's mother's last name puts me on the list of descendents of a Jewish sailor who was forcibly converted to Catholicism during the times of the Spanish Colony.

I refuse to answer a race question, because my particular answer is WAY too complex for a multiple-choice poll.

Shalom,
Memo

Ditto! I believe in Hell, but I also believe in the everlasting love of God, whose Love could not bear eternal separation from ANY of his beloved children.

Also ... I did not say that I believe in God because of Jesus Christ. Ummmmm... isn't Jesus Christ GOD? That would be like saying I believe in the Theotokos because of the Virgin Mary.

All I can say is I apologize for the poor wording of my question. I thought I covered your view by the second option for that question, namely,

[hell] "exists, for a while, till the next reincarnation or spiritual evolution."

[emphasis added]


Of course Jesus Christ is God. The question is why people believe in God. Some people come to faith in God because of belief in Jesus. Others maintain their faith in God by belief in Jesus.

The key for this option is the person of Jesus Christ and how faith in Him can cause or sustain faith in God.

For example, some people don't believe in God but they do believe that a historical person named Jesus existed and that He was a very good person. That belief in the humanity of Christ can grow --with a mustard seed of faith and grace-- into faith in the Divinity of Christ and faith in God.

For another example, some people might lose their faith in God for various reasons. However, they may remember their experience of the person of Jesus. That experience of Jesus can maintain or enable faith in God.

In short, some people believe in God because they have experienced --personally, in their hearts and souls and lives-- that Jesus is God.

-- John

<bump> The new poll is available; please take it if you haven't yet !

-- John

Greetings and Blessings, John.. Monday 30 October 2006

Well...I have retaken the new POLL questions...and I see you have really broken down some of the questions with more detail...which is good.

The strong trend of the migration from RC to O/BCC is still represented in an important way. And, all of these questions clearly identifies how important the level is of how we each share our Catholic faith. It also gives emphasis to those who are still searching with showing where the importance is in describing the basis of faith. Another words, this POLL is a great learning tool for those who are seeking.

John...have you thought of publishing a booklet or something with the data you have received here from "both" POLL's? You certainly have enough data to contribute to such an undertaking. Self-publishing is pretty easy now days...I think you should consider it....what do you think?

A great job, John!!

Many Blessings of the Lord to you!

....Ignatius