Hello, why is the Baltimore Catechism so well- thought of by Catholics?
The natural benefits of the Sacrament of Penance are: It gives us in our confessor a true friend, to whom we can go in all our trials and to whom we can confide our secrets with the hope of obtaining advice and relief.
The Baltimore Catechism for ex-catholics
Pg 1-4 - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/232076187032955993/
Pg 5-8 - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/232076187032955979/
Thanks in advance for any thoughtful responses.
I'm looking for resources that are the best possible sources for instructing children from 1st grade - 8th in a way that is accessible but also doesn't water down the beauty, truth, and goodness of our faith. (Needless to say I don't want any material with heresy in it either - so many of the programs and resources directed toward children today spread errors that are entirely inexcusable.)
Figured I'd start by asking here to see if any of you might have advice!
**This will primarily be a critique of Catholicism, but much of what I'm saying can apply to any belief that condemns sinful thoughts**
Imagine a world where the government has implanted chips in everyone's brains. The chip has access to all of your thoughts throughout your life, and certain thoughts have been forbidden by the government. At the moment of death, the chip will recall any forbidden thoughts you have committed, and if you have had forbidden thoughts, it will release chemicals into your brain that will cause you to feel what seems like an eternity of unimaginable pain in a split second as you die. However, you can prevent this from happening by seeing a government official and confessing your thoughts to them. They will erase the confessed thoughts from your chip so you won't suffer from the chip's judgement at your death.
As frightening as that sounds, there are people who actually believe in a variant of this scenario. For example, the Catholic Church teaches that your thoughts can be sinful and that you can spend an eternity in hell for choosing to have a sinful thought. From the Baltimore Catechism:
> Q. 1317. What is forbidden by the ninth Commandment?
>
>A. The ninth Commandment forbids unchaste thoughts, desires of another's wife or husband, and all other unlawful impure thoughts and desires.
>
>Q. 1318. Are impure thoughts and desires always sins?
>
>A. Impure thoughts and desires are always sins, unless they displease us and we try to banish them.
From a Catholic website:
>As taught by the ninth Commandment, an impure thought is grave matter. Desiring that impure thought, willingly and knowingly, offends against love of neighbor and love of God.
If you aren't aware, the conditions for mortal sin in Catholicism are full knowledge, full consent, and a grave matter. I can understand why actions such as lying, stealing, and murdering are sinful, but why would thinking of something be a sin worthy of eternal damnation? This is going to sound quite dark, but if I sat here for several hours and imagined myself being a serial killer in graphic detail (and enjoying it), nothing would happen, because my thoughts have zero power. They are just thoughts, and no matter how many people I imagine myself murdering, nobody in real life will be harmed. At most, thoughts are temptations that don't have to be acted upon.
When I was a Cathol
... keep reading on reddit β‘I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.
Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.
