As I like a bit of the supernatural myself, we (the lapsed Catholics) now need to be on our guard.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/17/vatican-rules-supernatural-phenomena-crackdown-hoaxes#:~:text=Apparitions%20of%20the%20Virgin%20Mary,against%20potential%20scams%20and%20hoaxes.
No more apparitions, weeping Madonna's, miracles of the sky unless verified by the pope.
What next? No more incarnation, creed, mystery of the Eucharist?
Or could it be just the age we're now living in is a touch more sceptical?
Is the Catholic church, like Jesus, on toast?
That was an interesting article. I wonder how long it will be before the Catholic Church becomes the Catholic Club? ;D
Catholic church is a social club.
Only Catholics can sample the body and blood of X from being plain bread and wine only a minute or so before.
Non Catholics are told not to come to the communion.
Cannibalism is still alive and well.
Catholics also worship the Black Madonna.
But how many know why?
"Concerning why is she black--in Aramaic the language of Jesus--black means 'sorrowful'. It is a language of idioms. This links the Blessed Mother to Isis who was called 'sorrowing' in her search for Osiris."
Gerald Massey knew a thing or two.
He was the author of Ancient Egypt Light of the World.
https://tringlocalhistory.org.uk/massey/dpr_04_gnostic_and_historic.htm
Interesting.
Zorkan, you are a lapsed Catholic. Just seen your thread. I was baptised as a Catholic as a child. I still have the faith, not here to question you on that. I know a fair bit about the subject as well.
You might want to take a look at my blog post that I wrote today in good fun and it is about the supernatural as well. I love the world that I live in.
https://www.racheltestimony.com/2025/07/just-having-fun-with-alex-mack-kid-spin.html
I thought that I would add as well that of late in the last few years there has been a revival of the Holy Spirit church's in the Catholic faith. The trend has been though that Charismatic Catholic church services that use the Gifts of the Holy Spirit have been resurging in America, Latin American countries and African countries. They are worship services like using the Gifts of the Holy Spirit which is 8 spiritual gifts that is in the Book of Corinthians (1 Corinthians :12) in the Bible.
Here are some examples-This in the US where I don't live.
https://cccgh.com/ these are priests who run these services
https://holyspiritlantana.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HolySpiritLantana/live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXU7i7JzXUo
In a normal service non revival Catholic church the sacraments are blessed so that is supernatural and they usually bless water to and some have had healing from all this so is supernatural again.
There is in invisible world that the Bible speaks of and they are part of it as well. I was baptised as a Catholic and attended Catholic schools to 19 and have attended Catholic church's recently and they are still Christians. I have felt the Holy Spirit's presence in a typical Catholic church recently.
Also in some pictures in the Catholic tradition they sometimes put unknown angels by Jesus' side on the Cross and they would be part of invisible world if they ever visited it and it wasn't seen by the human side. The Book of Corinthians mentions about there being an invisible and visible world.
Catholic Saints seems to be more involved in mystism like levitation like Saint Jospeh of Cupertino who I really like. Some of them to had stigmata claiming to be so.
Apart from the quantum there is no invisible world.
We can only see light of a certain wavelength.
There are no ghosts or spirits.
If someone claims an encounter then ignore them.
Light can only interact with matter.
Book of Corinthians states that women should be silent in church.
'women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.'
Quote from: zorkan on October 25, 2025, 11:00:32 AMApart from the quantum there is no invisible world.
We can only see light of a certain wavelength.
There are no ghosts or spirits.
If someone claims an encounter then ignore them.
Light can only interact with matter.
Book of Corinthians states that women should be silent in church.
'women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.'
I have not heard someone else say that there are no spirits, it is a part of how we are made as human beings. Do you object to us being made of spirit or just of spirits outside the body in the world. Psalm 104 is best used here for us being made of spirit. ...he sends forth our spirits and we are created.
Life has changed. Paul was writing at a time when church custom was different and things have changed. Galatians 3.28 shows that God views men and women as equals before him.
Also, women in the Old Testatment and in the New Testament-Philip evangelist had four daughters who had a ministry gift in the church and could serve with this. This was established to in the Old Testament with prophets like Miriam and Hudlah who were women and were pivotal in their role serving in the prophetic ministry. Esther to had a consecrated role as a woman.
There is an invisible world. You do not seem you have tapped into spirituality the possibility of it so you likely will be less likely to have seen it. I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life.
Oh btw in the Catholic tradition he Sacraments are blessed by a process called transubstantiation.
Spirits, prophetesses, transubstantiation is all a load of baloney from a dark age of despair.
(https://i.imgur.com/HkTt6j3.jpeg)
i know rapture theory isnt catholic but tis made me laugh anyway
Like tears in the rain.
Prophets have made big profits for the church.
$aints have also made big bucks.
Could be as high as 20,000.
Greenblaze quotes the bible a lot. Above, GB is telling us what Paul said. Really? You can believe you know what someone said a couple thousand years ago?
The only spirits for which I am certain, comes in a bottle labeled; eight year old scotch..... or bourbon.
But who are you going to call when you become possessed of an evil spirit?
The Catholic priest will come along with his toolkit of faith, blessings, holy water and prayer book.
You can't work anything off faith, because faith is not fact.
Quote from: zorkan on October 29, 2025, 03:31:10 PMBut who are you going to call when you become possessed of an evil spirit?
The Catholic priest will come along with his toolkit of faith, blessings, holy water and prayer book.
You can't work anything off faith, because faith is not fact.
You wrote in the thread title that you are a lapsed Catholic and that you are interested in the supernatural-but all that you have written here doesn't indicate that to me.
No spirits no invisble or visible world and the list went on...I wouldn't say that person was interested in things spiritual concerning human beings.
So what type of things supernatural interests you then?
Has your thoughts moved on since you left the faith and wrote this post?
Without to much detail I am wondering what caused you to leave?
If somebody could prove the supernatural they would be overnight celebrities.
Newspapers would run the scoop of all time.
The only thing interesting about the supernatural is that it's still to be proved, and I'm still waiting.
I was a catholic only because of one side of my family and I was brainwashed.
Had I arrived into any other religion I would likewise have been mind altered.
It's likely that all religions originally worked off mind altering drugs.
I'll let you describe how bread and wine is changed into body and blood.
It's not up to me to prove that god exists.
It's up to theists or deists to do that, and they can't.
The bible is myth built on earlier myth, then altered when interpreted and translated.
Eventually it becomes irreversibly mutated.
As I was not there to witness any of the events from 2000 years ago, why should I believe a single word of it?
Religion can only work on faith because it is not historical fact.
They are after your money and your blood.
Who knows how many people have been killed by Christianity alone?
My own estimate is somewhere between 50 and 100 million.
That's a conservative estimate Zorkan. Religious wars along with mythical beliefs about health care, foods and potions have accounted for a whole bunch of fatal results. Witch trials, executions of blasphemers, and all that sort of thing have washed away some of the fringe practitioners as well. Then, of course, there was and is,the political part of wiping out "wrong Believers". Romans versus Christians come to mind.....and then Constantine decided to use religion to his and the Empires benefit.
I accept that we will never know the number of unnecessary deaths that can be linked to Christianity.
The Taiping revolt in China alone can be traced back to a leader who proclaimed himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ.
The death toll is unknown but 30 million is mentioned. Could be as high as 100 million.
A few other examples
"The Thirty Years' War was initially a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire, causing an estimated 4.5 to 8 million deaths"
Aztecs wiped out by Spanish invaders. Possibly 20 million deaths.
Crusades. Up to 9 million deaths.
English Civil War led to 200,000 deaths.
"King's perceived sympathy for Catholicism, which conflicted with the Puritan desire for religious reform, and the fear that the King's ceremonial church practices were "popish".
Quote from: zorkan on November 01, 2025, 11:53:27 AMI accept that we will never know the number of unnecessary deaths that can be linked to Christianity.
The Taiping revolt in China alone can be traced back to a leader who proclaimed himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ.
The death toll is unknown but 30 million is mentioned. Could be as high as 100 million.
A few other examples
"The Thirty Years' War was initially a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire, causing an estimated 4.5 to 8 million deaths"
Aztecs wiped out by Spanish invaders. Possibly 20 million deaths.
Crusades. Up to 9 million deaths.
English Civil War led to 200,000 deaths.
"King's perceived sympathy for Catholicism, which conflicted with the Puritan desire for religious reform, and the fear that the King's ceremonial church practices were "popish".
Ok. I will say to see as you seem perhaps in rare moments to be seeking something spiritual. For me, I had my faith since a child. At 16 I started seeking it out a deeper experience myself. I had to commit to it for about a year and really believe before God let me see anything supernatural. I wish you well and I don't know how you will end up or what you want when you are elderly...but some people return to a faith they once had when they are older. They can be places to meet up others to when you are older socially...so I say that to anyone for older age perhaps keep that in mind and good luck.
greenblaze, i am open to spiritual experience. i have no preconceptions.
whatis it that you fnd that dstinguishes your own spirityual ex[perience from imagination?
what do you experience that is dfferent in any material way from a self-delusory belief in a theology created by ordnary human beings?
how do you establish the truth of your belief structure? to you?
Quote from: GreenBlaze on November 03, 2025, 11:13:02 AMOk. I will say to see as you seem perhaps in rare moments to be seeking something spiritual. For me, I had my faith since a child. At 16 I started seeking it out a deeper experience myself. I had to commit to it for about a year and really believe before God let me see anything supernatural. I wish you well and I don't know how you will end up or what you want when you are elderly...but some people return to a faith they once had when they are older. They can be places to meet up others to when you are older socially...so I say that to anyone for older age perhaps keep that in mind and good luck.
Only fact I know about people of faith is that you cannot argue with them.
I have been approached in the street by a Christian telling me I'll be burning in hell if I don't accept Jesus Christ as my saviour. According to another, my late mother as a non-believer is already burning in hell.
I might reply that on death my body will be cremated and should there be a soul, in what way will it burn?
Logic does not enter into the religious mind.