Author Topic: Are non-Catholics really happy? (Read 4264 times)

Lybus · « **Reply #30 on:** May 02, 2011, 08:22:25 PM »

by definition, "selfishness" is a disordered love of self. The key word is disordered. If there is a disordered love of self, there must be an ordered love of self. Loving oneself is not inherently selfish. In fact, God meant for us to love ourselves (otherwise how else would we find any desire for preservation?), it is only when this love is unnaturally centered upon ourselves that it can be considered selfish.

It is not selfish to seek God for our own happiness. To seek God for our own happiness is the highest form of charity we could most definitely do for our fellow man, as His guiding hand will lead us to realms of charity that we ourselves would never have been able to perform on our own.

If we knew with absolute certainty that there was no heaven and hell, then all purpose for faith would be destroyed. Our faiths would not be tested, they would have their throats slit. Faith needs reason to have any backing at all, and if reason proved without a doubt the absence of heaven and hell (which is impossible), then faith can no longer hold with any sincerity.

You must have some reason for your faith otherwise any religion is as good as any other as far as you are concerned.

Lybus · « **Reply #31 on:** May 02, 2011, 09:29:53 PM »

Depends on what you give to the meaning of charity. The dictionary's definition, "generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless: to devote one's life to charity," anyone can do this, not just Catholics.

However, Charity has a much greater significance in Catholicism than this, because a very important dimension is added to it, in that Charity is an expression of friendship with God. It is more than giving to someone who is "lesser" than you (by this I mean such things as having lesser money, health, fortune, etc). It is being in the service of God (from which we are united to Him and become His friends). This is something that cannot be done by one who denies God or denies what He says.

And yes, you do not have to be a Catholic to be happy. Atheists can be happy, because they share in the Divine Existence via the natural realm. If they did not, they would not be here.

Kephapaulos · « **Reply #32 on:** May 07, 2011, 01:48:04 AM »

There is natural happiness, and then there is supernatural happiness. Many in the modern world may experience natural happiness, but that is short-lived. Supernatural happiness lasts forever. One may seem to be happy or think one's self to be happy, but objectively a person can actually not be happy on the supernatural level. The person can have more, but rejects the truth out of malice, ignorance (whether vincible or invincible), or weakness.

Kephapaulos · « **Reply #33 on:** May 07, 2011, 01:49:21 AM »

I do not know everything about the subject, but what I just posted is from what I know and have learned.

gladius_veritatis · « **Reply #34 on:** June 30, 2011, 01:35:45 PM »

Quote from: everpresent

Do animals have souls?

Yes. So do all living beings, including plants. There are different kinds of souls, but the definition of a soul is "a principle of life."