Had a forum based discussion for today's session. Everyone had to take off their left shoe and place it in front of them...only those who contributed questions or insights to the discussions could put their shoe back on. Everyone sat in a circle and those who had questions raised their hands to ask. Informative and yet, humour was injected to make it that much more interesting.
Many questions about religion were posed, especially about other religions and also about various cultures, beliefs and also about science.
Some of the questions asked were if it was wrong to pay respect to your grandparents like holding a joss stick or using feng shui in one's house.
It's alright to pay respects to someone, since you're not worshipping that person, or asking the deceased to let you win 4D or something. As for feng shui, it's not wrong to use it for your house unless it involves spirits...feng shui is about the harmony between the earth and space.
Also for horoscopes, you can read about them, just don't take them so seriously...they mostly talk about general stuff which will have at least one or two sentences that apply to you.
Then questions which Christians from other denominations were asked.
Like why do we worship Mary? We don't worship her, we ask her to intercede for us, since her prayers are very powerful and in the bible, Jesus changed water into wine when Mary asked on the wedding hosts behalf.
Why do we worship the saints? We don't worship them, we ask them to intercede for us as well, since their prayers are also very powerful and the saints have a particular problem we can pray especially for...like to Saint Anthony when we have lost our stuff, or to Saint Jude when we are facing hopeless cases. They are also living examples of holiness that ordinary humans can attain.
Why do we have statues of the saints? The same reason why you keep photographs of your friends...to remember them. We're not worshipping the statues, we just have the statues to remind us of the great things these saints have done, and that they are there to help intercede in our prayers.
Why don't we have wine served during the Eucharist at every mass? For practical reasons mostly, and also the host is already the body of Christ, and blood is contained in the body. You don't see blood flowing on the outside of our skins do you?
The church also tries to fit in culture into religion therefore you have blessed oranges during Chinese New Year and also no need to fast on Ash Wednesday if it falls on a public holiday.
Roy talked about four different categories of beliefs. Atheistic - No God, Pantheistic - Everything is God (very New Age), Polytheistic - Many Gods(animism, shamanism, Hinduism, Shinto), Monotheistic - One God (Catholism, Protestants, Judaism, Islam)
Another question posed was why don't you just leave everything to God to help you? A quote was given: "Trust in Allah, but tie your camel". God will help you, but you have to do something about it otherwise he can't help you.
Why do you say Mary is a Virgin when she had a baby? It was stated that she was a Virgin quite late, but Mary conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit...other people who have lab babies are still Virgins as well...
Is it wrong to date non-catholics? No, it's ok, as long as they respect your religion and if you get married to a non-catholic, you will have to make sure that your children get baptised.
The evolution debate, man evolved from monkeys since the beginning of time didn't they? God's time is different from man's perception. Mutation does happen. Paul shared that there was a researcher who studied about DNA...he says that even though there is such thing as evolution and mutation, he believes that God is still there behind it all.
Is being a homosexual wrong? No, unless you act upon it... Even so, we condemn the sin, and not the sinner.
Next week there is no session since it is Chinese New Year's Eve, but the next session is about Apologetics again and done forum-style as well. Do prepare questions to ask at the next session. Just to spice things up, make them as interesting as possible.
Also if anyone else has anything to add like questions missed out in this entry, do feel free to add in the tagboard.
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