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So Glad That steven reccommended this book, both here and his blog. These books by Zaleski are amazing. I Highly Reccommend them also.
Summary: Fundamental for Roman Catholics
Catechism of the Catholic Church is an official and authoritative text on Catholicism. This book explicates the doctrine and philosophy of the faith inculcated by Christ nearly two milenium ago which today is shared by over one billion Catholics.
The book is comprised of four main sections; The Profession of Faith, The Celebration of the Christian Mystery, Life in Christ, and Christian Prayer. The topics in each section contain very detailed explanations.
Catechism of the Catholic Church is an essential book on faith for Roman Catholics to read.
Summary: Learn Christianity the Way it was Always Taught (2000 Years Worth of Christianity).
Early Christians taught Christianity through the method of Catechetics, never by way of the Bible (which was not canonized until 397 AD at the Third Council of Carthage, authorized by Pope St. Siricius). The Bible was never to be used as a teaching tool alone, nor was it ever considered sufficient for such an endeavour. This is a major turning point for anyone who has read the Bible. Why doesn't the Bible talk about itself? Why doesn't it come with an instruction manual if God wanted us to learn Christianity by Bible alone and why doesn't Jesus say as much. Simply put, Jesus doesn't talk about a Bible being the only way to learn Christianity. Neither do any of the early church fathers in the New Testament or the early Christian historical record. No matter how many times you read the Bible this information is never there, but you do find that Jesus did set up a Church (please note Church singuar not Churches plural). Jesus calls it a Church. Going back into the Historical Record it is interesting to find out how Christians, including the early church fathers, all of them, learned Christianity. Christians have always used the method of Catechetics. All the early church fathers where water baptized, taught Catechism and confirmed. Why this way? The answer is that Jesus set it up that way. How? Jesus made a promise to the apostles that on the Day of Pentecost they would have all of the truth, not half of it, or a bit of it. Joh 16:13 "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come." So on this day the Apostles received just that. They then went on to elect another Apostle in Act 1:26 "And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." The Apostle's rebuked anyone who tried to teach Christianity without their permission. Act 15:24 "Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions," Act 15:25 "it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul," Act 15:26 "men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Biblical books First Timothy and Second Timothy are from the Apostle Paul instructing Bishop Timothy. We see the appointment of these Bishops to govern the Church. Apollos had received instructions. Act 18:24 "Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures." Act 18:25 "He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John." 2Th 3:6 "Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us." These are traditions taught to Christians by Bishops appointed by the Apostles as Church leaders, or teachings of the Apostles themselves. They are over us in the Lord. 1Th 5:12 "We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you," The structure of the Church has the Apostles in its foundation Eph 2:19 "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God," Eph 2:20 "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone," The "Word of God" is used every time in the Bible to speak of an oral communication or Jesus in the flesh, never does it mean the Bible or a text. So if we are to be taught Christianity we should seek out the traditional method that Christians where taught Christianity. That tradition is the Catechism, not reading the Bible (we can read the Bible, but that is not how we are supposed to learn how to be Christians), something that many of the early church fathers devoted their time too, and which is still taught today. The Catechism is very different to the `Shorter Catechism' taught to catechumens, as it runs over 850 pages with 2865 entries. What makes this longer Catechism so good is that you can now go back and relearn an advanced form of the Catechism by reading this. Remember though that this is not how to receive Catechism for Confirmation. You are supposed to get an oral teaching of it. Contact you local Roman Catholic Church for that. The body of text itself is a top theology, a combination of hundreds of thousands of theologians over nearly 2000 years, makes it an absolutely vital work that teaches us more things about Christianity than the Bible can. Hundreds of thousands of theologians with the Holy Spirit where unified in its development. The Holy Spirit didn't disappear or wander away. It is obvious that it has been developed with love, by those who treasured the scriptures and the traditions of the Church that Jesus started. The Catechism is something to read slowly over a long period of time, helping to stir the Holy Spirit within us and learning more about the faith day by day. The other amazing thing about the Catechism is that it is used by the Magisterium of the RCC to unify every Catholic. Catholics are all unified with these teachings. If something contradicts the Catechism then chances are that there is something wrong with whatever is contradicting it. The Catechism must not be perceived as Dogma however, but it does quote Dogma and has a huge index of references including a massive amount of footnotes most of which reference Vatican II documents, but also many more. The other great thing is that it can be used to prevent baring false witness against the RCC. For example if someone was to claim that Catholics worship Mary like she is God, then they would have to support it with reference to RCC teaching found in some Catechism verse that teaches a Catholic to Worship Mary like she is God. Since it doesn't then the person would be mistaken and can be corrected so that they do not bare false witness again. It is a great work for researching and citing also, such a miraculous achievement. The Catechism is how we learn about the mind of God as it was setup to be taught by Jesus Christ who selected the Apostles as the foundation of his Church. Apostolic Succession means knowing that our Bishop was appointed by another Bishop who is in full communion with the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is part of that fullness of truth. This is the way Jesus set it up. You could try to prove it was another way, with Bible-alone remember, and you can't. Bible-alone simply isn't in the Bible. The tradition of Catechism is 2Th 3:6 "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." When 2TH was written there was no such thing as the New Testament.
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