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{"id":18560,"date":"2015-03-27T19:49:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T00:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?p=18560"},"modified":"2015-03-27T19:49:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-28T00:49:42","slug":"why-its-impossible-to-be-a-catholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2015\/03\/why-its-impossible-to-be-a-catholic.html","title":{"rendered":"Why It’s Impossible to Be a Catholic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

By this I think he meant that he wanted the church to say his second marriage was okay, or maybe he wanted me to say the marriage was okay, that it by living with another woman other than his validly married wife he was not, after all, \u201cliving in sin\u201d.<\/p>\n

I wrote back saying that I couldn\u2019t do that because I don\u2019t have the authority to do it. What am I to do, take it upon myself to change the laws of the church\u2013indeed the laws of God? Shall I tell a lie to make him feel good? Shall I soothe him into hell?<\/p>\n

Is it hard to live with the Catholic rules on marriage? No. It\u2019s not hard. It\u2019s impossible.<\/p>\n

Who, after all, can really keep all the rules and regulations of the church? The same people who have never broken one of the ten commandments.<\/p>\n

This is where we have to stop and ask ourselves what the rules of our religion are for anyway.<\/p>\n

Stop for a moment. The rules are not there because God thinks we can keep them.<\/p>\n

The ten commandments are not set up as some sort of a practical guide book for life. They\u2019re not given because they are utilitarian principles for living together and being nice people.<\/p>\n

They might help us to do that, but that\u2019s not what they\u2019re\u00a0for.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The ten commandments and the laws of the church are set out because they\u2019re true. That\u2019s it. They are true and nothing more.<\/p>\n

Each one of the commandments are deeply true\u2013true down to the depths of reality. They are woven into the fabric of the universe and written in the cords of our hearts.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why God said they should be written in stone\u2013to make the point that they are immutable. They are the law not because it is something we can keep and fulfill, but because they are true and they cannot be changed.<\/p>\n

Let us take an example: \u201cYou shall not bear false witness.\u201d In other words, \u201cDo not lie.\u201d In other words, \u201cTell the truth\u201d.\u00a0Continue Reading<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"