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| Use the Question & Answer Board to hold Q&A-style on topics such as Christianity, Catechism, Religion, Spirituality, Abortion, Sin, Marriage, etc... |
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| Question Subject | Title | Reply | Name |
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 Question Subject : 1 to 3 words (1) | | | A reply |  | Prefer not to identify | | Question Subject : Abortion (11) | | | | I am against abortion, and know that Catechism teachings are against abortion. But does that apply to all cases?
What if your daughter, who is 13 yrs old, gets raped by a mad man and gets pregnant. Would you want her, including yourself and your wife, family, and her close loved ones, go through the pregnancy and the birth just because the catechism does not allow it? |
| What are the Catechism thoughts? | | Tarek Marroushi | | | | This is a hard situation. Rape is a tragedy - abortion is another tragedy. The situation calls for compassion and requires a prayerful and courageous will. There are two victims here: the young mother (my daughter for example) and her child: The mother who underwent a horrible experience (rape) and the child whose whole life is questioned and who, though innocent of any crime, is facing... |
| Abortion After Rape - A Rational Reply | | George Farahat | | | | Thanks a lot George Farahat for the reply.
Related questions to this question are the following :
1- How about the situations when the life of the mother is threatened if a pregnancy is continued?
2- The situation when it is 100% sure that the child will be retarded (Mentally or Physically). |
| A reply | | Albert Mikhail | | | | why do we have to punish the baby for someone else's mistake. It's God's will to bring this baby to earth - why should we change it. Do not kill this baby because someone made a mistake. It's like saying " let's kill tarek because his father made a mistake" it's wrong. Killing is wrong wrong wrong.
if the family or the girl could not raise the baby even though... |
| A reply | | superman | | | | George,
I am impressed by the reply and the different perspective it has been thought indeed. It made me think twice about this situation, and, if I had a daughter, I did give a thought about the consequences I would go through with her. It has inspired me and made me think twice especially in your fourth point where it says: "...Giving birth, especially when conception was not desired,... |
| after rape - a reply | | Tarek Marroushi | | | | The Christian Perspective on Abortion
You may argue why do we bring in the Christian perspective? Because Christianity’s worldview is more comprehensive and more wholesome than any other contemporary view, culture or ideology. The Church carries man’s soul and man’s conscience backed up by an experience of 2 millenia, spread in all cultures and rooted in the love of Christ, the Word of God. ... |
| A Christian Perspective on Abortion | | George Farahat | | | | We must approach abortion with great empathy. A woman who has been raped has been subjected to an ugly trauma, and she needs support and help. But she has been the victim of one violent act. Should we now ask her to be a party to a second violent act -that of abortion? Many would return the violence of killing an innocent baby for the violence of rape. But, before making this decision,... |
| A reply | | Dina Ibrahim | | | | You mentioned that there is now scientific evidence that the fetus is human from early stages. Can you post this evidence or a link to it. Because this point is the main point used to justify abortion.
Thanks again for the answers. |
| Is there scientific evidence that there is human life since early stage in pregnancy | | Albert Mikhail | | | | if gods will is for the mother to die when the baby is born so be it we can not change what god's intended to do |
| A reply | | superman | | | | Evidence that a human person starts living from the moment of conception:
Section I : Summary
1. There is evidence that the zygote, resulting from the union of a sperm and an egg, comes into existence with its own genetic code making up its own unique genetic identity of 46 chromosomes which are neither the father’s nor the mother’s. It is also able to develop naturally provided that...
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| Reply re Scientific Evidence of Human Life from Early Stage of Pregnancy | | George Farahat | | | | I believe that no one should judge another until they are placed in that person's footsteps,
abortion is very traumatizing to the individuals involved, it is not an easy decision for a female to make. along with it comes pain and depression, not just at the time of the abortion, but every year after that.
if the female has enough strength to go through with the pregnancy, then God has given her that... |
| A reply | | | | Question Subject : Catholic and Orthodox (2) | | | | Was the Church founded in 325 by Constantine as alleged in the Da Vinci Code?
How did we come to have Orthodox and Catholic Churches? |
| How did we come to have Orthodox and Catholic Churches? | | Prefer not to identify | | | | The Church was not founded in 325 AD but by Christ who, before his Ascension (around 28 AD) commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel to the whole world (Matt 28:19).
Peter and Paul founded the Church in Rome and were martyred around 67 AD. Paul wrote his letters in the 50s including his letter to the Romans. The Roman Church dates then to the 50s of the first century,... |
| A short reply | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Christianity and Women (3) | | | | Biblically speaking we seem to have two different stories about the beginning of life and the creation of Man and Woman?
One story states that God created Man and Woman equally in the image of God, the other states that Man was created first and the Woman later for the man.
I have read about how some disciplines within the Judaic and Christian beliefs tried to interpret or connect this difference..... ... |
| Is Woman inferior to Man? | | Hilda Hifawi | | | | In the story of creation:
To understand the meaning of the word of God in Scrpitures, one has to go back to the language it was written in, and the expressions used in the culture at the time the word was written.
So in Genesis God says “It is not good that man should be alone. “I will make him a helpmate” (2:18). A helpmate or a helper in English may seem of some lower order but... |
| A Reply - The Christian Influence to establish the equal dignity of Man and Woman | | George Farahat | | | | The following letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was released May 31, 2004, and contains much of the Church's rich teaching and vision of men and women and their equality in dignity.
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LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ON THE COLLABORATION OF MEN... |
| Letter from the Vatican on The Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Christianity in the World (6) | | | | In our secular society, the media keeps accusing Christianity of causing the troubles of the world. According to the media's reports: in its history, Christianity influenced the world in negative ways more than in positive ones. It was Christians who brought about the destruction of native people's civilizations, ignited the Crusades, perpetrated religious wars, burned heretics,... |
| Christianity: Is the world a better place without it? | | Prefer not to identify | | | | It is easy for us to say from this time and place and our state of mind today that christianity had a more of a overall negative influence on humanity than a positive one...and that might be in its totality a true statement ...today...
However it is also true that the invention of all religions by its inventors and not just christianity had in its pure intent to create... |
| A reply | | Milad | | | | To talk about Christianity’s contribution to the development of civilization, we can cite numerous aspects of civilization that Christianity reformed historically.
But first we must understand two things: what is civilization? And what are the principles and ideas on which Christianity built its vision and carried out its contribution to the development of the world.
First, what is civilization? Civilization... |
| A reply: Why Christianity transformed civilization | | George Farahat | | | | A unique contribution that Christianity made to mankind is its belief of the intrinsic worth of each individual person as a child of God. Here we will scan that influence of Christianity on the development of civilization.
1. When the early Christian church was formed, Christians were under attack not only from Jewish authorities, but also from the Roman emperors at large. Around... |
| How Christianity transformed civilization: The value of human life - a historical evidence. | | George Farahat | | | | How Christianity transformed civilization: abolishing slavery
1. Slavery was an integral part of the Roman empire. As many as one third of those living in the Mediterranean cities may have been slaves, and well over 50% of the population in Rome. Aristotle defined a slave as “one who does not belong to himself,” and Cicero defined him as one who “does not have power to refuse.” ... |
| How Christianity helped abolish slavery | | George Farahat | | | | No one denies historical tragedies that Christians contributed to. However, Christianity undeniably made a huge positive difference in the history of humanity.
A unique contribution that Christianity made to mankind is its belief of the intrinsic worth of each individual person as a child of God. Here we will briefly scan the influence of Christianity on the development of civilization.
1. ... |
| Christianity's impact upon civilization | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Christmas (1) | | | | The Meaning of Christmas: Look Deeper*
There is a way to explore the meaning of Christmas by applying the spiritual sense of the Christmas story to our lives. We are all around the Christ Child, defined by our relationship to Him; we are all Marys, Josephs, wise men or shepherds.
The Shepherds: They are peasants: simple, hard-working, honest people. They are “keeping watch by...
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| The Meaning of Christmas | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Confession (1) | | | | The question is often asked, by those who find it difficult to go to confession and by non-Catholics, "Why do we have to go to confession? Why can't we simply go straight to God in heaven, tell him we are sorry and be forgiven? As it is, we have to seek out a priest, perhaps wait in a queue or find that the priest isn't even there, discover that we don't like the priest anyway, and then confess... |
| Why Go to Confession | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Devil (3) | | | | I've heard several ideas and different perspectives of that thing we call the Devil. After lots of struggle with my mind, I finally came to understand what it might be, which is not at all to what I thought it would be, such as a person out there trying to persuade people in evil things. A person by the name Stuart W. described the Devil “as the collective darkness or shadows that is in... |
| What is it? | | Tarek Marroushi | | | | The Devil is not simply the dark side of our thoughts in the subconscious of humans but a real created being that fell in evil from primordial time according to Christian faith. It is true that some illnesses diagnosed now as psychological disorders were considered the work of the Devil in ancient civilizations, but it does not follow that every manifestation of evil is necessarily a... |
| A preliminary reply | | George Farahat | | | | Confronting the Devil's Power
Address of Pope Paul VI to a General Audience November 15, 1972.
WHAT are the Church's greatest needs at the present time? Don't be surprised at Our answer and don't write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church's greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil.
Before clarifying what We mean, We would like to invite you to... |
| A reply - Pope Paul VI on Confronting the Devil's Power | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Faith (6) | | | | What Are The Key Teachings Of The Melkite Church? |
| What are the Key Teachings of the Melkite Church? | | Tayshaun Prince | | | | The Melkite Catholic Church is an Apostolic Church (i.e. founded by the Apostles). It was founded in Antioch, the city where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). The See of Antioch was the first See founded by St. Peter before he went to Rome. In Antioch, a great theological school was founded since the 2nd century, which produced... |
| A reply re Key Teachings of the Melkite Church | | George Farahat | | | | The Ecumenical Councils
An ecumenical council (Greek, Oikumene/Οικυμενη, "World-wide" or "General") is a meeting of the bishops of the whole church headed by the Pope of Rome or ratified by him. They are convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. The doctrinal definitions of the ecumenical councils are considered infallible under the... |
| The teachings of the Church proclaimed by the Ecumenical Councils | | George Farahat | | | | Major Heresies (Doctrinal Errors) in the History of Christianity
Since early times the Church was faced with challenges to its faith. Some Jews who became Christians were opposed to the idea that non-Jewish people could convert to Christianity without having to conform to Jewish traditions such as circumcision. As Christianity grew in the Greek world of thought, she was confronted... |
| Major Doctrinal Errors in the History of Christianity | | George Farahat | | | | The divisions among Christians is an obstacle to the witness of the Gospel and the missionary work of the Church. Historically the separation between Churches, at least in the first millennium, was marred by a lack of charity, power conflict between Christian leaders and, often, a misunderstanding of what the other side meant in their theological work. ... |
| The Impact of Doctrinal Errors on Christian Unity | | George Farahat | | | | Distinctiveness of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church confesses the centrality of the Triune God in one divinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the incarnation of the Son of God in Christ who took on a human flesh for the redemption of mankind and in his Resurrection to justify us. As such, at the centre of the Catholic Church's faith is Jesus... |
| The Distinctiveness of the Catholic Church | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Flooding and God (1) | | | | If I am not mistaken the Bible states that God would never flood the earth again. Did this not just happen and people died. Please help me understand this. |
| Flooding | | Prefer not to identify | | Question Subject : God (5) | | | | Can you explain how Christians believe in a God who is three persons in one God (the dogma of the Trinity)? |
| How is God one and three in the Trinity? | | Prefer not to identify | | | | The Trinity: the divine communion of love
The dogma of the Trinity is central to Christian faith. It was revealed by Christ to His disciples and is present in the early tradition of the church. Two biblical truths are revealed in the dogma of the Trinity:
1. There is one God - Christianity shares this belief with the other monotheist religions. The central teaching of the Old Testament... |
| The Trinity - an explanation | | George Farahat | | | | Very simply, contemporary scientific research in cosmology found that:
- The universe was not there from eternity but has a beginning (which we call the Big Bang)
- The universe was so fine-tuned that any slight change in its initial conditions or the constants in physical laws would have... |
| Is there Evidence for God from Cosmology? | | George Farahat | | | |
Why I believe in the God of Christianity.
Not because he is almighty..not because he is all-just..not because he has all the power....
It is because he is LOVE...
He loves and his love is eternal and unlimited.
We know from faith that God is one and Trinity or three in one. This is the central dogma of Christianity. God is not a solitary person who loves himself selfishly. God the...
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| Why I believe in the God of Christianity | | George Farahat | | | | Has Science Discovered God?
A DVD produced by the Institute for Metaphysics in 2004 would interest not only Christians, but also Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and every other people of religion. It would also interest Atheists and Agnostics who do not believe in any god. Why? Because the main contributor is the best known atheist in the 20th century: Professor Antony Flew. He is joined by two world... |
| Has Science Discovered God? | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Holy Mass (3) | | | | Is coming to church on Sundays truly an act of religious obligation to most of us or is it more of a social event that people got used to, and do we truly need an hour to pray to God without understanding most of what is going on and with all the distractions? |
| Do we need to participate in Mass every Sunday? | | Prefer not to identify | | | | Is coming to church on Sundays truly an act of religious obligation?
Rather than giving it a negative connotation of obligation, we have positive reasons why participation in Mass is necessary:
1. In Mass, (called Divine Liturgy in the Eastern Church, including the Melkite Church - see next article on the richness of the Divine Liturgy), the sacrifice of Christ is offered to the Father... |
| A reply - Is attending Mass on Sunday necessary? | | George Farahat | | | | The Richness of the Divine Liturgy (Holy Mass) in the Melkite Catholic Church
The ancients called this gathering of the faithful synaxis, a convention: a community that looks to eternity. Worshipping together in community, the faithful experience more readily both their unity in Christ and the power of the Spirit. They learn how to open and abandon themselves to the revelation of God, to experience...
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| The Richness of the Divine Liturgy (Holy Mass) in the Melkite Catholic Church | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Jesus (2) | | | | Jesus, the sweet name!
I was listening to music and could not stop thinking of him. He was present as ever.. I am speaking about Jesus of Nazareth who went around doing good and did nothing wrong. This Jesus - Oh - he accepted everything and hardly complained. How many times he healed people - even the enemies and the wrongdoers - bringing to life Jaerus’ daughter and giving eternal... |
| Jesus the sweet name - a reflection on Jesus' real power | | George Farahat | | | | Christians believed Jesus was truly the Son of God since the beginning, long before the Emperor Constantine ruled the Roman Empire in the 4th century. Here is some evidence:
- The 4 Gospels present and reflect the belief of the very early Christian communities that Jesus was divine. By the beginning of the 2nd Century, the 4 canonical Gospels were already in place (See next question).
... |
| Did the early Christians believe that Jesus was God? | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Lyrics and Translation (2) | | | | Hello people,
My name is Claudio de Sa, 29 years old, and I live in Brazil. I'm Catholic Apostolic Roman.
The Eastern Catholic Church has fascinated me from some months to today, and in an internet search I found this site.
I am still reading about your community, and learning about the Eastern Rite. I see specially beautiful in the Sacrad Icons.
But your musics are too beautiful too. Where... |
| Music of Eastern Church | | Kody | | | | Hello Kody,
Music is beautiful indeed.
Unfortunately, I don't know of any site that contains the lyrics and the translation from Arabic to English. The Chants are prayers, and I am sure that prayers can be found in any language. If you know of an arabic priest in Brazil, he might be able to help you out after listening to the chants.
I do apologize, but this will be posted... |
| A reply - Lyrics and Translation | | Tarek Marroushi | | Question Subject : Marriage (6) | | | | There are many contemporary challenges to marriage in today's society such as divorce, homosexual unions, and postmodern pluralism that deny the truth of marriage as an essential institution of society. To understand the issues, here is an introduction to Biblical sources and Church pronouncements as well as some websites that present a Christian perspective to today's challenges... |
| References from Scriptures and Tradition | | George Farahat | | | | From early and primitive civilizations (c.a. 7000 years B.C.) to Middle Ages:
Marriage went through development from tribal levels to more advanced societies:
Tribal marriage: Through offspring, it is a source of power for labour and war.
- Group family: a family group is made up of husbands of all women of another family group.
- Marrying-in (endogamy): new kinship within the tribe to strengthen... |
| Outline of marriage in history and the Christian influence on its development | | George Farahat | | | | God’s act of creation is an act of love, and every act of love is a call for a return of love. Love is therefore the fundamental vocation of man. We want to return God’s love and be fully united but we cannot ever be totally content until we reach God.
So in Genesis God says “It is not good that man should be alone. “I will make him a helpmate” (2:18). A helpmate or a helper in English may seem...
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| God’s Plan for Marriage in the Creation | | George Farahat | | | | Sin and Redemption:
In chapter 3 of Genesis, sin enters the picture and seriously affects the relationships between man and woman (3:16), between them and nature (3:17-19), and between them and God (3:23). All the evil things that are present in the male-female relationship are presented as the result of sin: polygamy, use of the other as an object rather than as a person, lust without love, violence... |
| God's Plan for Marriage in the Redemption in Christ | | George Farahat | | | | Background
Marriage is a one of the sacraments of the Church in which a man and woman are united by the Holy Trinity. Their conjugal union is blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ through the Church. God's grace is imparted to them to live together in His love, mutually fulfilling and perfecting each other. The ceremony of the sacrament of marriage (or mystery of marriage as is called in Eastern Church... |
| Marriage in the Melkite Catholic Church | | George Farahat | | | | Interests and activities:
Common friends and interests. It is desirable that friends and interests be held in common, though room must be left for some individual interests not held by the other.
Roles in marriage:
Stats: marriages are more tranquil when each keeps to more traditional roles.
Choice of partner:
temper, habits (e.g. smoking), behaviour at social functions, manners,... |
| Preparation for marriage (Questions to consider) | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Mary (1) | | | | Pope Benedict XVI - Homily at the Mass at Altoetting in Germany, Sep. 11, 2006.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
In today's First Reading, Responsorial Psalm and Gospel, three times and in three different ways, we see Mary, the Mother of the Lord, as a woman of prayer. In the Book of Acts we find her in the midst of the community of the apostles gathered in the Upper Room, praying that the Lord, now... |
| Mary at the wedding of Cana | | From Pope Benedict XVI Homily | | Question Subject : Pentecost (1) | | | | Pentecost: The Power of the Holy Spirit
“When the day of Pentecost had come, [the Apostles] were all together in one place.” What is Pentecost, we ask? Pentecost is a Greek word for 50. It was used by Jews living in Alexandria in the first century to denote the feast of harvest because it occurred fifty days after the festivity recalling the Passover. The feast of harvest was commanded by God...
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| The Power of the Holy Spirit | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Prayer (1) | | | | 1. Connecting with God at Mass: The Eucharist (Mass) is the prayer of the Church par excellence since it includes Christ himself praying for us in his sacrifice. We should participate actively in Mass all the time. God is especially present there for the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ himself under the form of bread and wine.
2. How to connect with God elsewhere: We should also realize...
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| How to make prayer more effective | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Redemption (1) | | | | Redemption
Does man really need redemption?
When Man sinned by trying to be “like God”, it was that he refused to recognize his own limits and wanted to stand on his own (i.e. become autonomous and self-sufficient), thus he delivered himself up to death. Evil has this character that it is not only a perverted use of what is inherently good, but is also self-destructive. On his own, man does... |
| Sin and Redemption | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Resurrection (2) | | | | [On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. 13 The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so... |
| Thomas' Doubt Leads to Faith | | George Farahat | | | | Mary Magdalene and the Risen Christ
From John 20
[Now on the first day of the week Mary Mag'dalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." ... |
| Mary Magdalene and the Risen Christ | | George Farahat | | Question Subject : Scriptures (8) | | | | How do theologians and religious scholars explain the amount of violence and cruelty ordered by God in the Bible, specifically in the Old Testament, with the understanding that we Christians have of our God and the message of Christ.
If our understanding of God is a loving one without boundaries or restrictions how can we as Christians reconcile this violence and contradictory issues in the... |
| Violence and Contradictions in the Bible | | Hilda Hifawi |
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