A quest for truth started me on the path towards Catholicism. Along the way, I tried on different spiritual hats, ranging from Christian but not religious, to non-denominational Christian, to evangelical Christian. I also briefly pondered the logic of various Eastern religions.
The problem with each system is that it required me to be God by setting myself up as the arbiter of truth. That's like telling a sick person to do surgery on themselves.
Common obstacles in other traditions include:
1) Misty, foggy, mythical origins. You have to pick the origin story of choice. How do you know it's not just a story? Did you pick the right one?
2) Founded by a compelling, but ultimately human person. They may or may not have claimed to even speak for God. How do you know they got it right? Can they be trusted?
3) The religious tradition splits into a swarm of schools, traditions, factions. You have to pick the right one. Did you get it right?
4) Intellectually inconsistent, though perhaps "miraculous." Are you sure that sign and wonder isn't really the devil's work?
Only Catholicism was founded by God in the flesh. Only Catholicism has a stable, unified structure such that it can speak for God through time. Only Catholicism.
What kept me going and studying was that I wanted to get it right. Right in a way that was objective beyond myself.
When the soul deeply longs to submit itself whole and entire to God, safeguarded from the limitations and caprices of human nature, it can not help but fall in love with Catholicism. Only Catholicism allows the soul to surrender so totally, knowing that it surrenders to God, and not to man or self.
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