We start from the premise that there is ultimate Truth, we just may not
know it till the other side. But there is Truth, and that there is right
and wrong. The Catholic position I think is persuasive, which asks why
would God give men a deposit of faith and then leave it to their mercy,
for there would soon be no certainty of truth left in the
world........... and Truth matters - i.e. - what Christ meant in his
revelation matters.

"The Bible, written by men under the inspiration of God, is a marvelous
repository of God's revelation, but it cannot defend itself. If men
differ as to what any one of its teachings mean, it cannot intervene to
settle the difference. With religion, the decisive testing takes place
after death, where we upon earth cannot see it....
There could of course, had God so willed it, have been a personal
infallibility whereby God acted upon the soul of each Christian to
prevent his arriving at error as a fruit of his thinking upon revelation.
It could have been. But quite evidently it has not been, since outside
the Church there is hardly agreement upon any single point of Christ's
revelation; and in any event Christ made a different arrangement - an
arrangement which on the principle of leaving men to do as much as
possible for themselves, with God supplying only what men cannot supply,
is at once an indispensable minimum yet totally effective."


I have to be ever mindful of the firm footing faith has, that it's not
something that can be taken for granted. The thing about faith is that
sometimes it becomes a little insatiable - you want the truth so bad you
can taste it. And no matter how persuaded you are at one time it needs
replenishment.
For the wolves that taunt me from outlying areas never rest. And because
they are there and their howling is so unsubtle and persuasive, I need
the truth. The truth seems mega-quiet these days. I turn on the TV
and the truth is 'q'. There is little religious programming, and often
quite the opposite - there is Howard Stern with black-bars over naked
breasts. Even CNN is no picnic. It's 8:00 in the morning and CNN is
showing buxom girls in string bikinis on spring break. It was a story on
how IBM and other big name companies are now recruiting while the kids
are on spring break. And the camera lingers (or is it just my eyes?) on
the titilating fact that female girls between the age of 18 and 21 look
pretty good in a bikini. Now there's a revelation, huh.

The issue is moot, of course, for God in his wisdom has decided we are to
rely on faith. There is no smoking gun because he doesn't allow there to
be. He could easily appear to everyone of us individually but he chose
the economy of the church with the puzzling point that its members sin.
I can't help but wonder, though, that if we did have a smoking gun how
long it would last. It's 'what have you proven to me lately', and sometimes it
seems that no matter how God tries to be visible, we say it's not good
enough.
God provides smoking guns to individuals only when there is an very
good reason for it, and it usually involves great suffering on the part
of that person. God doesn't seem to be into 'feel-good revelation' -
there seems to be a seriousness of purpose behind everything.

The lack of a smoking gun applies to nearly everything:
- the veracity of Scripture in general which is always under attack
(ala the 'Jesus Seminar')
- the truth of the Gospels - pro: incredibly compelling, nearly all
the apostles died for their faith con: the gospels don't match up on
events after the Crucifixition
- the authority of the Catholic Church: again no smoking gun.
- the Shroud of Turin - close! tantalizingly close.


Question and Answer on EWTN’s Catholic Q&A website:

Q: In these days of mistrust of big government, we are inclined not to put our faith in people,
especially a big institution of people like the Church. We all know the faults and failings of popes
and priests, the pedophiles of the 90's, the startingly hardness of Irish priests in the 30's as
recorded in the recent bestseller "Angela's Ashes". We know to trust men and their politics is folly. Our wont is to trust only the Spirit, acting in and through ourselves via our conscience or whatever form it takes. So why then my ineluctable, undeniable attraction to wanting to believe in the infallibility of the pope and the Magisterium of the Catholic church? Is it a fundamentalist streak many of us have dormant, that streak of craving 'black and white' answers to every grey'd modern question? Is it simply knowing I have a "Papa" looking out for my spiritual welfare, an ocean and many thousands of miles away? Is it because I want to know, beyond all measure and doubt, that Christ is within me at Eucharist or that my sins are absolutely, totally and completely forgiven during confession? Faith is a slippery concept sometimes, for is he who without sacrament utterly believes Christ absolves sins and is present to him have a greater faith than one who needs an external sign or symbol? Are these symbols mere gifts from God to those who need a booster chair of faith? Perhaps examining God's motives in beginning them is frivolous, not to mention presumptive?

Answer by Fr. Robert J. Levis on 01-04-1999:
You are very sensitive and profound in self-examination and self-knowledge. Christ
left us the magisterium because He knew we all need it. God bless our beloved separated brothers who have to go it all alone. They suffer from this though few would admit it. Look how often their leaders call for renewal, for revival. I believe this phenomenon is even an American Protestant invention. What a gift! In times of depression, inevitable change, doubt, to be able to rest in the arms of Faith that, yes, my sins are forgiven because I heard with my own ears the priest tell me Christ has forgiven me! Or to believe that, yes, Jesus Himself is right up there before me on the altar even though I can't feel it sometimes, or maybe, most of the time. The whole of salvation starts with Faith and must never depart from Faith. Not from sentiment, not from feelings, not from emotions. Faith is a gift, an intellectual gift given to us by no less than God Himself.
Maybe all this helps. Fr Bob Levis