Posted on 09/27/2014 11:05:41 AM PDT by Gamecock
The most beautiful faith in the world is Christianity - the Biblical kind - because it teaches that we cannot possibly earn or merit the grace God bestows on us through Christ. What I argue against is the perversion of the gospel found in Catholicism as well as other religions. I want people to know Christ - the REAL Christ, not the angry, crabby, Momma's boy who begrudgingly does what she tells him to do. I don't think there IS such a thing as spending too much time where sharing the gospel of grace is concerned.
**I will NEVER perish or be plucked out of His hands.**In my opinion, this is not true. You can sin, kill. commit adultery, lie, blaspheme or skip Church and still not be plucked out of Jesus’ hand?
Too bad you left the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance so that those sins could be forgiven by God and forgotten by God.
BTW, you can come back at any time, and I believe, down the road, that might happen. Just sit down with a priest and get your questions and misunderstandings answered and/or clarified.
My Jesus is not angry, crabby, or a momma’s boy; in fact, there’s a lot of disrespect in that commentary, imo. I know you are smart, boatbums, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you know anything. Catholicsm has saved me through its Sacraments, and you should respect that. I respect that your faith has saved you; God love you for that. But I’m sorry, in my mind you petered out (and I feel that way about all Catholics who left the faith), and I don’t see you as sharing the Gospel necessarily; I see you as admonishing those of us who love our Jesus through the Eucharist.
Seriously? A through study of the New Testament would show you differently:
14 After saying these things, she turned back and viewed Jesus standing, but she did not discern it was Jesus.There are 4 more, would you like me to post them?
15 Jesus said to her: Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? She, imagining it was the gardener said to him: Sir, if you have carried him off, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.
16 Jesus said to her: Mary! Upon turning around, she said to him, in Hebrew: Rabboni! which means Teacher!
17 Jesus said to her: Stop clinging to me. For I have not yet ascended to the Father. But be on your way to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.'
18 Mary Magdalene came and brought the news to the disciples: I have seen the Lord! and that he said these things to her (John 20)[Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James (Mark 15:40) saw him on this first appearance.]
Another one:
13 But, look! on that very day 2 of them were journeying to a village about 60 stadia distant from Jerusalem [and] named Emmaus,
14 and they were conversing with each other over all these things that had come about.
15 Now as they were conversing and discussing, Jesus himself approached and began walking with them;
16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17 He said to them: What are these matters that you are debating between yourselves as you walk along? And they stood still with sad faces.
18 In answer the one named Cleopas said to him: Are you dwelling as an alien by yourself in Jerusalem and so do not know the things that have occurred in her in these days?
19 And he said to them: What things? They said to him: The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who became a prophet powerful in work and word before God and all the people;
20 and how our chief priests and rulers handed him over to the sentence of death and impaled him.
21 But we were hoping that this [man] was the one destined to deliver Israel; yes, and besides all these things, this makes the 3rd day since these things occurred.
22 Moreover, certain women from among us also astonished us, because they had been early to the memorial tomb
23 but did not find his body and they came saying they had also seen a supernatural sight of angels, who said he is alive.
24 Further, some of those with us went off to the memorial tomb; and they found it so, just as the women had said, but they did not see him.
25 So he said to them: Oh senseless ones and slow in heart to believe on all the things the prophets spoke!
26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?
27 And commencing at Moses and all the Prophets he interpreted to them things pertaining to himself in all the Scriptures.
28 Finally they got close to the village where they were journeying, and he made as if he was journeying on farther.
29 But they used pressure upon him, saying: Stay with us, because it is toward evening and the day has already declined. With that he went in to stay with them.
30 And as he was reclining with them at the meal he took the loaf, blessed it, broke it and began to hand it to them.
31 At that their eyes were fully opened and they recognized him; and he disappeared from them.
32 And they said to each other: Were not our hearts burning as he was speaking to us on the road, as he was fully opening up the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24).
I have to go with the crowd that says he visited his mother. Who wouldn’t visit mom? She was at the foot of his cross.
Does anyone in the "crowd" have any Biblical proof?
Here is an interesting scripture from Luke 8 for you to ponder while you are speculating on whether or not Jesus visited His mother after his death:
19Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”
21He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
It's interesting that he didn't "venerate" His mother above common everyday followers.
He set quite an example there for us to ponder on a thread titled "THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY: Condemned as Heretical by 2 Popes in the 5th and 6th Centuries"
It seems Jesus saw his mother as quite an un"assuming" follower.
**The most beautiful faith in the world is Christianity - the Biblical kind**
The one that Christ founded on the Apostles? That’s Biblical.
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ “
To: CynicalBearI think you will find that all born again Christians who follow Jesus closely and study the Bible diligently, understand that quite clearly.What you don’t seem to get, is that neither you, nor I, nor any other Tom, Dick, and Harry may authoritatively interpret scripture.
Anyone who attempts to interpret scripture on their own will almost always fail.
The only surefire way to understand the scriptures is to pray to God and ask the Holy Spirit to interpret for you. That's His job and He does it quite well.
When ever you read the Bible, remember to ask the Holy Spirit for understanding and wisdom.
On, and God will do the same for all Toms, Dicks, and Harrys.
He is not a respecter (Biblical use of that word of course) of persons.
Protestantism and Protestants are hated here.
Until they can. "He/She did what? Well then, they are not a Christian. Get a couple more peeps together. "He/She did what? They are no Christian." And now you have an edict of excommunication.
As a result, the individual has been declared excommunicate and removed from the society of Christians. Separated from Jesus by consensus. And so by what authority do protestant claim to declare someone a non-Christian? Futhermore, does their separation jeopardize their OSAS status? And once again what magisterial authority do protestants claim to make such a determination?
Rather, the protestant doesn't concern themselves with such matters. They simply attempt to console themselves with the standard protestant line, "They were never Christians to begin with."
Interesting that they'll assume the mantle of magiserial authority to determine an individual's status as a Christian and yet deny there is such a thing as magisterial authority in defining matters of faith and morals
Is Jesus in the Eucharist? Could be from the line of reasoning above: "because he has the power, that he has in fact done so" Works for so many doctrines in Catholicism.
In the end it's not about whether authority exists. Even protestants recognize a modicum of terrestial magisterial authority is necessary since they practice it (although they won't call it that). The issue is where it exists. Peter or Luther. Jesus gave the command to Peter, not to Luther. The Petrine Office is Supreme.
....”feelings of a Catholic”....
Well if they could separate their humanity from their churchianity that might be a reasonable request. But as long as their “heart” rests in their church and not in Jesus that’s simply an unreasonable request.
Truth will always trump “feelings”......because feelings can change on a dime. Truth is Jesus and that never changes.
Quite the contrary. This is primarily a secular political website with strong patriotic fervor. Attributes that don't necessarily require religious belief to be expressed. With some space set aside for religious people to do their thing. Protestantism, and its underlying reliance on secular modes of thought and philosophy to promulgate itself (hence the reason protestantism is always chasing the latest fads) are much more compatible with such a system than Catholicism whose spirit of belief, tradition and thought are not dependent upon secularistic or nationalistic zeal to gain appeal.
Simply put: Protestants think God is an American. Catholics do not.
The more those names are thrown in the mix with many repeats-- the favorite seems to be Koresh-- the less effective become the arguments.
I hope you didn't get sucked into following any of them in the past.
Amen! and there aint no feeling like FREEDOM!
Is that your final answer?
Thanks for the chuckle.
I stand by my statement:
Protestantism and Protestants are hated here.
Yes, bad things are said about Catholics as well as Protestants, not to mention just plain ol’ Christians (who have a difficult time convincing Catholics that all non Catholic Christians are NOT Protestants!)
"Protestant" is thrown around everyday here as if it is a dirty word.
Oh and nice little essay, although I don't agree with most of it. Painted with a very broad brush. Lots of intellect displayed though.
I'm quite familiar with Protestantism (as well as Catholicism) but am not a Protestant (or Catholic,) flail 'em all ya want, they are used to it.
The more reasonable request is for protestants to stop attempting to separate their humanity from their Christianity. Gnosticism and its, "matter is evil" heresy has already been condemned by the Church. I don't know why protestants insist on making this mistake.
But as long as their “heart” rests in their church and not in Jesus that’s simply an unreasonable request
False bifurcation. Why protestants insist on erecting either/or strawmen after being shown its false is beyond me. Could it be that protestants have to constantly put up these either/or barriers in order to justify their belief system? I suppose it is. Which is why they end up with the 'god in a box' problem.
Truth will always trump “feelings”......because feelings can change on a dime. Truth is Jesus and that never changes.
Is that so? Then perhaps you can explain the vast difference in hermeneutics between protestants after scripture has spoken to their heart plainly and clearly with the assistance of the Holy Spirit
Oh yeah. I forgot. "Those other people aren't real Christians. And you determined that how and by what authority?"
It's difficult to see your animosity toward this site and its administration.....if you're not happy with how things are operating, and since Free Republic is private property with the right to do as it wishes, then why make yourself miserable by posting to the Open Threads when the caucus threads have been specifically provided to you?
I fully agree. I recognize the Orthodox as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Heck, even in my more charitable moments I acknowledge my separated bretheren of the reformed tradition as being Christians, albeit protestants, but Christians nonetheless. Civil war is the bloodiest kind of war.
Oh and nice little essay, although I don't agree with most of it. Painted with a very broad brush. Lots of intellect displayed though.
Understandable. Some of that argument is based on my own personal observations. Lex Orandi Lex Credendi , how we pray is how we believe. I'm a big believer in that. So when I see Christianity as expressed by protestants in their matching polo shirts, wristbands, and carrying clipboards I see a definite connection between the secularity of their expression of belief and the theology itself.
Really?
If that were so, we wouldn’t see all the posts from Catholics saying that Protestants are going to hell unless they become Catholics.
I haven’t seen Protestants whine about that, they just counter it with debate.
Your “The anti-Catholic rhetoric is supported by the powers that be” is a strawman used when debate is too difficult to do,.
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