Posted on 03/01/2015 4:54:44 PM PST by NKP_Vet
Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote: “There are not over a hundred people in the United State who hate the Roman Catholic Church; there are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church.”
I was one of those who hated because of what I wrongly believed about the Catholic Church. The reason I had these beliefs was due to being told what to believe about the Catholic Church from those who were told what to believe about the Catholic Church. No one was willing to find out what the bottom line was concerning the Catholic Church. Everything said about the Church was taken as truth while it seemed no one was delving into what the truth really was.
What about these Catholics? They worshipped Mary. They had a religion but not a relationship with Jesus Christ. They said they believed in God but really their belief couldn’t be the same, could it? The Bible says in James 2:19 KJV “Thou believest that there is one God; Thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble”.
So do Catholics have a belief such as the devils? When most Catholics are asked if they have been “born again” or “have accepted Christ as their Savior”, their main response is “I believe in God” or “I am a good person”, or “I’m Catholic”. Also, they have all these rituals, Saints, Statues and what about the Pope is he really standing in for God? Another big item, are they cannibals when they eat the bread and drink the wine during communion? Why do they leave Jesus on the cross, don’t they realize Jesus has risen from the dead?
For the rest of Steve’s story, click at link.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic-convert.com ...
Given that this gentleman was a Baptist, I would suppose he already considered himself to have “converted to Christ” long before he ever became a Catholic. The point of his discussion is obviously going to be “why I am a Catholic Christian now, not a Baptist Christian,” not “why I have been a Christian for a long time, not an atheist, Buddhist, or Zoroastrian”.
Talk to someone who became a Catholic from a non-Christian background, and their emphasis would be a bit different.
One example is the English Reformer William Tyndale, he was strangled almost to the point of death, then burned alive for his work of translating the Bible into English so people could read God’s word for themselves.
“Again, you miss the point.”
I didn’t miss the point. You are making the mistake of linking two things and claiming there is irony when there is not.
He said: “When most Catholics are asked if they have been “born again”...their main response is ...“I’m Catholic”.”
And your false claim of irony is: “And this is posted at a website called catholic convert.”
There is no ironic link there.
This is irony: “The Titanic was promoted as being 100% unsinkable. The ship sank on its maiden voyage.”
When he says, Catholics say “I’m a Catholic” that in no way has an ironic interplay with “catholic-convert.com”. It would only work as irony if he said something such as, “I would never have something I wrote posted at something called “Catholic” whatever.”
Government schools really do a disservice to this country.
Are you catholic or Christian?
Average Catholics asked today how often they read the Bible likely would say that they do not read the Bible regularly. However, if asked how often they read Scripture, the answer would be different. Practicing Catholics know they read and hear Scripture at every Mass. Many also recognize that basic prayers Catholics say, such as the Our Father and the Hail Mary, are scriptural. But for most Catholics, the Scripture they hear and read is not from the Bible. It is from a worship aid in the pew.
Scripture always has played an important role in the prayer life of the Catholic Church and its members. For the ordinary Catholic in earlier centuries, exposure to Scripture was passive. They heard it read aloud or prayed aloud but did not read it themselves. One simple reason: Centuries ago the average person could not read or afford a book. Popular reading and ownership of books began to flourish only after the invention of the printing press. .
Once the printing press was invented, the most commonly printed book was the Bible, but this still did not make Bible-reading a Catholic’s common practice. Up until the mid-twentieth Century, the custom of reading the Bible and interpreting it for oneself was a hallmark of the Protestant churches springing up in Europe after the Reformation. Protestants rejected the authority of the Pope and of the Church and showed it by saying people could read and interpret the Bible for themselves. Catholics meanwhile were discouraged from reading Scripture. .
Identifying the reading and interpreting of the Bible as “Protestant” even affected the study of Scripture. Until the twentieth Century, it was only Protestants who actively embraced Scripture study. That changed after 1943 when Pope Pius XII issued the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu. This not only allowed Catholics to study Scripture, it encouraged them to do so. And with Catholics studying Scripture and teaching other Catholics about what they were studying, familiarity with Scripture grew. .
Scripture awareness grew after the Second Vatican Council. Mass was celebrated in the vernacular and so the Scripture readings at Mass were read entirely in English. Adult faith formation programs began to develop, and the most common program run at a parish focused on Scripture study. The Charismatic movement and the rise of prayer groups exposed Catholics to Scripture even more. All of this contributed to Catholics becoming more familiar with the Bible and more interested in reading the Scriptures and praying with them. http://www.usccb.org/bible/understanding-the-bible/study-materials/articles/changes-in-catholic-attitudes-toward-bible-readings.cfm
bereanbeacon.org
A Catholic Priest is Biblically Saved
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKiv3ZGAWo&feature=youtu.be
Why Did 50 Priests Leave the Roman Catholic Church?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjTVv5rXCgA&feature=youtu.be
Oddly enough, Tyndale was "ratted out" to the Belgian authorities by an English agent of King Henry VIII. This was after Henry had broken with the Pope; Henry wanted Tyndale gone because Tyndale agreed with the Pope (!) that Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn was invalid. Strange but true!
But I wasn't asking about unauthorized Bible translations, but about the original poster's assertion that Catholics were prohibited from reading the Bible. And not just occasionally, but "for centuries".
Sorry, I don't bow and scrape before something as absolute truth just because it's posted on the USCCB website.
Discouraged? Officially? When and by whom? Or just unofficially and off-the-record.
Again, the original poster said that Catholics were *prohibited* from reading the Bible *for centuries*.
I'd like some proof.
"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ" -- St. Jerome
Conduct a conversation.
I’m a Catholic Christian.
“I’d like some proof.”
You won’t get any. Of course.
Dude, it's a catholic website. You don't like what they have, take it up with them.
You asked for a source, I gave you one.
I somehow think if the pope himself said it you'd disagree.
It was at Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Acts 11:26
No mention of catholic.
“One example is the English Reformer William Tyndale...for his work of translating the Bible into English so people could read God’s word for themselves.”
That, of course, is completely false. Translation was not considered heresy. David Daniell makes this clear in his biography of Tyndale. Maybe you should read it.
Obama is an Islamic Christian which is the same thing as a Kosher Hog.
“Just can’t get that catholic out of there can you?”
I sure hope not since God Himself put it there.
“It was at Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Acts 11:26”
Yes, I know that.
“No mention of catholic.”
No mention of Bible or Trinity either. You might believe in both. I don’t know if you do. If you do, then you just destroyed your own argument.
Government schools really do stink don’t they?
“Obama is an Islamic Christian which is the same thing as a Kosher Hog.”
I think you stymied yourself, Stymee.
Gee...even by your version of the Bible, Jesus says that we must be born again. Are you calling Jesus' words nonsensical????
John 3:1-21Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)3 And there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 This man came to Jesus by night, and said to him: Rabbi, we know that thou art come a teacher from God; for no man can do these signs which thou dost, unless God be with him.
3 Jesus answered, and said to him: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith to him: How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born again?
5 Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.
7 Wonder not, that I said to thee, you must be born again.
Such a winsome spirit. Perhaps I should point out you are not my sovereign and as such you cannot order me to converse. I don’t want to debate and I shall not. Moreover, you are not omniscient either. You do not know who watches linked videos, reads linked articles, listens to linked sermons, or reads posted Scripture and/or comments. I’ve received a number of messages of thanks from Catholics searching for the truth.
I don’t care what Catholics post or discuss. I see Catholic posts as opportunities to spread the truth. So I thank the original poster for giving me the opportunity to post links to the wonderful testimony of former Catholic priest, Richard Bennett, a man who served Rome for more than 20 years. He was of the Domincan Order and studied in Rome at the Angelicum University. Richard has lived quite a life and has a wonderful testimony of God’s saving grace. I am certain there are FReepers who could benefit from listening to him. I also know on the authority of Scripture that the people God is saving will hear and see the truth. They will be “taught of God” in the John 6:45 sense. Christ said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27)
Maybe I should read more on the subject, but up until both of you corrected me I had heard only this version:
“To a 15th century farmer, the Bible was just a big book full of unreadable words and made-up rules. This was because priests in those times insisted on the Bible being in Latin. They said the Bible was a holy book, and shouldn’t be allowed to be read by any old sinful peasant. Really, they wanted it to be in a language only they could understand so they could make up a bunch of silly laws to suit themselves, then get away with it by saying “It says so in the Bible.” They thought no-one would ever know different, and no-one would ever try and reveal the truth. And no-one did, until Tyndale came along......”
-www.tyndalearchive.com
Very few outside of the clergy could read latin, and if a translation in the language of the people is forbidden; they are not allowed to read the bible for themselves.
Our homeschool curriculum has covered many martyrs and William Tyndale was one of them.
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