Posted on 02/07/2005 9:05:30 AM PST by skellmeyer
Roughly half of America dislike everything George Bush says, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t the President of the United States. This is a point too few people keep in mind. Take, for instance, the example of Stas, a very nice Orthodox man, who read my recent piece on concerning the Muslim reporter who implicitly threatened to kill me and nuke America. He thought the piece excellent except for my statement that the Pope was the head of Christianity: “As for the Pope, 1 billion various protestants and 300 million Orthodox don't follow his words and that's half of Christianity.” To keep things honest, a Mormon and a Protestant also voiced essentially this disagreement.
I could have pointed out, as I do here, that his statement proves nothing about either the Pope or the President, but I demurred. Instead, I merely pointed out that there are no major theological differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, apart from a minor theological point concerning the generation of the Holy Spirit and his aforementioned quibble concerning the Pope. He insisted I was wrong, and in attempting to demonstrate his case, he inadvertently made a connection between Orthodoxy and Islam that I had read about, but never really seen in action before.
(Excerpt) Read more at bridegroompress.com ...
skellmeyer-”And as long as you refuse the power of [the Pope's] words, your wives will be prostitutes and your children corpses.”
Is it any wonder???
Never judge a denomination by the ravings of a loudmouth who knows enough to be dangerous.
If Islam resembles Orthodoxy in the sense of their view on God (which only has superficial resemblence to Orthodox theology) it is because Islam is a heresy derived from a mixture of Arab pagan, Jewish and a little of Eastern Christianity and mostly of the Arian heresy version.
Not to mention the Council of Trent, a few hundred papal bulls . . . And yet the current pope regards people of all religions to have a part in the kingdom of heaven. Most curious, that . . .
I thought Muslims are highly dependent on their clerics and religious leaders.
Protestants believe in the priesthood of all believers. As Christ provided, we need no intermediary to commune with God.
Oh, well, in that case, you are a brilliant man because I agree with everything in your reply... :)
Would you PLEASE bother to cite any of these things, not that you can because it's false, but so that your inaccuracies can be clearly outlined and explained.
And please don't bring forward anything that has the word anathema, as the correct understanding and use of that term has already been explained here by another poster very nicely, so if you try to say that an anathema condemns Protestants to hell or some-such, the people following this thread will know you are clueless.
So, with that caveat in mind, go ahead and bring forward your evidences,if you can.
My reading of history, as well.
I have a peculiar view of religion, being cynical about all churches and religious leaders. I believe that religious leaders in the "right" faith, the one I hold to, are capable of committing the same evil as any other person. Likewise I believe that a religious leader in the "wrong" faith, such as Islam, can be a truly holy person doing God's work.
I think God will use the tool He chooses to use at the time and to talk to those He wants to talk to.
I don't buy for a moment that Mohammed was a prophet of God. In fact I think he served "the other guy," if he was serving anyone besides his own lust for power. By the same token I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find some Muslim Saints in heaven, if I ever make it there.
Hey, don't look at me- my wife's the Catholic, not me. She's the one violating the tenets of her religion by birth control, not me. In that regard, she's a pretty standard American Catholic. I personally couldn't care less about the Vatican's teachings, since I'm not Roman Catholic.
You want to claim that the Orthodox are better because your bishops are more consistently asses than ours by supporting divorce and contraception actively instead of just passively?
Nope. I want to point out that before you go on the offensive as to why every other denomination is wrong and the RCC get everything right, you may want to inspect your own house, first.
If you can't see that using contraception and raping little boys are both mortal sins, then all I have to say is "I'll be quiet - I hate to interrupt pagans in conversation."
Again, I'm not Roman Catholic, so I couldn't care less what your denomination's teachings are. As I've mentioned before, the Pope has no authority over me.
Exactly what Islam says - without the Christ part. What western press often call clergy are in reality Islamic scholars whose opinion carries weight but serve no religious function as intermediaries between the Islamic faithful and Allah.
Additionally, Protestants are highly interested in the "common man" (and woman and child) having easy and complete access to the Word. Or in other words, a layperson like myself can pick up the Bible and read, study, analyze, and draw conclusions from the exact same thing our pastors or deacons are drawing from.
Do Muslim men, women, and children also have such freedom?
So Muslims don't really pay attention to the folks issuing the fatwahs? Is that why Rushdie had to go into hiding?
#113 is tied in with this. I just do not believe Muslims view "priesthood" as Protestants view it. We are operating from much different foundations.
Then Islam is 100% identical in that regard to Protestants - that's why Islamic schools exist so the common man can learn to read and understand the Koran on his own.
Islam preaches SOLA SCRIPTURA.
To bad, it's the truth.
Fatwahs can be issued by any Islamic leader. No clergy involved. Fatwah is simply a declaration.
You are being either disingenous or ignorant. From the Catholic Encyclopedia article on anathema:
Anathema remains a major excommunication which is to be promulgated with great solemnity. A formula for this ceremony was drawn up by Pope Zachary (741-52) in the chapter Debent duodecim sacerdotes, Cause xi, quest. iii. The Roman Pontifical reproduces it in the chapter Ordo excommunicandi et absolvendi, distinguishing three sorts of excommunication: minor excommunication, formerly incurred by a person holding communication with anyone under the ban of excommunication; major excommunication, pronounced by the Pope in reading a sentence; and anathema, or the penalty incurred by crimes of the gravest order, and solemnly promulgated by the Pope. In passing this sentence, the pontiff is vested in amice, stole, and a violet cope, wearing his mitre, and assisted by twelve priests clad in their surplices and holding lighted candles. He takes his seat in front of the altar or in some other suitable place, amid pronounces the formula of anathema which ends with these words: "Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive N-- himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance and satisfy the Church; we deliver him to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of judgment." Whereupon all the assistants respond: "Fiat, fiat, fiat." The pontiff and the twelve priests then cast to the ground the lighted candles they have been carrying, and notice is sent in writing to the priests and neighbouring bishops of the name of the one who has been excommunicated and the cause of his excommunication, in order that they may have no communication with him. Although he is delivered to Satan and his angels, he can still, and is even bound to repent. The Pontifical gives the form for absolving him and reconciling him with the Church. The promulgation of the anathema with such solemnity is well calculated to strike terror to the criminal and bring him to a state of repentance, especially if the Church adds to it the ceremony of the Maranatha.Translation: Unless the anathematized person repents and becomes again a good Roman Catholic and does whatever penance is required of him, the RCC considers him condemned to hell.
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