I myself am baptist. Years ago I married into a Catholic Family. At the time I was not baptist... Matter of fact I was in essence an agnostic. I believe that there was a God, but knew nothing about Him, nor had any interest in learning.
My family would do the occasional Christmas or Easter Mass, and maybe 1 or 2 other services in a year. My son (age 4 at the time) could tell you all about vampires, ghosts, ghouls, etc because he would overhear me playing Dungeons and Dragons a couple of times a week. My wife didn't like that, so she challenged me to Read the Bible for 30 days rather than play Dungeons and Dragons.
I started reading the Bible and we started attending church at the Catholic church where my wife grew up. After 30 days of Bible study, I told her that there were some things being taught in her church that appeared to be "twisted" out of context with what I was reading in the Bible. To say the least, she was not pleased with this statement. After a while thought, she started checking out the teachings with what was in the Bible. She also eventually came to the conclusion that there were things "not quite right" with what was being taught.
Now please don't get me wrong. I am not Catholic bashing. The Catholic church we were attending was very conservative in its' views. And there were many good things being taught, but there were many times that some of the things they taught as "fact" were often what I would see as a "gray area". We checked out some other Catholic churches in the area and found that there were varying degrees of Catholic Churches. We encountered some that were fairly bible centered, while others had gone off the deep end (where hymns were being sung to "Earth, how she loved us").
My wife and I no longer attend Catholic church, going now to a Local Independent Baptist church. As I said, my wife's side of the family is ALL Catholic. I have found some to be very correct in the essential teachings (That Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven, claiming that it is he whom they put their trust. I have also encountered the other extremes, encountering those who "DO" pray to Mary (they don't want to bother Jesus with their prayers, so they trust in Mary to take their petitions to Jesus), and some who even believe that all the worlds religions are pathways to God (in essence, we are all trying to get to the same place, we just take different paths).
I say all this just to say that within the Catholic church, just as any other denomination, there are those who are keeping to the core essentials, and those who are not.
I will share this though. There are things in the Catechism of the Catholic church that are not biblical. and I have found that the Catholics I know who are more bible centered tend to disagree with some of the views that are in the catechism.
I started reading the Bible and we started attending church at the Catholic church where my wife grew up. After 30 days of Bible study, I told her that there were some things being taught in her church that appeared to be "twisted" out of context with what I was reading in the Bible.
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BINGO! And this does not just go with catholics. There are a lot of churches who bend to people's wishes instead of preaching the gospel from God's word. This is where you see a lot of people getting into the left wing movments about accepting homosexuality as a "normal" life style when the Bible out right says its a sin.
anywho. excellent post.
That's some interesting stuff.
I've come to learn, while watching the arguments, that the problem with Catholics is that they don't necessarily practive "Purely" from the bible. But rather from what some people say the bible says.
Still, like many have already posted, Catholics believe Jesus died for their sins. Seems like that is all that is really necessary...In the end.
??
Much of their teachings came from the merging of Catholicism with the Roman Babylonian Brotherhood. Mary didn't show up on the scene until 250 years after Christs Crucifixion. The rosary came years after that. It's two religions merged into one. That's why many of the things they do aren't mentioned or required in the Bible. The Church rituals are handed down through generations.
Those "extremes" are both orthodox Catholic.
Didja ever pick up a catechism to read all the beliefs and where they come from?
For your information on prayers to saints, Mary and God.
The special veneration due to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church states: 66 “The various forms of piety towards the Mother of God, which the Church has approved within the limits of sound and orthodox doctrine, according to the dispositions and understanding of the faithful, ensure that while the mother is honored, the Son through whom all things have their being Col 1:15-16 and in whom it has pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell Col 1:19 is rightly known, loved and glorified and his commandments are observed.”
There are three levels of reverence that we in this life offer. Latria is reserved for God alone. Hyperdulia is reserved for the Blessed Virgin. Dulia is reserved for all the rest of the heavenly host.
http://www.secondexodus.com/html/catholicdefinitions/hyperdulia.htm