Anti-Catholicism, Hypocrisy and Double Standards

ConstantinesRant ^ | Sunday, July 22, 2007 | Constantine

[William Terrell]

My friend, you said, "The Church has said that there may possibly, based upon the thief hung beside Jesus, be another route to salvation. That is, may. We don’t know that there is, but there is one incident where there wasn’t."

Another route to salvation, maybe. Does that not mean that the Catholic church claims to be the route to salvation, grudgingly acknowledging that there may be another, with great qualification?

[William Terrell]

The church, and members thereof, have claimed all these things. I can't believe you deny this, since you are and have been a participant on many of these threads.

[MarkBsnr]

What the Church says is that Jesus has given us the path to salvation, which the Church is responsible for teaching and bringing to all.

If God wishes another path to salvation for an individual, then He can do so. But it is beyond us. We have our instructions and can act only upon them.

Infants who die before they are baptized. Are they taken into Heaven? Personally, I’d hope so. They do not follow the prescribed path that Jesus laid out for us. We do not know, but we can hope. But I cannot stand before you, William, and say definitively that they are or they aren’t. They may. And that’s the best that I can do.

[MarkBsnr]

The Church’s claims are online and open to all.

If you take umbrage at any of them, the reasons for them are normally explained either there or through a link, or possibly I may be of assistance. The Church is made up of the servants of God, and the Pope is the servant of the servants of God.

Some translations mean more slave than servant, but I look at it this way - a servant can quit. We can quit God. It’s just that God never quits us.

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.

[Cronos]

Let’s put it straight — The Apostolic Church is Christ’s Church. We are not some man-made cult like those formed in the 6th century or post the 15th century. We are followers of Christ, not one of the myriad breakaway snake handling cults that I wouldn’t call Churches. While folks are free to follow Mormonism, Jehovah’s witnesses, Scientologists, Moonies or the other groups, I don’t call those Churches.

[Cronos]

Which religion are you talking about? We of The Church don’t have any goddess worship, we only worship The Christ. Attend any mass and you will see the worship directed to Christ alone. Have you ever attended a Mass? Do you know that we read scripture — OT, NT, gospels daily?

[Cronos]

Good point — 1000 silverlings probably never knew that there were Churches formed in Armenia, Ethiopia, India, Mongolia, Central Asia, Iran, etc. in the 1st to the 3rd centuries. He may not know of the Assyrian/Chaldean Church, the Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankar, Ethiopian etc. churches. And, surprisingly, most of these Churches were separated from the bishop of Rome, yet our dogma remains similar. Surprisingly, again, The Orthodox — who, along with the earlier mentioned Oriental Churchs are part of the One Apostolic Church, share many of our core beliefs regarding the role of Mary.

[Cronos]

Well the magical thinking of using Mary or any other human to control God is the current one we are discussing.

Mary doesn't control God -- you've been reading too many anti-Catholic propaganda pieces. We say that Mary pleads for us in Heaven. Does God NEED to listen to Her? NO, He is God and can do as He pleases. But He does listen to her -- just like He, for some strange reason, is willing to forgive us and not smash us into oblivion. Why? I don't know the mind of God -- do you?

[Cronos]

The inspiring force for The Bible is God. He used human vessels to create it, just like he used Jeremiah in the OT.

[Cronos]

We pray to God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We don’t pray toAlllah, so if you want a pray from you to the latter, you ought to go elsewhere

[Simi Valley Tom]

First, when Protestants say sola Scriptura they mean that the Bible is the ultimate authority on matters of faith — nothing else equals it. Ever read Jesus Christ’s words that man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God — the Bible is our inerrant written standard ultimately for the Word of God.

Second, the Catholic Church has abandoned some basic biblical tenets and former church teachings by opposing the death penalty for first degree murder, which must never be abrogated (Numbers 35:31).

Third, the Bishop of Rome was always considered first among equals; he is not the head of the Body of Christ, Jesus is (in fact, Paul himself rebuked Peter at one point, according to Galatians).

Finally, the economic/political problems of Latin America have been increased by the poor teachings of the Catholic Church, as Michael Novak has shown in his comparison of Latin American countries with the United States of America. The Protestant work ethic and its endorsement of capitalist democracy under God, not under the leader of one Christian sect, has made this Protestant land of liberty the best country in history, a beacon to humanity, as long as it obeys the Word of God as interpreted by the great Protestant Reformers and their descendents, including me.

[Cronos]

It even had a Pontificus Maximus to lead them all

A little learning of Latin would help you --> Pontificus Maximus is Latin for High Priest. Now, even Jews had high priests, do you say the CAtholic Church is then Jewish?

[Cronos]

And, furthermore, your statements about Roman religion are incorrect. I would urge more reading on the Roman empire and it's culture. Rome didn't have ONE combined religion of any sort, it was pretty much laissez-faire as far as religion was concerned: you could worship whomever you wanted as long as you didn't rebel against Rome

That's why Judaism was left to itself as was the various Greek religions, Zoroastrianism, etc.

The religion in Rome itself prior to the conquering of Grecian states was pretty primitive -- each family had a Genus, or a family god, which was primarily a god of the hearth. There were gods of the elements: the sky, the earth etc. but Roman religion was not really sophisticated like the Greeks or even like the Gauls / Germans. When they came in contact with the Greeks, the Romans borrowed whole-sale from the Achaens and just renamed Greek gods with Roman name: Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite became Venus, Heracles became Hercules.

The Romans even re-wrote their origins portraying themselves as descendents of the Trojans.

At the time of Christ, even those were becoming ritualized and there were many religious groups playing out: Mazdaism, Zoroastrianism, Cybele, Ishtar, etc. etc.

They had no "saints"

[big'ol_freeper]

Most Catholics know about this tactic that Fundamentalists use. They will tell us what we believe and how stupid we are for believing it. 99% of the time they are wrong.

Anti-Catholicism rots the mind. It blinds people and they become obsessed with the destruction of something that they cannot destroy.

Wow...the author must be a Catholic Freeper.

Those two statements cover it in a nutshell.

I am glad to be of a faith where not once have I ever heard a theological argument made with reference to another faith, either from the pulpit or in a social context. The focus is always on Heavenly things. I was well into adulthood before I realized that many hate us and the venom spews out regularly from the pulpits. It leads one to wonder what kind of faith it is that is dependent on tearing down other faiths in order to "justify" their creed.

[Cronos]

Will -- your thing about "sacrifices" in the form of coins and bills put in a box is sheer silly. Netmilsmom's response is the best for your post:

No, no, no. The candles magically appear from heaven. No one has to BUY them. When they get to the bottom, POOF, a new one appears. In fact, if you go to any parish and find that all the candles are lit, you turn around three times, click your heels and point east. Shazam! A new one will appear! God knows our hearts so either a day candle or a five day will appear.

My neighbor’s, boyfriend’s, mailman’s third cousin on his mother’s side had a whole new bank of candles appear while she was worshiping Mary to get a wart to go away. I think it had something to do with the lamb she slaughthered the night before on the altar in her backyard by her Immaculate Conception yard statue. Not long after, the statue was stolen. Hmmmmmmmmm.

(the myths about Catholics are pretty silly, aren’t they?)

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.

[Cronos]

The Church is not a denomination. It is The Apostolic Church founded by Christ Himself through His Apostles and has branches in the Assyrian, Oriental, Orthodox and Catholic branches, but all part of the One Apostolic Church. Other groupings are denominations and not part of Christ’s Church

[Cronos]

Guiness is kind of heavy — smooth, but heavy. Makes me feel drowsy after just 1. Though I know a few mates (Irish of course) who can chug a half a dozen and be completely unfazed with no slurring and no drowsiness!

[Cronos]

This article was not about hating Jewish people. It was about the Non-Catholics who would have no problem debating Catholic doctrine and practices but be horrified that anyone would do the same to Jewish doctrine and practices.

Well, there are Protestant and Orthodox posters who debate Catholic doctrine, but do so in a civilised manner -- they won't pop up and down and say "You worship a goddess" and then, when you refute that, they don't say "you don't know what you're talking about -- I'm telling you that YOU worship a goddess, so stop trying to tell me that I don't know what you do, better than you!"