Posted on 07/23/2007 3:36:15 PM PDT by annalex
**Get them OUT of the god-less government schools!**
The following was written by Bruce Shortt ( a Protestant) but has application to the education of Catholic children:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48001
“Interestingly, a careful study by Orthodox Jews strongly confirms that how a child is educated clearly trumps all other factors with respect to whether a child retains his faith into adulthood.”
“The authors of the study, Anthony Gordon and Richard Horowitz, spent years researching the effects of educating Jewish children in Orthodox Jewish day-schools. Their findings demonstrate the pivotal role that parochial education plays in the religious formation of a child: “... multiple research studies have come to the same conclusion: Within three generations there will be almost no trace of young American Jews who are currently not being raised in Orthodox homes with a complete Jewish Day School education ... the less time-intensive forms of Jewish education have almost no effect on intermarriage.” [emphasis added]
“How is it that giving Jewish children an education based on the worldview of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings has such a profound effect? Gordon and Horowitz find that the child so educated is equipped to answer the ultimate question, “Why be Jewish?”:”
“Orthodox parents and Orthodox day schools seem to give their children enough good reasons for staying Jewish that even when the children are grown and have the option to intermarry and disappear from Jewish life, virtually none of them do. Somehow, they reach adulthood with solid answers to the question of “Why be Jewish?”
“Moreover, as Gordon and Horowitz point out, a less committed approach to the training up of children leads to catastrophe:”
“There is finally a dawning recognition that Jewish continuity and survival cannot be sustained in what has been an American lifestyle devoid of serious Jewish education and Jewish living. One might have believed in the 1950’s or 1960’s that it was sufficient to have minimal Jewish exposure. Examples of such exposure includes simply to be a member of a Temple, have Jewish friends, play basketball at the Jewish Center and live in a generally Jewish neighborhood to ensure that one's children would be Jewish. However, we now have the data and studies to know that children who are left without an education leading to deep Jewish beliefs and practices have little chance of having Jewish descendants.”
“No less than Christians, Jews are enjoined to train up their children in the way they should go all of the time. But, also like Christians, relatively few do. Moreover, just as our disobedience in the education of our children has weakened Christianity, Jewish leaders are concerned about the loss of future Jewish generations as their children become more estranged from Judaism as a result of their parents’ failure to provide their children with a Jewish education and intermarriage. “
“Not surprisingly, then, at virtually every point in the Gordon-Horowitz study, we could substitute the word “Christian” for “Jew” and the result would be an accurate picture of the situation facing Christians today. As Christian Smith, George Barna and others have pointed out, our children neither know what Christianity is nor can they answer the question “Why be Christian?”
“Gordon and Horowitz make their point poignantly to Jews by asking Jewish parents, “Will your grandchildren be Jews?” For Christians the relevant question is, “Will your children be Christians.” Unless parents and pastors decide to change their priorities, the data from Barna and others demonstrate that the answer is clearly “no” for 90 percent or more of Christian parents. Do you care? If you do, you and your church will follow Dr. Mohler’s advice and begin developing an exit strategy from the public schools today. Now.”
In my college years I essentially fell away from the faith.
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The author of this article was likely educated in government K-12 schools and was utterly unprepared to defend his faith in the hostile environment of the university
The RCC is an apostate denomination as proven by the worship of Mary.
the example was Marx (born a Jew, but hardly a Jew) with Communism as compared to Hitler (born a cAtholic, but hardly a Catholic) with NAziism.
>>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!” <<
Spot on.
We don't worship Mary. (That is, unless you're using "worship" in its original sense of "render honor to", as in the traditional wedding vows which have the groom saying to the bride, "With my body I thee worship.")
And, if honoring Mary makes one apostate, then your Bible is apostate (see Luke 1:48) and all Christian denominations were apostate for about 1100 years, which I guess means that the Holy Spirit was asleep on the job.
***Guiness is kind of heavy — smooth, but heavy.***
Since moving to the US, I’ve experienced a number of American beers - most of which are like making love in a canoe.
Soda pop, not beer. :)
Point the 1st: You must prove that Catholics worship Mary.
Point the 2nd: You must prove the condition of apostacism.
Point the 3rd: It is the Catholic faith, not the faith of Joe the snake oil salesman started sometime last year when snake oil sales hit a new low and he had to find another means of income.
G-d used human vessels to write the Prophets and the Writings. G-d wrote the Torah Himself. It has no human element whatsoever. This is the ancient and unchanging tradition Israel has understood since Mt. Sinai. What, don't you believe in tradition? What are you, a Protestant or something?
I know what they mean. Where is that in the Scripture? I can show you where the authority of the Church is in the Scripture.
opposing the death penalty
The Church also abandoned the major Biblical tenet of not eating pork and lobster. The parts of Jewish Law that we as Catholics obey we obey because Jesus repeated them for us (and He often expanded those, see Sermon on the Mount), or because it is a part of natural law. That capital punishment was a part of Old Testament law is not a reason to hold to it.
However, you are not well informed in this particular case. The Church does not oppose death penalty in principle, only in societies where criminals can be securely imprisoned instead. Further, that is not a teaching of faith and morals and Catholics are free to form their own conscience on that, and many do.
the Bishop of Rome was always considered first among equals; he is not the head of the Body of Christ, Jesus is
Jesus is the head of the Church indeed, and the Pope is His vicar, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean the pope is infallible in all he does or says; I can name many popes that were wrong on a number of things. The doctrine of papal infallibility is much stricter than you probably think it is.
the economic/political problems of Latin America have been increased by the poor teachings of the Catholic Church
May be so, -- it is a complex issue. What that has to do with anything?
Yes, I agree.
Firstly, you need to refer to The Church correctly, it is The One Apostolic and Catholic Church. This Church includes branches of the LAtin Rite, the Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankar, Chaldean, Maronite, etc along with the Assyrian, Oriental and Orthodox branches.
I will appreciate an intelligent comment to which I then will give a serious response.
RCC doctrine that says that Christ reigns through Mary puts Mary in Christ's place. That makes Mary the subject of false worship.
Point 1 proves point 2.
It's very difficult to give a conversational response to such an absurd statement. All I could do is try to point out that absurdity. If you can justify the worship of Mary biblically then I might have to listen to your point about the position of the RCC.
If course veneration of Mary is biblical: she is the mother of Christ who gave us our Savior; she is His first disciple who never betrayed Him or gave in to fear. That is in the Bible, you know.
If course -> of course.
This makes no sense at all.
First disciple: Mary was made aware of Jesus’s future ministry by the angel and by prophetic statements of Holy Simeon (Luke 1-2); she was urging Him to begin His ministry at Cana which attracted the first believers other than His family and seers like Holy Simeon (John 2).
Never betrayed Him: do you contend that she did? Where is that in the Bible? Her constancy is shown as she was at the foot of the Cross while all but John ran off or betrayed Him (John 19) and at the Pentecost (Acts 1-2).
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