...than it is in others....
Posted on 07/02/2008 3:28:00 AM PDT by Gamecock
Hate speech for the ignorant.
But are you Irish?
That is actually a thing I love about the Catholic Church, you’re sitting there with some of the richest people in town and the poorest.
I can only speak about my experience but in my town most of the denominations are kind of classed. The wealthier and middle class Baptists seem to belong to the 1st Baptist. The lower middle class seem to belong to the Bethel Baptist. The Mexican and Black Baptists have their own churches. I could go on and tell about the Methodists and others but you know what I mean.
This reminded me of a phenomenon in our town. There was a family of 22 children and they were staunch Church of Christ but they often had disagreements of doctrine. They would split off and take a few of their family and friends with them. We are now on the 3rd generation of this family, most of which stayed close to home and they have spread out through the neighboring towns and started more new churches, each with subtle differences and each pastored by the one who wanted the change. Most of their churches have 10 or 15 members and they are mostly related. I just find it funny.
I was just joking :-D
I knew what you were saying.
Why would I listen to someone else’s interpretation of Scripture when I have the interpretation of the very church handed down through the ages and protected by the Holy Spirit?
You know, I don’t have to search the internet to find lies about whatever religion you have, I trust in the Holy Spirit to handle that.
As for me, I will practice my faith in Jesus through the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded on Jesus and protected throghout the ages by the Holy Spirit.
If you choose you may rely on your own understanding but I can sure see where ego can creep into that understanding of Scripture and hijack your understanding. I don’t despair, I know that I am willing to follow Father, Son and Holy Spirit and they will not lead me astray. I also don’t despair for those who are separated from the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church because Jesus has infinite Mercy.
Gosh, yes. I’ll start researchin immediately.
I can’t prove I’m funny, though I do have a certificate declaring me the best singer at a Doctor Who convention, which has got to be worth a laugh or two. I can prove I’m Catholic, though. Would you like a copy of the confirmation certificate, or will it be catechism at ten paces?
What it also means is, "Don't be a wussy." If some priest or whatever has his or head where the sun never shines, you write the diocese. If that doesn't work you call the diocese, repeatedly and firmly, though politely. If that doesn't work you write the Vatican. Their turn around time on letters and enquiries is supposed to be under 6 weeks which I think is pretty good.We are often mocked because our bishops don't seem to know what's going on. And then it turns out the people complaining haven't tried to let the bishop know what's going on. AND if the bishop could afford a secret police and network of spies and had and used one, the complaints would shake the rafters of heaven!
You gotta make calls if you want to get result. And our claim of ecclesiastical holiness does not rest on the character (or lack thereof) or ineptitude or stupidity of our clergy. It is in SPITE of those more than normally earthen vessels, not because of it.
We grow roses. it takes manure to grow roses. Believe me, we've got the manure.
Two years ago I sponsored a wonderful woman for confirmation and reception. The service started, as all Easter vigils do, with the lighting of the "new fire" outside in the courtyard. My friend is short, and she wanted to see. I said to her, "You're almost Catholic. Use your elbows."
I knew you were joking. I just didn’t want Salvation thinking I was a recusant :)
I'm an American, a mongrel. I have "heterosis" (even though I brush AND gargle!)
Oh, I think you can.
Funny AND Catholic. You can DO that?
...than it is in others....
The dame is a southern dame, a literary dame, a dame with a pretty odd name.
Two guesses :)
Pay attention. 1 John is, as I said, about assurance of salvation. I did not say it was about predestination. Read 1 Peter, Titus, 2 John, Ephesians 1, Luke 18, Romans 8 to learn about election/predestination.
Your fragmented, inane replies have earned you a spot on my ignore list. bye.
Then, out of your own mouth, He uses us for at least one thing. If there is one, there can be others. He could have proclaimed the Gospel to us directly, too, writing it in the sky or something. Yet that would be pushing our free will to accept or reject Him too far, to the point where it would not exist. In like manner, He could directly rule the Church, but that would also destroy our free will (if God, clearly manifested as God, told any person on earth to do or not do some thing or other, who would really be free to refuse Him?).
Therefore, He has given His authority to Peter, the Apostles and their respective successors, the popes and bishops, in order, to a large degree, to preserve our free will in assenting to belief in Him. This should not be so hard to understand! It is not that the popes are infallible through their own human power, or the bishops, collectively, through theirs. No! It is a charism of God Himself that is imparted to them through His condescension, not because of their own power or even their own personal holiness.
Sometimes, in your zeal to ensure that God is thought of as the only one with power and authority, you non-Catholics get ridiculously impractical. Yes, only God has power and authority because of who He is; but to simply admit that He established a hierarchical structure called "the Church" in order to derivatively exercise His authority is hardly to diminish God! To say that He can't do this is to diminish Him!
Your worldview is either incredibly naive, or simply to dug-in to a set of impractical propositions to see the clear path of God's own choices. Clearly, He chose not to govern His Church, post-Resurrection, directly. One clear reason why has already been noted. Clearly, Jesus Himself could have personally written, with pen and parchment, every Word of the Bible, and then some. But He didn't, choosing to use sinful human beings as conduits for what He wanted to say, inspiring them, yes, but still using them as true authors, calculating into the mix their writing styles, education, facility with Greek (in the New Testament), and so forth. Why? Who can say? Free will would be not nearly as compromised if Jesus, appearing as a man, wrote all of the NT personally and handed it whole to the Apostles. But He wrote the NT through the sacred writers anyway, establishing a track record of voluntary "reliance" on mere men.
Papal authority is exercised in the same way, through the same set of Godly condescensions. God doesn't "need" us, but He to use us anyway. To rebel against that, and scream that you will never submit to the authority of a mere man - a sinner! - who arrogates to himself God-like authority is to entirely miss the point! Indeed, according to the general non-Catholic Christian worldview, man's actions are so inconsequential, and his salvation, once he imagines he has attained it, so divorced further from his actions, that one wonders why God preserves Himself in a certain level of obscurity instead of simply saving who He wills right from their creation and translating them directly to Heaven! The incoherency of the Protestant position on these points is truly astounding!
Irish-y name? I’ve never read her. Don’t know why. I hear, well both of them are great.
LOL. The funny thing is that people like you only believe the opinions of the Popes when it suits your prejudice.
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