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Can Catholics Be Christians?
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church ^

Posted on 12/08/2009 11:41:52 AM PST by Gamecock

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To: Ransomed; Campion
“Supposedly, we have the strange case of alleged adherents of an alleged “goddess” denying that she is, in fact, a “goddess” at all.”

Not to mention the fact that the alleged goddess worshipping cult actually KICKS PEOPLE OUT FOR worshipping goddesses!! Which seem an odd thing to do if goddess worship is to be promoted. We can’t even get that right I suppose.

I can clarify this.

From the points of view against which you are arguing, a person need not be officially elevated to the status of "goddess" to be worshiped in what they consider to be an unlawful manner. These views do see, however, the "unlawful worship" as raising the individual to question to the place of God, even if not done officially.

The problem is, as I indicated before, the two sides of this debate have different paradigms and views of the Christian religion. You are all basically talking past each other without agreeing on initial premises and approaches. Until that happens, one side will never convince the other, you'll all continue to be merely preaching to the choir while going over the other side's head, and your efforts are tantamount to bashing your head against a wall.

I say this with all love and direct that comment to both Catholics and Protestants on this thread.

561 posted on 12/09/2009 9:44:40 AM PST by MWS
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To: Mad Dawg
One word: Bartolome de las Casas

Was this what was printed on the coins celebrating the killing of non-RC Christians?

562 posted on 12/09/2009 9:46:02 AM PST by wmfights (If you want change support SenateConservatives.com)
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To: Gamecock; seoul62; Petronski
Either our name is written in the book of life or it isn’t.

If it is we will hear “well done.” If not, we will hear “depart from me.”


Yup, seoul, as the divine Calvin said.

If God decided before time that He would guide you and control your hand and ensure you never sin, then at judgement day, He will not ask, he'll say "I directed you well, my puppet, so now you go to heaven".

On the other hand, if God decided before time that He would guide you and control your hand and ensure you sinned, then at judgement day, He will not ask, he'll say "I directed you well, my pupper, so now you go to hell"

That's the love that Calvin sees in God who directs everything we do.
563 posted on 12/09/2009 9:46:52 AM PST by Cronos (Nuke Mecca NOW!!!<img src="http://shiitehappens.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/bomb_mecca450.jpg" />)
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To: Campion; Gamecock
You mean all those fine Protestant folks who start out their evangelism with "If you died tonight, and God asked you why you should go to heaven, what would you say?" are wrong?

Well, it depends on which sort of Protestant you're talking about. If those were said by Arminians or Lutherans, then the Calvinists would say they were wrong.
564 posted on 12/09/2009 9:48:22 AM PST by Cronos (Nuke Mecca NOW!!!<img src="http://shiitehappens.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/bomb_mecca450.jpg" />)
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To: Iscool
I was talking to someone who claims to be a Catholic, not inviting a discussion on the Scriptural aspects of eternal security, hence my reference to Trent. He claims that Trent is authoritative for him.

Oh yeah, we have eternal life, right now

So could you embark on a career of mass murder, proudly insist you did the right thing up until the end, then die and go straight to heaven?

(If you think I'm being flip, I'm not.)

"... lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected." -- 1 Cor 9:27

Iscool condemns Paul's position. Who'm I gonna trust?

565 posted on 12/09/2009 9:49:37 AM PST by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
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To: MWS

Thanks for the post. I see your point, and while I can not be 100% certain, his story just seems false to me.

I have many Protestant friends and I am respectful of their beliefs as I am of yours. I would never “lash out” at someones religion.

I was just giving my opinion of the article. It doesn’t ring true to me.


566 posted on 12/09/2009 9:49:53 AM PST by detective
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To: Campion
Whom did I just insult, or attempt to psychoanalyze or "mind-read"? FReepers? Two FReepers? All Presbyterians? All Taoists? FR Moderators?

I wouldn't continue going down that road if I were you.

567 posted on 12/09/2009 9:51:06 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" - Job 13:15)
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To: Quix
Dear Quix,

There's no disconnect. It's just that in each of the posts, I'm discussing different regions of the same topic. It might require a little mental elbow grease to see how they fit together.

For one who is interested, one may note that once upon a time, good manners were also called “small morals.”


sitetest

568 posted on 12/09/2009 9:51:50 AM PST by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: Campion
Remember that the Lurkers are mostly smart.

They know when someone is throwing spitwads it means he doesn't have any ammunition. And they know when a post is mean or petty or childish. And most importantly, the way a Freeper behaves directly reflects on himself and his own beliefs.

Open RF threads are like town squares: everyone has a voice. But thick skin is required.

569 posted on 12/09/2009 9:52:52 AM PST by Religion Moderator
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To: Iscool
As long as it's restricted to poor ole simple folk (not necessarily Protestants) I think that may be more or less correct.

We sneaky devious Catholics think that deeds have at least two aspects, that part which can be photographed and the disposition of the person doing the deed. The "object" of the deed, what the person doing it thinks he's doing and intends by it, is greatly determinative of what the deed actually is, If a person does not INTEND to pay divine honors, does not think the person in front of whose image he is to be divine, then I think it's not a stretch to say he is not paying divine honors.

Somewhat similarly, some pacifists insist that any killing of a human being is murder, while people accustomed to making reasonable distinctions can see the difference between defense of the weak and murder.

I enjoy the "I'm a poor old simple country boy and I don't know none o' that there book larnin' stuff," act, but since even poor ole country boys know the difference between a righteous shoot and murder, I'm thinking the distinction is probably pretty easy to get.

Expressing it, however, that might be a challenge.

570 posted on 12/09/2009 9:52:56 AM PST by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
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To: Ransomed; Iscool
Believing that Mary is divine and worshipping her!!!

FWIW, everyone has heard the old refrain "we only venerate her". However, if you ascribe powers to her that are divine you no longer venerate, but now worship.

571 posted on 12/09/2009 9:54:35 AM PST by wmfights (If you want change support SenateConservatives.com)
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To: BenKenobi

“Your post raises a technical question that i want to ask, as a way of understanding how a church claims a path back to the original church.”

The process is through Apostolic Succession. What this means is that Priest A was ordained by Bishop X, who was ordained in turn by Bishop Y all the way back to St. Peter.

As far as I’m aware, only two retain this succession, the Catholics and Orthodox.

The reason the Protestant orders are invalid is because somewhere along the line a priest (not a bishop), left the church and started ordaining other people, and elevated himself to a bishop. This is true for Anglicanism, for Lutheranism, and for Calvinism.

Or, as in the case of the anabaptists, that they avoided the issue altogether by arguing there was no need for a heirarchy. So after the death of Menno Simons, their apostolicity was broken.

“Suppose a significant part of the Church had decided at that time to reject that teaching, and had made their own church but otherwise held to every tenet of the Catholic faith and tradition.”

They would need to have bishops go along. As far as I’m aware the last time that occurred was at the schism. Prior to that you have the anti-nicenes and the anti-chalcedonians, both of whom have orders that still exist today, but they aren’t considered to have the succession (mostly because of the Arab conquest) and other such niceties.

“Or the one which is exactly the same except that they don’t accept the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which means they still practice the faith just as it was for 1822 years after the foundation of the church?”

Well the problem with the Orthodox is that they don’t practice the faith as it was back prior to the schism. For one, they reject the primacy of the Pope. Two, who’s the head, Patriarch of Moscow or Patriarch of Constantinople? What about the Alexandrines and the Antiochines? The old system was the Pope as one of the five (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem), but the chief among them is Rome.

You are correct that the Catholic church has proclaimed the authority of the Immaculate conception, but that is a teaching that was affirmed by the church fathers prior to the schism. It isn’t an issue of division between Catholics and the Orthodox.

“In my opinion, no church seems to have a pure bloodline of doctrinal teaching that mirrors the original church — but that is an opinion based partly out of ignorance of the details of doctrine of every church in the world.”

There are two, and I have examined this question closely. The Catholics and the Orthodox. Yes, there have been changes over the last while, but the doctrine remains the same in both as before. I encourage you to go back and examine things, and raise the questions that you think the Catholic church has broken from the early church. You will find that they preach what was preached before.


572 posted on 12/09/2009 9:54:35 AM PST by BenKenobi
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To: wmfights

That is too funny! Shoot and move — again!

Gambit declined. I don’t think the Klan actually coined money, after all ...


573 posted on 12/09/2009 9:55:56 AM PST by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
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To: Alex Murphy; Quix; Religion Moderator
I am very tired of uncharitable comments being made about "they" and "them", no matter who does it. And no matter what you or I may guess about the identity of "they" or "them".

"They" and "them" are real people for whom Christ died, whether we specify their names or not.

And to whatever extent I am guilty of the same sin, may I please ask everyone's forgiveness.

Now, I am recovering from surgery and feel poorly, and I'm going to go away and try to get some rest. Ora pro me.

574 posted on 12/09/2009 9:57:32 AM PST by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
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To: the_conscience

I’m sorry. I don’t understand the question.


575 posted on 12/09/2009 9:58:02 AM PST by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
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To: Religion Moderator
For example, a Freeper might say "Scientologists are nuts" and that is not making it personal. But if he said, "you are nuts" that is making it personal.

Greta van Susteren is nuts!

576 posted on 12/09/2009 9:58:14 AM PST by Graybeard58 ("Get lost, Mitt. You're the Eddie Haskell of the Republican party." (Finny))
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To: Religion Moderator
They know when someone is throwing spitwads it means he doesn't have any ammunition. And they know when a post is mean or petty or childish. And most importantly, the way a Freeper behaves directly reflects on himself and his own beliefs.

I know. Bless you for your patience with me.

577 posted on 12/09/2009 9:59:07 AM PST by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
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To: Campion

Hmmmmm . . . is that evidence of an assumption that I’m NOT having my yes be yes and my no be no?

I work pretty hard at following The Bible on that score!


578 posted on 12/09/2009 10:01:38 AM PST by Quix (POL Ldrs quotes fm1900 TRAITORS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81)
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To: BenKenobi

“Never said it wasn’t. The point that doesn’t get made enough is there was a basis for fearing the RC’s and the RCC. If RC posters want to start with the “everybody is picking on me” nonsense then we should look at why there was a fear.”

Well it starts with Napoleon. Is that liberty? He tried to destroy the church altogether in France. Everywhere we have seen the French Revolution and their ideals, we have seen anti-catholicism hand in hand.

You should read Edmund Burke on his response to the revolution in France. Liberty and the Catholic church are not by any means opposed. Liberty in the form of Revolution as in the French Revolution, and the Catholic church are diametrically opposed, and have slugged it out for at least 200 years already.

Liberty does not equate with Modernity, although Modernity claims such. Liberty, can be acheived in harmony with the teachings of the Church.


579 posted on 12/09/2009 10:02:00 AM PST by BenKenobi
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To: Campion; Quix
Which ones. Name names.

I think that is when the RM jumps in and someone can get banned. You don't want Quix banned do you?

580 posted on 12/09/2009 10:02:17 AM PST by wmfights (If you want change support SenateConservatives.com)
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