Yes, I am still a “catholic” in the meaning of “universal,” but I am not a Roman Catholic, nor do I want to be, after having experienced the “faith,” both inside and outside of the RCC.
I’m glad God, by His grace, led me to a place where I could meet the Jesus of the Bible, who changed my life (by giving me life).
By the way, I find it interesting how you “claim” me as a Catholic because you think I was baptized Catholic. If you think baptism saves you apart from faith, I encourage you to reexamine the scriptures for yourself, but doubt you will get beyond Roman Catholic dogma.
Thanks for substantiating your belief in transubstantiation (pun intended). Of course, you are free to believe what you want about what Jesus means by His teaching, but count me out. If you can’t tell the difference between the texture of meat (flesh) and bread, what can I say? Or does the change take place after you swallow? If it isn’t literal flesh, as you claim, then I guess its symbolic. I know I’m wasting my time here...so I will stop.
Ok... John 3:22 [ John's Last Testimony ] After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. Hmmm... Jesus was baptizing. Was He wasting His time?
John 3:26 And they came to John and said to him, " Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him." Clearly, He does this a lot! Maybe not as much as John...
John 4:1 [ Jesus Goes to Galilee ] Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John... Ok... He baptized more than John. But that's it, right?
Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit... Oh. We're supposed to continue baptizing...
Don't get me wrong, I saw where you noted "apart from faith"... I merely point out to you that Scripture records Jesus doing more baptizing than anything else! You'll have to forgive us RCCers if we think there's something to that.
Next, I'm sure you will harp on infant baptism... I'll leave that to the 1,001 other discussions... you can read the answers to your heart's content. The bottom line is that Jesus told us to be baptized and to baptize. Why? Because baptism is the restoration of our family place in the Family of God. It is not the end unto itself, it is the beginning of our life in Grace.
Don't worry. You were baptized into the Family of God... God is working on you and will bring you home.