My Faith: Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), from Catholic to Muslim

CNN ^ | 9/1/11 | Chris Welch

[marshmallow]

Minneapolis, Minnesota (CNN) –Prior to 2006, few people even knew that then-Minnesota state legislator Keith Ellison was a Muslim. Because of his English name, he said, no one thought to ask.

But five years ago, when he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives - a race he would go on to win - word of his religious affiliation began to spread.

“When I started running for Congress it actually took me by surprise that so many people were fascinated with me being the first Muslim in Congress,” said Ellison, a Democrat now serving his third term in the House.

“But someone said to me, ‘Look Keith, think of a person of Japanese origin running for Congress six years after Pearl Harbor–this might be a news story.’”

Though Ellison's status as the first Muslim elected to Congress is widely known, fewer are aware that he was born into a Catholic family in Detroit and was brought up attending Catholic schools.

But he said he was never comfortable with that faith.

“I just felt it was ritual and dogma,” Ellison said. “Of course, that’s not the reality of Catholicism, but it’s the reality I lived. So I just kind of lost interest and stopped going to Mass unless I was required to.”

It wasn’t until he was a student at Wayne State University in Detroit when Ellison began, “looking for other things.”

[Iscool]

I do know that my flesh is only capable of lies. This is why it must die daily. There is no good in me.

That's why you can't be a Catholic...There's none of that old man/new man stuff in Catholicism...Jesus went to heaven in the same flesh he died in...Only difference is he obtained a halo...

[marbren]

I agree, I am not a member of any group. Nor do I wish to be. Even the word Christian has issues for me. I am a Christ follower.

[CynicalBear]

You may want to read up. How often when questioned did He say: “it is written”? When He was asked “how shall we know” He gave some rather specific answers. An example would be the question from the Apostles.

Matthew 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Jesus answer took the rest of that chapter.

[Judith Anne]

HaHaHa...They even brainwashed you into believing there is no history other than Catholic history...

Point me to a source for YOUR history.

[Judith Anne]

That's pathetic...Jesus did not tell his disciples to raise one out of a thousand from the dead...Is that the best you can do??? Your religion has failed miserably at fulfilling that commission as well as all churches...

Please name all the people you have raised from the dead. Please give dates.

[Iscool]

co = prefix meaning ‘with’.

World English Dictionary

co-

— prefix
1. together; joint or jointly; mutual or mutually: coproduction
2. indicating partnership or equality: cofounder ; copilot
3. to the same or a similar degree: coextend
4. (in mathematics and astronomy) of the complement of an angle: cosecant ; codeclination
[from Latin, reduced form of com- ]

From this dictionary, I'd say you really don't know, or you are trying to pull the wool over our eyes...

Co-redeemer in English does NOT mean with...It means joint or jointly, equality...

So now we really do know what you mean when you say co-redeemer...And Mary ain't it...

[smvoice]

There are two main reasons Paul wasn't chosen as the 12th Disciple. The first is that, in order to be chosen, one would have to have "companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." Acts 1:21. They had to choose between the two men which had met those qualifications. "They were Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias." Acts 1:23.

Obviously Paul did not follow Jesus when He walked on this earth, so he could not have qualified.

The next reason is found in Acts 9. When Paul is saved by the risen Christ. Ananias is told by Jesus Christ to go to Paul. Ananias at first questions this because he knows how much evil Paul had done to the saints at Jerusalem. But Christ said to Ananias "Go thy way; for he is a CHOSEN vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will SHEW him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Acts 9:15.

He could not have been the 12th disciple for this reason, either. He was chosen by Christ to be His chosen vessel to the gentiles. By direct revelations from Jesus Christ, Paul was given a different commission than the 12. As can be read in Romans through Philemon.

[Iscool]

Please name all the people you have raised from the dead. Please give dates.

None of course...

[marbren]

You may want to read up. How often when questioned did He say: “it is written”?

Good Idea, Much wisdom!

[Natural Law]

As a former seventh grade English teacher as well as a copy editor, I think she did a good job with that sentence."

As a former seventh grader I can assure you that Sister Mary Catherine would not have been pleased. I do concede, tough, that junior high level thoughts are probably best described with junior high level grammar.

[count-your-change]

We’re on the same page here. See #1538.

[Judith Anne]

Just as I thought.

[Judith Anne]

One of those “run on” sentences. You know, they just run on, and on, and on, and on....

[smvoice]

Here is another interesting and important reason Paul was not chosen as the 12th Disciple.

Matthew 19:28 "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

Peter and the 11 are going to be judging the twelve tribes of Israel, not gentiles. Paul was a chosen vessel to bear Christ's name among the gentiles. His was a commission to the Church the Body of Christ, not the Kingdom that Christ will establish when He returns.

[marbren]

There are two main reasons Paul wasn't chosen as the 12th Disciple. The first is that, in order to be chosen, one would have to have "companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." Acts 1:21. They had to choose between the two men which had met those qualifications. "They were Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias." Acts 1:23. Obviously Paul did not follow Jesus when He walked on this earth, so he could not have qualified. The next reason is found in Acts 9. When Paul is saved by the risen Christ. Ananias is told by Jesus Christ to go to Paul. Ananias at first questions this because he knows how much evil Paul had done to the saints at Jerusalem. But Christ said to Ananias "Go thy way; for he is a CHOSEN vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will SHEW him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Acts 9:15. He could not have been the 12th disciple for this reason, either. He was chosen by Christ to be His chosen vessel to the gentiles. By direct revelations from Jesus Christ, Paul was given a different commission than the 12. As can be read in Romans through Philemon.

WoW! Cool! You may be right!

Up until your post here was or is my idea. I am more than willing to trash it.

Paul is the 12th apostle. Matthais was picked using common sense of the group. Not using God's will.

[smvoice]

But remember, the 12 were told that what they bound on earth was bound in heaven. If they chose from the two, the one they chose was bound in heaven, also. God respected the decision. And Paul was never even part of the discussion. As he wasn’t saved until Acts 9, how could he have been?

[count-your-change]

Ummm....No it doesn't, at least in the sense you use “with”.
Please see post #1538 and you should realize “with” indicates a sharing of something named.

[marbren]

Here is another interesting and important reason Paul was not chosen as the 12th Disciple. Matthew 19:28 "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Peter and the 11 are going to be judging the twelve tribes of Israel, not gentiles. Paul was a chosen vessel to bear Christ's name among the gentiles. His was a commission to the Church the Body of Christ, not the Kingdom that Christ will establish when He returns.

My idea is about to crash and burn! Thank You smvoice. BTW I am not resisting the Holy Spirit in this assessment. Being teachable is an important attribute of child like faith.

[Cronos]

Iscool: but I thinks it your

Ah, your cult's holy book is not in English. It's apparent.

how about telling everyone about the post where you claimed to be Catholic? or is it ok to tell tales to non-members of your cult?

[Natural Law]

"Why wasn’t Paul chosen as the 12th Disciple after Judas?"

Are you inviting me to play your game show version of Christianity in which you trot out some gnostic-like trivia question whose "right" answer lay undiscovered by Church Fathers for 1500 years before some semi-literate Reformist discovered it? The correct answer was that Matthias was chosen by the Holy Spirit in the process we have come to know as Apostolic Succession. When this took place there was no Paul and Saul of Tarsus would have had the eleven arrested because his heart would not be turned for several more years.