Posted on 09/02/2011 9:07:47 AM PDT by 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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at religion.blogs.cnn.com ...
This is a beautiful post. The Prodigal son is one of my faves.
Another parable that I really appreciate is the householder who hires his laborers in his vineyard. Matthew 20: 1-16
Some came at the beginning of the day, others at the middle, even others at the end. And he paid them all the same.
That’s me. The worker in the middle and Christ gave me the same wage. How merciful is God. He brought me to the Catholic Church and every single day I thank Him for that.
Matthew 20:1-16
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
Matthew 20
1The kingdom of heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
2And having agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3And going about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle.
4And he said to them: Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just.
5And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner.
6But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: Why stand you here all the day idle?
7They say to him: Because no man hath hired us. He saith to them: Go you also into my vineyard.
8And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: Call the labourers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first.
9When therefore they were come, that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
10But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more: and they also received every man a penny.
11And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house,
12Saying: These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats.
13But he answering said to one of them: Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny?
14Take what is thine, and go thy way: I will also give to this last even as to thee.
15Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? is thy eye evil, because I am good?
16So shall the last be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.
Looks like your playing word games to me.
Claim – to receive what has been given.
>>We pray for salvation.<<
Over and over? Salvation was already given on acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior. Do you not believe you were given salvation when you accepted Christ?
And yet...Mary's bodily assumption is never mentioned.
THAT'S why it's important. If He thought Enoch and Elijah important enough to mention, why would He not have mentioned Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Co-Redeemer, Mediatress of all Grace, etc., etc.??
Maybe God thought we would be intelligent enough to realize Mary’s Assumption.
Those who are lost are not even intelligent enough to realize the gospel of our salvation, which is clearly stated, must less an assumption of an Assumption.
You can’t possibly be that ignorant unless you’re talking about a building. Have you ever heard of the inquisition? Let me give you one paragraph that might get you started “proving your point”.
In NEWS1675, we revealed that one of the psychological devices priests used to get their female penitents to have sex with them was the threat to lie to the "Holy" Inquisition, so the woman would be torturously murdered. Since history books have been largely rewritten, few people know specific details of this murderous campaign that lasted over 1,200 years, killing 75 million people. But, once you understand the unprecedented horrors of the Inquisition, you will never look at Roman Catholicism the same way again. (http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1676.cfm)
I’m sure from that you will do some serious investigating to prove them wrong.
Perhaps it would be wise to cut and paste from a more reliable source.
"Gen. to Rev. - Scripture never says that Scripture is the sole infallible authority for God's Word."
There is no need to go any further. This is an obvious Logical Fallacy - - - Argumentum ad ignorantiam.
However, the penultimate claim "Scripture also mandates the use of tradition." of the first "proof" is also false in it's application unless, that is, you can find Scriptural "mandates" for the use of "Tradition" developed after the Apolostic age.
Hint: because it didn’t happen.
Exactly. That should be the FIRST clue. And if it didn’t happen, then it’s a false doctrine...and the dominoes fall.
Whoa. 75 million people. What are you reading?
Phony Statistics
Many Fundamentalists believe, for instance, that more people died under the Inquisition than in any war or plague; but in this they rely on phony “statistics” generated by one-upmanship among anti-Catholics, each of whom, it seems, tries to come up with the largest number of casualties.
But trying to straighten out such historical confusions can take one only so far. As Ronald Knox put it, we should be cautious, “lest we should wander interminably in a wilderness of comparative atrocity statistics.” In fact, no one knows exactly how many people perished through the various Inquisitions. We can determine for certain, though, one thing about numbers given by Fundamentalists: They are far too large. One book popular with Fundamentalists claims that 95 million people died under the Inquisition.
The figure is so grotesquely off that one immediately doubts the writer’s sanity, or at least his grasp of demographics. Not until modern times did the population of those countries where the Inquisitions existed approach 95 million.
Inquisitions did not exist in Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, or England, being confined mainly to southern France, Italy, Spain, and a few parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The Inquisition could not have killed that many people because those parts of Europe did not have that many people to kill!
Furthermore, the plague, which killed a third of Europe’s population, is credited by historians with major changes in the social structure. The Inquisition is credited with few—precisely because the number of its victims was comparitively small. In fact, recent studies indicate that at most there were only a few thousand capital sentences carried out for heresy in Spain, and these were over the course of several centuries.
http://www.catholic.com/library/Inquisition.asp
And there is more which I will look for and post later.
LOL Ya think? Of course they are. I posted the url to the site btw. I posted that in response to his saying the Catholic Church never killed anyone. I figured that site would get his blood boiling and at least get him investigating to realize that his statement was preposterous but that the RCC is indeed not free of guilt.
We are none of use free from guilt.
Your use of irrelevant bible verses in these matters highlights that individual interpretation is bereft of worth, a magesterium of one has no validity. Dealing with complicated matters in the secular world, I can appreciate the degree of complexity involved in the subject matter of the Bible and appreciate the direction provided by the magisterium of the Church
It might be better to disabuse yourself of the prideful need for self interpretation and adopt the spirit of humility. That is the essence of Jn 17:21
The fetish the rapture types place on eschatology demonstrates their spiritual insecurities. Trust in Jesus not individual interpretation
I follow Christ not some magesterium. Following Christ is Christianity. Following a church is Churchianity.
Yeah, CynicalBear, what are you doing, comparing Scripture with Scripture?! Everyone knows it’s just an exercise in futility. Have a question on doctrine? Have a need for an answer to questions? No need to check the Scriptures daily, to see if those things are so. Just call 800-VATTALK for infallible information. Operators are standing by. And I DO mean OPERATORS..
And if it is shown to be true? Will you then become Catholic, as so many have?
Looks like your playing word games to me. Claim – to receive what has been given.
Name it and claim it is pushy and assumes that one is worthy. Claim is not to receive (passive), it is to acquire (active). We Catholics accept the will of God. We do not claim to usurp it or to manipulate it. We pray, we do not demand.
>>We pray for salvation.<< Over and over? Salvation was already given on acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior. Do you not believe you were given salvation when you accepted Christ?
Certainly. We do not believe that we have a right to it or the prerogative to demand it. We understand that God freely gives us His Saving Grace. But if we sin, that is a condition in which we reject it. Therefore each time we refuse God, we must repent of it.
“I follow Christ not some magesterium. Following Christ is Christianity. Following a church is Churchianity.”
Following a lot of what Quix teaches lately?
Come on, you’re better than that. I am a Catholic, Christ is the center of my faith.
Christ is the reason I am a Catholic.
Visit my home page. Find out why I believe what I believe and why I know the Catholic Church is the First Church of Christ.
From my home page:
I converted to Catholicism at Easter Vigil 2008. I thought I was a Christian. After all I had called myself a Presbyterian all my life. But, I had never been baptized and I didn’t realize at the time that baptism was so important.
I never said the Sinner’s Prayer. It never seemed real to me. It always seemed a manipulative thing. The altar call. Couldn’t do it.
After many years I started going to church. I just wanted to worship God. That’s all. Should have been so simple. But every place I went seemed so person oriented. Not God oriented.
Someone I had been doing business with told me about RCIA. Now I didn’t know at the time but he truly lives his faith. I went to see him one day but he wasn’t at work. When I asked about him I was told he was in the hospital. I didn’t even know he was sick! That’s when I found out that he had donated one of his kidneys to someone he doesn’t even know. Just a fellow Catholic at another parish. I have since met the person he donated his kidney to. He told me that he was given 15 more years of life because a man I knew truly believed and gave of himself.
It took me a year to actually start going to RCIA. You see, I knew the rule. I knew that if I became Catholic I would have to go to Mass every single Sunday and I just wasn’t sure that I wanted to give God one whole hour a week. I am amazed that I am still here to tell you this.
During RCIA, I went to Mass. And I knew. This is true worship. I kept going to Mass, every SINGLE Sunday.
I now am co-owner of a Catholic bookstore and go to daily Mass. God is so much more than we think. I thank God every single day that He made me Catholic.
Because it's not a matter of good works outweighing the bad, or canceling them out, or paying off a debt.
God says in His word that the wages of sin is death. He who sinned and broke one point in the Law is guilty of all. The only way we can pay for our sins is by death, not by good works.
That's why forgiveness is essential for salvation. The only way to have the debt canceled is total and complete forgiveness. And no one can EARN forgiveness. Forgiveness is granted for the asking, as an act of mercy on the part of the offended who is doing the forgiving.
The only role that works play with faith is evidence that the person's faith is an effective faith. Works don't go together with faith to produce salvation. Faith produces salvation which produces the good works which testify that saving faith has been exercised.
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