Posted on 09/17/2011 5:52:41 AM PDT by marshmallow
Are believers-by-birth less motivated witnesses?
Do converts to the faith make better evangelists than "cradle Catholics"? Pope Benedict XVI seems to think so. Christians since childhood should "ask forgiveness," the pope told a group of his former theological students recently, "because we bring so little of the light of [Christ's] face to others, and emanate so feebly the certainty that he is, he is present and he is the great and complete reality that we are all awaiting."
But are Catholics "by birth"—or any believers raised in a religious tradition—indeed less-convincing witnesses, or less motivated, than are converts? Do they have a greater responsibility to live up to the tenets of the faith since they have known Christ from their earliest years? And are they a bigger disappointment to the Mother Church—and the world—when they come up short?
Benedict himself would certainly qualify as a "cradle Catholic." Joseph Ratzinger was born at home, early on the morning of Holy Saturday in April 1927, into the all-encompassing Catholic culture of small-town Bavaria. Within a few hours of his birth, the infant's mother bundled him up and trudged through an early spring snow to have him baptized at the village parish—the first step on a long but in some ways commonplace life of faith, at least in that day and age.
"I am a perfectly ordinary Christian," he once said of himself, with characteristic modesty. Yet it's hard to argue that Joseph Ratzinger, now the pope, has been anything less than enthusiastic in preaching the gospel. He entered the seminary while still an adolescent and rose from priest to cardinal to pope.
But is that enough? Over the past 2,000 years, two narratives have competed in the Christian imagination: the ideal of the child raised in a Christian home, growing steadily in faith...........
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Great, so said those who believed in that evil work of forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Congratulations
It keeps going because Irish, Italians, and Hispanics reproduce sexually.
...How do other people reproduce; budding?
How is it, according to you, that we'll take poor Hispanics but not poor whites? On the one hand we want passive, stupid pew sitters willing to dump money into the collection plate but on the other hand we only want intellectuals, no "white trash" need apply. You'r accusations are silly.
Just to be sure: You believe all Christians are guilty of the sin of idolatry. Correct?
Not sure why you'd include Zionist Conspirator in this "we". Unless I'm mistaken, s/he has some major problems with Our Savior Jesus Christ, the New Testament, etc. etc. that dwarf any agreement on lesser theological points.
Because he belongs to the Church of "I Hate Catholicism, whatever it is they teach. If'in their for it I'm a a'gin it." You know, the Church epitomized by their St. Michael of Jackson in his glorius hymn; "I'm Talking 'bout the Man in the Mirror".
“St. Michael of Jackson..”
Ha!
Truly spoken. That is all they believe in
A derivative side issue? Is that what you think theistic evolution is?
Theistic evolution (along with higher criticism) is in fact the root and source of the chaos in the Catholic Church today. And you don't recognize that?
I was right. Even the most "conservative" Catholic is in fact a liberal.
Over the years I have developed a sever distaste for “born again” of any faith.
There is a difference of opinion on this issue. One position is that chr*stianity is idolatry; the other is that it is not idolatry, but is still in error and in need of correction.
If you are referring to the death penalty, that applies only when 1)one worships an idol in the way that it is traditionally worshiped or 2)when worships an idol with one of the four physical acts reserved for HaShem in the Holy Temple. Only these are capital offenses punishable by the courts. Furthermore there must be one eyewitness (no hearsay, circumstantial evidence, or even confession is admissible). And on top of all this no Noachide court is in existence at the present time (though it will be eventually). In the absence of competent human authority punishment is executed by Heaven.
Which is your opinion?
"Not sure why you'd include Zionist Conspirator in this "we".
Because he belongs to the Church of "I Hate Catholicism, whatever it is they teach. If'in their for it I'm a a'gin it."
That's hilarious considering the only reason Catholcs have for rejecting the literal truth of the first eleven chapters of Genesis while accepting magical babies and corpses rising from the dead is a sociological prejudice against the Bible Belt ethnoculture.
You know, the Church epitomized by their St. Michael of Jackson in his glorius hymn; "I'm Talking 'bout the Man in the Mirror".
What? So now you hate Black people too? [/joke]
The Catholic profession of faith begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; and credits Him alone with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works. Surely, you don't find that funny.
This statement makes it obvious that you know nothing of conservatism and even less about Catholicism.
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