Replies

You will be forced to choose either being Catholic, or being pagan.

Being Catholic is not and will never be a choice for me. I am first, last, and always a Christian. My Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ and He never asked me to pray to some demigod, He never asked me to pray to a statue, and He never said my salvation was conditioned on obedience to some dictator in Rome or his minions.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

That's what Jesus said. He didn't say that I could only be saved conditioned on satisfying the earthly requirements of a bureaucracy that was long ago compromised and infiltrated by homosexuals.

Preach it, sister.

Even Peter says this....

Acts 4:11-12 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Catholicism is not mentioned once in the NT. Retroactively claiming that the word *church* by default means *Catholic church* is just wishful thinking on the part of Catholics and nothing more than a power grab by Catholicism, trying to justifying it using Scripture.

Why someone would want to replace following Christ Himself for a man or organization is beyond me.

That I may gain Christ.......

Sorry... I missed this one (probably among many others, in this 700+ comment thread!), from a while back...

[DarkWaters]
You will be forced to choose either being Catholic, or being pagan.

[MeganC]
Being Catholic is not and will never be a choice for me. I am first, last, and always a Christian.

When last I checked, Catholics are Christians. I'm Catholic, and I'm most definitely a Christian. You make your comment as if you think "Catholic" and "Christian" are not only distinct, but mutually exclusive; where do you get that? (I don't think you'd appreciate it if I called you a "non-Christian" for NOT being Catholic... right? You might possibly shrug and say you don't care, but you certainly wouldn't AGREE with me... right?()

My Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ

He is mine, as well.

and He never asked me to pray to some demigod,

I assure you, no Catholic on earth has been asked (by the Church, anyway) to pray to any "demigod". I certainly haven't... and I've met dozens of bishops, hundreds of priests and nuns and religious brothers, and thousands of Catholic lay people. Did *you* have a Catholic ask you to pray to a "demigod"?

He never asked me to pray to a statue,

Nor has anyone asked ME to pray to a statue, either! I've used statues to *help* me pray, just as I use old photos to remind me of friends to whom I'm writing (sometimes--not always), but I assure you, I've never prayed to one. Honest!

and He never said my salvation was conditioned on obedience to some dictator in Rome or his minions.

If those are your only fears about becoming Catholic, then I'm happy to tell you that you could enter the nearest RCIA program tomorrow (or today, if you're in a hurry), and be received into the Catholic Church at the first opportunity! None of these describe anything having to do with Catholicism.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." That's what Jesus said.

He did. Catholicism believes that (and gave that Gospel to the world).

He didn't say that I could only be saved conditioned on satisfying the earthly requirements of a bureaucracy

There are no "earthly requirements" for salvation, per se. There *is* a requirement that you obey His Bride, the Church, whom Scripture calls "the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15), about whom Jesus said, "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." (Luke 10:16), and lest you be treated as a "heathen or publican" for not listening even to the Church (Matthew 18:17). But these are not "earthly requirements".

As for a "bureaucracy" (which people often used as a disparaging term for a system of authority which they don't like, rightly or wrongly): God, Himself, uses multi-layer structures of authority (cf.Exodus 18:25, etc.: do you notice the almost military-like "bureaucracy", in thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens?). Some aspects of some bureaucracies are good, bad, efficient, inefficient, etc.; but they are neither intrinsically evil nor intrinsically "anti-Christianity"... and no believer need disparage them, in general.

that was long ago compromised and infiltrated by homosexuals.

Welcome to the human race, FRiend. There is not a single earthly group of people who are not "compromised and infiltrated" by sinners and disordered people of all stripes--non-Catholic-Christian groups included. Yes, it's bad; but no, it doesn't condemn the group which was infiltrated. A group can only be judged fairly by members who LIVE UP TO and PRACTICE what the group represents and teaches; it's not at all right to judge a group by those who refuse even to TRY to live up to its ideals.

I know this probably won't sound appealing to you, right now, but: you would not need to give up ANY good thing that you hold dear, if you were to be come Catholic.