[ealgeone]

I explained that it's a sacramental (a blessed, symbolic object) like a wedding ring (which is also classified, in the Catholic faith, as a sacramental.) You scoffed at that but did not comment further.

However, as I explained to you that is not what the apparition said.

The comparison of the wedding ring fails for this reason.

The apparition made a specific promise that the one wearing it would avoid the eternal fire.

In the year 1251, in the town of Aylesford in England, Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite. She handed him a brown woolen scapular and said, “This shall be a privilege for you and all Carmelites, that anyone dying in this habit shall not suffer eternal fire.” In time, the Church extended this magnificent privilege to all the laity who are willing to be invested in the Brown Scapular of the Carmelites and who perpetually wear it.https://www.sistersofcarmel.com/brown-scapular-information.php

For this idol to "work" the person has to do the following:

The Blessed Virgin assigned certain conditions which must be fulfilled:

1.Wear the Brown Scapular continuously.

2.Observe chastity according to one’s state in life (married/single).

3.Recite daily the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin OR Observe the fasts of the Church together with abstaining from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays OR With permission of a priest, say five decades of Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary OR With permission of a priest, substitute some other good work.

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It was a specific promise to avoid Hell. Some of your fellow RCs wear these out of fear of going to Hell.

Roman Catholics try to push these kind of comparisons in order to justify their idolatry in these matters.

There is no way this can be justified when compared to Scripture.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Be careful not to confuse a devotional object with an amulet or idol.

A Scapular is a symbolic piece of cloth about the size of a postage stamp---two of them, actually, connected by a string --- and what it symbolizes, is being clothed with the Carmelite habit, of which it is a swatch, a sample. It connects one with security from hellfire and the promise of Salvation, which we --- like you --- have from Christ, and not from our on works. It is not by any means a requirement for salvation!

The comparison of a Scapular with a Wedding Ring does not mean that they are identical, but that they are in the same category: something which, when you wear it, reminds you of the daily commitments of your way of life.

As for the promise of avoiding hellfire, this is all part of a wider understanding of a devout life: committing one's whole life to Christ our Lord.

The 21st century skeptic takes a tweezers, so to speak, and plucks devotional practices out of their context of a "referred life" --- a life whose whole content "refers" to God --- or a life entirely devoted: which is what "devout" means.

You are tweezering out a 1% sample of a pious practice, without the tacit understanding of the 100% devoted life, in which everything is referred to Our Lord.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I think you don't understand the scapular because of an overall unfamiliarity with the language of devotion as being distinguishable from doctrinal definition.

There are hundreds of millions of Catholics who have lived generation after generation and never wore, never owned, maybe never even heard of a scapular. It is not a doctrine or requirement of the Faith -- no more than a christening dress or a wedding ring.

If it puts you in mind of your eternal destiny and your being clothed with Christ, it's a good thing. If it doesn't so move you ---- well, maybe you can deposit that in the 13th century box, put it on a back shelf and walk on by.