Posted on 07/15/2005 11:29:25 AM PDT by nypokerface
JACKSON, Miss. - A Christian adoption agency that receives money from Choose Life license plate fees said it does not place children with Roman Catholic couples because their religion conflicts with the agency's "Statement of Faith."
Bethany Christian Services stated the policy in a letter to a Jackson couple this month, and another Mississippi couple said they were rejected for the same reason last year.
"It has been our understanding that Catholicism does not agree with our Statement of Faith," Bethany director Karen Stewart wrote. "Our practice to not accept applications from Catholics was an effort to be good stewards of an adoptive applicant's time, money and emotional energy."
Sandy and Robert Steadman, who learned of Bethany's decision in a July 8 letter, said their priest told them the faith statement did not conflict with Catholic teaching.
Loria Williams of nearby Ridgeland said she and her husband, Wes, had a similar experience when they started to pursue an adoption in September 2004.
"I can't believe an agency that's nationwide would act like this," Loria Williams said. "There was an agency who was Christian based but wasn't willing to help people across the board."
The agency is based in Grand Rapids, Mich., and has offices in 30 states, including three in Mississippi. Its Web site does not refer to any specific branch of Christianity.
Stewart told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger that the board will review its policy, but she didn't specify which aspects will be addressed.
The Web site says all Bethany staff and adoptive applicants personally agree with the faith statement, which describes belief in the Christian Church and the Scripture.
"As the Savior, Jesus takes away the sins of the world," the statement says in part. "Jesus is the one in whom we are called to put our hope, our only hope for forgiveness of sin and for reconciliation with God and with one another."
Sandy Steadman said she was hurt and disappointed that Bethany received funds from the Choose Life car license plates. "I know of a lot of Catholics who get those tags," she said.
She added: "If it's OK to accept our money, it should be OK to open your home to us as a family."
Bethany is one of 24 adoption and pregnancy counseling centers in Mississippi that receives money from the sale of Choose Life tags, a special plate that motorists can obtain with an extra fee.
Of $244,000 generated by the sale of the tags in 2004, Bethany received $7,053, said Geraldine Gray, treasurer of Choose Life Mississippi, which distributes the money.
"It is troubling to me if they are discriminating based on only the Catholics," Gray said.
Last I checked, theology wasn't culture, but you may disagree with this.
Catholics aren't "saved yet." That is part of Catholic theology. No one is "saved" in this life. To assume that one is is the sin of presumption. One will not know whether or not one has been saved until death. In fact, it is heretical to believe that one can no with absolute certainty that one is in the state of grace (from a personal communication by Fr. Brian Harrison).
The only thing that has been saved according to all the ancient liturgical versions of chr*stianity is the world or the human race as a unit. It is in that sense alone that J*sus is addressed by liturgical chr*stians as "their savior." Individual salvation is up to each individual.
Of course, this doesn't make an awful lot of sense, since there was already a Law one was to be judged by at death without having to start a new religion and throwing around the word "salvation" (which only consistent Calvinists really have a right to use), but people like to start new religions.
It says here:Well, in the first place commons sense tells us that if the Catholic position violates it, so does the Protestant practice of praying for others.
And that is a total lie.
Remember what I asked? WHERE DOES THE BIBLE TELL US TO PRAY TO DEAD PEOPLE?
And it doesn't, does it?
The Bible DOES tell us to pray FOR each other.
If a person cannot tell the difference between praying for each other and praying TO each other, especially when one of the people is dead, that is insanity, not Scripture.
(Luke 2:37 KJV) And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
WHAT DEAD PERSON DID SHE PRAY TO?
(Acts 10:4 KJV) And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
BEFORE WHO? WHAT DEAD PERSON?
(Rom 1:9 KJV) For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
It is clearly Biblical to pray FOR someone, not TO A DEAD PERSON
(Rom 15:30 KJV) Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;
PRAYERS TO GOD, NOT TO DEAD PEOPLE, RIGHT?? And he prayed FOR someone, right? Did he pray to a dead person or did he pray to God?? What does the verse say??
(Eph 1:16 KJV) Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
(Col 4:12 KJV) Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
(1 Th 1:2 KJV) We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
(1 Tim 2:1 KJV) I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
FOR ALL MEN, right? Isn't that what it says?? (1 Tim 5:5 KJV) Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
(2 Tim 1:3 KJV) I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
(Phile 1:4 KJV) I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
(Heb 5:7 KJV) Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Who did Jesus Pray to? To any dead men?
(1 Pet 3:12 KJV) For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
WHOSE EARS ARE OPEN TO THEIR PRAYERS??
This man, whatever his agenda is, totally ignores what the Bible says and just what the argument is. PRAYERS TO DEAD PEOPLE vs PRAYERS TO GOD.
NOWHERE are people in the Bible ever seen,
heard,
spoken of,
hinted at,
or ever led to believe that prayers to DEAD PEOPLE will ever be heard.
But as I showed you, from just the New Testament, that your author is dead wrong to even try to compare prayers to dead people to prayers FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL ALIVE and that GOD COMMANDED US TO PRAY FOR.
Dont you see it yet? Each time someone from the RCC tries to make a point about their doctrine, it almost ALWAYS is against Scripture? ALMOST EVERY Time?
This is why people leave the RCC when they start to read the Bible for themself, it is because the simple reading of God's Word will cause people to leave the RCC.
God Bless
So you don't ask people to pray for you?
You didnt even read what I posted, did you?
Oh, Sorry, I thought you were referring to a later post, not the one you did refer to, sorry.
oops!
/sarcasm off
There are no dead people.
Matthew 22:29-32 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'[Exodus 3:6]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."
Luke 23:42-43Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
"Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Luke 16:27-28"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'"
Where's the dead people?
Where is the proof these people have eternal life?
There are the dead people.
I have two fathers. But only one mother.
If Christians think someone is a very holy person, knowing that the "prayer of a righteous man availeth much", they will seek them out and ask for their prayers.
That's what Catholics do with Mary - seek her out and ask for her prayers.
The classic DU response: "I don't have any sources I can cite, so you go ahead and check Google. It's not my responsibility to back up my outrageous assertions with fact. You have to do my homework for me."
Maybe you just don't know what you are talking about.
LOL! I know precisely what I'm talking about. I'm not the one making stuff up and then failing to cite sources.
I'll cite mine: Acts describes how Paul was the source of relics while still living and the intertestamental literature and Josephus testify that the Sadducees as well as Pharisees visited and prayed at the tombs of righteous men like Abraham and Joseph without believing that their spirits "hovered" over the sites - it's well-known that Saduccees didn't believe that the soul survived the flesh.
You call yourself a scholar and you can't cite a single source? Did your "dissertation" include no notes or sourcing of any kind?
I don't recall calling you a heretic.
I recall calling the Bethany chapter who exclude Catholics from the body of Christ heretics - but you yourself assure me that you don't make the same grievous error they do.
Again, I don't see why you - who neither hold that Catholics are excluding from the body of Christ, nor assert that the Prayer of Jabez is a normative rule of faith, nor claim that Benny Hinn and his bizarre theories are faith-defining teaching - think that I am personally addressing you.
There are Christians out there who hold these beliefs - if you don't, I don't see why you think I am personally addressing you.
Benny Hinn was raised Greek Orthodox and became a Pentecostal. To my knowledge he has never been associated in any way with the Roman Catholic Church.
The first point says that the for the LCMS the Scripture determines doctrine, but that in the RCC the Pope and tradition have the same authority.
This is simply false.
The RCC position is that Scripture is authoritative. However, Scripture can be correctly or incorrectly interpreted.
Tradition is the handing of correct interpretations of Scripture and the Papacy is an office in the Church to which this interpretative authority is entrusted.
Scripture is the Word of God itself, and apostolical tradition and the Petrine office are the elements of the Church that protect the Scripture from misinterpretation.
tradition is teaching and the Petrine office is a teaching office - the Scripture is the subject they teach.
Is her son the King of heaven?
If a non-Christian asks me what my religion is I say Christian.
If a fellow Christian (or someone whom I assume to be a fellow Christian) asks me what religion I am I say Catholic to be more specific.
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