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Christian Adoption Agency Nixes Catholics
AP ^ | 07/15/05

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: adoption; bornagainbigots; dangus; dangusposted391; postedinwrongforum; talibaptists
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

I agree with your version. M


901 posted on 07/18/2005 12:36:40 PM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: wideawake

Makes the Cathers sound like the Alawi.


902 posted on 07/18/2005 12:37:04 PM PDT by muawiyah (/ hey coach do I gotta' put in that "/sarcasm " thing again?)
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To: Marysecretary
The prayers of the faithful are OUR prayers, not the elders, not the catholic saints, but US.

The point was that the prayers of the faithful which are being offered in the passage from revelation are the prayers of the ordinary faithful Christians here on earth - but that the elders in heaven who are placing them on the altar are the faithful (like Mary, Paul, Peter, etc.) who are already in heaven.

Clearly revelation is describing a "chain of custody" as it were, in which Christians on earth and in heaven jointly offer prayers to the Lord and that the Christians in heaven help bring those prayers to Him.

903 posted on 07/18/2005 12:37:38 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: muawiyah
The Alawi have some similar doctrines to the ones reported for the Cathars.

Of course, the Alawi have some even stranger ones - like women having no souls, for example.

904 posted on 07/18/2005 12:39:59 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: wideawake; muawiyah
My point here is simply to correct a historical error. The original statement by muawihah claimed that the Mennonites predated Protestantism. They did not. The Mennonite faith is a Protestant religion, founded around 1530, roughly one and a half millennia after Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church.

Not a knock against the Mennonites, just insisting on historical accuracy on this point. I respect my Protestant brothers and sisters, and am grateful to be challenged and encouraged by them. That not withstanding, Protestantism evolved out of Catholicism, and depends upon Catholicism for legitimacy. If the Catholic Church was in gross doctrinal error by the sixteenth century, as alleged by some non-Catholics, I see absolutely no reason to suppose that Protestantism could have corrected re-developed the religion of Jesus. Those in the Protestant Faith who insist that Catholicism is not a valid form of Christianity are simply in the position of a branch attempting to take an axe to its own tree trunk. If you were able to successfully refute Catholicism as a valid religion, you would destroy any claims to validity that you may make for your own religion. It would indeed become, a mere "tradition of men." Fortunately, this has not been the case.

Protestantism is a modern development, and is rooted more or less firmly in Catholic tradition. The various Protestant systems of belief are based on Catholic teaching, with a few additions and subtractions. This is not a knock against anyone, Lord knows there are plenty of Protestant Christians who are great examples for us all.

And Miawah, as for your comment to the effect that it would have taken a former Catholic priest to invent all the extra rules under which those people (the Mennonites) live, it was disrespectful to both Catholics and Mennonites. The men who invented the key traditions and rules under which your own religion operates, such as Martin Luther, and Jean Calvin, were themselves former Catholic priests, and to the extent that your religion differs in doc tine from Catholicism, you can most likely trace those differences to traditions invented by your own human religious authorities.
905 posted on 07/18/2005 12:47:24 PM PDT by InterestedQuestioner
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To: wideawake

Jesus IS God, not just a man placed in some role. He was the Christ. Born again believers believe that Jesus has to be asked to come into one's life in order to be saved, that we have to put our faith and trust in Him and Him alone. I believe in the Trinity, that God is our father, Jesus is the Son and in the Holy Spirit, who indwells us now that Jesus has returned to Heaven. Many people believe the rites of the church make them Christian. Born again believers do not.


906 posted on 07/18/2005 12:50:41 PM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: InterestedQuestioner
The original statement by muawihah claimed that the Mennonites predated Protestantism. They did not.

Correct.

However, their beliefs are a melange of Zwinglian Protestantism and pre-Protestant radical Utraquism.

They have actually deradicalized - the Christology of the early Mennonites is practically Docetist.

907 posted on 07/18/2005 12:52:18 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: Mr. Lucky

I know she was a handmaiden and did His will, that's very apparent, but I don't believe she would WANT all this attention drawn to her. She never drew attention to herself, only Jesus.


908 posted on 07/18/2005 12:53:55 PM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: spunkets
Spunkets...

you don't believe in the fulfillment of God's Promises to Abraham? To David? You don't believe the prophecies in all the major and minor prophets? You don't believe Christ's words? Not the future shown in Revelation? Wow, from our conversation, I was thinking you believed scripture.

best, ampu

909 posted on 07/18/2005 12:54:55 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: Marysecretary

I suspect she didn't want her son to be crucified either, but that was God's will and she submitted to it.


910 posted on 07/18/2005 12:56:27 PM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: InterestedQuestioner

You ever read the rules?


911 posted on 07/18/2005 12:57:06 PM PDT by muawiyah (/ hey coach do I gotta' put in that "/sarcasm " thing again?)
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To: Marysecretary
Many people believe the rites of the church make them Christian.

Is baptism a "rite of the church" or is it a biblical injunction?

Catholics, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran and Reformed Christians uniformly believe that baptism is required for membership in the Church.

912 posted on 07/18/2005 12:57:11 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: k2blader

Me, too, as long as they are Godly men who live the way that Christ commands them to live. We've had too many Jimmy Swaggarts, unfortunately.


913 posted on 07/18/2005 12:57:42 PM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: wideawake

Well, THEY think they are. They're disillusioned. Go out and kill and then go confess it to a priest. It's a shame they don't realize how wrong they are.


914 posted on 07/18/2005 12:59:36 PM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: InterestedQuestioner

Intercession is important; I do it all the time, but only Jesus, the true intercessor can actually ANSWER those prayers. I can pray all I want, and often do, but I'm not the one who answers prayer. I wish I was sometimes because I have a lot of folks in my life who need certain things answered and I'd love to be the one to do it, but.... that's not my job.


915 posted on 07/18/2005 1:04:34 PM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: InterestedQuestioner

Intercession is important; I do it all the time, but only Jesus, the true intercessor can actually ANSWER those prayers. I can pray all I want, and often do, but I'm not the one who answers prayer. I wish I was sometimes because I have a lot of folks in my life who need certain things answered and I'd love to be the one to do it, but.... that's not my job.


916 posted on 07/18/2005 1:04:39 PM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: Marysecretary
Well, THEY think they are. They're disillusioned. Go out and kill and then go confess it to a priest.

Ah, but they don't confess to a priest and they can't confess to a priest.

Why is that? If they go to a priest and they confess that they are in the Mafia, the priest cannot bless him in Jesus' name, because it is a matter for the bishop to consider.

If they go to a priest and confess to murder, the priest will tell them that they have to turn themselves in before they can be absolved.

The only time you see Mafiosi in a Catholic Church is when a relative is being baptized, married or buried.

It's a shame they don't realize how wrong they are.

One could just as well say that certain individual Baptists have accepted Christ as their personal Savior and then have gone out and lynched a black man or knocked over a bank, but are confident of their salvation because they are "once saved, always saved".

917 posted on 07/18/2005 1:05:22 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: grellis

I'm not sure even Catholics know that difference, at least not a lot of them that I've known over the years. They think St. Anthony will find anything for them and they pray TO him.


918 posted on 07/18/2005 1:05:53 PM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: Marysecretary
Intercession is important; I do it all the time, but only Jesus, the true intercessor can actually ANSWER those prayers. I can pray all I want, and often do, but I'm not the one who answers prayer. I wish I was sometimes because I have a lot of folks in my life who need certain things answered and I'd love to be the one to do it, but.... that's not my job.

Marysecretary, I agree with you 100%.
919 posted on 07/18/2005 1:06:35 PM PDT by InterestedQuestioner
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Comment #920 Removed by Moderator


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