Posted on 04/08/2004 1:40:06 PM PDT by netmilsmom
Rosalie and Michael (not their real names) are a Catholic husband and wife from the Northeast who run an upscale hair salon in the South; they have long been what might be called "perpetual parish shoppers," ever looking for a church community that perfectly fits their spirituality.
Not long after Rosalie began attending an evangelical Christian mega-church whose spirituality emphasizes Biblical fundamentalism, church members directed her to a plethora of Internet sites aimed at revealing to Catholics the "truth" about the Catholic Church.
One example of the sort of misinformation present on such sites: The back of the pope’s chair in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is inscribed with an upside-down cross — proof that the pope is allied with Satan, right?
Perhaps a poorly catechized Catholic like Rosalie would fall for that explanation, but others will remember that St. Peter asked to be crucified upside-down because he did not feel worthy to die in the same way his Lord did.
(Excerpt) Read more at osvpublishing.com ...
There is only one base that needs to be covered and it may be an overreaction on my part but it bums me out that he didn't know that. I know you've already been hammered on the simple gospel message biblethumpers preach and how it differes from the Catholic one. As you read the bible notice how all of it is about Jesus. It is really wondeful to ponder how the Father spends so much time and creativity writing about His Son. As you ponder that it starts to be clear why He would remove all of your sins the moment you simply believe in that One whom He loves so much.
You might be suprised to realize that this is more common than you think.
Historically, Protestants have been taught that Roman Catholicism is a perversion of Christianity -- that it is the result of an unholy union between Christianity and paganism. Hislop's The Two Babylons still looms large in Protestantism. They've been taught that Catholicism is Mystery Babylon, Mother of Harlots, Queen of the abominations of the earth. (Thats Rev. 17 language, BTW).
In recent years, though, the pendulum has begun to swing the other way. Due in large part to the parachurch organization movement -- PromiseKeepers and Campus Crusade, for instance, and also the pro-life movement, Protestants and Catholics are getting to meet each other in religious settings and finding out, hey, this guy's not so different from me. A whole another world of Christians is opening up to Protestants.
The pendulum may have swung too far the other way: now, there's a tendancy amongst Christians (evangelical Protestants, anyway) to minimize the doctrinal disagreements between evangelicalism and Catholicism. There are some very real and very serious theological disagreements that we cannot simply pretend do not exist. Veneration of Mary is a good example. To an evangelical Protestant, the veneration of Mary violates the very basis of monotheism. To a Catholic, disagreement with the veneration of Mary is an attack that evokes the same emotions when someone insults one's own mother.
Scott Hahn Scott Hahn’s The Lamb's Supper - The Mass as Heaven on Earth.
Foreword by Fr. Benedict Groeschel.
Part One - The Gift of the Mass
Hahn begins by describing the first mass he ever attended.
"There I stood, a man incognito, a Protestant minister in plainclothers, slipping into the back of a Catholic chapel in Milwaukee to witness my first Mass. Curiosity had driven me there, and I still didn't feel sure that it was healthy curiosity. Studying the writings of the earliest Christians, I'd found countless references to "the liturgy," "the Eucharist," "the sacrifice." For those first Christians, the Bible - the book I loved above all - was incomprehensible apart from the event that today's Catholics called "the Mass."
"I wanted to understand the early Christians; yet I'd had no experience of liturgy. So I persuaded myself to go and see, as a sort of academic exercise, but vowing all along that I would neither kneel nor take part in idolatry."
I took my seat in the shadows, in a pew at the very back of that basement chapel. Before me were a goodly number of worshipers, men and women of all ages. Their genuflections impressed me, as did their apparent concentration in prayer. Then a bell rang, and they all stood as the priest emerged from a door beside the altar.
Unsure of myself, I remained seated. For years, as an evangelical Calvinist, I'd been trained to believe that the Mass was the ultimate sacrilege a human could commit. The Mass, I had been taught, was a ritural that purported to "resacrifice Jesus Christ." So I would remain an observer. I would stay seated, with my Bible open beside me.
As the Mass moved on, however, something hit me. My Bible wasn't just beside me. It was before me - in the words of the Mass! One line was from Isaiah, another from Psalms, another from Paul. The experience was overwhelming. I wanted to stop everything and shout, "Hey, can I explain what's happening from Scripture? This is great!" Still, I maintained my observer status. I remained on the sidelines until I heard the priest pronounce the words of consecration: "This is My body . . . This is the cup of My blood."
Then I felt all my doubt drain away. As I saw the priest raise that white host, I felt a prayer surge from my heart in a whisper: "My Lord and my God. That's really you!"
I was what you might call a basket case from that point. I couldn't imagine a greater excitement than what those words had worked upon me. Yet the experience was intensified just a moment later, when I heard the congregation recite: "Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God," and the priest respond, "This is the Lamb of God . . ." as he raised the host. In less than a minute, the phrase "Lamb of God" had rung out four times. From long years of studying the Bible, I immediately knew where I was. I was in the Book of Revelation, where Jesus is called the Lamb no less than twenty-eight times in twenty-two chapters. I was at the marriage feast that John describes at the end of that very last book of the Bible. I was before the throne of heaven, where Jesus is hailed forever as the Lamb. I wasn't ready for this, though - I was at Mass!
Can you show me where I said that.
Yes I think a lot of what the Lord said to Peter. But it is obvious that what He said is not what you think, otherwise there would have been quite a bit more mention of the idea somewhere else in the NT. That darned ole Paul just fails to mention the real important things doesn't he, like all the secrets about Mary and the seat of Peter and all those important things.
As I read them I get very discouraged as I see the same patterns of verbage that pull one away from the very scriptures they are supposed to lead you towards.
So, because Paul never mentions abortion, I suppose abortion is OK?
You've got to do better than that.
Actually, Mary's and Peter's role were already accepted in the early Christian community. Paul's silence simply confirmed his own acceptance of their importance.
OHHHHHHHHH. Paul didn't write about Marianism nor about the Pope because everyone already knew about it! This is a new revelation for me.
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