[annalex]

The concluding part VI of several part series on Al Kresta's journey. Previous:

Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part I: Darkness
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part II: Doubts
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part III: Tradition and Church
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part IV: Crucifix and Altar
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part V: The Catholics and the Pope

[annalex]

Thank you for your comments on this series and your company.

[ConservativeMind]

It really comes down to what the Bible says.

The Catholic church does not have the corner on the truth.

[Sergio]

Bookmark. Thanks for posting.

[DragoonEnNoir]

Evangelicals tolerate pentecostal superstition and fundamentalist ignorance, without breaking fellowship. So why criticize the Catholics for tolerating some superstition and ignorance?

I think this goes to the crux of the problem.

It is not that a person cannot be a Catholic and a true follower of Jesus Christ, nor that any other church is perfect and without flaws. The issue is that the Catholic church tolerates some superstition and ignorance, yet refuses to admit that they are such.

Key elements of this for me include the attributing of Godly attributes and titles to the Pope, Marian dogmas, veneration of Saints, and the creation of a priesthood standing between God and man. These are more than minor issues, and go to the heart of having no gods before God, and to the place and purpose of Jesus Christ.

There is much discourse among non-Catholic (denoting all of these as 'Protestant' is a misnomer I believe) churches about practices and sound theological belief, yet the primary and highest test for this must remain the Word of God contained in scripture. Human tradition has some place in the discourse, but human tradition must be judged by God's Word, and not the inverse.

[NYer]

Excellent series! Thank you for posting it.

[DungeonMaster]

The Marian dogmas were big problems. I still thought [around 1984] the Catholic claims on Mary were outrageous. I went back and read some essays, and concluded that the Bible alone wouldn't compel acceptance of the Marian dogmas; the Bible alone wouldn't lead you to them, yet sustained theological reflection on Jesus' relationship to His mother; if you take the humanity of Jesus with the utmost seriousness, and you take Mary as a real mother, not just a "conduit," and you begin to think about motherhood and sonship, and you think about what it means to receive a body from your mother: flesh . . . God didn't make Jesus' flesh in Mary's womb; He got Mary's flesh.

Sure doesn't agree with the attitude of the bible.

Luke11:27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” 28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

[MEGoody]

God didn't make Jesus' flesh in Mary's womb; He got Mary's flesh.

Then one would think that Jesus would have been female rather than male.

[narses]

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[xzins]

This author admits in the first paragraph that the Marian doctrines of the RCC are not biblical.

No need to read further.

[dan1123]

I think it’s funny for a section entitled “The Biblical Role” to rely so little on the Bible. It makes me wonder how Biblically literate he is.

[perseid 67]

The article is interesting.

My reasons for returning are different from his reasons. I have noticed that people who are not moving up in the world tend cycle downwards in the protestant denominations until they land in sects like the Jehovah's Witnesses or some other weird religion. Usually the poor people want protection from their oppressors ,but most churches try to protect the reputation of their members. So those who do not fit in with the image the protestant church is trying to cast of itself face pressure to leave or become more conservative in an effort to fit in. It’s sad to see poor people driven to such extremes when a wealthy person need just walk in with a fat wallet and he or she will be instantly accepted.

I’m sure this man loves the rational scientific minds of the Jesuits. I must admit they tend to excite fear and envy in their protestant counterparts. I on the other hand think the babushcaked old ladies are underrated. Those women are connected to God in a primitive and mysterious way. They remind me of the Tibetan mystics who meditate on the Dharma for years. Maybe they seem superstitious because it is hard to explain the spiritual aspects of Christianity. The fact that the Catholic church tolerates and even encourages them speaks well of Catholicism.

I also disagree with the notion that the Catholic church is not populist. No other church as far I can see has opened itself to so much attack by defending the right of less than perfect people to be on this Earth. The Catholic church is spear heading the movement to protect the disabled from those who want to spare them the misery of life without regard for whether they are miserable or happy.

[perseid 67]

babushcaked=babushkad

[Quix]

More Truthified:
. . . .
Why Some Character Returned to the RC Edifice. Part VI: The Biblical Distortions, Extrapolations, Assumptions, Additions, Elaborations, Fancifications, Imaginations and Pontifications.