Can Catholics Be Christians?

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church ^

[Salvation]

And those apsstles were given the Sacrament of Orders by Jesus Christ himself.

“Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them; whose sins you hold bound are held bound.”

“Go, therefore, baptizing all in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

[faucetman]

I found the article to be quite accurate and compassionate towards Catholics. What was there in it to make anyone mad? God will judge, the rest of us can only guess and He won’t be asking our opinion.

Romans 14:4
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

The bible is the answer. If you haven’t read it (and most Christians have not) you are uninformed about your own religion.

[Religion Moderator]

Do not use potty language - or references to potty language - on the Religion Forum.

[NYer]

The question of course is, by what authority can this church pose the question, much less give a response.

[Theo]

Good, balanced article.

If you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved, even if you hold some false doctrines. I’m all in favor of sound doctrine, but it’s Christ who saves us, and not the soundness of our doctrine.

[Ann Archy]

Thank you for posting “How old is your Church”!! It just amazes me that Protestants DENY THESE FACTS.

[Mr Rogers]

48. Let all, therefore, try to approach with greater trust the throne of grace and mercy of our Queen and Mother, and beg for strength in adversity, light in darkness, consolation in sorrow; above all let them strive to free themselves from the slavery of sin and offer an unceasing homage, filled with filial loyalty, to their Queenly Mother. Let her churches be thronged by the faithful, her feast-days honored; may the beads of the Rosary be in the hands of all; may Christians gather, in small numbers and large, to sing her praises in churches, in homes, in hospitals, in prisons. May Mary’s name be held in highest reverence, a name sweeter than honey and more precious than jewels; may none utter blasphemous words, the sign of a defiled soul, against that name graced with such dignity and revered for its motherly goodness; let no one be so bold as to speak a syllable which lacks the respect due to her name.

[mnehring]

The question of course is, by what authority can this church pose the question, much less give a response.

+1

[Berlin_Freeper]

> I came out of that religion about 25 years ago after reading for myself what the Bible had to say.

So then what is the problem?

Do you think you been missed?

[Theo]

Regarding the practice of asking Mary to pray for us ... I’ve never talked to a dead person. Not sure there’s much value in doing so.

Mary was a special woman, a chosen vessel through whom the Messiah would come. But she’s dead, unable to hear all the prayers sent her way.

Instead, let’s pray directly to the Lord, and invite our (living) friends to join us.

[Petronski]

What was there in it to make anyone mad?

Did you skip the part about greater hope for salvation for ignorant Catholics who just follow orders than those who actually understand the faith and remain in it?

[Salvation]

That’s not what I asked.

I asked if people had ever ASKED someone to pray for them. I know many Christians and Catholics who ask others to pray for them when they are facing surgery, difficult times, trouble with children, etc.

In fact we have a group of Prayer Warriors right here on FR who do that for many people. Catholics and other Christians get those messages asking people to pray for them.

[HighlyOpinionated]

Just because someone was "born" a Catholic doesn't necessarily mean they understand Catholic doctrine. For the curious among us there is New Advent. I was "born" a Lutheran, married a Lutheran Pastor, [his adulteries and a divorce later] raised my children in the Assemblies of God and joined the Catholic Church in 1992 after much research. Both children and their families are Baptist [spouses choice].

A lot of "birth Catholics" who leave the Church as young adults are returning to it as mid-life adults. Some preachers who have challenged the Catholic Church have done so much study they realize they have actually become Catholics in the process.



How old is your church?

If you are a Lutheran, your denomination was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.

If you belong to the Church of England, your denomination was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope could not grant him an annulment from his true and lawful wife, Catherine of Aragon, with the right to re-marry.

If you are an Eastern Orthodox, your church was taken from the Catholic Church in 1054 when the Pope and an Eastern Patriarch excommunicated each other.

If you are a Presbyterian, your denomination was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.

If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your denomination was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.

If your are a Congregationalist, your denomination was originated by Robert Browne in Holland in 1582.

If you are a Methodist, your denomination was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.

If you are LDS or "Mormon" (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Joseph Smith Jr. started your religion in Palmyra, NY, in 1829.

If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your denomination to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605.

If you are of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your denomination in New York in 1628.

If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865.

If you are a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.

If you are a follower of the Church of Scientology, your group owes its origin to L. Ron Hubbard in Washington D. C. in 1952.

If you are a Seventh Day Adventist, Mrs. Ellen Gould White inaugurated your group in the United States in 1860.

If you are a Jehovah's Witness, your religion was invented by "Pastor" Charles Taze Russell in 1874, incorporated 1881.

If you are a worshipper at the Iglesia ni Cristo, Felix Manalo instituted your sect in the Philippines in 1914.

If you call yourself a Mennonite, your movement was named after Menno Simons, a Catholic priest for 12 years, who left the Church to join the conservative Anabaptist wing.

The Amish, started by Jacob Amman around 1693, are just one of many different church bodies within the Mennonite community in the U.S.

If you are a believer at the Vineyard Chrstian Fellowship, your denomination was started by Ken Guillickson and Keith Green in Santa Monica, California in 1974. If you are a member of Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith began your congregation in Costa Mesa, California in 1975.

If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as "Church of the Nazarene", "Pentecostal Gospel", "Holiness Church", "Pilgrim Holiness Church", your denomination is one of the many thousands of new sects and religions founded by men within the past several hundred years.

If you are a Novus Ordo "Catholic," your church spun off the Roman Catholic Church as a result of the 1960's Robber Council, Vatican II.

If you are a traditional Roman Catholic, you know that your Church was founded in the year 33 A.D. by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

If you are Jewish, Abraham became the first Jew when God promised him: "I will make you a great nation...". Your religion was founded by God in the Jewish calendar year 2049 (1711 BC), over 3700 years ago. God revealed Himself to the Jews through the Prophets and promised to send a Messiah. Jesus Christ, a Jew from the House of David, came to this world as His only begotten Son in fulfillment of the scriptures.

[magisterium]

...for all the millions who still practice Mary worship and so forth

I suppose I shouldn't call the author a liar regarding his testimony that he is a former Catholic. Fair enough. But I will say that his ability to speak with authority on the teachings of the Catholic Church ended with the line quoted above, which comes from his questioner and is not refuted or corrected in any way. Either your author was an unusually ignorant Catholic, or he knows the questioner has made an erroneous statement and is too disingenuous to at least correct it before he goes on to other matters that he thinks are open for dissection.

If he can't address the entirety of the question put before him with credible witness, why should we give the rest of his presentation a hearing?

[samiam1972]

I thought this was a joke the first time I read it. I don’t know why I’m always surprised at the amount of disinformation that can be spread about one faith in what is supposed to be a genuine article. The way they manage to get in the ‘Mary worship’ and the ‘Roman Catholic’, etc., is almost awe inspiring. Have we not gone over this before?

I started off my morning with a Rosary where I was able to connect my sufferings this last trimester with the sufferings of Christ and offer it all up for women that are unable to conceive. I wish non-Catholics had a better understanding of the supposed “Mary worship”.

[Theo]

Nah, A group of Jews were the first Christians. Roman Catholicism sprang up some time later.

[stormer]

[Petronski]

You know, if the author truly was loving, and truly was a Catholic for some years, the first this he’d do in his reply if set the questioner straight with regard to “Mary Worship” and this BALONEY that Catholics believe “the Church is solely responsible for one’s welfare”.

Instead, the author chooses to let the slur stand. How nice.

[Petronski]

I’ve never talked to a dead person.

She's not dead.

[r9etb]

This insufferably smug little article reminds me of something I read somewhere....

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:9-14)

God save me from "reformed" pharisee-ism.