Posted on 01/05/2010 9:46:47 PM PST by the_conscience
I just witnessed a couple of Orthodox posters get kicked off a "Catholic Caucus" thread. I thought, despite their differences, they had a mutual understanding that each sect was considered "Catholic". Are not the Orthodox considered Catholic? Why do the Romanists get to monopolize the term "Catholic"?
I consider myself to be Catholic being a part of the universal church of Christ. Why should one sect be able to use a universal concept to identify themselves in a caucus thread while other Christian denominations need to use specific qualifiers to identify themselves in a caucus thread?
Perhaps you should act better.
You’d sure have a chorus of amens from some quarters on that score.
I’m only concerned about offending my Lord or acting in a way incongruent with His priorities.
These situations may seem clear cut to you.
Maybe they are.
Your exhortatioins are sobering. I am doing what I know to take them to heart.
I can’t guarantee what conclusions I’ll reach.
Frankly, I never understood why anyone would want to pray to anyone other than our Lord Jesus and the Father when our Lord asked us to pray directly to Him and the Father. Do you have a "busy" signal?
Indeed, one should never pray Hail Mary, or any other prayer vainly, without understanding it.
You say "saved" but what you really mean is that one has accepted a form of Christian religion. No one is saved till he is judged by Christ for his works (Romans 2:5-10, Matthew 25:31-46) upon his death.
It is of course good if a non-Christian converts to any type of Christianity. However, if one's journey of faith does not complete in the Catholic (including, of course, the Orthodox) Church, his salvation remains problematic (John 6:54-55).
It makes a difference to me. I look forward to your lively and well thought-out posts.
What I really mean is saved by Christ in life.
...no rewrite needed...
No. Spiritual work does not usually manifest itself through any extraordinary sensations, other than, perhaps, a sense of peace. Good question.
“...acting in a way incongruent with His priorities”
God has given to us an excellent understanding of what is conguent with His priorities:
* You shall love the Lord God with your whole heart and your whole mind and your whole soul...
...and your neighbor as yourself.
* Love one another as I have loved you.
* He who seeks only himself brings himself to ruin, whereas he who brings himself to nought for Me discovers who he is.
Stop being depraved.
First off, congratulation on doing what is right, — on both attending the Divine Liturgy and not presenting yourself for the Holy Communion at this stage.
The critical question is one addressed by St. Paul in the verse following the one you cited. Do you discern the body of Christ in the Eucharist? If you do, and yet something keeps you from conversion, you need to examine that impediment. When you overcome it, trust me, they’ll let you receive in due course. And if you don’t then of course you should not receive, nor should you desire to receive, for your own sake, lest you do so unworthily.
I want to pray to God in the company of Mary and the saints, and not alone. We are a communal religion. The reason I specifically recommended Hail Mary and not some other prayer is because Hail Mary specifically asks for good death, an important factor when the topic is salvation of the unconverted.
I know that this is what you meant, but the doctrine is false and unscriptural. No one's salvation is complete (2 Peter 1:10, 1 Timothy 1:19f).
That is not what your prayer states. You are not praying to God. Please examine...
Mary cannot save anyone. You might as well go right to the top. If your concern is "the hour of our death", He can help in that department as well.
To quote the late Larry Norman, "Take a chance with Jesus - I highly recommend it."
Alas, I would like that but it's a hereditary disease though the Physician is working a cure yet it shan't be cured fully this side of glory.
We are each responsible for who we are and what we do.
Indeed not, in this particular prayer I ask Mary to pray to the Lord. In some other prayers I might ask another saint, or pray directly to Him, but in this one I ask for Mary's prayers.
The Rosary incorporates also Our Father and concludes with this prayer, again for conversion of souls:
Oh, my Jesus,
Forgive us our sins
Save us from the fires of Hell
Bring all souls to Heaven
Especially those most in need of Thy mercy.
Of course, whatever precisely Mary's powers are, they all stem from the fact that the Lord is with her in a very direct way. For that reason I seek her company. She is a saint, not a goddess.
Salvation by Christ, fully accepted, is complete in life.
You are mistaken to contend otherwise.
You should have just let it be.
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