Sure you are...You bow down and pray to cement statues, just as the Izlamaniacs pray to their black rock...
You have ritualistic sacrifices just as the pagan religions do...You have the religious buildings, the religious robes and jewels, and sacred cups and paintings...You have a king on a throne whom you all bow to and call 'holy father', of all things...
You have the religious chants from your missals...You have the droning of your repetitous prayers...
In your religious rituals, everyone on the stage thru out the world has to stand in the exact same place, use the proper hands and motions for each ritual, speak the same words, fold the towels exactly the same way, etc...That's religion...
You even call your own faithful, Religious...
Rather, I am/we are a people who believe in God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit as a matter of Faith.
All Christians believe that, whether they are Catholic Christians or Protestant Christians...
Through the Catholic Church the Holy Spirit has interpreted Sacred Scripture for all who wish to partake.
Clearly your religion has privately interpreted scripture to it's liking in spite of the warning by God not to do so, but the Holy Spirit had nothing to do with it...
One can not believe the whole counsel of God's written words and come up with your conclusion...
VERY VERY WELL PUT, imho.
Thx.
“Sure you are...You bow down and pray to cement statues”
Nope. Never done it. Never seen it done. Doubt I ever will.
“You have ritualistic sacrifices just as the pagan religions do...You have the religious buildings, the religious robes and jewels, and sacred cups and paintings...”
Too funny. Got the “pagan” dig in, LOL!!! Can’t say as I have seen any “sacred paintings” in my or any other parish. Perhaps you know where they are hidden? Not witnessed a single “sacred cup” either. Let me check my parish’s website again and make sure....yep! It’s a Catholic Church. Thanks be to God :) Jewels? Not seen any at all here in South Carolina or at any other parish I’ve attended for Mass in the whole of the south eastern US.
“You have a king on a throne...”
Non-sequitur. Christ is the King of the Catholic Church. He always has been, always will be. Familiar with the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Chapter 16:17-19???
17 Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
“whom you all bow to and call ‘holy father’, of all things...”
Yeah, that respect thing for the Vicar of Christ offends some folks for some odd reason.
“You have the religious chants from your missals”
In my few years of being Catholic, I have never “chanted” anything in any Mass—unless you refer to singing certain parts of the Mass, of course. Praising Our Lord Jesus Christ in song is a great thing, don’t you agree?
So to be clear, in the world of iscool, does Praising the Lord Jesus Christ in song = “chanting”?
“...You have the droning of your repetitous prayers...”
So you have special access to the hearts and minds of those who find Peace, Hope & Joy praying the same prayers to Our Father in Heaven to know folks in my parish & elsewhere are “droning”? “Repetitively”? Please share with us how you came to have such a ‘gift’.
“In your religious rituals, everyone on the stage thru out the world has to stand in the exact same place, use the proper hands and motions for each ritual, speak the same words, fold the towels exactly the same way, etc...That’s religion...”
A familiar, yet invalid argument, iscool. You might want to study up on the reality of Catholicism & familiarize yourself with the different Rites in the Catholic Church, not to mention the different Churches within the Catholic Church who utilize these differing Rites in their celebration of the Mass.
“One can not believe the whole counsel of God’s written words and come up with your conclusion...”
‘Coming up with “my” conclusion(s)’ has been happening for 2000 years—Thanks be to God!
If you want to call the Catholic Faith a “religion”, go for it & enjoy yourself.
Peace :)