What? Are they riding their bikes around 2-by-2 with white shirts & ties & backpacks selling those things again?
(Just have the Mormons conjure up the spirit of Martin Luther, since they have dead folks visit their temples frequently, and he can pound another 95 theses on the RC doors Oct. 31...like he did almost 500 years ago!)
voting people in as Saints,
I'm an Evangelical; not Catholic...but from what I understand...while I don't like saints in heaven being treated as intermediaries in place the Christ, the "voting" you mention is called canonization. And basically, just as the process of canonizing the distinct books of the Bible wasn't so much a "vote" as it was a confirmation of what was already recognized as "Scripture" by the church, I think some parallel descriptions should carry over to how the RC church treats saints.
IOW the RC church in many of these cases is simply recognizing/confirming who was already impactful via their lives. It's not like these saints are alive and are auditioning for this status -- unlike Mormons who are auditioning for godhood status, which pollutes even the good works they do because it can be a boomerang bounce-back done for their own sake/own glory purposes!
...purgatory...
If you compare RC teaching of purgatory to Mormon teaching about Baptism of the dead, what Mormons regard as "second-chance post-death salvation opportunities" I think the false security and terrible implications of Baptism for the dead are much, much worse than the teaching of purgatory. I'm not defending purgatory as a teaching. I'm simply contrasting and comparing.
and transubstantiation just to name just a few (none of which is biblical). Yet I don’t see Catholic bashing on here much. I wonder why?
I don't believe in transubstantiation. But you know what? When you read Jesus' words in John 6:32-68, it seems at least the RC are closer to upholding what Jesus taught there than many Christian churches which treat communion/The Lord's Supper/Eucharist in 100% symbolic terms.
My question to you: As you read the end of John 6, as Jesus was losing some of his wider pool of disciples over this teaching, did He say, "Hey, come on back. I was only talking symbolically?"
No He didn't. He let them leave their role as His followers over it. That would seem to tell me that whatever the true teaching is on this subject, that both RC and some Christian churches need to move toward each other...
John 6:32-68:
32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 41At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" 43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Many Disciples Desert Jesus 60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" 61Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." 66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. 68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
How? It seems to me an "either or" situation and there's no compromising of the twain possible.
I'm Baptist and we use grape juice in the Lords Supper. We are discouraged from drinking wine or other alcoholic beverages at anytime. No one has ever convinced me of the correctness of either of these things. I don't let that disagreement keep me from serving the Lord to the best of my abilities as a Baptist. As a recovering alcoholic,(29 years sober) I cannot drink anyway.
As many times as I have read the Bible, I've yet to find anything that says "don't drink alcoholic beverages". On the other hand, habitual drunkenness is certainly discouraged.
My big question though remains, where's a possible compromise on the subject of transubstantiation?
Graybeard - your brother in the Lord Jesus.
Canonization: not in Scripture
Lord’s Table: turning the bread and wine into the ACTUAL BODY AND BLOOD of Christ...not in Scripture.
Purgatory: not in Scripture
Not of your answers prove any of it is actually supported by scripture. Which is good...because you cannot as it isn’t in there.