Posted on 09/02/2011 9:07:47 AM PDT by marshmallow
Minneapolis, Minnesota (CNN) –Prior to 2006, few people even knew that then-Minnesota state legislator Keith Ellison was a Muslim. Because of his English name, he said, no one thought to ask.
But five years ago, when he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives - a race he would go on to win - word of his religious affiliation began to spread.
“When I started running for Congress it actually took me by surprise that so many people were fascinated with me being the first Muslim in Congress,” said Ellison, a Democrat now serving his third term in the House.
“But someone said to me, ‘Look Keith, think of a person of Japanese origin running for Congress six years after Pearl Harbor–this might be a news story.’”
Though Ellison's status as the first Muslim elected to Congress is widely known, fewer are aware that he was born into a Catholic family in Detroit and was brought up attending Catholic schools.
But he said he was never comfortable with that faith.
“I just felt it was ritual and dogma,” Ellison said. “Of course, that’s not the reality of Catholicism, but it’s the reality I lived. So I just kind of lost interest and stopped going to Mass unless I was required to.”
It wasn’t until he was a student at Wayne State University in Detroit when Ellison began, “looking for other things.”
(Excerpt) Read more at religion.blogs.cnn.com ...
Now there's some news...That's some BIG news...Metmon asked other LIVE Christians to pray for her...
So you get the kewpie doll...You must have watched a lot of Columbo programs...Or was it the Pink Panther???
You still havin’ wildcat problems?
Check the passages again. Where do you think I got “star differs from star in glory”?
Round and round we go.
Changing the subject achieves nothing. Reading carelessly wastes time. Being vague in objections hinders conversation.
Jesus no longer has a body?
One more yard and he would have been great...
Brees also set an NCAA record with the longest pass ever (99 yards), to receiver Vinny Sutherland against Northwestern on September 25, 1999
These are the souls of those who have died who are Christians...They are now with Jesus...Jesus will bring them with him when we go to meet Jesus in the air, at the Rapture...
Their dead bodies will rise first, and those who are alive will immediately follow them...
Let’s go over this slowly.
The opposition makes TWO arguments. ONE: talking to dead people is not good. TWO: We don’t need to ask for the prayers of others.
Now, follow carefully here: asking for the prayers of people who have not died is asking for the prayers of others.
Is there something unclear about that? Having died or not having died, they are still (a) others and (b) not Jesus.
SO, if somebody says, “We don’t need to ask for ANY intercession but that of Jesus,” and then asks for others to pray for him, there is an apparent inconsistency WHETHER OR NOT the person asked has died.
So while it is true that metmom asked people who have not died, it is irrelevant to the question of whether it is wrong or somehow defective to ask for the prayers of others.
In fact, switching from one issue to the other suggests weakness of argument or weakness of mind.
OK. Maybe we’re talking about a different intercession of the saints.
To me, the intercession of the saints is us, still living here on earth in physical bodies, praying together in agreement on something. It has nothing to do with invoking the assistance of those who have passed on, died in their physical bodies.
You are SUCH a nice man! I don’t deserve any kewpie doll. See post 4400.
I am only asking those currently living on this planet in their physical bodies with whom I can communicate in this physical material world to pray for me.
Trying to communicate with those who have died in the physical bodies who do not any longer inhabit this physical plane of existence borders too much on seances, of divination, or contacting the dead, which God expressly forbids us to do, for my comfort. IMO, it’s too close to bordering on the occult and that is an area that I think is prudent to avoid.
So, because we are commanded to bear one another’s burdens and pray for one another, I don’t see that me asking someone with whom I can relate on this planet as the physical body they were born into is still living, is a problem.
If you think that praying to a dead person is going to accomplish something that God will not do for you Himself, well, have at it. But I believe the Catholic practice of praying to *Saints* those canonized by the Catholic church, is useless at best and dangerous at worst and I will always encourage people to go to their Father first.
Naw...This is where your argument crashes and burns...
I agree with Metmom that we are not interested in any attempt at intercession since it's unbiblical...
Ya see, none of you guys are asking Mary and the saints to pray with you...You are asking them to pray FOR you...That's what intercession is...
When I as Metmom to pray for me, I am not asking for a mediator...I don't need one other than Jesus...There is none other than Jesus...
And the definition of intercede in the Webster Dictionary is:
: to intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences : mediate
I don't need a mediator...I need a prayer partner...
Where did I say that?
Maybe we should just go and get a piece of pie.
That cannot be repeated enough.....
to satisfy those who think God made a mistake when He chose her.
Where else it crashes and burns is that soooo many of those prayers are asking Mary and the saints to do things FOR them that only God alone can do.
It's not so much praying to the Saints to have the Saints pray FOR the pray-ers , as much as it is praying TO the Saints to do things for pray-ers and grant pray-ers the requests asked of them.
Who said that? I don't recall anyone saying God made a mistake in choosing Mary.
Please provide the link to the post where that was said or implied.
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