Reformation Day – and What Led Me To Back to Catholicism

The Catholic Thing ^ | 10/28/11 | Francis J. Beckwith

[metmom]

Not in any attempt to play Moderator here, but you have a very legitimate point, smvoice. You did exactly what is required when you posted the source INCLUDING the page number. What cracks me up sometimes, is we get criticized when we post links from the Internet - mockingly calling it the "Googlesterium" - and not from real "books", implying we only do research from the net unlike "real" students. But then when we post references from "real" books, there are those who do Googlesterium searches and then insist we got the info from the first link that pops up, as if they were the ONLY sources!

Can you say *hypocrisy*.

Condemned if you do, condemned if you don't.

[metmom]

Courtesy ping to post 3,195 for smvoice.

[CynicalBear]

And still I find that the subject matter of that post has yet to be addressed. Rather then refute the contention that the Catholic Church demands that it alone is the source for truth the messenger was attacked. I have watched as that tactic has been used over and over and each time it’s evident to me that the message itself stands as truth.

[Religion Moderator]

The warning about badgering applies across the board, not just to you.

Badgering turns any thread away from the issues and towards the individual Freepers. It leads to flamewars.

[TexConfederate1861]

Exactly. Which is my point.

[presently no screen name]

that those promises are for the here and now and that we can have confidence to boldly approach the throne of grace to find help in our time of trouble.

Exactly. We won't have any need nor lack for anything in our final destination - Heaven, our real home. Our eternal life starts here. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Going to His throne in anyway but confident demonstrates a lack of faith.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Heb 11:6

God is truth and cannot lie and our not trusting or believing His promises to us that He saw fit to record in Scripture for us is essentially calling God a liar. It's saying that we know better than God and that what He's promised us isn't true or trustworthy.

They don't KNOW God and never experienced His blessings because of a lack of faith. There are Scriptures after Scriptures on Him blessing us. And then all His promises are 'yes' and 'Amen'. And then He calls us friend and we get to call Him Abba/Daddy. I guess those who don't believe Him/His Word would be jealous of those who do believe Him alone and walk in His blessings.

No one has it better than His own as they are 'in Christ' and are sealed until the day of redemption. And He wants us to turn all our cares over to Him while we rest in HIM. No wonder it's so easy to have fellowship with Our Most Loving Heavenly Father. Like a child crawling up on their daddy's lap knowing all is well.

[CynicalBear]

Here’s a comparison Catholic answers uses when trying to justify the view that the Catholic Church is the only entity able to rightly interpret the scriptures.

Such an official interpreter is absolutely necessary if we are to understand the Bible properly. (We all know what the Constitution says, but we still need a Supreme Court to interpret what it means.) [http://www.catholic.com/documents/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth]

Now who in their right mind thinks that the Supreme Court has not gone off track? I do think however that the comparison is accurate. The Supreme Court has become a tool that the powerfull use to impose evil and corrupt teaching and so has the Catholic Church.

[presently no screen name]

AMEN!! That promise is better than gold - it comes from ‘I AM’.

“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven..”

[presently no screen name]

"..the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether."

AMEN!

[metmom]

And it still gets down to the problem of interpreting the interpretation.

You can add layers and layers of interpretation, just like the Pharisees did in Jesus’ say, and they had the people so bound up that they didn’t know whether they were coming of going.

Christ has set us free from the Law by fulfilling the righteous requirements of it and God imputes it to us, credits that perfect righteousness to our account when we acknowledge that we CAN’T do it ourself and we look to him in faith and trust to do it in us. God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.

The Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ, not as a play book to earn our salvation by following.

The security of the believer is knowing that we are in God’s hands and He will not cast us out and that He will keep us until the day of redemption. It takes care of fear and worry that we haven’t made it, when anyone who is honest will know deep down inside that they haven’t made it.

I think pnsn hit it when he said that those who are not saved are jealous of the confidence and security of the believer.

God made salvation simple. Repent and believe.

the RCC makes it more complicated than it is or needs to be with all its requirements and rules and regulations.

God made it easy for a reason, so that ANYONE (whosoever) will may come.

[metmom]

Hey, in heaven gold is just pavement.......

[presently no screen name]

Yes - and pure gold. That’s Our God - NOTHING is too good for His own.

[smvoice]

Thanks for the courtesy PING mm.

Yes, D-fender, you have it all right. This is how Bible Study works. I attended a Bible Study in 1871 and received a copy of a catholic world periodical and have kept it all these years, through the 1st WW, the 2nd, man on the moon, Vietnam, 13 presidents, and 9/11, just waiting, waiting to be able to open it again and post something from it...

Hint: When a Bible study is studying something, say CULTS, they begin with gathering information on those CULTS, with sources, and compare them with what God's Word says about the last days, the tribulation, Rev. 17 and 18, one world government, one world religion, etc. And they compare the CULT beliefs and doctrines with God's Word. If they line up with what the Bible declares is another gospel, another Jesus, another spirit, they are a CULT.

Roman Catholicism is on the front burner because there are many who believe she is the Great Whore of Rev. 17,18, who sits upon many waters.

That said, what are the sources that confirm/deny that belief? They are given to you every time I post them. Would you like to continue this study of the RCC being Mystery Babylon, with adequate sources? It's up to you. We have 2000 years of sourced lies by the RCC to keep us busy for months. OR, you can get on down the road, and hope it's just my memory that is recalling this information, and not Church material. I can assure you it is acknowledged sourced material. It's up to you...

[CynicalBear]

>> the RCC makes it more complicated than it is or needs to be with all its requirements and rules and regulations.<<

Just as the Pharisees did.

[CynicalBear]

>>Roman Catholicism is on the front burner because there are many who believe she is the Great Whore of Rev. 17,18, who sits upon many waters.<<

And they do have some rather compelling reasons to believe that.

[Hacksaw]

And they can’t figure out why people leave the Catholic church or aren’t interested in *swimming the Tiber* and coming back.

Personally, I haven't noticed many posts begging the former Catholic freepers to "Come Back". If it makes you feel better, I don't care that you or others on here have left, and hope you find happiness. In fact, I think most of the former Catholics on here did the Catholic church a favor by leaving.

[D-fendr]

No *there’s* a definitely fallible opinion of a fallible man.

[CynicalBear]

>>No *there’s* a definitely fallible opinion of a fallible man.<<

Yep, and it appears the fallible men in Rome are going to cause some rather severe problems for those who are left after Christ’s true church leaves this earth.

[CynicalBear]

Oh, and don’t forget, it was us fallible men who were cautioned to “search the scriptures daily to see if these things be true”. The scriptures being the only source to infallible truth after all.

[D-fendr]

Bible Study it was, just like you said “I am NOT going to websites. The only *link* I could give is the link to the Bible study classes I attend.”

I’m just glad you remembered where it came from to clear this up, and you had it handy enough to type in.

Obviously the reason it came up in google searches jot for jot is the same calibre of sources have the same material.

I would bet we could find that folks used the exact same words and snippets and calling Catholicism a cult going back to Know Nothing Party and the KKK a couple of generations back.

If you were going to websites you could check it out.