[boatbums]

Now, the Orthodox are for example, very good because theirs is an authentic Church, and they preserved most of the Holy Relics from destruction. Also, they never allowed the Protestant error in their midst. The reason Protestant thinkers can be dismissed summarily is because they have no historical continuity with the Early Church and in fact oppose most ancient practices, including this one.

The only snippet of your recent comment that is worth a reply, though barely - the rest being just more of the typical bigoted reactions common to the dark ages over which the Roman Catholic Church presided and supported.

Spitting out the word "Protestant" whenever ones religious persuasion is criticized and presuming it is adequate justification to disregard anything associated with the Reformation, shows a dismal lack of understanding or charity, possibly, even a Christian immaturity. Rather than insist the Reformers had "no historical continuity with the early church", the truth is that they were MORE in line with early church doctrines and attitudes than what the Roman church had become by the sixteenth century. If some Catholics refuse to acknowledge this fact and prefer the dream, or myth rather, that "their" church was the ONLY one Christ established and it remained infallible and untouched by human vice and depravity, then they pretty much will believe anything - up to and including that slivers of body parts from supposed "saints" carry special blessings from God. It's one thing to honor and remember the example of those who exhibited spiritual strength and grace in times of great testing and tribulation, but it's another to imagine some "relic" which might be associated with them obligates God to grant whatever request is conjured. Such action smacks of hero and idol worship not unsimilar to that the ancient heathens and pagans of Rome and Greece practiced. If God forbid the chosen people of Israel from adopting those rituals common to the worshipers of false gods and demons, how could He not also the chosen generation of holy people set apart by the grace of God in Jesus Christ?

You can ponder the answer to that or, if expected, summarily dismiss it as just more Protestant "error". I, on the other hand, will continue to respect and obey the word of God and follow the guidelines He chose to reveal.

[annalex]

they [Protestants] were MORE in line with early church doctrines and attitudes than what the Roman church had become by the sixteenth century

Yeah, riiiight. Veneration of saints, veneration of holy images and holy relics, the Eucharist as real presence of the sacrifice of Christ, penitential practices, monasteries, "do nothing without your bishop", all that -- real dead-ringer Protestant.

If God forbid the chosen people of Israel from adopting those rituals common to the worshipers of false gods and demons, how could He not also the chosen generation of holy people set apart by the grace of God in Jesus Christ?

That would be because the Heaven and the communion of saints were not open to the Hebrew dead; they had to wait for the Easter of Our Lord.