Posted on 01/23/2014 9:29:40 PM PST by NKP_Vet
1. Best One-Sentence Summary: I am convinced that the Catholic Church conforms much more closely to all of the biblical data, offers the only coherent view of the history of Christianity (i.e., Christian, apostolic Tradition), and possesses the most profound and sublime Christian morality, spirituality, social ethic, and philosophy.
2. Alternate: I am a Catholic because I sincerely believe, by virtue of much cumulative evidence, that Catholicism is true, and that the Catholic Church is the visible Church divinely-established by our Lord Jesus, against which the gates of hell cannot and will not prevail (Mt 16:18), thereby possessing an authority to which I feel bound in Christian duty to submit.
3. 2nd Alternate: I left Protestantism because it was seriously deficient in its interpretation of the Bible (e.g., "faith alone" and many other "Catholic" doctrines - see evidences below), inconsistently selective in its espousal of various Catholic Traditions (e.g., the Canon of the Bible), inadequate in its ecclesiology, lacking a sensible view of Christian history (e.g., "Scripture alone"), compromised morally (e.g., contraception, divorce), and unbiblically schismatic, anarchical, and relativistic. I don't therefore believe that Protestantism is all bad (not by a long shot), but these are some of the major deficiencies I eventually saw as fatal to the "theory" of Protestantism, over against Catholicism. All Catholics must regard baptized, Nicene, Chalcedonian Protestants as Christians.
4. Catholicism isn't formally divided and sectarian (Jn 17:20-23; Rom 16:17; 1 Cor 1:10-13).
5. Catholic unity makes Christianity and Jesus more believable to the world (Jn 17:23).
6. Catholicism, because of its unified, complete, fully supernatural Christian vision, mitigates against secularization and humanism.
7. Catholicism avoids an unbiblical individualism which undermines Christian community (e.g., 1 Cor 12:25-26).
8. Catholicism avoids theological relativism, by means of dogmatic certainty and the centrality of the papacy.
(Excerpt) Read more at ourcatholicfaith.org ...
” do believe that Christ intended only one Church, and that Church grew and flourished and was persecuted for almost 400 years before Christians were presented with the Bible.”
Since you’re a Jehovah’s Witness, it be more accurate to say that your “persecution” BEGAN 400 years later, with the Arians, and, actually, it was the Arians who were doing the persecution. In fact, the churches were largely conquered by the Arians, even in Rome. The Christians all before that believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ. They also quoted from every book in the holy scripture between themselves, and the scriptures were indeed available to them from the very beginning. Otherwise, they were quoting a figment of your imagination.
Don’t take the Jehovah’s Witness pseudo-history seriously. Your founders and leaders aren’t known for being the most honest group of people.
Read Trail of blood
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Books,%20Tracts%20&%20Preaching/Printed%20Books/trail_of_blood_jm_carroll.htm
and FOX’s BOOK of MARTYRS http://www.ccel.org/f/foxe/martyrs/home.html
Then get back to us.
The notorious homosexual, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, was president of the bishops’ conference for some years, and deliberately entangled the Church with the government—addicting Catholic Charities to government funding, among other things.
Add this to the fact that, in those years, about 90% of bishops were dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, having grown up in a household where the father was a member of a major union, and the bishops’ response to abortion was pathetic. They were far more hostile to the Reagan tax rate cuts than to abortion.
The pro-life movement in the U.S. is 99% the work of Catholic and Protestant laity. The Catholic bishops have, as a group, been a hindrance. The Catholic bishops’ greatest “success” was the snuffing out of the Rescue Movement.
The notorious homosexual, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, was president of the bishops’ conference for some years, and deliberately entangled the Church with the government—addicting Catholic Charities to government funding, among other things.
Add this to the fact that, in those years, about 90% of bishops were dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, having grown up in a household where the father was a member of a major union, and the bishops’ response to abortion was pathetic. They were far more hostile to the Reagan tax rate cuts than to abortion.
The pro-life movement in the U.S. is 99% the work of Catholic and Protestant laity. The Catholic bishops have, as a group, been a hindrance. The Catholic bishops’ greatest “success” was the snuffing out of the Rescue Movement.
“NKP_Vet” - I always find it interesting when someone dumps and runs on a post like this here on FR - ZERO follow up reply posts. Zero.
For the record I was born and raised Roman Catholic. I renounced that “denomination” and left that Church when God began to reveal the truth about himself to me through the person of Jesus Christ.
I KNEW something was wrong when as a young boy I made my first confession - long meditated on and heartfelt - the Priest, after asking me several questions which basically identified me personally to him, said “Ah you’re a good kid go say 10 hail marys and you’ll be all set”. I KNEW THIS COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE THE TRUTH AND COULD NOT CLEANSE ME NOR FORGIVE ME OF MY SINS.
Love and Truth won out in my life and I am a follower of Jesus Christ, my Savior AND Lord. Hope the same for all of you who earnestly seek Him. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, not the Catholic Church or any other for that matter.
I am not a Jehovah witness...sorry if I wasn’t clear. I was first challenged by a member of the Jehovah witnesses...which forced me to go back and do the legwork and soul work that allowed me to defend my Catholic faith...
So you have no sinners in your church? Amazing!
Government handouts.
About 70% of immigrants (regardless of origin) vote pro-abortion. Abortion means so little to the Catholic bishops that they are, with few exceptions, campaigning for expanded immigration.
When Reagan’s tax rate cuts were on the table in the 1980 election, the official position of the Catholic bishops’ conference exposed their narrow, self-centered thinking: They opposed cutting the income-tax rates because doing so would reduce the value of the charitable deduction! Think about that: Never mind property rights; never mind economic opportunity; we want government to continue applying coercion to pressure people to give to us.
There are always exceptions, but on the whole Rome has been appointing corrupt, left-leaning, think-inside-the-box Democrats to lead the Church in America. This is why the Kennedys, Cuomos, Pelosi, and others have been allowed to continue the pretense that they are Catholics. The bishops fear the loss of government money, the exposure of their sex lives, and the wrath of the left-wing establishment.
Why be Catholic? The Pope just told us one can be saved by being a Muslim? Next we’ll be seeing prayer rugs sold in the Vatican gift shop. ;O)
The Catholic position is more complicated in that.
Is it your position that a Muslim who is ignorant of Christianity, though no fault of his own, cannot be saved?
So you hang your current position regarding the Catholic Church on the perceptions of a seven-year-old child?
The priest was trying to be encouraging. A seven-year-old is incapable of committing grave sins.
You apparently were not conscious at that time of the words of absolution:
God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrament_of_penance
Every Church on that chart is in union with the Church in Rome.
Many another Protestant has thought as you do, until he started reading the early Church fathers--Irenaeus, Polycarp, Augustine, Clement, John Chrystosom, Ignatius, etc.--and found to his dismay that from the beginning, Christianity held to the same fundamental truths about the Faith, which Catholicism still teaches.
It's a shock, I know. The Catholic professor of philosophy Dr Peter Kreeft, raised an ardent Calvinist, went through this exasperating process of reading and discovery in the original sources and found himself compelled to admit that the earliest Christians believed and worshipped as Catholics do. Peter Kreeft
So did the brilliant young strict Calvinist pastor and Bible scholar Dr Scott Hahn, whose intense study and agonizing intellectual honesty compelled him to admit the truth of Catholicism. Dr Scott Hahn's Reluctant Conversion
And so did I. I am a simple person and not a great scholar, but though raised as a Protestant, I too had to admit the uncomfortable fact that the earliest writing in Christianity substantiated Catholic doctrine, and that since the sixteenth century, one fracture after another, one doctrinal dispute after another, one prideful man after another who thought he could interpret Scripture better than any of his predecessors in prior centuries, has deviated from the earliest teachings of Christ's apostles.
I invite you to watch those videos. Perhaps intellectual curiosity and honesty will inspire you to read the fundamental works by those men who were instructed by the Apostles themselves. You might be surprised.
My current position on the Catholic Church certainly goes well beyond my personal experience as a young person.
Seems like you might need to reconsider Jesus’ words:
“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child WILL NEVER ENTER IT”” Mark 10:15 (CAP emphasis mine)
My position-
Joh 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
Huh?
Revelation talks about the Roman Catholic Church. It’s frustrating and scares me, because the true RC church from Rome is nothing more than a well disguised cult.
The list is long, but the amount of anti biblical teachings they encourage is nothing short of jaw dropping. I can’t sit by and watch people getting fleeced by a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
I do think some Catholics are saved, because I’ve met some. Having talked to them, I realize they aren’t following the Catholic teachings closely, but rather the bible.
Guess where hospitals came from?
http://americanminute.com/index.php?date=01-23&view=View
The Catholic Church is the oldest institution in the Western World and the originator of ‘hospitals’.
Just as the Syrian Church did in the East, the Catholic Church in the West pioneered putting into practice the words of Jesus:
“I was sick and you visited me,”
and
“Whatever you have done to the least of my brethren, you have done unto me.”
Though some ancient cultures had some medical/superstitious practices, it was primarily for the royalty and wealthy.
Health care for the poor traces its roots to Christianity.
In the 4th century, under the ministry of St. Jerome, a wealthy Christian widow named St. Fabiola gave money to build a hospital in Rome and cared for the sick herself.
Around the same time, St. Basil distributed food to the poor of Caesarea, then built a poorhouse, hospice, and hospital.
In 325 AD, the Council of Nicea directed that every city having a cathedral should also have a hospital, as people traveling on pilgrimages would often arrive ill.
The word “hosp” is Latin for “traveler,” the root word of hospital, hospitality, host, hostel and hotel. Hospitals were staffed by religious orders.
In the 6th century, the Benedictine Order had every monastery establish an infirmary.
With the invasion of Islam, hospitals needed to be defended, giving rise to the order of Knights of Hospitallers.
In the 1300’s, the Bubonic Plague, or Black Death, ravaged Europe killing 75 million people.
Crops were left standing in fields as there was no one to harvest them.
With often no one to bury the dead, an order of Catholic men called ‘Alexian Brothers’ collected the bodies and gave them a Christian burial.
They also ministered to the dying who were banished from the cities.
WHO STARTED YOUR CHURCH?
There are more than 30000 different Christian churches teaching different doctrines.
How did they split into so many?
Starting about 400 years ago:
If you are Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.
The Anabaptist religion splintered from the Lutherans in 1520, founded by Nicholas Storch and Thomas Munzer.
The Menonite Church is an offshoot of the Anabaptist Church founded in 1525 and takes its name from Menno Simons, a former Catholic priest.
The Angelicans belong to the Church of England and your religion was founded by King Henry the VIII in the year 1534, because the Pope wouldn’t grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.
If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Sctland in 1560.
Protestant Episcopalian? Your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England and founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.
If you are a Baptist, John Smyth began it in 1605 in Amsterdam.
The Congregationalist religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.
Quakers began their religion in 1647 by George Fox in England.
If you are Amish, your Church was founded by Jacob Anman in 1693.
If you are Methodist, you religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.
Unitarian religion founded in 1774 by Theophilus Lindley in London.
If you are Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, N.Y. in 1829.
If you are Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder. Originated in 1828.
If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect was began by William Booth in London in 1865.
If you are a Christian Scientist, 1879 was started by Mary Baker Eddy.
If you are a member of the Assemblies of God, your religion was founded by Charles Parham in Topeka Kansas in 1901.
If you belong to the Church of the Nazarene, your religion was started in 1908.
If you are a Jehova’s Witness, your religion was started by Charles Taze Russell in 1931.
If you are a Catholic , you belong to the Church that was founded around the year 33 by Jesus Christ the Son of God. Jesus appointed the first Pope (Mathew 16:19) and as Catholics we can trace our apostolic lineage from Pope Peter to Pope Francis.
For 1500 years Christians were united in one Church. The splintering that has taken place since the Catholic Church has been a failed experiment. Pray for Christian Unity
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