Posted on 01/27/2014 7:57:57 PM PST by matthewrobertolson
Of course God knows what will happen to each and every soul. We DO, however, get many chances to say YES to Him.
Creating a soul that is going to say NO to Him is a mystery. I don't pretend to be able to unravel or comprehend the mysteries of God.
There ARE Protestant denominations that don't believe in Purgatory. I don't know which ones there are. There are thousands of Protestant denominations and their tenets differ. There are dozens of Catholic denominations (orthodox and such) but they can't hold a candle to the THOUSANDS of Protestant denominations. And, honestly, it doesn't matter to me what they believe. Not my job to judge them!
Thank goodness we don't have to sort all that out. Our good Lord will do that!
I went on-line to see how many Protestant denominations there are and who they were. Boggles, Ah say, BOGGLES the mind. (Foghorn Leghorn)
Isn't curious that if the church at Rome was primary in ANY way ... that Rome was not one of the seven churches addressed by Christ in Revelation 2 and 3.
One other thing about something specific said in this article. How could the selling of indulgences not have been grievously wrong, including according to Catholic belief. The Catholic Church teaches that there isn’t assurance of salvation, but unconfessed mortal sin puts one in Hell. Only God can know about all unconfessed sin. Selling indulgences presumes to know that a believer is saved, but only in Purgatory temporarily to be cleansed from their sins that weren’t mortal. That contradicts Catholic doctrine.
Especially since the writer of Revelation was 'Catholic'. When church wasn't mentioned, one would have thought he'd inquire.
We have DAILY readings of Scripture:
1. USUALLY the first reading is from the Old Testament.
2. The second reading is USUALLY from one of St. Paul's letters.
3. The gospel is read. (Then the homily.)
All readings are completed in a three-year cycle. Then, we repeat the same three-year cycle. MUCH (but not every single word) of the Bible is read in that three-year cycle.
I do readings during the week and I was very nicely given a pronunciation guide to those Old Testament names. VERY handy.
The answer is to ask God what the truth is and totally surrender to Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”
Consider this: The pastor of a Protestant community notices a budget shortfall. It turns out that some of the volunteers have stolen money on his watch! He moves to correct the error, though maybe a little more slowly than others might like, and everything is set right. Should the pastor be blamed? And even if he should, should that necessarily negate all of his teachings?
And that's analogous to Leo X, please, even Catholics of the time decried him as a wastrel, course, once he was dead.
All well and good, to get those readings from the ‘book of information’. The ‘official pronouncements’ would be the Catholic Church proclaiming it as the Word of God, when fellow Catholics refer to it openly as a ‘book of information’. That’s on of the main disconnects between Catholics and Protestants.
And this is why I am not a Catholic and you are. I do not rely on doctrine but on faith and the guidance from the Bible rather than the guidance of canon law and tradition. I respect your right to your beliefs and I’m glad you respect mine. I also have had a deep exposure to Orthodoxy and respect their beliefs while not subscribing to them. I am comfortable attending a Mass in either of those churches but hold to my own beliefs.
I have never, ever, ever, ever heard the Bible called a "book of information."
I have never, ever, ever, ever heard ANYONE call it that either.
YOU are the first one I've EVER heard telling me about CATHOLICS calling it a "book of information."
All I've ever heard it called is the: Word of God.
Sound to me like some of your Catholic acquaintances need some re-catechizing. Don't you think?
I apologize, ‘the Bible is a source of information’, my mistake.
1. My husband was a mechanical engineer, which means he could do ANY/EVERYthing. He worked for Pacific Gas and Electric.
He worked for ARAMCO in their LNG plant. The engineers there (all foreigners, MOSTLY American) were allowing the BURNING OFF of all the natural gas that comes pouring out of the petroleum wells WITH the petroleum. Saudi Arabia looked like a HUGE birthday cake at night from the air.
Well, those SMART engineers figured that burning off ALL the natural gas was a TERRIBLE waste. So, all the natural gas that came up with the petroleum was captured and liquified. It was then bottled and sold.
Thus, liquified natural gas plants in the KSA. They made a friggin' fortune.
From ONLY the petroleum sales it was figured that in 1983 the King of Saudi Arabia was making a cool one BILLION dollars (petrodollars) every two and a half days.
I cannot BEGIN to fathom how much money that is. Mind you, the petroleum (and with it the natural gas) WILL run out one day. The engineers figured that Saudi Arabia had about another 200 years worth of petroleum in them thar wells.
Also, they haven't TOUCHED their "empty quarter." The Empty Quarter - هيئة المساحة الجيولوجية www.sgs.org.sa/English/earth/Pages/EmptyQuarter.aspx
Overview of the Empty Quarter ... vegetation, and water. Hence, in Arabic it is called 'Ar Rub al Khali' which means the Empty Quarter.
2. Is there no one to give you a lift? Surely there MUST be someone...a teenager, a bored housewife, a commuter.
You might ask the parish priest if he knows someone who could give you a lift one or two days a week. Perhaps you could string together MORE lifts.
--Promise FOOD to the young.
--Promise the moon to the bored housewife. She really just wants someone to LISTEN to her.
--Promise a fill-up to the commuter.
All will turn down your rewards...except the kid. He WILL want his FoodReward. Make THAT huge, warm FRESH chocolate chip cookies.
Hah, for THAT I'd drive you myself!!
My gawd, you made a mistake. You are not perfect. :o)
Not a problem!!
Sounds right to me.
Although, ‘book’ ‘source’, what’s the difference?
And you know what they say about "assume"...
....she [Mary] is the New Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant, in case you are unfamiliar with it, held objects like the Ten Commandments. It was so precious that, in 2 Samuel 6, God strikes down Uzzah, who mishandled it. Mary held God-incarnate. Imagine how much more precious she must be!
Is this how Mary managed to stay a perpetual virgin - God threatened to strike down anyone (including her husband Joseph) who touched her?
The keys are addressed here as well:
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Mark 16:15,16
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:47
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. John 20:23
(I’m sure you have Matt. 28:19 memorized)
And indeed Peter was at the forefront, preaching to the Jews:
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38
Praying and laying hands on the Samaritans (part Jew, part Gentile) that Philip had preached to:
“Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost”. 8:17
And the Gentiles:
“While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard the word.....Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as wee? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.” 10:44-48
So, we see that the Lord had arranged it so that Peter HAD to be present for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the three divisions of mankind.
Do you, or do you not, believe that the church is founded upon Peter?
Do you, or do you not, believe that Mary hears your prayers, and everyone else’s around the world, at the same time (which makes her omnipresent)?
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