Posted on 07/26/2014 4:41:46 AM PDT by michaelwlf3
I am coming up on my first year as an ordained minister in a continuing Anglican church, and I have noticed that participating on political forums (even when the topic is religious) I find that my opinions and postings more often than not generate more hatred than anything else. Among the things I often hear are that the laity are the real priests and that I am a Pharisee, that my vocation disqualifies me from offering an opinion on anything Christian because I am too narrow minded, and (my personal favorite) because I look too Catholic I must be a child molester.
Are these people really Christians?
Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it.
It's SAD to see that you cannot accept what Scripture says; but must fall back upon what your chosen religion has taught you.
It's impossible to tell via the printed word, what the inflection would be if someone was speaking.
Every single person on this planet has their own personal interpretation of Scripture. It may be that they decide on it themselves, or they may read a bunch of other people interpretations and pick the one they like the best, or they may decide to trust someone else to guide them, none of which are free from the potential of error and deception.
How many times have we heard protestants say, "I like so-and-so because they speak to me and they address my particular bent that I find personally satisfying." Their favorite pastor/preacher/personality scratches an itch of theirs. Of course, what happens when this particular individual no longer does that? The protestant moves on.
And that is the problem with following men instead of Christ. And it is also something that Catholics are not immune to. They follow the Catholic church because that's where they think is the truth and meets their needs.
Their understanding of Truth is conditional.
On the contrary, for the spiritually mature, you face the Truth, that is found in Scripture and don't twist it to your own ends.
Following a church over Scripture also does not prevent that from happening.
Every criticism leveled against sola Scriptura can be leveled against sola ecclesia.
When it gets down to it, it's still just everyone's own personal interpretation.
That said, there is room for *disputable matters* as Paul calls it in Romans 14. Not everything is a matter of salvation.
We are commanded to repent and believe and told and promised that for those who confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus was raised from the dead, they will be saved. It's by grace through faith in Christ not by works so that no man can boast.
There are areas where I disagree with many here on the board but they're of no consequence. And I know that there are areas where Catholic disagree, the EO and RC rites are prime examples of differences in theology greater than I have with most other believers I know, and yet the Roman Catholic church still considers them Catholics in in communion with them.
As an example, in the Pentecostal movement there is the issue of speaking in tongues. They hold that it is the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I disagree. But that does not mean that they or I are not saved. It's not an issue related to salvation. We'll find out when we get there who was right and likely it was neither of us.
In the meantime, I can worship with them, fellowship with them, pray with them, wish them Godspeed, as brothers and sisters in Christ. And if they bring it up, I'll say my piece and drop it. As long as they don't make an issue of it, it's not a problem for me.
I accept Scripture, but not your interpretation!
How many followers of Christ left him when he affirmed his True Presence in the Eucharist?
“The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. (53) The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (54) Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. (55) He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up in the last day. (56) For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. (57) He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. (58) As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me the same also shall live by me. (59) This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this bread shall live forever.”
(61) Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard,’ and who can hear it? (62) But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you? (63) If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?.(64) It is the spirit that quickens: the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. (65) But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that, would betray him. (66) And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father. (67) After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him. (68) Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away?
The Hebrew language pretty much went extinct after 400 BC or so, didn’t it?
I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of faith in my own ability.
I don't have faith in my ability either. Spiritual truths are spiritually discerned and revealed by the Holy Spirit who indwells the believer.
Jesus promised that HE would lead us into all truth.
Does that mean we'll never be wrong? No, because nobody is perfect, and you know what? God doesn't expect us to be. He knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. (Psalm103).
That's why He sent the Holy Spirit.
And I'm certainly not going to play Wheel of Fortune with Scripture which is what protestants do. Let's spin the wheel and see what connections we can come up with today. I mean, really, what's the difference between a protestant and a bible code nutjob?
If that's the way someone is approaching it, there isn't much difference. It's not a matter of looking for connections to make. It's reading and studying and memorizing God's word to guide us in how we are to live each day.
God indeed speaks to us through His word. But the person who is just looking to find verses to tell him what he wants to hear, is off base.
We are to line our lives up according to Scripture, not to line Scripture up according to our lives.
Anyone bend on deception will be deceived whether they follow sola Scriptura or sola ecclesia.
Being part of a church is no guarantee of being right or spiritually right with God.
Just look at the number of high profile Catholics like Kennedy , Pelosi, Biden, etc and it will show that there is no advantage in being part of a church or claiming to follow it.
For someone who is sincerely seeking God, God will not let them go. He WANTS to save people. He makes it as easy as possible for us to come to Him. It's like He's looking for excuses to save people, warts and all, broken theology and all.
There is nothing in Scripture that demands that our theology be *correct* in order to be saved.
However, I do see lots in Catholicism that demands that our theology be correct to be saved.
Someone can have all their facts about God nailed down perfectly and in perfect order and still not be saved.
God wants out hearts, our loyalty, not our theological prowess. He wants us to KNOW Him, not just know about Him.
Nor is that given to the Catholic church in the Bible.
And their claims of it for themselves are them pulling themselves up by their boot straps.
They cannot give themselves authority and they cannot give Scripture its authority and then appeal to it to give them the authority back.
Thanks. Earlier this year, I was told I have myasthenia gravis. Then a few weeks ago, the ER dr said I have a pinched sciatictic nerve. I told a friend I was falling apart. I can still smile, laugh because God is on His throne. Amen!
What did I interpret?
When Jesus 'this is my body'; it is OBVIOUS to any rational person that His BODY was standing there talking to them.
Bottom line: do I HAVE to believe the little wafer and sip of wine REALLY turns into Jesus' flesh and blood to enter into Heaven?A simple yes or no will satisfy my curiosity.
You need to get over your victim mentality.
Wearing the martyr badge is a total failure.
You clearly aren’t cut out for the ministry yet.
A thicker skin would be a good place to start.
Just wanted to give credit where credit was due.
Yet no one was going to be a cannibal.
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
Acts Chapter 15
I wish I could remember just WHO I got it from.
At least the text itself says where IT came from!
Why are you paying any attention to what anonymous posters on internet forums say?
If their feedback was meaningful, useful and/or important, it would not be provided anonymously.
People hide behind the anonymity of the internet to say things they would never say if it could be attributed to them personally.
It’s what makes the internet in general, and this forum in particular (FR) so amusing and such great sport.
Most of the people that post on religious forums are nutcases.
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I take it a step further.
Most of the people that post missives anonymously on the internet are nutcases. And cowards.
I did a little research. Hebrew language began about 1000 BC and is still spoken so it has been around for about 3000 years. I learned something.
The baptized and confirmed Catholic Adolf Hitler didn’t get his anti-semitism from Luther, probably got it the same place Luther did, the Catholic church. But it is interesting that the Nazis used Luther’s work, perhaps because they needed to convince Lutherans and Protestants about Jews. It seems the Catholics were already onboard.
The Bull Hebraeorum gens ("The Jewish Race") 1569, of Saint Pius V, which expelled Jews from some of the Papal states, began with these words:
"The Jewish people fell from the heights because of their faithlessness and condemned their Redeemer to a shameful death. Their godlessness has assumed such forms that, for the salvation of our own people, it becomes necessary to prevent their disease. Besides usury, through which Jews everywhere have sucked dry the property of impoverished Christians, they are accomplices of thieves and robbers; and the most damaging aspect of the matter is that they allure the unsuspecting through magical incantations, superstition, and witchcraft to the Synagogue of Satan and boast of being able to predict the future. We have carefully investigated how this revolting sect abuses the name of Christ and how harmful they are to those whose life is threatened by their deceit. On account of these and other serious matters, and because of the gravity of their crimes which increase day to day more and more, We order that, within 90 days, all Jews in our entire earthly realm of justice -- in all towns, districts, and places -- must depart these regions."
20 years after ML was dead.
A listing of Papal actions against Jews.
From the 19th century, 300 years after Luther:
Pope Leo worked diligently -- some would say harshly -- to reestablish firm control over the Papal States. Pope Leo re-instituted difficult rules against Jews living in the Papal States and followed a diplomatic policy that supported the royal houses of Europe.
Pius IX began rudimentary representative political reforms in the Papal States. He removed many of the restrictions on Jews and tore open the gates of the Jewish ghetto in Rome.
“removed many” not all.
In the three decades of his papacy, Pius IX would develop an enormous personal following among Catholics worldwide.
While Luther’s excesses regarding Jews are deplorable, all Luther had were words, the Papacy had the deeds, while Luther talked, the Papacy acted.
They chose Luther as their false prophet. "Four hundred years after it was written, the Nazi Party displayed On the Jews and Their Lies during Nuremberg rallies, and the city of Nuremberg presented a first edition to Julius Streicher, editor of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer, the newspaper describing it as the most radically antisemitic tract ever published.[43]" They implemented what he advocated in writing. He became, and died, an utterly repugnant and evil antisemite.
Which of these words of Christ do you not understand?
Then Jesus said to them: “Amen, amen, I say unto you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. (55) He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up in the last day. (56) For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. (57) He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.”
They did, their choice.
As far as the rest of your post, I believe the above is the only original work of yours. I know that sourcing other's work is tedious, by why don't we do it anyway? Is this more of Wiki? Perhaps it is your work after all, since anyone can edit it.
They implemented what he advocated in writing.
From the sourced work I provided, it is entirely possible that they just implemented The Bull Hebraeorum gens and chose to attribute Luther. The subsequent actions of the Nazis were more in line with the historical work of the Catholic church in dealing with Jews, albeit more mechanized and final.
It is obvious that the Papal Holy Blinders purchased from the Vatican gift shoppe have affected the view of history.
“Maybe YOU can’t; but he sure seems to live rent free in a LOT of Catholic FReeper’s minds!”
Still projecting.
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