You were baptised a Catholic and you’ll leave this world a Catholic.
Now it still might be a Catholic who does not practice the faith, but a Catholic nevertheless.
Posted on 09/03/2014 6:36:07 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
A little six-year-old Protestant boy had often heard his Catholic companions reciting the prayer “Hail Mary.” He liked it so much that he copied it, memorized it and would recite it every day. “Look, Mommy, what a beautiful prayer,” he said to his mother one day.
“Never again say it,” answered the mother. “It is a superstitious prayer of Catholics who adore idols and think Mary a goddess. After all, she is a woman like any other. Come on, take this Bible and read it. It contains everything that we are bound to do and have to do.” From that day on the little boy discontinued his daily “Hail Mary” and gave himself more time to reading the Bible instead. One day, while reading the Gospel, he came across the passage about the Annunciation of the Angel to Our Lady. Full of joy, the little boy ran to his mother and said: “Mommy, I have found the ‘Hail Mary’ in the Bible which says: ‘Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women.’ Why do you call it a superstitious prayer?”
On another occasion he found that beautiful Salutation of St. Elizabeth to the Virgin Mary and the wonderful canticle MAGNIFICAT in which Mary foretold that “the generations would call her blessed.” He said no more about it to his mother but started to recite the “Hail Mary” every day as before. He felt pleasure in addressing those charming words to the Mother of Jesus, our Savior.
When he was fourteen, he one day heard a discussion on Our Lady among the members of his family. Every one said that Mary was a common woman like any other woman. The boy, after listening to their erroneous reasoning could not bear it any longer, and full of indignation, he interrupted them, saying:
“Mary is not like any other children of Adam, stained with sin. No! The Angel called her FULL OF GRACE AND BLESSED AMONGST WOMEN. Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ and consequently Mother of God. There is no higher dignity to which a creature can be raised. The Gospel says that the generations will proclaim her blessed and you are trying to despise her and look down on her. Your spirit is not the spirit of the Gospel or of the Bible which you proclaim to be the foundation of the Christian religion.”
So deep was the impression which the boy’s talk had made that his mother many times cried out sorrowfully: “Oh my God! I fear that this son of mine will one day join the Catholic religion, the religion of Popes!” And indeed, not very long afterwards, having made a serious study of both Protestantism and Catholicism, the boy found the latter to be the only true religion and embraced it and became one of its most ardent apostles.
Some time after his conversion, he met his married sister who rebuked him and said indignantly: “You little know how much I love my children. Should any one of them desire to become a Catholic, I would sooner pierce his heart with a dagger than allow him to embrace the religion of the Popes!”
Her anger and temper were as furious as those of St. Paul before his conversion. However, she would change her ways, just as St. Paul did on his way to Damascus. It so happened that one of her sons fell dangerously ill and the doctors gave up hope of recovery. Her brother then approached her and spoke to her affectionately, saying: “My dear sister, you naturally wish to have your child cured. Very well, then, do what I ask you to do. Follow me, let us pray one ‘Hail Mary’ and promise God that, if your son recovers his health, you would seriously study the Catholic doctrine, and should you come to the conclusion that Catholicism is the only true religion, you would embrace it no matter what the sacrifices may be.”
His sister was somewhat reluctant at the beginning, but as she wished for her son’s recovery, she accepted her brother’s proposal and recited the “Hail Mary” together with him. The next day her son was completely cured. The mother fulfilled her promise and she studied the Catholic doctrine. After long preparation she received Baptism together with her whole family, thanking her brother for being an apostle to her.
The story was related during a sermon given by the Rev. Fr. Tuckwell. “Brethren,” he went on and said, “the boy who became a Catholic and converted his sister to Catholicism dedicated his whole life to the service of God. He is the priest who is speaking to you now! What I am I owe to Our Lady. You, too, my dear brethren, be entirely dedicated also to Our Lady and never let a day pass without saying the beautiful prayer, ‘Hail Mary’, and your Rosary. Ask her to enlighten the minds of Protestants who are separated from the true Church of Christ founded on the Rock (Peter) and ‘against whom the gates of hell shall never prevail.’”
Wrong.
When I was a baby, my parents had me baptized into Catholicism, but when I was saved, I was baptized into Christ and became a new creature in Christ for whom old things are passed away, all things are become new.
IOW, I was sprinkled as a sinner while a baby, and got saved as an adult.
Getting sprinkled does not and did not make me anything but a wet sinner. It did not make me anything else. It leaves no mark on my soul because getting physically wet doesn't make spiritual reality happen.
The RCC can make all its claims of ownership of my soul it wants, but they are meaningless. It is nothing more than a desperate attempt at a power grab on my life and soul which I do not recognize.
In reality, it owns nothing of me because I belong to Christ. HE bought me at a price and I belong to HIM, not the Catholic church.
Just like someone who is baptized as a Protestant will leave the world as a Protestant.
A lapsed, Protestant at that, but a Protestant nevertheless.
I agree and one of the MAIN reasons we know it is wrong is in exactly what this OP implies - "Protestants" can't be right with God if they aren't converted to the Roman Catholic religion and pray to Mary and the saints along with all the other additional, extra-Biblical strictures that go along with it.
I question both the sincerity and the faith of those Freepers who MUST post threads like these on a regular basis. Nobody is saved by being a Roman Catholic or any other Christian denomination, it is by grace THROUGH faith in Jesus Christ alone to the glory of GOD alone. Trying to condemn believers in Christ because they don't belong to ones chosen religion is a sad commentary on their own weak faith - one that has to build itself up by tearing others down.
Thank you.
They weren't THERE at the cross, were they? In fact, they didn't even believe in Jesus as the Messiah until after the resurrection. Only John, of all the Apostles was there. Who else should Jesus have asked to take care of his mother?
Even in this “story”, the credit and praise for the healing was given TO Mary and not Almighty God.
Sorry, my wife used believe as you seem. She comes from a very old German line Catholic family, all the way from the old country. She does not believe that now. She said she found the false belief and now is saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you think that the Catholic church gave the world the Gospel you are stupid. Where were the first 12 Apostles from? They were not Catholic and they and Paul, who was a JEW, and the first people saved were JEWS, not Catholics. They took the Gospel to the world as Jesus told them to do. That is EXACTLY what they did. Paul took the Gospel. He wrote most of the New Testament. Not a Catholic. Sorry friend. Paul and the 12 are the original Gospel teachers. They took the Gospel to the world. They took it into Europe where the Catholics were finally birthed. So a JEW birth the eventual Catholics. Because that Jew brought the Gospel to the world. 1 Corth 15: 1-4 IS THE GOSPEL. Death, Burial and Resurrection!!!! NOTHING ELSE. Absolutely nothing else. Nothing that the Catholic church has added. I don’t have to go anywhere to get forgiven of my sins. Not to a priests in the booth in the church. Not to my pastor behind the pulpit. No, all I have to do is get on my knees and ask JESUS CHRIST Himself for forgiveness. Scripture says after the Cross all I have to do is ask Him. I have a direct avenue directly into the throne room of God. It says I can come in boldly. Sorry. You believe what you might, but I am not falling for that stuff that I have to have a pope to forgive me and advise me on my beliefs. All I need is my Bible and talk DIRECTLY to God. And Catholics or your church did not give that to me. Paul did. That ends this conversation. I am not arguing with you any more about it. I am well versed on knowledge of the Bible and the Gospel. I don’t need you to advise me otherwise.
(At least ROME does!)
Now it still might be a Catholic who does not practice the faith, but a Catholic nevertheless.
It sure is!
A bit of bible here, a littler snippet of it there, a few 'visions' tossed in and: VIOLA!
We've got DOCTRINE!
Duh; whose isn't?
That's why it's a TRANSLATION, silly!
You STILL try this lame unlogical ploy?
Son of Sam was a killer, so why can’t it be a possibility with Salvation?
(you trying to get a job writing for the H2 channel?)
Sigh...
Rome grabs a 'possibility', runs with it, and makes DOCTRINE out of it!
Mary is DEAD and in her grave.
She was SO UNspecial that she gets very little mention at ALL outside of the gospels.
Mary?
The 'wife' of frustrated Joseph?
The Lady of the Perpetual Headache?
No.
You just made this up!
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