Posted on 09/19/2014 11:22:35 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
Again....the reference given is out of context to that of praying to departed saints while we are here on earth.
This is not like asking someone on earth to pray for you, since they are physically here to converse... What the Roman Catholic is doing is asking those who are ‘not’ physically here and are ‘unable’ to see or affect the affairs of mankind on earth to do what is attributed... to God only.
When we look in the Bible we find that prayer is directed to God alone. ....To set up a person as a recipient for our prayers, no matter how great they are is making them out to be deity. ....Asking a saint to help and guide or protect is something only God can do.
As someone once put it, why go to the branch office when you can go to the president..... There is NOT ONE one example of a Christian addressing prayers to Mary or saints, or those who are dead passing from our world.
The scriptures forbid attempting to contact the dead, yet the Catholic Church teaches people to do it.
(reference is from Let us reason)
That's correct. All RELIGIONS do.
But a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ doesn't.
Christ followers are in the world but not of it.
...”That is one of the most ridiculous pictures I’ve ever seen...And the fact that those people are serious makes it beyond hideous...Very sinister”...
There’s more like that and worse unfortunately. Even reading what some of their so called saints write gives one the creeps....it borders if not altogether insane.
It's accessed through faith.
Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Should not charity begin at home?
HMMMmmm....
What OTHER tests would YOU consider valid?
A century ago, in Portugal...
1/3 the Number!
You need to buy ammo by the case.
So your EXCELLENT teachers can do the SECULAR stuff; but NOT the RELIGIOUS???
Why don't you guys take a poll amoungst yerselfs to see just WHO of us PROTestANTS takes this prize: IYHO, of course.
Whatcha think about the comments of many who DO know what they say?
“So your EXCELLENT teachers can do the SECULAR stuff; but NOT the RELIGIOUS???”
Often yes, because the poor catechesis is now in its 5th decade. There has never been a time of poor education, however. We’re paying the price for adopting a Protestant mindset in catechesis where none previously existed. That damage will go one for years to come.
“...I would suggest you read the passage....but also the entire chapter to educate yourself on how God sees mankind.”
Already have, many times, thanks.
The Protestant emphasis on a God who is “wholly other,” who does not transform humans inwardly by grace,
Ephesians 1:3-23 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
but only fictitiously declares us holy,
Not fictitiously but in reality.
Colossians 2:13-14 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
who does not allow the blessed in heaven to act on earth,
The Holy Spirit acts here on earth, convicting men of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
who does not come to us (as he promised to do in the gospel [John 6]) personally present in the Eucharist—the difference between such a “wholly other” God and no God is merely semantic.
Christ comes to us and lives in us through the Holy Spirit. We don't need to eat Jesus to have Him live in us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.