12 Claims Every Catholic Should Be Able to Answer; Claim 2

CERC ^ | Deal Hudson

[NYer]

Freedom of speech is a great thing. Unfortunately, it comes at an unavoidable price: When citizens are free to say what they want, theyll sometimes use that freedom to say some pretty silly things. And thats the case with the 12 claims were about to cover.

Some of them are made over and over, others are rare. Either way, while the proponents of these errors are free to promote them, we as Catholics have a duty to respond.

2.  "Christianity is no better than any other faith. All religions lead to God."

If you haven't heard this one a dozen times, you don't get out much. Sadly enough, the person making this claim is often himself a Christian (at least, in name).

The problems with this view are pretty straightforward. Christianity makes a series of claims about God and man: That Jesus of Nazareth was God Himself, and that he died and was resurrected — all so that we might be free from our sins. Every other religion in the world denies each of these points. So, if Christianity is correct, then it speaks a vital truth to the world — a truth that all other religions reject.

This alone makes Christianity unique.

But it doesn't end there. Recall Jesus' statement in John's Gospel:

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." In Christianity, we have God's full revelation to humanity. It's true that all religions contain some measure of truth — the amount varying with the religion. Nevertheless, if we earnestly want to follow and worship God, shouldn't we do it in the way He prescribed?

If Jesus is indeed God, then only Christianity contains the fullness of this truth.

[Elsie]

Well I guess I can only answer by saying Catholics have very different beliefs than you have expressed.

And...

... Catholicism has very different PRACTICES than what it has expressed.

[Elsie]

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:2

[Elsie]

But what makes you want to prove to me, a Catholic, that the Catholic religion is wrong?

It's called PAYBACK!

For all of the times your chosen religion has expressed that Protestantism is wrong.

The questions appears to be:

Do we have a two way street here or a one way one?

[Elsie]

But please do understand that I’m not interested in converting and I’ll probably just try to ignore what you have to say.

The last part is easy to do; isn't it.

[Elsie]

They are necessarily damned, therefore, until they become Christians.

John 3:18

[Elsie]

Do you believe that our Loving Father actually created them so they could fry in hell for all eternity?

Ask Jesus:

John 3:18

[Elsie]

I have noticed I see double sometimes.

Have you told Mary about this?

Surely there is a Catholic 'saint' who deals specifically with this problem.

---

My prayer is that the Lord, Himself, heal you of this!

[Zathras]

I am not Catholic but I stand proudly with Salvation.
It is time for FR to stop this nonsense, stop attacking our community friends and most important, stop being children.

I have Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Mormon and Agnostic conservative friends.
They will always be my friends as that is more important than which building they worship in.
Myself...I’m kind of a non-Jew Jewish Protestant.

I’m sure G_d wants us to grow up too.
Please good people of FR, can we just choose to believe the best of our fellow Freepers?

[daniel1212]

Freedom of speech is a great thing. Unfortunately, it comes at an unavoidable price: When citizens are free to say what they want, theyll sometimes use that freedom to say some pretty silly things.

But which Rome dealt with in the past differently.

It is insanity to believe that liberty of conscience and liberty of worship are the inalienable rights of every citizen. From this stinking fountain of Indifferentism flows the erroneous and absurd opinion, or rather derangement, that liberty of conscience must be asserted and vindicated for everyone. This most pestilential error opens the door to the complete and immoderate liberty of opinions which works such widespread harm both in Church and State. (Pope Gregory XVI, “Mirari Vos,” August 15,1832)

• That every man is free to embrace and to profess that religion which he, led by the light of reason, thinks to be the true religion is hereby CONDEMNED as ERROR. (Ven. Pope Pius IX, “Syllabus of Modern Errors,”December 8, 1864) ">

Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors):

• [It is error to believe that] Hence it has been wisely decided by law, in some Catholic countries, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own peculiar worship.” Section X, Errors Having Reference to Modern Liberalism, #78. http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P9SYLL.HTM

• Error condemned: In this age of ours, it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion be the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other cults whatsoever. In certain regions of Catholic name, it has been praiseworthily sanctioned by law that men immigrating there be allowed to have public exercises of any form of worship of their own. ope Pius IX, “Syllabus of Modern Errors,”December 8, 1864

• Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors): “[It is error to believe that] The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.” Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus Issued in 1864, Section VI, Errors About Civil Society, Considered Both in Itself and in its Relation to the Church, #55. http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P9SYLL.HTM

• Canons of the Ecumenical Fourth Lateran Council, 1215:

We excommunicate and anathematize every heresy that raises against the holy, orthodox and Catholic faith which we have above explained; condemning all heretics under whatever names they may be known, for while they have different faces they are nevertheless bound to each other by their tails, since in all of them vanity is a common element. Those condemned, being handed over to the secular rulers of their bailiffs, let them be abandoned, to be punished with due justice, clerics being first degraded from their orders. 

As to the property of the condemned, if they are laymen, let it be confiscated; if clerics, let it be applied to the churches from which they received revenues. But those who are only suspected, due consideration being given to the nature of the suspicion and the character of the person, unless they prove their innocence by a proper defense, let them be anathematized and avoided by all 1-intil they have made suitable satisfaction; but if they have been under excommunication for one year, then let them be condemned as heretics.

Secular authorities, whatever office they may hold, shall be admonished and induced and if necessary compelled by ecclesiastical censure, that as they wish to be esteemed and numbered among the faithful, so for the defense of the faith they ought publicly to take an oath that they will strive in good faith and to the best of their ability to exterminate in the territories subject to their jurisdiction all heretics pointed out by the Church; so that whenever anyone shall have assumed authority, whether spiritual or temporal, let him be bound to confirm this decree by oath.

But if a temporal ruler, after having been requested and admonished by the Church, should neglect to cleanse his territory of this heretical foulness, let him be excommunicated by the metropolitan and the other bishops of the province. If he refuses to make satisfaction within a year, let the matter be made known to the supreme pontiff, that he may declare the ruler's vassals absolved from their allegiance and may offer the territory to be ruled lay Catholics, who on the extermination of the heretics may possess it without hindrance and preserve it in the purity of faith; the right, however, of the chief ruler is to be respected as long as he offers no obstacle in this matter and permits freedom of action.

The same law is to be observed in regard to those who have no chief rulers (that is, are independent). Catholics who have girded themselves with the cross for the extermination of the heretics, shall enjoy the indulgences and privileges granted to those who go in defense of the Holy Land. (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.asp)

[MamaB]

Nope but I did tell Jesus. My surgeon thinks that when I fell in a hotel bathroom, hit my head hard enough to knock me out for a few seconds, that I tore 2 eye muscles. That was a few years ago but I did not see double then. It seems like I have been sick for years. I have an 07 Honda Accord. I looked at the mileage yesterday and it was about 20430. I am afraid to drive much although my regular eye dr told me to wear an eye patch. A friend told me to do that plus wear a pirate’s hat. Can’t you see this 70 year old great grandmother doing that? : )

[Zuriel]

**Please make these caucus thread from now on, I don’t want to read the comments of the ignorant and uniformed.**

Thou that judgest art guilty of the same.

[MamaB]

I will continue to defend my SB beliefs when we are told we are going to hell because we are not catholic. No religion has a right to declare they are the only way to heaven. Some protestants say the same about their church and I do not believe them either. No where in the Bible does it say we have to be Catholic or another denomination.

[Zuriel]

**Revelation chapter 12. Remember: I have just as much right to interpret Scripture for myself as you do.**

Not only do you interpret scripture FOR YOURSELF, you cut the story of the ‘woman’ off before verse six. So is verse 6 another ‘woman’?

While you are interpreting, please interpret as to why NEITHER Jesus Christ, NOR his apostles EVER used the phrase ‘God the Son’. They always used the phrase ‘Son of God’.

(are you ‘Tennessee the Campion’, or ‘Campion of Tennessee’?)

[metmom]

Yup. Muslims included.

*Prots* not.

[verga]

I will continue to defend my SB beliefs when we are told we are going to hell because we are not catholic.

Well start a thread about them and we can decide to come over and mess with the SB's or not, let it be our choice.

No one forces any non Catholic to read these threads, or comment on them.

[metmom]

He was speaking about the Bloody Sacrifice that He was about to endure, and He was asking us to witness the unbloodied re-creation of that Sacrifice.

Every man his own pope with his own personal interpretation of Catholic doctrine. If He was talking about an unbloodied sacrifice, then why did Jesus give them the cup to drink? Why would He establish an unbloodied sacrifice to remember when it was a bloody sacrifice He made?

Without the shedding of blood, there is NO forgiveness of sin. A sacrifice without blood is USELESS.

And an unbloodied sacrifice is just ritual murder.

[metmom]

AMEN!!!! sister!

And that is EXACTLY one of the reasons why most of us don’t identify with a denomination.

Aside from the fact that if we do we are then labeled and pigeon holed by the Catholics and all manner of stuff is then attributed to us as if we agreed lock step with anything someone from that denomination ever said or suggested.

Even Catholics don’t do that, even though their church pronounces anathemas on them for dissenting from it.

[Elsie]

[Elsie]

Get the patch; squintin’ ain’t gettin’ it!

[Elsie]

ARRRGH!