Whether you are Catholic or Protestant— we are all followers of Christ, and He is the ultimate goal.
Exactly!
Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, Constitution 1, 1215, ex cathedra: “There is indeed one universal Church of the faithful, outside of which nobody at all is saved, in which Jesus Christ is both priest and sacrifice.”1
Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, Nov. 18, 1302, ex cathedra:
“With Faith urging us we are forced to believe and to hold the one, holy, Catholic Church and that, apostolic, and we firmly believe and simply confess this Church outside of which there is no salvation nor remission of sin… Furthermore, we declare, say, define, and proclaim to every human creature that they by absolute necessity for salvation are entirely subject to the Roman Pontiff.”2
Pope Clement V, Council of Vienne, Decree # 30, 1311?1312, ex cathedra:
“Since however there is for both regulars and seculars, for superiors and subjects, for exempt and non?exempt, one universal Church, outside of which there is no salvation, for all of whom there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism…”3
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, ex cathedra:
“Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.”4
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, “Cantate Domino,” 1441, ex cathedra: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives; that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only for those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia produce eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”5
Pope Leo X, Fifth Lateran Council, Session 11, Dec. 19, 1516, ex cathedra: “For, regulars and seculars, prelates and subjects, exempt and non?exempt,
belong to the one universal Church, outside of which no one at all is saved, and they all have one Lord and one faith.”6
Pope Pius IV, Council of Trent, “Iniunctum nobis,” Nov. 13, 1565, ex cathedra: “This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved… I now profess and truly hold…”7
Pope Benedict XIV, Nuper ad nos, March 16, 1743, Profession of Faith: “This faith of the Catholic Church, without which no one can be saved, and which of my own accord I now profess and truly hold…”8
Pope Pius IX, Vatican Council I, Session 2, Profession of Faith, 1870, ex cathedra: “This true Catholic faith, outside of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold…”9
Coming from a Protestant background myself, the Catholics always appeared to be a little stiff and removed, living under what many thought were unbending rules and oddly dissonant ideas. Then, as the curvature of the earth slowly became apparent, Catholics turned out to be very little different, in any significant way, from any other branch of Christianity, and in fact, they were pretty much ALL of Christianity for the first thousand years or so. The clergy of the Church had pretty much removed themselves from the daily life of the lay people, and perhaps this was what contributed to all these misconceptions that grew up over the centuries. But once the lay people were really allowed to participate in the dialogue and to discover the very spirit of the words of the Scriptures, then a great transformation came over the means by which Christianity was broadcast to the world.
The convergence has been a good thing.
I am not a Catholic and I’m tired of hearing there too.
Daniel prophesied that the antichrist will come from the people that destroyed the temple. The tenth legion under Titus Vespasian destroyed the temple in 70 ad. So the antichrist comes from he old Roman empire right? The Pope right? The 10th legion was comprised of Syrians and Turks...pay attention to the details. Islam cuts off heads, not the Pope.
What sect does that?
You forgot the part where we all really drink the blood of Christ and eat his body during the eucharist.
Catholics consider prayer as not necessarily worship. The Catholic considers prayer as a personal spiritual conversation, or is some cases communal prayer.
When a Catholic is at Mass he or she prays, but at the moment of the raising of the Host, that is when a Catholic "worships" the Body of Jesus present at that point in time.
So, to ask the Mother of Jesus for help is NOT worship, it is a spiritual conversation.
Huge difference.
Protestants do not have a Eucharist to "worship" so their entire service is a "worship" service.
So when a Protestant prays he or she is "worshipping" God.
The words "worship" and "prayer" mean different things to the Catholic and the Protestant.
I don't ask my deceased relatives to watch over me. Jesus said the only way to Heaven is through Him. That is where prayers need to be directed. Not to saints. Not to Mary. Jesus. He IS the only way. You won't get into Heaven by asking Mary to pray for you. You won't get into Heaven by praying to a saint or asking a saint to pray for you. Jesus said He is the ONLY WAY.
This is a very nice collection of false answers to real questions. The hits keep coming.
Amen.
(this post will be deleted in 5...4...3...2...)
We have enough problems in the world without this Catholic-Protestant/Evangelical tension. Leave it alone....put it in a box and forget it. There are far greater evils that face Christianity (Mormons included) than the perceived theological inaccuracies that each and all can find with each other.
“Catholics worship statues.”
This one makes me laugh. Since most non-Catholic Christians put up nativity scenes at Christmas, I guess this is the only time of the year when they worship statues.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh...say what? I don't pray to my deceased parent/grandparents and I don't ask they pray for me. Talk about ludicrous.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
How can you have a depiction of JC when you don't even know what he looks like. I seriously doubt he had blond hair and blue eyes, which is just one of the depictions I've seen. Also, there is no commandment that says you can't have a picture of a human.
I've always believed Christ to be a simple and extraordinarly gifted spiritual man who would be dismayed how his teachings were so perverted to build a powerful and obscenely rich theocracy.
I still don't get why a Pope has a direct line to God. He's voted in by a bunch of fallible humans called Cardinals. It's a human popularity and political contest.
That said: I live my life according Judeo/Christian ethics. However, I don't need flowing robes and big hats and arcane rituals to tell me what my heart already knows. It's called empathy, sympathy, and compassion. If God gave them to me, then I thank him. I want to believe.
One another would be your peers, not some priest.
1. Catholics always reduce peeves to countable lists.