Posted on 04/20/2015 1:46:59 PM PDT by NYer
Actually, He does. But He is also a God of Justice and will punish unrepentant sin.
Scripture says that He is "unwilling that any should perish" (2Pe 3:9), and John 3:16 says Jhn 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
So he loves everyone at least enough to have gone to the cross for them. He might love some of us more than others. But he sees the potential in each one of us and loves us as individuals regardless of our sin. He "loved us while we were yet sinners"(Rom 5:8).
Nevertheless, if we remain in unrepentant sin. If we never avail ourselves of the pardon made available to us, then He will judge us according to our works. And our evil works will condemn us to the second death.
That's an interesting comment, 5thGen, but it does not match the way the Catholic Church actually prays.
If you have the opportunity to attend a Mass in the future --- or you could google the text --- you will notice that Mary is mentioned ONCE the hour-long service which is the official public prayer of the Church, and even then she does not get even a whole sentence to herself. Here's the text:
I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done
and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault,
through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God
This prayer, called the Confiteor, is a classic example of intercessory prayer through the Communion of Saints.
Until now, I had no idea that the whole thing is determined by majority rule.
< /sarc>
Matt 22:13,14
Then the king said to the attendants, ' Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ' For many are called, but few are chosen."
With "...I have known..." being the key phrase.
For me, the vast majority of practicing, Bible-educated, disciples of God's Word who I know, have at least a basic understanding of the importance of the entirety of the Bible - including the Old and New Testaments. Disciples of the Word know that Jesus Christ and God's plan for redemption is the principle theme of all the Bible.
No doubt that contributed to you becoming a Catholic...Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of God...In fact, it is that same ignorance of scripture which keeps Catholics from leaving your religion...
That said, why don't you comment on the many Scriptures I cited at #186. The usual axiom on Scriptural interpretation is, "Let Scripture interpret Scripture." The sections I cited would certainly illuminate the ways God does share His glory.
Does that contradict what you quoted about God NOT sharing His glory?
You'd have to take that up with the Holy Spirit, the Author of all these texts.
My own understand would be that one text is referring to "sharing" glory with rival gods --- which God will never do --- while the verses I quoted mean that He is free to glorify those faithful people on whom His favor rests.
Would He have approved of Paul's efforts or Peter's in engaging the opponents of Christianity in their day?
Attend, please, to two points:
First, the factual: “Popes do nothing about those that [rape]” -— is a misdirected calumny. You can’t name a Pope who did “nothing” about these vile sins; and the verifiable facts from insurers specializing in liability (LINK) show that such hell-bent offenses are -— sorrowfully -— prevalent other churches as well.
What does this prove? Sometimes that men in top pastoral positions are naive, not believing credible allegations; sometimes that there are shameful institutional cover-ups; very often that sex offenders themselves effectively hide their crimes like the sociopathic liars they are. And that’s in churches, schools, and youth programs across the board.
Second, the distinction between good doctrine and evil behavior. If the presence of gravely sinful men could discredit a faith group, then Christianity would have been discredited from the git-go -— by the presence of Judas among Jesus’ selected men. The sad reality is that our churches -— mine and yours -— are composed of sinners from top to bottom: we know that, and that’s why we need a Savior.
Trying to center this problem of “the pope” is a misdirection and, quite frankly, an unjust vilification.
“If I tell you that I abhor alcoholics but all my closest friends are drunks, it’s not too hard to figure out the truth of the matter...”
Perhaps you don’t realize that
(1) alcoholics are not to be “abhorred,” they are our brothers, sisters, parents, spouses, who are to be loved and helped. I deplore alcoholism. I detest drunkenness. And I love a fair number of alcoholics. Plus...
(2) A lot of alcoholics who haven’t had a drink for years, go regularly to AA and similar meetings, where their best friends are indeed alcoholics. That is not a case of moral contamination. Jesus was accused of being “a winebibber and a glutton” because he dined and drank with people so afflicted. I would like to think we can be friends with alcoholics and not be scorned for it by my fellow Christians.
“When we see your religion condemning praying to Mary and then a pope gets on his knees in front of millions of Catholics and thanks Mary for saving his life, we KNOW the real teaching of your religion regardless of what it says on paper...”
Again, misdirected. Catholics do NOT condemn praying to Mary (as you know!) -— we pray to (meaning, in Christ we are in living contact with) literally thousands of holy servants of God, saints and fellow-believers on this earth and saints in heaven, including the Holy Angels -— because we worship God along with them, and we mutually help each other by our constant prayers. This is called the Communion of Saints. We all pray for each other without exception, “so that there should be no division in the Body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” (1 Cor 12:25).
Second, the reverential gestures which you mentioned, are not the same as adoration. This has been explained in a reasonable way repeatedly on this forum.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3000325/posts?page=60#60
http://freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3000325/posts?page=61#61
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3228444/posts?page=70#70
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3000325/posts?page=39#39
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to explain this, iscool. I’m always glad to help.
It depends on whether you mean spiritually dead or physically dead.
And yet if someone ask you to get your neighbor to pray for them, you are not praying to your neighbor, right???
Or you may want your aunt Gertrude who has passed on to pray for you, you don't pray to your aunt Gertrude, do you???
So it's no miscommunication error at all...We recognize that you guys are fully cognizant between the difference between asking someone to pray for you and 'praying to' a Saint or the mother of Jesus...
My aunt Gertrude is DEAD?!
Why am I always the last one to find these things out?
...
...
;-)
It's not what you say about it that matters...It's what you do...We see what you do so it doesn't matter what you say because while you say you don't worship these creatures we see you worshiping and giving glory to them...
There are instances in the lives of the saints of people being raised from the dead: St. Catherine of Siena, for one, both cured the sick and raised the dead by invoking the Name of Jesus.
Plus there are those who, by some preternatural gift or infused knowledge from Go,) have understood or been understood in languages they had not learned, e.g. St. (Padre) Pio of Pietrelcino (a 20th century saint who also bilocated), and St. Jean (John) Vianney.
The best-documented instance of bilocation in all of history occurred with St. Maria of Agreda.
There's lots and lots of miracles in Catholic history, and those in recent centuries are often verified using the tools and techniques of scientific investigation.
Can't say I undersand it, but I sure appreciate it.
Yours is a particularly adversarial tone that I find incompatible with a discussion of God.
I remind you that at Jesus’ Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28–36 and 2 Peter 1:16–18) both Moses and Elijah appeared to and spoke with the human nature of Jesus. Scripture also refers to many who are alive in Christ. Asking them to intercede on our behalf is not sinful or unprecedented.
Welcome to FR.
I don’t feel like posting all of those names. Like yours.
"One indeed is the universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved, in which the priest himself is the sacrifice, Jesus Christ, whose body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the species of bread and wine; the bread (changed) into His body by the divine power of transubstantiation, and the wine into the blood, so that to accomplish the mystery of unity we ourselves receive from His (nature) what He Himself received from ours." — Pope Innocent III and Lateran Council IV (A.D. 1215)
Therefore, if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the lord himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole Church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema. — Vatican 1, Ses. 4, Cp. 1
At least I posted something!
Actually, THAT was her very first post on FR.
And she doesn’t like it here already.
When a Catholic is confident of something, you probably should dismiss it as being non-biblical.
Other than that, the popes think we other Christians are okay then?
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