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It's really not likely that all several billion of us Catholics over the centuries have misunderstood for all these years, but somehow, you and your minister, just now, managed to get it right.

(BTW- just me, no "minister" indocrinitatting me over my shoulder) Do you think your argument makes my statement inaccurate? "If I'm deceived because I misunderstand the Word of God, then I'm deceived, but what God really said still goes... If a billion are deceived because they misunderstand the Word of God, then they're deceived, but what God really said still goes.."

Of course, you read it in the original Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew, right?

I have studied ancient Greek, and I do read some Greek texts. Mostly I read a mojority text New Testament which footnotes discrepancies when texts differ. I use a liddle and scott lexicon (the smallest) and the perseus project on the internet to research words I have questions about. My second major was Ancient Greek in a secular University. I had a self-proclaimed "athiest-Jew" as one of my professors. I enjoyed having that professors opinion on some of the theological battles of words.

I wish I knew Hebrew/Aramaic, but alas... As previously concluded, I am quite ignorant. Occaisionally, I will read in the Vulgate, just to try to hone up on my Latin, but my vocabulary is so limited, it's too slow for real study.

Most people here are intelligent enough to recognize that your arguments are not arguments... They are attempted ridicule. I'd be pleased to hear a reasoned argument from you. I'm assuming you have some of the knowledge you ridiculed me about. I'd enjoy some dialog in that regard. Maybe you could teach me some Hebrew/Aramaic.

(BTW- just me, no "minister" indocrinitatting me over my shoulder)

Excellent. So it's your very own wacked out criticism of Catholicism that you're offering here, based on a ridiculously shallow and incomplete knowledge of scripture, history and Church tradition. So you are only citing your own authority. Tell me, if I subscribe to your theology, can I be the first OHelixist?

Do you think your argument makes my statement inaccurate? "If I'm deceived because I misunderstand the Word of God, then I'm deceived, but what God really said still goes...

Hey, I agree with you. What God really says goes. But statistics alone make it highly improbably that you, in your limited study of scripture 2000 years after the fact and totally divorced from Church history or tradition, have somehow managed to place into heresy multiple billions of Catholics, including Sts. Jerome, Justin Martyr, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Aquinas, and other such intellectual giants. It's possible, but not very likely. Just like it's possible that if I dig in my back yard, I might find the Holy Grail. I reckon you are deceived.

I have studied ancient Greek, and I do read some Greek texts....

Hey, it's a good start. Better than most knee-jerk anti-Catholics.

As previously concluded, I am quite ignorant.

Limited knowledge of Greek aside, that's still true based on the remarkably uninformed statements you made about obelisks, pagan temples, et al.

Most people here are intelligent enough to recognize that your arguments are not arguments...They are attempted ridicule.

You're right, I'm not arguing with you. I chose not to argue with those who attack the Catholic Church without demonstrating even the faintest knowledge of where Catholic doctrine came from or how it developed, or indeed, what it is. Those who ignorantly equate Catholicism with paganism aren't worth the effort.

Those who attempt to interpret scripture on an individual level absent the history, tradition, and basic understanding of the doctrines of the Church almost invariably spin off into abject heresy. Had you come onto this thread (and the previous one about the Blessed Charlemagne) and acted reasonably instead of immediately attacking the practices of the Catholic Church, discussion would have been possible. As it is, I suspect your bigotry goes too deep for rational discussion to do much good.