Roman Catholicism (1 Viewer)

[Xayma]

Well we have friends to fellowship with them and talk about God and we are told to tell these people about Jesus. That is why we have friends. It seems selfish to have friends for personal gain.

It seems selfish to need worshippers.

 

[Wilmo]

Erin... I'm afraid i do not see the point in Christians arguing against Roman Catholicism. Yes, some Roman Catholics are misguided, even to the point where they follow a religion that is not Christian... But so are many other people withing the church as a whole. Just because someone is a Catholic does not mean that they are any less capable of being in a relationship with Christ.

In my opinion you shouldn't denounce it as wrong 1) You will receive some stiff oposition because there are some very wise Catholics 2) There are some awesome Christians who are catholic and by trying to "correct" what they believe you are doing a job that needn't be done!

That's not to say I don't have issues with some of what Catholic people believe (which I could expand on if people cared... but i doubt they do ), but in the end it's not about what you believe, it's about your relationship with God and Catholics, as I keep saying, are more than capable of being saved.

 

[ur_inner_child]

Re: Roman Catholisisim

To clarify, the 3rd line in my previous post describes my view of what the church in the vatican considers their congregation to be (Even though they may not admitt it and indeed have come to believe their own 'lie'). They certainly act like it. The drivel eminating from the mouthpieces in the vatican is little more than spiritually hollow dogma.

In practice there are many among the faith who privately question vatican policy. However, if you tried to speak out directly against the pope, you'd be excommunicated. There is little scope for questioning the 'will of god' (Read: Will of the pope) at the upper levels of the church.

Organised religion in general is unnessecary in my view. Why do people need to be arbitarily told how to worship a supreme being? I would have thought a much closer spiritual bond would develop if that was something you did yourself.

oOoOoh youve become mod

and ive watched you grow

good work

 

[lucky8star]

I don't understand why other christians aka non catholic christians choose to criticise the Roman Catholic Church when there is A LOT of things I could criticise about them but I don't choose to. You should fix the speck in your eye before trying to fix the speck in others' eyes. E.g Hillsong

 

[volition]

You should fix the speck in your eye before trying to fix the speck in others' eyes. E.g Hillsong

I'm don't completely agree with this. Say I'm an alcoholic, but I go around telling children not to become alcoholics, that doesn't make the advice any less sound(I might be being hypocritical, but the person may still benefit from the advice). Besides, nobody really is perfect, so by your method, nobody should criticise anything about anybody.

 

[euskadi_warrior]

Well we have friends to fellowship with them and talk about God and we are told to tell these people about Jesus. That is why we have friends. It seems selfish to have friends for personal gain.

By having your friends pray for you and you pray for them, you are not using them for a personal gain. I agree, we have friends to fellowship with them and talk about God ... and also to support each other through prayer.

there are people who dont have friends. I am not one of them and I agree Mary can just be your friend yet she doenst exist anymore.

Mary doesn't exist? That's extremely contradictory to the Christian faith! Christians believe that after death people are called to live an eternal life in heaven. Whilst she may not be on this earth, she is now living eternally. Therefore, she would be able to assist and pray for you.

Yes its great to have friends who can pray for and with you but does Mary really do this. Is your conversation with her two sided?

Yes, Mary can help you, like any other friend can help you. Whilst the conversation may not be two sided, she can still assist you through prayer. But how can she pray for us when its not a two sided conversation? Let me show my answer through another question... Can Jesus help us eventhough its not a two sided conversation? Yes. People who have entered the Kingdom of God become something totally and radically different to what we currently know of. It is therefore quite difficult to be able to converse with something that is so radically different from us. However, Mary can still hear us asking for assistance and as a friend, she assists us.

The Holy Spirit is God it is part of the trinity so it is in a lleague of its own not likened to saints or family.

Wasn't saying the Holy Spirit is the same as the saints or family. Simply trying to say that not only can friends, family and saints assist us, but the Holy Spirit (which Christ gave us) can assist us.

As to saints. what do you/others believe of them. The bible in Pauls letters calls any follower of Jesus a saint. This term has been changed somewhat though and sainthood is something earned which I find odd.

I believe that Saints are people that have spent are large portion of their life trying to understand God, work for God and preach God's word. This is why many Catholics ask Saints for assistance; because they spent most of their lives devoting themselves to God.


Again, any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[erin_tonkin]

Mary doesn't exist? That's extremely contradictory to the Christian faith! Christians believe that after death people are called to live an eternal life in heaven. Whilst she may not be on this earth, she is now living eternally. Therefore, she would be able to assist and pray for you.

no i said that Mary does not exist anymore. she is in heaven and so therefore we cannot really talk to her. Its like saying we can get dead relatives to pray for us. Is this possible??? Jesus is waay different. He rose from the dead never to die again and then ascended into heaven. We can talk to him because he is not dead




I believe that Saints are people that have spent are large portion of their life trying to understand God, work for God and preach God's word. This is why many Catholics ask Saints for assistance; because they spent most of their lives devoting themselves to God.

So do you dismiss the bible version of saints???

Yes that is a verry valid point also raised before about why critisize catholics when christians are sometimes just as twisted.
i will say that this board was not created with criticisim in purpose but because i was really interested in finding out what catholic people believe.

 

[euskadi_warrior]

no i said that Mary does not exist anymore. she is in heaven and so therefore we cannot really talk to her. Its like saying we can get dead relatives to pray for us. Is this possible??? Jesus is waay different. He rose from the dead never to die again and then ascended into heaven. We can talk to him because he is not dead

It is possible for the dead to pray for us. Reading Revelation 5:8 proves this:

And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. (KJV)

Whilst some people may argue that God forbidden us to make contact with the dead as shown in Deuteronomy 18:10–11, it is the necromantic practice of calling the spirits. When you ask a person in heaven to pray for you, you are not doing such things.

So do you dismiss the bible version of saints???

Never. However, the definition of "saint" that you know is not same definition used in the bible.

i will say that this board was not created with criticisim in purpose but because i was really interested in finding out what catholic people believe.

I agree. I am trying to answer all the questions I can about the Catholic faith. I was in no way trying to critisise the Christian faith as that would only be critising the Roman Catholic faith. I was only trying to point out one of the core beliefs of Christianity.

Well what 'we' believe is always different. I was in the sense 'born' a Catholic but chose to disown the beliefs that I didn't choose.

I see what you are getting at and it makes sense. Not all Catholics believe in their faith as they have chosen to drop those beliefs. Not to be offensive in any way, but it seems weird to not believe in the Catholic faith and still be called a Catholic.

However, when I do say 'we' I mean to refer to the believers of the Catholic tradition... just easier to say 'we' and 'Catholics' instead of 'believers of the Catholic tradition'.