Posted on 02/11/2013 9:07:51 PM PST by Alex Murphy
Are they?
There are about 2.1mm divorces each year in the US. About 25% of Americans are Catholic. There are 30,000 annulments granted by the Catholic Church per year, of which the vast majority are granted to Catholics who did not marry in the Church.
So that's an annulment runrate of about 6% of US divorces - and when it comes to Catholics who married another Catholic in a Catholic ceremony getting annulments, it's more like 0.6%.
All a practicing Catholic has to do is get the church to annul the marriage
As the numbers show, that's far more difficult than you are representing.
what about the not bowing down to graven images?
When do we do that, now?
You’re using facts and statistics.
Is that allowed on FR any more?
“All a practicing Catholic has to do is get the church to annul the marriage
As the numbers show, that’s far more difficult than you are representing.”
Maybe it’s regional. I know 2 Catholics who have had 2 annulments each.
.
I'm not saying that it is a canonical impossibility - but I've never heard of it.
I’ve had Catholics claim that the command against images and statues was because it was that it meant to serve other gods but our God says not to use them in serving Him.
Deuteronomy 12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
So it is clear that God commanded to NOT use statues or images in the worship of Him.
They are both in their 70s,one man and one woman(they don’t know each other),I’ve know them for a long time,grown children were involved and one is being married again in The Church next fall.
It was New York in one instance and Massachusetts in the other.
.
I am in agreement with you. I believe first 33 popes were martyred. They did not quit, they did not renounce their Petrine office.
The same people who lauded Pope John Paul II for retaining the Holy Office until the very end, even after being silenced by a trach tube, are now praising Pope Benedict for getting out, while the getting’s good.
I considered Pope Benedict to have been the most orthodox pope since Pope Pius XII. I will miss him. He had so much good work ahead ahead of him, in my opinion.
51% of Protestants from a different Protestant denomination cite a lack of spiritual fulfillment as a reason for leaving their childhood faith. 85% say they joined their current denominational faith because they enjoy the services and style of worship. Only 15% left say they left because they stopped believing in its teachings. ^ Pew forum, Faith in Flux (April 27, 2009) http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/fullreport.pdf
Those who have left Catholicism outnumber those who have joined the Catholic Church by nearly a four-to-one margin. 10.1% have left the Catholic Church after having been raised Catholic, while only 2.6% of adults have become Catholic after having been raised in a different faith.^
4% of Americans raised Catholic are now unaffiliated; 5% are now Protestant. ^
Over 75% of those who left Catholicism attended Mass at least once a week as children, versus 86% having done so who remain Catholics today.^
Regarding reasons for leaving Catholicism, less than 30% of former Catholics agreed that the clergy sexual abuse scandal played a role in their departure. ^
71% of converts from Catholicism to Protestant faith said that their spiritual needs were not being met in Catholicism, with 78% of Evangelical Protestants in particular concurring, versus 43% of those now unaffiliated. ^
50% of all Protestants converts from Catholicism said they stopped believing in Catholicism's teachings overall. Only 23% (20% now evangelical) were unhappy about Catholicism's teachings on abortion/homosexuality (versus 46% of those now unaffiliated); 23% also expressed disagreement with teaching on divorce/remarriage; 16% (12% now evangelical) were dissatisfied with teachings on birth control, 70% said they found a religion the liked more in Protestantism.
55% of evangelical converts from Catholicism cited dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about the Bible was a reason for leaving Catholicism, with 46% saying the Catholic Church did not view the Bible literally enough.
81% of all Protestant converts from Catholicism said they enjoyed the service and worship of Protestant faith as a reason for joining a Protestant denomination, with 62% of all Protestants and 74% Evangelicals also saying that they felt God's call to do so. ^
That has some hyperbole in it, but this does not:
Rule One: Rome is and the supreme authority that defines what is right, and has infallibly declared that she is (conditionally) infallible, and thus accordingly to her decree, and cannot be wrong when she thusly says she is right. If she does say so herself.
Rule Two: In case of doubt, see Rule One, as that is the only way to have no doubt.
Conclusion: All must be part of the Catholic church, or be damned.
“And since Catholics are all concerned about breaking the Ten Commandments, what about the not bowing down to graven images? They sure don’t have any problem disobeying THAT commandment.”
No Catholic disobeys that Commandment.
Growing up Protestant, I’ve seen plenty of pictures of Jesus in homes. Also plenty of Nativity sets.
Standing in front of, bowing, or kneeling in front of objects is not a form of worship. And praying in front of a statue, does not mean you are praying TO the statue.
That is rather silly.
Don’t read what you think it says....The command is not to not worship.
Read what it says.... The command is to not bow or serve.
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