[ArrogantBustard]

I have long wondered where to find this horrible "Roman Church" many protestants apparently love to hate. It sure has a bizarre set of beliefs ... but does it really exist? I have never found any group or institution that actually professes the beliefs these protestants impute to the "Roman Church".

[Steve_Seattle]

"I have long wondered where to find this horrible "Roman Church" many protestants apparently love to hate. It sure has a bizarre set of beliefs ... but does it really exist? I have never found any group or institution that actually professes the beliefs these protestants impute to the "Roman Church"."

I don't know which specific beliefs you are referring to, but - in the context of this thread - the Church does believe that the communion wafer and wine are transformed into the literal body and blood of Christ, although it is said that the "accidental" (visible) characteristics of the elements remain unchanged and it is only - so to speak - the "essence" which is transformed. This is called "transubstantiation." And the Church does teach that the Mass is in some sense a sacrifice. I say these things not because I am a rabid Protestant but because I was raised a Catholic and was taught those beliefs over a period of many years.

[verga]

I have long wondered where to find this horrible "Roman Church" many protestants apparently love to hate. It sure has a bizarre set of beliefs ... but does it really exist? I have never found any group or institution that actually professes the beliefs these protestants impute to the "Roman Church".

Two places I have found it is in Lorraine Boettner's "Roman Catholicism" and pretty much any thing Tim LaHaye writes, most notably "Revelation Unveiled."