Recently, a well known rabbi drew the pope's attention to just such a notion. He suggested that he do everything possible to prevent Catholics from this same fate that has befallen the Jews. Being a Catholic is not part of one's heritage; it is one's faith. The Catholic Church allows for infant baptism which was the norm for centuries. Peter explained what happens at baptism when he said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). But he did not restrict this teaching to adults. He added, "For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him" (2:39). We also read: "Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). These commands are universal, not restricted to adults. Further, these commands make clear the necessary connection between baptism and salvation, a connection explicitly stated in 1 Peter 3:21: "Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
For me, that meant 12 years of Catholic education.
Ditto. By the time I graduated from Catholic High School, I expected that I knew my faith, until I accepted my first full time position at an international airline where my boss was a Mormon convert. He would occasionally bring up the topic of religion (he is a bishop) and I was shocked at how ignorant I truly was of my Catholic faith. Learning about the faith does not end with school or religious ed classes. It continues throughout one's life. One must make a conscious effort, though. How familiar are you with the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Have you read all of the books in the Bible? Do you set aside time for daily prayer?
You are not alone! The majority of Catholics, like you, fall into the category of 'cultural' Catholics who were baptized into the faith, attended Church on most Sundays, occasionally went to Confession but lived in a secular world. The priest who counseled you was obviously one of the rare 'orthodox' priests who was willing to remind your son of his obligation to be a practicing Catholic, rather than a cultural one. Instead of addressing this with the priest and your son, you walked away from the Church and sought out a christian denomination more tolerable to your views. There are tens of thousands of churches that claim to be "christian". As a 'cultural' christian, one can shop around and find just about any denomination that agrees with one's own views, all claiming to have the proper interpretation of Scripture. Can there be more than one interpretation of the Bible? No. The word "truth" is used several times in the New Testament. However, the plural version of the word "truth" never appears in Scripture. Therefore, there can only be one Truth. So how can there be over 20,000 non-Catholic Christian denominations all claiming to have the "Truth"?
You were baptized into the Catholic Church. Perhaps it is now time to rediscover your faith.
ROTFL! We're back to 20,000, are we? Up and down, up and down we go! Wheeee!
12/21/09, NYer: "tens of thousands of churches that claim to be "christian"....over 20,000 non-Catholic Christian denominations"
12/09/09, NYer: "...we have tens of thousands of churches that claim to be christian"
12/07/09, NYer: "The current number of churches proclaiming to be christian is beyond measurement. Some put the number at 30,000, others at 40,000"
12/03/09, NYer: "40,000+ non-Catholic denominations"
11/25/2009, NYer: "I was going to post that number but chose to go more conservative. You tell me ... how many non-Catholic Churches are there in the world? 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 ... who can keep track?"
10/28/09, NYer: "30,000+ churches that call themselves christian but disagree with each other"
But are you still denying that there are 242 or more Catholic denominations that all claim to be Catholic and yet disagree with each other?
The Perspicuity of Scripture and Other Creation Myths
Let's grant that Catholic apologist-types beat the 33,000 denominations drum too much and don't really pay attention to the commonalities that exist in much of Protestant theology. Let us also grant that Catholic apologist types often don't pay attention, in such polemics, to the divisions in our own house.Unsound Sticks, or, Arguments Catholics Shouldn't Use
1. Do not allege that there are 33,000 Protestant denominations. This tally comes from the 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia, and it includes all denominations and paradenominations which self-identify as Christian, including Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Old Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Gnostics, Bogomils, etc. And even so, the number is too high. The World Christian Encyclopedia artificially inflates the number of Catholic "denominations" by counting Eastern Churches in communion with Rome as separate denominations. It likewise inflates the number of Eastern Orthodox "denominations" by counting Churches in communion with each other as distinct....30,000 Protestant Denominations?....even if we could arrive at an accurate tally for Protestant denominations (20,000?), we still could not blame the whole of that number on Sola Scriptura. Some of these churches share substantial unity in faith, even if they are juridically independent (perhaps due to geography). And much of the disunity of faith within Protestantism, at least in the developed world, stems from efforts to subordinate the authority of Scripture (e.g., to various sexual perversions). In reality, if every Protestant denomination were serious and consistent in affirming and applying the rule of Sola Scriptura, the spectrum of Protestant belief would be significantly narrower. It bears emphasizing: the only thing for which we can directly blame Sola Scriptura is the extent to which it fails to provide unity in true faith and morals to those who sincerely adhere to it, e.g., "orthodox" Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Campbellites, etc.
When this figure first surfaced among Roman Catholic apologists, it started at 20,000 Protestant denominations, grew to 23,000 Protestant denominations, then to 25,000 Protestant denominations. More recently, that figure has been inflated to 28,000, to over 32,000. These days, many Roman Catholic apologists feel content simply to calculate a daily rate of growth (based on their previous adherence to the original benchmark figure of 20,000) that they can then use as a basis for projecting just how many Protestant denominations there were, or will be, in any given year....The Facts and Stats on "33,000 Denominations"....If the Roman Catholic apologist wants instead to cite 8,196 idiosyncrasies within Protestantism, then he must be willing to compare that figure to at least 2,942 (perhaps upwards of 8,000 these days) idiosyncrasies within Roman Catholicism. In any case, he cannot compare the one ecclesial tradition of Roman Catholicism to 25,000, 8,196, or even twenty-one Protestant denominations; for Barrett places Roman Catholicism (as a single ecclesial tradition) on the same level as Protestantism (as a single ecclesial tradition)....
....In short, Roman Catholic apologists have hurriedly, carelessly—and, as a result, irresponsibly—glanced at Barrett’s work, found a large number (22,189), and arrived at all sorts of absurdities that Barrett never concluded. One can only hope that, upon reading this critique, Roman Catholic apologists will finally put this argument to bed. The more likely scenario, however, is that the death of this argument will come about only when Evangelicals consistently point out this error—and correct it—each time it is raised by a Roman Catholic apologist. Sooner or later they will grow weary of the embarrassment that accompanies citing erroneous figures in a public forum.
"Now that I understand the methodology used to arrive at the 30,000 number, I won't use it any more..." - markomalley, in post #1
But then you post things that prove your interpretation is the wrong one...
Peter explained what happens at baptism when he said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"
You can't use both verses together and make it mean what you want to make it mean...
But he did not restrict this teaching to adults. He added, "For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him"
Does God call babies to Him so they can repent??? Nope, not a chance...The children in the verse has to refer to children as they get old enough to first, recognize sin, and then repent, or God is already speaking of the children who are old enough to repent...
Your religion has distorted these verses to mean what it can't possibly mean...
All this legalism mumbo jumbo you guys have come up with is the work of the Pharisees....You can read all about them...None of it fits in with the Christianity of the scriptures...