Posted on 05/07/2010 10:01:45 PM PDT by Salvation
This website surveys the origin and development of Roman Catholic Christianity from the period of the apostolic church, through the post-apostolic church and into the conciliar movement. Principal attention is paid to the biblical basis of both doctrine and dogma as well as the role of paradosis (i.e. handing on the truth) in the history of the Church. Particular attention is also paid to the hierarchical founding and succession of leadership throughout the centuries.
This is a set of lecture notes used since 1985 to teach the basis for key doctrines and dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. The objectives of the course were, and are:
The course grew out of the need for the authors to continually answer questions about their faith tradition and their work. (Both authors are active members of Catholic parish communities in the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Robert Schihl was a Professor and Associate Dean of the School of Communication and the Arts at Regent University. Paul Flanagan is a consultant specializing in preparing people for technology based changes.) At the time these notes were first prepared, the authors were spending time in their faith community answering questions about their Protestant Evangelical workplaces (Mr. Flanagan was then a senior executive at the Christian Broadcasting Network), and time in their workplaces answering similar questions about their Roman Catholic faith community. These notes are the result of more than a decade of facilitating dialogue among those who wish to learn more about what the Roman Catholic Church teaches and why.
The teachings of Roman Catholic Christianity about the role of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, are some of the most misunderstood and exaggerated beliefs dividing the Body of Christ. Before presenting the teaching of the Church about Mary, there are some important givens or assumptions to be stated about the Church, Mary and the Bible.
The official teaching of the Church has never considered beliefs about Mary to be in any way equal in importance to truths about God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit. Vatican Council II expressed it best when the Council Fathers wrote:
The truths about Mary are important because they are still truth, since they are based in the Bible. But they are not central to the primary gospel message of our salvation through Jesus Christ. As an example of the basic gospel message without Mary, we have only to look at the writings of Paul. In Pauline theology, Mary is mentioned only once, and not even by name.
Roman Catholics believe that the understanding of the Church about Mary, as about all Christian truth (e.g., the understanding of the Trinity) deepens and becomes more accurate over the centuries under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
When the Catholic Church appears to teach "new doctrines" about Mary, it is often a statement of truth against some current errors or a clarification of truths that have always been taught and believed by Christians through the centuries. The Church believes that handing on these truths participates in the admonition of Paul.
Consequently, two fundamental criteria guide the teaching authority of the Catholic Church as it seeks to discern what are the authentic beliefs about Mary which Jesus through His Holy Spirit would have us know:
Hail, Holy Queen
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy!
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished
children of Eve, to thee do we send
up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley, of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us; and
after this our exile show unto us the
blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus;
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ.
Lord, God,
May Your Name be glorified.
May Your Word be lifted up.
May Your priorities reign supreme.
May Your righteousness be our focus.
Show all who are called by Your Name, Lord,
Your Biblical mandates;
Your Biblical proscriptions;
Your Biblical prescriptions;
Your Biblical boundaries.
May all distractions,
All interlopers,
all competitions with our putting you first and foremost in our lives be revealed to us most vividly and redemptively. May we be aided by Your Truth and Your Spirit and Jesus’ Blood to put all such spiritual hazards behind us.
In Jesus’ Name.
May God Holy Spirit reveal to each of us called Christian the secrets and intents of our hearts which would compete with His supremacy and His priorities in our lives.
Amen. And we have His word He will do just that.
Thanks for your kind reply.
PRAISE GOD FOR THAT.
2 Thessalonians
Chapter 2
Verses 15-17
15 Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace,
17 encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.
Thank you, Father. Maker of all that is seen & unseen for Your Son, Our Savior, Jesus Christ & the Holy Spirit who proceeds from You & the Son & has spoken through the prophets. Thank you, Father in Heaven for Our Apostolic, Catholic Church. Thank you for the wonderful example of how to be obedient to Your Will who is the Mary, our Blessed Mother.
In Jesus Name, amen!
Remember, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, what ineffable power thy divine Son hath given thee over His own adorable Heart. Full of trust in thy merits, we come before thee and beg thy protection. O heavenly Treasurer of the Heart of Jesus, that Heart which is the inexhaustible source of all graces, which thou mayest open to us at thy good pleasure, in order that from it may flow forth upon mankind the riches of love and mercy, light and salvation, that are contained therein; grant unto us, we beseech thee, the favors which we seek. . . . We can never, never be refused by thee, and since thou art our Mother, O our Lady of the Sacred Heart, graciously hear our prayers and grant our request. Amen.
What a fine lesson—that post offered—in how to trash some great Scripture with a pile of blasphemy!
And here some have tried to teach us Prottys that y’all give MORE WEIGHT to the WORDS OF JESUS. Wellllll, I don’t think so . . . but let’s see:
2.Mark 7:8
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
Mark 7:9
And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
And then Paul’s exhortation:
Galatians 1:14
I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
I realize many Roman Catholics et al prefer the deceptions about the caricatured Mary personage to the words of Christ or Paul . . . however . . . there they are, anyway.
2nd Thessalonians
Chapter 3
Verses 5-6
5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
6 We instruct you, brothers, in the name of (our) Lord Jesus Christ,to shun any brother who conducts himself in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us.
Mary, Queen of Missions
Holy Mary, Our Mother, today, each day and in our last hour, we entrust ourselves entirely to Your loving and singular care. We place in Your hands our entire hope and happiness, our every anxiety and difficulty, our whole lives.
May our every endeavor be directed and guided according to the Will of Your Son, which is Your wish, by the aid of Your prayer and special favor with God. Amen
John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Christ made this statement before His death, burial and Resurrection & before He opened the Gates of Heaven.
Peace :)
Lord, God Almighty,
You alone, Lord, by Your Spirit alone can we know when to apply which Scripture, how to discern which issue, situation, factor.
How and when to shun !!!TRADITIONS!!! of man and choose Your Word, Your Voice.
Those who seek you persistently, earnestly, whole heartedly—shunning all competing contenders—shall find You and walk in Your will, Oh, Lord. Help us to do that arightly.
You declared, Lord, that your Way was straight and narrow. Please, Lord, prevent us from distractions, from deviating a micrometer from Your Way, from YOU.
Keep us single-mindedly, Lord, focused ON YOU AND YOUR PRIORITIES FOR US moment by moment.
In Jesus’ Name.
Gospel according to Saint John
Chapter 21
Verse 25
25 There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.
2nd Thessalonians
Chapter 3
Verses 5-6
5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
6 We instruct you, brothers, in the name of (our) Lord Jesus Christ,to shun any brother who conducts himself in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us.
2 Thessalonians
Chapter 2
Verses 15-17
15 Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace,
17 encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.
So Quix, in your world Saint Paul’s letters aren’t the Inspired Word of God?
Peace :)
I’ve never considered it a very Christian practice for
RC’s particularly
to put inaccurate, false, wrong, untrue
words of theirs
in my fingers.
Thankfully, The Lord knows the Truth of my words and of my heart.
Perhaps it depends on definitions.
However, I don’t think that position is Biblically defensible.
Christ told the thief that THAT DAY the thief would be WITH CHRIST IN PARADISE.
I’m confident Christ was telling the truth.
“No John wrote this gospel after Christ had risen and ascended.”
True! Christ said it before His Death, Burial & Resurrection and John wrote his version of the Gospel after the fact.
“There are no Saints in heaven. “
Thanks be to God, there are Saints in Heaven. They are praying for you & I as well.
“There will be no one there until after the Resurrection and judgment”
Sorry, I respectfully disagree, especially in light of Ephesians 3:14-15:
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
Also, there is Romans 8:38-39 which suggests something different than your assertion suggests.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, 9 nor future things, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, 10 nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
I put no words in your mouth, Quix. In light of Sacred Scripture & your earlier posts I asked you a reasonable question. A simple “yes” or “no” will suffice.
Peace :)
So . . . where’s the Scriptures asserting
that
1. Graduated believers in Heaven are praying for us on earth?
2. Graduated believers hear us routinely; attend to us routinely; are concerned about our daily life specifics routinely, if at all?
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