Testimony of a Former Irish Priest

BereanBeacon.Org ^ | Richard Peter Bennett

[metmom]

Catholicism does not give assurance of salvation. Catholics on this forum have said that they won’t know until they get there, because they won’t know if their works were good enough.

I don’t know ANY Catholics who ever thought that they were good enough to warrant more than an extended and indefinite stay in Purgatory.

And heaven help them if people forgot them and no more prayers and masses and lit candles were offered (bought) for them before their time was up. Then there’d be no way out as nobody would be helping them any more.

Most Catholics expect to suffer for quite some time IF they are going to heaven. Most acknowledge that they expect more than a reasonable chance of going to hell. Purgatory is the best virtually all the ones I’ve ever met hope for.

How sad to think that all the suffering of Christ on the cross and His death was not good enough to secure for them eternity in heaven.

[Quix]

BBBBBUUUUTT BBBBBUUUUTTTT

If it doesn’t fit the outrageous mental script

for the Alice-in-Wonderland School of Theology and Christian Life . . .

then the RED QUEEN or . . . the worm or . . . whatever

might be seen as WRONG!

Perish the thought!

[Quix]

We simply hold up papist doctrines to the light of Scripture and their errors are revealed for all to see

---

INDEED!

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Why would one claim to be bridesmaid at three Roman Catholic High Mass weddings?

Only one reason. Because it happened.

I've referenced these weddings for years on FR. Your skepticism is pretty nutty.

[Quix]

That’s been my experience with RC’s as well.

[Quix]

Only one reason. Because it happened.

I’ve referenced these weddings for years on FR. Your skepticism is pretty nutty.

---

OBVIOUSLY you just DON’T UNDERSTAND, Dr E!

If the Vatican magicsterical didn’t decree it,

then it JUST DIDN’T HAPPEN!

LOL.

[metmom]

Post 3,376 by Natural Law.

"Of course it isn't or God would not have added to the revealed Word of God through Apostolic tradition and subsequent revelation."

"To attempt to comprehend the entire revealed Word of God from Scripture alone is like trying to play solitaire with an incomplete deck."

You called it the *Word of God*. I changed nothing. In your own words, you said that the revealed Word of God wasn't sufficient otherwise Apostolic tradition and subsequent revelation would not have been added.

[small voice in the wilderness]

Mark, are you possessed? What does it matter to you if Dr. Eckleburg had high-tea with the Pope? Seriously.

...squeak..squeak..squeak..."Throw out yer dead 'n dyin'. We need the brains.."..squeak..squeak..

[metmom]

You really ought to ping someone if you're going to talk about them and say for the whole world to read that they're lying about personal matters.

How do you know this is not true. What makes it so *obvious* that the account she related was a "fabrication" (read "lie).

Talk about finessing the RF guidelines. Calling people liars by using other words is still calling them liars.

It's pretty much SOP for the Catholic side of the debate. I've been called a liar by some of the same FRoman Catholics for relating what I knew as fact when I was growing up simply because I would not compromise my screen name either.

[roamer_1]

Thank you. And this post gets:

ROTFLMAO!!! I thought those little guys were hoisting up beers... Then I put my glasses on...

*sigh* Youth is wasted on the young.

[Natural Law]

"You called it the *Word of God*. I changed nothing."

Post #3375 contains the entire transcript. Your guilt is evident.

"It seems the Scripture’s PLAIN wording isn’t enough."

Of course it isn't or God would not have added to the revealed Word of God through Apostolic tradition and subsequent revelation.

To attempt to comprehend the entire revealed Word of God from Scripture alone is like trying to play solitaire with an incomplete deck.

[Natural Law]

"Talk about finessing the RF guidelines. Calling people liars by using other words is still calling them liars."

Discussions regarding exposing liars makes some people particularly uncomfortable.

[roamer_1]

We simply hold up papist doctrines to the light of Scripture and their errors are revealed for all to see.

Ahh yes... The threadbare tapestry of papistry.

[Mad Dawg]

I don't think I was asking what everyone thinks. I was posing a problem.

(1) You referred to the One Faith, One Lord, One Baptism, One God and Father of us all. We all know the prayer "that they all may be one." I think that suggests that there is a moral pressure against division in the Church.

(2)You all say the Scripture (and the Holy Spirit) is all we need to determine what we need to know.

(3)Yet there are divisions among those who say that. And these divisions are deep enough or strong enough that the moral pressure to maintain unity is not only resisted but overthrown.

You all say the divisions aren't really that important, but still they involve groups splitting apart over doctrine. That seems pretty important to me.

It seems weird to say, "We're united in the Gospel and in the Holy Spirit, we just don't want to worship God together." It seems in the same ballpark as saying "I love my wife, I just can't stand being with her."

So it's a problem, and I think it may have the germs of showing that Sola Scriptura is untenable.

By that I don't mean just that some people might find it untenable. I mean that there may be an absurdity, in the technical sense, in it.

My personal experience is that it just does not hold up. So of course I argue from my experience. But I'm wondering if it's just me and a misconception of mine or if there is a fundamental problem.

TO be painfully clear, I'm not tormented with wondering. I'm pretty happy where I am. But I still think there is the possibility, so the natural place for me to go is to inquire of people who hold that opinion.

As my brain begins to shut down with fatigue, I have one other thing I'd like to say: If He's coming tomorrow or according to Jerry Falwell's schedule, OR if we're just as right as can be about our statues and rosaries and all, it would be a shame if all these things got in the way of the big thing.

The big thing is Jesus. I don't think, when I am praying or adoring or at Mass or reading the Bible,'Oh, I'm Catholic." In a way, being Catholic has meant the end of thinking about this or that 'denomination.' it is when I contend here or when I talk to Catholic university students who get such grief for being Catholic and meaning it that I think about "being Catholic."

I feel like all that no longer troubles me. I pray to Jesus. I live in Jesus. When I, for example, go to confession, it is not to get my ticket punched. It is to look with God and a fellow Christian at my failures, to understand them a little better, to get some advice on ways to avoid them in future, and to receive, as I do, strength and confidence to go out and ... fail again. I don't go to confession, say, for negative reasons - to avoid something. I go to confession for positive reasons - to get strength to move on, to move ahead.

It's about Jesus. All the rest is ancillary.

[Religion Moderator]

Do not make this thread "about" individual Freepers. That is also a form of "making it personal."

Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.

[Mad Dawg]

I have resorted to having a book on Catholicsm by my side,

Which book? If it's any good I'll put it in the Church Library.

[Mad Dawg]

Of course, I was once told that my word about what I had seen was not enough and I needed to bring some kind of corroboration before it would be believed.

I don't like what's going on, not at all. But there is a certain fitness to it.

[count-your-change]

Thanks for clearing that up.
I’m not part of “you guys”, I speak only for myself. And the flock was God’s not Paul’s.

[Alex Murphy]

Let's compare daily scripture reading habits. Every day, I pray the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, and I attend daily mass.

That's impressive in and of itself - that you attend, and that you have a job/income that allows you to go to Mass daily. Now you mentioned that you pray, and you mentioned that you attend Mass daily. At the Mass, over the two/three year reading cycle, you're hearing only 27.5% of the Bible, excluding Psalms. And you didn't expressly mention reading the scriptures for yourself, outside of what you hear in Mass. Do you have a personal reading program, to make up for the missing 72.5% that you don't get in Mass?

[Quix]

I suppose . . . pullling wayyyyyyyyyy back and limiting my responses to highlighting a minimal number of what I perceive to be outrageousnesses . . . it’s still quite wearying to my spirit.

Still prayerfully pondering about therefore what.

It appears that you have been working hard to moderate some of your side’s more horrific attitudes and nastiness. Congrats for that. Herding cats with distemper or rabies can’t be very much fun.

Am trying to wrap my mind around . . . assuming that in X weeks or months . . . the world will be very different.

And if FR and the net are still functioning, how will the dramatic changes in reality alter my posting.

And trying to adjust my thinking, feelings, attitudes and style accordingly a bit ahead of time. Therefore what, I don’t know but praying in such directions about such matters.

There may be occasional exceptions.

However, in general, I’m done with the jerks on your side. And the Jr jerks bucking for elevation to Sr Jerkdom. And with the merely admiring of the jerks as well. Enough already yet with such relentlessly personal meanness and nastiness.

They can pat themselves on their own backs for all the extra white hankys they think they are earning by such nastiness until Jesus Comes again. I suspect they’re likely to be surprised at how God looks at such accounts.

I’m well aware that those who exalt in despising me feel similarly or worse.

Thankfully, by God’s Grace, I despise no one on FR. I forgive everyone and wish everyone a closer relationship with God.

I *THINK* YOU AND I BOTH have a deep, keen appreciation for

HOW INCREDIBLY COMPLEX

LIFE and theology etc. are.

There’s abundant room for serious disagreement even purportedly based on evidence and even with the best heart attitudes and intentions.

THROW IN STRONG BIASES AND THE inevitability of serious disagreement and stronger emotions escalates.

THROW IN A TON OF BAD FAITH, PERSONAL INSECURITIES; MISPLACED PRIORITIES; BAD EMOTIONAL MATURITY ETC. AND SUCH JUNK GOES OFF THE SCALE.

I don’t have the delusion or illusion to think that with so many humans in one context, there would be an absence of those on the fringes of normalcy or devoid of maturity.

I am disappointed that the worst apples in the barrel seem to be the most vocal and prolific at the loudest volumes. And THEY scream about MY fonts and colors! Sheesh!

Yet, I guess it’s always been so.

I’m also pretty used to having some sort of facility or tendency for turning the heat up on and surfacing such crud.Sometimes I seem to do it just walking into a room of strangers. Curious phenomenon, that.

Anyway—certainly interesting times we live in.

BTW, I have had an impression that The Lord is going to visit you in a different, new way or else with a bit of a different message for you than you are used to. I don’t know if that’s 100% accurate . . . just a very subtle impression in such directions. My best guess is that it may be related to the central role you play in a lot of lives in your sphere of religious activity.

IF THAT IMPRESSION IS REMOTELY ACCURATE, I hope you are able to receive His msg with discernment but also without unnecessary flesh driven walls.