Looks like some of them did not get the memo.
Posted on 02/01/2012 3:38:01 PM PST by NYer
I remember coloring in the lions on the paper my Catechism teacher had handed out. The lions in the coliseum were approaching a group of huddled Catholics.
My CCD teacher asked us if we too were willing to suffer for our faith the way the martyrs of old did? I remember looking at those cartoon lions and deciding that yes, I very much had the stuff to stare down a cartoon lion. Easy.
But it’s easy to answer in the affirmative when we’re talking about cartoon lions. It’s different when we’re talking real life. Real lions have teeth.
And make no mistake, real life is what we’re talking now. We have a government that mandates what pro-life counselors must say. We have a government now that mandates that Catholic institutions pay for things it considers sinful. We have a government that now says the cost of being an American is to abandon Catholicism.
Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska in response to the Obama administration’s contraception mandate said, “We cannot and will not comply with this unjust decree. Like the martyrs of old, we must be prepared to accept suffering which could include heavy fines and imprisonment.”
This scares me but it’s true.
Now is the time when decisions must be made by Catholic college presidents and hospital administrators and the heads of all sorts of Catholic institutions. Should I do what the government tells me or what the Church tells me is right? Some whom we have great hope for will choose poorly. Some will stand up unexpectedly and refuse to comply with the government. And they will pay a price for being Catholic.
We’re no longer talking about the slippery slope here. We’ve walked off a cliff. We’re in free fall.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
This Catholic agrees with you.
You make a good point...I wonder if we could take that creed and insert...”while he suffered under Pilate, it was for our sins he was crucified unto death”
When read that way, the Creed suddenly takes on a whole new shine and aroma!
They have a prophesy that says the last Pope will be Petros Romano.
PETER THE ROMAN
and that this Pope will lead them through the tribulation
Get that THE ROMAN
even some of their own people say he will be an antichrist
Doesn’t it though! My question remains, why was the gospel left out? accident? purposely? If a religious institution does NOT teach that Christ died for our sins, and was raised from the dead for our justification; that salvation is a free gift from God, and that we are saved by grace through faith in His finished work ALONE, not through ANY works of righteousness we may perform, then I can tell you it wasn’t left out by accident. They cannot preach salvation by grace alone and works for salvation at the same time. If works are taught as necessary for salvation, the gospel is the LAST thing that institution wants in their creeds. Hence the need for THE GOSPEL to be strangely ABSENT.
FOR OUR SINS does not fill their coffers
They have been so snookered
You got that right! Those three words “FOR OUR SINS” would collapse the entire institution. And they can’t have that. What would they do with all the art and ermine?
I have always thought that it’s dangerous to use something like the Apostles Creed. Like metmom said “Intellectual assent is not saving faith.” You’re right in that it says nothing of shedding his blood for the remission of sins. It rings hollow if the understanding that Christ was the perfect once for all time sacrifice for our sins and reliance on that alone is what saves.
People died for their faith in Stalin, Hitler and many other despots as well.
meant to ping you also.
People were burned at the stake for saying they were followers of Christ in Spain and France and Italy by Roman Catholics for not wanting to take part in any of their indulgences or bowing to any of their images.
You know what the difference was ?
It was the testimonies they gave while being tortured that brought on THE REFORMATION.
They gave testimonies like Stephen gave to the Pharisies just before he was stoned .
Why and how should people "offer up" their suffering? I fully understand and appreciate that God allows suffering in our lives for his own purposes such as for growth, discipline, chastisement and to show forth his power and mercy. But, why do Catholics believe they must offer up their suffering to God for the benefit of someone else?
Perhaps you are the person to ask this question to, JSteff...Is Jesus Christ subject to His mother in heaven? If her position in heaven is Mater Dei, the Mother of God, is He subject to her?
You still have to remember that for centuries it was the Orthodox in the East and the Roman Catholics that were the twin pillars of the faith on Earth. For better or worse, if you wanted to know about Jesus, you went to their priests The priests that were sent into the hinterlands had their faith and not much else since the headquarters were months away in some cases and news came seldom. Christ used these humble personages of the faith even if scandals and leadership quarrels marred the upper offices of the Church.
It was by the 1300’ to the 1500’s that the corruption had reached a place in these two branches that the spread of the gospel of Jesus was in danger of being snuffed out on Earth. The Orthodox of the East were being swamped by the Muslims and their own corruption and in 1453 Constantinople fell.
The Roman Catholic upper hierarchy were involved in all sorts of machaivellian intrigues involving politics and the rise and fall of kings in Europe as well as the growth of questionable religious practises that even learned men of the established faith were turning away...even at great peril to their lives.
So God acted by infusing new “olive branches” into the body of Christ and the Protestant reformation was born, humbling the temporal power of the Catholics in Europe; while at the same time, birthing a notion of representative government with charters and constitutions guaranteeing basic rights to every man. The printing press allowed bibles to be printed especially into the vernacular languages and many learned to read with the bible as their first primer!
So do remember that what we know of Christ as well as the scriptures that we as Protestants cherish, do come from what the Catholics and Orthodox preserved thru the dark centuries and that old olive shoots carefully pruned can again become productive! I certainly remember those facts.
This is my personal overview only and I’m sure the dust can be raised regarding the thees and the whosiwhatzits of what some pope did what and Luther being an anti semite, the role of Mary, and all that sort of stuff. I am looking at church history via the lens of the gospel...another words is there any body out there at any one time preaching the saving word of the gospel...doesn’t matter what faith system he hails from.
I just read that post. That is not true. You should not even misled whatever you believe in whatever form. That’s not right.
The Rites of the Catholic Church [Catholic Caucus]
One and Many Churches (origins of the Church)
THE RITES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH -- There are many!
(Cardinal) Newman on Rites and Ceremonies
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