Posted on 02/20/2015 3:22:59 PM PST by NKP_Vet
1.“Catholics worship statues.” This stereotype is painful to hear. Not only is this completely false, but it is ludicrous. Despite the fact that there are 801 millions Protestants world-wide, according to the Pew Research Center, my rant will be geared towards our brothers and sisters in the United States. In this country, approximately 51.5% of people are Protestant Christians. Realistically, most of these families have pictures in their home, which is completely normal, right? Right. They have pictures of their loved ones, both living and deceased. Is it not hypocritical then to say that Catholics are idol worshipers, when these families have portraits of their loved ones on the walls? If these Protestant families can have pictures of Uncle Bernie and Mawmaw hanging on the wall, then most certainly the Church can present pictures of our beloved Jesus, his disciples, and the saints.
2.“Catholics pray to Mary instead of God.” This is a very common misconception throughout the Protestant community, and while I can understand why it is, I am also disheartened that many jump to such a harsh conclusion of the Catholic faith. We don’t pray to Mary, we ask her to pray for us, just as a Protestant asks their deceased grandparent/parent to watch over them.
3. “The saints can’t hear your prayers, because they are dead.” I beg to differ. Since when is anyone who is in Heaven considered dead? We call it the afterLIFE for a reason. In fact, there is biblical proof that the saints can hear our prays: -Revelation 5:8 “And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.” -Revelation 8:3-4 “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.”
4. “Mother Mary isn’t important; she’s just like anyone else.” If our Blessed Mother isn’t important, then every female would have had an immaculate conception. For this reason, that is why the declarative statement above doesn’t make sense. Of course Mother Mary is important, she gave birth to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What is so amazing about the Catholic faith is the fact that we recognize the importance of Mary, and we honor her accordingly. She is a role model and saint for all Christians to look up to, because she submitted to God completely. Until the day another woman gives birth to Jesus, no one will ever be just like Mary. She is a very special, holy woman.
5. “Catholics made up all their rules.” Every single tradition we have in the Catholic Church, namely during Mass, has biblical roots. Not to mention the fact that Jesus was the founder of our Church. I don’t know about you, but Jesus doesn’t make mistakes.
6. “God said to confess sins to Him, not a priest.” This one is a personal favorite of mine. Drum roll please. -James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” It is true that we pray directly to God, and ask Him to forgiveness, however for sins (mortal) we do as Jesus commands and confess it to one another (our priests). Jesus said this directly to his disciples, so through Him, they were able to forgive sins. This power passed down to every priest, and so on and so forth. That felt good.
7. “Catholicism is a cult.” Jesus Christ founded this Church more than 2,000 years ago, I would hardly call it a cult.
8. “Catholics aren’t Christians.” The word Christian is associated with anyone who follows Christ’s teachings, and since the Catholic Church does just that then we are to be called Christians. Not to mention Catholics were actually the first Christians.
9. “Catholics added books to the Holy Bible.” This one is so hilarious it hurts. For 300 years there was no Bible, only random writings from the prophets like St.Peter etc, until the Catholic monks compiled and canonized what is now known today as the Holy Bible. (That is until the Protestant Reformation occurred, in which one man *Martin Luther* removed 7 books). Ouch.
10. “Catholics believe you can pay your way into Heaven.” We definitely do not. That is a huge misconception which occurred during the Protestant Reformation.
Despite the many stereotypes that hang over our faith, the important thing to remember is our Church has stood the test of time and remained for more than 2,000 years. Whether you are Catholic or Protestant-- we are all followers of Christ, and He is the ultimate goal.
Catholics worship GOD alone, because they are not morons.
Catholics worship Jesus Christ, because he is God.
Catholics worship the Eucharist because it is the body and blood of the living, risen Jesus Christ.
Catholics HONOR the saints. If that honor involves kissing, bowing, kneeling, singing, incense, etc., and you find that distasteful, tough.
But you only make yourself ridiculous by repeating endlessly that “Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints! Catholics worship saints!”
Catholics know that this is a lie. They will only laugh at you.
When I was eight years old, our third-grade teacher told us that some people believe that Catholics worship Mary. All forty of us eight-year-olds laughed out loud.
We had memorized the First Commandment in the first grade, and its meaning was fully explained.
Your only argument against veneration of the saints, and asking for their intercession, is sola scriptura.
But sola scriptura is off the table?
How conveeenient.
I didn’t ask ‘who’ catholics worship...I asked ‘how do they worship, what does it look like if not by kneeling, bowing, praying to and kissing the objects of their worship?????
Again....show us what catholic worship looks like please.
Quite changing the subject...we’re talking about how catholics worship...
Show us please....if it’s not bowing, praying to, kneelig before relics etc...then what does it look like.
It looks about the same.
So what?
So what?
Then how can you say catholics aren't worshipping relics of dead bodies and body parts, statues of saints etc.... when their behavior/actions are identical to how you say you worship God????
There is no Scriptural proof for this false doctrine in either Testament....Jesus certainly didn't do this and in fact would denounce this behavior toward relics and idols...and did...
Here you have catholic priests singing hymns in front of a corpse
Catholics take the Incarnation MUCH more seriously than Protestants do. And that’s a proposition that the overwhelming majority of Protestant theologians will agree with.
The Catholic Church is sacramental. Bread, wine, water, oil, salt, etc. The Catholic Church is liturgical. Gestures, a prescribed text, etc.
The relics of the saints are honored because the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit—as SAINT PAUL teaches. The bodies of the saints were the instruments by which they came to know God, and to love and serve him through prayer, teaching, preaching, acts of charity, etc. Someday, the bodies of the saints—and everyone else—will be raised from the dead and enter, reunited with the soul, into eternal life. In honoring the saints—including their relics—Catholic affirm their faith that the BODY of Jesus was the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that the BODY of Jesus was the instrument by which God brought his truth into the world, and manifested his love through healings and other acts of charity. By honoring the bodies of saints, who will rise from the dead, Catholics affirm their faith in the Resurrection of Jesus.
Catholics take seriously God’s decision to use the material creation as an instrument of salvation—the BODY of Jesus, the matter used in the sacraments, the BODIES of those who marry, etc.
It is no accident that the Catholic Church teaches the truth about marriage, while the Protestant churches have largely capitulated on divorce, sodomy, contraception, and fornication. The Catholic Church has a profoundly greater appreciation than Protestantism that man is a composite of body and soul, that God has written messages in our BODIES concerning how charity is to be lived out in the course of our lives, and that God entered into a nuptial union with his material universe by becoming man.
Then kissing the container holding the dug up corpse....It is more than difficult to understand the claims of catholicism's religious “incorruptibility”.... Even a small child can recognize this rotten stuff. The pictures of these disgusting practices do not need any further explanation.
Then inviting the public to come and worship before this corpse
Do you have the text of what the young men are singing?
Want to make a bet that they are NOT singing a text that praises Jesus Christ?
Men genuflect before the Queen of England. Are they idolaters?
Oh, no, you might say. In that CONTEXT it is understood that bending the knee is not an act of adoration.
Just so.
Adoration does not consist in kneeling, bowing, etc. Adoration is an act of the INTELLECT and the WILL. I can commit idolatry while driving down the freeway or mowing the lawn. I can also offer God adoration while driving down the freeway or mowing the lawn.
Photographs show gestures or postures. The intellect and the will do not show up in photographs.
What are you talking about????
This isn’t about catholics and Protestants in our posts. Rather once again you are seemingly attempting to distract from what we’ve been discusiing, Which by the way you just did admit catholic worship of idols, relics etc. is the same as that before God.
The rest of your post is just blather...
There is ‘absolutely’ no Bible verse that approves digging up the dead from their grave, putting their corpses and body parts on display or of dismembering them to do so...or to display these or keep them inside Churches and Chapels.
...”Photographs show gestures or postures. The intellect and the will do not show up in photographs”....
True worship of God is essentially internal, a matter of the heart and spirit ‘rooted’ in Jesus and in the knowledge of and obedience to the revealed Word of God by and of His Holy Spirit.
Worship is a matter of relationship....yet God tells us to refrain from all appearances of evil.....bowing to, dressing up corpses, digging them up and dismembering them and then displaying them before people in the church is evil...period.
Why do you ask Catholics questions when you always already know that the answer is that Catholics are evil idolaters?
Right, and the original church Christ founded.
Evil is in the eye of the bigot.
“bowing to, dressing up corpses, digging them up and dismembering them and then displaying them before people in the church is evil...period.”
___________
I’m interested in your biblical reference for this statement.
What is gratuitously asserted may be gratuitously denied.
“We are obliged to yield many things to the Papists—that with them is the Word of God, which we received from them; otherwise we should have known nothing at all about it.”- Martin Luther
There is no Jesus without the Catholic Church and there is no Catholic Church without Jesus. He is the Bridegroom and the Catholic Church is his bride. What God has joined, no man can separate.
Churh
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