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Protestants - Explain "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"
Vanity | 3/19/2015 | pgyanke

Posted on 03/19/2015 6:54:07 AM PDT by pgyanke

There has been an less-than-productive discussion on this thread regarding the last words of Christ on the Cross. It could be because it started with the suggestion--right in the title--that Catholics don't understand Jesus. Not a great way to initiate dialogue and ecumenism.

I would like to take a different approach here. I would like to hear my Protestant brethren explain these words of Christ from the Cross:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

What does it mean? Why did He say it?


TOPICS: Apologetics; Ecumenism; Religion & Culture; Theology
KEYWORDS: vanity
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To: pgyanke
They all approach the Bible from a differing faith tradition and interpret the exact same passages in opposing ways. The lack of a teaching authority in the Protestant world doesn't erase the Magisterium... it makes everyone their own Pope! When all are equal in authority, there is no authority. When every answer is true, there is no truth.

Which is another strawman, as the Reformation and SS does not negate the magisterial office, and those in conservative evangelical churches (which are the Prots who hold most strongly to the primary Prot,. distinctive of the Reformation) who are known to reject basic doctrines are more likely to be corrected and feel uncomfortable then RCs in their churches.

Both those in actual evangelical churches - which are a result of commitment to common core Truths - typically require assent to basic Truths if one is going to lead, and effectually foster the same among the rest overall.

Likewise RCs are supposed to assent to basic truths, while like evangelicals, they have varying degrees of liberty in other things, whether officially sanctioned or implicitly allowed.


161 posted on 03/19/2015 8:29:13 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: pgyanke; .45 Long Colt
Yes... and what Scripture did they search? There wasn't a Canon of the New Testament for them.

RCs seem to imagine there was no Scripture until Rome presumed it was necessary for it to be. But the fact is that most of what we hold as Scripture was already held as being so, as seen by the abundant refs to it in the NT.

And which writings were held as authoritative without an infallible magisterium telling them so.

St Paul himself says repeatedly that he brought them Tradition (2 Thess 2:15, Phil 4:9).

And SS pastors preach orally, not just by writing. But while the apostles were in a class by themselves, what was the basis for the veracity of their preaching? The Roman premise of perpetual ensured magisterial infallibility (PEMI), or Scriptural substantiation?

Moreover, Paul not only enjoined obedience to the Scriptural truths he preached, but he also warned,

That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (2 Thessalonians 2:2)

Thus there must be a criteria by which Truth claims were judged. So what was it, Scriptural substantiation which the noble Bereans relied on PEMI?

This Tradition is the Gospel of Jesus which illuminated the Old Testament just as Jesus opened the eyes and ears of the Apostles on the Road to Emmaus.

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, (Luke 24:44-45)

Do you realize how absurd your argument is? Showing souls from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, as here and places as Acts 17:2; 18:28; 28:23, is consistent with Evangelical practice, not Cath. oral tradition which teaches such things as prayed to departed saints when there is exactly zero prayers addressed to any one else but the Lord, out of the over 200 which the Holy Spirit inspired in Scripture. Only pagans made supplication to anyone else.

Nor is it "remembering" after 1800 years what history "forgot" and is absent in Scripture

162 posted on 03/19/2015 8:53:15 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: pgyanke; taxcontrol
By what authority do you call it a lie? Your own interpretation?

They must be on the same basis as the church began, that of Scriptural substantiation.

Can you provide us even one example of a prayer to anyone else but God in Scripture? Except by pagans?

Can you provide us with even one instruction on prayer to Heaven in which we are to address anyone else but the Lord ("Our Mother, who art in Heaven...)? Physically asking others in this realm to pray for each other is not the same, and do not support to communication btwn the two realms.

Can you provide us with even one example of created beings being able to hear and respond to all the prayers addressed to them? Angels and elders offering prayers as a memorial at the time of judgment does not do it.

Can you provide us with even one example of created beings from Heaven and earth communicating to each other without both having to be in the same realm somehow?

In fact, there are prayers for the dead written on the walls of the catecombs that date back to the Church's early beginnings.

And there were souls being baptized for the dead, and souls forbidding to marry, and to not eat meat, and other aberrations. Do Caths imagine if someone did something then it is holy tradition?

Given that this practice was demonstrably known and it wasn't condemned in Church councils shows that it is a very early and consistent teaching.

That is just the problem, that of accretion of errors being perpetuated as tradition since the church becomes the supreme authoritative infallible source, not Scripture.

Consider Matt 12:32

It has been, and shown to be refer to the resurrection.

Consider the words of St Paul in 1 Cor 3:15 where he explains what happens in judgement where each man's work is tried. What happens if his work fails the test? "He will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire".

But which only occurs at the Lord's return, (1Cor. 4:5; 2Tim. 4:1,8; Rev.11:18; Mt. 25:31-46; 1Pt. 1:7; 5:4) versus purgatory, which has souls suffering upon death. This fact alone disallows 1 Cor. 3 from referring to purgatory.

And the believer is not saved because he suffered this loss, but despite it. And the loss is not personal defects, but the souls he built the church with. See here .

1 Peter 3:19 makes reference to a place in the afterlife that is neither Heaven nor Hell. Is it Purgatory? We don't know, specifically.

It does not say is not Hades, but like Abraham's Bosom, (LK. 16:19ff) it likely was a compartment of Hades, while the only souls which are there were lost souls, such as were disobedient in Noah's day when the all were evil and only Noah and family found grace.

However, to say that Purgatory is absolutely not Biblical is much too easy. There is room for a teaching authority to explain.

Rather, to say that Purgatory is absolutely not Biblical is where the only clear evidence leads, but as that is superfluous to Rome, to say that Purgatory is Biblical is easy for her, as she is her own autocratic authority.

163 posted on 03/19/2015 9:21:02 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: pgyanke; Pollster1
Those who come to repentance without a chance to enter the Church may experience a "Baptism of Desire" where they would have been baptized had there been time.

Yet to be consistent, this still would not provide them with the perfection of character, and which makes purgatory essential.

There is inconsistency here, as while the newly washed convert is said to be fit to go right to Heaven, yet that is not the same thing as perfection of character, "you must be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect", which RCs invoke.

For Purgatory is not to be forgiven, nor simply to atone for sins, but,

"...we will go to Purgatory first, and then to Heaven after we are purged of all selfishness and bad habits and character faults." Peter Kreeft, Because God Is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer, p. 224 )

And to think the "good thief" attained the perfection of character needed to be with God in the shirt time on the cross, is absurd. This takes many different kinds of trials, not just suffering.

And it is only in this life which provide it, that growth in grace is taught. Thus even Christ was made perfect through sufferings in this life, though not as attaining moral perfection, but by being tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

One either dies in saving faith to be present with the Lord or one suffers in Hell and then the Lake of Fire. See debate here i had a little while ago.

164 posted on 03/19/2015 9:36:07 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: pgyanke; redleghunter
My point in posting about the Church of today is that Protestants should carefully consider that they have survived under the protective umbrella of the Catholic Church. The rapid apostasy we are seeing in the Protestant world (gay clergy and weddings are just the beginning) shows how precarious faith can be without a central teaching authority to hold firm.

That is a fantasy, as the reality is that the most liberal Pro denoms are those closest to Rome, and which herself is overall liberal (and what you do and effect is the evidence of what you really believe, not merely what you say: Mt. 7:20; Ja. 2:18).

Meanwhile, it is the Christians who are most opposed to Rome, and uphold the most basic distinctive of the Reformation, that of Scripture literally being the wholly inspired authoritative word of God (and which reject the Cath liberal revisionism she has been teaching for decades), that are the most conservative .

All without a central teaching authority. Which is the ideal, but which the presumption of Rome has turned Godly souls against.

165 posted on 03/19/2015 9:48:15 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: taxcontrol

If you move the comma you could question when the man might be with Him in paradise. “Verily I say unto thee today,thou shalt be with me in paradise” (someday). He probably didn’t have the heart or the time to tell the poor thief about purgatory!!!


166 posted on 03/19/2015 10:12:31 PM PDT by saradippity
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To: saradippity

Now that is funny, cause Jesus didn’t have the heart or time to tell ANYONE about purgatory.


167 posted on 03/20/2015 5:33:47 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: metmom

yep still waiting...they do not even READING the bible is against the RC “rules’


168 posted on 03/20/2015 6:50:57 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: Iscool

I didn’t say the God head died...Jesus was raised from the dead and yes each personage of the God head has it’s own uniqueness and identity. But they were all one. That’s all I am trying to say!


169 posted on 03/20/2015 7:48:41 AM PDT by mdmathis6 (If Hitler, Nazi, OR...McCarthy are mentioned in an argument, then the arguement is over!)
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To: RnMomof7
Is there a Magisterial, infallible interpretation of that passage somewhere?

This is where Sola Scriptura adherents and Catholics part ways in methodology. You stated on the other thread (referenced in the opening for this one) that Catholics live by the proof text. That is absolutely wrong and a projection on your part. You are thinking as a Protestant when you seek the proof text as you are here.

The Catholic way is to form our conscience to be of the mind of God. This informing is ongoing and diverse. Just this morning, I read the readings for today's Mass, this morning's Magnificat readings and a meditation. We aren't commanded to memorize proof texts from specific sources but to understand them so that we may internalize them to make moral decisions.

This is why I gave you a link to a good section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a starting point. It is just that... a starting point.

What I posted in #42 is Catholic theology on the subject summarized. It is absolutely correct (and as far as I have been able to follow the thread) no one has picked apart the truth of it, only attacked the messenger.

Now, there are lots of posts on this and the other that will take me a long time to get to. Any lurkers reading this, I will appreciate some patience. I am one person responding to lots of posters posting voluminous posts. I also have a job to do. God bless.

170 posted on 03/20/2015 9:16:23 AM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: taxcontrol
I am assuming you were being sarcastic? But whatever,I have a question for you. Being a nonCatholic Christian I suppose you are very familiar with scripture and the bible. I am very interested in how you would interpret the last two verses of John 21:24_25

“This is that disciple who giveth testimony of these things and we know his testimony is true.

But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which if they were written every one,the world itself,I think,would not be able to contain the books that should be written.”

I am looking forward to your answer because I know it will shed much light on many of our differences and should lead to an eye opening discussion. Thank you.

171 posted on 03/20/2015 9:58:54 AM PDT by saradippity
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To: redleghunter
You have gay clergy as well. Also a pedophile and pederast problem.

There is no question the Church came under attack by those who sought to undermine Her from within. There is a stretch of approximately 40 years where most of the claims of abuse originated. There are stories of the "gay mafia" taking over seminaries and working to drive out conservative clergy in favor of their own. However... there are almost no incidents of reported abuse that have occurred since the year 2000.

We can fault the bishops for how they handled their PR and they certainly made mistakes as leaders... but they ultimately dealt with the problem. Society, on the other hand, continues with high rates of abuse. The Church simply remains a target of convenience.

172 posted on 03/20/2015 11:05:15 AM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: saradippity

Yes I was being sarcastic but the sarcasm comes is based on a simple truth that I thought was obvious. However, for clarity sake I will restate it as an assertion. There is no scripture that shows Jesus stating that a purgatory exists or is the next step in a sinners progress to heaven.

With regards to John 21:24, it is the statement of authenticity by John for the things that he had written. As for John 21:25 it is the statement by John that what he has written was a summary of the important things of Jesus’s ministry here on earth and not the whole of the record.


173 posted on 03/20/2015 11:28:40 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: pgyanke

It was more than 40 years. It only became manifest in that timeframe due to publicity.


174 posted on 03/20/2015 11:30:44 AM PDT by redleghunter (In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1))
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To: daniel1212
Your posts are voluminous. I only have time right now to deal with the larger issues. I'll try to keep coming back to this in the coming days, as able.

Which reduces the Lord's cry to the Father that He was forsaken to be mere rhetoric.

No it does not. The life of Christ is played out in the words of prophetic Scripture. His emotions and suffering are real. So is His desire to teach His disciples. "My God, my God, why have you abandoned Me?" isn't the full statement that is being made from the Cross. It is all of Psalm 22 by reference. In the Psalm, we read of His suffering but also of His triumph. As the Psalm says, " For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard."

Jesus wasn't abandoned by God on the Cross as the Psalm says He wasn't. If we believe in a Just God, what justice is there in abandoning His Son in the moment of ultimate obedience? None. Some have rationalized that God can't look on our sins... but then how can He look on us at all? After all, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23). There is more to the story than just the words that were uttered. It was a full statement of abject dejection as well as of impending triumph. Jesus is teaching His Jewish audience, specifically His disciples, what they are seeing and telling them this isn't the end of the story.

175 posted on 03/20/2015 11:41:23 AM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: redleghunter
It was more than 40 years. It only became manifest in that timeframe due to publicity.

I said "most" not "all". Abuses occur at a certain rate for all walks of life. They are generally lower for the Catholic clergy except for this specific period of time. You can find abuses before that 40 year period and there have been a couple since 2000... but the high volume has ceased with the action taken by the Church.

176 posted on 03/20/2015 11:44:53 AM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: taxcontrol; saradippity
Now that is funny, cause Jesus didn’t have the heart or time to tell ANYONE about purgatory.

Or commas. Greek did not have them.

177 posted on 03/20/2015 12:55:56 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: saradippity
But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which if they were written every one,the world itself,I think,would not be able to contain the books that should be written.”

The Catholics use this to cram every bit of their non-biblical 'traditions' into their doctrine.

Well; HE could have said it!!

178 posted on 03/20/2015 12:57:50 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: pgyanke
They are generally lower for the Catholic clergy except for this specific period of time.

Who keeps these records?

Where can this data be found?

179 posted on 03/20/2015 12:59:05 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie
Who keeps these records?

Who indeed? This was generally not a public phenomenon until the Press jumped on it... while ignoring the higher rates of abuse on UN missions and in the US public schools. I'm glad they jumped on it... we cleaned house. Now if they would only jump on the others. I won't hold my breath, though.

Where can this data be found?

Beats me. I found some interesting links by Googling "Historical abuse by Catholic Clergy".

180 posted on 03/20/2015 1:18:16 PM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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