Posted on 04/01/2016 12:41:08 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
I am letting you be among the first to know. It is true. I am leaving the Catholic Church. I want you to know that this has not been a decision made in haste or without serious and intense research and consideration. But I can no longer remain in a church that I no longer believe in.
Let me explain.
I will be writing more about this soon, but for now let me just say there are five main reasons why I am leaving the Catholic Church:
1. I believe the sole rule of faith for Christians has to be Scripture. The Holy Bible is the only unchanging and definitive word of God that a Christian can build his or her life upon. Everything else, including the Catholic claims to authority, in the end, amount to ever-changing and ultimately sinking sand.
2. I believe works or any sense of salvific cooperation with God’s grace as constitutive to a Christian’s eternal life is unbiblical. “… not of works” (cf. Eph. 2:8-9) means not of works.
3. The idea of Mary and the saints being involved in the salvation of a Christian is tantamount to a denial of the sufficiency of Christ’s redeeming work on Calvary’s cross.
4. #3 can also be said of Purgatory, the “sacrifice” of the Mass, the Catholic view of salvation/justification, and more. These and more of the elements of Catholic teaching result in a denial of the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ. More to follow in a more detailed post.
5. What Catholics call the “veneration” of Mary and the saints is actually idolatry.
These are just for starters here. Many of you know that for the last 28 years I have defended the above teachings and more from the Catholic Church. I can no longer do so in clear conscience.
And by the way, just so you know…
April fools!
And failed to do so at Trent when the RCC officially determined their canon. I find it telling that books such as the Didache, the Protoevangelium of James and a whole bunch of stiff on Mary weren’t included as canon.
I’m sad for Mr. Staples
“If you sincerely believe a lie, you will suffer the consequences. You must not only be sincere, but you must be right”
- - Spurgeon
He didn't demonstrate anything but rationalized his preconceived notions. To rationalize: attempt to explain or justify (one's own or another's behavior or attitude) with logical, plausible reasons, even if these are not true or appropriate. In other words, his works are works of eisegesis as opposed to being works of exegesis.
Staples’s book has been the cause of many conversions of Protestants, including ministers, to the Catholic Faith.
If you don’t have the basic Scripture right, which catholicism doesn’t in Genesis and Luke, then your foundation is very suspect.
For years here at FR Catholics denied they pray to Mary.
Now many admit it and are proud of doing so, and also praying to “Saints”
Popes for centuries have taught that praying to Mary is OK
Not to mention they also say Salvation can be obtained from Mary.
Mary is the most prominent figure in Catholicism these days.
Yes, and? You posted to staples site.
You first.
So typical of the catholic apologetics. Post to a link and not answer the question.
Just goes to show that the words of our Lord in Matthew 24:24 are true. Some will be deceived no matter how weak the arguments.
Unfortunately there are some Protestant ministers and church goers that are not Christian.
So they are easily deceived by pharisaical type orgs.
The Mormons hunt them down too. (they are pretty successful at preying on Catholics to bring into their cult)
Mormonism and Catholicism: Both described as "The One True Church"
I think Staples has done a service with his April 1st screed showing many good reasons to leave Catholicism for Christianity.
Kinda backfired on him.
.
The Catholic ‘church’ sure didn’t have anything to do with it.
That has yet to be established for our purposes. As I said earlier, the point is not without controversy.
Citing the multiplicity of Protestant Bibles that say the same thing on a particular point is as subjective as citing the multiplicity of Protestant Churches that agree on a particular point.
Furthermore, the conviction that one must also "have their Scripture right" is similarly subjective and yet to be demonstrated for a whole host of historical reasons.
I have no intention to argue yods and tittles, not because I'm unable, but because I have yet to see such arguments EVER lead to more love and less strife.
I've been FReeping longer than most around here, and that has lead me to one firm conviction; any Protestant/Catholic interfaith discussion that leads to strife and insult is nothing but the expression of vanity and conceit of the participants.
Sometimres getting the truth takes some planing and shaving. Paul was known to get into some serious discussions.
The truth is the truth or it isn't.
If you had any intellectual honesty in you, you would admit that the link is vastly more useful than anything I could type out myself.
Mostly, I posted the link because you are a bore, like your fellow bores, always demanding the same five Scripture verses in response to your same five questions.
Here’s my answer to the stupid Protestant questions: My mother loved me from the day I was conceived. She slaved for me and prayed for me. I reject the idiotic Protestant idea that the day my mother died, she turned into a doorstop, unable or unwilling to love me, and pray for me, and even help me in some manner now and then.
Got that? The Protestant notion that my mother is a doorstop is stupid, and UGLY.
Of course, your assertion that all these converts to Catholicism were bad Christians, or ignorant, etc., is a merely gratuitous assertion on your part. It absolutely fails to respond to the substance of Staples’s writings.
“Everybody who disagrees with me is a Bad Person.” Yeah. That’s a powerful argument.
Fair enough.
What is the actual Catholic response to your assertions, and by what reasoning do you dismiss them?
Obviously, a Catholic is NEVER going to ADMIT to ignoring an established fact in service to a specious doctrine. So what DO they say, and why do they hold so tightly to doctrines so thoroughly confuted?
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