Do you realize how uneducated your explanation of Roman Catholicism sounds?
Question:
The Bible says that the church is the pillar of truth. Since your church has a lot of different ideas than the Catholic Church that Jesus made Peter the head of. Is the Bible referring to the La Vista church? If so when did the La Vista church start? Oh and by the way do not take this the wrong way, but do you know how uneducated your explanation of the Catholic faith sounds. It amazes me how so many non-Catholics feel free to discuss things that they know nothing about. Sorry, I sound rude. Oh, one more thing: If we are not to confess sins to priests, why did Jesus give the power to forgive sins to the apostles, and does it not say to confess sins to the elders?
Answer:
The La Vista Church of Christ is a local church, just as St. Columbkille in Papillion, Nebraska, is a local Roman Catholic Church. I'm surprised that you would purposely mix the usage of the word "church" since such a distinction is taught in Roman Catholicism. See The Church for a quick explanation if you are not used to the local and universal senses of the word "church."
Of course, you and I can discuss Roman Catholicism. I am quite capable of reading the material put out by the Roman Catholic Church. I've probably read more than most Roman Catholics. I know you would like to keep Roman Catholicism mysterious and hard to understand because it increases your reliance on the hierarchy to explain it all. That is one of the differences between Roman Catholicism and Christianity; in Christ's church, it is required that all members understand Christ's teachings. "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:17). But in regards to Roman Catholicism, I know just how effective my writings are since I document my sources and it draws many Roman Catholic apologists to the site trying to find some hole in what is being said. And to call me uneducated is just absolutely hysterical, but it is the same sort of attack that was launched against the Lord and the apostles (John 7:15; Acts 4:13). "At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes" (Matthew 11:25).
- Regarding the church being the pillar of truth: How do you explain that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth?
- Regarding Peter being the head of the church: Is the Papacy Biblical?
- Regarding confessing to priests: Do we have to do penance?
Now, did you notice that I backed up all my points with Scripture while you made numerous vague charges without proof of what the truth is?
Question:
Well, I am no priest or deacon, just an ordinary guy, but the church really is not that hard to understand if you want to understand it. I went to a Catholic school for the first 8 years of my life. I was taught by ladies in black dresses with big crucifixes hanging around their neck (and I mean big) and they had rosaries with a crucifix hanging from their belt.
In the classroom was a crucifix hanging on the wall looking down on us and we prayed 5 times a day to Jesus and to our Father and to the Holy Spirit and to Mary because she was his mother. When I heard one of you knuckleheads say that Catholics were not Christians I thought, "Wow these guys must have smoked too much weed. Who do they think that guy on the cross is?"
I am not a theologian, I am a salesman by profession, and I learned a long time ago that people believe what they want to believe. You can take parts of the Bible and make it sound anti-Catholic, you can twist some history and shoot out some garbage that the average person will not know and will not take the time to look up. But for every line of bologna you throw, I have biblical facts to back it up and show your folly. In your mind you are the genius; Pope John Paul ll is a fool; St Augustine, a mere child compared to you; St. Thomas Aquinas; Mother Theresa; they are all fools, you are right.
Your study of Catholics is indeed foolish to someone who has studied it. In the words of Ronald Reagan when talking about Liberals "I am not saying that they do not know a lot of things. It is just that what they know is just not so." You did learn a lot of things but from whom did you learn it. If a person wanted to learn about Judaism he could go to Israel and study from the finest Rabbis if he really respected the faith and wanted to learn it. Or he could study Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and learn what they had to say about it and then go to Iran and see what they thought of the Jews. That would be more fun and productive if you really did not like Jews and wanted others not to like them either.
So instead of just firing back biblical verses of the Bible (ones that anti-catholics never seem to remember) even though the Bible alone is all they care about. Sola Scriptura you know (where does it say that in the Bible), let me just challenge you to read some good Catholic teaching from a good Catholic writer. Learn what we really teach.
Then if you want, you can graduate from taking uneducated Catholics away from the Eucharist to locking horns with people like me that could tie you up in knots with the truth of the Catholic Church from the Bible that you and I both love. I could list many authors but the one I like the best is Scott Hahn. Read a few books of his and write me back.
Most people like you will not bother to learn from someone who does not have an agenda against the Catholic Faith. But you never know. Best wishes and I hope your Lent is good and your Easter is great.
If you studied what we taught and argued against that, you would be much more interesting. As it is you set up ridiculous statements that we believe in and then use the Bible to refute those statements. Only you think it is Catholic teaching to keep the Church mysterious so only the people in charge can explain it. That is so stupid to os hard to discuss. That is something a 6th grader would say. The fact is they do not keep it hard to understand so the Bible verse you quote supports our faith. It is not hard to understand the will of Jesus. He said it many times, it is to love, it is to believe and not just to believe with your mind as the anti-Catholic people think but to believe and to obey.
You see believing also means that you do what Jesus says to do and bear good fruit. That is it so your anti-Catholic Bible verse is not anti-Catholic at all would you like to try another
Answer:
Let's see:
- name-calling,
- name dropping,
- a claim that you have biblical backing (though backing for what isn't mentioned -- but that is all right no references to Scripture were given anyway).
- a statement that I shouldn't reply with verses (see point above)
- many points empty of meaningful content
May I point out that you are not doing a good job representing your religion?
"If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself" (I Timothy 6:3-5).
