christian or catholic

Oh ok I understand your view Good point made ^_^

The point I was trying to make earlyier,was that Restorational churches don't nessiserly have to believe that The Catholic church strayed but wasn't correct from its foundation.

Well i believe that all forms of Religion have a Portion of truth in it though. ^_^

I like your end statement Mike.

 

Oh. I understand what you mean Mike. As for you Akira, about the churches. From the bible, it says that God chooses pastors after his own heart. I would rather read the King James Version than the Newly translated version. I understand it better that way. " Only a restorationalist church could have its routes back to the lord." I understand where you is coming from, but God chooses pastors after his own hert to build the church to worship him. I've been to three different churches: Baptist, (I forgot what the other one was), & Apostle(Church where I was baptized.). All of them is a good church, but they work differently & the rules set up by the bishop & pastors are different.

 

Hmm...for some odd reason, the last sentence and a half of my previous post have been truncated. S:

Just to make sure you've seen the full argument (hopefully you have and I'm just experiencing some sort of browser malfunction):

Here is what I currently see:

And here is (approximately) what I intended:

I feel like the first time I wrote it it was better haha...so hopefully you got to read it before it messed up!

 

i understand your veiw point,
but there way of doing in chrstianity is different

praying to mary
mary appearing to people
confession to the father(PRIEST)!!
saying"pray 5 haily mary and are fathers"
that not the proper way i the christian life

these things we chrstian do not do

quotes from the the pastor that god choose for them to teach us so we can spread to other people who were lost

"believave in the lord and leave all consquences to him"
"love your enemies even though they aredon't love you"
"accept the lord -and be reborn and you will be welcome into heaven"-- sorry not sure if this is the proper saying
"never worrship anyone else, because the lord is the only one you worship/praise"
"be not afriad for the loird is with you"

some of these quote i thoiught they were important so i put these, also they relate to the christian life


i accept you catholics, but i think christian life is different from catholic way

 

I'm a christan all they way baby! praise the lord!

 

Whoa. That's... random. I'm not afraid, because the Lord is always by my side, but I will always be afraid of him leaving me or striking me down. I'll be real hurt spiritually & naturally. Um... I think your third sentence about the christian life would offend someone. How about "Put God first in all things, Accept Jesus your savior, & do right & you will gain eternal salvation." ??? they think that Mary would appear before the people? ???

 

oh sorry about that thank you

for youp people who didn't see the third sentence she said sorry

 

Try to exercise your faith a little more SB...He has not forsaken you yet, and He does not intend to

I went through a period where I felt like God was just making a mockery of my life and toying with my emotions (I won't go into it). I was 'lost' and did some heavy soul searching. (I'd like to think, I've become more knowledgable in regards to various religions and such, but anyone who knows me, knows that I've ultimately wound up with self esteem issues. I feel dumb, ugly, etc. all the time)

It's ultimately resulted in my current mindset...where the philosophy I try to follow is one of "God is perfect, and people are dumb." I don't believe any specific person has figured it all out, and I also believe that anything that 'discredits' God or somehow makes him lesser in any way, must be bad logic...even if I can't personally reason through it.

(Aside: It's for this reason, that I don't believe Hell is a permanent residence. "Until the end of time" may have a completely different meaning to God after all.)

But anyway, my word of advice to you SB, is that if you ever feel as though God has forsaken you, if you ever feel frightened...even Christ felt that way before his death...those are the times when God is actually the closest to you. You're simply being blinded by Him like a bright light, and can't see that He is there. (So look hard!)

Catholics do believe this, yes. Much like how the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary (I think all Christians believe this, if I'm not mistaken), angels and saints and such are believed to appear to offer consult and guidance to the people of the world.

And it isn't just out of blind stupidity that people believe this...look at Saint Bernadette, who allegedly saw St. Mary at Lourdes (Search for Our Lady of Lourdes if you're curious).

She died 130 years ago, in 1879...and look at her picture! (This is long after she's died)





It is for reasons such as this, various miracles, that Marian devotion (ie. devotion to Mary) exists.

 

??? XD I never did think that. god forsaken me. I have complete faith in God. Sorry for making you think like that. I mean if I did something real terrible & I either have to repent or suffer the consequences. Luckily for me, I don't do abominations or blasphemy( I don't even know how you do blasphemy anyways.), but I still have to fear him if I don't do things right in his eyes.

Um... yea. You're scaring me now Mike. Checked out information & well, it's true. Don'tbring something like this up please. Not comfortable with it yet.

 

Do you mean you're scared of the St Bernadette incident? There are a lot of unexplained occurances of people who do not decompose (not all of which are directly linked to Mary...I simply chose the example that seems to be)...it's not something to be concerned about, it's just a simple philosophy:

"Honour your father and mother" + "Mary = Jesus' Mother" = "Some people believe they should honour Jesus' Mother, Mary."

It's not like, by not doing this you're hell-bound or anything like that...think of it as asking a distant relative for help or advice. You can get through life just fine without doing this.

------------

And I wasn't saying that you currently did, or have in the past, doubted. I'm just saying, as someone who has at some point, it's not as scary as you might think. As I said, it's almost like a power outage while your loved ones are in the room. You simply light a candle, and find out that your loved ones are still there.

 

Of course you can say that Catholics fall under the group of what people call Christians. Especially since the Catholic religion was the first Christian religion.

That brings up thoughts I've had about whether or not yesterday or any of our memories actually happened. But then that's getting into Metaphysics and Epistimology (sp?).

As Mike said, He will never leave you. You may leave him (Not saying you will. Just that it can happen).

I got a cool unexplained occurance I once heard of. There was this priest who didn't really believe in Holy Communion. Like, he was doing the prayers but didn't thing anything happened. So then the bread and wine somehow transformed into flesh and blood (Or something like that. I don't remember).

EDIT: I almost forgot one thing. I had a comment about this little quote from Mike.

I certainly hope Hell isn't permanent for those who are in it. Mainly because I feel I might go there (Don't bother asking why) when I die. And.... Yeah....

 

And what is your branch of Christianity??


I'd like to take a step back for a second.
Now just here me out people, just for a second. I was raised Christian, and I still live with Christians. Now I am not, for my own reasons. And I will go as far as that, my reasons are not arrelevant to my point, although some might think they are.

Now, lets look at what some of us have said here. Lets look at Christianity. Now Christians are suppose to believe everything in the Bible, correct? Everything in the Bible....
So then why do Christians eat pork? Why do Christians worship on Sundays? The true Sabathday is Saturday. Why do Christians not believe in dragons? Now there are probably exceptions to that question, but in the last chapters of Job it is clear that God commands great beasts that cast out fire from their mouths and posses great strength.
My main problem with Christianity is really all the hypocrosy....

 

This is one of my favourite ways to confuse people...at least people who believe in a Creator.

"Suppose God created us. Suppose further, God is God, and hence can do whatever He wills, whenever. Why then should God choose to make us when He did?" (Many people stop here, and consider this an argument against the possibility of a Creator (which in my opinion...is a b/s argument)...but I go further):
"How do we know God did not make us this exact instant, with all of our past memories 'implanted' in us so to speak? How do we know we were actually alive, even a second ago?"

No doubt it's like what you were thinking so I thought it was worth mentionning

There are quite a few reported cases of this (but as with anything, it's easy to be skeptical). I think one of them was allegedly captured on Youtube (give it a quick search when you have a minute).

Just remember...in the Catholic faith, they're very big on God's mercy. However merciful you are on yourself (which from the sounds of it, not very much) God will be much more merciful.

Have you ever heard of the Heroic Act D_W?

 

Specifically, no.

 

Have a quick read if you're ever bored (It's a Catholic prayer):

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Heroic Act of Charity

 

purgatory does not exist....

 

So basically you are easing the suffering of those in Purgatory and taking those pains? I don't quite understand how it works.

I'd ask why you think that, but I'm just gonna guess (Not to be disrespectful or anything. Just thought it is an obvious reason why you think this).

So my guess is you don't believe Purgatory exsists because of Karma and Reincarnation and all that stuff.

 

Prove it.

(Oh yes...I went there)

EDIT: Haha...I felt compelled to return and add this.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying I actually want you to prove it...because I know beforehand that anything of this sort can not be given a 'universal proof' that works in all belief systems. You're likely to quote some philosophy that I don't personally believe in, and so I'd be forced to reject your proof as valid, even if you may consider it perfectly straight forward.

It's my idea of a joke (because you know how seriously I take the word proof).

 

I've been going attending the catholic school system almost my whole life, and I can honestly say there are some big differences with being an evangelical christian and a catholic.

About purgatory... I honestly don't believe in such a thing at all. Because really if there was purgatory wouldn't everyone go there? To me it's like saying Jesus died for no reason. To me it's like Jesus' death meant nothing. Jesus died so that we wouldn't have to pay the price for our sins like he did. If Jesus died for our sins and we just go to purgatory then wouldn't that mean that Jesus didn't have to die on the cross in the first place because there is a purgatory? The pain would have meant nothing at all! If God made a purgatory, then wouldn't that just counterfeit Jesus' death?

To me being a christian doesn't need any fancy classes just to teach you how to be a christian. Being a christian comes from the relationship you have with Jesus Christ, it's something you feel, breath, sleep and eat everyday. Sure memorising a few scripture verses are awesome, but what is that when you feel nothing in your heart?

This is all my OPINION, please don't take it seriously. It's just something I strongly believe in.

 

I hated the idea of purgatory when I was a Christian because it absolutely makes no sense. kirairiato said it all, if Jesus died for everyone to be saved, then why is there still purgatory? A fourth world?? Thats like going in the opposite direction of what I believe!!
"Purgatory" was a place created through something we all posses, "imagination". The Church used it to scare people into buying stupid pieces of paper and going to turorist spots back in time to "take years off of their 'purgatory stay'". It was all a money game. Thats why Purgatory doesnt exist. For someone as smart as you Mike, I'd have thought you would've figured that one out. I guess I was wrong....