My weird relationship with Catholicism

stiggy wiggy

Well-known member
Many of my favorite authors are Catholic. Chesterton, Ronald Knox, Hans von Balthasar, Gabriel Marcel, John Michael Talbot, Francois Mauriac, Georges Bernanos, Thomas Howard, Tolkien, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor and many others, most of whom I am sure were (or are) lot better Christians than I.

I thank God for these people, not only for their edifying writings, but also for how God uses them to teach me that one can be a good Christian and STILL believe foolish doctrines, such as Mary's divine intervention and sinless nature, transubstantiation, the efficacy of penance, the efficacy of a rosary and beads, absolution by confessing to a priest and the infallibility of a Pope, some of which I think border on heresy, particularly the last one.

Catholics edify me, while Catholicism irritates me. Weird, ain't it?
 
Many of my favorite authors are Catholic. Chesterton, Ronald Knox, Hans von Balthasar, Gabriel Marcel, John Michael Talbot, Francois Mauriac, Georges Bernanos, Thomas Howard, Tolkien, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor and many others, most of whom I am sure were (or are) lot better Christians than I.

I like Chesterton.

And I believe Tolkien had a very good friendship with C.S. Lewis, another favourite of mine.
 
I like Chesterton.

And I believe Tolkien had a very good friendship with C.S. Lewis, another favourite of mine.

Lewis is great. And Chesterton wrote "Orthodoxy," perhaps the greatest philosophical apologetic ever, written years before he unfortunately became a Catholic.
 
Just to clarify... Mary doesn't have divine intervention. Her exceptional righteousness and closeness to Christ commend her intercession on our behalf.

"The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." - James 5:16
 
Just to clarify... Mary doesn't have divine intervention. Her exceptional righteousness and closeness to Christ commend her intercession on our behalf.
Mary has long been dead.

maybe you should read up on Mary fantasies, but I'm betting that you already know them.

"The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." - James 5:16
was James talking to dead people?
 
Many of my favorite authors are Catholic. Chesterton, Ronald Knox, Hans von Balthasar, Gabriel Marcel, John Michael Talbot, Francois Mauriac, Georges Bernanos, Thomas Howard, Tolkien, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor and many others, most of whom I am sure were (or are) lot better Christians than I.

I thank God for these people, not only for their edifying writings, but also for how God uses them to teach me that one can be a good Christian and STILL believe foolish doctrines, such as Mary's divine intervention and sinless nature, transubstantiation, the efficacy of penance, the efficacy of a rosary and beads, absolution by confessing to a priest and the infallibility of a Pope, some of which I think border on heresy, particularly the last one.

Catholics edify me, while Catholicism irritates me. Weird, ain't it?
Who/what is in charge of Jesus's church? Jesus place scripture as the final/sole authority. He gave the authority to Peter and Peter’s successors. So if we want to know what we are to believe as Christians we look to the one who has been given the authority.
 
To avoid the RC blah-blah, maybe we should start qualifying "dead" as "physically dead"? (Although it should not be necessary, some like to split hairs.? )

--Rich
One of the things that I could never deny as an article of faith is the continual communion with not only mortal men but the triumphant in heaven. I can't imagine what it is like to have that relationship denied to us by actual doctrine.
 
Who/what is in charge of Jesus's church? Jesus place scripture as the final/sole authority. He gave the authority to Peter and Peter’s successors. So if we want to know what we are to believe as Christians we look to the one who has been given the authority.

Where did He give authority to Peter's successors? And what exactly makes a Pope a successor to a fisherman? I can't picture Peter with one of those beanie caps.
 
stiggy wiggy said:
Where did He give authority to Peter's successors? And what exactly makes a Pope a successor to a fisherman? I can't picture Peter with one of those beanie caps.
It is there if you study it throughly and carefully.
if you study it with a heart and eyes in bondage to the rcc you'll see what it teaches,

not what His word teaches.
 
Where did He give authority to Peter's successors? And what exactly makes a Pope a successor to a fisherman? I can't picture Peter with one of those beanie caps.
Seriously I cannot see Peter praying to Mary after she died, bowing to statues, hiding sin, allowing children to be harmed, allowing nuns to be raped, blessing pagan goddess, allowing dragon dances, not expelling leaders who are sexually immoral as demanded be done in scripture. The list of things I can't see Peter doing is long, very long.
 
Just to clarify... Mary doesn't have divine intervention. Her exceptional righteousness and closeness to Christ commend her intercession on our behalf.

"The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." - James 5:16
The scriptures say LOUDLY that you are preaching false ideas.

1 Timothy 2:5

5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,


From Got Questions:

A mediator is an official “go-between” who acts as a link between two parties to reconcile their differences. The term literally means “one who stands in between.” In legal disputes, a mediator represents the interests of both parties, working as an intercessory agent to negotiate a settlement. In global conflicts, a mediator intervenes between opposing world powers to try to achieve peace.

The apostle Paul writes In 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” Humanity is born into sin (Psalm 51:5). Sin is a problem because it stands in the way, blocking the relationship between humans and God. All people enter this world separated or estranged from the Holy God (Isaiah 59:2; Romans 5:10, 12) and deserving of His wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Romans 6:23 explains that the penalty for sin is death, not only physical death but spiritual, eternal death (Revelation 20:11–15).

Because of our sinful condition, human beings need a mediator to negotiate peace with God—and that person is Jesus Christ: “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” (Romans 5:1, NLT).

Scripture reveals Moses as mediator of the Old Testament covenant (Galatians 3:19; cf. Exodus 20:19, 21–22; Deuteronomy 5:5, 22, 23, 27, 31; Acts 7:38). Moses entered God’s presence on behalf of the people of Israel. He drew near to God, speaking and interceding as their representative. Moses was God’s chosen mediator to lead the Israelites in the way of salvation through a relationship with God.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ became the mediator of a new, superior covenant: “But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6, NLT).

Jesus, God’s incarnate Son, is the perfect intermediary, better than Moses because He alone is appropriately qualified to be the one mediator between God and man. Only Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine (John 1:1, 14; Hebrews 2:17). As man and God, Jesus is uniquely equipped to represent both sides. He alone stands in the gap between God and man. He alone meets the righteous requirements of the law, opening the way into God’s presence once and for all through His death on the cross and resurrection to life (John 1:17; Hebrews 3:1–6; 9:15, 22; 10:10; 12:24).

Only the sacrifice of the sinless, spotless Lamb of God could fully pay the ransom required to set people free from sin and eternal death. Jesus took our punishment on Himself, making it possible for us to experience forgiveness of sin and freedom from its destructive control.

There is one mediator between God and man means that Christ is the only way to God the Father. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). If we want to experience peace with God and a restored relationship of joy in His presence, we must come “by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body” (Hebrews 10:19–20).

Jesus Christ is the one mediator—the one and only Savior of the world (John 1:29; 1 Timothy 1:15). There is no other go-between. We come to God through faith in His Son, who is the only means of salvation. Religion cannot save us. Good works won’t make us right with God. Nothing but faith in Jesus Christ is sufficient to bridge the gap between sinful humanity and a Holy God.

As the one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ now rules in the hearts of believers and “is at the right hand of God . . . interceding for us” (Romans 8:34, ESV). We can live in the secure knowledge that, in the end, Christ will put every enemy “under his feet,” including “the last enemy,” which is death itself (1 Corinthians 15:24–27).


I don't see a word about Mary, hence this is a False doctrine

 
Just to clarify... Mary doesn't have divine intervention. Her exceptional righteousness and closeness to Christ commend her intercession on our behalf.

"The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." - James 5:16
Here's the context: elders of the church; not a word about Mary's divine intervention and her exceptional righteousness and closeness to Christ.

James 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
James 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
 
One of the things that I could never deny as an article of faith is the continual communion with not only mortal men but the triumphant in heaven. I can't imagine what it is like to have that relationship denied to us by actual doctrine.
You mean you talk with the physically dead? That, ma'am, is called necromancy, and was forbidden by Yahweh. It seems the RCC is literally Hell-bent on defying everything God says. ?

--Rich
"Esse quam videri"
 
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