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Hi Robin t:
I am going to attempt to answer some of your questions, but if I do not cover them all here, please do not hesitate to ask.
Romans 5:12 states: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered inot the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”.
The church uses this scripture to teach the “doctrine of original sin” which says we inherited a sinful nature from Adam, but let me ask you, did you sin as an infant or even as a child up to a certain age? I know that I did not, but no doubt I became a sinner, and so whatever I obeyed that became my nature or personality.
The scripture written above states “so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”. Death means spiritual separation from God, and it also means physical death. When Adam and Eve sinned, God cast them out of the Garden of Eden, this was spiritual separation with God, and part of their judgment because of their sin was physical death as well. (Genesis 3:17-24) And so, because all of humanity has sinned, we are spiritually separated from God, unless we have been reconciled to Him by repentance and faith in His testimony regarding our Lord Jesus, God's only begotten Son, and His Christ, and in either case, our mortal bodies are deteriorating day by day.
Jesus states, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”, (John 3:3), and “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. (John 3:5-6) Jesus is talking about a spiritual rebirth where your sin nature which you developed prior to coming to God through him is washed away by his shed blood, and God becomes the Father of your spirit. When you confess Jesus as your Lord (Romans 10:9-10), you are stating by that confession that you will strive to obey the commandments that came from God to humanity through him.
Water baptism is symbolic of your union with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection. It is an action in response to your faith. (Col. 2:12-14) Mark 16:16 states: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”. If a person does not believe and is baptized or if he believes and has not repented and is baptized, it has no merit.
The Apostle Paul is addressing Christians and states: “And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heqavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hat before ordained that we should walk in them”. (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Grace means that we did not earn our salvation because we obeyed God without sin even unto death. Jesus did that for us if we accept him as our Lord. However, after we are “born again” we have a personal relationship with God, and we strive to obey the commandments that came to us through Jesus. There is the before we knew God and after we have a personal relationship with Him, but in either case we are saved by “faith” not because we earned salvation by perfect obedience. We we are striving to obey him, we still make mistakes, but when we do, we need to repent. It is the blood of our Lord Jesus which cleanses from our past sins as well as those after we come to God through him. (1 John 1:5-10)
Hebrews 5:8-9 states about Jesus: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them tha obey him;”.
Galatians 4:4 states about Jesus: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law”. Now the scriptures tell us that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Ghost who is God's Spirit (not a third person) (1 Co. 2:10-11), and this means that Jesus is His own flesh and blood. Jesus as an infant and a child was in innocence just as we are when we are born into this world, but all of us that were born of the sperm of man, including his mother Mary, went astray. Romans 5:12 states: “death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned:”. Mary was a virgin when she was pregnant with Jesus, but not sinless. Jesus did not go astray and sin like all of the rest of humanity, but he was tempted in every way just as we are. (Hebrews 4:15) What makes Jesus so awesome is that he was a man (not God) who was willing to obey God so that even the most wicked man on the face of the earth could have his sins forgiven and be reconciled to God. 1 Co. 15:21 states: “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead”. Notice this says Jesus was a man. Numbers 23:19 states: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent:”. James 1:13 states: “let not man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God for 'God cannot be tempted with evil', neither tempteth any man”. God cannot be tempted with evil. Jesus was tempted, therefore, he was a man and not God.
And therefore, the virgin Mary, gave birth to the Son of God, and not God. There is also a profound difference when you might call Jesus “God the Son”. He did not claim to be God otherwise, he would be contradicting what God revealed to humanity through the Apostle Peter in Matthew 16:13-17 and that is that he is “the Christ the Son of the living God”.
God is invisible, but Jesus is the express image of His person, and so, when Jesus states that he and the Father are one, he is saying that they are one in the Spirit. (Col. 1:12-23) (Hebrews 1:1-3) When we have seen him, we have seen God's character manifest through the life that he lived.
And so Mary considered herself “Blessed” because she was given the tremendous privlege of bearing God,s Son, and she is most assuredly due our tremendous respect. My understanding of the scriptures is that when we die physically, our spirit goes to God and our soul is asleep until the resurrection, and so if you are praying to Mary to make intercession for you she can't hear you because her soul is asleep. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
But why would you pray to her to make intercession for you anyway. If you are you a child of God, you can go to go to God in prayer for yourself. Jesus taught us that we should pray to God who is our Father if we are children of God. (Matt. 6:9-13) Mark 11:24 states: “Therefore I say unto you what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”. We are subjected to God through our Lord Jesus, and so, when we pray we pray in his name.
The Apostle Peter was the Apostle to the Jewish nation of Israel. The Apostle Paul was the Apostle to the Gentile nations, and so why then does the RCC say that the pope is the sucessor to Peter and not rather to Paul?
When Jesus states to the Apostle Peter, “And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and gates of hell shall not prevail”, the rock to which he is referring is the Anointed Word of God. Matthew 7:24-27 states: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth th
em, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it”. (Notice that this not say anything about tradition being a part of this rock). Also, Matthew 7:21 states: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.God's church are those who are in the “Body of Christ”, and the gates of hell will not prevail against this church.
The reason that we have so many different denominations is that when one man understands the scriptures one way and the other another way, the are not willing to discuss their differences, and pray to God asking Him to bring them into unity by giving them understanding of what He intended by the scriptures in question. Some men are too proud to admit that they have made a mistake. It is possible for anyone to misunderstand scripture, and so I personally pray each morning, “Father, if I teaching anything that is not your Word, or doing anything that is not your will, please correct me”, and He does.
One other thought comes to mind and that is when Jesus states, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54), he is not talking about the Eucharist. Jesus is talking about those who are walking in obedience to his Word. (John 6:63)
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions that I did not answer, please ask.
Hi,
Catholicism is a neat system that satisfies her adherents with comforting religious ritual.
Kept busy with masses and sacraments, feast days and prayers it follows a cycle of events, season following season accompanied my music and incense. Stained glass and vestments complete the artform.
Salvation is reduced to infant baptism and spiritual food is reduced to bread and wine.
God remains distant and obscure and knowledge sought from outside the experts is regarded as vanity and folly.
Their pride is in their history but that only goes back to the apostasy and the adultery with Rome. They trumpet their unity but it is a unity of obesience to men rather than God. Living in luxury unlike the one they claim as their Master the leaders use political power instead of divine.Come out of her my people. Her sins have piled up to heaven and infuriate God.
Quote Come out of her my people. Her sins have piled up to heaven and infuriate God.
Has anyone heard of that movie that's coming out, about the Catholic Church? It looks at some of these “sins” that have piled up to heaven.
Interestingly, the movie comes up 2 days before we begin to distribute the tract: “The End of False Religion is Near.”
This movie would never have been made just a few years ago. It seems people are growing less and less tolerant to religion.Hi david,
Does the tract include the false JW religion?
It should because the teachings of the JW's are far from the scriptural truth and do not bring men to salvation.hmmm. You pretty much said word for word what I thought you would. I should have been clearer.
does anyone other than Nick know what I'm talking about?
(To Nick: You're becoming predictable.)
Hi,
Casey said this in another thread.“I like the Anglical Church. You can't beet the best of both world's there. What I mean is they have the best balance between the Roman Church and the Protestant Churches. They agree with Calvin and they likewise utilize Arminius. They hold to the emphasis on the Eucharist and give it the proper reverence but they stay away from the prist being the vessel who concecrates the bread. I enjoyed going their but I left. I would rather not mention why because if you enjoy it and are growing in your faith then I support you. They are not bad or theological unorthodox I just had some differences of opinion. If you want me to explain I will. Let me reiterate, I love the Anglican Church…:;): “
So is anglicanism really catholicism in drag?
Is not EUCHARIST a catholic word?
Does the so called EUCHARIST symbolise unity with Christ or the anglican people or all christains or whom?
Is it really the same as the catholic SACRIFICE where they say they worship Jesus as bread and wine?
Can man consecrate bread and wine?
Why would they?Are we not all priests according to 1 Peter 2?
“9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; “
So who are these human mediators that would separate us from our Lord?
Quote So is anglicanism really catholicism in drag? The question often arises whether the Anglican Communion should be identified as a Protestant or Catholic church, or perhaps a distinct branch of Christianity altogether. While some Anglicans regard their faith to be well within the Protestant tradition, other Anglicans, especially Anglo-Catholics who ascribe to the Branch Theory, consider Anglicanism to be an expression within a larger Catholic Church.–Wickipedia, Anglicanism
Hi,
trinity is a catholic doctrine yet is promoted equally vigorously by those who claim to have followed Luther and left her as protestants. We should not follow men, but rather as true followers, be berean and follow Jesus. He never taught of any trinity.Recently, I've learned that there are people on here who denounce the “Catholic” trinity belief, while they have their own trinity belief.
I'm wondering what exactly the difference in belief is.
Anyone?
Something that I've noticed with Catholics is they seem to think that God's name is Jesus. Mention the name of God that is used thousands and thousands of times and they don't seem to have any clue who you are talking about.
Their own encylcopedias:
The Catholic Encyclopedia,Volume 8, 1910 edition, page 329, notes:
“Jehovah, the proper name of God in the Old Testament.”And the Catholic Encyclopedia 1913, Vol. VIII, p. 329 states:
“”Jehovah”, the proper name of God in the Old Testament; hence the Jews called it 'the name' by excellence, the great name, the only name.”Look what else the Catholic church states.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change” (Sabbath to SUNday) “was her act. And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” HF Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons (Catholic Church).
“Sunday is our MARK or authority…the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.” Catholic Record of London, Ontario, September 1 1923.
“From this same Catholic Church you have accepted your Sunday, and that Sunday, as the Lord's day, she has handed down as a tradition; and the entire Protestant world has accepted it as tradition, for you have not an iota of Scripture to establish it. Therefore that which you have accepted as your rule of faith, inadequate as it of course is, as well as your Sunday, you have accepted on the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.”-D. B. RAY, “The Papal Controversy,” 1892, page 179.
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Question: Who is the mother church?
Answer: The Roman Catholic church.Question: Who are the harlot daughters?
Answer: The SUNday keeping “Protestant” churches who obey their Mom.Quote (david @ Mar. 10 2007,07:40) Something that I've noticed with Catholics is they seem to think that God's name is Jesus. Mention the name of God that is used thousands and thousands of times and they don't seem to have any clue who you are talking about. Their own encylcopedias:
The Catholic Encyclopedia,Volume 8, 1910 edition, page 329, notes:
“Jehovah, the proper name of God in the Old Testament.”And the Catholic Encyclopedia 1913, Vol. VIII, p. 329 states:
“”Jehovah”, the proper name of God in the Old Testament; hence the Jews called it 'the name' by excellence, the great name, the only name.”
Hi david,
Jesus told us to refer to God as FATHER, just as he did.
The rest is semantics.A question I don't think I got an answer to.
Similarly, speaking of Catholics, The Belgian newspaper “La Dernière Heure” relates that during the war Roman Catholic Cardinal Amette of Paris said this to the French soldiers:
“My brothers, comrades of the French army and of their glorious allies, the Almighty God is on our side. . . . God is near to our brave soldiers in battle, he gives them strength and fortifies them against the enemy. . . . God will give us the victory.”
At the same time, on the other side, the Catholic archbishop of Cologne, Germany, said to German soldiers:
“God is with us in this fight for righteousness . . . We command you in the name of God, to fight to the last drop of your blood for the honor and glory of the country. . . . God knows that we are on the side of righteousness and he will give us the victory.” (La Dernière Heure, January 7, 1967)So this I ask: Who's side was God on? The Cardinal's or the Archbishop's?
As the New York Times observed: “In the past local Catholic hierarchies almost always supported the wars of their nations, blessing troops and offering prayers for victory, while another group of [Catholic] bishops on the other side publicly prayed for the opposite outcome.” (New York Times, December 29, 1966, p. 3.)
Are the Catholics on God's side? Or the side of whatever country they happen to live in? Are they truly united, as Christ's brothers are to be?
Hi,
Catholicism teaches it is the only way.
It teaches that all outside of it's walls are unsaved except in certain circumstances.
They claim to have an infallible teacher in the pope, and his teachings and the traditions of the church are taught to be equal in authority to scripture.
If you are catholic these claims are very intimidating and the fearful cling to one another and hide behind them.
The must decide whether they are true or false as there is no middle road.Hi,
Is 1.18 contends that the catholic church has only existed from the great schism of 1000 years ago.
Wikipedia says this.
c. 110: Ignatius of Antioch uses the term Catholic Church in a letter to the Church at Smyrna, one of the letters of undisputed authenticity attributed to him. In this and other genuine letters he insists on the importance of the bishops in the Church and speaks harshly about heretics.
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