Is Catholicism Christianity?

[Faithfulservant]

God seems to have a thing about obedience. That is one thing that strikes me about the bible, esp the OT, he is painted as a rather demanding control freak

If you planted a garden and you sweated blood and tears to make it just like you wanted... Wouldnt you pull the weed thats messing it all up??

Whats the the difference between The World and that Garden?

A person planting that garden certainly wants control of what goes on in it.

People should just stop and think about it.. God created us He can do whatever He wants to because we belong to Him.

Who are WE to question HIM?

Who does that APHID think HE is chewing up MY plant.. that I planted and grew from a seed... SMOOSH

Except God didnt smoosh us ... He gave us a choice to choose Him or NOT
Him.

There it is in a nutshell.

 

[enlightenment]

I dont have a religion I have a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

I identify God as God of ALL and He has ultimate control of everything including Pentecostals who are Christians... they just occupy a different body part than mine does in the body of Christ.

If you believe that the bible is the word of god (through men), read from it, and think Jesus is the son of god, you are, by default a Christian though, are you not?

That would be your religion - Christianity. Or is there something in organised Christianity that you are not at ease with, that sees you disassociate yourself with them?

 

[enlightenment]

If you planted a garden and you sweated blood and tears to make it just like you wanted... Wouldnt you pull the weed thats messing it all up??

Whats the the difference between The World and that Garden?

A person planting that garden certainly wants control of what goes on in it.

People should just stop and think about it.. God created us He can do whatever He wants to because we belong to Him.

Who are WE to question HIM?

Who does that APHID think HE is chewing up MY plant.. that I planted and grew from a seed... SMOOSH

Except God didnt smoosh us ... He gave us a choice to choose Him or NOT
Him.

There it is in a nutshell.

This makes him sound even more like a slave owner.

We have freedom of mind, freedom of thought, and can use critical thinking. We are not 'plants', but thinking beings with feelings and emotions.

This is one of the downsides of religion, it bottles complex matters down into neat little answers, then doesn't apply critical thinking to them, opting instead to say 'hey, that's it, that's what happens'...

 

[Dondi]

God seems to have a thing about obedience. That is one thing that strikes me about the bible, esp the OT, he is painted as a rather demanding control freak

Obedience is for our benefit, not God's. If God created us, then He must know how we can operate optimally. You buy a brand new car and put sugar in the gas tank when the instruction manual says to put gas in it, your car isn't going to run very well, is it?

 

[17th Angel]

100% yes?... Ok I voted no... lol I make up 12% sweet..

ok uhm a reason to why..... Uhm, ok, yeah, it's a touch/hint of christianity but it is combined with another form of religion (like most) so I guess hybrid christianity maybe more accurate :S

 

[Thomas]

We have freedom of mind, freedom of thought, and can use critical thinking. We are not 'plants', but thinking beings with feelings and emotions.

The purpose of freedom is to enable us to choose what we are and the type of person we want to be. We have a profound sense of the idea of 'freedom' precisely because of that part of us that is ordered towards the Infinite.

By so doing, we distinguish between the Infinite, which is true ontological freedom, and the finite, which exerts its limitation on our mode and manner of being.

With freedom comes responsibility, to seek not freedom, but its source. Freedom for its own sake reduces man immeasurably, confining him within the finitude of his own contingent being, in which he becomes enamoured by the prospect of the possession of himself, and then seeks merely to provide for his physical comfort.

This is one of the downsides of religion, it bottles complex matters down into neat little answers ...

That's usually because it's got a couple of millennia of sound and profound philosophical thinking behind it ...

... I mean, that's like saying 'one of the downsides of physics, it bottles complex matters down into neat little answers' — like E=mc2?
(should be 'squared' — how do we do superscript figures?)

The assumption that man knows everything there is to be known, in the face of the evident fact he does not, seem profoundly irresponsible to me.

Thomas

 

[Thomas]

I would have thought the question is a non sequitur, if Catholicism is not Christianity, then by what means do we determine what is?

Rather, I would have thought the question better posed would be, how much of the content of traditional Christianity can man dispose of, and still consider himself a Christian?

It seems to me that the term 'Christian' is rendered meaningless in the modern era, because man chooses to define things subjectively, according to how he feels about them, rather than objectively, according to the data by which they are known.

One of my favourite pieces of modern nonsense, along these lines, is the oft-repeated cliche, "I am a spiritual person, but not a religious one" which boils down to "I like to think of myself as being a lovely person, but feel no obligation to act accordingly"

Just some musings on a Friday afternoon.

Thomas

 

[enlightenment]

Obedience is for our benefit, not God's. If God created us, then He must know how we can operate optimally. You buy a brand new car and put sugar in the gas tank when the instruction manual says to put gas in it, your car isn't going to run very well, is it?

But we're not cars. Or plants. We are free thinking beings.

 

[enlightenment]

That's usually because it's got a couple of millennia of sound and profound philosophical thinking behind it ... Thomas

Really?

 

[Joedjr]

The question is whether Catholics are Christians. From what I understand, the Catholics take a strong traditionally historic view. And they are doctrinally steeped in it. But knowledge or even ritual about a thing does not make you a Christian. It's whether or not you have genuine faith in God and trust Him for your life.

It's good to be good. "To obey is better than sacrifice" the saying goes. But all too often, I think a preoccupation on the 'sacrifice' de-emphasizes the need to live decently and with love. If the attitude is: "I'll just live up like I want to and go to confession on Saturday night and/or Mass and I'll be good to go until next week" is a bit hypercritical and misses the point (this goes for anyone, not just Catholics, btw).

For a Catholic who has been shown that the ritual is the teaching, and is not aware of the actual, important, insightful, Biblical teachings of Christ, that person has been ill informed and might be surprised to find that he is not a Christian. And yes, not all Catholics are Christian and not all Christians are Christian.
From the NASB Matt: 7 too much to type here, I suggest take a look,
21: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22: "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
23: "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
.02
Joe

 

[Thomas]

Really?

Confused? Why?

Do you not know that the philosophy of Aquinas is taught today and is still the object of much fruitful study? That Nicholas Cusanus laid the foundations of modern mathematical theory? And the list goes on ...

The Enlightenment (which is surely a misnomer by any standard — man's vision was never so occluded than by the Enlightenment) tried to render any idea of 'meaningful knowledge' as void, but trust me, man didn't have his head stuck in a hole in the ground until the 17th century.

A careful and objective analysis of the data of Scripture and its accompanying philosophy, compared to post-Enlightenment pietism and its accompanying philosophy will show that all man's current ills can be traced to that philosophical movement — not to the doctrines of religion.

The ills of economics, the environment, ecology, indeed society, derive immediately from the suppositions of the philosophers of that era. Their only ongoing success, it would seem, is the clever shifting of the blame onto someone else.

Thomas

 

[enlightenment]

What are the primary differences between Catholicism and Protestantism?

In an easy to digest manner, please.

 

[Faithfulservant]

But we're not cars. Or plants. We are free thinking beings.

Only because God is a much better creator than we are... but we are trying to get there... Cloning? You dont think mankind would abuse it if it worked? Heck we treat our children horribly.. even to the point of killing them before they are born... what makes you think we would treat a cloned being any better.. the talk is to create the clones to harvest organs..... or steal stem cells from aborted babies.

As far as Im concerned your argument sucks in the light of what WE do..

We deserve anything God does. But luckily He doesnt give us what we deserve.

 

[Faithfulservant]

What are the primary differences between Catholicism and Protestantism?

In an easy to digest manner, please.

im going to try this.

Protestants dont have a confessional with priests they dont pray to saints or Mary for intervention they dont believe the Lords supper actually is flesh and blood they dont believe the extra books are God-inspires they dont believe in purgatory. They dont believe that priests are the only ones that understand the bible. they dont believe in calling anyone Father. They dont have repetitive prayers Rosary and hail Mary.. etc. They dont believe you have to work your way to heaven. There is no confirmation. they dont believe you have to be catholic to be saved.. There is probably more but this is all I could think of on my lunch break

 

[Dream]

Protestants dont have a confessional with priests they dont pray to saints or Mary for intervention they dont believe the Lords supper actually is flesh and blood they dont believe the extra books are God-inspires they dont believe in purgatory. They dont believe that priests are the only ones that understand the bible. they dont believe in calling anyone Father. They dont have repetitive prayers Rosary and hail Mary.. etc. They dont believe you have to work your way to heaven. There is no confirmation. they dont believe you have to be catholic to be saved.. There is probably more but this is all I could think of on my lunch break

Also, many Protestants like myself no longer know much about Catholics. I think there exists some misunderstanding in both camps about people living across the way. Protestants tend to think Catholics live in denial of reality, Christians yes but unfortunately not as well off as themselves. Catholics tend to think of Protestants the same way. I'd say the churches' mottos are all 'The grass is greener on our side.' Protestants believe that government should not influence religion at all and some believe in complete separation of church and state. The sheer size and power of the RC to protestants is frightening, historically very influential in government even recently. Its strategic decisions (& mistakes) affect not thousands but billions of lives. Catholic higher ups can move unseen making decisions & influencing politicians, and Protestants don't like that. Rumors abound. I think Catholics think of Protestants as a loose canon, but protestants see the RC as big brother.

The relationship has altered a lot since Martin Luthor, Calvin etc. In those days, RC was seen as the fulfillment of anti-Christ. Some protestants still hold that point of view, but its rare.

 

[enlightenment]

Only because God is a much better creator than we are... but we are trying to get there... Cloning? You dont think mankind would abuse it if it worked? Heck we treat our children horribly.. even to the point of killing them before they are born... what makes you think we would treat a cloned being any better.. the talk is to create the clones to harvest organs..... or steal stem cells from aborted babies.

As far as Im concerned your argument sucks in the light of what WE do..

We deserve anything God does. But luckily He doesnt give us what we deserve.

Of course, you cannot assert that god is a better creator than anything, since you cannot show that god exists, nor show that we are creations of his.

You would have to do that in order to then compare his creation to that of mankind's.

And if he did design us, like a car, then it could be said that he did so with many faults in the 'engine'. As a species, we are not doing so well, imo.

I would embrace all sciences, if properly regulated, that includes developements in nanotechnology, which one day could go on to cure cancer, in the opinion of science journals, etc.

I think that is really exciting, and something worth saluting.

One day, science will be able to even cure the blind, something that prayer doesn't seem to be able to do.

I also understand that you are v anti abortion, but I am afraid it is a fact of life, and always has been, that people get pregnant, and don't wish to have it. It is a hot potato, but in the end, the most humane thing is to permit the person that have a termination, without giving them hassle over it.

 

[enlightenment]

im going to try this.

Protestants dont have a confessional with priests they dont pray to saints or Mary for intervention they dont believe the Lords supper actually is flesh and blood they dont believe the extra books are God-inspires they dont believe in purgatory. They dont believe that priests are the only ones that understand the bible. they dont believe in calling anyone Father. They dont have repetitive prayers Rosary and hail Mary.. etc. They dont believe you have to work your way to heaven. There is no confirmation. they dont believe you have to be catholic to be saved.. There is probably more but this is all I could think of on my lunch break

So, much the same, yet without the tinsel.

And yet, there are many things that they share, too, right?

Despite that, we have seen conflict between them, in modern times.

This always seems to happen.

Not just one religion v another, but one religion v another version of that religion.

 

[Faithfulservant]

I think anytime 'man' gets involved in Gods relationship with Man.. Man screws it up.

I consider Catholics my brothers and sisters in Christ. I feel personally that they are in bondage and I pray for them not because they arent saved but because they might be missing out on something that is very important to me in my faith.

 

[lunamoth]

I think anytime 'man' gets involved in Gods relationship with Man.. Man screws it up.

I consider Catholics my brothers and sisters in Christ. I feel personally that they are in bondage and I pray for them not because they arent saved but because they might be missing out on something that is very important to me in my faith.

What is that?

 

[Faithfulservant]

Of course, you cannot assert that god is a better creator than anything, since you cannot show that god exists, nor show that we are creations of his.

You would have to do that in order to then compare his creation to that of mankind's.

And if he did design us, like a car, then it could be said that he did so with many faults in the 'engine'. As a species, we are not doing so well, imo.

I would embrace all sciences, if properly regulated, that includes developements in nanotechnology, which one day could go on to cure cancer, in the opinion of science journals, etc.

I think that is really exciting, and something worth saluting.

One day, science will be able to even cure the blind, something that prayer doesn't seem to be able to do.

I also understand that you are v anti abortion, but I am afraid it is a fact of life, and always has been, that people get pregnant, and don't wish to have it. It is a hot potato, but in the end, the most humane thing is to permit the person that have a termination, without giving them hassle over it.

I think your post is a bit of an oxymoron.. we are speaking of ourselves as being creators yet you deny there is The Creator because I cant "prove" it. It makes no sense. I say you walk outside and look at whats around you and ask yourself if what you see just happened by chance...You see buildings and cars created and they are proven to be created by us and you also see trees and clouds and you HAVE to ask yourself what or who created THAT.. Thats proof in itself.

Or consider the awesomeness of the human body and how much science is revealing every day the mystery of it. Who designed it to the very cell that is a mini-computer... You do not deny the computer was created... why not the cell which is a more magnificent version of what WE did.

yes Im anti-abortion.. God is the giver of life and you tell me one person that gets an abortion that doesnt know how wrong it was deep inside their very soul...and who isnt haunted by it for years later... God put that there.. that conscience. Life is precious and not ours to take. Im not going to get into this issue here because Im not judging the person who has one because they dont know...and they are wounded hurting people that need Jesus Christ..

I am judging the ACT and the organizations be it govt or agencies that provide them because I know how they work and why they do it. And its those that I pray that God deals with.