Hank the Grifter said:
zgolfz85 said:
Hank the Grifter said:
Ol_Ag_02 said:
Hank the Grifter said:
Aggie Infantry said:
I started as a Catholic. 1st through 12th grade to Catholic Schools (St. Francis and Strake Jesuit in Houston).
Switched to Lutheran.
Now am Global Methodist.
Let us know your next choice as you make your way down the cafeteria line. Hope your next church fits your ideas better than the *check notes* Global Methodists do.
Why do you care? What does it matter to you? Will you judge him? I'm not Catholic, my kids are both baptized Catholics. If they decide to attend Catholic Church when they're on their own I'll be happy for them finding their place. I won't be going there but I'm certainly not going to dissuade them. Just because I believe some of the Catholic principles are wrong they're Christian and the vast majority of practicing Catholics are good and decent people.
Because his post was an attempted dunk on the Catholic Church. That's why I care.
He offered up his personal details in that attempt so I used said details in my reply. Fire, heat, kitchen scenario.
Judge him? Not my place. But I don't have much respect for people who shop denominations until they get to the one they're comfortable with. Not just once but multiple times.
Jesus left us his Church and it's been around for 2000 years. To be Christian was to be Catholic for 1500 of those years.
To take a page from your post, I'm sure Aggie Infantry is good people too. No sarcasm intended there at all
But he was trying to make a point by sharing that and I replied in kind.
Thanks, but let's not pretend Catholicism is just any ol denomination. It's akin to Mormonism in regards to how much of it is made up. It's the poster child in ignoring Deuteronomy 4:2. It's jumped the shark so much that whatever sitting pope is "in office" is worshipped more than our Lord and Savior himself. It's a cult of tradition and not in a good way, like our university. I know plenty of good Catholics…I just wish they'd pick up the good book and read it, rather than listen to the very picky and choosy portions that the Catholic Church quotes in mass.
I don't shop denominations…pretty big assumption there. It's one thing to have a Baptist church that adds a gymnasium for fellowship and who knows what God thinks of that and whether it's permissible in His eyes, but quite another to completely construct a man made religious governmental structure like the Catholic Church has done and just create a separate universe under some perceived authority.
Anybody who attempts to make a point by comparing Catholicism to Mormonism doesn't deserve a serious response as it's an asinine comparison but I'll give you one anyway.
1) Regarding Deuteronomy 4:2:
When Moses issued that directive, it pertained specifically to the Mosaic Law as it existed then. It did not preclude God from providing additional revelation later through prophets, Jesus, or the apostles, which collectively formed the rest of Scripture.
Furthermore, if Deuteronomy 4:2 were an absolute ban on any new divine guidance, it would render later Old Testament books and the entire New Testament invalid. The instruction was meant to prevent the Israelites from altering the laws already received, not to prohibit God from delivering future revelations.
2) The papacy
No one "worships" the Pope and certainly no Catholic places the Pope above Jesus.
This just more of your hyperbolic nonsense.
The pope is our spiritual leader as Christ's earthly vicar. A successor of the first pope, Peter. Appointed by? You guessed it! Jesus himself.
3) Catholics don't read the Bible
Too many don't. But it's become a bit of a Protestant meme that Catholics are clueless about the Bible. It's simply not true. That stated, as I've aged (I'm in my sixth decade now) I've noticed more and more Catholic Bible study groups in parishes and in the community.
I wish more of us were more familiar with.
I wish more humans in general were.
4) I don't know who you are and didn't accuse you of shopping denominations. Unless you're Aggie Infantry and forgot to log out of your sock account
5) "Man made religious governmental structure" and "perceived authority":
Again, Jesus himself organized the Church via apostolic succession. Jesus established His Church and delegated His authority to the Apostles and their successors, the bishops. A continuous line of authority that ensures the preservation and transmission of Christ's teachings. Nothing perceived about that. He established the Church, not the Bible. This where so many Protestants get hung up. "If it's not in the Bible explicitly, it must be wrong." Nope.
The Magisterium exists as part of that organization and for a reason. Acts 15 shows us this very thing.
Oh I'm well aware of Matthew 16 and very aware of the egregious extrapolations and vast assumptions made of those verses. To think that a few simple words turned into the circus of Catholicism and to think that's what was intended is lunacy. The sacred blood lines and all the pomp and circumstance also flies against everything we know about the new covenant, but that's just minor details I guess.
And, to suggest that popes aren't "worshipped" is a conversation ender. The church has done nothing to discourage the absolute idolatry of papal worship and in practice effectively promotes and encourages it (just not officially and certainly not in writing).
In either case, the continual moving of the goal posts and constant bending of the knee (and subsequent bending of the Gospel) is what this thread was all about. Those clowns in the Vatican just get more and more hypocritical by the day and bend whatever truths they need to in order to stay "cool" and not be cancelled.
Anyways, enough of the arguing. You're clearly a zealous Catholic and kudos to you. No judgment to you personally - I just wish your church got back to basics and threw public pressure out the window.