in the New Testament, and words to the effect that, "There will be no more
speaking in tongues, etc.
No flash and blood human has any deity, and does not have the devine power to
grant absolution in the eyes of the almighty God.
----- Original Message -----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: CF-Community
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 9:45 PM
Subject: Comments on Catholic Church
A few threads back, I said that my wife had some issues with the Catholic
Church.
Someone asked for specifics, I said I would ask her to respond.
Here is Nelda's commentary on "Being Faithful" as she put it.
She wanted me to point out that this is in the context of Catholic vs.
Protestant or non-denominational Christian, and in no way is meant to put down
people of other faith traditions.
-Ben
===============================
Ben has asked me to respond to the question, �In what ways the Catholic Church
does not follow the ways of the Christian faith.�
First, I need to say that all Christians and even Jews we all need to be wary
of �falling away� from our faith.
Second, if you are interested in opinions about the apostasy (�falling away�)
of the Catholic Church, one only has to look into the many books and writings
about the original Martin Luther and his 99 treatises that he nailed to the
cathedral doors in the 1700�s. He and others, who were finally reading the
Bibles that had been distributed after the invention of the printing press, were
discovering that many things that were practiced and preached in the Catholic
Church were not according to scripture. Sadly though, even we Protestants have
�fallen away� from our faith.
Third, we all need to get back to the �Word�, scriptures, Torah and Tanakh
(Torah, Psalms, and Prophets). We all need to have a time with the Lord,
praying, reading prayerfully, and even singing to/with the Lord. This will
bring us all closer to the divine life that is able to get us through our daily
living and even be the source of our life supply.
Items of concern:
The falling away from �Justification by faith�. See Galatians, and Romans 5.
Faith in Christ Jesus is faith in His death and resurrection. He is our grace
to get things done. Keeping the law is not faith. No one is good, not even
one. If we could be �good� by trying harder, Christ would not have had to come
as our sacrifice. No amount of Hail Mary�s will make you better, only faith in
the Lord�s blood will wash you clean. (That is a whole other email).
Idol worship. See Exodus 20:3. Some say that Catholic statues and icons were
created to tell stories to an illiterate public. Those times are over and the
idols should be taken down. Especially the Hollywood/Renaissance picture of
Jesus should be destroyed. Check out Isaiah 52 and 53. The Messiah was/will
be not comely to look at. He was marred beyond any other man. Some say that
these statues are not worshipped. Then why do people bow down to these idols
and pray to them instead of to the living God? See the book of Judges and how
many times the Lord tried to get people to turn back to Him from lifeless idols.
We all need to check with the Lord as to what people, matters for things are
modern idols in our lives and turn to God from idols.
Making Mary, the mother of Jesus into a God. She would be the first one to
protest this practice. Yes, she was a devout woman, knowing the scriptures
well. See her exaltation to God in Luke 1:46-55. She quotes verses from
Psalms, Samuel, Exodus, Hosea, and Daniel. She obeyed God to the uttermost even
to the possible loss of her respect and dignity in the society of her time, but
she was not a God.
Claiming that Mary was a virgin all her life. Read Matthew 1:25 and through
out the Gospels. Joseph did not �know� Mary until after Jesus was born. Jesus
had brothers and sister�s. See also John 7:3. I can�t remember where the verse
is where it talks about his mother and brothers were looking for him, sorry.
The belief that you have to be a special person to be a �Saint�. See 1
Corinthians 1:2. All believers in Christ are called saints. We are all
brothers and sisters. There should be no special designation of Saint, Brother
or Sister.
There is a verse about not calling anyone �Father� except God the Father.
There are verses about there being one mediator between God and Man the man
Jesus Christ. When we mess up, we should all make confession directly to God
through Jesus Christ. (Without the shedding of blood there can be no
forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9 and Leviticus 17� but that is a whole other
topic. If we came to God directly we would be burnt to a crisp). There should
not be confessing to a priest.
The whole clergy laity system is wrong. All should bring a Hymn, a verse, a
song. See 1 Cor. 14:26.
The Pope is not God.
Celibacy is only by a rare and special gift from God. It should not be
entered into except on rare occasions when one is gifted to be totally dedicated
to God. Without this gift sometimes negative things happen. See the daily
news.
The assertion that Peter was the leader of the church after Jesus death and
resurrection. See the Acts and Galatians. Peter shrank back and was wishy
washy on the faith. But he kept turning back to God. He is a model of most of
us. Paul and James were the leaders in the early days of the church.
A religion of guilt and focus on the death of Christ more than the wonderful
story of His resurrection (witnessed by over 120 people over 40 days. See
Acts). A Christian life should be a life of hope, renewing, and grace not death
and guilt. Christ is now the life-giving spirit. 1 Cor. 15:45.
The gilding and riches of the Catholic hierarchy and Protestant hierarchy
while it many members are starving and in a bad way. Many theologians believe
that Revelation 2:18-19 and Rev. 17 are about the Roman Catholic Church and even
the Protestant religions that have followed in the same way over the years.
This is a sober warning for all of us.
Miscellaneous items:
�Lent� is not in the Bible
Christmas, Easter, and Halloween (All Saints Day the day after) were invented
to attract the local people of an area by putting the leaven of the pagan
religions and mixing it with the Christian faith. See Matthew 13:13, also read
up on the history of the different holidays.
Several Catholics that I know have told me that they were told not to read the
Bible and not to read the Bible to their children, but only to read the
Catechism. All scripture is God breathed and profitable of teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God
may be complete. Fully equipped in ever good work. 2 Timothy 3:16. Man shall
not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out from the mouth of
God. Matthew 4:4. Your words were found and I did eat them and they became the
joy and rejoicing of my heart. Jeremiah 15:16. The prophet Ezra read the Word
to the children of Israel when they returned from Babylon and they were
strengthened to rebuild the Temple.
We will not even go into the persecutions of the Jews & Christians who would
not follow the Catholic way, or forced conversions throughout history.
I hope that all Christians and Jews, including myself, will continue to come
back to the Word and treat it as a living document not dead letters. We need to
not only study it but also prayer with it. We all need to �talk� to God about
everything that is going on in our lives.
I am sorry that I am very busy right now and will probably not be able to
respond to rebuttals to this email, but I hope it gets us all to think about
being true to our faith and not falling away from it.
Grace and peace be with you all,
Nelda Braver
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