DoctorNick POSTS #16



DoctorNick, I'm pleased to meet you. Thank you for your comments.

"Practical" Catholic, hmmmm....interesting self-definition. First time I ever heard that.

Why not assist at Holy Mass every Sunday? I ask only since you brought it up, but if this is too personal, feel free not to comment.

I don't accept anything without proof. Or at least a preponderance of evidence. Or at least a little evidence.

Heaven or hell occurs during your lifetime. If you lead a good, honorable life, you'll experience heaven while you're alive. If you do bad things, you'll experience hell. The Buddha called it Khamma (or Kharma): the things you do will have an effect. Blind faith without proof results in suffering.

Protestantism should be allowed too.

I don't find much evidence for Catholicism (forgive me if I spelled it wrong) in the scriptures.

Sure, when I want to be.

~Zoo

Hey Folks,

I've decided to keep the thread as close to the topic as possible and so, as you can see, the video and all comments that pertained to it have been removed.

Hope you understand.

 

KFC POSTS:

This may be a good time for me to define religion as I meant it in the quote you cited.

By "religion" I mean that voluntary subjection of oneself to God by rendering acts of worship and homage, both privately as individuals and publicly as social beings, the honor, gratitude and obedience due Him and in the way prescribed by Him.

My answer to your question is Yes, absolutely yes. God has given only one supernatural religion to mankind and Christianity which is Judaism fulfilled is that religion, so that’s why I maintain that one religion is not as good as another. Christianity rightly signifies only the religion of Christ correctly and completely presented in the way prescribed by Him. That can only be the Catholic religion instituted by Christ Himself.

Christ founded a Church that the forces of evil would never prevail against and also that He would be with it until the end of the world. His Church therefore, must still be in the world and it must have been in the world all days since His time. That rules out all the other Churches except the Catholic Church for all the other Churches came into existence long after Christ and would not have been in the world all days since Christ.

Those who say that one religion is as good as another are practicing indifferentism. Indifferentists maintain there are many roads leading to Heaven and an honest, good person may travel anyone of them with the conviction that he is pleasing God. The indifferentist praises all religions for the good men they have produced and while they call for toleration towards all belief, creeds and churches, they denounce the Catholic Church (CC) as bigoted, intolerant and autocratic because she claims to be the infallible teacher and guide of a Divine Revelation.

Indifferentists declare God is indifferent to truth simply because he himself is indifferent to truth. From this man-made religion is born free of all obligation and restraint. Modern indifferentism can be traced to the inevitable reaction from the Reformation’s false teaching regarding Luther’s formula “faith alone without works will save”. The saying was “Believe right and care not what you do.” That has led to the modern indifferentists formula, “Do right and I care not what you believe.”

God is Essential, Absolute and Eternal Truth. He cannot be equally pleased with religions that contain truth and error. A person indifferent to truth is a liar. To declare all religions equally true or that their differences are immaterial is to deny objective truth. The assertion that one religion is as good as another is irrational. It is a first principle of reason that two contradictory statements cannot both be true. If one is true the other is undoubtedly false. Either there are many gods or One God….either Jesus Christ is God or He is not….Mohammed is either a prophet or an imposter…the Holy Eucharist is the living Jesus Christ or it is mere bread.

Oral and written Revelation is a divine message which no one can reject without sin. God a God of Truth, who cannot deceive or be deceived, could not possibly have revealed a plurality of religions or a multitude of varying Christianities. He founded one Church, one Kingdom of God, one Sheepfold, under the perpetual and infallible guidance of Himself and the Holy Spirit.

DoctorNick posts: #13

I agree there are many paths....but they don't all necessarily lead to salvation. Please read post #21 for my reasoning on this.

I am SO screwed. You know, bein' a frisbeetarian and all...   

WWW Link

I am SO screwed.

KFC POSTS #9

All these churches mentioned are part of the early Catholic Church that started as a mustard seed and grew into the Church that is here today. For example regarding the early Corinthian Church….Acts 18 records the founding of the Church in Corinth by St.Paul and his companions Timothy and Silas (Silvanus)toward the end of 50AD or early 51. The beginnings were very difficult.

But let’s follow Scripture through that shows that Christ established a Church that is the Catholic Church of today.

One of the titles of the Church is “the bride of Christ.” No institution was ever joined so closely to one man as the Church is with her Founder.” Like Him, she has the universal mission to teach all men and guide them to their eternal destiny.


First, Christ predicted the advent of His Chruch saying, “I must preach the kingdom of God, for therefore am I sent.” St.Luke 4:43. He called the Apostles and appointed them as teachers and rulers in His Church. “Teach men to observe all things whosoever I have commanded you. Behold I am with you all days even to the end of the world.” St.Matt.28:20. He constituted St.Peter as head, “thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church." St. Peter could not have been the rock-foundation of Christ’s Church unless he was given authority to teach and rule. This authority was promised in the words “I will give to thee the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.” The kingdom was to be a visible kingdom as a city set on a hill. Christ taught and trained them not for their benefit only, but that they might be teachers of others. They were the seed of the Church.

When Christ warned this little society unto themselves about their obligation of correcting the brethren, He said, “If he (the erring one) refuses to hear them, appeal to the Church, but if he refuses to hear even the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven and whatever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in Heaven.” St.Matt. 18: 17-18. The spiritual power of the Apostles had extended to loosing and binding…”Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and those sins you shall retain, they are retained." St.John 20:23. In these words of commission, the distinctive marks of the Catholic Church already stand out. Man’s relations with God are not left to the individual, but are under the control of authority. This authority was established by the will of God and those who hold it are not all men, but only a few, namely the Apostles. And since the Apostles could not live forever, this authority was to descend to their successors.

Here is the first mention of the word “Church” in the NT, a word that means an assembly and in the OT was applied to the entire people of God. Christ intended the Church to be the new Israel whose authority was to endure forever.

Christ was crucified and rose from the dead. Before He ascended into Heaven, He commanded them to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, teaching them to observe ALL that he had commanded telling them He would be with them all days until the end of the world. He conferred on St.Peter the power that He had promised. “Feed My sheep. Feed My lambs.” Through this preaching and hearing of the Word, and its acceptance by the nations, the Kingdom of God was to be established, developed and perpetuated.

The Lord ascended into Heaven and for a time His initial group of followers remained in Jerusalem awaiting the event Christ said would take place. On Pentecost Day, the Holy Spirit came upon them in what Acts 2:3 calls “tongues of fire”. After Pentecost the Apostles acted collectively as officers of the newly formed religious society. Throughout Acts we read how they exercised their God-given authority to teach, govern and sanctify. Over both Jewish and Gentile converts, their authority was accepted as from the divine, and they claimed such 1Cor. 2:1-5; or in judging 1Cor. 5 or in rebuking, 1Cor. 6, or in making laws or giving precepts 1Cor. 11, 12 and 14.

Under the Apostles inferior ministers already began called deacons and presbyters and bishops, who together with the Apostles formed a true hierarchy. 1St.Peter 2:9, 12, 25; 5. St.Paul through "the laying on of hands" ordained the fullness of the priesthood upon Timothy and Titus whom he sent to organize churches.

Christ said I will be with My Church all days until the end of the world. Now the only Church that has been all days in the world since Christ is the Catholic Church and if He did not establish that Church, He established none. If that Church failed, then the gates of Hell have prevailed against Christ's Church and He has not been with her all days since His time until now. The Catholic Church alone has the essential constitution prescribed by Christ and alone behaves as possessing the magisterial, sanctifying (7 Sacraments) and diciplinary authority He conferred upon His Church as per the Gospel accounts. Yes, now there are external differences insofar as the grown tree differs from the seed, but the development is in full accordance with the nature and principle of the seed. And Christ knew that just a tree as the Catholic Church is today would develop from the seed He planted.

Erathoniel posts:

Thanks for coming on board Erathoniel, regarding Scripture to support Catholicism,

please check out my last post # 25. I'd like to hear from you again after you've read it.

KFC POSTS:



The Church has a right to command her members. She wishes to be a spiritual mother to all the Faithful and so does everything possible for their spiritual welfare. This entails the making of laws which Catholics in conscience must obey.

God established 3 spheres of authority, the family, the government and the Church. Every authority has the right to make laws for the good of those within that sphere. We have a duty to obey those laws.

Christ declared that He makes His will known through the Chruch, "He that heareth you, heareth Me: and he that despeth you, despiseth Me. St.Luke 10:16.

He also declared how extensive the powers of the Church are: "Amen, I say to you, whasoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven."

The Apostles claimed that their right to legislate came from GOd: "For it hath seemed good to the Holy GHost and us..." Acts. 15:28. "For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus Christ." 1Thess. 4:2.

It's also clear from the NT that the Chruch has the power to punish those who disobey her. "And if he will not hear the Chruch, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican."

There are many commandments of the CC and all are found in the 1, 752 Canons of the Code of Canon Law but those are usually called the Six Commandments of the Chruch and concern the ordinary spiritual life of the Faithful in general.

The first of the Six Commandments of the CC commands us to "Keep Sundays and holy days of obligation holy, by attending Mass and resting from servile works."

The very law of natural (Natural Law) demands that a person should devote a certain amount of time to the worship of God. God Himself has commanded us to keep the Sabbath holy. The CC tells us how we must observe these precepts of the Natural Law and the positive law of GOd.

For Catholics, it's a mortal sin to neglect to attend Holy Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. The reason is to miss Mass on these days is a transgression of the law in a grave matter and is disobedience to the highest spiritual authority on earth. To miss Mass is to deprive God the worship and honor due Him and it is to deprive our souls of many of the Graces we need for our own salvation.

KFC POSTS: #9



"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved..."Acts 16:31

Even the devils believe, so from this we know that belief can't be all there is.


Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, LOrd, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my father who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."


For our salvation, beside believing (having faith) we must live out that belief in hope and charity according to the salvific will of God.

1Tim 2:4, "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of truth."

So, here the salvific will of God is to come to the knowledge of truth, right?

Which can mean nothing else except and come to the knowledge of His Church which St.Paul calls, in the very next chapter of Tim 3:15, "the Chruch of the living GOd, the pillar and ground of truth."

To sound a little like George Carlin for a bit, "Father, what if I have ebola and I'm extremely contagious - but I'm not sick enough yet that I can't make it to Mass. Would it be a sin to miss Mass then, Father?"

My problem with a lot of Catholics, and a lot of Christians, and my own self, is that we just HAVE to go to church on Sunday, and then the rest of the week is spent of the world.

Ha, what a picture that conjures George Carlin saying that!

As far as missing Mass, people know in their heart of hearts whether or not they've excused themselves from the obligation of attending for a valid or good reason...

Being sick, especially contagiously so..having to care for others...having to travel far distances...those who must work or are forbidden by employers to take Sundays off...are all valid excuses.



I know what you're talking about as to the second part of your comment, I've certainly seen that too. But having said that, isn't it also true, that in general, those who attend Mass or Church services on a regular basis are better armed to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil?