On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Still the statement also says "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of > God > and the only One by which > I can obtain salvation and have an ongoing relationship with God." > > Again, this was never my understanding of Catholic dogma: a direct, > personal > relationship with God was possible. You could ask Mary (or any saints) > for > advice or to advocate on your behalf with the Lord, but there was no > emphasis at all on Jesus as the only conduit to salvation.
I would agree there about the salvation, though my understanding (as a methodist) is that Salvation is a gift from god. It's not something we could ever EARN and, according to our beliefs, he gives it to those who follow the teachings of Jesus. I cannot get salvation from Mary or any of the "saints" and I'm pretty sure the catholics don't think you can either. But all Christnas have hte concept of "The Trinity" in that Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit are one. > In fact this part of the declaration seems to aimed directly at the > Catholics (and others, like the Jews, that either diminish or refute the > ultimate divinity of Christ). Admittedly I don't know *THAT* much about Catholicism but I don't think they diminish the "ultimate divinity of Christ" though they do seem to elevate Mary quite a bit more than the rest of us Christians. Rick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:259563 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
