What's up with that? And why is it ok that 10 other people at the party were dressed as the devil himself and they didn't get slugged? Seems kinda whacky, no?
Would there be a costume that would equally cause a Jewish person to haul off and slug someone? A muslim? Just curious.
> 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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