Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 42 replies, 43 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 2 months ago by
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To Cathy from New York: In John 14:6 it reads, ‘Jesus answered, ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through ME’ (the emphasis is my own). This is where the Bible states CLEARLY that Jesus is the only way to God, not Mary, not good works, only Him. Secondly, you are correct in saying that humans wrote the Bible, but the words were given to them by God. Yes, man has translated it, and admittedly made some mistakes, but if you take a look at Hewbrew and Greek, the meaning is always left intact. Third, Mary was mearly a vessle chosen by God. She did not choose Him, He chose her. She was infact just as sinful and you and I. Lastly, the Merriam-Webster defines redeemed as ‘to be free from the concequences of sin’. The original poster of the message can, with confidence, say that she is redeemed if she simply believes that Jesus died for her sins. That is all the more there is to it. We often try to make Christianity into so much more than it really is. Jesus died for us, the very least we can do is live for Him.
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Name : Summer, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pentecostal, Age : 19, City : David City, State : NE, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,This is for Cathy. This is to answer your question of where in the Bible does it state that Jesus is the only intermediary. Please read 1 Timothy, chapter 2 and verse 5. It states, ‘ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.’ I realize that you will not believe this since you are an atheist.
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Name : Redeemed-One30099, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 54, City : Newport News, State : VA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Catholics are the original founders of Christianity, so it is just stupid and ignorant when other Christian sects have a problem with how they worship. The bottom line is, (even though I know for a fact they worship Jesus as God like most other Christians), they have a right to worship as they choose. I for one am glad to see a sect in Christianity that does hold some form of veneration for women. At least in the Baptist world, all they talk about is suppression and how becuase God decided to make women women they’re cursed, and all this other nonsense. I myself am a very secular Christian, with my only tie being to that religion a belief in Christ as divine. Thus, I can have an open mind towards those who believe differently than me. More Christians need to do this. Stop the silly bickering, and unite, because bascially Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Mormons, etc. all believe the same thing!!!! Doing otherwise is truly UNCHRISTIAN!!!!
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Name : Kristina26261, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 21, City : DC, State : DC, Country : United States, Occupation : Transcriber, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,In an earlier response, someone stated, ‘Just as Mormons have been distracted from Christ with Joseph Smith, so have Catholics been distracted by Mary.’ While I can understand where you’re coming from with this, I don’t think it’s entirely accurate. Having lived among Mormons for the past several years and having many Mormon friends, I can tell you that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ don’t generally get distracted from Christ with Joseph Smith. Most Mormons that I know see Jesus Christ as he is…the son of God and our mediator with him. A friend suggested I check out http://www.lds.org to learn more about her church and beliefs. It was interesting. Maybe you’ll want to check it out.
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Name : Mike20388, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 25, City : Salt Lake City, State : UT, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Since Catholics (among others) believe that existence continues beyond death, they venerate saints and ask for their intercession with God. It isn’t that they don’t believe they are allowed to speak to God directly, they are hoping that the saint’s status will incline God favorably toward their request. Also, the saints (being human) seem more sympathetic and approachable. It’s rather like asking a politically-connected uncle to help you get a job, I suppose. At the same time, Catholics believe that certain saints take a particular interest in particular aspects of life on earth: hence you have the patron saint of this, that or the other. No doubt a lot of this is an echo of the polytheism that Christianity supplanted in the early years.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Catholics don’t pray the rosary it is a form of meditating. Jesus is my life everyday and thank him for being my brother everyday. Mary is holy because of all the women in the world at that time God picked her. Why should she not be holy? She carried our savior. Asking Mary to pray for us is just like you asking someone else to pray for you or your family. God gave us her and we should honor. Jesus his God-man. Half of him came from God and the other is Man. Mary was man. Our sister. The rosary dates back to the 15th century. The first part of the prayer come from the angel Gabriel who said ‘Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with you.’ Some bibles don’t have the word grace. Remember the bible has been translated so many times that words have been left out or translated differently. Then the next line is Blessed are you amoug women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. This is from her cousin Elizabeth. The rest comes in the 15th century. Hail Mary, Mother of God, (Jesus is half God and half man) pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. The prayer calls upon Mary, full of grace and close to her Son, to intercede for us sinners now and at the time of our death. Mary appeared in Fatima in Portugual in 1912 to Lucy at saint and asked the young children to continue to recite the rosary. I recite the rosary daily in 1988 for the fall of the Berlin wall and the conversion of Russia. In 1989 this came true. You may want to call a priest and ask. It won’t hurt and matter of fact we encourage this. No one will try to convert you. The worst question is a queston not asked. I talk to minister’s of different faiths in the military and the all agree the protestant and catholic faiths are one big CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. I would like to say when people state thier are Catholics and Christians is wrong. Catholics are Christians! There is no right or wrong religion just different beliefs. That you for asking the question. God bless my sister. No I’m not a priest. Just a Christian.
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Name : Mike20377, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 32, City : Spokane, State : WA, Country : United States, Occupation : Military, Social class : Middle class,The Ten Commandments say that ‘ thou shall not honor any other god before me.’ This includes people who pray to or worship Mary. She is worshiped beyond what any human being should be. Yes, she was holy, and yes, she was chosen to bear the son of God, but Mary is a human who possesed no power of holy grace. She was blessed by God to carry the son of God, but where does it say she is equal to God?
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Name : John29216, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Religion : Christian, Age : 26, City : Two Rivers, State : WI, Country : United States, Occupation : Business Owner, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,You might want to read a little on the history of the Church and how it became Catholic which means ‘Universal’…Mary became the conduit of conversion for many of the cultures that had the Mother Goddess as their diety before Christianity…perhaps your perception that Catholics prayed to Mary is in fact the cultural manifestation of the ancient desire to worship the diety in female form
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Name : Cat32421, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 35, City : Washington, State : DC, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I would be happy to supply you with specific passages in the Bible that state that Jesus is the only ‘intermediary,’ as you state. Try Romans 1:8/1 Timothy 2:5-6/Hebrews 7:25. Also, the Bible was written by men, but it was inspired by God (see 2 Timothy 3;16). Any true Bible translation should always come directly from the original Hebrew and Greek. Don’t be offended at Mary being called a vessel, that’s what she was, as am I. A vessel is something or someone being used or worked through – that’s what God did: He worked through Mary in order to accomplish His task.
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Name : Scott28188, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 34, City : Dayton, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,We believe that Mary is blessed among women, and that she is queen of the saints. We do not worship Mary in the same way we worship Jesus and His father. We honor her as the teenager who said ‘Yes’ to God, even though she was saying yes to something unimaginable. I am 17, and I have been a Catholic my whole life, but I do not worship Mary or any of the saints. I try to emulate the Blessed Mother and all the saints in my daily life. I wouldn’t believe it if I thought we were worshiping ordinary human beings.
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Name : KC, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : ADD\LD\Gifted, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 17, City : VA BEACH, State : VA, Country : United States, Social class : Middle class,Augustine stated, ‘…only later did the Church decide what books were to be contained in the Bible.’ Does man create a beautiful sunset or does he merely recognize what God created? Or if you are a logical person, Church is to Bible as man is to sunset. Both merely recognize what God created. God’s Word is entirely sufficient in itself. It requires no tradition, either 15 years old or 1,500. Tradition can add nothing valuable or valid to God’s Word.
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Name : Vince, Gender : M, Age : 45, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,How do you know Mary sits at the right hand of Jesus? The Bible says that somewhere? Or did you just assume it? Also, there is a difference between praying TO Mary and asking her to pray to Jesus on your behalf.
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Name : Mandy, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Baptist, City : Sugar Land, State : TX, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I grew up Baptist, after I was discharged from the Navy (about 25 years ago), I became an ordained minister in the Church of God. I know how many non-Catholics see my adopted religion, because I was once in their shoes. I converted to Catholicism about 15 years ago, because I see the beauty in the Church and how true the Catholic Church is in Christ’s ministry. There is no Catholic who ‘worship’ Mary. You guys who think we ‘worship’ idols are off the mark. We believe as you do, when a person dies, our souls go to heaven. The souls of the saints, including Mary are in heaven. We don’t pray in their name, through them, or expect them to do anything for us, except pray for us. Some Catholics pray for relatives in heaven to pray for them. Many times non Catholics might pray to their mom, dad or grandparents who have gone to heaven. We don’t pray in the name of Jesus, we believe in the Holy Trinity and pray in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. That is called respect more than anything. The Church is full of traditions. We do things Christ told us to do, those are called ‘Sacraments’. Jesus gave the ‘keys’ to the Church to Peter, the ‘Rock’ that Jesus talked about was the Church. From that time 2000 years ago, our Church has gone through many changes, except our Sacraments have not changed. We do as Christ did. Christ honored his Mother, so do we. Our ‘prayers’ to Mary is actually requests of intercession, praise to her for bearing our Saviour or just to chat.
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Name : Dave, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : Depression, not disabled., Race : American Indian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 48, City : Jacksonville, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : Mental Health, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,Do not make statements off the cuff about what the word of God says, I’ve included a couple of verses, their from the KJV however they are very similar in the Catholic Bible which I just don’t have handy at the moment. Mary was obviously blessed by God to be considered worthy to bear Christ, but that does not come close to elevating her to a level comparable to the One and Only Son of God!! Not to mention that praying to saints is also unscriptural, but that’s for another time. Rom 8:34 Who [is] he that condemneth? [It is] Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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Name : Ed, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 40, City : Princeton, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Network Administrator, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,I am Catholic and believe I can talk to Jesus. I also pray to Mary. My school is called Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and Mary is our patron saint. Our motto is ‘Regent Christus’ (Christ Reigns). Never is Mary portrayed as God. Jesus is our savior and Mary is his mother; she was chosen by God to give birth to Jesus and raise him well, which Mary and Joseph did. God chose her and we choose to pray and ask for guidence from her. Also, most Catholics use the Bible as reference – most things in there are stories and nothing more.
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Name : Jade, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Spanish, Religion : Catholic, Age : 16, City : Sydney, State : NA, Country : Australia, Occupation : Student, Social class : Upper class,
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