A Call for Reformation Within the Church

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The Eucharist is a ‘work’ or an ‘action’ of the believer in Christ. If I believe in the Eucharist then I partake of it, if I don’t believe in the Eucharist then I don’t partake of it. Do you see how faith and works go hand in hand?
 
dopeyMS said:
The Eucharist is a ‘work’ or an ‘action’ of the believer in Christ. If I believe in the Eucharist then I partake of it, if I don’t believe in the Eucharist then I don’t partake of it. Do you see how faith and works go hand in hand?
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If I believe in it because of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and grace. I receive it because He leads me to do so. Faith, a gift of grace, leads me to His means of grace.
 
You have clearly invested much time and energy into your thought processes regarding this issue.

How much time have you spent in prayer? Before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament?

The problem is both obvious and well-known The solution is on our knees.
 
Semantic juggling tricks and duplicitous deception tactics are the hallmark of rosaceous scarletarians.
 
Knowing God and more importantly, being known by Him, is the duty of all who profess to follow Him: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matt. 7:22-23) This can only be done with the complete spiritual interpretation of the Scripture. Along with this is the sharing of the Eternal Truth to everyone, both inside and outside of the Church, but beginning with those inside the Church–for judgment begins there, as God declared through the words of Apostle Peter: " For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17).

What is true prayer? We must look through all of Scripture to find the answer of what is true prayer, which is more than us being on our knees saying or reciting certain words to God. First, we must know and obey the law: “If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable.” And we should go deeper than just the literal level of “praying” to the spiritual meaning of TRUE prayer, worship and fasting. For example, as declared in Isaiah 58, fasting is more than just physical bending of the head and abstaining from physical food. for what good does that lead to if one is still fighting and being dishonest with others, etc. Rather the fasting God wants is to loosen the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free, share your food with the hungry, etc.

Each word in the Bible has such a deep, DEEP meaning beyond physical “prayer,” “food,” “chains,” etc. This is what I’m learning through the Word of God at my church. This is what I must share with the world; this is what GOD wants.
 
@Michael16 : What makes you think that the church is good as is? For me, I know that there is most certainly a need for actual reform within the Church. Otherwise, why would sin still be so rampant in the world if the Church was is good as is. Just look at the FRUITS of the Church. Look at the sin that is rife in so many churches and is now being outed through international media. Look at so many who claimed to have grown up in the Church, yet chose to walk away from it upon adulthood or when something terrible, or something ‘enlightening’ happened to them? IF we, God’s proclaimed followers, truly acted as we said we believe through the power of GOD (and not of the enemy), the world would be owned by GOD. But NO, the world is still not under God’s complete dominion.

This is not to attack the Church in spite, as Jesus Christ, the apostles, the prophets were not attacking the false religious leaders of their day in spite. Rather, they were doing the spiritual battle in letting those leaders know of their wrongdoings, in order to turn back to the True God. This was proclaimed to me at my church, although it was hard for me to accept at first, as I had been previously going to a Nazarene church all of my life. I’m now starting to wake up to the complete Truth of God as I’m digging through His word, cover to cover.
 
🤔 Thought provoking. Please allow me to reflect and I’ll get back to you.
 
I’m ready to answer you.

Doctrinally, I believe the Church is fine; as is.

What I believe needs to happen is for the Church to somehow regain her moral authority in our society.

We just have to trust and support the Holy Father, our bishops and our priests to do the best they can, they know what they’re doing and that they’ll be guided by the Holy Spirit.

If you’re truly worried, my suggestion is this: Offer up Mass intentions, Rosaries, Holy Hours and other prayers and pious acts as sacrifices to God in behalf of the Holy Father, the bishops and our priests.
 
I agree with Michael 16 that doctrinally, we are fine.

But i think methodology could be improved. Catechesis could and should be improved.

In particular, Mariology . All Catholics should know and understand who she is and who she is not.
 
Michael16 said:
If you’re truly worried, my suggestion is this: Offer up Mass intentions, Rosaries, Holy Hours and other prayers and pious acts as sacrifices to God in behalf of the Holy Father, the bishops and our priests.
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I don’t think the OP is a Catholic, so they probably won’t be “offering up” anything, especially a Mass.

OP, as others have said it seems like you are sincerely seeking for truth. I hope it will eventually lead you to the Catholic Church.

Those of us who are devout Catholics are always striving to grow more in our holiness (and we don’t need to watch Youtube gunk to do so).

It’s also important to clarify the meaning of the term “the Church”. People often use it to refer to the Church leadership, such as the Pope, cardinals, bishops, Magisterium generally. But “the Church” really means all of us Catholics collectively, each and every Catholic. We divide “the Church” into three groups: the Church Militant which is living Catholics here on earth, the Church Penitent which is deceased souls in purgatory, and the Church Triumphant which is deceased souls in heaven. The Church Penitent are already reforming themselves through the purgatory experience, and the Church Triumphant are in no need of reform. So that leaves us, the Church Militant, here on earth, each individually working on reforming ourselves in order to grow in holiness with the goal of eventually joining the Church Triumphant.
 
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Lenten_ashes said:
I agree with Michael 16 that doctrinally, we are fine.

But i think methodology could be improved. Catechesis could and should be improved.

In particular, Mariology . All Catholics should know and understand who she is and who she is not.
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:+1:t3: I will go one further -

The church, which is the body of Christ, is perfect. There are no flaws in His body and His body is there for anyone searching. For this reason His body cannot be ONLY invisible it must be easily visible for those searching and must profess the fullness of this truth to the world. So yes, doctrinally the church is perfect, and in this sense has nothing to do with the practices of those within it.

Peace!!!
 
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Yes, @dopeyMS, I agree that faith without actions is dead, as declared in the Word. I know that is one of the criticisms of the Protestant Reformation is that good works is generally rejected. However, good works must be based only on God’s Word, and this begins with the correct interpretation of Scriptures with Scriptures and NOT based on human theology and understanding. If the teaching and proclamation of God’s Word is false and incomplete, then any good works that follow are also of the same. This is why it’s of utmost importance to know God completely and more important, to be known by Him. This is why YouTube is so important because it is one of the most widespread platforms that can share the Truth of God universally. My church has a YouTube channel that is dedicated to sharing the Word of God to the world. The information is on my profile; I share this only because I absolutely believe that God is using YouTube for His Eternal Purpose. Again, thanks for the thoughtful postings~
 
@Tis_Bearself, thanks for that specific clarification of the “Church.” I was actually referring to the Church as both the leaders and the members as a collective whole, whether Catholic, Protestant, etc. It’s in reference to all who claim to follow God Almighty. And you are right in stating that I am not Catholic; I come from a Wesleyan Nazarene faith that I left behind when I found Grace Road Church (it’s loosely termed “interdenominational” as members of our church come from all walks of faith… Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Agnostic, etc.) and the complete Truth of God. My hope, or rather, God’s hope is that all will eventually be led back to Him in this Universal Seventh Day. It is my sincere desire that all live eternally with God in heaven and have none to perish; this is why I’m so passionate in sharing God’s Word, beginning within the Church walls, as earlier mentioned that judgment begins in the house of God: “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (I Pet. 4:17)
 
My hope, and God’s hope also, is that all of you rejoin the Catholic Church, which the Protestants chose to leave in the first place. We’re still here and waiting for you to come back. If not on earth then in heaven.

God bless.
 
The reason that good works are important is because God wants us to try and be holy so that when we fail and we will fail, grace is there to make up the difference and better understood. Also the actions of trying to be holy develop good habits and good habits help keep us out of trouble. There’s a method to the madness.
 
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dopeyMS said:
The reason that good works are important is because God wants us to try and be holy so that when we fail and we will fail, grace is there to make up the difference and better understood. Also the actions of trying to be holy develop good habits and good habits help keep us out of trouble. There’s a method to the madness.
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More importantly, He wants us to help our fellow man. That’s the second half of the two great commandment.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole. 38. This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39). And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40. )On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.
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