Ask about Catholicism/Christianity

[coleraine]

Salaam/peace

any non Muslims live in US or Canada may write to our revert bro for a free copy of Quran.

allahsquran.com/free

my Question : Is OT still a holy book to Christians ? If yes , do they follow the commands find in OT ?

the ten commandments are meant for everyone. they do not apply only to jews. those are what we still follow in the OT. so in that sense it is still a holy book, but that was all back then. jesus tells us how to live peacefully in the NT. what applied to the survival of the jews in the OT (killing those who would do harm against them)
does not apply to us today. the gospel does. and the gospel tells us to be peaceful.

 

[coleraine]

Salaam/peace

so the conclusions are : If Muslims are bad , Christians must become worst ; Christians are allowed to kill innocents people but Muslims can’t kill even armed enemies , Christians have right to self defence but Muslims don’t have that right etc etc .

.

There is no compulsion in religion , says God in holy Quran.

About war , did that earlier , InshaAllah will do that again. What about a comparison ? How many verses are there on war , killing in Bible vs Quran ?

Christians are not Jews. if you want to do a comparison between the amount of violence in the NT and in the Koran, that is condoned by god, the score will be: NT:0 Koran:you tell me

About the crusades, its as simple as this. im not taking pride in the crusades. i wish they did not have to have happened. but they did. and they did because of men using what it says in the Koran to manipulate the masses and attack peaceful countries in the name of Allah. So, in this case, yes, christians had right to kill muslim military personel, but not civilians. muslim military did not have the right to kill christians unless it was in defense of innocent civilians. they did not have right to kill christians otherwise because what they were doing was wrong. they wer the aggressor and had no right to attack in the first place. so, yes bad things happened. women raped, children killed. all because of a “holy jihad” were we supposed to not fight back? were we supposed to submit? (hence the meaning of islam: submission. not peace.)

 

[Sam_777]

Thanks coleraine, another questions for you:

I always read that Catholics call Virgin Mary “Mother of God”, and I really find that hard to accept, considering that there are also the Christian protestants whom reject that.

My questions are:

• When did the Catholic Church start calling Virgin Mary “Mother of God”, which year?
• Isn’t that confusing, because non Christians could consider she is Mother of God The Most High.
• Why not calling her “Mother of Lord Jesus” instead?

 

[Cinette]

Salaam/peace

so Jihad is wrong for Muslim but ok for Christians ?

Hi Muslim Woman!

You were asked a question in Post #3 to which you have not responded. Please will you do so as I would also be interested in your response.

Thank you

 

[Cinette]

Thanks coleraine, another questions for you:

I always read that Catholics call Virgin Mary “Mother of God”, and I really find that hard to accept, considering that there are also the Christian protestants whom reject that.

My questions are:

• When did the Catholic Church start calling Virgin Mary “Mother of God”, which year?
• Isn’t that confusing, because non Christians could consider she is Mother of God The Most High.
• Why not calling her “Mother of Lord Jesus” instead?

Hi Sam!

Hope you don’t mind my answering you also.

Mary was always considered Mother of God. After it was announced to Mary that she was to conceive a child through the intervention of the Holy Spirit Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth. As soon as Elizabeth saw Mary the child in her womb (John the Baptist) leaped and she said “…Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the Mother of my Lord comes to me?” Luke 1:42,43

She was obviously inspired to speak in this manner.

Mary is the Mother of Jesus and since Jesus is both human and Divine and is the Son of God Mary is the Mother of God. She is a god? No but she was especially chosen to be Mother of God the Son. (Who said these things are simple?)

The Church venerated Mary from the very beginning. You will remember Jesus said to John from the Cross “Here is your Mother”. We regard her as the Mother of all of God’s children.

Even the “reformers” Luther, Calvin and Zwingli had a great devotion to Mary and referred to her as the Mother of God - later of course as Protestantism splintered so were the beliefs watered down and in this case completely abandoned…

My husband converted 3 years ago - he was an atheist all his life and is now a daily communicant and says the rosary with me every day - I can’t get over it. He had no trouble accepting Mary. We do not worship her as Protestants are made to believe.

I suppose it is a mind-set which makes it difficult for Protestants.

Also if you look into Lourdes, Fatima and Guadaloupe you will be amazed. The Catholic Church is very strict in these matters to the point where they can be unfair (the way Padre Pio was censured at one stage) but at the end of the day it is best to be SURE. :juggle: :harp:

 

[Cinette]

Salaam/peace

so it’s ok for Christians to kill innocents civilians including kids, rape women etc etc ? But Muslims are not allowed to ans to any attack ?

Do u know Crusader’s horses knee came under blood of Muslims ? May be ,it was also justified ?

You should get information (independent information) on the Crusades. Yes, there were excesses - on both sides - but there was also justification.

Look at North Africa and other countries in the Middle east. Where are the Catholic Churches today? The people were FORCED to convert to Islam.

I think Faith is a matter of choice but Islam doesn’t think so!

In my opinion people of all Faiths and from all countries should be tolerant of each other and their choices. Where do you find persecution of Muslims in today’s world? You will find persecution of Christians all over the world. That is a fact.

While we have learned tolerance Muslims have gone in the opposite direction. That is a fact!:sad_yes: :sad_yes: :sad_yes: :yup: :yup:

 

[guanophore]

What if the church ruled a state ? what are the major changes on the society ?

All one has to do is study medieval history and the Reformation to see what a grievious disaster this becomes.

 

[Reformed]

Such a question reflects an error in the proper manner of reading scripture. The message of Christ is a whole message, and it is not to be divided and parsed into slivers. It is best to undersand the message in it’s wholeness, as Jesus gave it.

Paul’s message about salvation is not “different” from the other Apostles and writers of the NT. Problems occur when a theology is based on one myopic perspective, taking Paul out of the context in which He wrote.

I don’t known if you think you are not obvious here, Reformed, but it seems clear that you have come to CAF with pre-conceived and erroneous ideas about Catholicism, and that by posing these questions, and posting scripture, you can evangelize us.

Please allow the person who started this thread to answer the questions:

I have my Bible and my Catechism right here. I will answer any question you ask, so fire away.

 

[Reformed]

I have my Bible and my Catechism right here. I will answer any question you ask, so fire away.

we are meant to prevail until the end. we are being saved from hell by resisting hell. we choose what we do. god makes nothing for sure, because if he did, where does our free will go? we have to choose to follow god, and choose to resist satan all throughout our lives, with our god given free will. if we slip we must atone by going to confession, as jesus commanded the apostles to do, and what is still being done to this very day. (see john 20:23 before making a response)

What must I do to be saved according to the Apostle Paul?

In addition, what are we being saved from and from whom?

What is God’s righteousness and is it completely sufficient for us to be reconciled to God for all eternity?

Romans 10

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Hi Coleraine,

It appears you answered my questions with your speculative personal opinions. I liked your thread because you wanted to answer our questions according to the Holy Scriptures and the Catechism. It appears you did not give a response according to the Bible nor the Catholic Catechism. Personal opinions have nothing to do with spiritual truth, especially since truth has to be revealed to fallen mankind by God Himself. I posted my questions again if you want to try again. Here are the sources that you stated that you would use to answer our questions.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

bible.com/

scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

 

[Cinette]

What is a Reformed Protestant? One that has changed his/her mind re Protestantism and decided to reform their ideas?

I am interested in knowing this because I have never heard of a Reformed Protestant before.

Thank you

 

[Reformed]

What is a Reformed Protestant? One that has changed his/her mind re Protestantism and decided to reform their ideas?

I am interested in knowing this because I have never heard of a Reformed Protestant before.

Thank you

Reformed Protestantism is the original theology of the reformers who broke from Rome in the 16th century. It is the root of Protestantism and can be understood in summary with the 5 solas of the Reformation. Here are three links that should answer your questions. Thanks for asking!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_solas

monergism.com/

BTW… Augustine influenced Reformed Theology too. I like your signature.

 

[Cinette]

Reformed Protestantism is the original theology of the reformers who broke from Rome in the 16th century. It is the root of Protestantism and can be understood in summary with the 5 solas of the Reformation. Here are three links that should answer your questions. Thanks for asking!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_solas

monergism.com/

BTW… Augustine influenced Reformed Theology too. I like your signature.

Thank you for that clarification. I will certainly visit those urls.

You state that “Reformed Protestantism is the original theology of the reformers who broke from Rome” Does that mean that you also embrace Mother Mary and believe her to be the Mother of God? I know that the “reformers” Luther, Calvin and Zwingli had great devotion to her and recognized her as the Mother of God?

What I do not know was whether they believed in the Eucharist. Perhaps you could clear that up for me.

Thank you

 

[Reformed]

Thank you for that clarification. I will certainly visit those urls.

You state that “Reformed Protestantism is the original theology of the reformers who broke from Rome” Does that mean that you also embrace Mother Mary and believe her to be the Mother of God? I know that the “reformers” Luther, Calvin and Zwingli had great devotion to her and recognized her as the Mother of God?

What I do not know was whether they believed in the Eucharist. Perhaps you could clear that up for me.

Thank you

I really don’t think Mary is the central issue. Contemporary Protestantism may have too low of a view of Mary as an over-reaction to the Catholic view of Mary. I’ll let you study the issues on the Eucharist and the sacraments. The best way to start is to study the link to the 5 solas of the Protestant Reformation to get an overview.

 

[Muslim_Woman]

Salaam/peace

Hi Muslim Woman!

You were asked a question in Post #3 to which you have not responded.

discuss about Islam will be off topic here. This thread is for answering Christianity. Non Muslims are welcome to submit questions in Ask about Islam thread without bashing

 

[guanophore]

Salaam/peace

so Jihad is wrong for Muslim but ok for Christians ?

I am not sure what you mean by Jihad…my understanding that Jihad involved forceful conversion. If that is the case, then it is wrong no matter who does it.

Salaam/peace

so it’s ok for Christians to kill innocents civilians including kids, rape women etc etc ?

No, it is not ok. One must also bear in mind that, although the crusade armies were characterized as Christian, the vast majoirty of them were not. They came from so called “Christian” countries but were in the East for political and economic reasons primarily. If one studies the history of the Crusades, one quickly finds that most of the soldiers were not there for reasons related to their faith.

Even so, persons who were Christians did commit grievious crimes against innocent civilians, and this cannot be justified.

But   Muslims are not  allowed to ans  to  any attack ?

It seems to me that it is incumbent upon all of us to learn to live in peace with one another, so that we donm’t attack each other.

Do u know Crusader’s horses knee came under blood of Muslims ?

I am not sure I understand what you mean by this, but if you are saying that a great deal of Muslim blood was spilt by Crusaders then I agree.

May be ,it was also justified ?

I believe that it is justifyable to defend oneself in the face of evil. It is wrong to let evil run rampant, and we must resist it when possible. Some of the killing was done in self defense.

 

[Cinette]

Salaam/peace

discuss about Islam will be off topic here. This thread is for answering Christianity. Non Muslims are welcome to submit questions in Ask about Islam thread without bashing

Forget it!

 

[East_and_West]

Was it right of the pope to bless the crusades where there was rapine, pillage, plunder and mass murder?

Explain how these activities are of God and represent His will.

The Pope blessed the crusades to defend the Holy Land and Protect Christians who were there or on their way their for pilgrimages. He did not bless the plunder and mass murder that occured.

 

[LDNCatholic]

Do u know Crusader’s horses knee came under blood of Muslims ? May be ,it was also justified ?

That never happened. For the blood to flow so high that it reached knee height they would have probably had to kill more people than the entire population of the Levant at that time.

It is a common misconception.

 

[ricmat]

Hi coleraine,

I have a question about Genesis 17:17-22:
“Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing! Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year. When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.”

Is it possible or logical to assume that God would establish a covenant later on with Ishmael descendants (i.e., Muhammed)?, can I take that as a solid proof that there is no way for Muhammed to be God’s prophet because there is no covenant with Ishmael?

Funny you should bring this up. I’m not an expert on this, but today’s daily Mass reading talked about this very thing. Galatians 4:22-31. This passage speaks about 2 different covenants, but with the one through Isaac being the better one (or that’s how it looks to me.) Again, I’m not an expert on this.

 

[LDNCatholic]

The Pope blessed the crusades to defend the Holy Land and Protect Christians who were there or on their way their for pilgrimages. He did not bless the plunder and mass murder that occured.

He did not even bless all of the crusades.