Choice is supposed to be a good thing...

[distracted]

.

but is it a good thing to have 40,000 “churches” to choose from??

hmmm… :coffeeread:

 

[mpjw2]

.

but is it a good thing to have 40,000 “churches” to choose from??

hmmm… :coffeeread:

distracted, why stop at 40,000

I bet Jesus would like to see 400,000 then 4,000,000 churches.
Is church limited to a building with a cross on top?

bible said

where two or three are gathered Jesus is in the midst

Distracted, you are your own “priest”

the Holy Spirit lives within you.

you can have a few of your catholic friends over your house for a gathering with 1 or 2 non christian friends, and if the subject of religion comes up, God just may have opened the door of faith so that your non christian friends may find faith in Jesus through yours and your friends’ witness.

Once the conversation gets serious and the offer of prayer accepted by your friends…guess what?

you just had church in your home because Jesus was the center of attention

this is one of the works I believe one will be richly rewarded for in heaven

why can’t that someone be you?
How many christians in the world?

if all of us reach out to our non christian friends as I gave an example, how many home “churches” do you believe there can be to choose from?

God bless

mpjw

 

[puzzleannie]

there is only one Church, that founded by Jesus Christ which persists on Earth as the Catholic Church, protected by the Holy Spirit as he promised. There are thousands of denominations headed by people who split partially, not completely, from the one, true Church over issues of doctrine, practice, or because they were scandalized by evil activities on the part of some Catholics, including some members of the hierarchy. No matter how the choose to style themselves, those who are baptized in Christ belong to Christ and our goal is to lead them lovingly back to full unity in His Mystical Body on Earth, not to attack or condemn.

 

[mpjw2]

there is only one Church, that founded by Jesus Christ which persists on Earth as the Catholic Church, protected by the Holy Spirit as he promised. There are thousands of denominations headed by people who split partially, not completely, from the one, true Church over issues of doctrine, practice, or because they were scandalized by evil activities on the part of some Catholics, including some members of the hierarchy. No matter how the choose to style themselves, those who are baptized in Christ belong to Christ and our goal is to lead them lovingly back to full unity in His Mystical Body on Earth, not to attack or condemn.

puzzleannie I know catholics believe there is Only One True Church, I do too but I believe the One True Church included the whole chistian body not just the catholics.

Let say you are right and I am wrong.

and you are over my house for a party and happen to hear a non christian ask me about my faith.
I tell Him about Jesus and you volunteer that you also believe that He died on the cross for our sins.

Before anything else could be said our little meeting is interupted and not another word is said.

That night my friend starts to read the bible and God reveals to him the truth of what we told him

before he goes to bed he drops to his knees and repents and confesses and asks God for forgiveness of all his sin and expresses his new found faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour…

my friend died in His sleep that night

where do you believe my friend, because of your witness in a short 2 minute “church” gathering of 3 people, will spend eternal life…

heaven?

or

hell?

thank you

God bless

 

[distracted]

distracted, why stop at 40,000

I bet Jesus would like to see 400,000 then 4,000,000 churches.
Is church limited to a building with a cross on top?

bible said

where two or three are gathered Jesus is in the midst

Distracted, you are your own “priest”

the Holy Spirit lives within you.

you can have a few of your catholic friends over your house for a gathering with 1 or 2 non christian friends, and if the subject of religion comes up, God just may have opened the door of faith so that your non christian friends may find faith in Jesus through yours and your friends’ witness.

Once the conversation gets serious and the offer of prayer accepted by your friends…guess what?

you just had church in your home because Jesus was the center of attention

this is one of the works I believe one will be richly rewarded for in heaven

why can’t that someone be you?
How many christians in the world?

if all of us reach out to our non christian friends as I gave an example, how many home “churches” do you believe there can be to choose from?

God bless

mpjw

i would totally and whole-heartedly agree…*** if ***all those 400,000 churches taught all the same things and if they did there wouldn’t be all the … uh… problems in relationships between Christians…

 

[distracted]

puzzleannie I know catholics believe there is Only One True Church, I do too but I believe the One True Church included the whole chistian body not just the catholics.

Let say you are right and I am wrong.

and you are over my house for a party and happen to hear a non christian ask me about my faith.
I tell Him about Jesus and you volunteer that you also believe that He died on the cross for our sins.

Before anything else could be said our little meeting is interupted and not another word is said.

That night my friend starts to read the bible and God reveals to him the truth of what we told him

before he goes to bed he drops to his knees and repents and confesses and asks God for forgiveness of all his sin and expresses his new found faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour…

my friend died in His sleep that night

where do you believe my friend, because of your witness in a short 2 minute “church” gathering of 3 people, will spend eternal life…

heaven?

or

hell?

thank you

God bless

there is no way to tell… but the RCC teaches t hat if a person repents of his sins, he will go to Heaven… He may not there directly, without a spell in Purg… but he will probably get there… even so, the Church also teaches that we cannot ever know who is in Heaven or Hell or Purg…

and in case you needed clarification on this: The Church also teaches that non-Caatholics can be saved… but it is a bit tougher for them becaues they don’t have … w hat the Church has to offer…

i know what they don’t have because i used to not have it myself… and didn’t know until I DID have it that i didn’t have it … and needed it desperately…

I keep getting this thought that if it weren’t for the Cahtolic Church i would NOT be a Christian… if you only knew my history… w hat all i have been through… you would understand why i say that.

 

[LutheranDK]

.

but is it a good thing to have 40,000 “churches” to choose from??

hmmm… :coffeeread:

Bait…and I ain’t biting!

 

[mpjw2]

there is no way to tell… but the RCC teaches t hat if a person repents of his sins, he will go to Heaven… He may not there directly, without a spell in Purg… but he will probably get there… even so, the Church also teaches that we cannot ever know who is in Heaven or Hell or Purg…

and in case you needed clarification on this: The Church also teaches that non-Caatholics can be saved… but it is a bit tougher for them becaues they don’t have … w hat the Church has to offer…

i know what they don’t have because i used to not have it myself… and didn’t know until I DID have it that i didn’t have it … and needed it desperately…

I keep getting this thought that if it weren’t for the Cahtolic Church i would NOT be a Christian… if you only knew my history… w hat all i have been through… you would understand why i say that.

distacted …praise God you found peace again and your life has been restored through the CC

It does not mean I need to come back to the CC to get the same results as you did.

As far as being saved, I do not believe we have a discrimatory God.

the only thing that will keep me out of heaven is if I blasphame Jesus, or let myself live in sin, enjoy it, and do not confess or repent it to God …then yes I am in deep do-do

 

[mpjw2]

i would totally and whole-heartedly agree…*** if ***all those 400,000 churches taught all the same things and if they did there wouldn’t be all the … uh… problems in relationships between Christians…

wow distracted, you are the first to express a whole hearted agreement with me if it were not for that hugh if you posted.

distracted God’s children is no different than christian family households around the world.

as children, I am pretty confident your parents had different rules of the house as my parents did.
and if we were to switch homes for a month, there probably be some uncomfortable adjusting to the new rules and our parents would learn the fruit of patience during this process.

the bottom line… we are learning love and respect, not just for our parents but also for God as they love us as they believe God loves them.

is it always that simple?

absolutely not

distracted, try to look on the positive side for a sec.

if we did not have problems in relationships, we could not grow in love.

do you have anyone at work you can not stand?

there is a reason God put this person in your life

just maybe God knows at some time in the future, this person is going to be your best friend.

crazy I might be, I believe not

I do not know your story, but I will make a fair guess there is at least one person God put in your life who encouraged when you were at a low point in your life,

yes??

God I believe is definitely in the miracle business

God bless you and may He keep you strong in your faith

mpjw

 

[NotTooSmart]

.

but is it a good thing to have 40,000 “churches” to choose from??

hmmm… :coffeeread:

So the official number per amateur Catholic apologists is now 40,000?

Anyone for 50,000? 60,000? 289,451?

 

[Departed_Light]

So the official number per amateur Catholic apologists is now 40,000?

Anyone for 50,000? 60,000? 289,451?

The correct number is 289,452. All of humankind would seriously appreciate it if you would do just a little research before posting on these boards.

faux blank stare with slightly tilted head

 

[4EverHis]

Jesus made one Church and prayed that we would all be united in truth… that means all believing the same thing… not debating thousands of different intepretations of Scripture. There is still only one Church and Jesus is leading it so it has the correct interpretation… I believe the division saddens Him the Church is His Body, Christ has only one Body…so, only one Church.

 

[NotTooSmart]

The correct number is 289,452. All of humankind would seriously appreciate it if you would do just a little research before posting on these boards.

faux blank stare with slightly tilted head

I am sorry. My bad.

 

[st_lucy]

distacted …praise God you found peace again and your life has been restored through the CC

It does not mean I need to come back to the CC to get the same results as you did.

As far as being saved, I do not believe we have a discrimatory God.

the only thing that will keep me out of heaven is if I blasphame Jesus, or let myself live in sin, enjoy it, and do not confess or repent it to God …then yes I am in deep do-do

Yes you are doing a good job by mans terms but you are missing out on the what God has asked you to do by not receiving the sacraments. Our Lord gave us His body, blood, soul and divinty to consume every day in the Holy Eucharist as a Christian how can anyone say no to that? Although the gospels do talk about those early followers who left Him when He asked them to do this Himself.

Confessing your sins every night before bed is good and should be done every night, but the God gave us a church and priest to do this the way He wants us to do it. How can any true Christian say no to that? It is also very healing and uplifting to know and feel how much God loves you.

You see God is so good to His children that He gave us a Church to follow with rules made by Him so that we don’t have to run around making things up ourselves. It is much like a parent who has to leave for a short period of time and has to leave his oldest child in charge of the younger ones with a set of rules that must be followed. No parent would leave the house without someone in charge so that his children where left to guess what they should and should not do.

 

[distracted]

distacted …praise God you found peace again and your life has been restored through the CC

It does not mean I need to come back to the CC to get the same results as you did.

As far as being saved, I do not believe we have a discrimatory God.

the only thing that will keep me out of heaven is if I blasphame Jesus, or let myself live in sin, enjoy it, and do not confess or repent it to God …then yes I am in deep do-do

all sins and blashpehmies will be forgiven but the sin of blashpehming the HS will not be forgiven in this life of the next (Purgatory)… St Mt 12:32

the sin against the HS is not blashpheming JEsus. that can be forgiven… ***All sins are forgiven except one: NOT allowing yourself to be forgiven… not accepting Jesus… (***which is what is happening in St Mt 12:32 with the Pharisees. That is the sin Jesus is addressing, although the psg is confusing…

which is why we need an infallible Church to interpret scripture

 

[distracted]

distracted God’s children is no different than christian family households around the world.

as children, I am pretty confident your parents had different rules of the house as my parents did.
and if we were to switch homes for a month, there probably be some uncomfortable adjusting to the new rules and our parents would learn the fruit of patience during this process.

you cannot really compare earthly things w/ divine things, like the Church. There is an original Church and then there are “imposters” made by man… They aren’t all bad but they are NOT the Church Christ founded… the one that he promised would not be overcome by the devil, who is much stronger than us and would always win - as opposed to usually - if it weren’t for Christ’s Sacrifice (Eucharist… St Jn 6:27)

if we did not have problems in relationships, we could not grow in love.

I’m not talking about everyday problems… I’m talking about people who think they know the truth not getting along with those who do know the truth, namely Catholics (not to mention not getting along with others who also don’t have the fullness of truth… but nonetheless disagree…) . yes, i know other Christians have some of the truth also… but not all…

and when it comes to religion & politics,people don’t get along when they disagree on those 2 things… and there is no disputing this fact and it isn’t going to change until… well, until everyone is Catholic… truly Catholic, that is… meaning not voting for pro-abort candidates … but i don’t call those ones truly Catholic

do you have anyone at work you can not stand?

there is a reason God put this person in your life

just maybe God knows at some time in the future, this person is going to be your best friend.

this whole thing sounds downrgiht foreign to me… i have no friends but Jesus… and don’t want any because i don’t know anyone who loves Jesus the way i think he or she should… IF they did they would also have some kind of regard for yours truly and they don’t… I do not trust human beings… and don’t want to be friends with any of them…unless i could find out who is fanatical aabout Jesus… but i don’t socialize much so probably never will…
Jesus is the only one i need… He will never separate me from God the way human relationships always do… Humans “love” you one day and despise and reject you the next… Who needs that??

I have fewer persons in my life than ever… (as in NONE, to speak of) and yet i feel less alone than ever…

because of my … uh… well, hate to put it this way… but because of my “Catholic Jesus”… l

 

[distracted]

so i get the last word…

meaning you can’t argue with truth…

don’t know why people keep trying… :banghead: