I really am trying to Return to Catholicism BUT!

[GraceDK]

Yes, Huguenot, again you arrive at Catholicism!

The priest acts in the person of Christ. Only God can forgive sins, but he has grafted men into this ministry of reconciliation to HImself. I sometimes imagine how much more difficult it would be to confess kneeling before Jesus. :bigyikes:

brother you can begin your :bigyikes: right about now coz I am about to reveal something frightening and wonderful to you… Jesus sees you WHILE you sin and He IS the one before Whom you confess and kneel down to in the Confessional.

Hope you didnt just fall off your chair.

 

[Brian_Millar]

brother you can begin your :bigyikes: right about now coz I am about to reveal something frightening and wonderful to you… Jesus sees you WHILE you sin and He IS the one before Whom you confess and kneel down to in the Confessional.

Hope you didnt just fall off your chair.

Thank you for the warm comments bretheren. I gotta add onto this statement a bit, there is nothing we do have done or will do that is hidden in the eyes of our Lord, we confess to things he’s fully aware of, it’s the act of telling him, yes, we screwed up, the fact that we know we sinned against him that matters. His forgiveness is always ready to be given to us freely, he made it quite clear that he’s willing to do anything and all things for us to fall unto his grace.

Something that I keep in the back of my mind, I think of all that the priests are exposed to, listening to our confessions, they endure much more knowing what they know due to being exposed to it. I wonder how many of us take this into account and I wonder how many of us pray for them to endure this task, I can’t imagine how overwhelming it might become for them due to the collective.

 

[guanophore]

However, does the protestant continue to disobey God and remain in jeopardy, by not availing himself of the grace{James 4:6-7} necessary to sin no more?

God is not limited to the Sacraments, so it is possible for someone to make a perfect confession and receive the graces needed to sin no more without it. It just seems to me like it would be a lot more difficult. I mean, it is like Jesus saying, “here is a container of what you need to keep my commandments”, but the struggling person never opens it to find out what is inside.

 

[skatepixie]

There are rude people everywhere. Our Church is huge–1 billion people–just based on that number alone it is clear that not everyone is going to be nice. The thing is, we can’t let it effect us…because if we did then we wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.

 

[Huguenot]

we are made in the image and likeness of God

but we are not hated by God because God is love, his mercy is endless

not at all, but Jesus came and provided for us an example of how to live our life for God - to be Holy as our heavenly Father is Holy. Would Jesus give us a task we could not complete?

but he doesn’t, because

Catholics as well

There is good in man because we are made in the image and likeness of God.

In the beginning…

We were made in the image of God … at the beginning, but then original sin completely spoilt it …
I never said that we are hated by God, I said we would deserve to be hated by Him, but because of His infinite love , He loves us … that is what makes His love so extraordinary …

 

[Huguenot]

Yes, Huguenot, again you arrive at Catholicism!

The priest acts in the person of Christ. Only God can forgive sins, but he has grafted men into this ministry of reconciliation to HImself. I sometimes imagine how much more difficult it would be to confess kneeling before Jesus. :bigyikes:

On this forum some consider me an enemy of Catholicism but I’m not … you know it … there are just things I don’t agree with, but it doesn’t mean I reject everything …

 

[po18guy]

On this forum some consider me an enemy of Catholicism but I’m not … you know it … there are just things I don’t agree with, but it doesn’t mean I reject everything …

You are where I was shortly after I was baptized. Glad to have you here. Amazingly, the Lord has erased all of my objections to the teachings of the Catholic church. I was obstinate and had my own beliefs, but He slowly, patiently revealed the truth to me. I invite you to stay for more interesting conversation, my brother in Christ.

Christ’s peace.

 

[Steven_John]

Im in a dilema .After months of attending Protestant service I returned

i am a vincentian, at vinnies the president often scorns and critisces people we assist, hides funds from state council and so on.

I see people in all these places doing what i dont see as living their testament.

I correct priests, Imams presidents layerty and so on.

With humility love and kindness and a huge gulp of bravery, at times i get corrected, some times we stay differed but most often they are put right.

Not by me but by God.

Now if because they do wrong I stay away from them who will God have to help them?

If Jesus (PBWH) stayed away from wrong doers where would we be now.

Maybe brother you are blessed and should pray in many places.

With humility i would seek the lady from the confessional tell her I am a sinner and sorry for my sins getting in her way. offer her a 50 and tell her I seek to be pious.

This is how i would do it, pray brother for what you should do to help people.

Many dont even care, you do thats why you started this thread.

Many dont care, your blessed.

i love you

I will be who I will be

 

[peary]

We were made in the image of God … at the beginning, but then original sin completely spoilt it …
I never said that we are hated by God, I said we would deserve to be hated by Him, but because of His infinite love , He loves us … that is what makes His love so extraordinary …

‘Sin’ is both psychological and spiritual; its consequences can be physical; however, the Bible is explicit in telling us that original sin did not completely ‘spoiled’ it (meaning, in the image and likeness of God - which is immortality). If that were true, God would have withdrawn the gift of immortality from us and would have not sent Christ for us to redeem us. I believe that we deserve to be pitied by God, not hated by Him but, as you say, because of His infinite love, He has seen to save us from ourselves.

 

[MementoMori3283]

We were made in the image of God … at the beginning, but then original sin completely spoilt it …

So, do you believe that God made Adam and Eve, they sinned, and after they had Cain and Abel? Do you believe that Cain offered an inadequate sacrifice to God while Abel gave what is right in the eyes of the Lord? How, then, could there be no good in man?

Also, does God continue to make a new Adam and a new Eve or are we all born from original parents?

Also, do you believe in the flood. If so, did not God find righteousness in Noah and destroy the rest of humanity, thereby continuing the line from Adam and Eve?

 

[GraceDK]

So, do you believe that God made Adam and Eve, they sinned, and after they had Cain and Abel? Do you believe that Cain offered an inadequate sacrifice to God while Abel gave what is right in the eyes of the Lord? How, then, could there be no good in man?

Also, does God continue to make a new Adam and a new Eve or are we all born from original parents?

Also, do you believe in the flood. If so, did not God find righteousness in Noah and destroy the rest of humanity, thereby continuing the line from Adam and Eve?

memento… interesting points…
but then again… Cain and Abel as well as Noah had faith in the one true God according to what was demanded by God at the time. This, without doubt, was an act of grace from God.
Still it may be held that man was totally depraved without this faith by grace and that “man can do nothing pleasing to God without faith”.

I am sorry if I dont make my self clear.
I am not inside the logic of any of the positions… I am just puzzled at this question…

 

[MementoMori3283]

I am sorry if I dont make my self clear.
I am not inside the logic of any of the positions… I am just puzzled at this question…

ok - my question simplified is did God create man once in the image and likenes of God or does he re-create in a different image after someone fails to follow what “God demands at that time”?

If it was by grace that Cain brought a sacrifice to God, how could it be displeasing to God?

I say man is by nature good, receiving the indelible mark of his Creator; the conscience where God speaks to every man. Elements of society corrupt the flesh and draw us away from God. Original sin, pride-I do not need God-, led to Cain’s rejection of God’s counsel and the murder of his brother.

If man had no good in him, why would God say unto Cain, “Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”

 

[Huguenot]

You are where I was shortly after I was baptized. Glad to have you here. Amazingly, the Lord has erased all of my objections to the teachings of the Catholic church. I was obstinate and had my own beliefs, but He slowly, patiently revealed the truth to me. I invite you to stay for more interesting conversation, my brother in Christ.

Christ’s peace.

I’m your SISTER in Christ ( a female Huguenot )

 

[Tsuwano]

Im in a dilema .After months of attending Protestant service I returned and went to confession .I felt so graet I could’nt help but smile and feel myself praising the lord.Then as I stepped out of the confessional an older woman snarled at me and said I took to long in the confession and I made her late for her appointmaent with her hairdresser .It was then I became angry and the following day returned to the Protestant Church ,where I felt the Holy Spirit .It’s the attitude of these old “coots” that profess to be Catholics but have no sympathy for fellow sinners please tell me me what to do. When I leave Sunday Service I feel great when I leave Mass I dont .The people at Mass can’t wait to get out of there me I’m not pleased with such un christian acts .Sorry but you must convince me otherwise …Did not Jesus say " By their fruits you shall know them"…Peace
“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Jesus did indeed say “By their fruit you shall know them.” This leads me to ask, what is the nature of the “fruit” you have produced in this encounter with the elderly woman? Rather than forgive the woman for her rudeness or seek to understand her exasperation, you seem to resent her and have allowed her rudeness to pollute an experience that led you to praise God. I’m not saying that the woman shouldn’t reflect on her behavior. She definitely should. But in the aftermath of the affair you also seem to have room for reflection. The story reminds me of St. Theresa of Liseaux, I believe, who said that her greatest torment in the convent was the elderly nun who sat next to her in the chapel. As the elderly sister prayed, her rosary beads clicked against the back of the pew in front of her. This distracted St.Theresa so much that she spent much of her time in prayer praying for patience. We all meet people in life who, for some unknown reason, annoy the goodness out of us. This will happen among Protestants, Jews, Muslims, as well as Catholics. The point isn’t to wonder why people can be rude and annoying and then judge others by the action of one person, but to reflect on our own actins and reactions and pray for the grace to act graciously toward others at all times.

 

[Huguenot]

‘Sin’ is both psychological and spiritual; its consequences can be physical; however, the Bible is explicit in telling us that original sin did not completely ‘spoiled’ it (meaning, in the image and likeness of God - which is immortality). If that were true, God would have withdrawn the gift of immortality from us and would have not sent Christ for us to redeem us. I believe that we deserve to be pitied by God, not hated by Him but, as you say, because of His infinite love, He has seen to save us from ourselves.

but God HAS withdrawn the gift of immortality from Adam and Eve…they were told that if they sinned, they would die, and that is how physical death entered the world, I don’t remember where Paul says that “as by one man death has entered the world” ( something like that, I have it in French in my head … ; in Romans if I’m not mistaken …) ; we don’t DESERVE anything from God, not even to be pitied, because then it would mean that we deserve His mercy : we don’t ; He has mercy on us by pure GRACE, and grace can’t be deserved …

 

[Huguenot]

So, do you believe that God made Adam and Eve, they sinned, and after they had Cain and Abel? Do you believe that Cain offered an inadequate sacrifice to God while Abel gave what is right in the eyes of the Lord? How, then, could there be no good in man?

Also, does God continue to make a new Adam and a new Eve or are we all born from original parents?

Also, do you believe in the flood. If so, did not God find righteousness in Noah and destroy the rest of humanity, thereby continuing the line from Adam and Eve?

Well for the sacrifice of Abel and of Cain it still puzzles me : each one gave of what he had, it seems God didn’t accept Cain’s sacrifice because it was not an animal but he didn’t have any …
to speak honestly I find it a bit “unfair” to Cain …in fact we don’t know why God accepted one of the sacrifices and not the other …

Yes, God continued the line from Adam and Eve …through Noah ; I don’t really understand the question about a new Eve and a new Adam …

 

[MementoMori3283]

Well for the sacrifice of Abel and of Cain it still puzzles me : each one gave of what he had, it seems God didn’t accept Cain’s sacrifice because it was not an animal but he didn’t have any …
to speak honestly I find it a bit “unfair” to Cain …**in fact we don’t know why God accepted one of the sacrifices and not the other **…

there is much we don’t know about God, period! The Catholic Church has much to say about Genesis 4. God sees the heart. It is understood that Cain did not give the “fatted calf” of the harvest.

Yes, God continued the line from Adam and Eve …through Noah ; I don’t really understand the question about a new Eve and a new Adam …

Then how do you proffer that God changed the goodness that was in man after the original sin of Adam and Eve?

When did God re-create man in the image of, well, a sinful man?

Or did Adam and Eve then “create” man anew in their image and likeness?

Forgive me, but I do not really understand how the sin of Adam and Eve could change the never-changing God.

We suffer together in this humanity through one man as we are saved together through one man. Original sin seperated us from God but it did not change what we are made of. Sin was brought into the world, that sin being death, but, “be of good cheer, for I AM has conquered death.”

The sin of Adam did not change our goodness or God would not say to Cain, “and thou shalt rule over him{sin}.”

 

[po18guy]

I’m your SISTER in Christ ( a female Huguenot )

Oooops! How about using the term “brister” as a combination of brother and sister. Ummmm, maybe not.

Well, Christ’s peace anyway!

 

[distracted]

Actually, that’s the place Christ told us to look

That is SO not true…

You must be a Protestant… (long story why i say that…)

 

[Huguenot]

Oooops! How about using the term “brister” as a combination of brother and sister. Ummmm, maybe not.

Well, Christ’s peace anyway!

OK for “brister”, sounds quite good actually …