Yes, it is cynical, but that has been my experience. Truthfully, Protestants do the opposite of Catholics. I am not interested in what the Protestant communities do. I find them wrong and even inconsistent with one another.
Well read the previous posts and you might learn something.
What made you think I did not read the posts? I did read the posts and my response is this: protestants can rationalize all you want. It simply is this: If it is Catholic then Protestants take the opposite stance. Period.
Mother Angelica calls a Crucifix, Cross, pictures of Jesus, the Saints, Our Blessed Mother, these things we hang on our walls, Holy Reminders. If I am going about my day at home cleaning or what ever and I glance at these things on my walls, they remind me of my faith, of the sacrifice of Our Lord instead of other things that may come across my mind while I am dusting off my television screen. They are just that. Holy Reminders. I haven’t read any of your other posts so I will ask if you have pictures of your loved ones on your walls or set out on a table? If you do, would you say that they are there to be worshipped or to be reminded that they are people whom you love? I love Jesus and I have a Crucifix in view to remind me of his great sacrifice for us. I’m only human. I need Holy Reminders.I am what you catholics call protestant tho I destest that categorization because it lumps me in with other groups who clearly don’t have Christ as their #1… But this is for another discussion.
This can tie in nicely to a thread that I had started: If It Seems Wrong… It Is
My step-mom’s Dad (I guess you could call him my step-grandfather) gave us a crucefix once and it hangs in a spare room that I now have. I don’t keep it out because of my convictions mentioned in other’s well put together previous posts. I wonder if I should take it out sometimes because I feel as though I am keeping Christ locked up but then the whole ‘graven image’ things comes to mind and I keep it where it is. See, I believe it is wrong to display graven images, of Christ or not, because of the whole Commandments thing. I will probably get rid of the one I have but I haven’t because it was a gift by a family member. And if you believe something is wrong by commandment of God Himself and you still do it… it’s almost as if you are doing it to spite Him or because you don’t care if it will tick Him off. Whether it really is wrong in His book or not.
So, until my convictions tell me otherwise, the crucefix I own will stay hanging in my spare room. (I should mention that the spare room is more of a storage room of which no one really goes into)
Ok. I was willing to give you the doubt that you had not read the previous posts. However, you now say you did, so I believe you. That said, you’re simply wrong. Period.
This has been fun. Sorry we got off thread, everybody.We’ll try to get back on.
You lost me here. Don’t remember mentioning a daughter, though I do have one.
Funny, I didn’t have a priest, but my mother made us memorize that as kids.She got concerned that we weren’t learning about God. Hopefully, you weren’t subjected to hour-long unabridged King James Version Old Testament read in a monotone…:crying: --the Levitical Law, Numbers, the genealogies: “and Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat…” on and on through “and Septimus begat Octavius…until the last human was born and died.” No break–on and on and on. :banghead: (We’re still talking about children here, you realize…) There are worse things than growing up devout Catholic–I’m sure of it… But God is merciful. Fortunately, my parents were not very disciplined and these bouts did not last more than a few weeks…We kids went back to our old irreligious selves… And that is probably what made me open to know the **real **Christ (as opposed to the dissected, bisected, theologically correct, interlinearly, concordance and Bible-dictionary worthy Jesus). I needed Him to protect me from His followers!
Sorry that was Cat with the daughter I read back on all these posts to find it. Can you believe we are still hashing this over?Whew. Glad to hear that. So, if a Protestant is not contrarian then how aobut Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth, Purgatory, Confession, the Real Presence, etc.?
First of all, we dont worship crucifixes; they are just there as a reminder of what Christ did for us. Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” Did you catch that? Jesus was publicly portrayed, before their “eyes”, as being crucified. Sounds kind of like they may have been looking at a Crucifix, doesn’t it?
I beg your pardon… Many people live where there is no Catholic Church. Others have never been exposed to it. How do you protest something you’ve never been around? I think the Jews could make as strong a case for Catholic “protestantism,” based on that criterion. After all, why would you trade a 5000 year old religion for something that is only 2000 years old? Not saying I believe this, but it makes a logical parallel.
I agree with her. However, it doesn’t always work for me–often it’s a distraction from the faith. I think it’s because our backgrounds have disciplined us to process things in completely different ways. If I see a picture of a saint or of Jesus, I may think it’s nice, but often it bothers me that it can’t possibly be the way they really looked. I start trying to imagine how it would be if you were really there and get strung out critiquing the artist’s conception. Also the deal on Jesus is that I’m focused on the unseen Jesus in the heart and it really messes up my concentration to see a picture. A crucifix I can handle. It’s more obviously representational if it doesn’t try to be realistic with blood and all. It’s more a symbol. My mind works better with obvious symbols.
So how do you explain the fact that I Agree with Catholics on a whole lot of things?
Ditto, Jeanette.The obvious explanation is that you are on your way home and just don’t know it yet!
The obvious explanation is that you are on your way home and just don’t know it yet!
Nice spin. So, the reason that you are not Catholic is because you do do not live near a Catholic Church? Or is because you have never been exposed to it?
The trade you are talking about are one in the same BIBLE the OLD testament and the NEW testament Play Father Ann’s catholic word association game you will learn all about how words are connected. You are one of the most pleasant and respectfull posters I’ve read and I guess I can say we can tell you are so close. connect the bible with Jesus womb you already know. Also Desert,return fromI was hermetically sealed from Catholicism except the knowledge that such things as Catholics existed. I had lots and lots of Catholic friends but was barely exposed to anything “Catholic” except crucifixes and murals on walls and secular history. Catholic culture can be extremely frightening to the uninitiated. The first time I stepped into a Catholic Church I broke out in a cold sweat because it felt like I’d gone over to the “dark side”.
