Thanks.Good question, Mark.
And the answer is that, like a good number of American Catholics, sadly there are some Lutherans that do not stay true to the confessions.
It is my understanding that the ELCA is considering the question of openly practicing homosexual clegy. The very fact that it is a question to consider is heartbreaking.
I don’t think there are any Lutheran synods that support abortion, and I’d have to look up contraception teachings.
Jon
-If Mary were not sinless, she couldn’t be worthy to become the new Ark of the Covenant, the new Eve, to conceive God. Are you telling me God took sanctuary in a sinner?I’m not usually as direct or blunt as I am with the following questions, but in light of your questions and what seems to be the reasons behind your questions I felt I had to be blunt. I don’t mean to offend.
Who told Catholics that the Virgin Mary was sinless or immaculately conceived? Please show references.
Or who told Cathlolics Peter was the first Pope? Again references please. Did you know Peter was married. If he is your example, why don’t popes or other priests get married? Do you know priests and other church leader in the Bible usually were married?
Who told Catholics that Jesus didn’t have brothers and sisters (Mary and Joseph’s children) because the Bible says He did have sibblings? References please.
Who told Catholics to call their priests ‘father’ when the Bible says not to call anyone father because there is one Father, our Heavenly Father? References please.
I guess I’d rather have a contradictory belief form other Christians that I can see some evidence for in the Bible than believe things that are different from the direct teachings of the Bible.
Then how do you know when the Pope is infallible?
1-If Mary were not sinless, she couldn’t be worthy to become the new Ark of the Covenant, the new Eve, to conceive God. Are you telling me God took sanctuary in a sinner?
2-While Peter was married, the Bible tells us that when Jesus called the disciples, they were told to leave behind everything, including families.
3-Where does it show that Jesus’s brothers were Mary’s children? When Jesus was in the Temple at the age of 13, we see Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in that story, but no brothers or sisters. When Jesus died on the cross, he entrusted Mary to St. John. If he had a brother, then he would’ve entrusted Mary with a brother, as was Jewish custom. Yet, no brother was there. In Aramaic, the language of Jesus, the word “brother” meant a lot of things. It meant “brother”, “male cousin”, and even “male friend”. 1 Corinthians 2:1 states “When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God,…” Do you think Paul was speaking to just his brothers, his mother’s sons? After all, it clearly states “brother”.
4-Man, you took that verse of Scripture horribly out of context. The same passage states that Jesus tells us to call no man “father”, “teacher”, or “master”. Do you honestly think Jesus was abolishing the actual uses of the words?
There is a difference between discipline and doctrine. Not eating meat is discipline, not doctrine.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=159833
Did you read the explanation between discipline and doctrine? The Church will teach discipline, as it were, to help the faithful. If the faithful do not need the discipline, it is not required. If you consider that God changing his mind, so be it. God can do whatever He wants.The point was, did God change His mind?
I hope you haven’t called anyone doctor. Doctor is a Latin word meaning teacher…
- Well, could the context be that one should NOT take on the title of …(fill in the blank)? I’m not sure using ‘pastor’ as a title is correct either. Why do we call God ‘our Father?’ It’s because He has begotten us in Christ Jesus. We are born again into His family; He has adopted us. That can’t be said about any priest, pastor, minister, deacon, elder, pope, etc. It can only be said of our God and our biological dads. BTW, there is ONLY ONE Holy Father. The rest of us are sinners awaiting total freedom from our sin nature when we are in Heaven.
Growing up with Catholics we were told it was a sin to eat meat on Fridays. Was that correct?Did you read the explanation between discipline and doctrine? The Church will teach discipline, as it were, to help the faithful. If the faithful do not need the discipline, it is not required. If you consider that God changing his mind, so be it. God can do whatever He wants.
If the Church said so at the time.Growing up with Catholics we were told it was a sin to eat meat on Fridays. Was that correct?
No offense, but is that the best answer to my question?I hope you haven’t called anyone doctor. Doctor is a Latin word meaning teacher…
- Where does the Bible say that Mary was the new Ark of the Covenant? Hebrews, I believe, tells us that Jesus is the Heavenly tabernacle including the Ark of the Covenant. Where in the Bible does it say Mary was sinless? Mary called God her Saviour. Only sinners need a Saviour.
- Do you really think Jesus doesn’t want husbands to take care of their families?
- Please check out Matthew 12:47 & 13:55. The Greek work for brother there is adelphos from two words ‘a’ and ‘delphos;’ delphos means from the womb. Notice, Mary was with the brothers of Jesus. So lthere must have been some relationship there. I guess you’ll have to ask Jesus why He entrusted His earthly mother to John. Could it be that none of His brothers were there to take the responsibility? Could it be He knew something we don’t know? Could it be that Jesus is not bound by human tradition but bound only by His own will (His will being the same as the will of the Father.)
- Well, could the context be that one should NOT take on the title of …(fill in the blank)? I’m not sure using ‘pastor’ as a title is correct either. Why do we call God ‘our Father?’ It’s because He has begotten us in Christ Jesus. We are born again into His family; He has adopted us. That can’t be said about any priest, pastor, minister, deacon, elder, pope, etc. It can only be said of our God and our biological dads. BTW, there is ONLY ONE Holy Father. The rest of us are sinners awaiting total freedom from our sin nature when we are in Heaven.
It is an example of the absurdity of taking the verse literally.No offense, but is that the best answer to my question?
If the Church said so at the time.
That is a dangerous road to go down. If I get to decide what is and is not sin, I can see that easily allowing some people to rationalize all sorts of actions.I’m trying to understand this answer with what you said: “The Church will teach discipline, as it were, to help the faithful. If the faithful do not need the discipline, it is not required. If you consider that God changing his mind, so be it. God can do whatever He wants.”
Does the faithful get to choose for themselves if they need it? If they think they don’t need it, how can it be a sin?
Seems God may have changed His mind because the faithful complained a lot. Many Catholics I knew complained.
That is a dangerous road to go down. If I get to decide what is and is not sin, I can see that easily allowing some people to rationalize all sorts of actions.
It all comes down to authority. Catholics believe the Church has authority on faith and morals, using the Bible as the inspired word of God, our deposit of faith. Protestants do not. All issues we disagree on boils down to this.
You should read the answers to your questions on this web site as suggested, they are very detailed for your purpose.No offense, but is that the best answer to my question?
You should read the answers to your questions on this web site as suggested, they are very detailed for your purpose.
Call no man Father:
If we take the above statement as you do that no one should be called Father, rabbi or teacher then you must have a problem with the rest of the bible which violates the command as you understand it.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Paul speaks of his commission as a teacher: “For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle . . . a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth” (1 Tim. 2:7); “For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher” (2 Tim. 1:11). He also reminds us that the Church has an office of teacher: “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers” (1 Cor. 12:28); and “his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11). There is no doubt that Paul was not violating Christ’s teaching in Matthew 23 by referring so often to others as “teachers.”
For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:14–15).
“Honor your father and mother”
Nearly half the uses of “father” in the Acts of the Apostles appear in Stephen’s speech in chapter 7 (17 out of 36 uses). He refers to the ancestors as fathers, both individually and collectively (16 times), and once he addresses his audience as “brothers and fathers.” Paul addressed a crowd of angry Jews in the Temple as “brothers and fathers” (Acts 22:1). These are places in which “father” is given to Jewish religious leaders. The title is also given to Christian religious leaders.
And last but not least, study your history of about a hundred years ago. Back then, many Protestant ministers were called “Father”. The Catholic Church did not call its priests Father at that time. During that period, many Irish Catholics were coming to the U.S. and they started calling their priests “Father” it caught on to such a degree in the Catholic Church that some of the Protestants that were using it, dropped the title “Father” so they would not be identified with the Catholic Church. Funny that nobody had a problem with the use of the title “Father” until its use was exclusively for Catholic priests.
The church gets to decide what is sin ?If the Church said so at the time.