MrZetterlund, you said:
**I’m protestant, and I’ve been investigating in Catholosism since I’ve been impressed with answers I’ve recieved to previous questions.
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**If you don’t mind me asking: which protestant church?
I want to ask some questions, and if you can, give me a scriptual response. Of cousre, I won’t limit you to scripture, But if you could, just give me a good explanation:
#1: Why do you pray to Mary rather than God?**
If I ask you to pray for me, would you? Of course you would. If I ask Mary, the Mother of God, or my Grandma or Aunt who are one with God in Heaven, to pray for me, do you think that they would? Of course they would, and their prayers are infinitely more efficacious than yours or mine. As a former Lutheran, my friends and other non-Catholics would tell me that the CC teaches their flock to worship the blessed Mother of God, so I checked it out in the on line CCC, once upon a time, and now I am a Catholic. So silly to believe that the CC would teach such idolatry.
#2: Why do you confess to a priest rather than to God?
*"Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Here we can see that Jesus sent his church leaders out to forgive sins, just as His Father sent him to forgive sins. The priest has zero power to forgive anyone’s sins; it’s Jesus speaking through his instrument. You don’t really think that the fallible, sinful Apostles had any power to forgive sins, by their own admission, do you? Confession is entirely Eucharist based. Jesus just wants us to wipe the sin slate clean before we enter His Fathers House and receive Him in the Eucharist.
**#3: What’s the deal with having a pope and saints?
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What’s the deal with having pastors and ministers, presiding over their flock?
Saints, broadly speaking, are those who follow Jesus Christ and live their lives according to his teaching. Narrowly speaking, a saint is someone with singular heroic virtue, such as mother Theresa, who was a role model of Catholic virtues. The process by which someone becomes a saint is called canonization. The Catholic church has canonized around 3,000 people. According to the Catholic church, the pope does not make someone a saint – the designation of sainthood only recognizes what God has already done.
**#4: Do you preach in your churches or is it all ritual?
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Catholic priests/bishops preach just as pastors/ministers do. The difference between my former Lutheran church and the Catholic church to which I now belong is the fact that the Christ in the Eucharist is the focal point at the Mass, and the pastor is the focal point at church. I feel so much more closer to Jesus in the CC.
#5: Why do you annoint with oil?
Oil is used in the administration of a Sacrament, which is an outward action of an inward grace. In scripture we see many examples of anointing with oil, especially for the sick - and to consecrate people, especially priests and kings, and things to be used in the service of God. Here is a very small sampling of some of those scriptures:
With this sacred anointing oil you shall anoint the meeting tent and the ark of the commandments, the table and all its appurtenances, the lampstand and its appurtenances, the altar of incense and the altar of holocausts with all its appurtenances, and the laver with its base.
When you have consecrated them, they shall be most sacred; whatever touches them shall be sacred. Aaron and his sons you shall also anoint and consecrate as my priests. (Exodus 30:26-30)
They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mark 6:13)
Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. (James 5:14-15)
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. (John 12:3)
**#6: Do you always agree with what the pope declares or says?
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Jesus said to Simon: "You are Kepha, and upon this kepha, I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus’ church is built on Peter, and since Jesus’ church is to exist until the end of time, Jesus’ church is also built on Peter’s successors. Papal infallibility is achieved by the action of the Holy Spirit, not the Pope! The Pope is preserved from the possibility of error when he solemnly declares or promulgates to the Catholic Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals, just as the Holy Spirit works in the body of Christ, the Church. This dogma, however, does not state that the Pope cannot commit sin in his own personal life or that he is free of error, even when speaking in his official capacity, outside the specific contexts in which the dogma applies. It is all about the holy spirit protecting the deposit of faith so that every person, regardless of generation, can have access to it. No other institution on earth has had 264 consecutive leaders for almost a two thousand year period, (which included a few bad Popes)- proclaim with absolute fidelity, the teachings of its founder. All the credit goes to the holy spirit, who works through the man who sits in the Chair of Peter.
God bless…
Love is Patient
