Why I Will Never Again Be A Catholic

[TommyWommy]

Protestants focus on Jesus, Catholics focus on everything else.

Careful study, reflection, and genuine knowledge of the Catholic Church will reveal to you that it is ALL about Jesus. Catholics cannot help but focus on Jesus because everything we do points to Him. Even Mary never points to herself. She points to Christ and says, “Do whatever He says.”

It is a sad fact that the Catholic faith is the best kept secret from Catholics that there is. But that is partly the fault of Catholics who refuse to make the effort to study and really learn their faith. We live in a fast food world where things are supposed to be just handed to us. Learn your faith and you will be amazed at the truth and beauty of it!

Incidentaly, I’ve seen plenty of Protestants who focus more on the “rules” of their church than they do on Jesus. (Women can’t wear pants or cut their hair, no mixed bathing, can’t wear jewelry, can’t go to movies, can’t drink alcohol, etc.)

 

[1holycatholic]

Catholic did not give the Bible- (taken from CARM- carm.org/religious-movements/roman-catholicism/did-roman-catholic-church-give-us-our-bible)

(Copy & Paste removed as per CARM copyright and CAF Banned Topics . Copying and Linking)

This link: carm.org/apologetics/heresies is ironic. It ought to redirect you to the CARM homepage.

P.S. The Bible proceeds from the Catholic Church.

 

[Elizabethteresa]

So why do those that were raised in the Catholic Church get on a website and forum for Catholics. Love? Hate? Remorse? Understanding? Maybe many reasons. I only know this that I love my family and the catholic people very much. But I look at the word ‘church’ in a new light, Church is people…The Lord’s Church is not just the Catholic Church for many great Christians will be in Heaven that we all cannot deny like Mother Teresa and non Catholic men, like a Billy Graham…watch ‘Only Good News’ sometime and hear the pure Word of God from Franklin Graham…it is not to often that you hear a message of salvation from someone who will so easily tell you that he himself is not worthy of heaven, that he is a sinner saved by the grace of Christ Jesus…and I donot believe that people in the Catholic Church think that the only way to heaven is through catholism because, my friend many in the catholic faith have proven themselves unworthy at the pulpit… Are our priests and ministers of faith that have been involved immorally guilty of horrible crimes against the Lord Himself? This is sin…horrible and we may feel that is in unforgivable…but Christ himself sat at the well and spoke to the most detestable human beings that walked the face of the earth…a hated and immoral tax collector became a disciple. Are you for real? So…take heart that you donnot see your worthier than the least worthy, it is our human flaw…You are a sinner…we tend to think we our sin is not as bad as my neighbors sin. Can you not see that this is pride? We need to humble ourselves and see us how a holy God would see us…God sent His Son to be viciously tortured for the SIN of mankind…that is every man and woman…So why do we not grasp that we need Jesus to rescue us from this world…A Savior for the world…but some do not think they need saving? Fear God not man. For the least of sin before God is sin…so what do you hold onto to in this life? Where your heart is…is where your treasure lies… if your heart is in a doctrine than you will live by the law and die by the law…Was not the law present before Christ? He is our sacrifical Lamb. And think on the beauty of the Creator of the Universe, that He created you for His purpose. To walk closely with HIm…personally…I read in Hebrews 2:6 What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take car of him? You have made him a liitlle lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet." But we can only do the things worthy of God when God is in us…So I pray that we get real with Christ, that if you feel unworthy, get on your knees, repent of your sin and ask Christ to lead you in this life you live… and no fancy feelings, just begin a new journey of closeness with Christ through the scriptures…God is good. Do you know HIm?

 

[deb1]

Do you believed that you are “SAVE”?
I know that I am SAVED. Because I have placed my trust and my faith in Jesus alone. Having said that, God in His mercy no longer count any of my sins (past, present, or future (after being born again)) against me because of my belief in His son Jesus dying on the cross as payment of my sins, and resurected on the 3rd day. Jesus is my Savior and Lord. Although I am capable of sinning, the Holy Spirit in me always remind me of what Jesus dying on the cross mean, therefore, my mind is being transformed to the image of Jesus that I would sin less and less. Sinning was not remove.

Thank goodness that most Protestants don’t hold your beliefs. What you have written goes against the Bible. The only way that you can believe that God will not count future sins against you is by taking individual Bible verses out of context and distorting them.

Don’t you think that if you murdered a child and showed no remorse that God would be angry? Are you saying that if you knowingly sin, God will ignore that sin?

If I honestly believed that Christianity taught the part that I bolded, I would run from Christianity.

 

[deb1]

I think that the moderators should close this thread. What ever Starfish’s original intent, this thread has turned into an option for people to throw several different issues into the mix. We are supposed to remain on topic, but we are all over the place on this one thread.

Elizabeth, please leave some space between each thought. I have difficulty reading posts that run together as yours do.

 

[deb1]

Thank goodness that most Protestants don’t hold your beliefs. What you have written goes against the Bible. The only way that you can believe that God will not count future sins against you is by taking individual Bible verses out of context and distorting them.

Don’t you think that if you murdered a child and showed no remorse that God would be angry? Are you saying that if you knowingly sin, God will ignore that sin?

If I honestly believed that Christianity taught the part that I bolded, I would run from Christianity.

Area 52, I started a thread in non Catholic on this subject

 

[catharina]

**… we all went to CCD classes. This is where we ran into such difficulties in trying to understand and define Catholic doctrine. As mentioned earlier, those who were responsible to explain these concepts took great license in their interpretations of Church teachings. This was not across the board; it was more subtle than that. In any case, they made an indelible impression on many a young mind, all at the expense of imparting true doctrine to children who were entitled to be taught correctly.

It’s unfortunate that they missed these opportunities to share what they found to be so beautiful. What some of us came away with was a very ugly picture of a vengeful, punishing God who would seal up the souls of deceased, unbaptized infants in silent seclusion. The point is not that these stories were untrue, and that we should have understood that they were meant to be illustrative of some higher principle. Why lie when the truth will not only suffice, but will give hope?

I was raised Catholic. I am no longer Catholic. I have been ordered to repent. I’m not quite sure what to make of that.

Limerick**

1. Children are entitled to be taught correctly.
   They are also entitled to be raised in safe and nurturing homes.
   The home of your childhood was headed by an alcoholic father and a powerless mother.
2. A child’s first notion of God comes from the interaction at home.
   Religious teaching is often helpless against a homelife that is neglectful and/or punishing.
3. Children raised in an alcoholic family are inclined toward feeling angry and helpless.
   That can be similar to the notion of an angry God ‘sealing up children’ in seclusion.
4. I’ve no doubt you have your issues.
   Yet it’s likely the great lie of your life began at home, not at Church.
   If you’d been raised Southern Baptist or 7th Day Adventist, you’d have found an angry God.

 

[SSTeacher]

What ever Starfish’s original intent, this thread has turned into an option for people to throw several different issues into the mix. We are supposed to remain on topic, but we are all over the place on this one thread.

I agree.

Limerick,

As far as I can see on the thread, the Original Poster, Starfish, hasn’t made any posts since Post #166, which she concluded by declaring, “So before you judge me, 1holycatholic, and say that it is all about what I want, take a walk in my moccasins, buster, and then maybe we can talk.”

Since you’ve identified with the personal situation described by the Original Poster and have taken a fair amount of flak as a result I was wondering if your conclusion is the same as that of Starfish. Would you ever consider returning to the Catholic Church?

Curiously,
Mick

 

[Sunflower15]

Thank you for your post. I too was taught to pray to the saints. I was also taught that only Catholics will go to heaven. Some Protestants could possibly go to heaven but would surely be there at a lower level (whatever that means). Much of what I was taught in Catholic school seems like complete nonsense to me now. They are the things I was taught, over and over again.

I think sometimes that I remain a Catholic out of the fear put into me by the nuns beginning at the very impressionable age of six. I am afraid that I will never be Catholic enough to make it to heaven. There are just too many teachings I cannot accept in my heart such as the ban on birth control, the infallibility of the Pope, much of the Marian doctrine. I could go on and on.

It seems to me that the church is trying to back pedal now because too many people are leaving for other believe systems or just dropping organized religion altogether. For example, I was specifically taught not to read the Bible because we might misinterpret it. If we did read the Bible, it should be done only under the direction of a nun or priest. Now the church is claiming that they never taught that. Um, excuse me but I was there and I know what I heard.

I don’t know where all of this doubt is going to take me. I am not giving up on the church yet. I pray that it will make sense to me someday.

How old are you? And, you STILL are Catholic due to a fear when you were 6?!

I am not saying that you were not taught to read the Bible…I’m just saying that Catholic Bibles come with all sort of footnotes, margins, and explanations by theologians as to how to interpret it. So, I doubt that any specific nun or priest could have done a better job of explaining it. Odd!

I’m post Vatican Council II. I’m seeing WHY it was SO needed when I read all these posts of what was being taught before. I imagine that not everyone was misinformed, but that there was enough of that going on that it warranted another Council “to get on the same page” kind of thing.

As to the beliefs that you don’t agree with. I’m not telling you what to do, but I’ll be honest, if I disagreed that much I certainly would not even bother calling myself Catholic. It’s just not honest. It would be better for you to be honestly something else, than a dishonest Catholic. I don’t mean this with disrespect. I just mean it sincerely.

 

[Sunflower15]

So why do those that were raised in the Catholic Church get on a website and forum for Catholics. Love? Hate? Remorse? Understanding? Maybe many reasons. I only know this that I love my family and the catholic people very much. But I look at the word ‘church’ in a new light, Church is people…The Lord’s Church is not just the Catholic Church for many great Christians will be in Heaven that we all cannot deny like Mother Teresa and non Catholic men, like a Billy Graham…watch ‘Only Good News’ sometime and hear the pure Word of God from Franklin Graham…it is not to often that you hear a message of salvation from someone who will so easily tell you that he himself is not worthy of heaven, that he is a sinner saved by the grace of Christ Jesus…and I donot believe that people in the Catholic Church think that the only way to heaven is through catholism because, my friend many in the catholic faith have proven themselves unworthy at the pulpit… Are our priests and ministers of faith that have been involved immorally guilty of horrible crimes against the Lord Himself? This is sin…horrible and we may feel that is in unforgivable…but Christ himself sat at the well and spoke to the most detestable human beings that walked the face of the earth…a hated and immoral tax collector became a disciple. Are you for real? So…take heart that you donnot see your worthier than the least worthy, it is our human flaw…You are a sinner…we tend to think we our sin is not as bad as my neighbors sin. Can you not see that this is pride? We need to humble ourselves and see us how a holy God would see us…God sent His Son to be viciously tortured for the SIN of mankind…that is every man and woman…So why do we not grasp that we need Jesus to rescue us from this world…A Savior for the world…but some do not think they need saving? Fear God not man. For the least of sin before God is sin…so what do you hold onto to in this life? Where your heart is…is where your treasure lies… if your heart is in a doctrine than you will live by the law and die by the law…Was not the law present before Christ? He is our sacrifical Lamb. And think on the beauty of the Creator of the Universe, that He created you for His purpose. To walk closely with HIm…personally…I read in Hebrews 2:6 What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take car of him? You have made him a liitlle lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet." But we can only do the things worthy of God when God is in us…So I pray that we get real with Christ, that if you feel unworthy, get on your knees, repent of your sin and ask Christ to lead you in this life you live… and no fancy feelings, just begin a new journey of closeness with Christ through the scriptures…God is good. Do you know HIm?

It’s not What you say, it’s How you say it…by reading your posts, I get a similar feeling as when I try to converse with many Evangelicals *.

Basicallly, it’s an attitude of “I’m speaking the pure truth, and here is goes, and whatever you say/feel/think is irrelevant, so I won’t take any breaks to hear you out” kind of monologue…I hope this wasn’t your intention. I just wanted to let you know, we could “hear” you better if the “delivery” of the message was “easier”.

Yes, we know HIM, or we wouldn’t bother with these posts! Now, that’s arrogance. I have heard arrogant Catholics claim that our Church is “the” way or whatever, but I’ll perfectly honest, not even the most arrogant, misinformed Catholic that I have personally known/heard has ever alluded to others as not “knowing” God!

I went to college in TX, where most people are Evangelicals/Southern Baptist, and for a couple of summers I took courses at a public college. Most of my friends during that time were not Catholic. The funny thing is that when speaking about God or religion, we would have a wonderful conversation and all of a sudden they would remember that I’m Catholic and pause. Then, ask me if I want to go to their Church to get to know God and have a personal relationship with Him! AFTER speaking about Him!

Can’t Evangelicals simply assume that we have theological errors, or whatever, but that we do know and love and serve God?Why not?

btw, I was called “pagan” almost on a daily basis, especially by members of the Crusade for Christ, *. Pagan?

One more thing. In the course of the conversation, I would answer to one of their"pet peeves" and they would tell me that they had to go back to their pastor to ask…[talk about the infallibility of the Pope or the teaching ministry of the Magisterium]…then, the next time, they would answer [always the SAME answer] that their pastor didn’t answer the question per se, he said to invite me to their Church and that it was better not to get into discussions with a Catholic because it was “dangerous”…

Now, I do NOT have terrible feelings about Evangelicals for constantly calling me “dangerous” or “pagan”, etc., or for saying that I needed to get to “know” God, accept Him as my savior and develop a personal relationship with Him…as if I didn’t since I have the use of memory!**

 

[limerick]

limerick;5009959:

You pointed out that MDK said Jesus established purgatory, that he did not say God established it. I was merely reminding that Jesus is God as the bit from John Ch 1 shows.

**
Maybe the nuns fabricated this, too, but my understanding was that Jesus only appeared as the divine/human entity in the New Testament - he does not appear as Jesus in the Old Testament.

MDK said Jesus established Purgatory. This would mean it occurred in the New Testament. I asked him/her to point out precisely where in the New Testament this declaration appears.

Jesus is God, no argument. Does Jesus appear as the Son of God in the Old Testament?

MDK made an enthusiastic, albeit erroneous, reference. So many posters on this forum jump on visitors for their biblical inaccuracies. Just wanted to point out that even some died-in-the-wool Catholics make mistakes.

Yes, wonderful messengers, I see the duality in this message: that nuns and lay-teachers and brothers can and do make mistakes, in their personal lives and in trying to fulfill their duties as carriers of God’s message.

I’m healed.

Limerick**