Why is it still okay to bash Catholics?

[buffalo]

This I agree with completely. Anyone – ANYONE – who accepts the divinity of Christ is a Christian. Catholics meet this definition.

What’s really interesting is that this is a half-truth propagated by both sides. The Catholics accuse the Protestant of removing books; the Protestants accuse the Catholics of adding books; neither is true.

There were, during the period when the New Testament was written, two accepted collections of Jewish Cannon. The Eastern Jews (i.e. the Greeks) utilized a set of Cannon which included the Deuterocannon (sp?). The Western Jews utilized a set of Cannon which did not include this set of books because they were originally written in Greek. The Catholics utilize one set and the Protestants utilize the other set. It should be noted that there are many Protestant Bibles which include the Deuterocannon books.

You see, neither set added or removed books, they simply followed different Jewish sects in determining the OT Cannon.

There is a ton of misinformation and half-truth on both sides of the coin.

What about those who are educated, read the documents on both sides of the reformation and agreed with Luther or Calvin? What about the fact that for a Catholic to read a work by a heretic is for a Catholic to incur Latae Sententiae Excommunication (see the article on excommunication from newadvent.org for proof of this) so the Catholic can only read what the Catholic Church decides to publish about Protestants?

I think that a lot of the problem with any type of ecumenical discourse is that there is a lack of education and knowledge on both sides. You cannot believe what the Catholic Church teaches about Protestants and you cannot believe what Protestant Churches teach about Catholics. You have got to go to the source on both counts.

Check out an original copy of the KJV - you will see the books still there.

 

[Drawmack]

Check out an original copy of the KJV - you will see the books still there.

Yeah, as well as in the Oxford Study Bible. There are lots of “Protestant” Bibles that have the Deuterocannon books in them. Does this have something to do with my post besides being an example of what I was talking about?

 

[WillieWonka]

The reality is that most of the terrorism in this world is done by Muslims. No, it doesn’t mean that most muslims are terrorists, but I do think most people would say that most terrorists are muslims… where are all the suicide bomber hindu, budhist, christian etceteras?

Most would agree with that today. So do I. But let’s give Christianity credit where credit is due. Over history, Christianity has proven to be far more bloody than Islam. Europe between 1914 and 1945 alone dwarfs everything Muslims have ever done. Now, unless Christianity is a post-war creation, it has shown itself very violent and intolerant over its history.

Why is that important today? Because it provides a perspective for what is happening today, and might give folks pause before they blame religion for the actions of its faithful. If one can blame Islam for what some of its faithful do today, then it seems only fair to blame Christianity for what its faithful did betwen 1914 and 1945. If we can easily speak of Muslim terrorists today, then we should be able to easily talk about the Christian death squads in WWII.

On the other hand, maybe it’s silly to blame any religion for what it’s faithful do. And maybe the people who do are the biggest problem.

(And let’s be sure to give the Sri Lankan Buddhists credit for the indescriminate massacres they used to get rid of the Tamil Tigers a few months back.)

 

[Bill_Cherry]

I havent read any of the responses and only briefly rushed through the original post. I think the answer is that " a servant is not better than his master,…if they hated me they will hate you also…"