Wife is VERY anti-Catholic

[JRKH]

Just as an aside to the OP…you have found a great resource to help you answer questions that might come up. The folks here can and will give good answers, provide links and recommendations for additional reading and apologetics - answering pretty much any objection to the Church that your wife can come up with (or more likely been fed).

Peace
James

 

[MTLDonkey]

Catolico,

In the words of St Josemaria:

First: Prayer
Second: Mortification
Third (very third place): Action

Daily Rosary and even mass, if you can, will give you the grace you need to find the stregth and perseverance to offer up any sacrifice. In my opinion, the most effective sacrifice you can make is making her feel loved unconditionally every single day.

Your wife seems to be disoriented, but not stuck. She will eventually come back. Have patience and trust God. The sacrament of marriage is powerful and He will use it to bring her and your children home.

I stongly recommend that you read this little wonder:

amazon.com/Rome-Sweet-Home-Journey-Catholicism/dp/0898704782

If you have not heard of Scott Hahn, he was a very anti-catholic protestant pastor married to a craddle protestant who lived a situation like yours or worse. He converted to catholicism as he was searching for the truth, but needed to wait for her wife to follow him. I am confident you will find in this book the light you need to persevere and trust. You will also find a lot of concrete arguments that demolish any protestant criticism… but don’t use them against your wife. With your wife use only love, prayer and trust in God.

Finally, I think you are under tremendous pressure. God may be pushing you gently to search for a good spiritual director to assist you in this process. It may be long, so you need objective allies. But don’t worry if it takes time. Put this in His hands, trust, love and smile! Remember He does not lose any battles.

Will pray for you.

 

[Catholic80]

Wow, you are really in a tough situation right now.

I would definitely talk to a priest and get a spiritual director, preferably a priest who can help you with your difficult situation.

Don’t forget, as father, you ARE the spiritual head of your family, whether your wife recognizes that or not. Maybe God has graced you with the task of leading them back to the faith. How you are to do this, I don’t know, but this is why you need to speak with a priest ASAP. You can always start by praying and fasting for them.

 

[CopticChristian]

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

My wife and I are craddle Catholics. We’re of Mexican origin. We were married in the Church, had our children (7 and 3 years old) baptized as infants, and we ocassionally went to Mass.

Well, to make a long story short, my wife found Jesus Christ in February of last year through her sister’s husband, who is in prison for drug trafficking. Now, to put it mildly, her sister and my wife are very, very anti-Catholic. Their mother, my mother-in-law, is a Catequist, and a few months ago they would attack her all the time, telling her that Catholics worship Mary and the Saints, and that they are not Christians. My wife even stopped going to her mom’s house for a few days after her conversion because she has images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Cruxifixes.

Back in Feb., I had been doing lots of research about the Catholic Church, and I wanted to reclaim my original faith. (I had attended Catholic elementary school, so I wanted to go back to my childhood faith). So, as you can imagine, it was a big struggle between my wife and I. At the end, in March, I decided to attend the non-denominational church she started attending, never fully immersing myself in Protestantism.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife just snapped. She found a small church (I call it a cult), where they don’t celebrate Christmas, birthdays, etc. The pastor there told her to throw away all of our children’s cartoons, clothes with references to cartoons, such as Dora the Explorer and Disney, because, he claims, they are evil because they contain witchcraft.

I decided to stop going to any church at that point. I have now decided to attend Mass. I really don’t understand how Protestants claim they have the Truth when they have such different beliefs from each other. Each denomination says something different from the next, and every pastor wants to be a prophet, sometimes imposing their own interpretation of the Bible on others.

I believe God is a God of order. The Church is not perfect, but it is His. My wife told me yesterday that she will NEVER go back to the Catholic Church, nor listen or read anything that comes from Catholic authors. She’s in a very extremist mode right now. Reading the Bible ALL day (she’s a stay-at-home mom), and only allows our children to watch Bible cartoons. Needless to say, she won’t let me take my children to Mass. She says that I have no Spiritual authority because I want to go back to Catholicism. (My little girl everytime she sees an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe she says something like, “That is something evil!”)

My wife and I agreed that we will respect each other’s beliefs. That we will focus on the beliefs that we have in common, such as the Bible, faith in Jesus Christ, praying as a family every night, etc.

I just feel that I’ve lost an important role in my family, because I can’t be the spiritual head. I don’t want to divide my family, but my wife taking my children to her own church, and I going to Mass by myself, makes me feel lonely.

Any advice would be grately appreciatted.
Thank you,
Catolico Romano

Catolico,

You may want to investigate the origins of the Bible…because if your wife is true to her word you may want to aid her in understanding that the Bible be written by the original Catholics…they be us…

I suggest that you consider reading the anti-Catholic stuff she probably has…most of it is filled with untruths…your willingness to look at it may show her you care and if you are able to have an intelligent discussion then she may listen…

On the other hand, if she finds difficulty answering you will be swarmed by a senior Protestant and even a Pastor…that will try to convert you and have you find the Jesus that she found…then you have a problem, because if you are not prepared for this…then you will find yourself wondering which way is up as Bible verses are thrown at you like a Paint ball gun…whoa…

In order to counter this you need to know the book of Romans and where most of these folks take you…

Below you will find two threads that I was involved in…the first I started that will explain the fact that the Bible is a translation and may help…the second is a bit about the Book of Romans…

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=609262

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=615741&highlight=mystery+hidden+for+all+ages

Always look for the good in what you have…it is now time to answer the call of God and know and share your faith and to know it you gotta learn it…God calls us in mysterious ways…just get on board and learn…

You probably lived your life just going about your business like most of us…God wants you to be a Saint…tough road however study the saints and see that they all had tough roads…

 

[Catolico_Romano]

Thank you all for your great advice. I will meditate on it.
Thank you, again.
In Christ,
Catolico Romano

 

[fremaochris]

I was inclined to offer you brotherly advice until you started making uncharitable statements.

 

[Church_Militant]

CR,
Please be aware that you and your family will be in my prayers. I know it’s hard.

There are good responses to her false doctrines.

One of the best is to question her as to where the Bible actually says that it is the final and ultimate authority for all that Christians believe. Ask it in all sincerity and in front of the kids…maybe even with your Bible open on the table so she can use it.

Her problem will be that she cannot provide it because it’s nowhere in the Word of God. Once she’s botched that up then you can ask her how she can follow something that is not in the Bible like that. Then you might say that you were reading it and found 1st Timothy 3:15 which says, “if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.”

If the Bible says that the church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth and doesn’t claim that authority for itself, then what about people who clam it is? Doesn’t that make their teachings suspect at least? How can we trust such a teacher?

I have discussed this in a number of threads that might also give you some ideas to counter the errors and get them on their way back to the faith. I also urge you to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for them because I’ve seen it work some pretty amazing conversions.

“If anyone teaches/preaches something that is not in scripture”
It’s NOT in the Bible, okay?
It’s NOT in the Bible, okay? (Part II)

 

[ChelleyD]

A couple of weeks ago, my wife just snapped. She found a small church (I call it a cult), where they don’t celebrate Christmas, birthdays, etc. The pastor there told her to throw away all of our children’s cartoons, clothes with references to cartoons, such as Dora the Explorer and Disney, because, he claims, they are evil because they contain witchcraft.

(Emphasis mine)

I used to work with a lady who was a Jehovah’s Witness. They don’t believe in celebrating Christmas or birthdays, among other things. This could very well be the type of “church” your wife has gotten involved in. If so, I recommend you take some time while learning more about your Faith to focus specifically on how to refute JW beliefs.

The CA shop has some items that might help.

You could also do a search here in the forums for more information as well.

 

[JRKH]

Church Militant has a great reply above…I would offer just one small change/alternative…Instead of having your bible out…use hers. There is nothing more convincing than having false doctrines dis-proven by using the protestant’s own bible.

Peace
James

 

[TheRealJuliane]

(Emphasis mine)

I used to work with a lady who was a Jehovah’s Witness. They don’t believe in celebrating Christmas or birthdays, among other things. This could very well be the type of “church” your wife has gotten involved in. If so, I recommend you take some time while learning more about your Faith to focus specifically on how to refute JW beliefs.

The CA shop has some items that might help.

You could also do a search here in the forums for more information as well.

This is a very good idea, and I would also suggest contacting ex-cult-member organizations that might be able to help you and do a sort of intervention on your wife. There are former JWs that do this sort of thing, and they are the ones who best understand the kind of brainwashing that happens in those types of cults. Even if it’s not technically the Jehovah Witnesses, there are probably organizations that can help and guide you. I think you need REAL, systematic and confrontational help with this situation. She is poisoning your childrens’ minds.

thejehovahswitnesses.org/

 

[Catolico_Romano]

At first I also thought my wife was attending a “Kingdom Hall,” with the JWs, but I found out it is a Pentecostal congregation, one where the pastor says that he has the gift of spirit discernment. He “sees” demons everywhere!

This week my wife told me she won’t attend that congregation anymore, because she said it is too controlling. I’m glad about this. But she added that she will look, along with her sister, for a new congregation. They’re going “church-shopping,” another proof for me that Protestantism is so wrong. God is a God of order.

Thank you all for your advice!
Catolico Romano

 

[maltmom]

The fact that she left there is awesome news. Thank God for answered prayers. She may find her way back home.

 

[CopticChristian]

At first I also thought my wife was attending a “Kingdom Hall,” with the JWs, but I found out it is a Pentecostal congregation, one where the pastor says that he has the gift of spirit discernment. He “sees” demons everywhere!

This week my wife told me she won’t attend that congregation anymore, because she said it is too controlling. I’m glad about this. But she added that she will look, along with her sister, for a new congregation. They’re going “church-shopping,” another proof for me that Protestantism is so wrong. God is a God of order.

Thank you all for your advice!
Catolico Romano

Catolico,

The Orthodox, based on the writings of John Chrysostom, believe that the Home is the basic unit of the Church. Your wife is shopping for unmet needs. What these Protestant groups provide is something she is not getting.

How many men go shopping with their wives?

How many wives love it when their husbands go shopping with them?

Why don’t you go Church shopping with her. I suggest you use this as a means of explaining where these Churches come from.

Take her to an Anglican Church, explain that this group started, having split from the Catholic Church because a King wanted a divorce.

Take her to a Presbyterian Church and explain that John Calvin was a Catholic Lawyer, whose father was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and when John Calvin formed his Church in Switzerland, her murdered people.

Take her to a Lutheran Church and explain that Martin Luther was a Catholic monk, who put words “faith alone” in the bible so people would read saved by faith alone, and he renounced his vows and married a Catholic nun.

Take her to a Methodist Church and tell her that this Church was started by an Anglican minister that wanted something more he could not see in the Anglican Church.

Take her to any of the Pentacostal, AOG, Evangelical churches and tell her that these churches were the result of the holiness movement that srpang from Methodism…

Take her to a Evangelical Free Church and tell her that this group formed as a result of the Lutheran Church.

The more you shop with her the better opportunity you will have to be with her when she chooses to buy…

 

[guanophore]

At first I also thought my wife was attending a “Kingdom Hall,” with the JWs, but I found out it is a Pentecostal congregation, one where the pastor says that he has the gift of spirit discernment. He “sees” demons everywhere!

This is the crux of the matter. You are engaged in a spiritual war, and you need to battle it on a spiritual level. Use the prayer to St. Michael and apply the armor in Eph. ch. 6 to yourself.

 

[Holly3278]

I would encourage you to get a Catholic Bible and to start reading it every day. Make yourself familiar with the Bible. Also, try to make yourself familiar with how the Bible is clearly Catholic. Many Catholic doctrines can be found explicitly in the Bible. Take these for example:

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.
(James 5:14-16 RSV-CE)

Here we can see the Biblical basis for two sacraments: the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and the Sacrament of Confession.

What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe–and shudder.
(James 2:14-19 RSV-CE)

Many Protestants believe in salvation through faith alone. One can use the passage above and indeed the entire book of Saint James to refute this false doctrine. Indeed, the only place in the Bible where the phrase “faith alone” is here where it clearly refutes that doctrine:

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.
(James 2:24-26 RSV-CE)

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
(John 20:21-23 RSV-CE)

Here again we see clear evidence of the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession in Scripture. Jesus gave the apostles the power to absolve people of their sin. He would not have given them this power if He did not intend for them to hear confessions.

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(Matthew 18:18 RSV-CE)

Here is where the doctrine of binding and loosing can be found.

Many Protestants claim that all images are forbidden by the Ten Commandment which warns against idol worship. However, God commanded statues to be made here:

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
(Exodus 25:18-22 RSV-CE)

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
(Numbers 21:8-9 RSV-CE)

And last but not least I want to mention one more verse although there are plenty of others I could quote for you:

And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
(Acts 19:11-12 RSV-CE)

We can clearly see here how relics have power.

Finally, I recommend the following books:

amazon.com/Catholicism-Dummies-Religion-Spirituality/dp/1118077784/ref=sr_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357369032&sr=1-19

amazon.com/Why-Do-Catholics-That/dp/0345397266/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357369134&sr=1-14

amazon.com/Catholicism-Fundamentalism-Attack-Romanism-Christians/dp/0898701775/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=11K6M83EE9DQ8&coliid=I1DQ8K0AP2QTNG

amazon.com/Bible-Proofs-Catholic-Truths-Apologists/dp/1933184574/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pdT1_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=11K6M83EE9DQ8&coliid=I3290KE2Z5Z8R

amazon.com/Bible-Proofs-Catholic-Truths-Apologists/dp/1933184574/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pdT1_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=11K6M83EE9DQ8&coliid=I3290KE2Z5Z8R

You can also check out this website which is free. It shows clearly how Scripture supports Church teaching. Indeed, holy Scripture is Catholic:

scripturecatholic.com/

 

[CopticChristian]

I would encourage you to get a Catholic Bible and to start reading it every day. Make yourself familiar with the Bible. Also, try to make yourself familiar with how the Bible is clearly Catholic. Many Catholic doctrines can be found explicitly in the Bible. Take these for example:

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.
(James 5:14-16 RSV-CE)

Here we can see the Biblical basis for two sacraments: the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and the Sacrament of Confession.

What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe–and shudder.
(James 2:14-19 RSV-CE)

Many Protestants believe in salvation through faith alone. One can use the passage above and indeed the entire book of Saint James to refute this false doctrine. Indeed, the only place in the Bible where the phrase “faith alone” is here where it clearly refutes that doctrine:

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.
(James 2:24-26 RSV-CE)

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
(John 20:21-23 RSV-CE)

Here again we see clear evidence of the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession in Scripture. Jesus gave the apostles the power to absolve people of their sin. He would not have given them this power if He did not intend for them to hear confessions.

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(Matthew 18:18 RSV-CE)

Here is where the doctrine of binding and loosing can be found.

Many Protestants claim that all images are forbidden by the Ten Commandment which warns against idol worship. However, God commanded statues to be made here:

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
(Exodus 25:18-22 RSV-CE)

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
(Numbers 21:8-9 RSV-CE)

And last but not least I want to mention one more verse although there are plenty of others I could quote for you:

And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
(Acts 19:11-12 RSV-CE)

We can clearly see here how relics have power.

Finally, I recommend the following books:

amazon.com/Catholicism-Dummies-Religion-Spirituality/dp/1118077784/ref=sr_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357369032&sr=1-19

amazon.com/Why-Do-Catholics-That/dp/0345397266/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357369134&sr=1-14

amazon.com/Catholicism-Fundamentalism-Attack-Romanism-Christians/dp/0898701775/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=11K6M83EE9DQ8&coliid=I1DQ8K0AP2QTNG

amazon.com/Bible-Proofs-Catholic-Truths-Apologists/dp/1933184574/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pdT1_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=11K6M83EE9DQ8&coliid=I3290KE2Z5Z8R

amazon.com/Bible-Proofs-Catholic-Truths-Apologists/dp/1933184574/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pdT1_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=11K6M83EE9DQ8&coliid=I3290KE2Z5Z8R

You can also check out this website which is free. It shows clearly how Scripture supports Church teaching. Indeed, holy Scripture is Catholic:

scripturecatholic.com/

Holly,

and since God is the author of our Faith, as per the USA catechism for adults, I suggest getting a copy of the Audio Cathechism for Adults USA so that all of the deposit of faith makes sense and the bible makes sense.

 

[Porknpie]

Holly,

and since God is the author of our Faith, as per the USA catechism for adults, I suggest getting a copy of the Audio Cathechism for Adults USA so that all of the deposit of faith makes sense and the bible makes sense.

Coptic and I are disciples of the Audio Catechism. Only I know how to consistently spell Catechism. Actually, to his credit, Coptic led me to it through a previous posting and I was planning on listening to it 3x…but after hearing that Coptic has listened to it 7x…I’m going to have to step it up …and listen to it 7x … “two”.

 

[Kc906]

At first I also thought my wife was attending a “Kingdom Hall,” with the JWs, but I found out it is a Pentecostal congregation, one where the pastor says that he has the gift of spirit discernment. He “sees” demons everywhere!

This week my wife told me she won’t attend that congregation anymore, because she said it is too controlling. I’m glad about this. But she added that she will look, along with her sister, for a new congregation. They’re going “church-shopping,” another proof for me that Protestantism is so wrong. God is a God of order.

Thank you all for your advice!
Catolico Romano

It looks like a lot has happened since you first posted, I hope you have had a chance to personally dive in to scriptures and learn more about our faith. This is by far the best thing that you can do as someone whose faith is under attack. Perhaps you were a bit lackluster in your faith when you were younger, but you obviously care enough for your wife and children to use this as a life changing moment; please do not waste this opportunity.

YOU are the head of the family, according to God’s word and his plan for the family unit (1 Cor 11:3, 1 Tim 5:8, 1 Pet 3:7, Gen 3:16, Eph 5:25.) You, and you alone have the authority to dictate your family’s spiritual path, and you must take control of the reigns. As men, we are called to lay everything on the line for our wives and our family, just as Christ did for his Church. We have the greatest task of all, it is our responsibility to lead our wives and our children on a path too heaven. Now some Religions may take verses like this out of context and make it out to have the wife as some type of slave to her husband, they couldn’t be any more wrong.

We should be slaves to Christ, and to his sacrifice for all of us. We should be slaves to our family, laboring to provide both physical and spiritual fruit. One of our responsibilities is to be the final decision maker in the family, any “Bible Only” believing person will agree with this. The only way you can be effective is to know your Bible and the teachings of the Church better than your wife does. I pray that the Holy Spirit may guide you along the way.

 

[Razanir]

I am not sure where he got his information that Dora the Explorer has “witchcraft”, but I’m going to venture and say that it was not from a reputable source.

I don’t know… That baby buggy that spontaneously rolled uphill is pretty sketchy…

On a more serious note, ask her where they got Biblical canon. Catholics decided on it, most Protestants do realize… right?

 

[TimeEntrance]

Catolico,

You’re in a tough situation. I already know me and I’d be more antagonistic if I was married and my wife ran off at the mouth to me about all that anti-Madonna and anti-Catholic stuff. Not because I want to be mean but because it would agitate me and my personality is probably more akin to the father of the character Ray on the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, when it comes to disputes like this.

Hey, I can’t deny some people become better Christians or just better people when they convert from Catholicism to Protestantism or from Protestantism to Islam.

You might inquire of your wife why she’s not Muslim or Hindu or Jewish or Buddhist or a member of Wicca since she left Catholicism because she was merely indoctrinated into Catholicism? I mean why a small Evangelical Protestant Church? It’s a question like why do blacks in the U.S. play basketball while blacks in Brazil play soccer. Better yet… it’s probably like me being raised American or more specifically United Statsian. I can speak English with the Brits and other English speaking people. It would be easier for me to transition into a United Kingdomer than it would for me to transition into a China-man.

I’m not a Catholic apologist. I’m just skeptical and skeptical of even skeptics. It dawned on me a while ago that the Catholic Church is essentially the United States of Religions (i.e. United States of America). Both are said to be the Great Satan because for many its an easy explanation as to why both have for so long had so many faces from all races from all over the world, and both are huge and both are powerful and both own “a lot of stuff.”

Protestants venerate the dead too its just due to their indoctrination and lack of questioning that they often don’t realize it. They venerate dead military persons, especially military officers, and Presidents all the time. We’ve got plenty of statues of them all over Milwaukee City in parks and on the islands in between roads. There’s a big one of Abe Lincoln (not the Virgin Mary) in Washington D.C. And even our money have their mugs plastered across it.

Then it dawned on me as I was reading the Bible–and good literature “shows” rather than explicitly “tells” I’m told from English and creative writing courses–that Jesus no where in the Bible sends a Bible to save the world. He sure didn’t send one written in American English. What I noticed is he sent men. People. And people and not a book is at the center of the New Testament writings.

But more importantly Catholicism is not a religion of a dead, ancient book, written in some ancient languages of Hebrew and Greek I can’t read or speak. A cultural framework I don’t even understand to be honest with you. I mean when’s the last time is it you ran into a slave, someone carrying a sword, riding on horses, men dressed in robes instead of pants, women with their heads covered like images of the Holy Madonna, or eunuchs? There was no NASCAR, NASA, or conversation of cloning.

Catholicism is a religion of the living and has acquired “stuff” (not unlike American households or people with land inheritances) and authors beyond merely the Bible not unlike the short history of the United States of America. If an institution–created by Jesus no less–can’t acquire things like buildings and land after 2,000 years then I’d have to question if that institution was created by God or an underachiever.

The priest thing is quite simple to me. I didn’t become a Priest because it’s easier being a debauched lay Catholic than it is to be a Priest or Pope. Just like civilian Americans that never join the military or more especially commando units. You’re just as American being a couch potato or pursuing an advanced degree in finance so you can go out and get rich working for JP Morgan. The “Church” controls the Pope and Priests it doesn’t control me. Like the U.S. Government controls military persons and not civilians.

The Pope doesn’t even go and retire–or have the benefit of enjoying grandchildren–so, you don’t see Pope Benedict the 16th out on golf course in sunny Florida hanging out all day and evening. That right there tells me the Popes prefer to take up a cross like Jesus rather than riding around in an expensive luxury car, gangster leaning, with a fat cigar in mouth like a New York City mobster.

I think the Popes have issued excommunications for Mexican drug cartels. Hell, the Mexican Government’s officials often times prefer to get money from the cartel’s bag men. The Popes must got a problem with money if they can’t grease their palms with it like the CIA in the Iran Contra Affair.

One thing about the Catholic that becomes atheist you can appreciate is that Protestantism is just like Islam or Hinduism to them. They know if they became Protestant it was through Catholicism which brought them the name of “Christ” just like the Brits brought the Americans (United Statesians) English. We just misspell English words the Brits say. I suppose Protestants are just metaphorically misspelling Catholicism. Are some Americans better than some Brits? Yeah. Just like some Protestants are better than some Catholics. There are Protestants better than me. And?! There are Muslims and Buddhists better than us both. I’m sure there are a few pagans better than me too. Fortunately, I’m pretty confident I’m better off in the head and heart than Satanists.

Sorry for the very long post. (Oh, before I forget, I noticed at some point reading the letters of Paul that he was addressing a Church that existed before, not contingent on, the canonized Bible.)