13 Jul 15
Originally posted by no1marauderThe church is dying in the developed world, that is, those in the know about the child abuse scandals.
Someone as profoundly ignorant of the almost every subject including the Christian faith isn't qualified to sweep the floors of a Church never mind being Pope.
More than a billion Catholics think the Church is quite relevant.
I have no respect for any Pope that does not address this in a proper way.
Again, nothing of substance has been done as of yet. My guess nothing will be either.
As for sweeping their dirty floors, they may want to focus on cleaning their dirty souls first. But Catholics are all about cathedrals and material wealth, aren't they? How ironic this crap is coming from the Pope. Have you ever been in the Vatican? It is full of priceless objects of plunder, mostly idols that were condemned in the Bible.
13 Jul 15
Jesus once ran merchants out of the Temple with a whip for selling and theft.
Can you imagine what he would do with this filth?
I don't see outrage from the Pope. All I see is political pandering, mostly to left winged governments that are the political favor of the day. Naturally, the PC thing to do is mentiong the scandals, so now what?
13 Jul 15
Originally posted by whodeyI'm aware that anti-Catholic diatribes are some of the meat and potatoes of the relatively small sects (perhaps cults would be a better description) that most "Christian" right wingers on this forum belong to.
The church is dying in the developed world, that is, those in the know about the child abuse scandals.
I have no respect for any Pope that does not address this in a proper way.
Again, nothing of substance has been done as of yet. My guess nothing will be either.
As for sweeping their dirty floors, they may want to focus on cleaning their dirty so ...[text shortened]... can? It is full of priceless objects of plunder, mostly idols that were condemned in the Bible.
The Catholic population in the US increased by 8 million from 2000 to 2014. http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/requestedchurchstats.html
That is apparently "dying out".
13 Jul 15
Originally posted by whodeyWhat a laugh that a bitter, little hateful fanatic like you thinks he has ANY "Christianity" in him.
Who here thinks Jesus was PC?
Last time I checked he was the most anti-PC person in human history, which naturally landed him on the cross.
I have more Christianity in my little pinky than the Pope does his entire body.
14 Jul 15
Originally posted by no1marauderInteresting, I'm the one demanding the innocent children stop being abused.
What a laugh that a bitter, little hateful fanatic like you thinks he has ANY "Christianity" in him.
Do you have any idea what Jesus said regarding offending innocent little children like the ones being abused in the Catholic church? He said it would have been better had they never been born.
14 Jul 15
1 edit
Originally posted by KazetNagorraPerhaps Marauder could turn me into the Catholic church by accusing me of being a witch. Here is a run down of what non-PC people endured under the Catholic church
How noble of you to oppose those who think innocent children should continue to be abused.
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This travesty gets its own entry for several reasons. The so-called “witches” were rounded up and slaughtered for centuries throughout Europe. Casualty numbers vary drastically because records were not well kept, but the average total is anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 dead, just in the period of c. 1480 to c. 1750.
The hunts had been perpetrated for centuries before, and they were carried out for one or both of two reasons: fear and personal animosity. If a particular person irritated someone, the latter could accuse the former of witchcraft, and the Catholic Church showed up like a bloodhound. Or a nation or local government could suddenly become afraid of the influence of the Antichrist and take care of the matter with the Church’s blessing.
It was established doctrine that witches were not witches by their own volition, but by Satan’s, and so burning them at the stake would purify them by pain so they could enter Heaven. The Church actually believed, and led the populace to believe, that it was doing witches a favor by torturing them and burning them to death. The methods by which to prove a witch were ludicrous, to state the obvious: a mole or birthmark was deemed proof of trafficking with the Devil; uttering blasphemy (and back then it was nearly impossible to open your mouth without offending the Church); denouncement by another witch (and since denouncing another passed the blame, the accused could save himself this way); to be afraid during interrogation; and the most infamous of all, anyone who could swim was most assuredly a witch, since only the Devil could teach someone to conquer water.
Tortures were not always overseen by the Church itself, and thus, the rule of not shedding blood was ignored in these instances. So the tortures became much, much worse: flogging, skinning alive, castration by red-hot pincers, disemboweling, drawing and quartering, head crushing, tooth extraction, de-nailing. Death, if not by torture, was always via burning at the stake.
Another very serious mistake the Church made in pursuing and slaughtering people because of the slightest hint of heresy is that in so doing, it also ordered that all witches’ “familiars” be hunted down, killed and burned. These familiars were pets that witches were believed to keep, whether frogs, or owls, or rats or especially cats. From the 1100s until the late 1300s, cats were slaughtered wholesale all over Europe. When the fleas bearing bubonic plague rode on the backs of rats from the Black Sea area and Western Asia into Italy and Western Europe, there were no cats to check the rats’ spread. The Black Death of c. 1340 to c. 1355 spread so well, in large part, because the rats multiplied out of control. The Plague finally dwindled away because the people were too busy dying to kill cats, and the cats repopulated Europe and brought the rats back down.
It should be noted that witch hunts were not unique to the Catholic Church, as all of the protestant nations in Europe also partook of this cruel abuse. Alas, no one was immune from guilt.
14 Jul 15
Originally posted by no1marauderJust so you know, I have no interest in being in the popular majority. Jesus went to the cross alone as did prophets who were martyred before him.
I'm aware that anti-Catholic diatribes are some of the meat and potatoes of the relatively small sects (perhaps cults would be a better description) that most "Christian" right wingers on this forum belong to.
The Catholic population in the US increased by 8 million from 2000 to 2014. http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/requestedchurchstats.html
That is apparently "dying out".
FYI, a cult is any person who puts another man or organization before God.
14 Jul 15
Originally posted by whodeyThe things you say most certainly are politically correct in circles of raving lunatic reactionaries. Or did you think that copy-pasting e-mail spam constitutes independent thinking?
Perhaps Marauder could turn me into the Catholic church by accusing me of being a witch. Here is a run down of what non-PC people endured under the Catholic church
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This travesty gets its own entry for several reasons. The so-called “witche ...[text shortened]... otestant nations in Europe also partook of this cruel abuse. Alas, no one was immune from guilt.
14 Jul 15
Originally posted by whodeyThis defintion of a cult could apply to many Christian organizations today. The Roman Catholics put the teachings of the Pope and their church before God. The Lutherans put the teachings of Martin Luther and their church before God. The Jehovah's Witnesses put the teachings of Charles Taze Russell and the Watchtower organization before God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints put the teachings of Joseph Smith and the Morman organization before God. And even Orthodox Christianity could be called a cult for putting the teachings of the man Jesus Christ and all Christian church organizations before God.
Just so you know, I have no interest in being in the popular majority. Jesus went to the cross alone as did prophets who were martyred before him.
FYI, a cult is any person who puts another man or organization before God.
So maybe there is more than that to distinquishes Orthodox Christianity from what most people think of as a cult. Surely we should include those groups that teach heresy or doctrines of demons as mentioned in the New Testament scriptures and depart from the faith passed down by the Saints. Most Orthodox Christians think of a cult as a group that gathers around and follows the heresy and mis-interpretations of the Holy Bible by a particular person.
14 Jul 15
Originally posted by whodeyAnd all of this has .................................... what to do with Pope Francis' speech in Bolivia this week? Could you please quote the part where he says that witches are a major cause of our present ills?
Perhaps Marauder could turn me into the Catholic church by accusing me of being a witch. Here is a run down of what non-PC people endured under the Catholic church
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This travesty gets its own entry for several reasons. The so-called “witche ...[text shortened]... otestant nations in Europe also partook of this cruel abuse. Alas, no one was immune from guilt.
Thanks in advance.
14 Jul 15
1 edit
Originally posted by whodeyAccording to the Bible, Jesus went to the cross AFTER declaring to Simon Peter that he was "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church". Pope Francis traces the apostolic succession all the way back to Peter (which means "rock" in Greek). The RCC is Jesus' Church.
Just so you know, I have no interest in being in the popular majority. Jesus went to the cross alone as did prophets who were martyred before him.
FYI, a cult is any person who puts another man or organization before God.
Now I'm aware that Protestants have come up with ingenious arguments to try and discount the plain meaning of Matthew 16:18. But such sophistry is part and parcel of the creation and maintenance of cults.
EDIT: Of course discussing how a minority has wandered from Jesus' established Church is more of a Spirituality subject than a Debates' one. This could be avoided here if you made the slightest effort to keep to the subject raised in the OP rather than launching into copy and paste diatribes that have nothing to do with it.
15 Jul 15
Originally posted by no1marauderActually the pope was initially just the bishop of Rome, one of five important bishops (pentarchs) in early organized Christianity. There's nothing really that would elevate Rome in particular to any (more) important status in this early organized Church, it just so happens that because of political reasons the Western branch split off from the Eastern branch, which incidentally had split even before the Great Schism.
According to the Bible, Jesus went to the cross AFTER declaring to Simon Peter that he was "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church". Pope Francis traces the apostolic succession all the way back to Peter (which means "rock" in Greek). The RCC is Jesus' Church.
Now I'm aware that Protestants have come up with i ...[text shortened]... d in the OP rather than launching into copy and paste diatribes that have nothing to do with it.
Long story short: all Christian churches are "Jesus' Church" since they all believe in him and his (supposed) teachings. The RCC is older than the Protestant or Reformed branches, but certainly not the oldest branch of Christianity.