The Trinity is the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. It is NOT the Father, Son, and the Catholic church, or whatever version you want to come up with.
If you want to believe the RCC has all authority in all matters, and you want to accept 100% its teachings then thats fine. Thats your right, and I will stand with you on that.
However, it needs to be understood that not all Christians (Catholic or other denominations) agree with you. Different people believe different things, or interpret scripture differently, and theres not one individual nor organization that has it 100% correct. Ive personally run into some Christians, with whom I dont agree, who are very devout, very conservative, and very much against the RCC. Theyll cite Bible passages to show that what the RCC practices is unbiblical, and call it things that I wont repeat here. However, theyre just a sure as you that what they believe is 100% truth, and anyone who believes something else is lost or wrong. Thats wrong, no matter who does it.
Bottom line is that we are all at different points in our walk of faith with Jesus. The Holy Spirit is within and guiding every Christian, not just the RCC. Everyone is different, so obviously there are different points of view on a great variety of subjects. With over 1 billion Catholics in the world, it would be foolish to think every single one can become like-minded and agree on everything just because the RCC teaches or says something is true.
We all struggle with some part of our faith. Were constantly asking ourselves questions about truth, what are the correct interpretations of scripture, why we sometimes feel our conscious is telling us one thing while some scripture or the RCC may say the opposite, etc. Thats why we have a Liberal Catholics fórum here, so we can discuss and try to sort out these things in peace and in respect to one another. It is NOT intended for holier-than-though types to arrogantly come here and start shoving Catholic dogma down our throats just because the opinions expressed here sometimes differ from the official RCC position. Its not only very ill mannered, but aginst the forum rules, and if we wanted that kind of treatment then we can just go to CAF or some other forum where that kind of thing is freely dispensed.
If someone wants to come here and point out an official RCC position because an error in stating it was made, then fine. If people want to respectfully debate about whether a person can/should be Catholic if he/she disagrees with the RCC on some issues, then fine. However, NO ONE has the right to come here arrogantly pontificating that what he/she believes is the truth, and that anyone who believes otherwise cant possibly be right. Thats spiritual pride, and one of the worst sins you can commit.
Thank you for making my point
ever-so-clear.
What you are advocating is
moral relativism and that's been, my point all along.
First of all, you need to understand that there is only
ONE truth
(John 4:19) - not
tens of thousands of versions of it.
The next thing you neet to realize is that Jesus only established
ONE Church. At the Last Supper - He prayed fervently that this
ONE Church remain
ONE - as He and the Father are
ONE (John 17:20-23).
The Church - the
ONE Church is the fullness of Christ
(Eph. 1:22-23).
Regardles of dissention and individual dissidents - they can be wrong in matters of faith and morals but the Church
CANNOT be
(John 16:12-15, 1 Tim. 3:15).
The next thing you need to understand is the
nobody is
"pontificating" about anything. I am merely a
parrot for the Church, which is the Body of Christ. I don't off my opinions when it comes to the Truth because they don't mean a thing if they
rebut the Truth - and neither do
your opinions. People like you
refuse to be obedient to the Church either because of ignorance of the Scriptures or some sort of spiritual pride and obstinacy. I suggest you
swallow that pride and listen to the Church which is Christ's
FULL aAuthority on earth.
If you personally reject the Authority of the Church - that is
your perogative, just as it is
your perogative to
anything else the Church has to say about
anything including homosexual union. As I have already pointed out that the Scriptures - the written Word of God Almighty states that homosexual behavior is an abomination in the eyes of God. When
pseudo-"Catholics" reject the Word of God on the matter, there are nothing more than Protestants because they have rejected Christ Himself
(Luke 10:16).
Finally - you state that your Protestant friends make claims about the Catholic Church involving itself in
"un-Biblical" practices which is about the most
preposterous part of your post.
EVERY single Church ecclesial community in the 21st century doies things that were not and could not be done in the early Church. However - the Catholic Church does not practice
ANYTHING that is
ANTI-Biblical, whereas every other Protestant community
DOES.
Rejecting the
Real Presence of Christ in the
Holy Eucharist is
first and foremost on the list.
Some other unbiblical Protestant practices and doctrines include
the pre-trib Rapture, Invisible Church, Accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, Limited Atonement, Altar Call, Once saved-Aways saved, Dedications and Rededication, Re-Baptism, etc.
I have
YET to debate any Protestant who can point out one single "
anti-Biblibal" practice of the Catholic Church and I would issue the
same challenge to
you . . .
