It is my contention that John 3:16 has been forever mistranslated....

[packermann]

the issue isn't merely horrendous sin , but far worse , Horrendous sin being granted a cloak , THAT is the issue , and that is the real reason RCC attendance figures have dramatically slumped.

I already showed that the cover-ups are not isolated to be only with Catholic Church. So this is not an issue with the CC only.
Catholic Church attendance has declined in Europe and the United States, but has increased in the third-world countries. The same goes for Protestant churches. The real reason for the decline in Catholic and Protestant church attendance in affluent countries is because of secularism and materialism.

The percentage of people who attended a Christian church each week decreased significantly between 1990 and 2000.

Church Attendance In America Is Declining

 

[AndOne]

Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases News - The New York Times

 

[jax5434]

Does anyone remember what the op's premise was?

God Bless
Jax

 

[packermann]

All I am doing is defending my Catholic faith when it is attacked. I didn't start the fire.

 

[jax5434]

All I am doing is defending my Catholic faith when it is attacked. I didn't start the fire.

No one ever does.

 

[nobdysfool]

All I am doing is defending my Catholic faith when it is attacked. I didn't start the fire.

Trying to spread the fire is not the way to put it out.

 

[Alfred Persson]

What do I mean by this? Ever since the KJV, I believe that John 3:16 has been mistranslated and isn't correct... none of the current Bible have it right either because of everyone comes from an Arminian viewpoint.... the verse, and I kid you not, is Calvinistic to the core, if it is translated correctly...

Joh 3:16 οὕτω γὰρ ἡγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ᾿ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

For in this way God loved the world, that he gave his only son, in order that all the believing ones in him not destroyed, but shall have life of the ages.

The whole contention really centers on the "whosoever believeth" as in everyone had a "free-choice" in the matter of choosing or rejecting Christ... but if you view the verse by comparing scripture with scripture, and knowing that Christ's redemption actually saved people, not merely made salvation possible then it makes sense.... the verse really is just saying all those believing in Christ are saved... it's not to be understood in the sense that "whosoever" can come, but that all those already believing are saved (because obviously they were chosen...)

Can I get a witness from another Calvinist that knows Greek better than I? I've had four semesters of Greek, but I'm rusty.

Impossible as they were chosen before they did good or bad, before believing.

Therefore they are not "already believing when they believed" which is absurd on the face of it, and totally unscriptural.

The text says what it says, its your beliefs that require adjustment.

 

[nobdysfool]

Impossible as they were chosen before they did good or bad, before believing.

Therefore they are not "already believing when they believed" which is absurd on the face of it, and totally unscriptural.

The text says what it says, its your beliefs that require adjustment.

Sorry, but it's your comprehension that requires adjustment. He did not say "they were already believing when they believed". That's your skewed misinformation speaking. There was a point in time where they began believing, and that was because they were chosen before the foundation of the world. That choice of them was manifested in time, so there was a time when they did not believe, before the time He appointed for them to believe.

This is elementary logic, LOC. Why are you have trouble accepting it?