misconceptions

Like I said once before, FirstCor does his sherriffin' on one side only.

Why do you think there are so many rampant misconceptions of the RCC?

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Actually this is easy to answer. Misconceptions are rampant because of a combination of ignorance with animosity. Ignorance is perpetuated because to express even interest in understanding Catholicism is seen as a betrayal of true (i.e., Protestant) Christianity, and those individuals and their more knowledgable views are looked upon with suspicion. They are looked upon with suspicion because only those who put aside their prejudices against Catholicism can convert to Catholicism, thus these people have already taken the first step toward abandoning Protestantism and have sullied their witness.

I didn't mean for it to sound harsh, but have experienced it in action first hand.

I should also note that this is not all Protestants, but is typical of the crowd that usually perpetuates Catholic misconceptions.

A final note of qualification is that I am not Catholic.  My opinion was not derived from loyalties to Catholicism but from my own experience.

Wanderer, meet Seebs.

Seebs, meet Wanderer.

You guys have a lot in common. You both are observant and have a compassionate feel for the "persecution" of Catholics, all the while not being Catholic yourselves.

It's nice to know both of you.


Peace,
~VOW

I think Squalid makes a good point. I think a lot of people who have these misconceptions are raised that way. I just think it's a thing passed down from generation to generation. Then you have people like Jack Chick, Loraine Boettner, Dave Hunt, etc. etc. and media can influence people. For someone who knows nothing about Catholicism and is easily influenced, the Jack Chicks of the world do a good job spreading these misconceptions.

I hate to bring up Rapture Ready again but I'll illustrate my point (I wish I was capable of using big words like Wols. Heck, Squalid used some big uns in his previous post!). Take a person who was reading last month's Time magazine. He comes across the article on Rapture Ready (Hey Erwin, when you gonna get us in Newsweek?). He's interested in learning more about the Rapture and logs onto Rapture Ready. Then he reads all these anti-Catholic posts and rather than do the research, he accepts them as true. He in turn passes this stuff onto his fellow churchgoers and the cycle continues. I really was shocked when I went to Rapture Ready. I went there because I too was fascinated about the Rapture. I had never, ever heard of it until the "Left Behind" books came out.

What would be really great, I think, is IF a major publication did a story on the resurgence of anti-Catholicism (I can't see the liberal flagship publication of Time doing such) and had an answer to these false claims that are being made. Boy, wouldn't that stir up the pot? C'mon Newsweek, give it a shot!

Originally posted by jukesk9
For someone who knows nothing about Catholicism and is easily influenced, the Jack Chicks of the world do a good job spreading these misconceptions.                    

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He's interested in learning more about the Rapture and logs onto Rapture Ready. Then he reads all these anti-Catholic posts and rather than do the research, he accepts them as true. He in turn passes this stuff onto his fellow churchgoers and the cycle continues. I really was shocked when I went to Rapture Ready. 

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Their mindset is so intent on keeping Catholic contraversy going at RR that we find this quote: italics are mine

. . its either jumpstart a few 'oldies but goodies' (any thread with a Catholic debate) or see the whole first page of the Apollo about evolution, atheism, or LDS stuff.

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Guess the other issues aren't as much fun to bash.

Kotton

Originally posted by I can eat 50 eggs
yeah, that was me, I'm not sure if I should be offended or thankful from your comment though, the whole protestant gig doesn't sit well with me.  I knew I had seen your handle somewhere.

I got in a tiff with 1st cor over there, and they banned me. 

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Do you possibly remember me there?

We share someting "common" about "RR"..........................  

God bless,

PAX

Bill+†+

 

 

 

Hi, Bill. I remember you from RR very well. I always thought you were way too charitable with the worst of the fire-eaters over there.

Welcome to Christian Forums.

Nice picture, by the way. Korean War?

Originally posted by Wolseley
Hi, Bill. I remember you from RR very well. I always thought you were way too charitable with the worst of the fire-eaters over there.

Welcome to Christian Forums.

Nice picture, by the way. Korean War?

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Charitable...........until 1stCor did something to "hinder" Catholic participation there, and I called him on it. It went for several cycles until I got fed-up with him and "gave him the business!"

I was in Key West, Fla.  and a First class/Chief Petty officer at the time (E-6 and E-7, before E-8 and E-9 were created) and I avoided Korea, except in later times when I went there as part of the Naval Advisory Group. And my participation in Vietnam was a bit sparce as well, not getting too close where where the combat action was, flying high over and transmitting interesting Radio and TV broadcasts!  That was a hoot, let me tell you!

Had two Marine majors ride with us one day and they told me that the only difference between MACV and a boy scout outfit, was that the boy scout outfit had leadership!  I was a Navy LT (O-3) at the time...

Now, I am an old broken-down retired guy....

God bless,

PAX

Bill+†+

 

 

 

Rapture Ready is a pit of filth. The anti-Catholics have moderators (like 1stCor) on their side, and they not only criticize Catholicism, they make fun of it and mock it.

Recently someone posted a picture of Pope John Paul II in front of a Powerbook G3, and people began mocking him for his age and such, and writing insulting captions (including 1stCor, of course)[1]. One of the few Catholics on the board called them on it and they laughed it off -- they were actually debating him on whether or not it was in a Christian spirit to mock the Pope.

Budgie recently made a thread that wondered if as a group they were being too harsh -- he said there was no point to their threads if all the Catholics just got disgusted and left. People seemed to agree, but they didn't really change their posting at all.

Whatever. I agree with what someone else said, that RR is far worse than the LBMB.

-Chris (uh-oh, that's twice for mentioning them both in the same post)

[1] I have to admit that a few of the captions were pretty funny -- one was about the Pope getting banned from Rapture Ready multiple times, which is an all-too-plausible scenario if he actually did post there.

I think they'd have to ban him; I mean, imagine the letdown after spending years telling people that someone is the antichrist, and he posts to your board and he's all polite and stuff and doesn't seem to be very wrathful. It'd be really disappointing. Better to not let him post.

Had two Marine majors ride with us one day and they told me that the only difference between MACV and a boy scout outfit, was that the boy scout outfit had leadership! I was a Navy LT (O-3) at the time...

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Well, since you had nothing to dowith MACV, I suppose we can forgive you for being an officer.

I always remember the glee my dad and uncles got out of the Bill Mauldin cartoon where a PFC is shaking his finger at a Lt. Col. and saying, "One more crack like that, smart guy, and you won't get your old job back after the war!"

Now, I am an old broken-down retired guy....

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Yeah, I'm old and broken down, too, but unfortunately not retired.

Rapture Ready is a pit of filth.

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Agreed.

The anti-Catholics have moderators (like 1stCor) on their side, and they not only criticize Catholicism, they make fun of it and mock it.they were actually debating him on whether or not it was in a Christian spirit to mock the Pope.

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But you can bet if a Papist made a mocking statement about Martin Luther or Dwight Moody or Billy Graham or C.I. Scofield, the screams of righteous outrage would be heard unto the highest heavens.

Budgie recently made a thread that wondered if as a group they were being too harsh -- he said there was no point to their threads if all the Catholics just got disgusted and left. People seemed to agree, but they didn't really change their posting at all.

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I know I have no intentions of ever going back there. The hatred is poisonous and palpable, and the worst part is that they don't believe they're being hateful. It's the usual self-deluded garbage about "But we love Catholics!"

What was that phrase about "whitewashed sepulchers"?

I wonder if any of the Rapture Ready Rangers have posted here? You'd think people like Sid and Watcher would've already tried to come here and save our poor souls......

Recently someone posted a picture of Pope John Paul II in front of a Powerbook G3, and people began mocking him for his age and such, and writing insulting captions (including 1stCor, of course)[1]. One of the few Catholics on the board called them on it and they laughed it off -- they were actually debating him on whether or not it was in a Christian spirit to mock the Pope.

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I saw that, kern. That was terrible. They have nothing better to do than ridicule a sick man who has dedicated his life to the Lord and who is not long for this earth. And as far as the mocking thing.. I actually saw someone on another board (not RR)--use some Old Testament text regarding Elijah to justify their mocking the Eucharist.

Michelle

Originally posted by jukesk9
I wonder if any of the Rapture Ready Rangers have posted here? You'd think people like Sid and Watcher would've already tried to come here and save our poor souls......

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Oh, yes, a few have been here. I believe it was Sid who complained about the dead-horse awards given out by KC.   They say that they cannot give 'scripture' and 'real' information on salvation, without getting banned. It's just being used to saying any outlandish thing about the Catholic Church without being called on it. 

Kotton

Yes, they often refer to this board (apparently it's against the rules to name it, but it's obvious they're referring to CF) as being "controlled by Catholics", and they say that you can't disagree with Catholicism without being banned (which is nonsense -- there are a number of posters here including some admins who disagree with Catholic doctrine and have never even been warned).

In any case, I look over there every so often to see if anything has changed (yeah right ) and just to remind myself of how good this board is.

Kotton: Yes, I remember someone saying that you can get banned here "just for quoting scripture". Isn't there a commandment that talks about bearing false witness?

-Chris

I don't think most Catholic-bashers are very worried about false witness. At least, I have not seen the kinds of fruits that such a concern would bear, IMHO.

Back to the subject...
I think there are several reasons that there are so many differing opinions on what the Catholic faith is...certainly many of them are misconceptions, but respectfully, I'm not sure all of the dissenting opinions are false...

1. There are and have been in the past MANY, MANY Catholics. All of them are human, and each has their own spiritual path. They theoretically each could have a slightly different opinion of what the Catholic faith is... and they share this with others.

2. The Catholic religion has existed 2000 years. This is a long time for rumors to spread.

3. There have been many Councils and Popes, each of which has written statements of the faith. There are thousands of pages of documents which are considered the official documents of the Church. (Some of these are in Latin (the meaning of which can be obscure when it is translated.))

4. Some Catholics do not know the history of their own religion, even though they may know the catechism.

For example, some may say that priests were never allowed to marry. This is not true. Priests in the Early Church were allowed to marry until as late as the 1400's.

Another possible myth is that the Roman Catholic Church would never have a woman priest. If you will look at the papal history of the Roman Catholic Church carefully, you will find that one of the POPES was alledged to be a woman!!!!! Pope John VIII was the POPE in question, some call her Pope Joan. (Legend has it that all thought she was a man until she stopped by the side of the road and delivered a baby!!!! (Then the crowd stoned her, because this was heresey.) Perhaps it was heresey, but it still may have happened! Catholics have denied this since the Reformation, but there are several writings that acknowledge her existence that were written before that time. This is interesting stuff.

5. There is a disturbing trend in the Catholic faith (and many other faiths as well) to NOT study the Bible or catechism at all. Instead, these people (who say they have no time to study) take other people's ideas as fact without consulting the Bible or their catechism. This results in a faith that is distorted by the human element of rumor and the human nature to twist beliefs so that they favor their own position instead of the position of the Church.

Many Catholics, even in this age of the internet and practically instant information, are misinformed about the tennets of their own religion.

To prove my point, I will tell you that one of the people on this forum even told me that Mary was not considered to be a mediatrix, and challenged me to find a statement to prove that she is called a mediatrix in the catechism. By the way, it's in paragraph 969 of the Chatechism of the Catholic Church!