Question

[Plan 9]

erm...Josh, I think that if you went to OBOB and started a polite thread on the subject, you would find you have simply misunderstood the nature of this aspect of Catholic faith and practice.
Nevertheless, Erwin has made the Nicene Creed the standard of orthodox theology here at CF and that is all, and, in my mind, our Catholic mod and our Catholic guests are always more than welcome here. Personally, it makes me feel really happy to know that BA volunteered to be our mod, instead of having his arm twis*ahem*I meant, instead of being ord*ahem*I meant, instead of being politely asked by other staff members to take on the extra time and labor involved.
Also, I only have to pay bigsierra a quarter of my salary to induce him to post here with me, and I happen to know that this amount is substantially less than he charges the troublemaking members of other congregational fora to make them look good, and that I am only given this impressive discount because he truly likes spending time at Wesley's Parish.

 

[Plan 9]

Hmmmm.....maybe we all don't have our fee schedules updated. I'll have to check with him on that!

I see. Thank you. All the other congregational fora troublemakers (as you know, God issues one to each small congregational forum and two to three to each large one, in order to teach our moderators the sort of patience which only comes through tribulation) and I were talking (well actually, they had all gotten together to verbally abuse me for being given the privilege of paying bigsierra substantially less to post with me to make me look good, but when they had completed this task to their satisfaction, they still had me cornered, and found they had finished sooner than they had expected) where was I...oh, yes..we CFTs found ourselves discussing mod kickbacks in general, and they naturally decided that we should pool our funds for this, because I came up with the idea of the financial compensation which is only our WP mods just due and they caught me at it, those nosey parkers, so I collect by far the largest salary of all of us, since I've taken far fewer compulsory vacations, and therefore have the highest post count of any CFT.
To make a long story short, they're attempting to put the screws to me, and I strenuously objected, wvmtnkid, on behalf of our fine Wesley's Parish moderators, who will receive far less of their rightful share of the take, since much of my salary, when pooled, would then go to moderators who don't deserve it nearly as much as do ours, since Wesley's Parish is the proud possessor of the most notorious CFT of all, myself.
If you are paid less and the other moderators paid more, then I will appear to be far less notorious than I am at present; by my calculations, nearly negligble, and then your status will fall sharply in the eyes of the rest of the staff, and some of them are therefore quite likely to stop paying you to encourage me to stand fast in my Wesleyan faith, so that they don't have to worry about being stuck with me because I've converted to theirs.
In conclusion, I feel that, for your own well-being, you should should place a ceiling on my fee at its present amount until Erwin has a chance to stock the phaser rifle I have requested in order to get and keep the upper hand I need until they again viciously quarrel and are unable to cooperate together in their nefarious plan of cheating you; yes, you, a mod Of Wesley's Parish, one of the three finest mods in this or any other quadrant of the galaxy, and who does not deserve to both sustain considerable financial loss and to have some vastly inferior CFT foisted off on you in my place. They are counting on you to fall for their cheap, shabby tricks, wvmtnkid, but you are far, far cleverer than all of them combined, and I have every confidence that you will not be fooled by these pathetic slackers!

Have I mentioned lately how much I admire and respect you, wvmtnkid?

 

[larkep]

I was born a Methodist, converted to Catholicism some years ago and 2 years ago returned to the Methodist church. I like having the Catholic perspective on our board! And Nicks17, I think you're pretty cool; expressed my feelings precisely! (sarcasm and all!) Thanks, my friend!

 

[larkep]

You too Plan 9! Not sure what you said exactly but you sure said it well!!

 

[bigsierra]

ROFL

Planny, that's funniest thing I've seen all day.

I don't have to do anything to make you look good. You do well enough on your own.

What are you going to use that Phaser on?

 

[Joshua Howard]

I have asked for some edits in this thread. Just so you will know, I am not ignoring some of the comments that have been made.

In response to a recent request by wvmtnkid that I edit my post, my response is no. Regardless of anyone's regard to the legitimacy of what I wrote, it is just an honest opinion. I personally feel that I have the right to declare what I believe in light of any said matter. The moderators here need to be willing to tollerate conservatives in the same manner that they tollerate liberals. In summary, what I have said, I have said, regardless of what anyone thinks of it. I will not renounce what I believe.

Secondly, I wish to make a this clear; I am NOT insinuating that there are no christian catholics. What I AM saying is that catholicism in doctrine is not Christian. I am NOT trying to slam or degrade any individual person, but rather, an eccumenical trend that I have witnessed here. I am more than willing to present the basis for my defense.

My thanks are extended to each of you for your understanding. God Bless,

Joshua

 

[bigsierra]

Joshua,

I spent my early year in a church that seems very similar to the one you are attending, if I remember everything you listed correctly.

It was very conservative. It was not related to any other "denomination" and didn't consider itself a denomination. They only thing they could really point to as being the location of the headquarters of the Church would be where the printing press was, since there really isn't a headquarters here on earth.

Women all wore dresses down past their knees and didn't cut their hair.
It was a holiness church, that definately didn't believe in once saved always saved. I remember having many altar calls at camp meeting. The church believes in entire sanctification which is an instant second work.

No one has TV. My aunt doesn't have a TV to this day. She does have a monitor, that she can watch videos on. It's a TV with the knob removed so she isn't tempted to change channels.

Most music had its roots in the 1800's hymns of their day.

That church isn't big but is filled with wonderful people that love God.

 

[Joshua Howard]

It does sound similar. And may the Lord be with you, wherever you are.

In Christ Jesus,

Joshua

 

[bigsierra]

Here is a link with info on the group.

Church of God

The hymnal was called Evening Light Songs

I remember seeing Adam Clarke's Commentary at my grandfathers house.

I also remember there being lots of tracts.

Just doing a little jog through my memory. hehe

 

[Joshua Howard]

The doctrines of the church are similar to those of the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), but with stronger emphasis on separation and holiness. Sanctification is held as a second work of grace after justification by faith. Members are not allowed to participate in any type of warfare or military service, nor to use alcoholic beverages and tobacco. Seminary training, salaried ministers, and tithing are rejected. Practices of the church include baptism by immersion, the Lord's supper, feet washing, lifting up holy hands, the holy kiss, anointing with oil, divine healing, fasting and acappela singing. Eschatology is amillennial.

We (The Bible Missionary Church) are not pacifistic, we do teach tithing and have our own seminary. We also use musical instruments in the service. The ordinances of foot washing and the holy kiss are not taught by my church, and we do not believe that water baptism is required for salvation. I do know and have some contact with a small network of churchs, however, that do follow most or all of the above practices. You can visit their website at www.charityministries.org.



In Christ,

Joshua Howard

 

[elanor]

I know there are folks who equate ecumenism with unexceptable compromise; but for many of us it is, rather, a joyful celebration of unity in diversity. A warm welcome to our Catholic brother, and special thanks for your willingness to serve here.

 

[Joshua Howard]

If I recall, the Church of God (if it's the one I'm thinking of) can be pretty legalistic. I once knew of a man who attended such a church in our area, and he had the strangest ideas -- For example, he believed that it was a sin to worship God at a high elevation. When we invited him to check out our church, he refused to come because it was on a hill.

Sometimes conservativism turns into legalism... When that happens, holiness turns into bondage. At my church, everyone is doing what they do because they want to do it. You can't force people to have any certain attitude. If it's not coming from their heart, it is more detrimental than it is good. That's why I stand by the Bible Missionary Church, by the way.

 

[bigsierra]

If I recall, the Church of God (if it's the one I'm thinking of) can be pretty legalistic. I once knew of a man who attended such a church in our area, and he had the strangest ideas -- For example, he believed that it was a sin to worship God at a high elevation. When we invited him to check out our church, he refused to come because it was on a hill.

Sometimes conservativism turns into legalism... When that happens, holiness turns into bondage. At my church, everyone is doing what they do because they want to do it. You can't force people to have any certain attitude. If it's not coming from their heart, it is more detrimental than it is good. That's why I stand by the Bible Missionary Church, by the way.

Legalism is always a danger, no matter what the group. I dont' think I ever heard of anyone having a problem with elevation. That is very odd. I know they preached against Dr. Pepper because of caffine. The preacher said he knew someone so addicted to caffine that he would turn white and pass out if he didn't get it, in one sermon. I found that a bit strange. I wasn't a Dr. Pepper fan though. I always liked Coke. hehe.

I will have a look at the link you posted.

 

[Joshua Howard]

Turned white? lol... wierd. Speaking of Dr. Pepper, I heard the story told of a lady once who hated The taste of Dr. Pepper with a passion, and she talked so much about how she hated it that her little children soon associated it with booze. Such are the extreemes of life, I suppose.

 

[overnight]

In response to a recent request by wvmtnkid that I edit my post, my response is no. Regardless of anyone's regard to the legitimacy of what I wrote, it is just an honest opinion. I personally feel that I have the right to declare what I believe in light of any said matter. The moderators here need to be willing to tollerate conservatives in the same manner that they tollerate liberals. In summary, what I have said, I have said, regardless of what anyone thinks of it. I will not renounce what I believe.

Secondly, I wish to make a this clear; I am NOT insinuating that there are no christian catholics. What I AM saying is that catholicism in doctrine is not Christian. I am NOT trying to slam or degrade any individual person, but rather, an eccumenical trend that I have witnessed here. I am more than willing to present the basis for my defense.

My thanks are extended to each of you for your understanding. God Bless,

Joshua

I want to say Joshua that we here especially in WP have the idea of openess to all denominations and acceptance to different ideas, theologies and the such. That is why (in the UMC specifically) we are pluarlistic. Many people have different interpretations of the Bible and we hold that all these thoughts are relavent and worthy of study. That is why there is a catholic as a mod here. Saying that the Mods are more tolerant of liberals than conservatives is kinda silly though don't you think. This forum is ment more for uplifting, and passing on of knowledge so that we may learn about each other.

Just remember that intolerance of others leads to thinking you are better than they and that is not a christian way of thinking now is it. We are all part of the kingdom from the fundamentalist who uses kjv only to the liberal who beilives the Bible to be just a good book. Let us then try to embrace our differences and come together in unity to love one another as God would has us love one another. God bless you.
Peace,
overnight of the Order

 

[Texas Lynn]

We're very ecumenical. We'll be electing a Catholic as President, albeit one for which John F. Kennedy's assurances he made to a Baptist Minister's Convention he made in Houston, Texas, in 1960, that he would never be a puppet for Rome, are totally unnecessary.

 

[nicks17]

Texas Lynn,
Could you explain your post please. I agree that Methodists are ecumenical. But I don't necessarily agree that Methodists will vote for John Kerry. I say this not because it would be more Methodist to vote for George Bush, but because the United Methodist denomination does not support any one candidate above the other. I would be offended if a pastor, or a district, or a conference, or the general conference instructed Methodists how to vote. I think it would be much more ecumenical, too, if Methodists voted for who they felt was the best candidate individually. Bush himself is a United Methodist but on the other hand John Edwards is a United Methodist.
God Bless,
Nick

 

[bigsierra]

Most Catholics I know aren't inclined to vote for him, even if he does claim the religion, so don't feel like you have too. I know this Catholic will have to go with the Episcopalian guy.

Shouldn't there be a better alternative than either option?

 

[herev]

In response to a recent request by wvmtnkid that I edit my post, my response is no. Regardless of anyone's regard to the legitimacy of what I wrote, it is just an honest opinion. I personally feel that I have the right to declare what I believe in light of any said matter. The moderators here need to be willing to tollerate conservatives in the same manner that they tollerate liberals. In summary, what I have said, I have said, regardless of what anyone thinks of it. I will not renounce what I believe.

Secondly, I wish to make a this clear; I am NOT insinuating that there are no christian catholics. What I AM saying is that catholicism in doctrine is not Christian. I am NOT trying to slam or degrade any individual person, but rather, an eccumenical trend that I have witnessed here. I am more than willing to present the basis for my defense.

My thanks are extended to each of you for your understanding. God Bless,

Joshua

Hello Josh!!!, welcome to WP. I think (God may strike me with the plague for speaking for a moderator), but it seems to me that wvmtnkid would only ask you to revise your statemtn because of where you are, not what you believe. This is not an area designated by CF for folks outside of WP to debate, so perhaps she was concerned in that area? I asked earlier if you were part of the Wesleyan tradition for just that reason. But putting all of that aside, WElcome is certainly extended to you as well!!!.
I guess if you are not of the Wesleyan tradition, what your origninal post seems to suggest is comparable to this:
Several members of a household are having a discussion about another member of their household (we'll call him George) as someone has suggested maybe George should be looking for an apartment. The rest of us are discussing this and saying we love George and we like him here. Then someone knocks on the door and says, "Hey, I don't know George, but I've heard about people like him--it does seem strange to me that he's living here!"
So, it's not that anyone is unwelcome, and for me, you are welcome to express your thoughts as you did in a polite manner--it just seemed odd for you to be in that particular discussion making statments about, err, George . Sorry for any slight you may have felt during your visit here. We love visitors, so come as often as you like! I just thought I might offer some insight into the concerns we have raised about your post--it was certainly not personal.
Tommy

 

[herev]

We're very ecumenical. We'll be electing a Catholic as President, albeit one for which John F. Kennedy's assurances he made to a Baptist Minister's Convention he made in Houston, Texas, in 1960, that he would never be a puppet for Rome, are totally unnecessary.

agree with Nicks here, not all will be in the same category.