secretdawn said:
It does...(it shows for one that my school needs new history books!)
Hi secretdawn
It is so nice to see you come and ask questions such as these . . and yes, I have to agree with you that some (perhaps many) history books need to be rewritten.
I think that what you will find, which many of us converts have also found as we began to ask questions, is that there is a lot of misinformation and misundertandings out there . . so I am very glad you are asking.
can you tell me more about the pope and the "church" like...
why pray to mary, and the saints, cause isn't that holding false idols?
Others have spoken to this already, but I just want to emphasize that no, this is not the same as holding false idols . .
An idol in the Old Testament is a statue that is, itself, a god . . that particular statue was the god they worshipped . .not just representative of a god . .
The statues that Catholics use are not idols . .we do not worshipi a statue . . we do not worship what they represent . .they remind us of that person, and thus of God as this person is so closely related to God . . You cannot think of Mary without also thinking about her Son Jesus and God . .
One can rightly say that we "pray" to Mary and the Saints . . but one would be very wrong to understand that by using that word, "pray", that we are "worshipping" them . .this is because Catholics use the word "pray" differently than Protestants do . . we do not tie it to worship in any way . . it means to us to make a request of someone, anyone, for something . . and we ask Mary and the Saints to pray for us, to interceede for us to God . . so, we can rightly say that we "pray" to Mary and the Saints to ask them to "pray" for us and never, even remotely, come close to worshipping them . ..
There is a very big cultural difference between Protestants and Catholics when it comes to how certain words are used. . . and it is very important to be aware of this . ..
and are the hail mary's representitive of the time when you paid for your sins with a fine and eventually could pre-purchase sin allowances?
This question actually deals with 2 issues . .
First, No, the Hail Mary did not arise during, neither is it representative of, the time when a certain overzealous monk, named Tetzel, was "selling" indulgences . . The Hail Mary developed over time with parts of it seen in the 1st millenium of christianity. It came to substitue for the Prayer of the Hours which religious monks performed during the day, as the laymens prayer that could be prayed in the same manner. . this was well before Luther and his issues with Tetzel (which is what the nailing of the thesis on the Church door was all about) . .
Second, as mentioned by another poster, the Church never, ever taught that one could buy an indulgence and have all their sins forgiven . . never . . there was some corruptness in the Church, and a particular monk, Tetzel, got carried away, and when he came to Luther's area, Luther challenged him . .
Something interesting that I was reminded of the other night in class . . The way someone one invited someone else to a debate was by putting up a notice, a thesis, on the Church door . . this was not something unusual, it was very common . .Luther did nothing out of the ordinary, he did something very common . .and it invited Tetzel, or anyone else for that matter, to debate the issue with him . . I don't think Tetzel took him up on it, but I don't remember . . Luther was not challenging the Church when he did this . . he was challenging one man . .
and why are the churches so decadent? couldn't that money be better used elsewhere? is there biblical reasoning for this?
Decadent? I would not use that term . . going into an ornate church turns one's mind to beauty and to God . . my uncle's Orthodox Church was made of polished white marble inside, huge beautiful stained glass windows which told the story of the Gospel, they held your attention, you could not escape the reality of Jesus, of His message, of His death and resurrection . .you were surrounded by it in full color beauty! The acoustics were set up in such a way (a round domed sanctuary) where the barest whisper from the priest could be heard as though he was speaking right into your ear . .which made you loook up to see a beautiful huge icon of Christ above you . .
The beauty and the architecture serves a purpose . . have you ever been inside a beautiful Catholic Church and sat there in silence in prayer? There was a change in the last several decades where many churces were stripped of this beauty . . I believe this has harmed the spirituality of Cathilics as it denied them this beauty to stir their soul in contemplation of God and His goodness . .
It is a matter of persepctive . .
where is the biblical reasoning for confession (not that this isn't healthy for anyone to talk about their misdoings, but...)
There is a lot that could be said on this, but as my response is getting fairly long, I will keep this brief for now.
2 real quick . . one is that Jesus gave His apostles the power to forgive sins . .
Joh 20:23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
And that we are to confess our sins to one another
Jam 5:16Confessyour faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
The Early Church practiced priestly confession and forgiveness from the beginning . .
why celabicy? not that it's a bad thing to choose that for God, but why not have the choice, why can't you be a priest and have a family too?
This is a decision of the Catholic Church that can be changed . . it is not a dogma. . . Jesus gave to Peter first, and then later to the rest of the Apostles, the ability to bind and loose . .this is a rabbinical binding and loosing, of setting upon believers requirements in the practice and living of their faith . . and it has seemed good to the Catholic Church for some time now, to require its priests, in the Latin Rite, to not marry . .this is for the good of the Church, and the good of the flock that particular priest is over . . Paul speaks of the gift of celibacy, and how good it is . . A married priest is devided . . In the Eastern Orthodox Church, priests are allowed to marry, but a Bishop cannot be married. My uncle was married, and it does divide you. A celibate priest can much more effectively tend to the needs of his flock . .
The Church can change this if it sees it needs to . . it is not something written in stone. . .
I hope this has helped and not been too long winded!
Please ask and ask and ask . . you will find you have more and more questions, so please don't hesitate to ask!
Peace in Him!
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