Catholicism has a ton of beliefs and rituals that are not based on the bible at all. And they perform many forms of idolatry (statues of Mary, Saints, etc) which are strictly forbidden in the bible. Historically the Catholic church (not the well meaning Rankin File who sit in the pews) has committed unspeakable acts of repression and violence, such as the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades. I’m not very fond of any organized religions, but the Vatican is pretty low on my list…
But to answer your question, it’s a flavor of Christianity
[quote author=“MSP”]Catholicism has a ton of beliefs and rituals that are not based on the bible at all. And they perform many forms of idolatry (statues of Mary, Saints, etc) which are strictly forbidden in the bible. Historically the Catholic church (not the well meaning Rankin File who sit in the pews) has committed unspeakable acts of repression and violence, such as the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades. I’m not very fond of any organized religions, but the Vatican is pretty low on my list…
But to answer your question, it’s a flavor of Christianity
Catholics do not worship statues of Mary and the Saints. We honor the person for their actions in promoting and defending the Faith unto death. The Crusades were to reclaim the Holy Lands; therefore, the purposes consist of a call for a just war. Finally, all of our sacraments have a basis in the Bible. You just have to look for them in the Gospels when they were instituted by Christ.
[quote author=“Yami Dragon”][quote author=“MSP”]Catholicism has a ton of beliefs and rituals that are not based on the bible at all. And they perform many forms of idolatry (statues of Mary, Saints, etc) which are strictly forbidden in the bible. Historically the Catholic church (not the well meaning Rankin File who sit in the pews) has committed unspeakable acts of repression and violence, such as the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades. I’m not very fond of any organized religions, but the Vatican is pretty low on my list…
But to answer your question, it’s a flavor of Christianity
Catholics do not worship statues of Mary and the Saints. We honor the person for their actions in promoting and defending the Faith unto death. The Crusades were to reclaim the Holy Lands; therefore, the purposes consist of a call for a just war. Finally, all of our sacraments have a basis in the Bible. You just have to look for them in the Gospels when they were instituted by Christ.
Catholic people pray to the statue of “Mother Mary” (and other saints) which is worship of an idol other than Jesus himself and is therefore idolatry and forbidden by the bible - period. I won’t waste either of our time by addressing your other rebuttals, but just suffice to say that history shows MANY atrocities carried out by the Catholic church in the name of god. The Crusades isn’t the best example, but the Church’s stance on birth control is. Millions and millions of starving babies in Africa; all blood on the hands of the pope.
NO, Catholicism does not permit the idolizing of other Gods. We are not polytheistic. What we do is pray for Mary to pray for us. We are not worshipping Mary we are talking to her asking her to help us. We only worship the Eucharist. As far as not following the bible.. it is done exactly, with no variations and no ifs ands or buts. Long ago, there was a belief that if you were not Catholic you were wrong and were forced to be Catholic. Also, that belief was not then or now imposed or hinted by the churh. Get your facts straight, we don’t insight violence and don’t bend some half truths to make your point.
[quote author=“samureye”]NO, Catholicism does not permit the idolizing of other Gods. We are not polytheistic. What we do is pray for Mary to pray for us. We are not worshipping Mary we are talking to her asking her to help us. We only worship the Eucharist. As far as not following the bible.. it is done exactly, with no variations and no ifs ands or buts. Long ago, there was a belief that if you were not Catholic you were wrong and were forced to be Catholic. Also, that belief was not then or now imposed or hinted by the churh. Get your facts straight, we don’t insight violence and don’t bend some half truths to make your point.
Get my facts straight? Please! The history is all there - I suggest you do a little reading. Just venture outside of the Church’s “library”; you will be disturbed, I promise… Of course you don’t agree - you have a vested interest in “the church”. :roll:
So I was wondering, why do Catholics pray to Mary? How did that start? Im just wondering this because its not in The Bible, so where did that come from?
I used to be catholic, that place was scary. I never even knew about transubstantiation until I became atheist. I can’t believe they actually think that the Eucharist is “actually” Jesus’ body and blood. I always thought it was a symbol. Catholics are nuts. :o
[quote author=“AndruGearLive”]Looks like this might have to be moved to the debate board :think:
As for Catholicism following the Bible - wrong.
Take a look at the Catholic 10 Commandments, and take a look at the original.
See something missing?
Oh, why its the one that says Thou shalt not make or bow to graven images. Huh!
But they still have 10. How did that happen? Ahhh…by splitting the 10th commandment into two.
We have a winner! Quite correct. Of course they are going to deny it and train their people to deny it to - it’s a criticism they’ve been fending off for years.
you guys all make it out that the Catholic religion is the worst thing in the world. I’m Catholic and hate to say it but I find it a bit offensive, yes I acknowledge there are things about the Catholic Church I don’t agree with. I just think that there are good and bad in all religions. But do you really think praying to a statue of Mary is really such a terrible thing. Maybe it’s because I think a lot of the Bible is faulted. I hardly think I’m going to go to hell because I pray to a statue of Mary. We don’t hold these Saints above God.
I mean you guys seem to be saying that Catholicism is bad because we have “false idols”.. meanwhile there are other religions that do not hold fast to the Bible on other things. It just seems ridiculous to admonish a faith for having “false idols” but not think twice about doing work on Sabbath whether it be actually working, mowing a lawn or turning on a light (which is forbidden in Shabbat Judaism). I won’t make a case against the difference in commandments because I know there is differences in religions. I understand that Catholicism is divergent from the Bible in certain ways, but you don’t think any other religion is? I mean Jewish people don’t even believe in the 2nd half of it I mean how more divergent can you get (that’s partly a joke haha).
I guess my big point is that just because a religion is divergent from the Bible doesn’t make it or the followers bad per say. As for the Holy Wars, I agree that they were terrible, but Catholicism isn’t the only religion to create war in the name of religion (whether officially decreed or not). I mean isn’t the biggest test of a religion being a “good” religion that it creates good people. As a teacher of 4th and 5th graders in Catholic religious ed, i think most of the values being taught are very good.
The reason I dont hold things like that against the Jews is because they dont say they believe in the New Testament. I can say I dont agree with the religion, but that is pretty much the extent of it. However, if I see someone who is Jewish (I am adopted by a Jewish family) doing things that go against what they say they believe in as a Jew, then I can say that person is being a hypocrite.
That is how I feel about Catholicism. Note, I did not say CATHOLICS. Not the people, but the religion. If you research how Catholicism came about, you will see why I feel that way. They took many things out of the Bible for the sake of governmental control. Other things they manipulated, which is why the world has such a skewed perception of biblical subject matter (Satan, death, commandments, hell, etc.). There are so many false teachings that go against the very word they say they live by. That is my problem.
Cathlicism is the only religion in which you see this practice on such a major scale. In fact, they even ADMIT IT. Its too late for me to get it right now, but there is a major catholic publication in which high ranking officials from the Vatican talk about some of the beliefs, and how they changed things in the Bible to make them more convenient, easier, etc. One strange one was the reason preists are called “Father”. The papacy thought it would get more respect if the population referred to them as “Abba” (Father) - which is what Jesus instructed people to call God the Father. So the Pope made it so that anyone who become a priest is now the living version of God the Father on earth. It is nowhere in the Bible, but it is now true that priests are LITERALLY God the Father incarnate because the Pope said so (as far as catholicism goes anyway).
