Questions For A Catholic

Anastacia said:

If you are so happy being a Catholic, then fine for you, but don't tell me what I can and can't do. I'm going to speak up when I want to. What don't you get about that? And, it's not just about Catholic you. Okay? So back off.

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This thread was started by Aspen, and the purpose of this thread was to have an honest dialogue with non-Catholics. If you want to speak your truth, so go start your own thread. How difficult can that be? If Aspen is able to start a thread, then why is it so difficult for you to do the same thing?

And what you say here doesn't make any sense. You call yourself a Catholic, and then you say I don't know you---if you call yourself a Catholic---then I know you as a Catholic! Catholic religion commands to venerate statues! Do you not remember you defended that belief? You defend things that are against the Word of God.

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You do not know me at all, Anastacia. My experience as a Catholic is not the same as yours.

You might believe what you are saying is sensible and right, and I've heard you and don't agree. Now I do not want you to continue to talk this nonsense to me anymore. So stand back, because I have the right to post.

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You can continue to put the Catholic people down if that is what's going to make you feel better about yourself. It doesn't hurt me at all. I am happy with who I am, and I accept all people for who they are. I pity you, and you are in my prayers.

That is what Catholics are attempting to do every time they pray asking a saint to intercede for them.

I ve never tried to communicate with the dead, and I dont recall ever hearing that such a thing is appropriate for a catholic.

Thanks for your question.

Mcorba, if you have ever asked one of the saints to intercede on your behalf then you have indeed attempted to communicate with the dead.

When I asked st George to intercede for me I wasn't communciating with the dead but simply talking to a fellow Christian who is alive in the church triamphna twhile I still belong to the church militant. St George like all the others is very much alive in the body of Chrsit. St George used to be my patron but now I have St James of Compostella, though George is still important to me.

Catholics, Anglo-Catholics, Orthodox Christians etc who ask for the saints to interceed on their behalf cannot be contacting the dead if the person the ask to interceed for them is alive in the body of Christ.

Let me give you an example; Cardinal John Henry newman. A man with criplling back pain asked him for help and recieved it, coincidence I don;t think so. Before becoming a Catholic he really di a lot for the Church of England; by revitalising it in a time when it had fallen into stagnation. Then when he had helped us he turned to Rome and he did amazing work for the Catholic church. Though his body is no longer alive and has been consumed by a special type of soil that allowed his bones to disolve extremely fast, he shows us that he is alive by aid ing in miracoulous works and is a very important figure for both Anglicans and Catholics, possibly a force for reunification but that is a long way off. I look forard to the day when he is given full canonization.

The Holy Spirit once told me that the body of Christ was those who were alive, those who were dead, and those who are to come.



My wife had Mary the mother of Jesus come visit her twice. Mary even thanked my wife.

Nice bit of hair splitting Templar but if the corpse is in the ground that means that person has died.

Thankful, I am sure your wife was visited by something, but the Mother of Jesus it wasn't.

Only dead in body. The scond death ash no power over them so they aren't really dead even though their time in this realm is over. Unless you think people don't have souls and jsut die and that it.

Anastacia said:

The skull of a man who died 1000 years ago is adored and venerated by the Roman Catholics and the Pope.

The skull of the Roman Catholic priest can be adored in Old Goa in Goa in India.

Catholics dig up buried "saints" and put them out to be bowed to, prayed to, and even kissed.

If this doesn't prove to any one that what the Catholic's do is wrong, then what will?

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See my post on bowing.

WhiteKnuckle said:

See my post on bowing.

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WhiteKnuckle, whatever you were taught and believed and practiced about bowing---you then read in the Bible not to make statues, nor to bow to images, nor to bow to men and angels. When we read do not make statues, nor bow to any images.....does that mean for a church to go make statues and pictures and command the people to venerate them with bowing? No, that would be going against the Word of God. But, it is what the Catholic religion does.

You really can't read the word of God clearly and plainly about that? You really don't take seriously the word of God, and obey when God says not to make a statue and bow to it?

Some of you here can't seem to keep all the information together. Here, I'll recap: The Catholic religion makes statues and pictures; they also keep and display remains of the dead; they call the statues and remains "holy." The Catholics command that these things be bowed to, venerated, prayed to, and even kissed.

Now go read what the Word of God says, and believe and obey.

None of those things are worship. One is not to worship false idols. Worship is entirely in the heart of an individual, and you really cannot look into another's heart and say what drives his or her actions.

De Profundis said:

None of those things are worship. One is not to worship false idols. Worship is entirely in the heart of an individual, and you really cannot look into another's heart and say what drives his or her actions.

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What don't you get about don't bow to the works of your hands? And, don't make any image and watch yourselves carefully. What don't you understand about keep yourself from idols? What don't you get about venerate is to bow to, and worship is to bow to? What don't you get about we are not to venerate anything or anyone, but God? And what don't you get about the Icons the Catholics have are the same as idols. And what don't you understand that twisting words does show what is in a person's heart?

Anastacia! Please for crying out loud!

We've explined about bowing don't you get it, havn't you been reading the replies. Bowing doesn't mean worship, how many times do we have to tell you?

havn't you read the posts where I explained that saints remains aren't just any old bones, they are holy and worthy of our veneration, don't you get it?

The catholic church doesn't just go around digging people up for fun you know. They are all people who have led very holy lives and have met the criteria for beatification and or canonization and while that process does not affect them in the church trimphant it does reveal to the faithful here on earth that these are holy people who are continuing their holy work even when their souls ahve departed this life and are very much alive in the body of Christ.

Anastacia said:

What don't you get about don't bow to the works of your hands? And, don't make any image and watch yourselves carefully. What don't you understand about keep yourself from idols? What don't you get about venerate is to bow to, and worship is to bow to? What don't you get about we are not to venerate anything or anyone, but God? And what don't you get about the Icons the Catholics have are the same as idols. And what don't you understand that twisting words does show what is in a person's heart?

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I interpret "bow to" as a metaphor for worship, not a strict, literal command. It simply doesn't make sense to me that bowing in any one place is somehow sinful when it is not sinful to bow in other places. Furthermore, one does not bow to the statue, as has been made clear, one bows to the Lord in front of a statue. As I said, unless the statue is being worshiped, bowing in front of a statue instead of somewhere else to pray to the Lord does not feel like a sin to me. The Lord looks into one's heart, not at the placement of one's knees.

"Venerate," "bow," and "worship" are not identical in either connotation or denotation. If you can show me precisely identical dictionary entries, I could be convinced that they are equivalent, but I have heard all used quite distinctly, and they are different words with different meanings.

Disagreeing with you on the meaning and use of a word is not the same as "twisting" it.

De Profundis said:

I interpret "bow to" as a metaphor for worship, not a strict, literal command. It simply doesn't make sense to me that bowing in any one place is somehow sinful when it is not sinful to bow in other places. Furthermore, one does not bow to the statue, as has been made clear, one bows to the Lord in front of a statue. As I said, unless the statue is being worshiped, bowing in front of a statue instead of somewhere else to pray to the Lord does not feel like a sin to me. The Lord looks into one's heart, not at the placement of one's knees.

"Venerate," "bow," and "worship" are not identical in either connotation or denotation. If you can show me precisely identical dictionary entries, I could be convinced that they are equivalent, but I have heard all used quite distinctly, and they are different words with different meanings.

Disagreeing with you on the meaning and use of a word is not the same as "twisting" it.

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You are wrong. The Catholic religion commands the bowing to statues and pictures.


Yes, you and other Catholic defenders twist words.

The synonym for venerate is 'worship.' Another synonym for venerate is "reverence." From the Bible we know not to even bow in "reverence" to another Christian, not even the apostle Peter. But Catholics go against the Word of God and do what we are told not to.

Templar81 said:

Anastacia! Please for crying out loud!

We've explined about bowing don't you get it, havn't you been reading the replies. Bowing doesn't mean worship, how many times do we have to tell you?

havn't you read the posts where I explained that saints remains aren't just any old bones, they are holy and worthy of our veneration, don't you get it?

The catholic church doesn't just go around digging people up for fun you know. They are all people who have led very holy lives and have met the criteria for beatification and or canonization and while that process does not affect them in the church trimphant it does reveal to the faithful here on earth that these are holy people who are continuing their holy work even when their souls ahve departed this life and are very much alive in the body of Christ.

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I've been exposing the wicked and evil acts of the Catholic church and their defiance to the Word of God. It is even unbiblical in what you say how the people are canonized. We must obey God and not men!

The words have different meanings. Worship is the "reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage," while to venerate is " to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference." Essentially, worship is exclusively for divinities like God, while veneration is simply a sign of respect or admiration. These are the understandings of the words I have always had. If you have a different understanding of their meaning, perhaps those semantics are what cause us to disagree.

De Profundis said:

The words have different meanings. Worship is the "reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage," while to venerate is " to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference." Essentially, worship is exclusively for divinities like God, while veneration is simply a sign of respect or admiration. These are the understandings of the words I have always had. If you have a different understanding of their meaning, perhaps those semantics are what cause us to disagree.

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Repent. That is what you need to do.

truthquest said:

Am I understanding correctly that Catholics attempt to communicate with the dead?

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Hello Truthquest,

No, we do not communicate with the dead. We do not bow or pray to the bodies of dead saints.

This is what we believe in. We believe that those who die in Christ will be made alive in Christ because their faith saved them (1 Corinthians 15:22). We believe that Mary and the Apostles had faith in God our Father and is now in Heaven enjoying eternal life with Jesus. The mystical body of Christ include all believers who believe in God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and we are all one in Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). If a person dies, does this mean that he is no longer a member of the body of Christ. According to the Bible, the answer is no. We are all made alive in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:22) and there is no division in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:25). Can death separate or break the bond between us and those of our brothers and sisters in Heaven. According to the Bible, the answer is no (Romans 8:38). Death cannot separate us from the love of Christ nor from our brothers and sisters who are alive in Christ. The bonds of love is so strong and powerful that not even death can separate us from our brothers and sisters in Heaven. Why? Because God is love (1 John 4:8). And God who is love keeps us (His family) together regardless of whether we are on earth or Heaven. And so we are called to love our neighbors including our enemies.

Mary and the Saints are in Heaven, and as for us on this earth, we were never of this world to begin with because we have been called out of this world despite that we live on this world. We imitate Christ our brother who lived on this world 2000 years ago, but was not of this world. We can speak to all the Angels and Saints in Heaven simply because we are not of this world just as Jesus said (John 15:19 and John 17:14).

Scripture shows that Jesus spoke to Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3, Luke 9:30, and Mark 9:3), and these were men who were no longer walking the earth. Jesus was not speaking to dead peope. Scripture also tells us that there are indeed people in Heaven (Hebrews 12:1 and Revelations 6:9-11). Scripture even tells us that they can see and hear us (See Luke 15:7). There will be rejoicing in Heaven if one sinner on earth repents. God allows people in Heaven to hear the repentance of one sinner so that they can rejoice. And if they can hear the repentance of one sinner, they can also hear us conversing with them and asking them to pray for us. I hope that answers your question.

In Christ,
Selene

Anastacia said:

WhiteKnuckle, whatever you were taught and believed and practiced about bowing---you then read in the Bible not to make statues, nor to bow to images, nor to bow to men and angels. When we read do not make statues, nor bow to any images.....does that mean for a church to go make statues and pictures and command the people to venerate them with bowing? No, that would be going against the Word of God. But, it is what the Catholic religion does.

You really can't read the word of God clearly and plainly about that? You really don't take seriously the word of God, and obey when God says not to make a statue and bow to it?

Some of you here can't seem to keep all the information together. Here, I'll recap: The Catholic religion makes statues and pictures; they also keep and display remains of the dead; they call the statues and remains "holy." The Catholics command that these things be bowed to, venerated, prayed to, and even kissed.

Now go read what the Word of God says, and believe and obey.

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The Bible clearly says in the first place not to make any images of anything on earth. One of your Ten Commandments even says "do not make any images." Your Ten Commandments left out the part about bowing. If you have images of your family in your home, then you violated the second commandment, which says do not make any images.

Anastacia said:

Repent. That is what you need to do.

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Assuredly, I need to repent, just as you and everyone else in this thread needs to repent. None among us is perfect, and each among us must ask forgiveness for something. At least in this, I hope we can agree.

God Bless.