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Dr Francis Beckwith, current president of the Evangelical Theological Society, has converted back to Catholicisim.
Two worthwhile blog posts on this:
Jimmy Akin's blog
Dave Armstrong's blog ...
Two worthwhile blog posts on this:
Jimmy Akin's blog
Dave Armstrong's blog ...
on June 26, 2007, 3:53 am
You may have a few examples of people leaving the Catholic Church but there are thousand times more people leaving the Catholic Church and joining Lutheranism, Evangelical Churches including thousands every year leaving Catholicism and joining the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Brazil. Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world and yet, the SDA church has been able to make a huge impact upon people no longer deceived by the man-made doctrines and rituals of the Catholic Church.
Your new-found joy in people rejoining the CC pales in comparison with the numbers who are heeding the admonition of Revelation: "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities'" (Revelation 18:4,5).
Finally, in the words of Jesus: "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men". Matt. 15:8-9. What better example of man-made commandments than Sunday keeping, baptism of infants, indulgences (which can still be purchased at the Vatican), confession to the Priest, adoration and intercession of Mary, the purgatory, limbo, eternal hell, the immortality of the soul, the eucharist, the Papacy as God on Earth and many others?
Sure looks like the Catholic Church fits the bill of Revelation and Matthew 15.
I pray Catholic people reading this will question why they choose to believe in tradition and not in the Holy Scriptures.
Blessings
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on June 26, 2007, 8:10 am
If your misrepresentation of Catholicism above (the Vatican selling indulgences, adoration of Mary, the Pope as God) is sincere, you have a lot to learn about Catholicism, and you probably haven't seen how biblical it really is.
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on June 26, 2007, 1:29 pm
1, the Pope:
"To believe that our Lord God the Pope has not the power to decree as he is decreed, is to be deemed heretical." The Gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII, Cum. Inter, title 14, chapter 4, "Ad Callem Sexti Decretalium", Column 140, Paris, 1685. (In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, the words, "Dominum Deum Nostrum Papam" (“Our Lord God the Popeâ€
"The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth." Quoted in the New York Catechism.
"The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God...
"The Pope alone is called most holy...
"Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of hell.
"Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman Pontiff by no means pertains only to heavenly things, but also earthly things, and to things under the earth, and even over the angels, whom he his greater than.
"So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope....
"...the Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #1, 5, 13-15, 18, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
"The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth." Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, &quo
t;Cities Petrus Bertanous".
“...We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty..." Pope Leo XIII, in Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae (The Reunion of Christendom), Encyclical promulgated on June 20, 1894.
"We may according to the fullness of our power, dispose of the law and dispense above the law. Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on earth, not simply of a man but of the true God....dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority....I am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do...Wherefore, no marvel, if it be in my power to dispense with all things, yea with the precepts of Christ." Decretales Domini Gregori ix Translatione Episcoporum, (on the Transference of Bishops), title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris, 1612), tom. 2, Decretales, col. 205 (while Innocent III was Pope)
And I could on and on... For complete listing, see http://www.lightministries.com/id523.htm#pope_1
2. Indulgences are still sold and an active part of Catholic belief:
"What is an indulgence? The Church explains, "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through the Church’s help when, as a minister of redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions won by Christ and the saints" (Indulgentarium Doctrina 1). To see the biblical foundations for indulgences, see the Catholic Answers tract A Primer on Indulgences. (From www.catholic.com/library/Myths_About_Indulgences.asp.)
You can still buy indulgences at the Vatican, if you know where to go. I saw one in a library in Brazil, bought by an evangelical pastor at the Vatican in the 60's. It had the same content as in the middle ages, so nothing has really changed in the Catholic Church since the time of the Inquisition and other heresies.
3. As far as Mary, no use beating a dead horse, even this blog has Mary as an intercessor in heaven and prays that she will intercede with Christ for us... Pray for us, o Most Holy Theotokos. What do you mean here?
How can you explain this Stephen? Who is misrepresenting what here?...
Peace
_______
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with [their] lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Matt. 15:8-9
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on June 26, 2007, 5:06 pm
Indulgences: if you can't provide evidence for your claims, you shouldn't be making them. Of course indulgences are a part of Catholic belief - the concept is quite biblical, if you take the time to understand what is really means. And no, Catholic belief doesn't permit them to be sold, at the Vatican or elsewhere, any more than Adventist teaching allows fraud or child abuse. If you object to our beliefs, address those. If you object to our moral failures, remove your plank first.
Mary: Of course she can intercede for us, just as we can. Intercession is quite biblical.
I notice that you are able to post on my blog. Are you going to post a correction where you incorrectly said I blocked you? Of course, I might block you, if you end up spamming the blog.
I'd also appreciate a link from your blog. I'll link liberally to yours in my responses. I think your link should come first, considering your blog is named after me. The readers should get an idea of what you find offensive.
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