First of all I was once a Catholic and now a born again. I never quite understood it and was never high in faith when I was catholic. I just felt like it was stupid having to repeat verses like it will increase your faith. Or go to church every Sunday and everything will be okay. Catholicism is the oldest form of Christianity correct? I am not trying to be rude, just please educate me about it. I converted to born again because I felt closer to God. But I am having this conflict that what if Catholic was the religion that God meant for everyone to follow (since it seems like the most ancient form of religion)? Another thing is, isn't idolizing anything other than God a sin? So why do they idolize Mary? Please help. Thanks.
Wiki is your friend. You can start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicea All kinds of info. It will make your head swim. Basically, some believe Roman Emperor Constitine formed the Council of Nicea to basically rope in christians to control them. This is when organized religion was formed. Organized religion is a joke, but don't get me wrong, I believe in church, ect ... If you want to follow the right path, study the bible itself. Once you figure it out, you will find a church out there that will fit how you see it. whatever you do, don't listen to anyones translation or point of views and make them your mindset. There is nothing wrong with chatting or debating, but don't find a pastor who impresses you with his quick talk and take every word and belief he has to heart.
I almost married a Catholic girl. Then I read the Bible more closely because she wanted me to convert. Once I read this I couldn't do it: You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' There were statues to bow down to all over the place, so I couldn't do it. We wound up not getting married -- but not because of that.
In terms of Christianity there are all sorts for all people, it seems. Catholicism is one extreme while the extremely vocal and emotional Pentacostal Church would be at the far other end. Some people find faith in ritual and dogma while others seem to find faith in raw emotion. I would say that over the past 50 years the emotion side has been doing better, but there are still some who find comfort in the ritual aspects and in the future things might change in the other direction. My guess is that people who generally are subjected to much more unsafe environments where they are always worried for their lives tend to appreciate the calm repetition of the Catholic Church whereas Americans are perpetually board and seek the stimulation of the more emotional churches but that is just a guess. Protestants have a long and active history of being scornful of Catholics (and vice versa), but I don't know whether that is a particularly worthy sentiment, as they are doing their best to worship the same God even though they might be doing it in ways that seem wrong to Protestants.
Catholics don't idolize Mary. Mary is a saint. Mary gets more coverage than other saints because she played a role in the foundation of Christianity, as the mother of Christ. Tons of protestents say that Catholics idolize Mary, or worship Mary, but it just isn't true. Catholics believe in one god, the holy trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They don't worship idols, they don't worship saints, and anyone who says different doesn't know what they are talking about.
catholics pray to the saints, but do not worship them. i guess the line of thinking is that god doesnt need to be bothered w/ every little thing. if your dog is sick than pray to st. francis, the patron saint of animals (and my confirmation name, by coincidence). military prays to st. george, the patron saint of soldiers. my good friend growing up was evangelical (speaking in tounges at church) and his mom would always ask stuff like "do yall worship statues?" or "are there alot of candles in your church?"
They do not pray to saints. They ask saints to pray for them. I think they believe that they can ask any deceased person, like the living, to pray for them also.
I think if you asked a Catholic if the Hail Mary is a prayer they would say yes. At confession you may be told to pray five Hail Mary's
Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death.
A lot of times religion is due to family or geography. I don't think that God will deny a child in China eternal salvation because they werent exposed to a certain religion. Oh, I'm catholic and I don't "idolize" Mary, and I don't "bow" to any statues.
since you are saying "they" i can assume you are not catholic? i am. and what does your last sentence mean? "you can ask a deceased person, like the living"??? you dont ask dead people to pray for you. you might ask dead people like family to watch over you and guide you, but you dont ask dead people to pray for you. that makes no sense. and catholics dont ask saints to pray for them either. do you think dead saints sit around praying to god?
No, I am not Catholic. Are you implying that I am incorrect? This is from catholic.org. Do Catholics pray TO saints? We pray with saints, not to them. Have you ever asked anyone to pray for you when you were having a hard time? Why did you choose to ask that person? You may have chosen someone you could trust, or someone who understood your problem, or someone who was close to God. Those are all reasons we ask saints to pray for us in times of trouble. Since saints led holy lives and are close to God in heaven, we feel that their prayers are particularly effective. Often we ask particular saints to pray for us if we feel they have a particular interest in our problem. For example, many people ask Saint Monica to pray for them if they have trouble with unanswered prayers, because Monica prayed for twenty years for her son to be converted. Finally her prayers were answered in a way she never dreamed of -- her son, Augustine, became a canonized saint and a Doctor of the Church.
I just read the rest of your post. Yes they believe you can ask dead people, like a deceased mother etc., to pray for you too.
Probably the two biggest things about Catholics that seem to come up all the time: do Catholics worship idols (statues of Mary and other saints) and do Catholics believe they are literally eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ? No and Yes (though on the latter I personally don't believe so (I feel it's more of an embodiment). And then another: why is there so much standing and sitting, standing and sitting? I could be wrong on this as I don't pretend to know everything about my faith; but I would say it's a combination of both tradition and respect as you are pretty much always standing (or kneeling) at the important parts of the mass (praying, the Gospel, the Apostle's Creed, preperation of the gifts, communion, etc).
Sounds like you weren't much of a Catholic. Probably only baptized a Catholic and not raised in the faith since you have no clue about it. Obviously you did not go to a Catholic parochial school, nor attend any catechism classes as many Catholics do. Hope that born-again-ism works out for you.
I went to church almost every sunday and did attend catholic school, had a communion and never felt involved. All my peers looked like they didn't care either as they just chattered through everything and didn't take all the "serious stuff" serious. It was like just appear and you'll go to heaven.
