(December 3, 2013 at 6:01 am)Aractus Wrote: Thankyou for sharing, and I would like to offer you some observations.
(December 2, 2013 at 12:37 pm)Jacob(smooth) Wrote:What I read into your story is a very selfish/inward-looking approach to Christian faith.
The entire reason for the Protestant Reformation was to break free from the shackles imposed by the Catholic Church who were a very inward-thinking and controlling organization. The theology reflected this, and in 1517, Dr. Martin Luther wrote the famous 95 Theses, infuriating the Church.
Well you get the picture. Anyone who forgets the reformation, anyone who doesn't believe in freedom from Catholicism, doesn't deserve to be called a Protestant, much less an Anglican. The Catholics remain proud of their faith, through doctrines and sacraments we consider heretical - but also self-serving, inward-looking selfish, primitive, nonsensical, the list goes on and on and on.
- 6. The pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God; or, at most, he can remit it in cases reserved to his discretion. Except for these cases, the guilt remains untouched.
41. Papal indulgences should only be preached with caution, lest people gain a wrong understanding, and think that they are preferable to other good works: those of love.
42. Christians should be taught that the pope does not at all intend that the purchase of indulgences should be understood as at all comparable with the works of mercy.
43. Christians should be taught that one who gives to the poor, or lends to the needy, does a better action than if he purchases indulgences.
49. Christians should be taught that the pope's indulgences are useful only if one does not rely on them, but most harmful if one loses the fear of God through them.
85. Again: Why are the penitential canon laws, which in fact, if not in practice, have long been obsolete and dead in themselves,—why are they, to-day, still used in imposing fines in money, through the granting of indulgences, as if all the penitential canons were fully operative?
86. Again: since the pope's income to-day is larger than that of the wealthiest of wealthy men, why does he not build this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of indigent believers?
87. Again: What does the pope remit or dispense to people who, by their perfect repentance, have a right to plenary remission or dispensation?
88. Again: Surely a greater good could be done to the church if the pope were to bestow these remissions and dispensations, not once, as now, but a hundred times a day, for the benefit of any believer whatever.
89. What the pope seeks by indulgences is not money, but rather the salvation of souls; why then does he suspend the letters and indulgences formerly conceded, and still as efficacious as ever?
Christian faith is an outward force, and by that I mean it is measured not in deeds, but in faith and the evidence for it, the expression of it, the intent and the temporal results of the faith - the gifts of the Spirit - walking in faith.
Ask not what the Christian faith can do for you ie "self-help"/"prosperity-gospel" etc. ask what you can do for the good of the Christian faith, for the good of your neighbour, your community, your God. This is all broken back down to what I think you'll have to accept as a "red letter":
- When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
(December 2, 2013 at 4:17 pm)Jacob(smooth) Wrote:Don't mind him, he's a grumpy old prick wherever he goes, and has no ability to discuss or debate civilly or on-topic with anyone who doesn't share his particular world-view.
Aractus........... a dyed in the wool catholic who says you are wrong and will never change his faith...........where is his soul ending up?????.
P.S. how do you use the show/hide content feature???
.
The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so.
-- Mark Twain
.