Romans 12:1

Please take the time to read it, and if you do, I really appreciate it. If you like this or agree with it, or think it is worthwhile reading, please “like” or “reblog” it. Let’s spread Jesus’ love amongst our struggling brothers and sisters. This is my post about the entire “Are Catholics Christians?” thing. Enjoy and God bless! 

Thank you for this message, its nice to see that we are making strides for greater understanding. The way you described the way we view saints is perfect.

I would like to clear up some things though.

1.  The infallibility of the Pope:  This does not mean he does not make mistakes.  (We’ve had enough Borgia Popes to teach us that.) What it means is that when he teaches from the throne of St. Peter, (ex cathedra,) on only an issue of faith or morals, and on something that has previously been taught but not yet made part of dogma, the teaching he makes is infallible. This is not because of who the Pope is, but because of the position he holds as being the vicar of Christ.  The Holy Spirit protects the Church and the Pope from being taught something that is wrong.  Just so you know,   there have only been two ex cathedra statements in history and they were made by the same Pope.  The immaculate conception of Mary, in other words that Mary was conceived without sin, and the assumption of Mary, that she did not die but instead was ‘assumed’ body and soul into heaven.

2.  We believe we are saved through our faith, but we believe faith to be an ongoing process. We do not believe that one day we don’t believe, one day we do.  It is a struggle that goes through many different struggles.  We don’t think its a one time thing.  We also believe that works our an important part of our faith.  While we are saved by our faith, faith without works is dead.  Also, while we believe baptism is a fundamental part of salvation because it is through baptism that our original sin is cleansed, we do not believe that if you do not get baptized you will necessarily go to hell.  There are baptisms of desire, issues of “invincible ignorance” and “Anonymous Christianity” that all can lead to salvation outside of the sacrament of baptism.  (Nor do we believe that all baptized people go to heaven.)  These are fascinating issues but this note is already too long so I’ll close it with “The Catholic response” to the question, “Are you saved?”

http://nikosnature.tumblr.com/post/19227407147/this-is-the-answer-whenever-sowmeone-asks-you-are-you

3.  The seven steps you listed there are what we call “Sacraments,” and they are visible manifestations of God’s grace.  (They are a little out of their usual order but don’t worry about that.)  These are if you will, milestones in the spiritual life of a Catholic.

4.  As for the 5 Hail Mary’s to forgive sins, don’t worry, we don’t believe saying 5 Hail Mary’s will forgive sins either.  (Though it is a powerful prayer, and when in a rosary can confer incredible gifts.)  We believe that the salvation comes from the sacrament itself.  From God working through the priest who speaks the words of forgiveness.  Could God forgive sins without a priest?  Sure.  However, we as a Church believe that God chose to forgive sins through a priest. 

5.  As far as communion goes.  We do actually believe that the body and blood are literally the body and blood.  I’m going to try to give the briefest explanation possible so don’t worry if you don’t totally understand because I’m giving you a paragraph when there have been books written on this subject.  Let’s go to Ancient Greece where we have Aristotelian metaphysics.  Basically things are made up of “the substance” and “the accident.”  The substance is the essence of the thing, the thing itself, the inscape, “the essential catness of a cat.”  Confused yet?  Good, so am I.  Now the accident is all visible and physical signs of a thing.  So what makes a cat look like and appear to be a cat as we know it.  Now, we believe in Transubstantiation.  Do you see where I am going here?  We believe that the bread undergoes a change in the substance so that it becomes the body of Christ.  However, the accident remains the same.  So the body of Christ has the appearance, and all the physical characteristics of the bread that was there, but the substance of the bread has changed into the body of Christ.  Same with the wine into the blood.

As for everything else, great job!  I really enjoyed reading this.  By the way, if you or anyone else has any questions about Catholicism, feel free to message me, or better yet, thepapists.tumblr.com or fathershane.tumblr.com, or any of the other tumblr Catholics.

Bubble Map Breaking Down the World Religions (Infographic)

I make up bits and pieces of songs everyday and hope that someday they become something bigger. This is just a snippet that ran through my head this morning. I’m kind of at the crossroads where I have to ask “Is anything I am doing right now really gonna matter in 20 years? How many of these people am I actually going to know”

—————————-

And your Christian love leaves me so cold

Take back your Jesus that you sold me

He’s broken, this Savior gave,

How can wishful words and chapel doors

save a wretch like me

I’m lost and I don’t want to be found

Don’t force me to your holy ground

It hurts,

seeing how much I’m not worth

-Wikipedia for United Church of Christ (Congregational)

So, this is the wikipedia list of criticism that the congregational church has received. Every single one of these is a reason that I like this church, hahahaha.

(via thethirdkindofking)

e-Boasting

Galatians 6:14:

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Blessings,

Since I’ve gotten a job at an insurance company, I’ve been super-sensitive to how people view big business.  Right now in night class we’re talking about how if you are playing the money game, you’re going to need to make moral compromises.  I take this really personally.  I’m a religion major, and a Christian, and I really try to work for social justice. But sometimes I feel like such a sell-out because I’ve taken a job at a for-profit, large company.  I actually had someone at my church come up to me while I was still working there as an intern and told me that I needed to stop working there and had to be a teacher because insurance is an awful business and I need to be helping people.  I really do like where I’m going to be working, I’m so excited to start.  But we were talking at lunch with a religion professor today, and everyone is going around the room talking about what they want to do post-college.  People want to work for non-profits, or get their degrees in theology, or start programs for kids with mental health problems.  And I want to be a minister or a chaplain one day, I really do, but right now I’m perfectly happy working for an insurance company.  I don’t think it goes against any moral or religious obligations for me.  You can still work in a big business and be a moral person.  My job does not define my basic moral ideas.  As a Christian, I do feel called to follow Jesus’ example of extravagant welcoming of every person, and helping those who need help.  I want to, and believe I should constantly want to, work for a world where everyone feels valued and has basic health and safety rights.  And I can still do this while working for an insurance company.  No one I have met in the two years I was an intern (and I would venture to guess that no one I will meet as I start my new job) is an evil person who wants to undermine everyone.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this anymore, but it just bothers me that people have this view of people who work for large corporations.  Maybe I’m just feeling defensive and not fitting in to the rest of the Christians at my school.  Which I haven’t done for the past 3.5 years, so I don’t really know why it’s bothering me now.  Or maybe I’m just disappointed in myself for not doing more to live like Christ.  Who knows.