Catholics claim that its church system cannot be wrong in matters of faith,morals and ethics.
"In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility. By a supernatural sense of faith the People of God, under the guidance of the Church's livi ng magisterium, unfailingly adheres to this faith." Pg. 235, #889
"The Roman Pontiff... enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith - he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals... This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself." Pg. 235, #891
Seeing these doctrines and seeing in news headlines that the Vatican is apologizing for something, doesn't mix.
Last month, the Vatican issued a 14-page report that apologized for the Catholic Church's silence during the Holocaust. Following a background report, Margaret Warner and guests discuss the apology and its historic significance. (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/jan-june98/vatican_4-8.html)
Another hot issue is Pope John Paul II apologizing for the Inquisition in 2004.
From CSBNews.com "Pope John Paul II praised the research, recalling that in 2000, the church asked pardon for "errors committed in the service of the truth through recourse to non-evangelical methods." (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/15/world/main623253.shtml)
This "non-evangelical" method was killing and torturing Chrisitans that would not convert to Catholicism, the Celts, Pagans, Druids and those they deemed to be 'heretics".
More from CBSNews.com says:
"In 2000, John Paul apologized for the sins of Roman Catholics made in the name of their faith, including abuses during the Inquisition - a crackdown by church officials from the 13th to the 19th centuries, on individuals suspected of being in conflict with church teaching.
Catholics accused of being heretics, witches or others considered of dubious faith, including Muslims and Jews who had converted to Catholicism, were among the targets."
So my question is, if they are infallible in all matters of faith, then why are they apologizing?
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Stigmata and Satan's work
Let me start by saying that stigmata is not a biblical fact. There is nothing in scripture that records anyone ever having stigmata, talking about stigmata or that anyone would ever receive stigmata. I am tired of hearing about the alleged miracles of stigmata so it was time that I wrote an article about and present the facts of the case.
In the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, there is a lot of information about the subject. They claim that there were over 20 stigmatics in the 19th century. I will list some of the more known ones.
Therese Neumann, Padre Pio, Mryna Nazzour,Julia Kim, St Gemma of Galgani and St.Rita of Cascia.
The 'wounds' of Mryna Nazzour were self-inflicted, from veiwing the pictures. All of them were straight scratches, not one puncture. Even on her hands and feet, it was scratches, more than likely from her fingernails.
St. Rita's only wound was a single wound on her forehead.
St. Gemma- Pope Pius XI says of her "She bore the wounds of Christ".
Padre Pio had stigmata through his hands.
Julia Kim, who was best known for having claimed that the wafer she had taken in the Eucharist turned to flesh and blood and was bleeding. In all actuallity, the 'blood' looks like old strawberry jelly. Anyone can google her name and look under images to see the same photo that I saw. Added to that, the blood and flesh that Christ spoke of was indeed symbolic. I will address this in the next blog.
Lastly, Therese Nuemann. A german woman who claimed to have stigmata. There were many claims made about her. Supposedly. she shed tears of blood (which was not a wound of Christ), sharp pain and bleeding on her left side, wounds in her hands, on her head, she had her sight restored, her limbs restored and others. It is claimed that she had over 700 occasions of stigmata. It sounds impressive to most Catholics. ALso, one of the greatest claims and it is a lie, that she went from 1925-1962 with no food except the euchrist wafer and from 1927-1962, she had no water and no other fluids except the wine for the euchrist. It is physicaly impossible to go that long without food and water, her body would have suffered from dehydration and malnourishment. It is said that she lost no weight during this time. We know now that that is impossible as well. Even for patients with feeding tubes and are on IV's for fluids that they can can gain or lose weight.To top it off, there are Catholic prayers to this woman.
Let me start by saying that Christ was not nailed through His hands. The hands could not support the weight of a full grown man. And Roman history shows (and it was the Romans who actually nailed Him to the cross) that crucifixtion was done through the median nerve which is in the wrist, even through tradition and Catholic art shows it was in through the hands.
Second, Christ suffered these wounds so that we would not have to. Sstigmata is not in scripture, therefore we know that it is not biblical. Could it be an act from God? Unlikely. Again, Christ suffered for us, He paid our debt. Could it be an act of Satan? Most likely. I say that because Satan strives on deception. Satan wants us to turn from God. God never tells us that we are goign to get stigmata and there is no record in biblical history of anyone having it. The other part to this is called Invisable Stigmata. The pain of the wounds but no physical wounds. Does that mean every time I have a severe headache, I am having invisable stigmata? Of course not, because stigmata is not biblical and it is not from God.
We have to learn to trust God's word. He gave it to us for a really really good reason. I pray that this has helped just one person. That is my goal in life. To just help one person. If I can do that, then I will be happy and satisfied. God Bless you all!
In the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, there is a lot of information about the subject. They claim that there were over 20 stigmatics in the 19th century. I will list some of the more known ones.
Therese Neumann, Padre Pio, Mryna Nazzour,Julia Kim, St Gemma of Galgani and St.Rita of Cascia.
The 'wounds' of Mryna Nazzour were self-inflicted, from veiwing the pictures. All of them were straight scratches, not one puncture. Even on her hands and feet, it was scratches, more than likely from her fingernails.
St. Rita's only wound was a single wound on her forehead.
St. Gemma- Pope Pius XI says of her "She bore the wounds of Christ".
Padre Pio had stigmata through his hands.
Julia Kim, who was best known for having claimed that the wafer she had taken in the Eucharist turned to flesh and blood and was bleeding. In all actuallity, the 'blood' looks like old strawberry jelly. Anyone can google her name and look under images to see the same photo that I saw. Added to that, the blood and flesh that Christ spoke of was indeed symbolic. I will address this in the next blog.
Lastly, Therese Nuemann. A german woman who claimed to have stigmata. There were many claims made about her. Supposedly. she shed tears of blood (which was not a wound of Christ), sharp pain and bleeding on her left side, wounds in her hands, on her head, she had her sight restored, her limbs restored and others. It is claimed that she had over 700 occasions of stigmata. It sounds impressive to most Catholics. ALso, one of the greatest claims and it is a lie, that she went from 1925-1962 with no food except the euchrist wafer and from 1927-1962, she had no water and no other fluids except the wine for the euchrist. It is physicaly impossible to go that long without food and water, her body would have suffered from dehydration and malnourishment. It is said that she lost no weight during this time. We know now that that is impossible as well. Even for patients with feeding tubes and are on IV's for fluids that they can can gain or lose weight.To top it off, there are Catholic prayers to this woman.
Let me start by saying that Christ was not nailed through His hands. The hands could not support the weight of a full grown man. And Roman history shows (and it was the Romans who actually nailed Him to the cross) that crucifixtion was done through the median nerve which is in the wrist, even through tradition and Catholic art shows it was in through the hands.
Second, Christ suffered these wounds so that we would not have to. Sstigmata is not in scripture, therefore we know that it is not biblical. Could it be an act from God? Unlikely. Again, Christ suffered for us, He paid our debt. Could it be an act of Satan? Most likely. I say that because Satan strives on deception. Satan wants us to turn from God. God never tells us that we are goign to get stigmata and there is no record in biblical history of anyone having it. The other part to this is called Invisable Stigmata. The pain of the wounds but no physical wounds. Does that mean every time I have a severe headache, I am having invisable stigmata? Of course not, because stigmata is not biblical and it is not from God.
We have to learn to trust God's word. He gave it to us for a really really good reason. I pray that this has helped just one person. That is my goal in life. To just help one person. If I can do that, then I will be happy and satisfied. God Bless you all!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Personal preference or salvation issue?
With the growing number of Protestant denominations, I felt it necessary to address the differences to try to find some common ground. Methodist, Baptist, Church of Christ, Church of God, Calvanists, JW's and Espicopalians.....
So many church sects that all claim to go only by scripture and they condemn other Christian churches. Is is misinterpretation? Or is it simply a matter of personal preference?
I grew up in a conservative Church of Christ. In our church, it was pretty much sinful to have musical instruments in church services. But scripture does not say that we cannot have musical instruments. While scripture DOES tell us to have orderly services (1 Corinthians 14:26-40), it also tells us in the Psalms to praise Him with the harps, trumpets, horns, lute, timbrel, and cymbals (Psalm 98:5, 144:9 and 150:9). This is a perfect example of personal preference and is not a salvation issue. Meaning that a person's salvation is not based on whether or not there are instruments in the church.
Some churches dispute how often communion (Or the Lords Supper) should be taken. The amount of times a person partakes in communion is another example of personal preference. In speaking of communion, our Lord Jesus Christ says " Do this in remembrance of Me", Luke 22:19. In 1 Corinthians 11:24, we see that Christ says "This do, as often as you drink it (referring to the wine) in remembrance of me. "
So we see that there is no strict timetable that we must obey in reference to communion. It is another matter of personal opinion and NOT a salvation issue.
The point behind this writing to to let please see that these 'differences' between sects are not salvation issues. Yet the feuding continues.
So many church sects that all claim to go only by scripture and they condemn other Christian churches. Is is misinterpretation? Or is it simply a matter of personal preference?
I grew up in a conservative Church of Christ. In our church, it was pretty much sinful to have musical instruments in church services. But scripture does not say that we cannot have musical instruments. While scripture DOES tell us to have orderly services (1 Corinthians 14:26-40), it also tells us in the Psalms to praise Him with the harps, trumpets, horns, lute, timbrel, and cymbals (Psalm 98:5, 144:9 and 150:9). This is a perfect example of personal preference and is not a salvation issue. Meaning that a person's salvation is not based on whether or not there are instruments in the church.
Some churches dispute how often communion (Or the Lords Supper) should be taken. The amount of times a person partakes in communion is another example of personal preference. In speaking of communion, our Lord Jesus Christ says " Do this in remembrance of Me", Luke 22:19. In 1 Corinthians 11:24, we see that Christ says "This do, as often as you drink it (referring to the wine) in remembrance of me. "
So we see that there is no strict timetable that we must obey in reference to communion. It is another matter of personal opinion and NOT a salvation issue.
The point behind this writing to to let please see that these 'differences' between sects are not salvation issues. Yet the feuding continues.
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