im curious as to why catholics refer to their pastors, or spiritual leaders as "Father so-and-so" when Jesus specifically said, call noone Father but your Father in Heaven...please dont reply with hateful remarks against catholics....
214858
Without being nasty towards the Church, Jesus never said that he came to establish a Church in His name with a hierarchy of Brothers, Fathers, Cardinals, Bishops and Popes. The early 'true' Christians had no such hierarchy of power. The early Church was infiltrated by Simon Magus and his followers who introduced the ancient Babylonian Mystery Religion with its mysterious customs and traditions including the hierarchy of power.
194900
Rev. Kip is a great guy and I have a good deal of respect for him.  Rev. Trask I find to be a riot and I don't take him seriously.  His name comes from the old soap Dark Shadows.  Rev. Trask was a fake minister and evil on the series.
371681
I never said Catholics aren't Christian, i said Roman Catholicism is not christian.\n\nhere's why: the "Pope" means "father", priests are called "father"\nJesus said "call no man father"\n\nThe bible says over and over and over "you shall have no graven images before me". Yet that church has idols EVERYWHERE.\n\nThe bible says to pray to God, that church says pray to saints.\n\nI could go on and on, but the point is, if you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe God raised him from the dead, you are a christian (romans 10:9)\n\nIf you forbid your priests to marry and command people to abstain from certain foods, your are preaching "doctrines of demons" (1st Timothy 4:1-3)\n\npeace\n\nEDIT: I forgot a biggie - that church teaches the Pope is the head of the body of believers - the bible says Jesus is the head of the church\n\nEDIT2: Nice language in your question by the way. I don't think you are gullible idiots, I think most of you were raised Catholic, and the fear of being excommunicated (another UNbiblical term) keeps some of you from leaving or even questioning. is it bigoted to say, "Your church does not teach what I believe is the truth about my religion, therefore it is not my religion?" No way.\n\nI will ask this: how can you support a church that allowed, even covered up the pedophile priest scandal? How can you support a church that sanctioned the crusades and the Inquisition? I like Catholics, and I think most of them ARE Christians, it's their church leadership and doctrine that I have a problem with.\n\nYOU asked the question, are you interested in my answer? By the thumbs down I have gotten, I think not.
344031
The Angel Gabriel told Joseph and Mary that they are to call Him Immanuel.  The name Immanuel means "God is with us". Jesus' name 'Jesus' is the later Hebrew translation & 'Christ' is the Greek translation for "messiah" (annointed one, one who was sent)  So Gabriel, sent by God, did not tell Mary to name Him Jesus.  He is Immanuel, given by God. Also in Isaiah 7:14 the Lord tells of a virgin being with child and He is to be named Immanuel.\n\nAt the time of Judah's deliverance from Syria & Ephraim, many mothers named their firstborn sons Immanuel because they believed the truth of Isaiah's message.  I have just looked through 3 reference books I have & the Bible and can't find anything on Jesus' saying He is not Immanuel. I do know that in the OT, some people thought that Isaiah was the Messiah at first and he denied it, though God did sent him to His people.  And in the NT  some people thought that Jesus was Isaiah reincarnated, and Jesus denied that He was anyone else other than the Son of God.  So you are right in saying that others claimed Jesus to be Immanuel (Isaiah reincarnated who ancestors thought was Immanuel, their Messiah) & Jesus told them that He wasn't who they thought He was.  But I still can't find the words that you quoted in your statement.  If you find it, please email me. Thanks!
132083
:}\nthe term is Latin and means "Vicar of the Son of God." the fact that it has numerological equivalent of 666 has been made much of.\nIt was apparently a title applied to Peter, but to no subsequent pope, who were referred to as vicars of peter.\n\nAnti catholic interest have made much of the numerical equivalent.
612843
Roman Catholic and I attend mass almost every week. I do go with my friends to their Christian Fellowships, some being born again. I also attend the occasional Jehovah's Witness meeting, when friends ask. I don't try to be ignorant to other belief system and I do think the underlying theme with most faiths are similar. Everyone believes in the same God but have different versions of him :)
240188
Catholics are simply asking Mary, who is with God, to take care of us.  FYI, you can ask anyone who has passed on to go to God for you. It doesn't mean you are worshipping Grandma Jenny or Uncle Abe.  After all, you can ask your mom to ask your dad for a favor, but you know that your dad is the one doing the favor -- allowance, borrow the car, whatever.
591836
No...it's usually polite and traditional. I have a Priest friend I call "John" and a Doctor Friend I call "Len."\n\nIn church I call him Father John and in the doctor office I call him Dr. "Jones."\n\nI call my father-in-law "Dad" but he's not my father. I call my elderly neighbor "Grandpa" but he's not my grandfather. Mother Teresa wasn't a mother and my wife is not the excretion of a honey-bee.\n\nPeople have called me "sh*t-head" but my noggin is filled with dura mater like everybody else.\n\nI suspect that your Dad had issues with the religion.
627861
I agree with you completely. I am a christian, but I do not believe in the trinity theory. and there are ALLOT of references like this one that points toward the fact that they are not the same. A few of them are: after Jesus got baptized, God said to him, "this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." would he talk to himself? also when the people asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus taught them to pray to God, not to himself. If he was God why wouldn't he have the people pray to him? yet another, Jesus on the cross said "My God, why have you forsaken me?" would God not only talk to himself, but also forsake himself? A final one... the bible says that the only unforgivable sin is blaspheming the holy spirit (Mark 3:29). If they were all the same, then blaspheming any of them would be unforgivable. They are very separate beings, and not the same.
548433
In context, Matthew 23:7-9 reads, "... And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."\n\nThis is call for humility for those in leadership roles. Not to be taken literally.\n\nWe are not to deny our male parent and cut the Commandment to honor our father and mother in half.\n\nSome leaders in any church may fall into the same folly as the pharisees of Jesus' day.\n\nWith love in Christ.
314746
a big thank you thank you, this is what i have been trying to get through to ppl. Its an mental illness that affects people from all walks of life. Not just a catholic priest. Only reason they pick on the catholics about this is because the church doesn't allow the priest to get married. so there  is where they come up with this bs. My point is if  that is the case. then whats  the excuse of all the others that do this  and are married?
41712
I don't bash catholics, nor preach against it. I just don't understand why you pray to Mary, when Jesus never taught us to. When His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray He said to pray like this, our Father which art in heaven......\nMary was blessed mother of Jesus, But Jesus said no one comes to the Father but by Me. \nI don't hate catholics, I just don't understand them, like many others. \nIt's good to have a forum like this to try to understand each other and their feelings. \nIt's a small world after all.
69853
(kurter21 said the same thing I did... only shorter, so if you don't feel like reading my long post, read his short post)\n\nWell, there is a Father in Heaven, who is our God.  We are all his children.\n\nThen there is Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God in the flesh, meaning that God was his "biological" father.  He is a god.\n\nSome people believe that we are Jesus' children.  In a spiritual sense, that is true, but in a literal sense, it is not.  We are his "children" in a spiritual sense, because he has taken care of us (through his teachings, the Atonement, the Crucifixion, etc...)\n\nAs far as the THIRD part of it... there is also the Holy Ghost (also commonly known as the Holy Spirit).  The Holy Spirit is not the LITERAL spirit of God or of Christ, but he is a part of the "Godhead" as well.\n\nSo the Godhead consists of three separate beings, the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Ghost.\n\nAs far as believing in the worship of only ONE God, we worship the Father.  We do not worship Jesus Christ.  I know that sounds kind of funny... but here goes...  we follow his teachings, and follow in his footsteps, but when we pray, we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, and not to Jesus Christ himself.\n\nHope that makes sense.  Let me know if it doesn't, and I can see if I can clarify it.
280967
Fundamentalists challenge the Catholic practice of asking saints and angels to pray for us. But the Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. \n\nThus in Psalm 103, we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in Psalm 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" (Ps. 148:1-2) \n\nNot only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In Revelation, John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). Thus the saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth. \n\nAngels do the same thing: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4). \n\nJesus himself warned us not to mess with small children because their guardian angels have guaranteed intercessory access to the Father: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 18:10). \n\nBecause he is the only God-man, Jesus is the only Mediator between man and God (1 Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should not ask our fellow Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:1-4), including those Christians in heaven, who have already had their sanctification completed, for "[t]he prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16).
509893
During his preaching, Jesus had never called himself as God or Son-God. Now, look upon those people who consider Jesus as God or Son-God. They are, baselessly, blaming even those people who were present at the spot and knew that Jesus was not God or son-god. In other words, the people with the belief that Jesus is God or Son-god; are far more enemies of Jesus who tried to crucify him.\n\n•The people who say that Jesus is God or Son-God or in his guise, the Lord descended upon earth because of God’s love for humanity. They are, baselessly, blaming Jesus and the Lord of Jesus, the both.\nAccording to Jesus, God, the Holy One; is the Saviour of the Whole mankind. God is capable (be God glorified as God is) to relive off every infliction. None of the human beings is saviour beside God. Jesus, himself is also, not a saviour at all. The people who have chosen him as their saviour__ they have denied the Holy One___ who alone is the saviour of Jesus and whole mankind and the act of choosing Jesus as saviour__ is equal to hate the Holy One___ as it is clearly written in the old Testament:-\n\n“I am the Lord your God. Worship no God but Me. Do not make for yourself images of anything in heavens or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it. Because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me, on their descendants, down to third and fourth generation.”\n(Exodus 20:1-5)\n\nNow, ponder over the point that whosoever says that Jesus is God___ Holy Spirit is God___ Mary is God; has he not made an idol beside the One God? While nothing is there in the earth and heavens which could be considered in terms of the One God.\n\nBeware please! A father is a father__ a mother is a mother___ and a son is a son__ and they all are the creatures of God. They cannot be considered as God___ as god is their Creator__ and nothing is like the Lord.\n\nCreatures of God are God’s Creatures they can never be considered as God or as the parts of God. Same is the case of Jesus who is a creature and, as such, can not be considered as God or a part of the Creator or the son of Creator.\n\n•Jesus is not a Saviour. He is not capable, even, to save himself from his enemies. How he can be considered “All-Able” to save everyone on the earth. It is the Lord alone__ Who is the All-Able to save every creature of the universe including the mankind__ as the Lord is already saving__ each of them__ without any desolation and defect.\n\nJesus was born after Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Moses and the numerous other Prophets (peace & blessings of God be upon all of them). If he were the Son-God, then, all of the foregoing Prophets, must have been the believers of Trinity. But the case is not like that at all. None of them was the believer of Trinity, rather, none of them, had, even, heard about the name of Trinity, in their times. Hence, Trinity is nothing else but an invented and artificial concept which has no existence, even, during the time of Jesus. It is, therefore, a rootless concept from all accounts.\n\nPrior to Jesus, the Lord had created Eve, without mother__ and Adam, without mother and father, the both. Afterwards, the Lord created Jesus without father. So the creation of Jesus, without father, is the third instance of the Lord’s all-encompassing creativity___ which is free from all the channels or systems of the birth. Instead, all the channels or systems of the birth are subservient to the all-encompassing and unique creativity of the Lord.\nThe Lord is, therefore, Holy and the Lord must be believed in, as Holy. To ascribe a son unto the Lord__ is a direct assault on the Lord’s Holiness__ which is an unpardonable crime.\n\nsince Adam to Noah__ Noah to Abraham__ Abraham to David, David to Moses__ Moses to Jesus and Jesus to Muhammad (peace & blessings of God be upon all of them) all the Prophets were slaves or servants of the Lord. An
35251
It is because the UMC has to some extent maintained the early traditions.  The word Catholic means either "all embracing," or "according to the whole."  Universal really isn't a good translation.  For a church to be all embracing, it must not foster division.  For the Church to be "according to the whole," then decision making must not be local or according to small groups but rather according to the whole Church.  It is said because it is the condensed version of the creed at Nicaea.  Originally, it was used as a baptismal statement and lesson.
158681
He said He was "about His Father's business." That'd be His Heavenly Father, aka God, so yes, he was honoring His parents. If you don't want answers from the Bible, you shouldn't ask questions about Jesus.