Is Catholism Christianity at All?

[Major König]

Ive read a small pamphlet recently that portrayed Catholism in a real bad light.

-The communion is actually derived from ancient egyptian rituals where they chanted over bread, and then the bread 'became' the flesh of Ra.

-Preists are not mentioned in the bible. Neither are monks, or nuns, or popes.

-Confessions are not part of the bible. You are to confess to God, and repend, not a mortal man.

-Purgatory is a big scam. It was created by Catholics centuries ago to get money from people trying to save their loved ones with money to get to heaven. Purgatory is not mentioned in the bible.

I don't think I need to quote everything it said. Anyone have any views on the subject?

[John I Tzimisces]

Funny how almost every church does this, except perhaps some protestant churches (i cannot really name churches, seeing as how they are myriad, and well, i'm about the furthest you could get from protestant. sorta), and yet Catholics are generalized as such? Before anyone asks if I'm catholic, just look at the sig. Eeesh.
The church is a creation of man to begin with, the mother, with God and the holy Trinity as the Father...I think thats how it is. Its late and dogma escapes me at this hour...

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Most of the stuff you said is made up by someone who has an agenda and most of the stuff is false except for purgatory and its not as simple as you said it, its all complicated, and no there are no priest or nuns mentioned, for say but they are mentioned in other words

[Major König]

BTW, I read these things in a pamphlet. I did not say anything, or have any real views on the subject.

[Richard the Lionheart]

Before anyone asks if I'm catholic, just look at the sig. Eeesh.

So are you Catholic? :laughing: Just kidding with ya.

[IamthePope]

First of all, the Church is the living embodiment and the will of Christ. The Christian Faith is the Catholic (greek for Universal)Church. Christ made St. Peter the Chief of the apostles, St. Peter created the Church and was the first Pope. It doesn't matter that the Bible doesn't mention any of this. The bible is completely irrelevant. It was created by the Church, as a compilation of second century religous documents and theological works. The bible could be gone tommorow and it wouldn't matter because the one true holy and apostalic church lives on. Tradition is the foundation of the faith, not a simple, outdated theological text.

The Pope is the heir to Peter and the Vicar of Christ. Even the eastern schisms recognise this, It wasn't until the arch-heretic Martin Luther started preaching his inane rantings that western europe was led astray and western european rejected this notion. The Pope's "lineage" is undeniable, try reading a history book.

I thought, I would clear that up for anyone out there that doubts the infallibilty of the Pope. I don't think I need to go into the details about the various differences in theology. If you want an explanation of that you can read the Codex Theologica. Before you question twenty centuries of theoligical tradition, ask yourself how any of these new age prostestant heresies can be more legitimate than the original and Universal Christian Church.

"To know your history is to cease to be Protestant"

[Rowan11088]

First of all, the Church is the living embodiment and the will of Christ. The Christian Faith is the Catholic (greek for Universal)Church. Christ made St. Peter the Chief of the apostles, St. Peter created the Church and was the first Pope. It doesn't matter that the Bible doesn't mention any of this. The bible is completely irrelevant. It was created by the Church, as a compilation of second century religous documents and theological works. The bible could be gone tommorow and it wouldn't matter because the one true holy and apostalic church lives on. Tradition is the foundation of the faith, not a simple, outdated theological text.

The Pope is the heir to Peter and the Vicar of Christ. Even the eastern schisms recognise this, It wasn't until the arch-heretic Martin Luther started preaching his inane rantings that western europe was led astray and western european rejected this notion. The Pope's "lineage" is undeniable, try reading a history book.

I thought, I would clear that up for anyone out there that doubts the infallibilty of the Pope. I don't think I need to go into the details about the various differences in theology. If you want an explanation of that you can read the Codex Theologica. Before you question twenty centuries of theoligical tradition, ask yourself how any of these new age prostestant heresies can be more legitimate than the original and Universal Christian Church.

"To know your history is to cease to be Protestant"

Lol...I'm not sure whether or not to take you seriously. Are you telling me that the Popes who supported the Crusades and the Inquisition, and tacitly condoned slavery were infallible? The answer seems clear enough to me. And last I checked, Martin Luther rejected the extortion of poor Europeans trying to pay their way out of Hell/Purgatory, something that's immoral on just so many levels. I'm not a critic of the Catholic Church as a whole, it's just as legitimate as any other faith, but being one of the older and more popular ones around it's had time to accrue quite a reputation due to the sins of mortals. No man or group of men are infallible.

[Torment]

The Catholic church is practically everything I hate about Christianity. It's a hypocritical, lying, utterly corrupt instution which instead of spreading the 'love' of Christ, only set about increasing its own influence. If the Church is the embodiment of Christ, I don't even want to meet the guy (assuming it all is real).

And also Christians could be sceptical about the Catholic church, as it was that very same Church that spreaded lies, twisted truths for their own benefit, and gave a total misinterpretation of their own religion. The story the Church made up of Mary Magdalene being a prostitute is a solid example.

[Polemides]

I imagine you read something by Jack Chick or his ilk. A bunch of scum if you ask me. This is the same ministry that puts out the absurd Chick Tracts, which are short comic propaganda. They say that Dungeons and Dragons is used by satanists to gain recruits, that halloween is evil, that Muslims pray to an ancient pagan Arab god and not Allah, and much more stupid intolerant filth.

http://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlist.asp

This is their official website, and you can read their inane little comics. Have a good laugh.

[villain4hire]

The Catholic church is a joke. If Jesus Christ were alive today he'd have the Church burn to the ground for tainting his teachings. I was born Roman Catholic. I went to a catholic school with a cathedral like church beside it and taught by nuns supervised by priests. I can tell you of countless abuse that were done by these people on kids from physical abuse to humiliating techniques such as parading kids that were being punished to walk in classes naked. It's amazing this went on back then and was 'accepted'. I'm 34 now. The religion can kiss my ass.

[Ummon]

Be ware of despising/hating catholicism. It is not a wise choice. The Catholic church is a temporal institution, with faults, but despising catholicism is a dangerous stance.

Many in this world, do understand only hypocrisy.

[MadKow]

Being Portuguese i am very much aware of what good and bad can come with catholicism. In essence not very diferent from any other religion. I' will not discuss its merits or faults because that's not what this thread was about.

The question is if the catholic church is christian or not. I see if every now and then and it still amazes me. Like was said before, the tradition of the church goes all the way back to Peter, the very foundation of it. All other varieties, eastern, protestant, whatever spring from the catholic church.

Also i think the origin for this catholic bashing is essentialy racist. The elitist WASP looking down on Irish and Italian imigrants in the USA.

Any way, the hatred generated by these questions is one more proof, to me, that there is no god and if there was he would be a mean, cruel, manipulative bastrad.

[Saint-Germain]

The story the Church made up of Mary Magdalene being a prostitute is a solid example.

Have you been reading the Da Vinci Code? Don't.

What evidence is there of her not being a prostitute? Anyway, the whole point was that the fact that she was a good person despite being a prostitute...

The Catholic church is a temporal institution, with faults, but despising catholicism is a dangerous stance.

Amen.

[Guderian]

My church is better than yours...blah blah, seriously get over it, is all I can say. All religions have thier bad sides and thier good, saying one is bad while another is not is exactly the kind of ignorance that leads to all this religious crap (wars, murder etc).

IMO religion should be between a person and thier god whoever it may be. It should not be about politics, economics or ethics.

Religion and politics don't mix.
Catholic = Crusades and Greed
Protestant = The KKK
Hinduism = Caste system (a variant from the religion)
All other religions = When they mix with politics thier all the same to me...Some person/group taking political advantage of what really is just philosophy concerning the unknown (in this case god)

In other words stop taking religion so seriously.

[adamus]

You shouldn't make such a strong link between the faults of the Catholic church and the Catholic faith. Religion has often been used as a powerful tool to manipulate by people and institutions to fit their own ends.

Is there a god - I don't know, and to be perfectly honest I don't care either. But I don't go around criticising other people's religious beliefs just because I don't happen to agree with them. Whether people are Muslim, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, whatever - as long as they don't tell me how to live my life, I won't tell them how to live theirs.

[Erik]

The Catholic church was fouded by the Romans, that's why it's the ROMAN catholic church.
It's religin is a mix between Roman religion, pagan religions from different parts of the empire, and Christianity.

Protestants have abolished many of the non-christian elements but I don't think their religion is the same those of the original (pre-Roman) christians.

[First Crusader]

Roman Catholicism, like most if not all successful religions, absorbs elements of its "defeated" rivals, like the pagans.

[Bovril]

What evidence is there of her not being a prostitute? Anyway, the whole point was that the fact that she was a good person despite being a prostitute...

No where in the Bible is Mary Magdelene described as a prostitute. There is a dfferent Mary who is a prostitute, hence the confusion. The story started out as a folk myth that became commonly accepted since it was a powerful symbol of repentance and moral rebirth.

[Oldgamer]

Ive read a small pamphlet recently that portrayed Catholism in a real bad light.

-The communion is actually derived from ancient egyptian rituals where they chanted over bread, and then the bread 'became' the flesh of Ra.

-Preists are not mentioned in the bible. Neither are monks, or nuns, or popes.

-Confessions are not part of the bible. You are to confess to God, and repend, not a mortal man.

-Purgatory is a big scam. It was created by Catholics centuries ago to get money from people trying to save their loved ones with money to get to heaven. Purgatory is not mentioned in the bible.

I don't think I need to quote everything it said. Anyone have any views on the subject?

You shouldn't believe everything you read. The pamphlet you mentioned sounds like a Jack Chick document. Jack Chick is a man who has made a lifetime and a fortune out of Catholic-baiting.

Considering the fact that most of the Christian world is Catholic, perhaps a better question would be, "Is Protestantism really Christianity?" Of course, the Catholic Church believes that non-Catholic Christianity is Christian. But not all non-Catholic Christians extend the same courtesy to the Catholic faith.

I, myself, grew up in an anti-Catholic church and home environment. I've heard all of the lame arguments ... and used them ... many times before. At present, I am a convert to the Catholic faith, and I have never been a happier Christian.

[First Crusader]

The Catholic church was fouded by the Romans, that's why it's the ROMAN catholic church.
It's religin is a mix between Roman religion, pagan religions from different parts of the empire, and Christianity.

Protestants have abolished many of the non-christian elements but I don't think their religion is the same those of the original (pre-Roman) christians.

Religion evolves over time. If Moses came to the present via time travel, he would not recognize the modern Israelis as Jews.