Bruce S Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 First of all, I just got back from church, did some honest praying there, and soul searching. This is a wonderful site, full of wonderful, committed, caring people. We DISAGREE totally, on HOW to "Implement Christianity" but... This hit me. We, all of us, by the very act of being here, working our fingers off in discussion, yakking, thinking, researching, and putting out ideas, are trying our BEST to be in union with Christ. Most of the world today is not doing this. They are watching porn, swearing, shooting crud into arms, or worse. So what is some love statues, [OK, we disagree on that one], does that invalidate us as Christians? No. We think that the Pope is not the leader, who cares? If there is a crappy Pope, a good Pope, or NO Pope. Jesus has changed all of our hearts. WE, the people on this site seek to do right, to lead better lives, to turn away from sin, to love families, communities, the world. The world around us, torn as it is with strife, killings, and even...still...slavery, white and black hatreds, and worse, is in desperate need of ANY version of Christianity. And that is found in the hearts of Catholics and in Protestants. There is much Protestants can learn from Catholics, and we hope, the other way too. We are not enemies, just Christians yabbering over the details of how to be BETTER Christians. [and no, I still don't agree with you on Juan Diego and the eyes thing.....grin.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookofjohn Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Thanks Bruce for making the effort to post this. Praise God! I pray from this moment on, all of us here at Phatmass will have fruitful dialogues with our Protestant brothers and sisters. And even if there are things we disagree on, I believe that it is OK, because we are learning things we believe and as well as things we don't believe in, from each other. And also because of the fact that we each have opinions unique to our own. And to all of you out there reading this. I hope that of all 3(faith, hope and charity), Charity will be practise more, especially in the debate thread. ^_^ And always remember, if others are not charitable towards you; show them charity anyway! Because we are called to be witnesses for Christ! We lead by example! AMEN! Peace. BookOfJohn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 (edited) First of all, I just got back from church, did some honest praying there, and soul searching. This is a wonderful site, full of wonderful, committed, caring people. We DISAGREE totally, on HOW to "Implement Christianity" but... This hit me. We, all of us, by the very act of being here, working our fingers off in discussion, yakking, thinking, researching, and putting out ideas, are trying our BEST to be in union with Christ. Most of the world today is not doing this. They are watching porn, swearing, shooting crud into arms, or worse. So what is some love statues, [OK, we disagree on that one], does that invalidate us as Christians? No. We think that the Pope is not the leader, who cares? If there is a crappy Pope, a good Pope, or NO Pope. Jesus has changed all of our hearts. WE, the people on this site seek to do right, to lead better lives, to turn away from sin, to love families, communities, the world. The world around us, torn as it is with strife, killings, and even...still...slavery, white and black hatreds, and worse, is in desperate need of ANY version of Christianity. And that is found in the hearts of Catholics and in Protestants. There is much Protestants can learn from Catholics, and we hope, the other way too. We are not enemies, just Christians yabbering over the details of how to be BETTER Christians. [and no, I still don't agree with you on Juan Diego and the eyes thing.....grin.] cmom faints...and looks for the irish whiskey.... :beer: Edited January 4, 2004 by cmotherofpirl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulls Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 thank you thank you thank you amen amen amen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
God Conquers Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 I agree with you. I for one have learned tons from my protestant brothers, and hopefully they have learned from me. And yes, this site is aewsome. Yet, I still think we have more to learn from each other, growing together in love of Christ and His plan for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foundsheep Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 WOW! :freak: Peace bgewith you all, Foundsheep :loco: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circle_Master Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 good post. :clapping: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsFrozen Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Hi, Bruce! I'm glad you posted this. :D God bless you. Thank you for reminding us to be more charitable. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paladin D Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Bruce, you certainly have done the right thing. Though you and I (and most of everyone else) acted uncharitable in one way or another, I'm glad that you've seen that we are all here to search for the Truth (and/or improve on that Truth). We're always glad to have our Protestant brothers and sisters here on Phatmass, even though we may disagree time to time. Debate is good, but let's all try and not get out of control. Hopefully, we as Catholics can help educate you on what Catholics believe, and how you Protestants can help educate us on what Protestants believe. Of course, both of us are not totally ignorant of each other's beliefs (a lot of us are converts), but there is always something that we have yet to know/learn from each other. God Bless, Bruce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinner Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Nice post Bruce...... If we stacked our similarities against our differences, we wouldn't have so much to talk about :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce S Posted January 4, 2004 Author Share Posted January 4, 2004 the enemy is Satan and his minions [and for now, it would seem Islam] more than each other. Shame we have no pagans here or Muslims. I suspect we would suddenly be allied IMMEDIATELY if there were.... Allah Akbar! They pray five times a day, one thing they got right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katholikos Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 We think that the Pope is not the leader, who cares? If there is a crappy Pope, a good Pope, or NO Pope. Jesus has changed all of our hearts. Jesus cares, since He appointed St. Peter as head of His Church, the #l Father. Jesus obviously considered the position as head of the Church important. Bruse S considers it unimportant. And there have been 265 successors to Peter who have served as Pope in the last 2,000 years. It's an insult to the Catholic faith to say "who cares if there is a crappy pope, good pope, or NO pope." Jesus appointed Peter (and by extension, his successors) as Pope (head Papa). But that means nothing, Bruse S says, because "Jesus changed our hearts." Yes, but he didn't abrogate His revelation, which He became Incarnate to teach us. The Pope is the infallible teacher of faith and morals. Here's where questions in dispute are answered. The Pope speaks for Christ on this Earth. It is a mistake to think that Jesus is the common denominator and that our differences don't make any difference -- that all we need is Jesus. But which Jesus do we need, the Catholic Jesus or the Protestant Jesus? They are very different, and concepts of the Savior differ among Protestant denominations. Bruse S would have us believe that all denominations are equal, and would include the Catholic Church in the same category. And it makes no difference what one believes. This is relativism, which JPII has condemned. This idea trivializes the Incarnation. Jesus didn't come to make us feel all good inside: He came to redeem us. He came to teach the TRUTH. Jesus founded ONE CHURCH. He lived, taught, and died for ONE FAITH. That Faith is the Catholic Faith. Jesus is more than an amorphous, one-size-fits-all conveyor of warm fuzzies. We may be able to picket abortuaries together with some Protestants, but others approve abortion (some Lutherans, some Presbyterian denominations, for example). And the list of our differences -- doctrinal and moral -- is lengthy. If Bruse S wants to apologize for his abhorrent behavior toward Catholics in the past on this phorum, good. But as for this "togetherness" Bruse S proposes, I'll be an observer. As Shakespeare said, "That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain–" (Hamlet 1.5.113) JMJ Likos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circle_Master Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 ROFL, I was waiting for Likos to jump in and ruin everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 He didn't ruin anything, he just keeps ointing out detalis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce S Posted January 4, 2004 Author Share Posted January 4, 2004 And there have been 265 successors to Peter who have served as Pope in the last 2,000 years. It's an insult to the Catholic faith to say "who cares if there is a crappy pope, good pope, or NO pope." Jesus appointed Peter (and by extension, his successors) as Pope (head Papa). OK, if you say so. They have ALL been wonderful men and there have been no ringers in the bunch. Argh. Let me rephrase the way things operate around here. The good ones were OURS, the lousy ones were YOURS....grin. We claim the best, you take the rest. :sadder: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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