Featured Protestant South Becoming a New Catholic Stronghold

did you consider 25% fell away from the catholic church after baptism? Certainly 100,000 were baptized. However, I'm in agreement that the numbers of actual Catholics are far less than what is being reported. The fact is there is the (what I call fake Catholics) Cultural Catholics ie Pelosi, Biden, Hathaway, And many others. And the Actual Catholics who are faithful to the deposit of faith.

 

I agree that the numbers are probably coming from real events like baptism of some sort. Just that as is the case with all denominations - people come in and people leave. IF you only count the in-flow - your total is the total of past history - and not the total of what is the actual affiliation today.

And that is the other side to be considered for the case of those who have not gone formally to some other religion or to atheism or to agnosticism - those who write themselves in as Catholic - but are not actually attending anywhere - many of those would not even be counted in Baptist or Adventist contexts.

in Christ,

Bob

 

Really? Is that all you got? You make a failed attempt to over emphasize Baptists and then act as if you did not. Well you can play your little school yard games if you like. I will leave you to your misery.

 

...it could be worse.....

 

Here is the problem with that comparison.

The SBC the Missionary Baptists, the Reformed etc - none of them have a leadershp that is today - to this very day - claiming that the persecution of anyone by the KKK is an infallible decision, or action of the church that still stands today - as an infallible action of the church.

By contrast - Lateran IV calls for "The extermination" of heretics and describes penalties to be dished out to any civil authority that would dare be lax in carrying out the extermination order.

Thus to this very day at the highest levels - the ecumenical council of Lateran IV IS affirmed as infallible!

And where as the KKK were not a recognized religious authority structure - formally approved and accepted - within the Baptist churches across America - the Papacy and its ecumenical councils ARE recognized as being at the top of the formal hierarchy of the church and BOTH said to be infallible.

I don't know why you would have volunteered to bring this up - given the fact that the Catholic church to this very day has no way to recant the "extermination order" of that ecumenical council without admitting that the doctrine of infallibility is wrong.

It was even stated on EWTN by Dr William Carroll in May of 2002 that Billy Graham would have been burned at the stake had he lived in the times of Lateran IV - teaching the same doctrines that he taught in the 20th century.

And then there is "Catholic Digest"

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Catholic Digest 11/1997 pg 100


The question:
A Baptist family who lives across the street gave me a book called the “Trail of Blood”, by J.M. Carroll. It attacks Catholic doctrine on infant Baptism, indulgences, purgatory, and so on. But I am writing to learn if there is anything in history that would justify the following quotation:

“The world has Never seen anything to compare with the persecution heaped upon the Baptists by the Catholic hierarchy of the Dark Ages. The Pope was the world’s dictator. This is why the Anabaptists before the Reformation called the Pope the Anti-Christ”. Then: “Fifty million died by persecution over a period of 1200 years because of the Catholic Church”


The answer from Fr. Ken Ryan:
“There weren’t any Baptists until 1609, generally thought of as a year occurring after the Dark Ages. (that is why the article above includes Anabaptists) Anabaptists (means anti-baptism of infants – so they re-baptized them as adults) means “re-baptizers” and was a name given to groups existing in the 3rd, 4th, 11th and 12th centuries but they had no connection with the violent civil-religious (Catholic) reformers who appeared in 1521 at Zwickau in Saxony.

These 16th century Anabaptists rejected Catholic doctrine on infant Baptism and Lutheran justification by faith, among other things, and intended to substitute a new “Kingdom of God” for the social and civil order of their time. John Leyden was proclaimed King of New Sion at Munster where museums and libraries were destroyed and polygamy was introduced. This group AND Many others were Exterminated during the Peasants Wars by a Combination of civil and religious authority. Whether they were persecuted or punished depends on your point of view”
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in Christ,

Bob

 

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45674
Posted: August 9, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

I'm also encouraged by Benedict XVI, who seems to have inherited John Paul II's humility as well as his loyalty to foundational doctrines.

On Jan. 22, 1998, when he was still a cardinal and the grand Inquisitor (yes!) of the Roman Catholic Church, he declared that their archives (4,500 large volumes) indicate a death toll of 25 million killed by the Catholic Church for being "heretics." And likely two-thirds of the original volumes are lost.

 

I don't understand why a Baptist would go TO such an organization when it is to this very day claiming infallibility regarding its past dark ages decision to "exterminate" in such a fashion.

How does that happen?

I would have preferred the "well that was the dark ages - lots of dumb things done then - let's all move passed that and agree it was stupid and wrong". But when the infallibility doctrine is at stake - that option goes out the window.

in Christ,

Bob