Featured Renouncing the Catholic faith formally

Think back to the ANE worldview. What did they believe regarding God that was in stark contrast to how God revealed Himself to be to the Hebrew people? Notice that this is the same pagan worldview that existed in Greece and Rome. It is, distilled, the root of paganism. Now look at the Catholic Church. Can you now see why through the centuries many have declared the RCC pagan?

Catholics affirm a pagan root to their Sacraments, but they hold that the “paganism” was cleansed when the church laid hold of the practices. But I’m saying that it is deeper than the Sacraments - although the Sacraments certainly prove a pagan ideology when compared to Scripture. Look at the practice of wearing the scapular. Look at last rites. There is so much that is reflective of paganism it is sad (and you can’t cop out with “it means something else” because your definitions are the same).

Yes, Lakeside…historical truth prevails over Catholic mythology. And yes, even more the Truth of the Word of God prevails. Most devout Catholics are blinded by their own tradition, histories, and ever-changing doctrines. They have eaten what was served, drank the Kool-Aid, and now are at the mercies of Rome for “salvation.” If you have ever studied ANE paganism then you would be astounded at how helpful the RCC is in providing a contemporary model.

 

No, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once or twice.

I was never Mormon, either. But that does not prevent me from looking at their doctrine and judging it against the Word of God. Neither does it prevent me from looking at history and comparing it to their mythology. I'm not Catholic...I'm allowed to do that.

 

:laugh: No...no attitude....getting ready for church and pulling the Boston Butt out of the smoker....(I'm not Jewish either)

On a serious note, they do have an astounding pagan worldview. I have friends who are Catholic (that's how I learned about the scapular....it was foreign to me), and it does sadden me, but they have a pagan outlook of God. I don't know any other way to say it. It is an ANE view of God - with man/church controlling the modes through which God operates.

 

I don't know that one with the right relationship with Christ could stay in the Catholic Church (I don't understand how someone could be in a right relationship with the RCC and with Christ - unless you mean "undercover"). All that I've known who have been saved while attending a RCC quickly left - they studied Scripture and arrived at the gospel. I don't think that the RCC is going anywhere soon.

On a side note - there is a sign on the bathroom door at the Catholic Church by my home. It reads "Minors must be accompanied by a guardian, no exceptions." I know that sin is not limited to the RCC, but by the mere nature of their religion...should it not be expected?

 

I don't get your connection. Christ healed the woman who touched the fringe of His cloak. He also put mud on the eyes of the blind man. We don't know that people were healed by Peter's shadow falling on them (it was noted what people were doing, and it was custom that a great person's shadow - both evil and good people - was powerful....but your assumption is not warranted).

I did not say anything about relics (although I do believe it, in practice, to be idolatry....but that's another topic that you're introducing here).

 

I see why you misunderstood my comments and apologize for not making it clear. When I say that the Catholic Church is pagan in nature I am speaking of its worldview. ANE religion held that man could wield, through rites and rituals, the mode through which God would work. For example, an idol was not merely a representation of a thing. There were rites involved whereby the image became an idol. I am not making the connection between Catholics and idols, but between ANE worldviews and Catholics. Go forward to Rome. Roman paganism was very much akin to Catholic sacrament. I am not making the connection that it is the same (I'm not talking about idols and sacraments) but the worldview is the same. It is man (or the church) controlling the means by which God's actions are conveyed. Think back to God and the Hebrew religion. This was a revelation - a transcendent God that man cannot wield. Man's ritual was meaningless, his obedience however was crucial. This transcendence, in a very significant way, became immanence in the person of Christ as God's most complete revelation of Himself. But still, there is that distinct difference.

The Catholic Church carries a worldview that is pagan. My Catholic friends wear a scapular….just in case they die before receiving last rites. They believe Mary is a mediator. They confess to a priest their sins and believe in penance for those sins. They pray for their dead family members. They believe in a human vicar for Christ here on earth. They believe an infant’s original sin is cleansed with the sprinkling of water. Any and all of this stems from a pagan worldview (in fact, it cannot exist apart from a pagan worldview). That is what I’m talking about. The Catholic Church as we know it was born apostate.

 

No, I agree with you there.

 

Methinks your post is way off OP!

 

I think it is reasonable. We are to "count the cost." I have friends who would have left the RCC long ago, but it would have cause discord with their family (their parents, in this case). Others couldn't leave because they felt that they were an integral part of that congregation. Their family and friends were Catholic...it would be almost like abandoning their entire culture...what they know. I know many who have left the RCC and they have told me of "losses" that they experienced (they counted them as gain, but it was not a painless move). So I can see how all of these issues would come into play.