If so, how can you justify the goddess worship of Mary?
Or the expectation of protection and/or miracles from "Saints" who have died?
Or the mindlessly droning prayer repitition (the rosary) that Christ admonished us not to do, and the glorification of Mary over Jesus that the rosary promotes?
By the way, please dont say I am misrepresenting anything. I was a Catholic for over 20 years before being ligitimetly born of God and quickly fleeing Catholicisms clutches.
Yeah. I hear you. One side of my family was Episcopal(before the "ordination" of women and the 1979 "Book of Common Prayer") and the other side RC. I converted to Orthodoxy as a kid because of the changes in RCC. I was Ordained an Orthodox Deacon and thankfully left Orthodoxy( the most un-christian bunch of people I have ever been around. SO ethnocentric!) and was Ordained a Priest, Catholic, Traditional Rite. I became a Christian along the way, and all the Catholic folderol dropped away in a progressive manner. I believe you do not have to be Roman to be CATHOLIC. Catholic is a good word. The RCC DOES glorify Mary, prays TO Mary, and asks favours of her. I dare anyone to deny that fact! They also pray TO saints, and asks favours of them, also. I defy anyone to deny that. Vatican 2 did NOT change one jot or tittle of RC doctrine/dogma. The RCC is always the same. Maybe the outward forms have changed, but the inside has NOT.:jesus:
I also want to say that I do not despise any of my history. I do not hate RC people or the Church. There are some very unscriptural things in the RCC and I see that and I admit to it. And the teaching of the RCC is that to be RC, one must believe 100% of what the Church teaches. A RC cannot pick and choose what he or she believes. It's all or nothing. So, I do not accept 100% of the dogma. So, I'm out. As for Orthodoxy, who claims to be the one, true, church, and claims that Rome is the first Protestant Church, I believe it to be more scriptural in some things than Rome. However, in Orthodoxy it is more important to be Greek, or Russian, or Ukrainian, or Romanian than anything else. Then, you're Orthodox. And if you are not part of the ethnic group of the parish church, hey, you are an outsider, and will always remain so. Canonising various ethnic folkways is very important. To some Orthodox, candle-lighting and icon-kissing, and making prostrations, are the whole of the faith. Don't tell me about any of it---I've been there!!!