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Two of the most neo-conservative Bishops have been Burke in St. Louis who excommunicated the parish board of St Stanislaus because they refused to turn over the deed of the church that the parish owned..
He also told anyone serving communion to denie communion to anyone that they thought disagree with his political statements.
I always thought communion was what united us, I never thought of it as a weapon.
In Nebraska Bishop Bruskewitz excommunicated members of Call To Action for supporting women’s ordination.
I have nothing against any of the Bishops speaking up, they have the right as leaders of the Church. But it seems like a double standard, not one bishop spoke up when their fellow bishops were hiding the sex abusers.
There is however one Bishop from Australia that had the courage and faith to stand up and ask the hard questions.
This past Wednesday I had the privilege of meeting and hearing Bishop Geoffrey Robinson speak at a Lutheran Church in Morristown N.J.
He has been banned from speaking in our churches for daring to speakup.
He has been labeled as a bad apple for asking the difficult questions that the Church does not want to hear.
Below you can read the intro to his book he wrote "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church" Reclaiming The Spirit of Jesus. I think most will find it to be a very interesting read.
I am reminded of what Martin Luther said regarding purgatory and hell. He wondered why, if the priest could 'release' some from purgatory, why not all? And he also stated that if the priest or pope uses this kind of power with the dead, is he not helping them more than he does the living? This, from the biography, Here I Stand.
First, this is NOT the place for those who want to bash Catholics. I only want discourse based on something I experienced while at Mass/Church.
I went to Mass at a parish I rarely go to. While waiting in the entry area, they had some leaflets I was looking at. One was entitled "Hell Exists and You Might Just Go There." I picked it up and read through it, quickly. Essentially, it talked about hell being a reality and it also added that praying the Rosary, including certain indispensible intermediate specific words of prayer, was essential to salvation. It was put out by one particular religious order. It made me fairly mad because it harkened back to the Catholic grammar school message of "you are basically bad kids" that is no longer "in vogue."
A couple of things:
(1) Do you still see the Catholic church, of which I am a member, as selling the "you are bad" scenario....I thought they were moving away from this....I mean, right now, churches are losing so many people that they can't be pushing this message
(2) How do you deal with the splintering of the Church by various orders? (As if the splintering between Christian sects wasn't already bad enough). Some orders push the Rosary and others do not. I once had a penance/atonement changed on me by a priest from another order because he disagreed with the previous priest's penance (which I brought up because I still hadn't done it because there were some logistics issues...not a big deal, really). There is this canyon between the liberal and the conservative, even within our own Church.
Catholics, or those familiar with Catholicism that aren't here to bash it, please chime in.
The Fact of the matter is:"HELL does Exist".......Jesus spoke more about the fire of hell then anyone; even some people in Jesus' day found this to be offensive............the bible says, the wages of sin is death, (eternal death i.e. HELL)......and furthemore ALL HAVE SINNED.....all of us deserve this punishment.....the bible says there is none righteous,not one.....A definite serious problem........Fear of the Lord is the beginning of WISDOM.....That's the bad news.......The GOOD NEWS of the gospel is that Jesus was sent to pay for the sins of mankind... TO SAVE US.......All who put their faith in Him will not be disappointed.....It is only thru FAITH in Christ that any of us come to Godly REPENTANCE.....and thus to Salvation......membership in the Catholic church or any other demonination will not save you.....the rosary will NOT save you, the sacrements will NOT save you,the pope cannot save you......NO ONE can pray you out of purgatory because it is a false doctine.....after death comes the judgement.....no second chances after death......no get out of jail free card.......the only escape from judgement is thru the Blood of Jesus......We have nothing to fear if we have trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins......Our Father in Heaven is a God of justice and also a God of Love .......Both are satisfied thru the sacrifce of Jesus his Son........That's why no one comes to the Father except by way of the cross of Jesus Christ......therefore we need to preach the entire message of the Gospel there is a serious need for the Saviour.......Praise be to God for His undeserved MERCY and LOVE for us.......Thank you Jesus for rescuing me
The Fact of the matter is:"HELL does Exist".......Jesus spoke more about the fire of hell then anyone;
"The current Evangelical Theology involves in its system belief in the deathlessness of sin, the indestructibility of error, and permanence of evil. That though there was a time in the history of the universe when sin in any shape or form did not exist, when no cry of pain or sense of guilt darkened the all-extensive bliss and holiness of creation, yet since sin has once effected an entrance into such a scene, it has come in never to go out again, indestructible, unconquerable, ineradicable, endless. Absolute happiness and sinlessness have forever vanished like the phantom of a dream. The 'eternal state' is a universe endlessly finding room for myriads of souls rolling and writhing in the burning agonies of ceaseless flame, eternally sinful, vile and morally hideous. It pictures the "final perfection" yet to be attained as having room for a vast cesspool of immoral and degraded beings, continually existing in opposition to God." -Vladimir M. Gelesnoff-
The Fact of the matter is:"HELL does Exist".......Jesus spoke more about the fire of hell then anyone;
In the Southern Baptist Journal Of Theology, on pages 15 & 18, Dr. Timothy K. Beougher writes....
Quote:
How do we know that God is love? Through the person of Jesus Christ. No one knows more about God's love than Jesus Christ...... The One who embodied God's love spent more time talking about the horrors of hell than the glories of heaven. Hell is real, and hell is eternal. We have Jesus Christ word on that.
Quote:
Jesus Christ talked more about hell than he did about heaven.
Multiple Choice Test
A. Jesus Christ spoke much more about hell than heaven.
The Fact of the matter is:"HELL does Exist".......Jesus spoke more about the fire of hell then anyone; even some people in Jesus' day found this to be offensive............the bible says, the wages of sin is death, (eternal death i.e. HELL)......and furthemore ALL HAVE SINNED.....all of us deserve this punishment.....the bible says there is none righteous,not one.....A definite serious problem........Fear of the Lord is the beginning of WISDOM.....That's the bad news.......The GOOD NEWS of the gospel is that Jesus was sent to pay for the sins of mankind... TO SAVE US.......All who put their faith in Him will not be disappointed.....It is only thru FAITH in Christ that any of us come to Godly REPENTANCE.....and thus to Salvation......membership in the Catholic church or any other demonination will not save you.....the rosary will NOT save you, the sacrements will NOT save you,the pope cannot save you......NO ONE can pray you out of purgatory because it is a false doctine.....after death comes the judgement.....no second chances after death......no get out of jail free card.......the only escape from judgement is thru the Blood of Jesus......We have nothing to fear if we have trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins......Our Father in Heaven is a God of justice and also a God of Love .......Both are satisfied thru the sacrifce of Jesus his Son........That's why no one comes to the Father except by way of the cross of Jesus Christ......therefore we need to preach the entire message of the Gospel there is a serious need for the Saviour.......Praise be to God for His undeserved MERCY and LOVE for us.......Thank you Jesus for rescuing me
What a simple message...well stated...thank you for sharing...can't give you reps...have to spread them around!
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