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Old 07-15-2007, 03:30 PM
 
5,110 posts, read 7,105,791 times
Reputation: 3116

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Quote:
Look at the success of shows like the one presented by Jon Stewart. Shows and views like that are actually becoming the source of the short-attentioned public's opinion.

On the contrary, his show is viewed by those that tend to be the most informed. it has been mentioned that people watch his show for the "news"

But in reality, most viewers of his show already know the news.

Regardless, whatever the forum is, the actions of such leaders should be exposed more, not less.

On his show, real actions by our "leaders" are exposed. However most other mainstream media miss such things.
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Old 07-15-2007, 10:04 PM
 
Location: Warwick, NY
1,174 posts, read 5,889,573 times
Reputation: 1023
mikael, are you a member of the Coptic church?

I hope you will post elsewhere here because I think many of us would be interested in the Coptic church and Ethiopian Christianity in particular. Ethiopia has a fascinating history and much to be proud of. I hope you will also go to the Politics forum and tell us how things are going with Eritrea and Somalia. Many here in the US are worried about the Somalia situation.

Thank you for writing!
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Old 07-15-2007, 10:12 PM
 
Location: Warwick, NY
1,174 posts, read 5,889,573 times
Reputation: 1023
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeP View Post
On the contrary, his show is viewed by those that tend to be the most informed. it has been mentioned that people watch his show for the "news"

But in reality, most viewers of his show already know the news.
Stewart is like the little boy who announced the emperor had no clothes on.

Colbert amazes me even more. His victims still haven't quite caught-on to his brand of satire.
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Old 07-15-2007, 10:49 PM
 
Location: USA
41 posts, read 118,111 times
Reputation: 49
I am not sure if the Catholic Church changed the commandments, that being said,

we are all Christians, and we should be able to discuss things with respect for eachother, but we can also say that we disagree with due respect as well and why we do so.

First, I was raised Catholic, went from K-12 to Catholic Schools. My Uncle was a priest in the Catholic Church. My entire family is Catholic, and even have in-laws who converted to Catholicism.

My eldest son continued to go a Catholic Church when we relocated, and I drived him to and from, respecting his views. I did tell him why I felt I couldn't worship at the Church, but didn't influence him, and was proud that he was worshiping and happy to be part of any Christian faith.

That being said, I left the Catholic Church for many reasons.

First, I started reading the Bible and had many questions to ask the priests in our parish and some of the nun's who taught me. There answers did conflict with what I read and studied in the bible, but they did not care to confer with me on it.

Second, we had to go to confession. I always was uncomfortable with this aspect of my former religion, and as I sought the truth, in what I believe to be God's word, the Bible, I found alot of scripture to back up my belief that confessing my sins to a priest, and calling him Father was not how I interpreted the Bible.

Third, I didn't really know how to pray. We said the Act of Contrition, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be To God, Eternal Rest, and I found myself, although thinking these prayers are beautiful, and still do feel they are beautiful, it just wasn't a "personal worship" to God in my humble opinion.

The most beautiful part was the Apostles Creed, and I still say pray it, along with Our Father, but I guess what I am saying is that so much of it seemed like rituals.

For instance, the rosary. I crowned the Virgin Mary 2 times, and it was special, but sitting with 150 people saying the rosary, my mind wondered and it just didn't feel like it came from the heart.

I love the Virgin Mary, but when I read the Bible, it clearly stated that we should not pray to anyone or have a middle man.

I used to pray to St. Jude all the time, and now I can't because it goes against what I have learned from the Bible, not a church, not a priest, not a pastor, just from the Bible.

Fourth, I left the Church also because we used to go to Statues, like candles and pray to St. Joseph, Mary or whatever Statue there was, I believed that this is a form of idolatry, from what I interpret the Bible to be.

Fifth, I also left the Church because no one would discuss the Bible with me and a priest told me I put to much into the Bible. Once I heard this, I ran.

I remember getting wacked on the knuckes by nuns, how priests used to visit us with my Uncle and how they brought J&B, and other whiskey and sat and drank.

My parents get enraged till this day that I question "our" faith, yet my mom and dad have never read the Bible, nor do they care to. Every night my Father prays to the Virgin Mary.

My relatives pray to deceased members of our families and I cringe becaue I know from what I believe the truth is in the Bible that this is not right, as I interpret it.

For years I wasn't associated with God or any religion, guess I was agnostic, give me proof, either way I really didn't care.

Now that I am a Chrisitan, and I really don't officially belong to any church, but I do attend a great Church as a non-member (guess I just am scared to make a commitment to a Church 100% because of how I was raised), I try to talk to my family about why I made this choice and they get offended, yet I am not putting down their faith, just explaining mine.

My son, who was attending Catholic Mass up till last year, also began studying the Bible, in doing so he was more open to coming to our new Church, and he, who was a die-hard Catholic, now feels the same way.

That being said, I can't put down people or my family to are practicing Catholics, but I can honestly say that I feel, for me personally, that much of the teachings and rituals goes against what I have read in the Bible, but that is just my humble opinion, with all due respect.
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Old 07-16-2007, 01:02 AM
 
8 posts, read 25,729 times
Reputation: 16
Re: Jon Stewart
I guess my biggest concern with shows like his are that nothing seems sacred. I don't have a problem with expose's or the comedic edge...a problem with most 1st world societies is a wearing away of a moral code. I hope that makes sense.
Re: The Coptic Church
Here in Ethiopia I attend a fantastic nondenominational church, Beza, that has both Amharic and English services. But, I still consider myself to be a Copt and I pray for true reform within the church because it has such a rich and atiquated history, yet, its current practices resemble what the Ancient Roman Catholic church was doing (though no one is being burned at the stake there are some religious practices that truly are abominations). There is also a real distaste for the name of Jesus and a total resignation to the power of Mary and the Arch Angels. E.g. my brother passed away in a car accident a day after Christmas two years ago. I wrote a eulogy and our priest (now the equivalent of a Cardinal) attempted to stop the eulogy because it mentioned faith in Christ and mentioned Christ's name!
Feel free to inquire regarding the church and its history, I will be happy to respond. FYI it is not yet the year 2000 in Ethiopia. We celebrate that landmark in September, 2007 (our calendar has not changed with the rest of the world's and is 7 years behind yours).
Re: the Catholic Church
I agree with the last post. We are all christians, but there are demonitions such as the Catholic and Coptic churches that have emphasized religion over faith, surplusage over the word, and a regimented approach to prayer and worship over emphasis on the word of God. Luther's struggle is still an issue with most churches: teaching the actual word of God to the public - not enough churches do that. And if they did there would not be so much animosity between denominations. Note, there are many protestant churches that suffer from the same; and even in my short time reading these blogs I see a lack of temperance by some born again bloggers who I would advise to carefully consider what kind of messengers of Christ we are becoming.
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Old 10-20-2007, 03:12 PM
 
1 posts, read 3,787 times
Reputation: 11
Default Wow! Judge ye not lest ye be judged!

Wow! Unbelievable. I have been a Catholic for 50 years now, and I am still seeing falacy being used to discriminate our Church. Before you print or state any more, I suggest that instead of going to an anti-Catholic institution to learn your information about Catholics, why don't you study from where Catholics learn, our church! Yes, get a book written by a true Roman Catholic scholar, (like the pope for instance), and see what we really believe. I can't believe how many Catholics still believe that we pray to Mary or the saints? If I ask you to pray for me, am I praying to you, or worshipping you? I am in the Diaconate program in our church because my husband is going to become a deacon, and we don't teach any such thing. We teach that the only way that you go to the father is through his son. We don't idolize any statues. They are used only as a remembrance of those who are special to us. You know like Americans have flags, and statues? Did you know that the Lutheran church was founded on the statement "By Faith alone, not works, we are saved." So, the church first broke apart from this statement when there is no word for alone in Hebrew. Oh, and didn't he regret what he had done before he died, but well, it was too late, the damage was done. There is a new pick-a-part church built every day that doesn't like the way their own church is run, so they make a "new" one. If a sin isn't allowed that someone wants to keep committing, just change churches, or make a new one. Well, you can keep trying to deface the Catholic Church, but you better make sure that you get your facts straight from the Catholic Church, not someone who is biased. And for all those Catholics who don't know enought about your church that you would believe these fallacies before leaving; I suggest that you do the same. Study the Catholic Church before you close the door. We are Christ's bride; not the ***** of Babylon, which is what anti-Catholics teach. God does not seperate, man does, and has! I am in love with my Chuch because it is all about the love of God our Father and the gift of his only begotten son. His Holy Apostolic Church does have sinners just like every other church, but Jesus forgives AMEN!

Last edited by blurp; 10-20-2007 at 03:15 PM.. Reason: misspelled
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Old 10-20-2007, 03:23 PM
 
11 posts, read 10,925 times
Reputation: 9
The original commandments/bible is much much differnt today than it once was.
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Old 10-21-2007, 03:35 PM
 
264 posts, read 692,339 times
Reputation: 123
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christian2003 View Post
I understand that they deleted the 2nd "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" and separated the 10th into two to make ten. This allows them to have their idol worship. I don't blame the people as the deception came from their leaders.
Well, the Bible doesn't actually number the commandments. This is something that readers of the Bible have done.

The New American Bible is the translation most commonly used by American Catholics. It renders Exodus 20:1-6 this way:

1 Then God delivered all these commandments:
2 "I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
3 You shall not have other gods besides me.
4 You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;
5 you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation;
6 but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Doesn't look to me like anything's been removed.
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Old 10-21-2007, 05:53 PM
 
34,254 posts, read 20,449,216 times
Reputation: 36244
I have never heard of the catholic church changing the ten commandments.

Reflecting on AAA21215's post. It's strange to hear someone say they are raised catholic and then go on to say a multitude of things about the catholic church which I have never seen nor heard taught in the catholic church.

Granted, I have only been a catholic for 2 years, but I have yet to see or hear of anyone stopping people from simply praying from the heart:

>>QUOTE Third, I didn't really know how to pray. We said the Act of Contrition, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be To God, Eternal Rest, and I found myself, although thinking these prayers are beautiful, and still do feel they are beautiful, it just wasn't a "personal worship" to God in my humble opinion.

Who or what catholic doctrine stopped you from simply praying? There is no catholic teaching (to my knowledge) that says one cannot simply pray in one's own words. Pray from your heart period.

Second, the often used stereotypical misunderstanding that catholics pray TO statues. We don't pray ~to~ statues. We recognize the important role that saints or whomever play in the church history.

Your post sounds like you still share most, if not all, my misunderstandings of the catholic church, --before-- I attended RCIA. *RCIA is the classes an adult takes to learn about the catholic faith prior to joining the catholic church, usually 1 to 2 years in duration.

Of course, if you are not happy with any church, that is your perfect right, and whatever path you choose, I wish you the best.

I just have to chime in with my perceptions of the catholic faith which are totally different from yours.

I could go on and make several rebuttals to your post, but it's not going to change your unhappiness with the catholic church. I am just sorry you have such a negative view of the church and equally sorry you cannot give yourself to any denomination or non-denominational faith.


Quote:
Originally Posted by AAA2125 View Post
I am not sure if the Catholic Church changed the commandments, that being said,

we are all Christians, and we should be able to discuss things with respect for eachother, but we can also say that we disagree with due respect as well and why we do so.

First, I was raised Catholic, went from K-12 to Catholic Schools. My Uncle was a priest in the Catholic Church. My entire family is Catholic, and even have in-laws who converted to Catholicism.

My eldest son continued to go a Catholic Church when we relocated, and I drived him to and from, respecting his views. I did tell him why I felt I couldn't worship at the Church, but didn't influence him, and was proud that he was worshiping and happy to be part of any Christian faith.

That being said, I left the Catholic Church for many reasons.

First, I started reading the Bible and had many questions to ask the priests in our parish and some of the nun's who taught me. There answers did conflict with what I read and studied in the bible, but they did not care to confer with me on it.

Second, we had to go to confession. I always was uncomfortable with this aspect of my former religion, and as I sought the truth, in what I believe to be God's word, the Bible, I found alot of scripture to back up my belief that confessing my sins to a priest, and calling him Father was not how I interpreted the Bible.

Third, I didn't really know how to pray. We said the Act of Contrition, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be To God, Eternal Rest, and I found myself, although thinking these prayers are beautiful, and still do feel they are beautiful, it just wasn't a "personal worship" to God in my humble opinion.

The most beautiful part was the Apostles Creed, and I still say pray it, along with Our Father, but I guess what I am saying is that so much of it seemed like rituals.

For instance, the rosary. I crowned the Virgin Mary 2 times, and it was special, but sitting with 150 people saying the rosary, my mind wondered and it just didn't feel like it came from the heart.

I love the Virgin Mary, but when I read the Bible, it clearly stated that we should not pray to anyone or have a middle man.

I used to pray to St. Jude all the time, and now I can't because it goes against what I have learned from the Bible, not a church, not a priest, not a pastor, just from the Bible.

Fourth, I left the Church also because we used to go to Statues, like candles and pray to St. Joseph, Mary or whatever Statue there was, I believed that this is a form of idolatry, from what I interpret the Bible to be.

Fifth, I also left the Church because no one would discuss the Bible with me and a priest told me I put to much into the Bible. Once I heard this, I ran.

I remember getting wacked on the knuckes by nuns, how priests used to visit us with my Uncle and how they brought J&B, and other whiskey and sat and drank.

My parents get enraged till this day that I question "our" faith, yet my mom and dad have never read the Bible, nor do they care to. Every night my Father prays to the Virgin Mary.

My relatives pray to deceased members of our families and I cringe becaue I know from what I believe the truth is in the Bible that this is not right, as I interpret it.

For years I wasn't associated with God or any religion, guess I was agnostic, give me proof, either way I really didn't care.

Now that I am a Chrisitan, and I really don't officially belong to any church, but I do attend a great Church as a non-member (guess I just am scared to make a commitment to a Church 100% because of how I was raised), I try to talk to my family about why I made this choice and they get offended, yet I am not putting down their faith, just explaining mine.

My son, who was attending Catholic Mass up till last year, also began studying the Bible, in doing so he was more open to coming to our new Church, and he, who was a die-hard Catholic, now feels the same way.

That being said, I can't put down people or my family to are practicing Catholics, but I can honestly say that I feel, for me personally, that much of the teachings and rituals goes against what I have read in the Bible, but that is just my humble opinion, with all due respect.
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Old 10-22-2007, 06:06 PM
 
Location: Mississippi
6,712 posts, read 13,423,075 times
Reputation: 4317
Quote:
Originally Posted by blurp View Post
Wow! Unbelievable. I have been a Catholic for 50 years now, and I am still seeing falacy being used to discriminate our Church. Before you print or state any more, I suggest that instead of going to an anti-Catholic institution to learn your information about Catholics, why don't you study from where Catholics learn, our church! Yes, get a book written by a true Roman Catholic scholar, (like the pope for instance), and see what we really believe. I can't believe how many Catholics still believe that we pray to Mary or the saints? If I ask you to pray for me, am I praying to you, or worshipping you? I am in the Diaconate program in our church because my husband is going to become a deacon, and we don't teach any such thing. We teach that the only way that you go to the father is through his son. We don't idolize any statues. They are used only as a remembrance of those who are special to us. You know like Americans have flags, and statues? Did you know that the Lutheran church was founded on the statement "By Faith alone, not works, we are saved." So, the church first broke apart from this statement when there is no word for alone in Hebrew. Oh, and didn't he regret what he had done before he died, but well, it was too late, the damage was done. There is a new pick-a-part church built every day that doesn't like the way their own church is run, so they make a "new" one. If a sin isn't allowed that someone wants to keep committing, just change churches, or make a new one. Well, you can keep trying to deface the Catholic Church, but you better make sure that you get your facts straight from the Catholic Church, not someone who is biased. And for all those Catholics who don't know enought about your church that you would believe these fallacies before leaving; I suggest that you do the same. Study the Catholic Church before you close the door. We are Christ's bride; not the ***** of Babylon, which is what anti-Catholics teach. God does not seperate, man does, and has! I am in love with my Chuch because it is all about the love of God our Father and the gift of his only begotten son. His Holy Apostolic Church does have sinners just like every other church, but Jesus forgives AMEN!
My experience with the Catholic church was not a good one. Of course, I couldn't have been more than maybe 10 the last time I set foot in one?? As I said on another post just recently, the factor was more or less that the priest asked for a big chunk of change from our parents and then threatened our entire family's salvation if we didn't cough it up. Regardless of whether or not that was indicative of the Catholic church's true meaning, I for one, could not see myself attending a church that has ever changing moral values (hey, at least they're not torturing people in Spain anymore) to suit the stances of its' supporters. I'd be really interested to see what was in the papal vault in the Vatican. REALLY INTERESTED!
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