Are Catholics blinded by their priests and pope?

1. Catholics don't bow down TO statues, any more than you're bowing down TO your DVD player when you bend over to put a movie in. We don't kneel TO statutes any more than you kneel TO your bed when you say your prayers at night. We bow down TO JESUS *near* statues, and there's a huge difference there.

2. Catholics don't worship statues at all. We worship the Lord God Almighty. Statues to us are just religious art. Smash them, and we'll be sad you ruined our artwork, but we won't think that we're without anything to worship.

3. Catholics agree that all mankind are sinners.

4. Catholics agree that Mary needed a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus. The only difference is that we believe that God saved her at the beginning of her life instead of at the end of it, in order to prepare her to become the mother of Christ. The Bible says she had already received the Fullness of Grace (i.e., the maximum a person can get) when the angel came to tell her about Jesus (Luke 1:28), so obviously the work was already done for her at that point. (If you don't understand why, get a Greek testament and read an older translation, and then you'll see how it's conjugated.)

5. You make it sound like popes just randomly hand out doctrine. That's not the case at all, and if you knew anything about how the Catholic Church works, you wouldn't have suggested such a thing. Any doctrine that's issued is prayed over, compared to Scripture, etc., for years before it's issued. And that's a very rare thing. I daresay the preacher of your church issues doctrine far more regularly, and you follow it without giving it a second thought.

6. Jesus didn't "strongly condemn traditions" - He condemn attachment to traditions over attachment to Him. All Catholic traditions are focused on building a relationship with Christ. And they were given to us by Jesus Himself. What about the traditions in your church? You've got them. Perhaps there is something that's always done at Easter or Christmas. No doubt there is a particular order of events followed every Sunday at worship. Your church likely has traditions related to when a new person joins or when somebody is baptized or when somebody is sick or when somebody marries. Let's not be hypocritical here.

7. The Catholic Church consistently points people toward Christ and delivers the teachings of Christ from Scripture. So listening to the Church builds our relationship with the Lord and enables us to follow Him.

8. Right about now, you're probably deciding to ignore my statement, because that's what usually happens. But it would be nice if you looked carefully at what I said and responded intelligently.

"Are Catholics blinded by their priests and pope?'

No, quite the contrary.

"Bible states that all mankind, with the sole exception of Christ, are sinners."

No it does not but simply makes a general statement about the state of man. The fact that Jesus is an exception makes your understanding eisegesis.

"Mary exclaimed in Luke 1:47, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."'

Yes and she was saved at the moment of her conception by the salvific grace provided on the cross.

"Who is the Pope to create new doctrines"

According to Scriptures the Pope is the holder of the Holy office of prime minister ordained by God. He has the authority and the charism of his office to proclaim the truth when speaking ex cathedra.

"Are you going to trust what the Catholic Church (men) have to say, or are you going to trust the Word of God?"

Of course, because only the leaders ordained by Jesus and their successors have the teaching authority of Christ. to do otherwise would be following the doctrines of men as the Protestants do in their self righteousness.

God bless!

In Christ

Fr. Joseph

A little girl kneels beside her bed saying her nightly prayers. Is the little girl kneeling to the bed? Is the bed an idol? Of course not, the little girl is kneeling and praying to God.

A family bows their heads and prays over their evening meal. Is the family bowing to their food? Is this food an idol? Of course not, the family is bowing and praying to God.

A mother kneels in prayer before a cross and prays that her son in Afghanistan will be safe. Is the mother kneeling to the cross? Is the cross an idol? Of course not, the mother is kneeling and praying to God.

Do you have pictures of your loved ones? Have you ever looked at the picture of someone while talking on the phone to them? Is the picture an idol?

Statues, pictures, and symbols of people we love are not idols.

Statues, pictures, and symbols of Jesus and the saints are just like pictures of the people we love and respect.

The King James Version of the Bible states in Exodus 20:4: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth"

Why were the Jews commanded not to make graven images? Graven images were the standard method of pagan worship. They were representations of false gods.

This is a very clear command.

However God commanded the Jews in Exodus 25:18 and 1 Chronicles 28:18–19, "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them"

And in 1 Kings chapter 7 Solomon made bulls and other images out of precious metals.

It seems obvious that the Jews did not worship the cherubims and Solomon did not worship the bulls he had made. These images did not violate the command of God. Therefore, an image not made for worship is acceptable.

In Numbers 21:8-9, "And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered."

And in John 3:14-15, Jesus says in correlation, "And just as Moses lifted up the [image of a] serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

How can a statue of our Lord Jesus Christ dead on the cross be considered an idol to a false god? A crucifix is the message of the Gospel without words held up for all to see, a visual reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus, no different from a painting, a play, or a movie.

How can a nativity set set up in your house to constantly remind you and teach your children of God's love for us be idolatry?

Catholics do not worship statues but the almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

For more information, see:

http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac1...

With love in Christ.

I sometimes feel that Roman Catholics put more stock in what the Pope says than what the inspired word of God says in the Holy Bible. If we all study scripture as Christians we will be able to tell the difference between traditional power from the church ]Pope] and the reality of what the Bible really has to teach us about the faith.

You seem to blinded by your own pathetic bigotry.

We don't worship the Pope! We love and respet him, as goes for the Blessed Mother and Saints.

We worshipp only God and Jesus. Yeah, we don't want to understand God, is that why we praise him daily, and read the bible.

Although I agree with you to a certain extent, I would say that the level of blindness among humans extends further than just among the Catholics. There are many in protestant and non-denomination churches that are equally blinded by their pastors or by themselves.

Jesus said that many will come in his name claiming to be him and shall deceive many, these includes pastors, popes and other leaders of synagogues who teach error and practice doctrines of demons. A person can be a false Jesus without realizing it because of accepting erroneous doctrines.

Everyone who does not depend wholly on Jesus Christ but establishes his own righteousness is blind and worshiping idols regardless of his denomination.

Matthew 24.4-5

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

The catholics are blinded to the Truth from the Holy Spirit by their priests and pope. But don't worry about what the catholics teach or believe in.

Just make sure you are following Jesus and doing the will of the Father.

God will judge all those who claim to follow Him but who in reality are following Satan instead.

This is true, but it is also true about every trinity based religion, catholocism created the trinity god at the councils, then over 1000 years later mistranslated words to make it look like a trinity god in the bible. here is a fact--catholocism = the tree trunk--many branches popped off during the centuries---a good tree produces good fruit- a rotten tree produces rotten fruit--- also-- A house divided will not stand--thus not Gods house. Every trinity religion points everyone to Jesus,s righteousness, where as Jesus pointed his true followers to his Fathers righteousness--Jesus said-- Keep on seeking first the kingdom and his( Jehovah) righteousness, and all will be added.

But - you do know that the 'word of god' has to be understood by understanding the culture in which god had it written? Right?

read in luke "hail to thee full of grace, the lord is with thee." meaning she was sinless.

stop insulting the mother of our lord , all ages will call me blessed .[canticle of mary] luke 1;48