Catholics not Christian? (Jehovah, Mormons, abortion, bible)
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The irony is that you think any of us can be the judge of whether or not someone else is a Christian! We cannot! Jesus is the only one who can determine that. We are told NOT to judge, but the judgmental self-righteous ones among us "twist" the scriptures to find justification for judging based on what they THINKL is righteous.
That aligns with my thinking on this topic. I have responded to people claiming that Catholics(and other denominations) aren't Christian with "who appointed you as the arbiter of who is or isn't Christian? Isn't that God's responsibility?".
The irony is that you think any of us can be the judge of whether or not someone else is a Christian! We cannot! Jesus is the only one who can determine that. We are told NOT to judge, but the judgmental self-righteous ones among us "twist" the scriptures to find justification for judging based on what they THINK is righteous.
And the irony is that you are now dictating to us rules about how to judge a religion you claim to not be a part of. You are doing the very same thing you condemn. That's a rules violation, Mr. Agape.
And the irony is that you are now dictating to us rules about how to judge a religion you claim to not be a part of. You are doing the very same thing you condemn. That's a rules violation, Mr. Agape.
We see through you.
Yeah he claims to be Catholic by adopting the Catholic holy days that are wholly Catholic and IN FACT, DEFINES WHAT RELIGION YOU ARE A PART OF.
I recall when JFK became president, it was considered phenomenal because he was (drum roll) CATHOLIC of all things! There was great prejudice and concern about that, although I have no clue what the origin of the prejudice actually is. It would be interesting to know, as Catholics are taught that their religion was the first "Christian" religion and that the Church is the "true church" (I'm sure all religions think this).
When I was growing up there was a number of more conservative/evangelical/pentecostal type denominations that kind of muttered "Catholics aren't Christians" under their breath. And some were more overt about it.
From what I understand... say before 1950 this stance was held to the point that in many places where Catholics were a minority... they were somewhat stigmatized.
In my experience there were all kinds of reasons I heard why Catholics "weren't Christians"...
They sprinkle. They worship Mary. They worship Saints. They worship the Pope. They have extra Bible books. They believe in Limbo and Purgatory. And various and assundry issues regarding their theology.
In my small Oklahoma town they Catholics had their own school and they had taken over what was a local oilman's mansion and grounds and had a convent. Growing up I was a bit leery of the nuns when I would see them about town. And there were stories among us kids that they would shoot you with rock salt if you tried to get on their grounds.
As us kids got into Jr. High, the Catholic kids joined us at the public schools and they seemed normal and they laughed at all of our scary stories about the nunnery. It was quite disappointing. One thing was though, when we got to high school it was a lot of the Catholic boys who taught the Baptist boys how to drink and party. So they ended up holding lofty status at our school.
Yes, and Catholic attachment to and seeming veneration of statues and such is seen as "idolatry". Basically any difference is threatening to a fundamentalist.
A lot of the overt anti-Catholicism went by the wayside probably at least 50 years ago. For example, I recall that until he charmed his way into their midst, people had grave reservations whether JFK, our first Catholic President, was even electable. There were people claiming he would take all his orders from the Pope, who would be the person who truly had his hands on the levers of power. JFK was able to assure protestant groups that he was no threat in this regard and indeed he broke down those barriers and there's little to no downside to being a Catholic running for high office anymore. It was basically the power of his charisma that put him over the top.
Some of this also had roots in large numbers of poor, e.g., Irish Catholic immigrants in the prior generations, and the perception that they were drunken wastrels because they were Catholic rather than because they were poor and disadvantaged. Also of course the stereotype that they WERE all drunken wastrels, lol.
I recall when JFK became president, it was considered phenomenal because he was (drum roll) CATHOLIC of all things! There was great prejudice and concern about that, although I have no clue what the origin of the prejudice actually is. It would be interesting to know, as Catholics are taught that their religion was the first "Christian" religion and that the Church is the "true church" (I'm sure all religions think this).
The prejudice was that it was believed that as President he would do what the Pope told him to do, and the largely Protestant mainstream population was Protestant in part because they believed the very idea of a Pope is wrong.
Remember, this was 1960. I was born in 1958, and I remember as a child my grandfather railing against all the ethnic (Polish, Irish, Italian) types fleeing the Bronx and moving into our mainly Dutch town because they were CATHOLIC. They had even built a CATHOLIC CHURCH in our town. The horror. Lol.
Growing up in the South as a Catholic, and in one of the few places that actually was majority Catholic, I often felt like I was not "one of them", them being the Protestant folks. It was never said outright, but the vibes were there. Its a ridiculous stance because I believe the Catholic faith is the oldest Christian faith, and the very word "Catholic" simply means all encompassing. One can have catholic tastes in food or music or whatever, which means you like a variety of things, which seems like a good thing to me.
Then there was always that Pope thing. Protestants would say to me, I'm not going to obey that guy. Well, we weren't either! He was just a guy, we knew that. Some Catholics may have felt differently, but I didn't know any that did. Catholics are a very forgiving sort, it's drilled into them. Mercy and forgiveness are the deal, and when I went (once) to a Southern Baptist church ALL I heard was condemnation and burning people in hell. Not uplifting for sure.
Growing up in the South as a Catholic, and in one of the few places that actually was majority Catholic, I often felt like I was not "one of them", them being the Protestant folks. It was never said outright, but the vibes were there. Its a ridiculous stance because I believe the Catholic faith is the oldest Christian faith, and the very word "Catholic" simply means all encompassing. One can have catholic tastes in food or music or whatever, which means you like a variety of things, which seems like a good thing to me.
Then there was always that Pope thing. Protestants would say to me, I'm not going to obey that guy. Well, we weren't either! He was just a guy, we knew that. Some Catholics may have felt differently, but I didn't know any that did. Catholics are a very forgiving sort, it's drilled into them. Mercy and forgiveness are the deal, and when I went (once) to a Southern Baptist church ALL I heard was condemnation and burning people in hell. Not uplifting for sure.
All Catholics seem to believe that. The church must teach you that.
There were other churches before the Roman church took hold, you know. There were Syrian churches that had no connection with Rome, and there were the churches in Greece and Turkey, the latter of which was where the term "Christians" was first used. Then you had the Mar Thoma Christians in Kerala, India, to whom Christianity was brought by the apostle Thomas, and who only had the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of Jesus's sayings, until the 15th century when Portuguese Catholics showed up, found them with crosses decorated with elephants and treated them badly for not being under the thumb of Rome when they may well have predated the Vatican.
I am not Catholic, but I am not anti-Catholic, either. However, it is clear that some Catholics are not taught accurately about the history of Christianity.
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