I am a Southern Baptist that grew up going to a Catholic grade school, and with my dad's family being Catholic, and always wondered, what is the reasoning behind praying to Saints and Mary?
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Bingo.I just want to make sure I got this right.
You do not pray to the saints, you ask them to pray for you?
Well, you are a Christian, by the grace of your baptism........ a "member" of the Catholic Church would have to complete the Sacraments of Initiation which would have to include Confirmation......Also, I was wondering, I was baptized at birth as a Catholic, at 9 I had my first communion, and at 10 or 11 I was baptized as a Baptist(I had always gone to a Protestant church on sundays, as well as mass at school), does the Catholic church still view me as a Catholic?
I would be happy to........... my intention here on this forum is not to convert people, but education about my faith (even should you not "change" to Catholicism) can be beneficial.I am thinking of changing to Catholicism but there are still a few questions I have(I believe I was raised with quite a few misconceptions I would like to clear up before making my mind up) would you be open to answering them?
Well, I guess I was not clear....... ALL Christians are catholic (little 'c') but not all have yet to reconcile with the Church Christ founded and be Catholic (big 'C') ....As you can see by me not even know I wasn't a Catholic in the first place, I am not very knowledgeable about Catholicism.
First, to clarify, the Immaculate Conception of Mary refers to Mary being conceived in her mother Annas womb without original sin.1. The Immaculate Conception of Mary, is there any scriptural evidence?(I undertand that a protestant bible has something like 10 books less, so if it is in one of those ten books please add that)
Again, to clarify, it is important to understand that the Catholic faith does not subscribe to the anti-Scriptural doctrine of Sola Scriptura
The simplest answer to the Protestant objection to the doctrine of Marys sinlessness in this: Suppose God had not made Mary full of grace and immaculate; would Christ have had more glory if Mary had thus had less? The objection has three hidden errors: Mary and Jesus are never rivals, glory in not a divisible quantity like money, and God is not a miser with his grace.
Well..... now we are getting somewhere. Here is a link to the papal bull about the IC.... you will have to read it and check for any references you need.... I am sorry I don't have the time right now.As it stands now I have no evidence then others' words that Mary did indeed have an immaculate conception, can you give the other sources the church uses(used) to support the dogma? Once I read them I can come to my own conclusion.
Don't be silly.... I LOVE answering these questions! The Lord has blessed me with a love for my faith and a desire to learn more about it...... by answering your questions, it helps me to draw closer to him....... I owe you thanks!I wish to add another question, if I am pressing your time too much please say so, I have a Catholic church down the road and I could go ask the priest tomorrow,
YES. To disagree with an established dogma of the deposit of faith is to cease to be Catholic.I have some views that might not be exactly the same as the official catholic view(comes from the papacy I guess) I was wondering if I joined the C(big "c")atholic Church if I could bring forth my ideas in debate, to help everyone understand the gosple better and to grow in spirituality, or would this be frowned upon?
Purgatory exists because God is both just and merciful.Mister Emu said:I have never understood Purgatory, could you please explain it.
Closer to God? No. Closeness in an individual thing...... there are many Saints who were lay-people, many Priests were criminals, and vise versa.......Mister Emu said:3. I have heard that in catholisism, priests are considered closer to God than the general membership, is this true?
This question, as I see it is not so much about confession, but about the Sacrament of Holy Orders.Mister Emu said:4. I also heard that confessions must be given to annointed priests, or they are not considered true confessions(or something like that, general idea was that the priest is needed).
Mary was born without original sin, by the grace of God. She remained without sin her entire life.1. Mary was not born without sin, she was born already forgiven of it?
Yes. By her fiat and life, she is the perfect example of human faith. Mary said yes, where Eve said no......2. In glory and honor she is second to the Trinity?
I saw in your deleted post that you think Mary had other children after Jesus........I don't think she did.3. Could you explain the belief of the ever-Virgin Mary to me?