RELIGION FOLLOWUP PART THREE

Now we will take the scriptures from yesterday and go through our list of religions and mark off the ones that do not line up with the Word of God and why.

Do you remember the ones we looked at? Here is the list again.

Catholic
Eastern Orthodox
Anglican
AIC’s
Evangelical
AOG
Protestant
Pentecostal
Monophysite
Latter Day Saints
SDA’s
Jehovah Witnesses
Quakers
Nominal

Okay are you ready? First on our list is Catholic. We know that they use books other than the Bible. We also know that they lift Mary up, and pray to her, which we are not to pray to anyone but the Lord. So first off the list is Catholic.

Eastern Orthodox is a branch of the Catholic religion and holds to most of their beliefs including Mary. Cross them off your list.

The Anglican Communion considers itself to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and as being both Catholic and Reformed. This one is a little hard to call, but if it claims connection to the Catholic church we cross it off our list.

AIC’s mostly agree on the initials, there is much that is not known about them. Because they have included many of their old traditions into their beliefs one would actually have to be able to know the beliefs of an individual group to check them in or out.

Evangelical is an easy one to keep on the list, the Word of God is the only Truth. Though there might be differences in the form of Baptism, it has to be a consenting adult and it has to be under water. They stay on the list.

Jehovah Witnesses are an easy one to cross off our list. They have falsely predicted the end of the world many times and it has not happened yet. They also created their own Bible that would line up with what they teach. One of those things being that Jesus is not the Son of God.


AOG, Assemblies of God, stand on the Word of God and nothing more. The only differences is again in the Words spoken when an adult is baptized. They are a keeper.

Protestant teach the Bible as the only Word of God. Here again only in the words spoken in baptism might be different. They stay on the list.

Pentecostal, okay they do wear long dresses and woman don't cut their hair. Men are always in long sleeves. Other then this which is a personal conviction they also stay on the list as people who stand on the Word of God the Bible.

Monophysite, oh how I love this word, which is connected to so many people. The meaning again. Monophysite in Christianity is one who believes that Jesus Christ’s nature remains altogether divine and not human even though He has taken on an earthly and human body with it’s cycle of birth, life and death. Doctrine asserts that in the Person of Jesus Christ there was only one divine nature rather then two. Here we go again. From our scriptures we read that Jesus was I AM before Abraham. Yes, there are three Father, Son and Holy Ghost but to say Jesus did not become human refutes the very thing that Jesus did, to become human and die for our sins. This one we check off our list.

Latter Day Saints is an easy one. Off the list for another book that to them is equal to the Bible.

SDA’s I grew up and attended church with neighbors and never knew the history of this religion. They are one of the most community minded groups I have ever known. They care about the children and the people. Sorry to say they also have predicted the end of the world on a number of occasions and it has not happened. Off the list they go.

Quakers have been in the news a lot recently because of the tragic shooting that took the life’s of a number of the students. They do not interact much with the world. Aside from that they are strictly Bible believers. They stay on the list.

Nominal’s well what can I say. They are included in the group with Christians, and not with anything outside of Christians. They are the ones who believe as us, but not with us. Check them off the list.

Now that is it, our list of who is right and who is wrong. What it really came down to is taking the Bible as the true Word of God and adding nothing nor taking anything away.

Okay who gives me the right to say any of this? Wait a minute, I told you what the groups said about themselves. I didn’t make up any of this. It is there in black and white, with I might add some beautiful pictures, for anyone to read. I went to the group’s sites for my information and in most cases simply put it on-line for you to read.

I learnt a lot about the groups that I never knew. I started this search because I was curious as to what others believed. I wanted to know what is right and what is wrong.

The most amazing thing about this is the Bible that I used to quote the scriptures, and the explanation that group gives for what is written in that Bible. I picked the Bible. I did because I wanted to show you that even in telling lies the truth would come out. The very Bible I used in its explanations tells you that this scripture or that one is omitted.

The Bible I used is the Catholic Bible. I am including an article put out by the Catholic Church. If your belief is correct then why does it change? God’s Word never changes. What is, was and always will be. This in itself should alarm anyone that believes in any religion.

We love all people as God told us to. We also feel that all should know the truth, and that truth shall set you free. Tomorrow we shall write more on this.

Following is an article from the Catholic Church that just came out last month.

Updated:2007-04-21 06:44:29
Catholic Church Reverses Teaching on Limbo
By NICOLE WINFIELD
AP
VATICAN CITY (April 21) - Pope Benedict XVI has reversed centuries of traditional Roman Catholic teaching on limbo, approving a Vatican report released Friday that says there were "serious" grounds to hope that children who die without being baptized can go to heaven.
Theologians said the move was highly significant - both for what it says about Benedict's willingness to buck a long-standing tenet of Catholic belief and for what it means theologically about the Church's views on heaven, hell and original sin - the sin that the faithful believe all children are born with.

Although Catholics have long believed that children who die without being baptized are with original sin and thus excluded from heaven, the Church has no formal doctrine on the matter. Theologians, however, have long taught that such children enjoy an eternal state of perfect natural happiness, a state commonly called limbo, but without being in communion with God.

"If there's no limbo and we're not going to revert to St. Augustine's teaching that un baptized infants go to hell, we're left with only one option, namely, that everyone is born in the state of grace," said the Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame.
"Baptism does not exist to wipe away the "stain" of original sin, but to initiate one into the Church," he said in an e-mailed response.

Benedict approved the findings of the International Theological Commission, a Vatican advisory panel, which said it was reassessing traditional teaching on limbo in light of "pressing" pastoral needs - primarily the growing number of abortions and infants born to non-believers who die without being baptized.

While the report does not carry the authority of a papal encyclical or even the weight of a formal document from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it was approved by the pope on Jan. 19 and was published on the Internet - an indication that it was intended to be widely read by the faithful.

"We can say we have many reasons to hope that there is salvation for these babies," the Rev. Luis Ladaria, a Jesuit who is the commission's secretary-general, told The Associated Press. He stressed that there was no certainty, just hope.

The Commission posted its document Friday on Origins, the documentary service of Catholic News Service, the news agency of the American Bishop's Conference.

The document traces centuries of Church views on the fate of un baptized infants, paying particular attention to the writings of St. Augustine - the 4th century bishop who is particularly dear to Benedict. Augustine wrote that such infants do go to hell, but they suffer only the "mildest condemnation."

In the document, the commission said such views are now out of date and there were "serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that un baptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the beatific vision."

It stressed, however, that "these are reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge."
No, one can know for certain what becomes of un baptized babies since Scripture is largely silent on the matter, the report said.

It stressed that none of its findings should be taken as diminishing the need for parents to baptize infants.

"Rather ... they provide strong grounds for hope that God will save infants when we have not been able to do for them what we would have wished to do, namely, to baptize them into the faith and life of the church."

Vatican watchers hailed the decision as both a sensitive and significant move by Benedict.

"Parents who are mourning the death of their child are no longer going to be burdened with the added guilt of not having gotten their child baptized," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

He said the document also had implications for non-Christians, since it could be seen as suggesting that non-baptized adults could go to heaven if they led a good life.

"I think it shows that Benedict is trying to balance his view of Jesus as being central as the savior of the world ... but at the same time not saying what the Evangelicals say, that anyone who doesn't accept Jesus is going to hell," he said in a phone interview.

The International Theological Commission is a body of Vatican-appointed theologians who advise the pope and the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Benedict headed the Congregation for two decades before becoming pope in 2005.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-04-20 20:37:04

God Bless
rECj/LJG