People believe anything...

I'm white you nimrods.

'm also pro-choice, and anti-confederate flag. I'm also the only person i know who made sure everyone knew he was anti-troops during the war in iraq, just like good ol' g dubya is.

Whats so wrong with catholics honoring mary? Just because she was the random virgin the aliens chose to impregnate with their seed doesnt mean she didnt feel it when she was getting probed. She deserves our respect.

The word is Defense, not "defence." I've spent plenty of time in the south (i know you werent addressing me in your post, i'm just informing you of the facts) i lived in texas and louisiana and most of the people i ran into were very nice, but every idiot, dunce, and racist i met down there was head over heals for the confederate flag, and half of them couldnt explain why.

And if anyone has a good argument as to why a women shouldnt be allowed to make her own decision when it comes to having an abortion, let me know. I'm not saying i'd want a woman to abort her child if it was my baby cooking in there, but i'd respect her decision no matter how much it hurt me.

 

I seriously doubt that. Which part of Louisiana did you live in? Everybody knows what the Confederate flag stands for in the South.

There's nothing wrong with HONERING Mary, but Catholics WORSHIP her.
UNDERSTAND?

 

Actually I was born in the south you stupid bastard, but I moved to NYC to escape the Conservatives. It's hard being a Liberal in the South, all that hick stupidity threatening to eat you. By the way, that comment wasn't too serious, I thought that was fairly clear.

You aren't going to argue with me for the simply reason you CAN'T. Every single creed of the Catholic religion is shared by the Protestants, and vice versa. The way the two practice religion is different, Catholics weep their religion while Protestants celebrate theirs.

Alright, God was mad when Adam and Eve ate the apple. It wasn't according to his plan. So why didn't all powerful God stop it? 2 people aren't that hard to control when you're omnipotent. And Cain and Abel. God was outraged at Abel's death. But why didn't he stop it? That wasn't according to his plan either. If they were, why didn't he say that instead of being angry? God isn't omnipotent. If he was couldn't he just crush Satan and rid the world of the devil for good? Or an even better question. IF God is omnipotent, and he's standing by letting all this fucked up shit happen, why should we worship him?

 

I lived in Clear Lake City, Houston County, in the fine state of Texas, and i lived in Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisianna. They dont have counties in Louisianna, they have Parishes. I'd ask you where the hell you live in the good old south, but its pretty apparent from your innability to spell that you've lived beneath the mason dixon line your entire life.

BAM! :wink:

 

Guess what? It's Louisiana, genius. EDIT:I know that Louisiana has parishes, not counties. Doesn't everybody know that? Edit: I live there, by the way.

Plain and Simple:God let's you make your own decisions.

 

Jesus cocksucking christ, this whole forum is dangerously on the verge of erupting in a good old fashioned Methodist revival. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

It's both. The British prefer defense and the Americans prefer defense. If Ferret were here you'd get the OED crammed up your ass, and not with the condensed or small type version either.

The Germans were not a nation of atheists, nor was it any single nation who participated in the Holocaust (or Shoah, if you prefer, but nobody ever knows what I'm talking about when I use that word). EVERYBODY wanted the Jews dead, and the Nazis outsourced the slaughter in every country they controlled. I don't know how this atheist crap got started. The Germans weren't atheist (just anti-everyone who challenged their authority, which included Catholic and other highly organized religious groups), and Hitler most certainly wasn't either. Upon hearing that some tribes in Africa had started worshipping him, he even considered starting a new religion with himself as the deity. Just like a true atheist. :roll:

This whole "Catholics aren't Christians" thing seems to be a strictly American point of view, and it seems to be based more on anti-Catholicism than anything else. I used to go out with a Polish Catholic, and he was positively shocked to hear that he's not really a Christian. I remember he had quite the argument about it with an enthusiastic Southern Baptist woman too, it was hilarious. He thought, and I agree, that if you take Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and all that crapola then you're a goddamn Christian, end of story.

 

Hey, actually it's not so much like WORSHIPPING Mary. The way you say it, people would think she is seen as a kind of goddess. She has a special place in Catholic beliefs because she was, of all women, the one chosen by God to give birth to Jesus, and because of the absolute way in which she gave herself to God's designs. Didn't ask no questions, no buts, no ifs, she just trusted God completely and let things be as He wanted.
Blinky, one of the gifts God gave us is freedom. That is what allowed Adam to sin in the first place. That 'fucked up shit' isn't God's fault, it's ours. All the war and hunger and misery have origins on people's deeds. God is simply letting us choose, be free, which is one of the things that make us human.

P.S. - Sleek, I really, REALLY hope you were joking about MatahChuah's spelling. I've seen one or two mistakes in his posts, but yours are a disgrace to correct spelling and grammar. Look at yourself before accusing anyone else.

 

Okay, don't you think that was a little excessively offensive? A little immature, if you ask me. "Hey guys, I'm insulting your God! Check it out!"

Oh shit, I got one letter wrong! Back to phonics for me! And yeah, I know that it's the correct British spelling, but I'm not British.

Um...I'd be careful who you are calling stupid. Have you ever studied either religion to any extent? Did I not just mention the polytheism/cult of the saints? How can I get any more clear? There are a host of other massive, incredible differences. How about the transubstantiaton? I.e the Catholic doctrine that dictates that the eucharist are the actual blood and body of Christ. That's pretty friggin messed up. So the Catholics eat thier god? Well, I sure as hell don't eat mine. Let me tell you, the eucharist is just a wafer and a shot-glass of wine. The "blood and body of Christ" it ain't. There are other huge differences I could site but it would take too long. The point is, by your logic all religions are basically the same. "Oh, we all believe in a higher power, but the way we practice our beliefs differ."

 

Just so you all know, I'm considered Catholic and I've been baptised under a Catholic church...we don't really "worship" Mary....we worship God and Jesus, we just see Mary as an importnat figure...I don't know about Christians or anything...

(Oh yeah, and I could care less about any religion, I have my own beliefs about things...you all would think I'm strange if I shared them )

 

Wonderful argument, you've completely refuted me. I guess I didnt live in texas for 5 years, and i sure as fuck didnt live in louisiana for 2. What the fuck was i thinking?

As for all this babble about how Catholics "worship" mary, its all bull shit, i was raised roman catholic. We do not "worship" mary, we "worship" jesus christ, "the lord and god" or "son of god" or whatever your interpretation is. All of this babble really has a lot to do with anti-catholocism, like canis said. Its a result of catholicism being one of the most ancient and organized (and well funded) sects of christianity, with such an old and strict dogma that people think of it as seperate from the general mess of verious protestant sects.

What if i claimed that we're the real christians, and you losers are just a bunch of protestants? Think of it this way, christianity is a giant religious pizza, but back in the day henry the 8th and the catholic church couldnt decide on what they wanted on the pizza, so they got it half anchovies (the catholic side) and half the works (all you various protestants). Just because we're anchovies doesnt mean you're not pepperoni, and in the end we're all on the same pizza.

 

Around where I live being Catholic is basically like being Half-pagen Half-Christian. Trust me. Well, let's just say I've lived in Louisiana alot longer than you have.

 

What the heck does living in louisiana have to do with how catholocism works? Just because you and your southern baptist friends were raised to look down on a group of people that worship the same god as you, and use the same religious texts as you doesnt mean being a Catholic in Louisiana is different from being a Catholic in Virginia my friend. Its the same everywhere, they all use the same books and follow the same yearly myssal, and hymnals. Different does not equal pagan, perhaps you should try attending a catholic mass, i knew someone who thought catholics worshipped statues, their only basis for this was that it is common for there to be a number of statues in a catholic church. Go to a catholic mass, you dont need to convert, you just obviously need to pen your eyes to how wrong you are about what catholocism is in relation to christianity.

Like i said, Christianity=the whole pizza...

to put it into pre-school terms that is.

 

Forget it. Just to let you know, I've had plenty of Catholic friends. My neighboring town is just about completly Catholic.

 

And some of your best friends are black...

 

Actually I don't have many black friends. A couple, but that's it.

 

To clarify: I never said that Catholics weren't "Christians," I just said that Catholocism and Protestantism are two totally different religions. Since Christian simply means "follower of Christ," Jehovah's Witnesses would be Christians too, and don't tell me that the are the same religion as Protestants. EDIT: All this to say, I still believe that my doctrine is the right and true one, and that of all the other "Christians" are wrong. Just like I believe Islam and Buddhism are wrong (I've studied them both by the way). Of course, all adherants to those religions would say that their way is the only way (except maybe Buddhists, who are sometimes pretty tolerant). So is that so wrong?

I believe that the Bible is the true, incontrovertable word of God, and I've studied it extensively for years. I try to live my life the way the Bible dictates, that's all. Catholics use all sorts of supplemental texts, including the Apocrypha, writings of the saints, etc, while we Protestants use only the Bible. Since the cult of the saints and transubstantiation weren't big enough doctrinal differences for you, how about saved by works vs. saved by faith? The Catholics believe that they must do good works to get into heaven, and if they don't do enough, they spend time in Purgatory to atone for it. We Protestants believe that we are saved by our faith in God and His grace alone. Works has nothing to do with it.

 

That was a snide joke. It's kindof a stereotype that when someone says that, they are a racist trying to prove they aren't one. Something like "Most black people are criminals, but not all. You know, some of my best friends are black." I'm not saying that's you, MatahChuah. Again, I am NOT saying you are racist. It's just that what you said you said about catholics reminded me of that.

Sigurd, I know this is splitting hairs, but usually catholicism and the various flavors of protestantism are all usually considered sects of one religion, christianity. LIkewise, there are a variety of Islamic sects, a few jewish sects, dozens of buddhist sects. Really, Chien Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, and Burmese Theravada Buddhism are at least as different from one another as catholicism and protestatism, proabably more so. Yet they are all Buddhist. Really, and I assume you know this, some forms of protestantism are in many ways more like catholicism than they are to each other. An Anglican would likely have more common ground with a "papist" than he would with you. And the methodists are pretty much always at odds with both the baptists and a variey of non-denominational churches. Oddly, they seem to get along well with Quakers, even though the two sects share almost no doctrine. There is no one protestantism, just as there is no one christianity.

 

Sigurd, I don't need to study religion to know how absolutely ridiculous your entire argument is. I believe it's been refuted that catholics don't worship Mary, then see her as an important figure, and well they fucking should, she did give birth to Jesus. And it's very similar with all those saints in the cult. They are role models for the Catholics, not Gods in and of themselves.

You're confusing the word sect with religion. Catholic and Protestant are like Sunni and Shiite in Islam. Both practice in different ways but are the same general religion. The purgatory things are fairly minute in comparison to the similarities in the rest of the religion. You are making mountains out of molehills. The two religions are basically the same thing except for ways they practice, and a fine point or two in the way God is expressed. Catholics have more books, and more procedures to get to Heaven. Fine, they are upity assholes, the fact that they worship the same exact person as you do is a pretty strong link. Just because they think there are important people other than Jesus, not even as important, but still worthy of merit doesn't make them wrong.

Actually, I'm Protestant and don't believe everyone else is wrong, so not all adherents are as strict as you. I believe that God manifests himself whatever way he will to everyone, so if you see him as a giant pink pig, it may very well be the same God as my purple and orange donkey. The problem with living closely too the Bible is that it was written by men, so it isn't the word of God. Does God promote slavery? Polygomy? All are mentioned without too much animosity in the Bible. Do you own slaves? How many wives do you have? Do you sacrifice goats at regular intervals? The Bible contradicts itself in many places. So who decides where to pick and choose? There are 6 billion people on Earth, and if only one of them is truly right on the money with their religion, what makes you think it's you?