Well, there are big differences here. One is that the sacrament of Holy Orders transfers Christ's authority to ordained priests to consecrate the bread and wine used for communion (along with the authority to absolve sins, etc). Catholic and Eastern Orthodox priests have this power because they...
“Full communion” in this context means that the Latin rite and Eastern Churches still share essential doctrines.
They both have validly ordained priests and bishops who celebrate the same sacraments. If a Roman Catholic happens to be in a place or situation where there is no Catholic parish at...
They are in full communion with the Catholic Church, but they don't view that communion as being quite as full as we do. We hope they will completely reunite with us someday so that we will all be one Church again.
Outside of Catholicism there are 30,000 or so Christian denominations, depending on how they’re counted. They are so splintered, as new ones continuously spin off from others, it’s hard to tell. You might count the Baptist Church as one church, for example, or you might count it as 1500...
I think this is a good observation, especially regarding the mandate of celibacy. A priest must remain spiritually and physically committed throughout his life to the vows he has made. Certainly not an easy thing to do, but the great majority of them manage to.
On the other hand, there have...
Easy to paste in a link on allegations of sexual abuse, but if that's your best argument, you're coming up way short. How do the numbers compare with allegations of sexual abuse in public education, workplace environments, and basically the rest of the world? There are sinners in the Church...
Wanna back that up with some facts? Maybe some real statistics in comparison to real statistics pertaining to other institutions or the general population?
I'm glad to know that you don't reject it all, and entirely understand that some of it does not seem plausible. It was that way for me too. Not that I have a complete understanding of the bible now, but I have seen that the more you learn about it, the more everything fits together. Many...
He did meet Jesus. Spent time with Jesus. He wrote about it a few times in his letters, such in Galatians 1:11-12 -- "I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by...
Since Christians did not participate in the revolt, I guess it went without saying that they didn't participate. The Romans didn't need to be told. As far as I know, there has never been a need to stress that point in all of history, except in this thread.
It was clearly illustrated earlier in...
No, Jesus was quoting from Psalm 22, which is a Messianic prophesy written by King David.
The first verse is "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? "
That one is between the Father and the Son. They have their own relationship, which is not ours to understand beyond what Jesus told us.
God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That means that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The attributes of one are the...
Old Testament, New Testament, and logic. Jesus said "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's," which is in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. But he is not quoted as saying anything about liberating Jerusalem from Roman occupation. He wouldn't...
Yes, but that isn't really an issue because it was not a Christian objective to drive the Romans out of Jerusalem, nor was it Christ’s objective when he was there. If the Israelites had heeded God’s Old Covenant warning and been obedient to him, Jerusalem would not have come under Roman control...
Are you just now noticing in these forums that there are posts expressing dissimilar beliefs and unsolicited opinions? If there weren't, there would be no point in having a forum.
And we do share a great common ground. I would have accepted you in it.
But don't forget these:
John 8:58 - Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. (As in Exodus 3:14 - And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.)
John 10:30 - I and the Father are one.
John 14:9 -...