My girl has done some stuff like this,

the best thing is to give her a bible if she doesnt have one, and have her read matthew and really REALLY learn and hear about Jesus for herself..

she could be right though =/ what your doing is amazing though! The great commission! but you are very young in your walk with the lord .

This post was edited by UncleMuscles on Jul 11 2011 11:16pm

yeah, im also looking for a school to earn my degree in theology and one day begin to build my own church to preach at.

I agree.

If you are Christian then you believe Jesus IS God (the son of God). There are several scriptures in the Christian Bible that tell us of when Jesus the son spoke with God the father and prayed. I am far from Catholic. Catholics to me are extreme. I do not believe in a lot of their practices. I will not go to a MAN and repent any sins, I will repent through personal prayer. I will not pray to Mary. I will not pray to any saints. And I do not believe the saints and Mother Mary should be what seems to me higher on the pedestal than Jesus (or God) himself.

Not saying Catholicism is a bad or the wrong religion. I personally believe as long as you are doing what you think is right and following the Lord's word and trying your best to seek the truth then he will show you the right path and open your eyes.

As far as communion in church:

The Sabbath falls on Saturday. In the old testament we learn that the Sabbath is THE Holy day and you must not work that day and praise and worship (few other things you couldn't do and were suppose to do on the original Sabbath but I can't remember exactly. This was talked about during or around the time of Moses if I am not mistaken.) New testament: You do NOT have to worship on Saturday. People should still gather to learn and seek God's truth however, but it is not mandated the we do so on the Sabbath (7th day aka Saturday). Bible tells us that one day shouldn't be taken out of our week to preach, but in fact EVERY day we should preach to the Lord. I hate when people just go to church on Sunday morning, but then go out drinking and partying and acting a fool throughout the rest of the week. Sorry I'm rambling here, let me get to the point: Nowhere in the what I call true "Christian" Bible (Kings James or any similar version) does it say you must go to church everyday and preach in order to come close with the Lord (reason I say KJV is because the Catholics use a totally different Bible then ours. It is the Bible but with additional books in it. I do not follow that Bible and do not know what is written in those other books that are not in the King James)

You become close with Him by talking to him ANY day of the week and at ANY location. Not just in church on Sunday morning. Anyways sorry to make this so long and all the rambling.
Anyways I am not Catholic however I do have Catholic friends and a lot of them grew up in Church and were told "This is right, This is wrong" and they just nod their heads and believe it 100%. You can not tell some of them something is not right because they won't hear it. Even when you go to tell them MAN told them what they think they know. Even if you are a baptist or protestant or any other denomination you should know you are receiving information through word of mouth of a MAN whether it be from a priest, pastor, or w/e. And to be honest SOME churches out there ARE corrupted. Actually a lot of them are. I've been to plenty of churches in the past, and some of them, believe it or not, even frown upon someone reading the Bible themselves and studying themselves. They will tell you not to, to just listen to what THEY have to tell you. Always know that a firm believer should always seek God themselves and not be spoonfed by someone that is standing up there preaching for an occupation. There are even some occasions where people (who were probably a very devoted Christian at one time) fall off the bandwagon and keep their "occupation" as a pastor because it pays the bills.


Here are a few quotes to consider. If you want more I can provide more to you.

Reasons we SHOULD gather:

"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).

"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins," (Heb. 10:24-26).

My favorite quotes are from Psalms and I'll share with you a simple prayer I recite before reading and studying the Bible myself:

"Blessed are they that keep him in his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart," (Psalms 119:2).
"Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all the riches. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. Deal bountifully with my servant, that I may live and keep thy word. OPEN THOU MINE EYES, THAT I MAY BEHOLD WONDROUS THINGS OUT OF THY LAW. I am a stranger in the Earth: hide not thy commandments from me." (Psalms 119:12-19)


Message me anytime if you need to talk about it or need some more insight.

I do not mean to bash Catholics or any other Denominations of Christianity or other religions in this post. If you are offended in any way, go watch your favorite movie and eat a bowl of icecream. You'll get over it

I will pray.

VnG:

Just to clear up a few common misconceptions (of which I admit I used to share, until talking to someone whom I felt was very knowledgeable on this subject):
- Praying to Mary/Saints -- The way this was explained to me is that you aren't praying to them, you are merely asking for them to add their prayers to yours. This is sort of like posting here asking people to pray for you or someone, or calling all your friends, or asking your church to pray for you, except that you're asking to add the prayers of the heavenly world as well. I cannot speak from personal experience here, but it sounds plausible (if not a little foreign) to me.

- Extra books -- Also not true, the Catholic church uses the KJV (or NKJV) bible for all liturgy readings. I think you may be confusing other aspects, or possibly things like the Book of Common Prayers, which are not meant as gospel, but guidelines. If they read a Gospel, then it's straight out of the gospels from the NT, just in a big large print book that only contains those books (the gospels of the NT).

Do remember that there are a multitude of different churches out there, some more or less in a particular direction than others. Don't be so quick to bundle all Catholics into a group of "brainwashed" people, you're judging an entire group of people in a very biased and almost bigoted manner.

Hey Njaguar. Thanks for clearing up a few things for me. I am not Catholic myself but have a few friends that are and you are right I cannot judge the whole group based on what a small handful of Catholics have showed me over the years. And I'm not saying all Catholics are "brainwashed" just saying if you are Catholic then you grew up in the church more than likely and a lot of Catholics (from personal experience only, not factual at all, just my opinion) are not open to different thoughts.

Thanks for clearing up the whole praying to Mary/Saints thing. Just whenever I see a Catholic church I see a lot more statutes and pictures of saints and I hear their names mentioned a lot more so it sees like they are placed on some higher pedestal. But if they aren't preying "TO" them then that's good to know.

As far as the "extra books" go, my KJV does not have these books:

-Baruch
-Tobit
-Judith
-Wisdom
-Ecclesiasticus / Sirach

And these books can be found on several different websites including the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_the_Bible
http://www.catholic.org/bible/books_bible.php

And I was just stating that I have not read a what I call a Catholic Bible yet and perhaps I should to fully understand their ways a little more. Unless Baruch and those other books aren't really books in the Bible, but the Books of Common Prayers you were talking about? But I know I have seen Bibles with those books included, and I have not yet read them, but they looked more like Bible Books then Common Prayers.

And I don't mean to come down on any Catholic person or be judgmental at all. I'm open to all religions. People can even argue the point that Protestants, Baptists and other Christians are wrong for not having those books. What I really believe is it doesn't matter what religion you are. As long as you believe and seek truth and enlightenment. Sorry if I offended anyone again!

Thanks Njag for the input!

Those are non-canonical books, and most churches, Catholic included, due not consider them to be canonical. As a friend put it to me, the bible is the word of God, and those extra books are "almost the word of God", so still useful in some ways, and readings are sometimes taken from them from time to time. I don't know the full history behind that aspect though, other than that, but again, I've not heard any Catholics proclaim those to be part of the canonical Bible.

With those extra books, as long as it's introduced correctly it's no different than a sermon where the person preaching is not reading verbatim from the Bible, but expanding upon it in their own personal ways. Or when a preacher quotes something from another Christian author or preacher. They are trying to expand upon a message, not necessarily replace the core that is written in the canonical Bible itself. In the case of those particular books, by using very old authors as a source.

Makes sense. I guess I just always associated it with the Catholic religion because that is the only place I have seen or even heard of those books. I attend an interdenominational church and I've visited a lot of Baptist, Protestant, and non denominational churches and I know I have never heard of any Pastor preaching any scriptures from those books. The sites I mentioned also seem to divide what is taught in a Catholic church and what is taught in other denominations or Christianity. Again I am not Catholic and have not done a lot of research on it, just based on my opinion alone and what I grew up to believe.

Thanks a lot for clarifying that for me. I'll look into it more. And maybe even read the books to see whats really mentioned in them. Because so many people associate them with Catholicism I figured they were "Catholic only books". And I also assumed this based on a friend, who is Catholic, having a Bible that had the extra books in it.

Makes for some interesting reading and studying. I'm all about studying on your own and reading into things and not being spoonfed by anyone (regardless of what religion). Just because one man says something, doesn't mean its all true, especially in today's society of corrupt churches. I have a lot to learn and I think I know my next area of study.

Thanks again NJag

And I hope things work out between you and your girlfriend Tummy!

VnG: You probably haven't seen them in other churches because very few are liturgical. They probably don't do any bible reading at all, just the typical praise, worship, and sermon (which can be on a multitude of different topics), and that's about it.