Catholics: Tell me why to the following:?

Question

1) In the Jewish Bible and the Protestant Bible the second commandment says that we should not make any graven images of anything in heaven, beneath the earth, in the water beneath the earth and that we should not bow down to them, nor serve them. (see Exodus 20:4-6 in the Prostant Bible) Why does your Bible eliminate this commandment?

2) Jesus said in Matt 23:9 not to call anyone your (spiritual) Father because you have only one the one who is in heaven. Pope means Papa or Daddy. The local Priest and the Pope are your spiritual authorities. Why do you call them Father and Papa/Daddy (Pope)?

3) Saying the rosary is nothing more than repetitious praying. Why do you do this when Jesus said in Matt 6:7 not to say repetitious prayers like the heathens do?

4) The Word of God says in 1 Tim 2:5 that there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. So why do you pray to Mary and all the dead saints?

Answer 1

Many Catholics do not understand their own church doctrinal beliefs, and merely go with what the priest tells them. I would highly suggest reading the books "Babylon Mystery Religion", "A Woman Rides the Beast", and "The Two Babylons"...all 3 are very good at digging into the traditions that the RCC mixed into Christianity ....bringing Baal worship to Christ (with the various means you mentioned and more).

Keep in mind, I'm neither Catholic nor Protestant (Old fashioned bible believing Baptists were never a part of the Catholic church so were never a part of the "Reformation" that led to Protestants). I do know of women who have come from the RCC who saw that the very things you mentioned were wrong after having been taught them as necessary to salvation. Keep in mind also, that the Catholic bible is worded differently than the ones noncatholics use...the 10 Commandments are not the same...take a look online and you will see the difference...the part on idol worship is not there.

Answer 2

Answer to number 4:

Why do Catholics pray to Mary when 1 Tim 2:5 says that there is only one
mediator between God and man and that is Christ?

1. The word pray does not mean worship. Catholics do not worship Mary or any saint.
2. We are not referring to "Redemption", we are referring to intercessory prayer (see below).
3. All of historic Christianity, including, Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Copts, Armenians, etc., except protestants, pray to Mary and other saints asking for their intercession.
4. The bible shows us that Jesus listens to his Mother, and that she will
intercede for men. John 2:5 His mother said to the servants,
"Whatever He says to you, do it."
5. Catholics ask Mary and other saints to pray for them, in the same
way that you might ask someone to pray for you.
6. Protestants sometimes object that "the dead cannot hear your prayers".
* The bible clearly indicates that the saints in heaven are well aware of us. See the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man: Luke 16:27-31.
* The bible also tells us that the saints know our prayers: Rev 5:8.
* The bible also says that the saints in heaven know what many have done, not just themselves: Luke 12:2-3.
* The bible also says that angels do God's bidding and that we can pray to angels: Psalm 103:20-21, Psalm 148: 1-2, Matt 18:10.
* The bible teaches us intercessory prayer: 1Tim 2:1-4, Matt 5:44-45.

Answer 3

1) You should not hold any graven images be for god.
2) They speak from god.
3) The rosary to me is my mediation.
4) They help for different problems.

I am not sorry if you do not like my answer. This is what I believe.

Answer 4

You might want to read the catholic bible again. it says the same thing, perhaps in different words, but the same thing. I suspect you are talking about catholics praying at the statues in their church. they are not worshiping the statues, but holding a special place in the church to pray to the saints for intervention with god. and the epistle to timothy was written by paul, who made many mistakes in his teachings.If you cannot accept that people believe different things than you, you are indeed small minded. stop preaching!

Answer 5

1. All Catholic Churches in the United States use the New American Bible. Exodus 20:4-6 reads:

(4) You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;

(5) you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation;

(6) but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.

We have not eliminated anything. Here is a link to the online version: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/exodus/exodus20.htm

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2. In context, Matthew 23:9 reads, "... And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."

This is call for humility for those in leadership roles. Not to be taken literally.

We are not to deny our male parent and cut the Commandment to honor our father and mother in half.

Some leaders in any church may fall into the same folly as the Pharisees of Jesus' day.

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3. Matthew 4:5 reads: In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.

The Lord did not say, "Do not pray repeated prayers like the Jews do." As Jews do sometimes, we sometimes pray repeated prayers as a meditative act, like the Jesus prayer, "Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner."

Maybe we are not as bright as you are but in trying to pray constantly, as we are commanded, it is sometimes hard to come up with new things to say.

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4. Catholics and many other Christians believe in the Communion of Saints where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven is saints, you, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends here on earth to pray for you. Or you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother in heaven to pray for you.

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With love in Christ.

Answer 6

The Catholic Church ripped a LOT of stuff off of the pagans that they burned at the stake. They cut and paste stuff in the Bible to suit their needs. The Catholic Church was designed to be a political machine.

Answer 7

1) NASB (the standard 'Catholic' Bible) Ex 20:4-6
"4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments. "

Seems pretty similar to me. I don't think it's been eliminated. Anyone who tells you that some evil Catholic centuries ago got rid of it is probably suffering from the same bigotry that holds that black people eat only watermelon and molasses.

And no, no Catholic worships statues. Any that do are sadly mistaken and are corrected if found in this heresy. The statues that are in churches are decorative, are reminders of our Lord's suffering, of His resurrection, and of the family of saints that pray to the Lord with us. My church actually has no statues - not uncommon in the more recently-built ones. Anyway...

2) Read Matthew 23:9 in context, ie Matt 23:5-13. Christ exhorts us not to call anyone father, nor teacher, nor rabbi. Obviously we call our teachers "teacher" and the Jews call their rabbis "rabbi". Why did you single "father" out and not the others?

Could it be that Jesus was trying to shame the Pharisees as being undeserving of the honorifics they give themselves, as he lambasts them in verses 13 through 33? Consider also that "father" is an alternate term for the original "cura" (Latin for priest) and is not found in all languages in which the Catholic way of Christianity is preached. Moving on ...

3) This is a weak indictment. It is one tradition of prayer, but not the only one. It is not even universally practiced among Catholics - my 80-something grandparents are among the only ones in my family who do. The idea of a long, repetitive prayer is to assist the one praying with focusing on what is most important. The rosary is a meditation on one of 20 'mysteries' (not sure why we call them that; probably a false cognate from a Latin word for the sacred) which include Jesus' agony in the garden at Gethsemane, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection, etc. Consider it a way of praying Scripture.

Or do you object to long prayers that contemplate Scripture?
Moving on....

4) You pick an even more obscure practice, veneration of saints. These aren't "prayers" per se, but requests. If all those who die in Christ (the Church Glorified) remain in communion with the Body of Christ on Earth (the Church Militant) then asking one who is deceased to pray to Jesus for us is no different than asking the person in the pew next to you to pray for us. This practice is rare, at least in the U.S. I've never worshipped outside of the U.S., so I can't say. The most you'll hear of this usually is the Hail Mary, which itself is taken entirely from Scripture, and the Litany of Saints, in which saints are named, thanked for their model of faith, and asked to pray to God for us.

Let's take the logical conclusion of each of your questions. Assume you take the Catholic Church and:

1) Got rid of the statues. You'd have less-decorated Catholic churches, but we'd still worship God, the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

2) Change the addressing title of all clergy from "father" to "Cura" or "Parson" or "Monsigneur". You'd have to change the stationary and voicemail messages, but we'd still worship God, the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

3) Eliminated the practice of saying the Rosary. You'd have a bunch of prayer beads being thrown away or forgotten about, but we'd still worship God, the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

4) Eliminated the practice of saintly veneration. You'd shorten any service where the Hail Mary is said by 30 seconds, and any service where the Litany is said by about 3 minutes, but we'd still worship God, the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

So where are your assaults on the essential parts of Catholic belief? You've attacked the peripheral, unnecessary, and merely customary parts of Catholicism. Splendid. You've done nothing more than countless Protestant and non-denominational ministers have done before you for the past 500 years.

Go to Mass once just to see for yourself. Then move on with the mission Christ gave you (if you call yourself a Christian) to love your neighbor as the Lord loves you.

In Christ,
Veritatum17

Answer 8

The Bible also says not to Judge each other..like you missed that verse.

Answer 9

The answer to question 2:Matthew 23:9, "And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in Heaven." Notice, however, that this makes no distinction between spiritual fathers, which is what our priests are to us, and biological fathers. In other words, if you interpret this passage to say, absolutely, that no man is to be called father, you cannot distinguish between calling a priest, father, and calling the man who is married to your mother, father.

But, is that actually what this passage is saying? Or is Jesus warning us against trying to usurp the fatherhood of God? Which, in many ways, is what the Pharisees and Scribes were doing. They wanted all attention focused on them...they were leaving God, the Father, out of the equation. Which is why Jesus goes on to call them hypocrites, liars, and whitewashed tombs.

If you interpret this passage from Matthew 23 as an absolute ban against calling anyone your spiritual father, then there are some problems for you in the rest of Scripture. For example, Jesus, in the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16, has the rich man referring to Abraham as "father" several times. Paul, in Romans chapter 4, refers to Abraham as the "father" of the uncircumcised, the Gentiles. That's referring to spiritual fatherhood, not biological fatherhood.

In Acts 7:1-2, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, referred to the Jewish authorities and elders who were about to stone him as brothers and "fathers," as does Paul in Acts, chapter 22. This is referring to spiritual fatherhood. So, if you interpret Matthew 23 as saying we cannot call anyone our spiritual father, then you have a problem with Jesus, Paul, Stephen, and the Holy Spirit...they must have all gotten it wrong.

It is okay to call priests "father", just as it was okay for Jesus and Paul to call Abraham "father" and for Stephen and Paul to call the Jewish elders "father." As long as we remember that our true Father is God the Father and that all aspects of fatherhood, biological and spiritual, are derived from Him. And as long as we do not allow anyone else to usurp that role in any way, shape, or form, as the Pharisees and Scribes were prone to do.

Qestion 4:Tim 2:5 reads as follows: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus..." "You see," we Catholics are told, "there is only one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ. Therefore, praying to the saints goes against the Bible because you are making them mediators between God and man, you are diminishing Jesus' role as the sole mediator!"

Is that an appropriate interpretation of that passage? No, it's not and let's see why not.

In the O.T. we see that Moses, Abraham, and Job interceded on behalf of others... that's mediating between God and man. We know that it is okay to ask others here on earth to pray and intercede for us.... that's mediating between God and man. So, I think, once again, we have a situation where a passage of the Bible is being misinterpreted and misunderstood.

There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, but as members of the Body of Christ, He allows us to share in His mediation.

Also, Scripture tells us that we have only one foundation, Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11); but, Scripture tells us that there is more than one foundation (Eph 2:19-20). Scripture tells us that we have only Lord, Jesus Christ (Eph 4:4-5); but, Scripture tells us there is more than one lord (Rev 19:16). Scripture tells us that we have only one Judge, Jesus Christ (James 4:12); but, Scripture tells us there is more than one judge (1 Cor 6:2).

Contradictions in Scripture? No! Not when these passages are all properly understood in context. Jesus is the only foundation; Jesus is the only Lord; and Jesus is the only Judge. But, we are members of Jesus' Body. Therefore, we are able, according to the graces given by Christ, to share in Jesus' role as foundation, as lord, and as judge, and in other aspects of Christ, as well. Another example, as a father I share in God's role as Father, by His grace. And, so also, we, and the saints in Heaven, and the angels in Heaven, can share in Christ's role as Mediator.

Answer 10

To be fair, this is four separate questions.

As to section one, there is a little noticed problem by people who do not read the 10 commandments closely. There are 15 imperitive statements in the 10 commandments. Catholics and Lutherans, Protestants and Jews divide the statements differently. The consequence is that they combine the fifteen statements into ten in three different ways. All the statements are still there, but their organization is different. The "lost" second commandment is part of the first commandment for Catholics.

I quote, from the New American Bible, the official version for public reading in the Catholic Church in the United States. It can be accessed at http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/deuteronomy/deuteronomy5.htm

"6 'I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
7 You shall not have other gods besides me.
8 You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;
9 you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishments for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation
10 but bestowing mercy, down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments. "

The Catholic Church proclaims the entire bible in a fashion that anyone who attends the service every Sunday in the Roman Church will have heard the entirety of scripture once every three years, if they attend daily, then you will hear all of scripture in two years. In the Byzantine Church, if you attend daily, you will hear the entirety of scripture in less than one year, but you have to attend more than once per day. I don't know what the other segments of the Catholic Church use as their time cycle. The Thomas Christians, the Copts, the Antiocheans, the Chaldeans, the Mozarabic, the Ambrosians and the Maronites all have their own cycles. Technically the Maronites are part of the ancient Church of Antioch but they maintain their own cycle of scripture reading.

You are presuming that for two thousand years Catholics simply have read that passage and ignored it. We haven't we understand it very differently and have since the first Christians. According to the most ancient stories, Luke the Evangelist was the first iconographer. Icons are pictures that tell stories. They take less time to construct than written scripture and are structured so that the illiterate can not only remember the stories of scripture but understand them. Statuary arts in the west serve the same function. Around six hundred years into the Christian experience, questions arose as to the commandments on images and the use of icons. It was determined after extensive discussion that Christianity was different from Judaism in important ways. Jesus was True God and Jesus, Born of the Virgin was True Man. God the Father could not possibly have any image made of him. Any attempt at an image would be idolatry. Jesus, God the Son, was at the time being claimed to not be human by a split off sect of Christians. If he was human, then pictures could be made and used regarding Jesus. To not use icons to tell the Christian message is to not recognize his humanity. Likewise, to paint a simple human picture would run the opposite danger. Therefore, all icons of Christ have not only a halo, but the words I AM in the halo. In the west, statuary arts were common but the painted arts less so. Statues served the same story telling function that a nativity scene serves at Christmas.

2) Because it would be very time consuming to respond to this I am posting an article that already covers this issue. It is at http://www.catholic.com/library/Call_No_Man_Father.asp

Many Protestants claim that when Catholics address priests as "father," they are engaging in an unbiblical practice that Jesus forbade: "Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven" (Matt. 23:9).

In his tract 10 Reasons Why I Am Not a Roman Catholic, Fundamentalist anti-Catholic writer Donald Maconaghie quotes this passage as support for his charge that "the papacy is a hoax."

Bill Jackson, another Fundamentalist who runs a full-time anti-Catholic organization, says in his book Christian’s Guide To Roman Catholicism that a "study of Matthew 23:9 reveals that Jesus was talking about being called father as a title of religious superiority . . . [which is] the basis for the [Catholic] hierarchy" (53).

How should Catholics respond to such objections?

The Answer

To understand why the charge does not work, one must first understand the use of the word "father" in reference to our earthly fathers. No one would deny a little girl the opportunity to tell someone that she loves her father. Common sense tells us that Jesus wasn’t forbidding this type of use of the word "father."

In fact, to forbid it would rob the address "Father" of its meaning when applied to God, for there would no longer be any earthly counterpart for the analogy of divine Fatherhood. The concept of God’s role as Father would be meaningless if we obliterated the concept of earthly fatherhood.

But in the Bible the concept of fatherhood is not restricted to just our earthly fathers and God. It is used to refer to people other than biological or legal fathers, and is used as a sign of respect to those with whom we have a special relationship.

For example, Joseph tells his brothers of a special fatherly relationship God had given him with the king of Egypt: "So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt" (Gen. 45:8).

Job indicates he played a fatherly role with the less fortunate: "I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know" (Job 29:16). And God himself declares that he will give a fatherly role to Eliakim, the steward of the house of David: "In that day I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah . . . and I will clothe him with [a] robe, and will bind [a] girdle on him, and will commit . . . authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah" (Is. 22:20–21).

This type of fatherhood not only applies to those who are wise counselors (like Joseph) or benefactors (like Job) or both (like Eliakim), it also applies to those who have a fatherly spiritual relationship with one. For example, Elisha cries, "My father, my father!" to Elijah as the latter is carried up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kgs. 2:12). Later, Elisha himself is called a father by the king of Israel (2 Kgs. 6:21).

A Change with the New Testament?

Some Fundamentalists argue that this usage changed with the New Testament—that while it may have been permissible to call certain men "father" in the Old Testament, since the time of Christ, it’s no longer allowed. This argument fails for several reasons.

First, as we’ve seen, the imperative "call no man father" does not apply to one’s biological father. It also doesn’t exclude calling one’s ancestors "father," as is shown in Acts 7:2, where Stephen refers to "our father Abraham," or in Romans 9:10, where Paul speaks of "our father Isaac."

Second, there are numerous examples in the New Testament of the term "father" being used as a form of address and reference, even for men who are not biologically related to the speaker. There are, in fact, so many uses of "father" in the New Testament, that the Fundamentalist interpretation of Matthew 23 (and the objection to Catholics calling priests "father") must be wrong, as we shall see.

Third, a careful examination of the context of Matthew 23 shows that Jesus didn’t intend for his words here to be understood literally. The whole passage reads, "But you are not to be called ‘rabbi,’ for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called ‘masters,’ for you have one master, the Christ" (Matt. 23:8–10).

The first problem is that although Jesus seems to prohibit the use of the term "teacher," in Matthew 28:19–20, Christ himself appointed certain men to be teachers in his Church: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Paul speaks of his commission as a teacher: "For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle . . . a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth" (1 Tim. 2:7); "For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher" (2 Tim. 1:11). He also reminds us that the Church has an office of teacher: "God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers" (1 Cor. 12:28); and "his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers" (Eph. 4:11). There is no doubt that Paul was not violating Christ’s teaching in Matthew 23 by referring so often to others as "teachers."

Fundamentalists themselves slip up on this point by calling all sorts of people "doctor," for example, medical doctors, as well as professors and scientists who have Ph.D. degrees (i.e., doctorates). What they fail to realize is that "doctor" is simply the Latin word for "teacher." Even "Mister" and "Mistress" ("Mrs.") are forms of the word "master," also mentioned by Jesus. So if his words in Matthew 23 were meant to be taken literally, Fundamentalists would be just as guilty for using the word "teacher" and "doctor" and "mister" as Catholics for saying "father." But clearly, that would be a misunderstanding of Christ’s words.

So What Did Jesus Mean?

Jesus criticized Jewish leaders who love "the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being called ‘rabbi’ by men" (Matt. 23:6–7). His admonition here is a response to the Pharisees’ proud hearts and their grasping after marks of status and prestige.

He was using hyperbole (exaggeration to make a point) to show the scribes and Pharisees how sinful and proud they were for not looking humbly to God as the source of all authority and fatherhood and teaching, and instead setting themselves up as the ultimate authorities, father figures, and teachers.

Christ used hyperbole often, for example when he declared, "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matt. 5:29, cf. 18:9; Mark 9:47). Christ certainly did not intend this to be applied literally, for otherwise all Christians would be blind amputees! (cf. 1 John 1:8; 1 Tim. 1:15). We are all subject to "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16).

Since Jesus is demonstrably using hyperbole when he says not to call anyone our father—else we would not be able to refer to our earthly fathers as such—we must read his words carefully and with sensitivity to the presence of hyperbole if we wish to understand what he is saying.

Jesus is not forbidding us to call men "fathers" who actually are such—either literally or spiritually. (See below on the apostolic example of spiritual fatherhood.) To refer to such people as fathers is only to acknowledge the truth, and Jesus is not against that. He is warning people against inaccurately attributing fatherhood—or a particular kind or degree of fatherhood—to those who do not have it.

As the apostolic example shows, some individuals genuinely do have a spiritual fatherhood, meaning that they can be referred to as spiritual fathers. What must not be done is to confuse their form of spiritual paternity with that of God. Ultimately, God is our supreme protector, provider, and instructor. Correspondingly, it is wrong to view any individual other than God as having these roles.

Throughout the world, some people have been tempted to look upon religious leaders who are mere mortals as if they were an individual’s supreme source of spiritual instruction, nourishment, and protection. The tendency to turn mere men into "gurus" is worldwide.

This was also a temptation in the Jewish world of Jesus’ day, when famous rabbinical leaders, especially those who founded important schools, such as Hillel and Shammai, were highly exalted by their disciples. It is this elevation of an individual man—the formation of a "cult of personality" around him—of which Jesus is speaking when he warns against attributing to someone an undue role as master, father, or teacher.

He is not forbidding the perfunctory use of honorifics nor forbidding us to recognize that the person does have a role as a spiritual father and teacher. The example of his own apostles shows us that.

The Apostles Show the Way

The New Testament is filled with examples of and references to spiritual father-son and father-child relationships. Many people are not aware just how common these are, so it is worth quoting some of them here.

Paul regularly referred to Timothy as his child: "Therefore I sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ" (1 Cor. 4:17); "To Timothy, my true child in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord" (1 Tim. 1:2); "To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord" (2 Tim. 1:2).

He also referred to Timothy as his son: "This charge I commit to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophetic utterances which pointed to you, that inspired by them you may wage the good warfare" (1 Tim 1:18); "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 2:1); "But Timothy’s worth you know, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel" (Phil. 2:22).

Paul also referred to other of his converts in this way: "To Titus, my true child in a common faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior" (Titus 1:4); "I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment" (Philem. 10). None of these men were Paul’s literal, biological sons. Rather, Paul is emphasizing his spiritual fatherhood with them.

Spiritual Fatherhood

Perhaps the most pointed New Testament reference to the theology of the spiritual fatherhood of priests is Paul’s statement, "I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:14–15).

Peter followed the same custom, referring to Mark as his son: "She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark" (1 Pet. 5:13). The apostles sometimes referred to entire churches under their care as their children. Paul writes, "Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you; for children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children" (2 Cor. 12:14); and, "My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!" (Gal. 4:19).

John said, "My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1); "No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that my children follow the truth" (3 John 4). In fact, John also addresses men in his congregations as "fathers" (1 John 2:13–14).

By referring to these people as their spiritual sons and spiritual children, Peter, Paul, and John imply their own roles as spiritual fathers. Since the Bible frequently speaks of this spiritual fatherhood, we Catholics acknowledge it and follow the custom of the apostles by calling priests "father." Failure to acknowledge this is a failure to recognize and honor a great gift God has bestowed on the Church: the spiritual fatherhood of the priesthood.

Catholics know that as members of a parish, they have been committed to a priest’s spiritual care, thus they have great filial affection for priests and call them "father." Priests, in turn, follow the apostles’ biblical example by referring to members of their flock as "my son" or "my child" (cf. Gal. 4:19; 1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 2:1; Philem. 10; 1 Pet. 5:13; 1 John 2:1; 3 John 4).

All of these passages were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and they express the infallibly recorded truth that Christ’s ministers do have a role as spiritual fathers. Jesus is not against acknowledging that. It is he who gave these men their role as spiritual fathers, and it is his Holy Spirit who recorded this role for us in the pages of Scripture. To acknowledge spiritual fatherhood is to acknowledge the truth, and no amount of anti-Catholic grumbling will change that fact.

3) The rosary is a way of seeing the New Testament mysteries through the eyes of Mary. It is a meditation. The prayers, the Lord's prayer, the Angelic Salutation from Luke, the Apostle's Creed and the Glory Be from Revelations I cannot imagine are objectionable to a Protestant. Second, the scriptures themselves have repititious prayers in them. The psalms are often a wonderful example of this. Can the Rosary involve the vain repitition condemned by our Lord? Sure. As with any prayer, if you think the mere repetition of words, apart from proper interior dispositions, will get you a hearing from God, then you're being superstitious. Your repetition of the prayer is vain.

It's not the repetition that's the problem, though, but the superstitious attitude which can accompany it. Repetition as such isn't condemned in the Bible. In Revelation 4:8, for example, the four living creatures repeat, night and day, the prayer "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come." You can't get more repetitive than that.

Is this repetitive prayer vain? Of course not. Neither is the Rosary, if done with the proper interior dispositions.

4)I will also respond to this one from an article at http://www.catholic.com/library/Intercession_of_the_Saints.asp

Fundamentalists often challenge the Catholic practice of asking saints and angels to pray on our behalf. But the Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us.

Thus, in Psalm 103 we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20–21). And in the opening verses of Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!"

Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). Thus the saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.

Angels do the same thing: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3–4).

Jesus himself warned us not to offend small children, because their guardian angels have guaranteed intercessory access to the Father: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10).

Because he is the only God-man and the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus is the only mediator between man and God (1 Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should not ask our fellow Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:1–4). In particular, we should ask the intercession of those Christians in heaven, who have already had their sanctification completed, for "[t]he prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16).

My experience is that Catholics hear more scripture in their services than Baptists and Fundamentalists hear in theirs. The entire Catholic Service, excluding the Creed is made up of quotes from scripture. The entire bible is read instead of pastors picking and choosing passages to emphasize as they feel appropriate.

You need to presume that all Catholics who are literate have actively read the scriptures and hear them whenever they attend Church. You need to presume that Catholic ministers, who go to school for seven years to study scripture, probably understand it reasonably well.

Instead of accusing, I suggest you attend the Catholic Mass and find out what you are missing.