For the Catholics...?

Question

I am trying to understand Catholicism, and I ask these questions with the uptmost respect.

1. Why do you have to confess your sins to a priest? What are the "spiritual ramifications" if one does not go to confession? Does it always have to be to a priest or can you confess your sins directly to God in prayer?

2. I know the Catholic Bible is different due to the Apocrypha. Why the difference?

3. Why a Pope?

4. Speaking of Popes,.. the current Pope recently released a statement addressing the Catholic church as "the one true church". I understand this to be due to the claim of being able to trace their roots to the days of the apostles, but are persons of other Christian faiths (I am a Lutheran, for example, but Baptists, Methodists.. you get the point)... not really Christians then? What "happens" to them, from a Catholic viewpoint?

5. Can someone please explain purgatory for me? How was it discovered to exist?

Also... from a Protestant view, it seems "odd" to pray to or about the Virgin Mary... can you explain this for me?

Again.. I ask these questions with sincere respect for beliefs of Catholics. If I offend anyone, it was surely not my intent!

panglosswasright-- Please understand that I grew up in a small town in MN where the population is predominately Lutheran/non-denominational Christians. I did not mean to offend, but often times from an outsiders POV, Catholicism seems to be cloaked in secrecy. I am sure things we do as Protestants may make you wonder as well. Thank you for your information. :)

And.. we aren't taught this stuff in church by any means! And I certainly don't go around talking about Catholics praying to Mary when I know nothing about it. I'm here to understand.

Answer 1

1.http://www.americancatholic.org/UpdateYourFaith/answers.asp?QY0199
2.http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AirkuzpGR03Let6BULu__REjzKIX?qid=20060811194725AAA8ENu
3.http://www.scborromeo.org/glad/c5.htm#q2
4. Not what he said. Read the full version here
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070629_responsa-quaestiones_en.html
5. http://www.catholic-ew.org.uk/faith/foundations/purgatory.htm
and regarding Mary -http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/questions/faq/faq17.html
Why do Protestants seem to have so many misconceptions about the Catholic Faith? Are you taught this stuff in church? I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I am just wondering if anyone ever researches this stuff on their own and then goes back to the church and says "why did you lie to me about Catholicism?"
Anyway, I am glad that you asked these questions sincerely.
Edit- I was just wondering because protestants are always asking these questions so I thought it was something they were told. I was happy to answers your questions because I believe you were sincere in asking. I am not Catholic, but I was raised Catholic and am glad I could help.

Answer 2

*Is Catholic*

1. Because Christ gave the Church the ability to bind a loosen from sin. The priest stands in for Christ during confession. The priest intercedes for the individual. Sin caused one to be separated from God and from the human community. Thus confession must be made to God but also to the community. If one does not confess then one remains in sin. It is normative to confess one's sin's to a priest. God may forgive one who confesses outside of confession, but if you are ignoring confession on purpose it shows that you are not really sorry for your sins.

2. The Catholic Bible does not contain the Apocrypha. Protestants removed books and they call these the Apocrypha but the Apocrypha is a completely different set of books. In 33 AD the Jewish peoples were using both the Septuagint (Greek translations with books written by Jews who only spoke Greek) and Hebrew only texts. The NT quotes from the Septuagint as well as the Hebrew. In 90 AD the Jews stopped using the Septuagint because it is of great support to proving that Jesus is the Messiah and they codified the Hebrew Canon in its present form (in 33 AD there was a disagreement going on for centuries between the Pharisees and the Sadducees over which books were scripture and which were not. Jesus and the Apostles used the canon of the Pharisees btw.) The Protestant founders disliked Latin and Greek and thought that revelation could only be made in Hebrew, so they used a 10th century copy of the Hebrew Canon to create their version of scripture. Again the Greek which supports Catholicism was left aside and the Hebrew canon - a canon which was developed to distance Judaism from Christianity was used.

3. Why not? The buck needs to stop someplace doesn't it? There is a great theological reason to it, and scripture and history is very plain that that is the structure that Jesus created, but really, why not?

4. Yes that is a true statement. It is only in part due to apostalicity. It is in full due to being ONE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC. Baptism is what makes a person a "Christian" that is somebody who has been born anew. But people who are not part of the Church are not living the fullness of what it means to life the Christian life. What happens to them is that they should become Catholic. If they don't they may get to heaven but it depends on a great many things.

5. Purgatory was revealed to exist. The idea shows up in Judaism. Purgatory is more so a process rather than a place. Basically what occurs is that many individuals are not yet ready to see God when they die. They are still damaged due to sins. They will see heaven, but first they must be made ready. Purgatory is the process by which one is conformed to God.

6. Not all prayer is not worship. Prayer to Mary or the saints are petitions asking for them to help, just like you would ask a friend to help you.

Anything else or if you need more message me.

Answer 3

While the statements made by some of the respondents regarding protestants are generally correct, there are some exceptions.

Confessional Lutherans are probably the most catholic of the protestants.

1. We also have private as well as corporate confession and absolution. Christ commanded his Church " who so ever sins ye remit shall be remitted, and who so ever sins ye retain, they shall be retained". If a pastor/priest hears your confession and forgives your sin in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness announced IS that of theTriune God.

2. I have a copy of Luther's German Bible printed in Philadelphia about 1820. Picture of Luther in the front, complete with his introduction. This Bible contains the Apocrypha. Also in the Lutheran Confessions (Book of Concord) there are a number of Quotes taken from books of the Apocrypha. When the Church switched from German to English there was NO English translation of the bible which contained the Apocrypha, therefore we lost it.

3. Good Question! Here is Luther's answer:http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/concord/web/smc-pope.html

4. Our Catholic friends like to put a good spin on what has been written and said by the current Pope. Bottom line is that there is nothing new here. If the Catholic Church didn't say what it said, then they wouldn't have excommunicated Luther and his followers, and there would have been reformation without a split between the Lutheran's and Catholics.

5. Purgatory comes from obscure references in the Apocrypha. Good proof of no purgatory comes from Christs statement to the good thief on the cross beside him. "today thou shalt be with me in paradise". The thief almost certainly was not baptized, and repented in the 11th. hour. He had no history of faith, and had not accumulated merit from faithful good works. If any one would do time in purgatory, he should have, yet Christ tells us he is going there immediately.

Confessional Lutherans also commemorate the Saints, Celebrate the Eucharist and believe that Christs Body and Blood are truly present in this Sacrament. We also have the same three Ecumenical Creeds as the Catholic Church.

Not all protestants are the same. Some are less Protestant than others.

Mark

If the term apocaripha is not acceptable, how about deutero canonical?

Answer 4

Look at the Bible:

1Ti 2:5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

NOT MARY JUST JESUS

Mat 23:9 And call no [man] your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

SO MUCH FOR THE POPE AND THE PRIESTS!

Answer 5

Why do you have to confess your sins to a priest?

Because Jesus asked us to: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. . . . Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:21–23)

What are the "spiritual ramifications" if one does not go to confession?

It depends on the Sin. Mortal Sins (those that kill the soul) must be confessed to a Priest. Venial Sins (those that only damage the soul) can be confessed privately). Also, Catholics are bound to go to confession at least once a year. "If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly." (1 John 5:16-17).

Does it always have to be to a priest or can you confess your sins directly to God in prayer?

The Priest is only there in Persona Christi in the Confessional. Like an ambassador for a King. All Confession is done to God, some is done through the conduit of a Priest.

2. I know the Catholic Bible is different due to the Apocrypha. Why the difference?

The Catholics have seven books in the Old Testament called the Deuterocannonicals. Martin Luther decided to remove them, citing that the Jews didn't have them in their Torah (which was decided 200 years after Christianity). We know, however, from the New Testament, that Jesus and the Apostles considered these books to be part of the Torah, because they quote from them.

3. Why a Pope?

"You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). aka "You are Kepha and on this very kepha I will build my Church."

4. Speaking of Popes,.. the current Pope recently released a statement addressing the Catholic church as "the one true church". I understand this to be due to the claim of being able to trace their roots to the days of the apostles, but are persons of other Christian faiths (I am a Lutheran, for example, but Baptists, Methodists.. you get the point)... not really Christians then? What "happens" to them, from a Catholic viewpoint?

Catholic consider Protestants to be Christians if they have received a trinitarian baptism (In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit) and believe in what is stated in the Nicene Creed. However they are separated from God's True Church and thus make it more difficult for themselves to remain in God's Love. The lack of the Sacraments of Confession and of the Eucharist are especially damaging.

5. Can someone please explain purgatory for me? How was it discovered to exist?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1030–1).

"According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire (itself) will test the quality of each one's work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire." (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)

"Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny." (Matthew 5:25-26)

"Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." (Matthew 12:31-32)

"They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden. Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin." (2 Maccabees 12:41-46)

Answer 6

If I went to church Id tell you but its boring and it sucks. if it was like those gospel churches then maybe but I dont know. and I dont know why we have to confess to a priest except that you know SOMEBODY is listening.

Answer 7

since most of them are simply blind followers they cannot answer and they havent even read the bible!!! I was caholic and the only time anyone actually showed me a bible was when i bought one for myself and read all the hypocrasy in it....and I bought it from my priest!

Answer 8

1. Reconciliation and Confession

The Catholic Church believes that "Only God forgives sin."

When a penitent person asks God for forgiveness, his (or her) sins are immediately forgiven.

Catholics also believe that when someone sins they not only hurt their relationship with God, they also injure the entire church, the body of Christ.

Jesus said, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19)

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,"Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (Luke 20:22-23)

Oral confessing of sins is recommended over and over in both the Old and New Testaments:
+ James 5:16
+ Acts 19:18
+ Matthew 3:5-6
+ Mark 1:5
+ 1 Timothy 6:12
+ 1 John 1:9
+ Numbers 5:6-7
+ Nehemiah 9:2
+ Sirach 4:26

The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation with a priest ordained in the name of Jesus Christ not only reconciles the sinner to God but with the entire church, including you and me.

Remember all sacraments are encounters with God. This sacrament is a healing encounter between God and the penitent.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1422 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.htm

2. The Bible

The New Testament canon of the Catholic Bible and the Protestant Bible are the same with 27 Books.

The difference in the Old Testaments actually goes back to the time before and during Christ’s life. At this time, there was no official Jewish canon of scripture.

The Jews in Egypt translated their choices of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the second century before Christ. This translation of 46 books, called the Septuagint, had wide use in the Roman world because most Jews lived far from Palestine in Greek cities. Many of these Jews spoke only Greek.

The early Christian Church was born into this world. The Church, with its bilingual Jews and more and more Greek-speaking Gentiles, used the books of the Septuagint as its Bible. Remember the early Christians were just writing the documents what would become the New Testament.

After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, with increasing persecution from the Romans and competition from the fledgling Christian Church, the Jewish leaders came together and declared its official canon of Scripture, eliminating seven books from the Septuagint.

The books removed were Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom (of Solomon), Sirach, and Baruch. Parts of existing books were also removed including Psalm 151 (from Psalms), parts of the Book of Esther, Susanna (from Daniel as chapter 13), and Bel and the Dragon (from Daniel as chapter 14).

The Christian Church did not follow suit but kept all the books in the Septuagint. 46 + 27 = 73 Books total.

1500 years later, Protestants decided to keep the Catholic New Testament but change its Old Testament from the Catholic canon to the Jewish canon. The books they dropped are sometimes called the Apocrypha.

Here is a Catholic Bible website: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/

3. The Pope

John 21:15-17 states:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."

He then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep.

Matthew 16:17-19 states:

Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

The Catholic Church believes the Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock.

The Pope is the senior pastor of 1.1 billion Catholics, the direct successor of Simon Peter.

The Pope’s main roles include teaching, sanctifying, and governing.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 880-882: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p4.htm#880

4. One True Church

Here is the full text of the new document that states nothing new: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070629_responsa-quaestiones_en.html

Most Christian denominations believe that each of them is the fullest version of the Church of Christ.

While the Catholic Church also believes that she is "the highest exemplar" of the mystery that is the Church of Christ, she does not claim that non-Catholic Churches are not truly Christian. The Catholic Church teaches:

Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.

Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church.

All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 819: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p3.htm#819

5. Purgatory

The concept of purgation is hinted at in the Bible. Here are a couple of places:

"But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire." 1 Cor 3:15

"So that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet 1:7

Are you perfect now? Most people would say no.

Will you be perfect in heaven? Most people believe yes.

Purgatory (or purgation) is the process of God's love changing our imperfect selves on earth into perfect beings in heaven. Depending on the amount of change needed by different people, this can be an easy or slightly harder process. Everyone in purgatory is on his or her way to heaven. I do not think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1030: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art12.htm#1030

With love in Christ.