Fellow Church People

[CensoredAlso]

Yes, forgiving others is one of the hardest lessons to ever learn.
If Jesus can die on the cross for all the sins we committed, how can we stay mad at someone for cutting us off in traffic or something like that?

How true that is.

 

[dwayne1115]

Hi Martin. My name is Brian. I was raised Catholic also, observed all the rituals and trappings, but did not get to know Jesus until 2001. Jesus is at the root of my life now. Our church is Christian Reformed. We do a contemporary service and I sing and play in the church band every Sunday. Music has alwas been in my heart and it's wonderful to express myself and praise Him. During some of the more upbeat tunes we do, I can imagine Fraggles singing and dancing along, thinking what a fantastic show that would make.

Thank you for starting this thread, and may God bless and keep you.

I have never undrstood what Catholics belive is about Jesus

 

[CensoredAlso]

Well Catholics believe he's the Son of God just like other denominations.

That probably didn't help lol.

 

[dwayne1115]

Well Catholics believe he's the Son of God just like other denominations.

That probably didn't help lol.

Well i sort of new that, and I think that they beleive that he died on the cross. The differance is that the don't beleive that he roes from the dead. Is that preety close? I also have never really understood why people would confess there sins to another man. To me (I'm not trying to bash anyone just understand more) It would seem like I only half way took care of the problem. I mean I have always thought as God being reachable even when I'm at my worst. If God wasn't reachable even at our worst then from the first sin in the garden of Eden there would be trouble. It was only God Adam Eve, and the Serpant, and they alone had to deal with God about there own personal sins. We can also see that through out the whole Bible. Unless the Catholic Bible is different, and changes the accounts of what happend. Or they could just believe that the Bible is not as Perfect as I do. I'm just wanting to understand these things not try to change anyones thinking.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Actually Roman Catholics do believe he rose from the dead, absolutely. There aren't that many differences I think except the idea that the bread and wine become the body and blood, and the idea that some of the Bible (not all) is symbolic rather than literal. But we don't take the Bible any less seriously.

(And I hope I'm being polite and not starting anything. )

As for confession, I personally think you can be forgiven even without confession. And the idea is that you're confessing to God through the priest, not to the priest, that's important to remember. And I think the Adam and Eve story is the same, I'm pretty sure. But Catholicism does have a lot of rituals involved, it's unique that way, heh. I think it does encourage people though to think about their sins and forgiveness when they might have just ignored it otherwise.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Hi Martin. My name is Brian. I was raised Catholic also, observed all the rituals and trappings, but did not get to know Jesus until 2001. Jesus is at the root of my life now. Our church is Christian Reformed. We do a contemporary service and I sing and play in the church band every Sunday. Music has alwas been in my heart and it's wonderful to express myself and praise Him. During some of the more upbeat tunes we do, I can imagine Fraggles singing and dancing along, thinking what a fantastic show that would make.

Thank you for starting this thread, and may God bless and keep you.

You're most welcome Brian. God bless you too and I shall reply to the PM you sent me sometime soon.

 

[dwayne1115]

Actually Roman Catholics do believe he rose from the dead, absolutely. There aren't that many differences I think except the idea that the bread and wine become the body and blood, and the idea that some of the Bible (not all) is symbolic rather than literal. But we don't take the Bible any less seriously.

(And I hope I'm being polite and not starting anything. )

As for confession, I personally think you can be forgiven even without confession. And the idea is that you're confessing to God through the priest, not to the priest, that's important to remember. And I think the Adam and Eve story is the same, I'm pretty sure. But Catholicism does have a lot of rituals involved, it's unique that way, heh. I think it does encourage people though to think about their sins and forgiveness when they might have just ignored it otherwise.

Ok that does make sence thank you. To me all the rituals and things make worsiping to muck for me. When I want to worship the Lord I want to feel relaxed and kind of on my terms so to speak. That is a teribal way to put it but it was all i could think of.

 

[CensoredAlso]

No problem! And I agree, I think worship should be a pleasant experience. Being Catholic is important to me, the church stands up for a lot of issues other groups won't touch. But I don't agree with everything it says and I do wish more joy was involved. Of course it depends on the parish you happen to belong to. Some are cheerier than others.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Hey Dwayne. I believe God is reachable and really wants us to stay close to him, even when we sin.

Maybe this analogy will help. Imagine when you were little, and you did something wrong, and your dad was going to punish you (I'm talking from experience here!) He sends you up to your room and says he'll be up soon with his belt (again, I'm talking from experience here!) and is going to spank you three times.

He gets up there and spanks you once, and says "Learned your lesson?" Then he says let's go get some ice cream. As you're enjoying your ice cream, he says "Remember how I spanked you once instead of three times? That's mercy. How's your ice cream? Enjoying that? That's grace."

And it's God's Grace that brings us back to him when we sin. We don't deserve it, we're certainly not entitled to it, but God loves us so much he bestows it on us just the same.

Being humans, we are going to sin. We are going to screw up every day, though we try not to. We will always fall short before a just and absolute God. But believing in Jesus, and acknowledging he died for our sins, lets God give us the grace to be restored to him.

I hope this helps. I know it has for me.
Peace- Brian

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I've heard it said if you think God is far away you need to ask yourself who really moved? It's always people who distance themselves from God. Never the other way around. God could never be unfaithful. His character is absolutely perfect.

I've heard this saying as well!