don't believe in baptizing
babies....I don't think theres anything wrong with dedicating your
baby in front of the church, but I don't believe baptizing will "save" the baby. I believe in the age of accountability, like with what the Bible says, and I believe its depending on the individual.
Then could you show where it say's in the Bible where baptism is to be restricted to adults only? And while you are looking, could you also show in Scripture where we read of Christians denying infants Baptism until the age of reason. I would also like to see where Holy Scriptures speak of "infant dedications" as practiced in many modern Christian churches. If you cannot, would you then agree that Infant dedications are a tradition of man from the last few hundred years? (Lowercase t.)
I don't believe in praying to Mary, I don't know where in the Bible it says to do that, for she was just a human as you and I.
Have you ever asked a family member, friend, or even your Pastor to pray for you? If so, I'm pretty sure they didn't tell you "don't ask me to pray for you...go directly to Jesus." No...I'm sure those folks I mentioned had compassion and "interceded" for you. When they prayed for you, don't you think they wanted to assist you in your relationship with Jesus? This RachelPO3 does not in any way diminishes Jesus' role. Contarary to some peoples beliefs, heaven is not a "dead" place. We Catholics believe peiple in heaven are alive. (Matt. 19:29, 25:46, 10:17-22, Mk 10:30, Lk 10:25-30, Lk 18:18-30, Jn 3:15-16). Catholics ask Mary to pray to Jesus
for us.
And yes, The Blessed Virgin Mary was a human like you and I. However, she is also the birth mother of the humanity of Jesus in who "the fullness of the deity (God) was pleased to dwell bodily," [Col. 1:19, 2:9] She was also "favoured by God" [Lk. 1:30] when she was personally chosen by the Lord to become the mother of Jesus, God incarnated, Catholics believe we have a greater chance of obtaining God's grace for our daily physical and spiritual needs by asking Mary to intercede on their behalf.
I don't believe in going to priest to ask for forgiveness, the Bible says to get to the Father you must go thru Jesus.
Have you been baptized? If so, did you have a man or woman pastor baptize you? Did you not object to having a 'mediator' baptizing you? Why didn't you just baptize yourself The primary reason why the Catholic Church asks her members to confess their sins to a priest is simply because the Church has always believed that sin, however private, is a community affair. Every sin, however small, wounds the Body of Christ, the members of the Church. . . . When any of its members sin, they
all suffer. Moreover, because my sins wound the community and diminish its effectiveness, reconciliation must
include the community and not just God. In the confessional, the priest is the representative of God
and of the community. In the confessional, the priest represents the
whole Christ, the Head (Jesus) and the members (the Church).
Strictly speaking, there
is no such thing as a "private" sin—not in the sense of a sin that affects nobody but myself. There are secret sins, but there are none which are matters affecting "only myself and God." Likewise, our penitence benefits the whole Church, so we celebrate reconciliation communally.
I think Catholics do ALOT of traditions, but I think the individual needs to study the traditions and see why they do them.
Protestants have as their sole rule of faith the written Word of God, which we find in Sacred Scripture. The Catholic Church has as its sole rule of faith, the entire Word of God, as it is found in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.All of the Word of God was at one time passed on orally…Sacred Tradition. Eventually, some of Sacred Tradition was written down…this became Sacred Scripture, which is written tradition. However, Scripture itself tells us that not all of the things that Jesus said and did were written down. And listen to what Paul says about "tradition":2 Thes 2:15, "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." Traditions! Traditions taught by word of mouth, in other words, oral tradition, and traditions taught by letter. Traditions which they are being told to "stand firm and hold to". Sacred Scripture and
1 Cor 11:2, "I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you." The Corinthians are being commended by Paul because they maintain the traditions that he passed on to them. Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
2 Tim 2:2: "and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." What we have here in 2 Timothy is an instance, in Scripture, of Paul commanding the passing on of oral tradition.
1 Thes 2:13, "And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers." So, they received as the Word of God that which they heard, not simply that which they read in Scripture.
In other words, the Bible clearly supports the Catholic Church’s teaching that the Word of God is contained in both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. (Catholicscomehome.com)
I will address the rest of your post tomorrow for it is getting late and I attend the early Mass.
Pax Christi