B
[quote=process_architect;492264]How dare Catholics call themselves "Christian"! A better term would be "Maryians" or "Popians".
Catholics/Satan's deceived, answer me this:
You call the pope "Father" when Christ himself said "call no man father but me" - Matt 23:9? Why?
You pray to Mary and confess sins to the pope for forgiveness when Christ said "no man comes to the Father but through me" - John 14:6? Why?
Let's look at this through the eyes of Satan for a second. You are the angel of light and the ultimate deceiver. You can take things that seem so innocent and make them so bad. So if you hated God what would be the best way to spite him? To take His words and twist them to make them seem so good, when in reality they are so far from the truth.
Open your eyes.
Catholics/Satan's deceived, answer me this:
You call the pope "Father" when Christ himself said "call no man father but me" - Matt 23:9? Why?
You pray to Mary and confess sins to the pope for forgiveness when Christ said "no man comes to the Father but through me" - John 14:6? Why?
Let's look at this through the eyes of Satan for a second. You are the angel of light and the ultimate deceiver. You can take things that seem so innocent and make them so bad. So if you hated God what would be the best way to spite him? To take His words and twist them to make them seem so good, when in reality they are so far from the truth.
Open your eyes.
Friends, Open your hearts to God! Amen.
So, Protestants call themselves Lutherans, Calvinists, Wesleyans, Arminians, showing they follow men. Catholics also follow one man, the pope of Rome. No single individual has in Eastern Orthodoxy the place the Reformers have in Protestantism, and the Roman popes have in Catholicism. Orthodoxy is in the 7 Councils of the Church, the Scriptures, the Holy Traditions of the Apostolic, Apostolic Succession of Bishops, the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Moscow, and the other Orthodox Patriarchs. No Patriarch is regarded as infallible or a vicar of Jesus Christ. Only the Holy Spirit has the infallible role and Presence in the One Holy Orthodox Catholic Church.
The Apostolic Church. No Orthodox Christian views himself/herself, as "the way, the truth, and the life." The popes of Rome, some of them, called themselves, "the way, the truth and the life." The Protestants as Reformers also view themselves as keepers of "the way, the truth, and the life", and you must believe in their Reformation "solas" in order to be "saved", or to be "true Christians". According to Martin Luther alone, the doctrine (Protestant doctrine/"Lutheran" (sic) doctrine of "justification by faith alone" is the doctrine upon which "the church" (that is, Martin Luther himself as the church), "stands or falls." Go figure. So much emphasis upon just one man: the pope of Rome, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Arminius, etc. Go figure. In Erie PA USA Scott R. Harrington
[/QUOTE]
First, we call the Pope, Holy Father because he is like a father, presiding over the children of God. Why did you call your dad father? That would be blasphemous, right? We do not follow the pope, we follow Jesus. The Pope is just a leader, like the President.
We do not pray to Mary, that is wrong, we pray through her. Thats why we always ask for "Mary's *intercession*. So she can lift up our prayers to heaven, and make them more beautiful. We confess our sins to a priest because he is representative of God.
"Since he would not always be with the Church visibly, Christ gave this power to other men so the Church, which is the continuation of his presence throughout time (Matt. 28:20), would be able to offer forgiveness to future generations. He gave his power to the apostles, and it was a power that could be passed on to their successors and agents, since the apostles wouldn’t always be on earth either, but people would still be sinning.
God had sent Jesus to forgive sins, but after his resurrection Jesus told the apostles, "‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘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). (This is one of only two times we are told that God breathed on man, the other being in Genesis 2:7, when he made man a living soul. It emphasizes how important the establishment of the sacrament of penance was.)"
That is a quote taken from Catholic.com. If you disagree, ask them.