Triplet347 you have stated a couple times that some of the verses in the bible are a "blanket statement" towards others real learned stuff concerning WHATEVER. That is typically disrespecting others and the Word of God as well. This chat room isn't about challenging it's about strictly learning from the bible and what the Holy Spirit of Jesus(for those of you that really have the Holy Spirit) reveals to us. Not to bicker and deny. You have denied the verse in Mathew towards the whole calling any man on earth father, and made a comment, that was immature about the one that made me with his sperm shouldn't be called father either. It seems to me, forgive me if wrong, and may God forgive me most of all, but you don't really wanna learn. You just wanna challenge and deny. Both in which I have no time! I sincerely wanna learn. And all I find in here is studies of stuff of google and false books and not enough of the divine TRUTH which is the Word, The BLOOD of Jesus!!! And I don't feel an ounce of love here neither with all the other names callings I've seen. Everyone in here that's suppose to learn and teach about the Lord God is suppose to unite with the others ones on here that feel and think the same way and fight the good fight against the enemy or enemies, not each other. You guys are trying to be smarter then the other and swifter then another, but to me, w out Jesus and the love He demands you to share among each other; your just fools to me.
I am not going to try to convince of my intentions. I've already stated what my intentions are. You can accept that or not. As for my calling some peoples' use of verses of the Bible as "blanket statement", it is a statement of fact. If someone is going to say as you have reiterated, "calling any man on earth father" then that is a blanket statement. Period. You and the others are using the word "any" to be used to apply to ALL fathers. That, by definition is called a "blanket statement". It is NOT disrespecting others or the Word of God. That is your projection onto my statements. My statements are just that statements. I have not been mean or pejorative in any of my comments. I am simply entering into a dialogue with you and others.
Why is it that people think that just because one challenges their beliefs that they take it as being attacked, being disrespected, or that the person challenging your beliefs is "mean"?
Let me be frank, you don't know me and for you to accuse me of just challenging and denying is just wrong. If I was just interested in that, then I would never have become Catholic. Becoming Catholic was the LAST thing I ever thought I would be. I was and still am a Bible-believing Christian. I have always lived my life committed to learning the truth and in the words of C.S. Lewis, "to follow the evidence where ever it may lead." It was a Catholic who asked me some very tough questions that I had to be honest with myself that I did not have a good answer for. It was my searching out those answers in scripture so I could go back and "show" him that ultimately led me to eventually see the truth in the Catholic Church. The more I studied scriptures the more I saw how certain things/topics aligned perfectly with Catholic teaching. The evidence was leading me straight to where I DID NOT want to go, but the evidence became more and more overwhelming. As I studied for about fours years I prayed for God every step of the way that if the Catholic Church was in error to show me, but the more I read Catholic sources and got deeper into scripture, the topics that had always puzzled me as a non-Catholic/ bible-Christian made perfect sense from a Catholic point of view, from Catholic theology. It got to a point where I would have discussions with my Protestant friends and they would bring up issues with Catholic teachings and I found myself defending those teachings and explaining to them how they misunderstood what the Catholic Church was teaching.
How does one know you have the truth if you are not open to having others scrutinize you belief. If your argument can stand up to scrutiny then that lends credence to your position, but if someone shows you a weakness in your position/argument, then you have to be intellectually honest and consider the objection seriously. to see if you can find an answer. It is through these "challenges" that we get closer to the truth.
Finally, I think you are the one who is being challenging and just wants to deny. You are guilty of the very thing you accuse others of being. You are the one who started this thread under a false pretense. I took you to be sincere in your questions only to find out you were baiting. You were not interested in the answers at all. You were just interested in espousing your anti-Catholic rhetoric.
I am hear to have dialogue with those who want to truly have dialogue: meaning they are open to having a discussion with someone who doesn't believe what they believe in a respectful manner in order to discover what the truth is about God's word and His church. I am not interested in bickering and that is something I have not done. I hope we may continue this dialogue with charitable intentions, but for the purpose of learning the truth.
God bless,