Sunday, February 27, 2005 "today was a good day and I will have a good sleep"

Here's some questions:

Does it not say in the Bible that you should pray to no other but the Lord?
Catholics pray to Mary and various saints.
And what's with this confessing your sins to the Priest, wherein he gives you some hail marys to do and you're set.
Is Catholicism not just a form of Paganism?

I didn't know much about Catholicism, so I went to look for some answers.
While, of course, underlining things I find to be of importance.

Q. Why should we pray to the blessed mother, Mary?
A.
Catholics, in addition to praying to God, often pray to Mary and Saints. Protestants do not usually do this. There is nothing wrong with asking other Christians to pray to God for us - even those who are in Heaven. They are Christians in Heaven and they want to help by praying for and with us. They love us too.
The Bible tells us to ask for help in prayer.
In Psalm 103, we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in Psalm 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" (Ps. 148:1-2)

Okay so I didn't feel that really answered any of my questions. At all.

Here's some stuff about Purgatory:
"As a Christian who bases spiritual truth on the Bible alone, I see problems with the doctrine of purgatory. For example:
It is not explicitly found in the Bible.
It implies that the righteousness of Christ does not cleanse from all sin.
It implies that justification is not by faith alone.
It implies that there is something we must do in order to be cleansed of sin.
The Catholics will disagree with my perceived problems of the doctrine of purgatory. That is to be expected. They will cite church Fathers, the apocrypha, and various biblical references to fire and purification. Which ever side of the argument you fall into, my goal here is to present a biblical argument that examines the doctrine in an attempt to determine if it is biblical or not. Of course, the Catholic will say that as a Protestant, I come to the argument with the preconceived belief that (1) Purgatory is unbiblical, (2) that I am biased against it, and (3) that I have an agenda to accomplish. To each of these accusations I admit guilt. None of us are perfectly unbiased and most everyone has personal beliefs that are reflected in their actions and words. In this case, having read and studied the Bible thoroughly, I find no place in it for the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory."

Well some verses on this would be helpful.

Q. Does Purgatory Deny the Sufficiency of Christ's Sacrifice?
A. 'According to the Handbook for Today’s Catholic, page 47, "If you die in the love of God but possess any ‘stains of sin,’ such stains are cleansed away in a purifying process called purgatory. These stains of sin are primarily the temporal punishment due to venial or mortal sins already forgiven but for which sufficient penance was not done during your lifetime."'
'...how is it possible that an afterlife cleansing through punishment is necessary for a Christian who has trusted in Jesus to cleanse him from all His sins? Wasn't Jesus' punishment for our transgressions sufficient? Didn’t He take our place in that He suffered our death? It would seem that the words of Christ, "It is finished," (John 19:30) do not mean that the cleansing of our souls was completed on the cross.'

When Jesus said, "It is finished," all that was necessary in the atonement was concluded and all in Christ were justified. We cannot complete or add to Christ’s work through our suffering. Purgatory is not only unnecessary, but it contradicts God’s word.


Well I didn't really answer all my questions - but I'm hungry so it's time for supper. I'll conclude this debatable prospect, (as much as it can be concluded) later.
In the meantime, if you have any scripture or immence knowledge that may be of assistance, it would be greatly appreciated. n_n/

An edit which is also thought of as a "turn of events" - I'm investigating all this to help a friend of mine get a better hold on her point of view, but also to help myself, as I know nothing of the matter.
Do with that what you will.