One hell of a deal: Pope Francis offers reduced time in Purgatory for Catholics that follow him on T

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by MountainLaurel

 

It's supposedly where you go to be purified before going to Heaven, but it is brought up by man after the death of Christ and a belief held mostly by the Catholic church. If it does exist I highly doubt you can bribe your way to a reduced sentence- which in my opinion is what they actually think they are doing. Follow on Twitter, reduce your sentence. Make a big donation, reduce your sentence. Kind of like in the judicial system- bribe judge, reduce sentence.

Thanks, I guess I never quite got the whole Purgatory concept, lol, I thought it was like limbo for Agnostics...
I don't know, God and I came to terms in the sense I can't deny something is greater then I understand....but I'm thinking you can't take "short cuts" with God.....and he doesn't take bribes........yikes....

Originally posted by network dude
reply to post by littled16

 

They started to think for themselves and realized how incredibly idiotic it was to think an elected leader could have any bearing on God's will..

Or bearing on the scales of justice.

The rampant ignorance of Catholicism on this post is astounding.

People, the information is out there. Google it! Talk to a priest, I promise you, you won't be converted upon crossing the threshold, nor will a priest try to convert you by merely talking to him.

I implore you guys and gals, educate yourself. Please don't just take what non-Catholics say as the truth. Why not go to the source and get some real information, vice going to "an arm chair quarterback" as they say.

I think if you sincerely inquired of the faith, you'd be amazed at how much of it you already believe.

reply to post by MrInquisitive

... the scandal that gave Martin Luther an excuse for his heterodoxy, involved alms—indulgences in which the giving of alms to some charitable fund or foundation was used as the occasion to grant the indulgence...

That should answer your question.

I wish we could have some intelligent conversations on ATS about Catholicism, but everything is merely cleaning up after others' misconceptions. These completely false statements about the Church (which probably began in some Jack Chick tract) just take over any thread about the Church and the few Catholics here spend all of their time on basic apologetics instead of discussing the topic at hand.

This site is about denying ignorance. Do that with everything, including the Catholic Church. I'm not saying you have to convert to post on these threads, but at least understand the facts about the Church before you keep regurgitating these old myths that no learned men use.

reply to post by IsidoreOfSeville


I have read many Papal manuscripts, edicts, bulls, decrees etc.

I have been around the Vatican website many times and read many documents that were available until they didn't like people learning about it and hid them, including the first documents, where the vital point that Catholicism and for many hundreds of years, Christianity, based itself on, is a presumption that I cannot believe.

The Primacy of Peter, the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome, and it's resultant Magesterium, 'infallibility' and associated bulls, decrees etc appears very much as fictitious works of men. I prefer fact.

If there is a 'God', I believe that neither Catholicism nor any of the organised religions are the chosen behaviour or means of communicating such an omnipotent force. Popes are chosen by men not God.

I cannot believe in petrine supremacy, especially after reading the transcripts from the various councils.

This, along with other historical accounts, to me renders the basis of Catholicism and hence most of organised Christianity as corrupt and flawed at it's very ethos and core.

The resultant historical data built on these shaky foundations have furthered my belief that it is an organisation built around the power structures of men and their greed and lust for control.

My opinion is based on fact, from that which I have studied.

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by LadyGreenEyes

 

I agree with you completely LadyGreenEyes!
The only mortal man I discuss my sins with is my husband. I don't require an intermediary to go between me and the Lord. I guess maybe some feel better confessing to another person to clear their conscience, but I don't find it necessary.

Well, some like being accountable to another, if they are having issues with something, and that, I can understand. Feeling it's needed for forgiveness, though, is too much!

No such thing as purgatory and indulgences are not even scriptural. Belief in Purgatory falls in line with spiritism and was deemed abomination by the Lord per Deuteronomy 18, contacting the dead, communicating with the dead, use of mediums, divination etc.

The catholic religion is without a doubt the most corrupt imo. I grew up catholic and it has and will forever impact me to some extemt negatively (due to so many early childhood experiences). These people put themselves on thrones as if they are equal to God and no one is equal - ever. If man could be God there would be no need for belief the spirit realm.

So they get to tell us ahead of time (only if your catholic) where we will go and what it will be like after we die because they have divine rights to knowledge of our worthiness, and God only gives this power to pedophiles, elites, and thieves? Is satan so great at deception and infiltration that this is truly still one of the largest religions in the world? Either that or people do not have the ability to know hypocracy when they see it.

reply to post by AntoniusBlock



“There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”

― Fulton J. Sheen

Originally posted by boymonkey74
You can bet the next thing will be online confessions....hhhm money to be made there I think

I believe the NSA has said they will honour the sanctity of the confessional.

reply to post by colbe

Our Lord Himself is telling you and confirms the book of Revelation

There is no such book in the Bible if you are Catholic.

Originally posted by PuterMan

Originally posted by boymonkey74
You can bet the next thing will be online confessions....hhhm money to be made there I think

I believe the NSA has said they will honour the sanctity of the confessional.

HAHA! Just like Scientology does!

This thread makes me very sad. Because I could not go to Rio de Janeiro I thank EWTN and other stations that carried all of the wonderful and awesome celebration of World Youth Day.

I saw and took part in the Mass almost every day, then there were the Stations of the Cross on Friday. The young people set up the 14 stations along the 2 1/2 mile strip of Copacbana Beach and there was wonderful music and prayerful acting. Pope Francis spoke many times, to many various groups. Always the young people were there. The first night I believe they said there were about 1.5 million all told, including clergy and adults, Saturday night when they had the prayer vigil and the Rosary estimations were for about 2 million. Sunday, the last day, with Mass and the closing ceremonies about 3 million people. And the weather was not nice, cold and rainy most of the time. This did not stop the joyous celebration of the youth and Pope Francis.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
No such thing as purgatory and indulgences are not even scriptural. Belief in Purgatory falls in line with spiritism and was deemed abomination by the Lord per Deuteronomy 18, contacting the dead, communicating with the dead, use of mediums, divination etc.

Matthew 5:26, JESUS states you will not get out until you have paid the last farthing. Our Lord is speaking
of Purgatory.
All the people in Purgatory are judged for Heaven.

Remember, nothing unholy enters Heaven, stated in Revelation. God is perfectly just, He forgives our sins when we repent from the heart then confess them AND there is still reparation, atonement for our sins to be made. If you don't do that here in this life by your loving acts, prayers and sufferings, you do it over the veil in Purgatory.


1 Corinthians 3:15
If any man' s work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.


What is Paul talking about in 1 Cor 3:15? Purgatory. Souls in hell are NOT saved and there is NO suffering
in Heaven. This is Purgatory.

Purgatory is described, like other Christian terms, like the word Trinity and Incarnation.


God bless you lonewolf,

Cool! Indulgences are back!...what was old is new again...what a blast, now all I have to do is save up enough moolah and I'm home and hosed...I'm suddenly feeling so medieval

Å99

The youth crowd Copacabana Beach on the left while satellite trucks squeeze in to the parking lot on the right. The Pope is hosting one BIG party in celebration of our precious Faith!




Prayer Vigil on Saturday night World Youth Day, Rio de Janeiro

I must admit to being intruiged by this Pope because he seems to be a possible(?) new broom. However, I always
remember the last one that suddenly died because he was also so thought of.

The recent stance on homosexuality which is liberal yet the protection of priests accused of abuse does not qujite sit right, so I wait with baited breath to see if catholicism is to be brought into today's world or whether it will slip further back into obscurity as time goes on. Who knows?

Being a somewhat unique male-only system it always seems to be out of balance so he may choose to do something to redress this. I am always astounded by the fact that catholic men will accept advice from an unmarried man who has no idea of real homelife except possibly from his childhood and the older he gets the more disconnected he becomes.

Originally posted by Shiloh7
I must admit to being intruiged by this Pope because he seems to be a possible(?) new broom. However, I always
remember the last one that suddenly died because he was also so thought of.

The recent stance on homosexuality which is liberal yet the protection of priests accused of abuse does not qujite sit right, so I wait with baited breath to see if catholicism is to be brought into today's world or whether it will slip further back into obscurity as time goes on. Who knows?

Being a somewhat unique male-only system it always seems to be out of balance so he may choose to do something to redress this. I am always astounded by the fact that catholic men will accept advice from an unmarried man who has no idea of real homelife except possibly from his childhood and the older he gets the more disconnected he becomes.

hello Shiloh,

There is no change on Church teaching which is Christ's teaching.

The liberal media does not agree or has the desire to know if they don't Christ's teaching on homosexuality. They're trying to spin Pope Francis' words.God makes no one homosexual, it is a disorder. If you believe yourself to be homosexual, no sin. The grave sin occurs if you "act" on it, sodomy.

Here is the Holy Father's quote:

"There is so much being written about the gay lobby. I haven’t met anyone in the Vatican yet who has “gay” written on their identity cards. There is a distinction between being gay, being this way inclined and lobbying. Lobbies are not good. If a gay person is in eager search of God, who am I to judge them? The Catholic Church teaches that gay people should not be discriminated against; they should be made to feel welcome. Being gay is not the problem, lobbying is the problem and this goes for any type of lobby, business lobbies, political lobbies and Masonic lobbies."

vaticaninsider.lastampa.it...

The "judge not" phrase is so heavily loaded in today's society. But it obviously doesn't mean we can't judge a person's actions (he judges those who lobby for gay rights as problematic in the very same paragraph).

We have to distinguish being gay and acting on it (in this case promoting it). If someone is gay and searching for God, it is not up to us to pass judgment on their souls.

The "male-only priesthood" is not "unique", the model is Christ who is male and a celibate.

You said yourself growing up in a family, a priest understands family life plus he has the help of God the Holy Spirit giving council. A priest realizes marriage is Sacrament, holy and would follow with good advise.


God bless you,

colbe

reply to post by colbe


Hi Colbe

Thank you for your courteous reply to my post.

We do have very different perspectives on the points covered. I do feel that if one accepts God created this planet and all life upon it, one has to accept how he chose to select certain traits in different species.

I feel homosexuality is a means of controlling population that God in his wisdom decided to put into humanity. It exists throughout nature. We all have life and our natural inclination is to create more life. I find it hard to think of someone who is inclined to steal and chooses not to steal as a comparison to a homosexual who still needs companionship and a close relationship.

I think we will have to disagree on the points covered but appreciate and respect your views.