Christians Alert ! Where do we really stand ??

[longtimeago 0]

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

 

Greetings to you .

 

I Just wanna ask you one thing, Where do we really stand ??

 

Those who have Patience please read this, else at least pray to God to give you patience to read this, and if you have belief in your prayers, some day you will read this,

.. and please don't be the one who'll pray : "God i want patience, and give me that immediately" ..

 

Moving on ........

 

They say i am an Indian, Yes i am proud of it . It is said that India is a place where we have Unity in Diversity, a place where people of caste,language etc. live together. On the other hand i call myself a Christian, at this point what comes to my mind is that , Christianity is a place where we have Diversity in Unity. Hope you can recognize what i mean . Yes, the Denominations we follow in Christianity.

 

United as Christians we divide ourselves into denominations. Now i just wanna bring out the fact on this issue of Denominations, so that we can recognize ourselves where we really stand.Christianity is composed of, but not limited to, five major branches of Churches: Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant;

 

I Just wanna take 2 denominations as examples and wanna bring out where we really stand. And the two major denominations are taken as examples: The Catholics and the Protestants.

 

Did God ask us to follow this Divide and Conquer Algorithm ?? No way !! First we have to understand that it is we people who started this Denomination Concept.

 

I would say we have not interpreted or rather understood the word of God properly which has led to the evolution of denomination in Christianity. Are Catholics against Protestants ?? or vice verse ?? No !!

 

I recently happened to get to know about both the denominations clearly and hence i bring out this issue now.

 

The fact is that there is just a Thin Line difference between Catholics and Protestants and i would say its just because of the misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the Word of God. The sad part in this is that instead of erasing this Thin Line difference we put ourselves busy in pulling one from the other side to our side.

 

Please Note that i have no intention in offending either of the denominations, but just wanna ask where we Christians really stand.

 

I wanna talk about this thin line difference which i see between Catholics and Protestants.

Issue 1 :

 

In the Protestant church few are confused about one thing, that is Baptism. Whether it has to be by submersion, immersion, pouring, or sprinkling (pouring water three times on the forehead) . Few people of the Protestant Church believe that Sprinkle Baptism is enough, but the Catholic Church strongly believe that immersion Baptism is highly necessary. So a Protestant is not allowed to take part in the Holy Communion of a Catholic Church if he has not undergone an immersion Baptism. I do not argue over this issue saying which one is right, but just wanna urge Protestants to Pray to God so that his will may be perfectly revealed to us so that we are not misled.

Issue 2 :

In the Catholic Church people believe in (i) Praying to Mary and the Saints. (ii) Also one of the 7 Sacraments (Please Note : The word "Sacrament" is NOT even found in the Word of God, nor is it found in the Douay version (the Catholic Bible) insists in confessing sins to the father (Parish Priest) that he has the power to forgive sins, these two the Protestants don't agree .Other than these two things, almost both Catholics and Protestants walk hand in hand. So Pray to God so that his will may be perfectly revealed to us so that we are not misled.

(i) Praying to Mary and the Saints :

 

Is Mary, the Blessed mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Dead in this earth ? Are all the saints Dead ??

 

A protestant will answer yes to both, where as a Catholic will answer, yes the saints are Dead to this earth where as Mary is not Dead in to this earth. The issue of Catholics praying to Mary and the saints is one that is full of confusion. If some one is dead in the earth the bible clearly says you cannot call them and pray. So lets examine this issue.

 

Catholics say we can pray to Mary - the Blessed mother of Jesus, they say this because they believe in the "Assumption of Mary". So does this "Assumption of Mary" have any Biblical reference ?? No way ! The Assumption of Mary is the traditional belief held by Christians of the Roman Catholic and by some other denominations, even few Protestant Churches.

 

So what is this "Assumption of Mary" ?- Mary - the Blessed mother of Lord Jesus, at the end of her life was physically taken up into heaven.

 

Here what i feel is that one verse is misunderstood. In his August 15, 2004 Pope John Paul II quoted John 14:3 from the Bible as a scriptural basis for understanding the issue of the Assumption of Mary. In this verse, Jesus tells his disciples at the Last Supper,

 

"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also."

- Here in this what do you sense ?? The second coming ? or something else ? Jesus said "and will receive you" , is it limited to those 12 ?? Definitely Not !

 

There is No Clear Biblical Proof for "Assumption of Mary" and i am Sure !! about that

 

Recently i had an opportunity to visit a place "Holy Land" in Chalakudy which is situated in Kerala ( India )

 

There is a Catholic Church and they have replica of the things which are there in the Holy Land . There you can see the representation of the entire Life of Jesus Christ in different stages in the form of statues and sculptures.

 

It starts with the Birth of Jesus Christ and it went on, i thought it will end with the Crucifiction of Jesus Christ or the resurrection of Jesus Christ, But was surprised that one of the final stage was "Assumption of Mary" .But here i noted one thing Clearly, For all the stages there was a caption given in a metal plate and beneath the caption there was a Bible reference quoted. But for this stage of "Assumption of Mary" there was a metal plate in which the caption was quoted as "Assumption of Mary" BUT THERE WAS NO BIBLE REFERENCE QUOTED !!!! Hence i conclude that There is No Clear Biblical Proof for "Assumption of Mary" .

 

So this Proves that the Blessed Mother of Lord Jesus Christ was dead in the earth and she is not omnipotent or omniscient. If this is the case please get to know what the Bible says ::

 

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 :

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.

And for sure all Catholics will agree that all the Saints are dead in this earth and the above verse clearly says that don't call them and pray to them.

 

Catholics argue that praying to Mary and the saints is no different than asking someone here on earth to pray for you. This is not correct because the Bible says that some one on earth can pray for you ::

 

James 5:16 :

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Please Note : It is written "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another" (James 5:16)

 

and in another verse it is written

 

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

(John 20 : 23 ),

 

So Just think please. Is it Legal to cook up a verse by taking half from one and half from another and combining it and following it ?? The Cooked up verse can be put in this "Confess all your sins to the Priest and he will forgive you"

 

Just because of cooking up a verse by combining two halves, Catholics are led to another issue that is "Confessing sins to the father (Parish Priests) and believing that he can forgive taking the place of Lord Jesus Christ".

 

 

So Pray to God that his will may be perfectly revealed to us so that we are not misled.

 

 

(ii) Confessing sins to the father (Parish Priests) :

 

John 20 : 21- 23

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

The Verse 23 clearly talks about forgiveness and there is no such indication asking a man (Priest) to take up the place of God .

 

If what the Catholic church teaches that Confession (to the Priest ) is true i.e., that priests have been given the power to forgive sin, then it must also be true that they have been given the power to REFUSE to forgive your sins.

 

During confession to a Catholic priest what is done ??

The Priest is assumed or seen as the Lord himself and confession is made to him. Think again ! What is done here ? Simple ! Some one is being given the place of Jesus and any one/anything who takes Jesus Christ place in your life he/she is an Idol and i am pretty sure that every Christian knows about idolatry.

 

To whom should we confess our sins? 1st John 1:9 states,

"If we confess our sins, he (Jesus Christ) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins..."

A sinner cannot forgive a sinner on behalf of God. You need Jesus Christ, God Almighty, to forgive your sins and save your soul.

 

 

So Pray to God that his will may be perfectly revealed to us so that we are not misled.

 

Conclusion :

 

I am not the one to judge what is right and what is wrong saying Catholics are wrong or Protestants are wrong.

 

So i just wanna Urge you to Pray regarding these issues so that the thin line difference can be erased and we can prove that " We Christians are not just a collection or Catholic individuals or Protestant individuals, but we are and we will be the UNITED CHRISTIANS [/b]