After some recent comments I felt that I needed to make this thread.
What exactly does it mean being a Catholic? Does it mean judging all others who are not?[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." -John 3:5[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." -Mark 16:16[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." -Luke 11:23[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"If you love me, keep my commandments." -John 14:15[/color]
Does it mean putting down any other denomination? Putting down and hating on other religions too?"[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens" -Psalm 95:5[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith; which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly." -Athanasian Creed[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"There is indeed one universal church of the faithful, outside of which nobody at all is saved" - Fourth Lateran Council[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"It firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jєωs or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Catholic Church before the end of their lives...and that nobody can be saved,no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed his blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church." -Council of Florence [/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"It must be held by faith that outside the Apostolic Roman Church, no one can be saved; that this is the only ark of salvation; that he who shall not have entered therein will perish in the flood. -Pope Pius IX[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"It is a sin to believe that there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!" -Pope Pius IX[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true." condemned as an error - Pope Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation." condemned as an error - Syllabus of Errors [/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained." -Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"Also perverse is the shocking theory that it makes no difference to which religion one belongs, a theory which is greatly at variance even with reason. By means of this theory, those crafty men remove all distinction between virtue and vice, truth and error, honorable and vile action. They pretend that men can gain eternal salvation by the practice of any religion, as if there could ever be any sharing between justice and iniquity,any collaboration between light and darkness, or any agreement between Christ and Belial." -Pope Pius IX, Qui Pluribus[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)] "[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]Thus the man, so long as he lives on the body of the Church, he is a Christian; separated from her, he becomes a heretic" - Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics; for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it" -Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos [/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"Such is the nature of the Catholic faith that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole, or as a whole rejected: This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved." -Pope Benedict XV [/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]"He who has turned his back on the Church of Christ shall not come to the rewards of Christ; he is an alien, a worldling, an enemy. You cannot have God for your Father if you have not the Church for your mother." -Saint Cyprian [/color]How about people from different races?
Of course not.
I would most certainly hope that your definition and understanding of the concept of Catholicism does not encourage the aforementioned hypocrisies.
We are supposed to walk in the path that Jesus has shown us, furthermore, as part of a community, we are supposed to help and support each other.
Try to open your heart before opening your mouth, believe me it will be to the benefit of yourself and those around you.
As Jesus walked through Crusifiction carrying his cross he was judged, his followers were absent and those whom he helped were not there to help him. What did you learn from that? Nothing? His sacrifice went in vain?
Let's try to all be better Catholics, instead of giving reason for those who oppose our ways to oppose it even more so.
Ignorance and closed-mindedness has no place with Jesus. That is fertile soil for evil to take place, for hate to groom the ground.
Ignorance to what? I guess Jesus is too "closed minded" for you: "[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." -Luke 11:23[/color]
Once again, i encourage everyone to open their hearts and their minds before opening their mouths. I will try my best to do the same.
Agreed.
Thank you for listening. Have a wonderful day!