IvanK

Not in my mind and, I hope, not in yours either.

The Catholic Church has come a long way (and, I believe, a good way) since the days not so very long ago when the sacrament of marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic, even a Protestant, was celebrated without witnesses and outside of the sanctuary. So have we all. I for one look for this promising ecumenical trend to continue.

Amos

Sorry Ivan, I won't quite go that far because as I wrote Helen elsewhere,

<strong>A traditional Catholic would say that since only Catholics can go to heaven God must not be seeking protestants because I am convinced that a merciful God sends nobody to hell. While this is true, it does does not mean that hell is not real because if heaven is real so must its counterpart be. Needless to say, I am not much for eucumenism.
</strong>

sullster

Ivan, Our buddy Amos wants the church to return to the good old days of the middle ages, nevermind before all this ecumenical rot came along.

This issue of marriage between catholic and protestant steams me. My parents had to be married in neutral territory during WW2, because the bigot catholic church and the bigot protestant church wouldn't recognise the marriage. The inlaws were mutually contemptuous but eventually they got along.

I say this though. May both forms of the cursed christian myth rot in a ditch of garbage for the crimes of promoting their filthy myths at the expense of the sensitivities of young couples who wish to marry.
Death to catholicism!
Death to protestantism!
Death to all religion!

IvanK

Your "traditional Catholic" needs to get a better grasp of Church doctrine then. Try reading Dominus Iesus again, or for the first time in your case. Or try this on for size: if there is a God, and if His power is not limited, then it's at least possible that someone who's not a Catholic might get into heaven.

Amos

You mean "sneak by" so to speak? I don't think so because that is why he is omniscient. If you are thinking of "baptism of fire" it is required that he seeks "communion with the saints" (become Catholic or he'll be lost nonetheless. Don't forget here that heaven is religion specific so there is no way that foreign religions can ever get in and the same is true for protesting denominations.

Amos

Hey sullster, I'd say good for your parents except they forgot that you would be torn between heaven and hell.

[ March 22, 2002: Message edited by: Amos ]</p>

sullster

Oh Amos, you are such an erudite and witty fellow the way you compose your drivel. I will bet that after posting you get up and look in the mirror and smile at yourself. As you gaze upon your theologically perceptive visage, you tell yourself how great you are and how you drop such nuggets of truth among the heathen masses.

My view of you is quite different though and it is once again summed up this way: DEATH to All Religion!

Amos

So how come you always see the negative portion of my post. I told you that it was good for your parents and that means I agree with them. Religion should never control your life but only your destiny and that is what Catholicism is all about. I made that clear in my post but you see that in a negative way to.

[ March 23, 2002: Message edited by: Amos ]</p>

sullster

AMos, the only destiny is that our bodies will be food for bacteria and insects, unless we are cremated of course. I can only see the negative of all religious delusion, because it interferes with people's lives. Religions, like your catholicism, just cause pain and confusion. All their absurd illusions of other-worldly realms and imaginary persons are dead weight for the journey of life. All religions are dead end streets.
Priests are snakes who insinuate themselves into the minds of people in order to do their decietful damage. Many a marriage has been ruined by the conflicts planted by priests. May religion and its perniciousness finally fade away. See Amos, I am a dreamer too. It is just that my dreams are positive ones, dreams about humans being free of religious illusion.

Amos

I agree and that is why I am against cremation. But then again, some bodies are so charred that the worms do might not want them an others
are mumified before they die.