L P has left a new comment on your post "Ding-a-Ling: Mass Bells Are Breaking Up That Old G...":
Speaking of RC liturgy...
Try doing this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6AOvStZS64
I am sure some will get a *high* on this one.
LPC
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GJ - The tape shows the elaborate choreography of the the Roman mass. Bishop Fulton Sheen was good at marketing. Unfortunately for him, he had a spat with Cardinal Spellman, described by one prelate as "that fat little liar." Sheen lost the battle and the war.
The Church of Rome hides its four main doctrinal errors well:
- Purgatory is a mini-Hell for the semi-saved. The faithful will be tortured there for thousands of years before they reach heaven. Good works reduce some time in Purgatory, but not much.
- The Virgin Mary visits Purgatory to comfort the poor souls there. She is the Co-Redeemer because she offered up her Son, like a priest saying mass, when He died on the cross. She is the Mediatrix of all grace. Mary was born immaculate and never committed an actual sin. She was assumed into heaven, although it is not resolved whether that was after death or before death. The jury is still out.
- Christians are justified by faith, but only if good works are added as a requirement. Because the Atonement is not sufficient and human works are not adequate, a few thousand years in Purgatory settle the accounts past due.
- The pope is infallible whenever he declares doctrine, and so are all priests who teach in harmony with him. This doctrine was revealed by the infallible Pope Piux IX, who also declared the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
Lutherans should read Roman Catholic works from time to time, to stay alert about the actual doctrines of the Church of Rome. Lutherans should also observe Roman worship every so often, so descriptions are accurate. Out of respect, as F. Pieper said, a Lutheran may attend Roman Catholic services without worshiping with them. For example, when a Roman Catholic friend or neighbor dies, it is respectful to attend the funeral.
Lutherans should not direct others to the "bang on right" words of the pope, because the best statements of the Antichrist only mask the demonic doctrines of Rome. Likewise, Eastern Orthodoxy only offers a me-too for Rome, in full fellowship with Roman Catholicism but still judged a "defective church" by the pope.
The priest down the street may be pro-abortion, advocating women's ordination, and celebrating his current life-partnership with Father Bruce, but he is still bound by Rome's doctrine. Because Rome will not admit to any error, Roman Catholicism remains a Medieval, Mary-centered, Purgatory teaching church that demands works for forgiveness, holding back that forgiveness in the name of human reason.
a homosexual church leader
at
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L P has left a new comment on your post "The Roman Mary Is Scary":
I was an ex-RC kid, catechized in the Baltimore Catechism. I was taught that Mary is more friendly to sinners than Jesus. You cannot run to Jesus because he is angry at your sin so run to Mary because Jesus cannot deny his Mother, he is a good son etc. So appeal to Mary.
I have not read much RC theology lately but I do encounter RC apologists in the internet, who through their efforts, tell me the same old same old stance of Romanism.
Here is where Romanism is so insidious:
They start with correct premises, but they give you the wrong conclusion, a conclusion based on their agenda. For example, they say to you 1+1=2, correct, and so you agree. Then they say, ok, therefore 2 +2 = 5. We the magisterium are telling you that 2+2= 5 based on the fact that 1+1 = 2.
It is not without reason that the BoC charges Rome of sophistry. So I agree with Pr Greg... we can read what they are writing for the sake of informing us, but we should not use what they wrote to influence us, because that sophistry is still present in that system.
Why would you like to constantly pick out the bones and take the meat from such sources? I do not see the motivation for such a project. Why would you say - hey the anti-Christ is helpful here, he said some good things here, we should take heed? This does not make sense to me.
LPC
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GJ - This does make sense to me, LPC. I see a large circle of LCMS pastors who are the new Oxford Movement. Some are so far gone that they have left for Rome or Eastern Orthodoxy. Others have their little Rome in the LCMS parish, so they keep their pension and wives.
Some pastors never get over their professors. As one DP remarked, they keep giving sermons for their seminary professors, not for their members. I know two of the Ft. Wayne professors fervently promote the Roman/EO approach. The results are obvious in the exits from the Lutheran Church, at graduation or soon after. Apparently St. Louis is similar, but I do not know which professors are the papal Manchurian Candidates.
The parallel with Church Growth is clear enough. When the trend is identified and impossible to deny, the culprits scream like little girls about being slandered, meanwhile engaging in the worst kind of slander. One of the LCMS "confessionals" just did that in a public forum. When a man has only three years parish experience, no training beyond seminary, and no bibliography, he ought to let his silence allow him to appear wise.
