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All denominational differences welcome–including Catholics differing with Church policy. For example, while I am not in favor of ordaining female priests, I would be in favor of ordaining female deacons. Also, as I have mentioned before, I no longer favor holy days of obligation. Holy days, yes, but not the obligation part. (Just to be clear I attend daily Mass more often than not so I am often at church anyway, just don’t think people should feel obligated.)

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I disagree with human rituals, like repetitive prayer, mantras, etc., regardless of denomination.

I don’t see an issue with a female spiritual leader. A leader is a leader.

At the heart of it all, I disagree with organized religion in of itself, because when it all comes down to it, it’s a conversation between you and the Eternal Self (imo of course).

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I have a tough time with litanies, but on the other hand, I find the rosary a great help in centering and focusing myself on the meditations of the rosary. I also like the Stations of the Cross. But litanies, for whatever reason, I simply find grating, as I do with songs that repeat the same verses over and over and over again. Each Advent, I go running out of Church early at the first notes of “Soon and Very Soon”. :grinning:

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I have an issue with men stepping aside. My daughters were both altar servers at a time where there were probably more girls than boys serving. Now we have more female ushers than males, also more female readers than males.

I am wondering, perhaps it is like housework…if we don’t absolutely insist they do part of the housework, they are okay with us it all. More seriously, I have always found that men are perfectly okay and supportive of women doing whatever they want to the extent they get out–and stay out–of our way.

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Community is vital, and it is just a given that when you get a group of people together there has to be some organization–even family dinners. I think both private time with God and being supportive of others in the community each have a place in loving God and one another. People need time by themselves, but they also need the strength of community–the knowledge we are not all alone.

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It’s a good idea, but it always seems to devolve into things like, “this is how you pray,” or “this is how you worship.”

Potlucks, fundays, group story sharing, etc., these are all great things that bring people closer to each other and to the Eternal Self, but they should not come with rituals, they should just be, the way we should.

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Which is why we need our alone time with God as well. Perhaps interestingly enough, I avoid potlucks, fun-days, church socials as I would the plague. However, I am good with all of us joining together in prayer and worship (rituals).

We would make quite a team! I could do the ritual part, and you could do the socializing! :slight_smile:

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The only time I socialize is when I feed people. lol

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From my perspective growing up Methodist.

Obviously I would differ on much.

The things that would have been a “deal breaker” for me at that age would have been confession and penance as well as the institution of the Papacy.

My brother married a Catholic, but refused to convert himself for much those same reasons. At the time he got married, he had to agree to let the children be raised Catholic for her parents to go along with the marriage, which they did. But I think his son is in the Lutheran Church now. :smile:

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This one has always puzzled me. The seven sacraments of the Catholic Church all center on Christ’s life and what he did here on earth. He got into so much trouble by assuring people (face-to-face) that their sins were forgiven. Isn’t it kind of odd that people argue to remove this part of Jesus’ ministry? He got into so much trouble over it, and was likely one of the main reasons religious leaders insisted he be crucified.

Why don’t people want to hear that their sins are forgiven? Confession is good for the soul, and there is also a great feeling of freedom when partaking in this sacrament. I think it is one of the healthiest aspects of Catholicism.

Serious question: Can a person (especially a child) who has never been to confession make a valid assessment about this practice?

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Catholics and Lutherans often set up Vacation Bible Schools together. We have a lot in common. I used to belong to a parish where the Lutheran Pastor and our priest would take turns giving the homily on some Sundays.

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On minor things that cause me to believe those who are Christian and Catholic are still my dear brother’s and sister’s in Christ.

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Well said. One of the reasons I am so fond of tradition is it reminds me of where we come from, what we have been through, which hopefully clears the way to where we need to proceed.

I wonder if this is one reason non-Catholic Christians eschew Confession. They know their sins are forgiven (repentance for the forgiveness of sins) and do not feel they need to hear it after confessing their sins.

Reconciliation is a beautiful Sacrament, patterned after the ministry of Christ, and as such when Christ is present (two or more gathered) we have the opportunity to still feel his healing power and how he gathers all of us back together.

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the idea that Mary was always virgin.

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the Catholic assertion that the ark of His covenant mentioned in Revelation 11:19 is referring to Mary.

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I am Catholic and do not subscribe to the belief that Mary was a perpetual virgin. I have no doubt that Mary and Joseph had a large family after Jesus was born.

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Jewish practice at the time was should the oldest son die, the next eldest son would take care of their mother. Do you think it was just the pain that made Jesus say to Mary her son was now John, and to John, that Mary was not his mother? Jesus was handing over the care of his mother to someone outside the immediate family. Do you find that odd? If Mary had other sons, why wouldn’t they care for her?

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To be honest i find it hard to believe that the Scriptures we read today are still an accurate version of what was exactly said 2,000 years ago.

The scriptures and the bible are a result of both human endeavor and translation so what we are reading today while still the essence of what happened and what was said is not word for word accurate.

I came to this conclusion from a fairly young age which resulted in some heated discussions with the nuns at my school. The other kids in the class loved it as it meant we spent less time reciting the bible word for word :grinning:

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It doesn’t sound like you addressed the direct answer to what was asked concerning the Apostle John at the foot of the cross.

This also is only opinion, even if one states they have no doubt Mary and Joseph had a large family after Jesus was born.

So, Orthodox and Roman Catholic faiths do not see it per the questions of children of Joseph and Mary and have thought that for 2000 years, they were much closer to the situation but somehow, one asserts they know in the present day and 2 or 3 continents away?

This is, to be brief, just apologetics. Questions asked many times already.

From Catholic Answers, this deals with the Greek word “Adelphos” which can mean cousin, nephew, etc.

“The Bible is simply silent on the exact relationship between Jesus and the other two men, Simon and Jude, mentioned in Matthew 13. This proves two important things. First, it proves that the Greek word for brother is sometimes used to mean something other than sibling, and it proves that Matthew 13:55-56 in no way demonstrates that Mary had other children.”

And on perpetual virginity:

In the end, at least, per did Mary bear other children, I don’t think a clear answer is given, yes or no.

1 Corinthians 15: 6, Paul says “500 Brothers” saw Jesus appear, so are we to think these are all blood brothers? Of course not.

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Hi Meri! You are by far the most engaging person to ever grace these religion forums, and for that I say thank you! Thank you for all the wonderful, spiritually enhancing discussions over the years. :hugs:

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