I did not read your post and I do not quote the bible. Those who do use it for argueing purposes and I have no place for that. And having a picture of my grandmother and thinking of her is the same exact thing as having a picture of Jesus and thinking of him. It is simply the search for an arguement and judgement to make such an idiotic claim that it is sinful to have images that remind us of God in our homes. Quote the bible all you want, it is misread and misleading, it is misinterpreted and parts of it even fake, some peices erased from history. I do not trust the whole bible, ESPECIALLY when given only peices of it at a time.
The bible contradicts itself many times.

, did you read what I wrote?
Americans live a life of luxury and often laziness.
Living her prevents us from escaping such a thing.

So you think having a salary takes away from the gift? My grandmother is an organist and has been her whole life, she spent many years learning and perfecting her talen, why do you think we are given talents? The church does not expect a person to do them jobs for free out of the goodness of their heart, everyone in the church must stay alive, and work is what gives you that. Having a job isn't a sin, especially if your job is an addition to the church.

Giving your money away isn't foolish, Jesus tells the rich man it is the only way to enter heaven. Spending it foolishly by buying a bunch of non-sence is the problem. Giving money away is not foolish, it's selfless.

That's the point. The idea is that God was always there, just because humans cannot understand it doesn't make it impossible. And I was not using it as proof that he does exist, you're only hearing what you want to hear. I said that unless you can explain everything, you cannot say there is no God because that is a big part of his purpose, the unexplainable.

Obviously it's incorrect to say Gays are abstinant, many aren't. Do you know what a calling is? A calling can be ignored. Those who are gay are chosen to follow a harder path whether they follow it or not is their free will.

I find the idea interesting, and according to my religion I should believe in them, but I never really was given any reason other than that to believe in them. I did when I was a child but to me it's simply Christ right now. If I have a special angel, well that's a nice gift from God.

Then again, I guess I do believe in them according to an encounter my aunt had years ago when she turned away from her faith because she had a miscarraige, It's an inspiring story, and she is a very dedicated Christain once more thanks to it.

Calling yourself "born again" means nothing. It is the belief.
I am Catholic, yes we realize we are born sinners, we accept that we must repent and that Jesus is our savior. However the personal realization of being born again I think comes to all real christains at some time, it take maturity. I know soo many people who call themselves "born again christains" who don't have the maturity, mental capacity, or appritiation to even understand what it truely means in the first place. Calling yourself "born again" does not save you.

I have always felt this way, I don't condem you for it, but remember Jesus tells us that whenever there is a gathering or 3 or more in his name, he is there. It is powerful to stand together for Jesus.

Love those who hate you.
Jesus once told us that it is no great accomplishment to love those who loves us "even the tax collectors do as much" it is a much greater act to find love and forgiveness in our hearts for those who treat us bad. Have strength.

Never assume that you will be rewarded on earth according to your behavior, it is not so.
I was once told to feel blessed when I am hurting, that Jesus is holding my so close [Jesus hanging on the cross] that I can feel his pain and the pricking of the crown of thorns. I think this is a beautiful way of looking at it. Our hardships are wonderful oppertunities for prayer, and for offerings. I often pray for strength, as God to help you get through the hard times instead of take them away, I have found the prayer for strength is nevery denied.

Those who say God made them gay and use it as an excuse, are not worthy of using God as a scapegoat because they ignore him calling them to a life of abstinance.
And no I do not discriminate against gays or hold any ill feelings towards them, I know many and have some in the family, but when they use God against himself I am appalled.

I am American and I love my country, I however feel very sad for everyone who lives here because all of the parables about rich men and poverty lead us to believe that this country is far too rich for it's own good. Now we all live here comfortably and the deomocracy is just great, .

But it's difficult to think day to day that just being here and living a normal American life has Christ frowing over me. I grew up in a [techinically] one bedroom house with my parents, older brother and eventually little brother. Neither parent went to college and got married early so life was tough and we barely got by, but this would be such a blessing to anyone from a 3rd world country. Just knowing that even as a lower class citizen in the US, a person may also be a rich man in God's eyes.

Does anyone else even think about such things? What are your opinions? My only comfort is my dream to visit other countries during the coarse of my life, countries with less and spend time among their simplicity and pureity. Maybe to do some good, to make some friends, to learn new things.

Anyway, feedback please.

People have a right, the calling to be a nun or a priest is a calling of sacrafice, do not claim to make it if you don't.

Do not make a problem out of something not meant to be a problem. The sabbath was created for man not man for the sabbath. A special day set asside for Jesus is a special set asside for Jesus. You think God on judgement day will care whether you said a prayer on a saterday instead of sunday. If there was a right day, the church would not open on saterdaY

I'm just amazed at the things people think up. Having a statue of Jesus is worship to a statue? Having pictures is sinful?
Ridiculous. First of all, ask a Catholic "do you worship the pictures of the holy family?" this is not a peice of the catholic church "worshiping images of christ" it is an outside uneducated opinion formed by those trying to increase the supiriority of their own religion.

Have you seen The Passion of Christ?
Do you have photos of family or friends?
Do you own any magazines or picture books?
Photo albums?
How about a crucifix?

The reason for all of these things in our faily life is the same reason why the Catholic church holds statues of Christ. We do not worship or even honor these statues, it's obserd to say such things. They are simply a reminder that Jesus is with us, it is pleasing for humans to visualise, this is simply that, a visual to go with our prayers.

And please, when I look at a picture of my dead grandma and I smile, you mean to say it is resonable to think I am enjoying the picture because it's pretty and I think it's just wonderful? No it's a memory of my grandmother.

, Don't misinterpret the bible. Let's think for a minute because it's oh so hard to do. Before 2000 years ago what did people worship [in words of images] golden animal sculptures. This is what it refers to, fake Gods that are nothing more than a peice of art and money. You think the camara is the devil's tool? You are in need of serious theropy my friend. Images of Jesus are reminers of him, they are not worshiped, do not be foolish.

And by the way, the bible says all over it do not judge, Jesus said them many times himself.
However, to those nuts who think that if they are a certain religion they are audimatically saved, I hope that you may someday realize what a load of crap that is. Than Jesus died in vain and everything he preaches if you think that you're born a sinner so oh well keep sinning.

I wrote this somepqlce else but I'll repost it.

I'm going to adress the issue that Catholics worship Marry.
Those who say such things obviously know nothing of catholisism and shouldn't speak as if they do. The only reason anyone claims that a Catholic worships Mary is because they are told by a person who also knows nothing of catholisim but claims to. It is a lie that Catholics worship Mary- ask any Catholic and they will assure you they don't. So why would we worship a person who we refuse to say we do? That's not true worship is it?
I'll give you an easier way to understand what the Mary thing is.
(I did not come up with this by the way, a few women that used to be protestant were explaining what they learned. They told how they were told since they were children that Catholics worshipped Mary and saints and were never told what the real meaning was)
So we're going to look at God as our king right now, we are the people of his land and we look to his knights for protection just as he does. When a king sends out a knight to serve for him and the knight goes out to do as he is told and succeeds, the king honors him. The rest of us in turn are expected to honor him or else we are being disrespectful to not only the knight but the king. There is no fault in honoring those who lived their lives as best they could under the word of God, they are to be looked up to and immitated. Mary is very similar to this, we must honor her above all other people, she is our ultimate mother and Jesus expects us to treat her with respect and honor just as he did. She is not worshiped in prayer, we send our prayers to her so that she may pray for us because she is completely pure and her prayers are pure. We oiften ask people we know to pray for a loved one who is suffering or things of that nature, and so if you claim that asking Jesus' own mother to do this for us is worship, all of your religions are guilty of worshiping people other than Christ.


Just because someone tells you that as a Catholic you worsip Mary coesn't mean they know what they are talking about. When you called yourself Catholic did you worship Mary? No the religion teaches us to honor Mary.

Ok first of all Catholics were the first christains to exist, and do not judge what you do not know.
If you call kneeling worhiping you are out of your mind. And if you have no pictures in your house of your own mother or fmaily members I pity you.

If a Catholic dies without sinning after baptism, confession, or last rights it's told to us that we directly go to heaven.
And it is not for humans to decide who goes where, we have no right, no reason, no obligation, and no mental capacity to make such a decision, I beleive a person's salvation lies within their soul whether they attend a catholic church or no church.

It's either gene or environment, no one quite knows if it's ever a gene but it is obviously sometimes environment- either case they should be supported instead of discouraged. Those who are gay are, I believe, called to a life of abstinance and prayer, it's a hard task and my prayers go to those who follow such a path.

As a matter of fact it is. Whether the pastor is a theif or not, it's a sacrafice all the same, you're giving up something that would help you out or that you would enjoy as a gift to God. I could drop everything I own on the street right nowe and start a life of poverty, no matter who takes the stuff, it's a sacrafice all the same.

I disagree with the "True believers" statement, because even true believers can be selfish at times, we are only human.

To prove there is no God, we must first start with proving how everything happend and how everything works. We scientists can explain much but very little of what is out there to be explained, that is why we rely on the belief of God, because nothing could start without one.

People think they can outsmart God or prove his non-existance, we humans are so arogent.

That's a lot of repentence lol

God does not have a magic wand, we cannot point out what he creates with our eyes.

Bad things are not the wrath of God, this sort of talk turns believers into haters. Bad things happen to good people, look at it as a blessing and have strength God will reward you.

I think about it every night, how terrible the world has gotten, it must devistate him.