Religion - I am A?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Protestant (Lutheran)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

What about Dr. Weird? And Ol' Drippy and the Mooninites?

I say Ol' Drippy's a very liberal Christian, probably some Quaker type.

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ELCA. The most liberal Lutheran branch and the largest. Although I beleive the more conservative branches are more widespread while the ELCA is basically confined to the upper Midwest.

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I'm Catholic, but you know, we aren't really Christians, because we worship Mary and statues and have the anti-Christ leading our Church and supposedly aren't biblical.

I don't think it's unfair to say that it is the least monotheistic and patriarchal of the monotheistic religions.  Can you imagine a Jew or Prot or Muslim or Zoroastrian talking Trinity?  (No, I don't mean the Catholic-lite Episcopalians, either)  It is no coincidence that the French missionaries had a much easier time in Indochine and the Spanish had such an easy time converting polytheists to catholocism than prots have.  In fact, I believe the Bishop of Rome allows a great deal of latitude and interpretation, still, in the prefectures of South America.  I myself have witnessed ceremonies in Guatemala and Peru which are performed by Catholic priests but which also make allowances for preColumbian dieties.  I don't claim to understand it, as Christianity, like all monotheistic faiths, seems to require exclusivity, but I'm certain that in parts of the world Catholocism co-exists with polytheism.  And that it is the very nature of its mysticism which makes it easier for Catholocism to do this than the more abjectly monotheistic religions do.  

Well, the Bible makes it very claer that there are three persons- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit- in one.  Any Protestant who claims to be Bible believe, but ignores this fact is in error.

P.S.  Which I find amusing, because I believe that Jmfcst is not a believer in the Trinity.

that's only a few way out there denominations that reject the Trinity like Oneness Pentecostals, but I can see Jmfcst as a member of some nutty denomination like that.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Like Catholic pray to Mary

wrong.

The Orthodox denominations are very similar to Catholic, except they don't recongize the authority of the Pope.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

since there are such few Catholics in the south, they probably most belong to nutty offshoot sects. You have few Lutherans too, and I bet if you were to ask them abou things they would say stuff that we don't believe here, such as that the Pope is the Antichrist and women shouldn't be ordained.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Episcopalians are probably the closest denomination to Catholics, but the more conservative Lutheran branches are most similar to Catholicism than mine. While I suppose our services are similar, most of the doctrine is not, in Minnesota the ELCA is basically thought of as Catholicism without all the conservative nonsense that pisses most people off. From what I hear a lot of us are ex-Catholics, but I don't really know because I hardly ever go to church, lol.

But since Josh's friend lives outside the upper midwest, she probably belongs to one of the more conservative branches. We both ordain women and let them vote on church matters. The Missouri Synod doesn't ordain women, but does let them vote on such issues, the WELS does neither and basically treats women like property of their husbands. And then there are a few small sects which are basically just cults.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

You guys think the Southern Baptist are strange like I think Catholics are strange.  (Talking about how you guys worship)

Ok I'm curious, what is so "strange" about how we worship?

I think it's strange too, but I'm not quite so ignorant as Josh.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Oh well I guess all the Catholics in Greensboro don't know what they are doing then

So you're saying that Greensboro Catholics don't pray to God? I don't think so.

No, that is what they have told us... Trust me we asked because Catholics are not that common as up north.

So wait...you mean to tell me you asked Catholics down in North Carolina if they prayed to God and they said No? Listen, Catholics have a devotion to the Blessed Mother but to say we just pray to Mary is ridiculous.

I'm not saying you pray to Mary, I am just saying that is what the Catholics in Greensboro said.

We pray directly to God and we also pray through Mary and the Saints to God.

Huh? You pray to Saints too? Wouldn't that be like having other gods? (Not trying to be rude or upset you, but I don't know anything about Catholics)

He said "through" not "to".  We have requests for intercession from the Saints.  We ask those who have gone before to pray for us.  We do not pray to them.

OH OK sorry, I was reading to fast.

And the KJV is not "the one and only Bible".  I tolerate Protestant belief, but I do not tolerate it when they come after our Church with statements like that.

well your church says that the Catholic bible is the "one and only Bible", no different from Josh's statement.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Josh,

What gave you the idea that Catholics think Baptists are strange?

some Catholics he met in Greensboro said so.

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Tell us how we worship in a strange way.

you just described it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

the whole intercession to Mary and the saints thing. and rosaries. those are weird.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

well Josh, I think your dunking is much weirder than what they do (which is similar to us), although I do disagree with them that unbaptized infants go to hell so I agree with you there.

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oh yeah, confessing to a priest. that's weird too.

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plus the idea that any human can forgive sins is blasphemous.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

plus the idea that any human can forgive sins is blasphemous.

NO. See this is where you are going to try to change what we believe and I won't stand for it. The priest does not forgive, God does. No where is it stated that the priest forgives us.

then what's the point of the confession?

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plus the idea that any human can forgive sins is blasphemous.

Really, then why did Jesus give the Apostles such power in John 21: 22-23?

because that's different from some wordly institution deciding they can grant such power.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

They pray through Saints and Mary because before Martin Luther and Protestantism, all Christian faiths prayed Saints.  It is not Catholics who have a novel system, it is the Protestants who broke from tradition.

there was no other Christian faiths. well there was but they were burnt at the stake as heretics. Luther was a bastard though, even if he did found my church.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Like I said earlier, those churches are basically Catholicism without the Pope.

I can't believe Brambila hasn't jumped in this one yet. I want him to lecture me on how I'm going to hell for buying a pack of condoms tonight.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I was baptised as a Catholic very early on (and that can't be undone ), but I never went through confirmation.

actually I think it can if you're excommunicated. you just need to write them saying you renounced them and you're excommunicated. i know someone who did.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Josh's Bible isn't written in Old English either. If it was written in Old English, no one here would be able to understand a word of it. Old English is not Shakespeare folks.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The site that Josh's image is from is listed in Franklin's Hate Directory and is blocked by many internet filters as a hate site.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Josh, are you aware that that image is from a site which is blocked by my work's internet filter and is classified as hate speech?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

you like an anti-Semetic picture from a hate site?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

you like an anti-Semetic picture from a hate site?

What makes it a hate site?

it's classified as such because of the fact that it demonizes all non-fundamentalist Protestants and contains anti-Semetic images such as the one you had.