NotUrAvgGuy
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- Jul 19, 2015
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I too was a "cradle Catholic." I attended the church for the first 24 years of my life and went through all the catechism classes offered from youth. I even briefly thought about becoming a priest and met with two missionary priest organizations. I am well aware of the catechism of which you speak and have looked at the online version. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable although you may not always agree with my perspective as an ex-Catholic. What led me to leave is that in high school I read through the Bible 4 times. This was an official Catholic Bible and I read Genesis to Revelation 4 times. As I did that reading, I began to see areas where I did not believe the Catholic church was correct. I had the official Catholic explanations but just couldn't agree with them. At that point in time, I had no contact with Protestants or any other commentaries and this was before the Internet existed. These were not difficult passages of Scripture. The meaning seemed plain. That eventually led me to leave.Thanks again for responding to my latest post. However, once again I fail to see in this post of yours where I have been asking you for biblical reference in regard to James 5:14-16 where you say "believers have been undergoing intense persecution, they are weary, not so much in body but in spirit."
Instead of doing this, you seem to believe that I, a cradle Catholic, need a lesson on the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church, along with your personal interpretation/beliefs of various scripture passages from a self-admitted fallible non-Catholic such as yourself. With all respect, I find this quite odd.
However, I will say this, as a cradle Catholic, if I have a question on a certain belief or practice of the Catholic Church, which does happen more than I like to admit, I bring out my copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to find the truthful answer. I have had many non-Catholic friends and family members that tell me "The Catholic Church teaches this" or "the Catholic Church teaches that." When I hear a misconception of their views regarding the Catholic Church, I show them in the Catechism exactly what the Church teaches in regard to the topic at hand. When doing so, more time than not, they will say "really, this is what the Catholic Church actually teaches and practices? How did I get it so wrong?"
I would suggest to any Catholic, or non-Catholic, so not to spread misinformation regarding the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church, pick up a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or find it online to actually find the truth, and not rely on what some non-Catholic friend or pastor tells you what Catholics believe. Anyway, enough of that.
Back to the topic at hand, I will put forth to you one last time, in hopes you will address request as follows:
Nowhere in this latest post of yours do I see where it says...."He is writing to believers who have been undergoing intense persecution." Or "They are weary." Or "Not so much in body but in spirit." Could that be, because these words are nothing more than your own personal (and fallible) interpretation of James 5:14-16 which are subject to error? Keeping in mind what you said in post #971....."I only care what Scripture says." Would this also hold true with you what Scripture does not say?
Have a Blessed Day!
I think you are taking too wooden of a view of what I mean when I say I only believe what the Scriptures teach. I subscribe to the literal historic grammatical view of interpretation. In short, it means you let the text speak for itself and you interpret it using the grammar of the text, word meanings, context, and what we know of the historical context. I don't need to find exact words saying they were weary. That can be gleaned from the context and the history and finding it to be the best understanding of what the text says. Finding the exact wording in a verse is not necessary. The doctrine of the Trinity is a good example. That doctrine must be built from several verses in the Bible. There is not one perfect verse that teaches the concept in exact words yet it can be clearly found in Scripture.
This is all besides the point though of this thread which is about the propriety of "praying" to anyone other than God.
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