re: Milo on Jehovah’s Witness, Christian Scientists, Mormons, etc

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Show me one piece of Catholic douctine that states anything negative about other faiths

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I actually agree with you. Catholicism teaches that a faithful Muslim who sincerely seeks God through Islam can be saved. In fact, a faithful Muslim has a better chance at salvation than a faithful Protestant Christian, who serves Christ with his whole heart, soul, strength, and mind if said Protestant knowingly rejects the Catholic dogmas.

I, as a Reformed Christian (Protestant), can pray to God every day, seeking His care and provision for me; I can attend church weekly; I can believe that Jesus Christ as the only son of God died on the cross to save me; I can preach the gospel to the lost; and I can perform good works consistently, and yet be damned due to my lack of acceptance of some of Rome's teachings while a heathen can be potentially saved by being faithful in their religion, even if their religion rejects Jesus Christ as God and Savior.

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What people don't understand about how us Catholics feel about The Blessed Mother is really so simple that it is hard to believe that they just can't wrap their minds around it.

We give her the honor and respect that every mother should receive. She is the mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ and deserves all the respect and honor we can give her.
We pray for her to pray for us. No different than asking a friend to pray for you, we are asking Our Blessed Mother to pray for us.

Just read the Hail Mary prayer and anyone that questions our adoration for her should be able to comprehend our love for her.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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The issue isn't that you give honor to Mary, but that Rome attributes to Mary qualities that are reserved for Jesus Christ alone.

As much as Mary was blessed among women, she was merely a woman. Jesus is the God-man, and He intercedes for us with God always. There is no reason why I should pray to anyone else when Jesus is interceding for me as my representative and mediator in Heaven. Jesus loves me as His bride more than any other natural relationships save for that of His love for God the Father and the Spirit, which they have had eternal communion with one another.

If Mary were alive, I would ask her to pray for me like I would ask my biological mother to pray for me or my friend, but since she is in Heaven, I am not to pray to anyone except to God, since prayer is an act of worship, and worship should only be directed to God.

I honor Mary, but I dishonor Christ if I take what belongs to Him and give it to Mary.

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I do reject this because it isn't biblical. The keys were given to the Church through the Apostles, not just Peter.

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Wow. This is not true. Nowhere does it say this.
It is amazing to me how you can hold two opposing views of things in your mind at the same time.
Please I beg you.
Consider that the infant church struggled and debated all of these subjects and came to a decision .
He left us the church. The church is what gives authority to the Bible.
The Bible does not give authority to the church.
If you were capable of understanding this fact. The rest would fall in place. Your eyes would be opened and you know true joy.

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did he just pretend catholics aren't just as stupid? worshipping a woman who had many kids as if she's still a virgin is just as ridiculous.

if he wants others to grow up, he should set an example. he's incredibly childish.

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What planet do you live on? Do you know any Catholics? I don't know or care what beliefs you have but you're ignorant in your posting.

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I do reject this because it isn't biblical. The keys were given to the Church through the Apostles, not just Peter.

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Wow. This is not true. Nowhere does it say this.
It is amazing to me how you can hold two opposing views of things in your mind at the same time.

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I gave you the reference. Check it out for yourself.

Jesus speaks to Peter in Matt. 16 that upon his confession of Christ, Peter will be given the keys to bind and loose. Then in chapter 18, it starts with the disciples asking Jesus who the greatest was among them (confirmed in Mark 9). If Rome's interpretation of Matt. 16 is accurate, this would be a silly question for the disciples to ask, because clearly it would have been Peter. Yet they didn't assume Peter was the greatest among them, and Jesus didn't correct them and say "weren't you listening when I made Peter the Pope and head of the Church?"

But beyond that, Jesus goes on to teach the disciples, eventually coming to the topic of church discipline where Jesus, talking to all the disciples, says this: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

As you can see, Jesus repeats what He said to Peter about the keys, but He does so to the disciples as a group.

So yes, Peter did have the keys as Jesus told him in Matt. 16, but it's not because Peter was the only one with the keys, but because he was one of several that held the keys because they were to be the Apostles that had Christ's authority over the Church. This authority was then passed on to the elders/overseers for when the Apostles died, so that the "succession" of key-holders wouldn't end in Christ's Church. It just wasn't relegated to Peter alone.

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Please I beg you.
Consider that the infant church struggled and debated all of these subjects and came to a decision.

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The Church is not infallible, but only God is. The Church once sided against Athanasius regarding the Arian controversy, with even the Bishop of Rome (Liberius) signing a creed that opposed Athanasius. It's why Athanasius had this phrase said about him, Athanasius contra mundum, or Athanasius against the world. And this was for a critical Christian doctrine on the Trinity and nature of Christ.

So no, the Church has not been perfect and infallible. Only God's Word in the Scriptures is perfect and infallible.

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He left us the church. The church is what gives authority to the Bible.

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No. God's word is self-authoritative as God's word. God gave us the Scriptures and the Scriptures, as God's word, have inherent authority.

What you probably mean is that the Church recognized and accepted the Scriptures as the Scriptures, which she did. Believing God's word is God's word is different from claiming authority over God's word.

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The Bible does not give authority to the church.

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The Bible is the authority over the Church, because only the Bible is infallible and inerrant. The Bible is God's very word and there is no higher authority than God. The Bible, itself, gives evidence of this. If the Church--the leaders or the members--go against what God has commanded, the Church is to repent. The first few chapters of Revelation speak to this, as well. There is a threatening of God removing the lampstand from the congregations for not doing and being what God has commanded them to do and be.

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If you were capable of understanding this fact. The rest would fall in place. Your eyes would be opened and you know true joy.

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I'm quite aware that Catholicism rises or falls on whether or not she is the highest authority. It's what this all boils down to: authority.

Rome teaches that there are three equal authorities: the written tradition (the Bible), the oral apostolic tradition, and the magisterium (the church bishops/councils). Rome also teaches that the magisterium is infallible because she believes the Holy Spirit will not allow the Church to err. Therefore, if the Church decides something is the case, it must be the case, making the Church the highest authority in practice (if the Church determines what is Scripture and how it can be interpreted and if she determines what is oral tradition and how it can be interpreted, then the Church becomes the functional authority over both).

I believe the Scripture teaches that only the Bible is God-breathed and therefore only it is infallible. Because of this, if the Church teaches something that is not taught by God through the Scriptures, either overtly or through good and necessary consequence, then Christians are not bound to obey it but must always obey God rather than men if there is a conflict.

I have true joy in God through His Scriptures as they reveal Jesus Christ. My joy is ultimately in Christ, not in the Church, though I do love Christ's Church.

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Faraway's incredibly childish

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Catholicism teaches that a faithful Muslim who sincerely seeks God through Islam can be saved. In fact, a faithful Muslim has a better chance at salvation than a faithful Protestant Christian

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Where do you people come up with this stuff?!

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The Catholic Church put the 73 books of the Bible together. Otherwise, you wouldn't have the infallible Bible. If the Bible is indeed infallible, wouldn't the group that put it together have at the very least more authority than you or I?

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The question isn't whether or not the Church has authority, but what the highest authority is? I don't deny that the Church has authority but I deny that she is authoritative in herself as a separate standard from God's word.

Rome says that the Church is the final authority (at least, in practice), while I say that God is the final authority and His Word is what we have as His revelation that is authoritative for us.

Rome says that the Bible is the Bible because of the Church where Protestants say the Bible is the Bible because it is God's revelation and therefore it is His word and authority.