re: Pope (emeritus) Benedict has died

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s my priest would say "if you're going to be Anglican, then be the best Anglican you can be". The church doesn't teach that you have to be Roman Catholic to go to Heaven.

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What does the church teach about how to go to heaven?

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To summarize: repent, have faith, and be baptized. From there, remain in a state of grace.

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How do you remain in a state of grace?

Edited to add follow up question: How do you repent?

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the simple faith of the apostles

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RC revert here, I was baptized and not well formed. This led to some wandering until I fell into line with Reformed thinking for a number of years. The stumbling block that led "back across the Tiber" was sola scriptura. You earlier stated that you left Catholicism for a confessional form of Protestantism (i may have missed the specific branch). How do you square sola scriptura when the Biblical evidence for it is lacking, the historical practice was not possible (in the early Church) or not visible once It was bound (prior to Luther's revolt)?

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Another "thought" leader for mid-wit white male atheists without a positive father figure.

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On this, we can heartily agree. Yet, do Sam Harris or any of his fellow travelers exist without the dawn of Protestant-birthed moral relativism ushered in through the "enlightenment"?

Making each man his own denomination and arbiter of Truth brought forth the bitter fruit of the protestant rebellion: the "personal truth". Harris is latest in a long line of radical individualists who reject the authority of God and all Christianity, just as Protestants rejected God's designs for a universal Church and the accompanying sacraments. When men decide that their fleeting might makes right we shouldn't be suprised to see the chaos unfold.

Read the link the OP posted.

Their words, not mine

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Then what of the obsessive Marian worship? RCC's prayers assigned to HER they believe confer Divine power as a "Mediatrix" TO Jesus Christ? What of the supposed "Mediation" of the Saints -- again as "Mediator" TO Jesus Christ?

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I would guess the point at issue comes from the 2nd Vatican Council. When it says the following.

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62. This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and cultics, until they are led into the happiness of their true home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix.

This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator. For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.

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show me in the above quotation where Mary has "divine" power? You may glance over the most important part of the paragraph. I've bolded it.

But basically Jesus Christ is the one meditator but he allows us to cooperate in bringing people to him and to the Father. Mary is the ultimate cooperator in the salvation Jesus gave us. She said yes to the will of God, her yes brought us salvation. I'm not saying that her yes is what saved us, but her yes is what allowed Jesus to be born and to save us.

I think this video helps to explain what is meant by mediatrix.

LINK