Hi Oneway, nice to meet you!

BEP- thanks for your prayers!

Justme, thats a pretty broad assumption that most Catholics are not well educated in the Bible.I've met more than my share of evangelical, fundamentalist, mainline protestant, and any number of the other so called 'word church' members who don't have a clue either.  Obviously if reading scripture and having it be simlpe to understand were the case,there wouldn't be 20,000-30,000 different sects all
with a different take on things now would there? I'm sure that the churches you and Heidi attend have the full truth above all others and are the fast lane to Heaven, or until something pops up that doesn't fit your way of thinking, and then you can always go church shopping for another that better fits what YOU want to hear.

I do my best to help Christians understand the Word of God, so do most of the Christians I know.

I have tried very hard to refrain from making personal attacks because it does not make for a constructive conversation.

In quite a few posts, you have called others judgemental, yet you've failed to see the fact that you are judging them also. If you continue to pass judgements on others and then tell them not to be judgemental- what does that make you?

I have many times squirmed in my seat because the pastor said or read something in the Bible that made me feel conviction. Many Christians I know have felt convicted at times. I can't say the same is true of the Catholics I know.

Yeah, Rich, color me surprised. I thought all Catholics where well-versed in the Catecism and wise is the ways of the Lord Tell me, justme, do you also stop eating when you had a taste of something bad? Don't make these a Hasty Generalization. Your In-laws personal belief doesn't prove anything but that you marrying into a family of people who care little for the faith.

How in the world do we know what you have studied and what you have not studied, Heidi? Simple. Unlike Justme's family, we  know what we believe. So, when you tell us something like "Catholics worship Mary," you can't back it up, as we have yet to meet a Catholic who does worship Mary, and we know by their fruits they are Christian. We know what you have and have not studied by your fruits, Heidi. By the words that come from your fingertips, we can tell you know nothing of Catholics or what they believe.

Oh, my in-laws aren't the only Catholics I know. I've known many, many Catholics who do believe they worship Mary.

Now, I've had people on many message boards claim that these are just uninformed or misguided Catholics.
If they are so misinformed, why isn't the church doing more to inform them?

Well . . . . money talks as they say and so far the movie has grossed over 500 mil.  There is already talk of a sequel and you can bet that the Christian community will embrace it fully.  Mel has become the newest "apostle of the gospel" - so much for discernment  . . .  

Sad, but true.

I have been wondering if Evangelical's acceptance of The Passion and movies like this has anything to do with the RCC's envolvment with the World Council of Churches?

I joined one for awhile and eventually found out it was too....pro Roman Catholic...I couldn't stand it so I left. Is this forum leaning towards any denomination or belief?

I haven't been a member that long either. (In fact, I just decided to post an introduction to myself this afternoon.) However, it seems to be a great site made up mostly of Protestants.

My mother-in-law has been a Catholic all of her 60 years on this earth. Unfortunately, she is as well educated on the Bible as the overwhelming majority of the Catholics I have met.

BEP- Happy belated bday!

Mine is 1/11/65 and 2/27/94.

Unfortunately, I've been to Bible Studies like this!  

Maybe I should have introduced myself before jumping in with both feet in debating with everyone.  

My name is Roberta. I was born and raised as an orphan in SC until I was adopted into a Navy family at the age of 8.
I'm 39, Christian, wife, homeschool mom and Wal*Mart Cashier/Service Desk Associate.  

My husband was laid off and has not been able to find employment for the last 14 months.   The Lord has been good to us and has always provided for us.  

I was raised a Lutheran. I know this only because one day I asked my parents what religion we were and they said we were Lutheran. I don't know why they thought we were Lutheran because Dad was an atheist and Mom followed the teachings of EST and other cults. They have been divorced since I was 12. Dad is now an agnostic and Mom is an SDA.  

I'm am neither a Calvinist, Arminian or Wesleyan. I really don't think that it is important to follow any of those doctrines as long as I keep my focus on Christ. However, I do love learning about our early church fathers, that is why I ask questions about them.  

I love reading and participating in debate threads so that I can learn.  

I have a very dry sense of humor which unintentionally offends people at times, especially if I'm disagreeing with them in a debate thread. I say things to hopefully lighten the mood and sometimes people get upset and the mood doesn't get lightened at all.  

I look forward to getting to know you all!  

BTW- if you didn't notice, I can be very long-winded.  

As stated by, Tibby i know of no Catholic who thinks the Pope has not sinned, he goes to confesion just like the rest of us do. By the way he does not call himself holy father, we do (but we mean it in the definition used above).

My Catholic mother-in-law would disagree with you and tibby.

Malky- I agree with what you've said. However, I do not think that one is a good or bad Christian based on their decision to see or not see a movie.

What gets me is how many Christians claiming this movie brought them closer to God. It's just a movie!

We must realize that the Book is always better than the movie. However, in this case the movie wasn't that closely based on the Book.

I'm curious to see where Mel will go from here?
Will he continue down this path?
Or will he go back to making movies where he is swearing, adultering, etc?

My husband and I saw The Passion because it was so highly encouraged by many well know Evangelical Christians.
Although we knew that Mel is a Catholic, we did not expect to see that much Catholicism in the movie.

My husband grew up Catholic and when we go visit his family, we usually attend mass with them (just as they attend our Protestant church when they come to visit us.)
I have been to mass probably 35-40 times over the last 9 years of our marriage.

I learned more about Catholicism in The Passion than I did in all those times that I attended mass.
Knowing the deceptions in the Catholic church, it alarms me that well-known Evangelicals, who are supposedly very well educated in doctrinal issues, so freely promoted the movie.

I do not feel that The Passion is Biblically accurate, however, I do not think that Christians are good or bad based on their decision to see or not see this movie.
After all, it's just a movie.

    Pretty good, justme.   So you could actually lock someone in there, huh.


I'd sorta hoped CU was the first to have a "jail".


What IS the difference between a chat room and a forum, anyway?

The difference between chat and forums is that chat is generally a couple of people in a "room" talking (ok, typing). It's "live" so to speak. Sometimes they are all invovled in the same conversation, sometimes not.

Forums are message boards where you can respond to something that someone said a few weeks or even a few months ago, or something they may have said a minute earlier.

I started off on the net about 6 or 7 years ago, hanging out mostly in Christian chat rooms. About 5 years ago, someone encouraged me to post homeschooling question in a homeschool forum. I was hooked!

Although both are great ways for Christians to fellowship and witness, I do have a preference for forums.

Regarding locking myself in jail, my family had a hard time letting me live that one down too.
However, my husband and neighbor lead a jail ministry and they did promise to come visit me every Saturday and Tuesday.  

Hey Heidi- I love my family and friends. When I go grocery shopping, I only bring home the finest, freshest fruits for them to eat.
Nothing wrong with being a fruit inspector in the Spiritual sense either.

This morning's sermon was on Mark 7:1-23. It could easily be applied to many churches, especially the RCC.

Calling oneself the Holy Father and infallible is not seeing oneself as just a man. The only one who deserves those titles is God Himself. We are all sinners, no better or worse then the next guy. The most humble of us is the one who sees the degree of man's sinful nature and knows that none of us deserves the title "Hoy Father". He gives no credit to himself but to God alone for his goodness. Such a man would be sickened at being called a holy father. that's why Peter responded that he was just a man. the catholic church disagrees with him. I do not.

Amen!