Thread

Giants. There were giants

Didn’t he leave because the Catholic Church had financial issues and starting selling indulgences?

Why would that cause him to remove books from the Bible?

After his removal of the texts, did the Catholic Church keep those books in their texts until present day? Which books did he remove?

Yes. Among other things. I had a thought today. One of the main reasons for the Protestant Reformation was the printing press. People began reading the Bible for themselves and drew their own conclusions instead of relying on the Church to interpret the Bible. This reminds me of the internet where more information is readily available to the masses and people can begin find information for themselves instead of relying on main stream news sources. I still have a fondness for the Catholic Church, but like all institutions run by humans, it’s not perfect and the printing press exposed these shortcomings.

Yes they did. “Seven books commonly found in Catholic Bibles but excluded from Protestant Bibles are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, and 1 & 2 Maccabees. Additionally, there are differences in the versions of Esther and Daniel included in these traditions”

I haven’t read these books. Gonna have to.

Check them out, the book of Wisdom is amazing. It’s describes our modern culture in chapter 2.

Now instead of 1 we have 30,000+ Christian churches who can't agree on even basic truths of our faith. Yet Catholicism remains the same.

Indeed. I don’t subscribe either way (Protestant, Catholic, EO) being the absolute best denomination. I was raised Catholic and now go to an Episcopal Church (mainly because I really like the priest). It’s a good blend between Catholicism and Protestantism. Idk if having multiple denominations is a good or bad thing. On one end I’d like a unified Church. On the other hand I like the decentralization of Church. At the end of the day Christ is King. Christ is Lord. Christ is my savior.

The Bible I read is an Orthodox Study Bible. So I’m really all over the place with which denomination I follow. I like to look at all of them unbiased and objectively.

It does not look like you had a good catechism. Did you have a daily life of prayers? Did you use to pray the rosary, including meditations upon the fruits of the mysteries? Did you use to meditate upon the solemnities and devotions along the year? Did you have a usual examination of conscience, as per the proper guide for such examination, and regular confession? Some people do say "I used to be Catholic" without ever actually practicing the faith. Lukewarmness is an enemy to the soul. It's fruits are lapsed Catholics. Any protestant (as you are, although not admittedly) who actually delve into the fundaments of catholicism, becomes Catholic. Ask Scott Hahn, for example.

None of those words are in The Bible. Ephesians 2:8 Acts 16:31

Yeah. I went to Catholic School. Did the Confirmation. Went to Church regularly. Prayed the rosary. Did most of the stuff you mentioned. A lot of the people in the Episcopal church I go to grew up Catholic. It’s like Catholicism except it’s trips out the idolatry and we don’t pray to Mary. We still receive the Eucharist, follow Divine Liturgy, Nicene Creed is the same, etc. Although I do love the song ‘Ave Maria’.

Very well articulated. Your thoughts are now mine also, I will be telling that to someone in the near future