David Cameron came in for a deal of mockery for his comment that for him, faith was like a poor radio signal – it came in and out, and reception was often poor. But I wonder if he didn’t, in fact, speak for many? I don’t know the last time any of you tried to uproot a mountain by the exercise of your faith, but I can’t say I have ever found the attempt to do so successful. I think even the most literal interpreter of Scripture recognises that such passages are not to be taken literally – though our friend Bosco may want to differ. We are saved by faith in Christ, and we know that faith should produce good fruit, but beyond that we enter an area of great subjectivity. In the absence of any of us moving mountains, we cannot evidence that which is to save us, and the God who will judge us can, alone, know the secrets of our hearts.
We know from the lives of the Saints that many of them have gone through what St John of the Cross calls the ‘dark night of the soul. There was much press speculation when St Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s diaries were published and it was revealed that for many years she had felt cut off from God. I know many Christians who found them helpful, as they recognised what she described; if a saint like Mother Teresa could feel this, then it somehow made it easier for those who were not fit to loose the latchet on her sandals. Prayer is our conversation with God, and one of th complaints most often aired by people is that it is one way; but Mother Teresa kept on talking, and so should we.
What can we do to help, if not our faith, then at least our difficulties with it? We can read Scripture, prayerfully, and we can attend church regularly, and we can talk with our fellow Christians. We can try to create space in our day for prayer and Scripture- are we really so buy that we have not a spare few moments? I find habit helps here. If I pray the Rosary at ththe same time every day, I find myself looking forward to that quiet time, and it becomes a part of the day set aside for God. Each to his or her own, but one thing seems to me sure, which is that Faith resembles a muscle, the more we use it, the stronger it gets.
All Along the Watchtower 
Strikes me as one of Cameron’s better comments. It’s surely been true for me over the years, and still sometimes is. Much of the problem, at least for me, is understanding that what God wants is not always what I want. From what I see, that’s not unique to me, nor do I think any of us is in complete control of that in our minds and hearts.
I also think you provide practically the only cure, although I suspect for most of us, not excluding Bosco, it’s at best a partial one. Still, I suppose the Boss that made us, understands that as well.
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That’s certainly what I am hoping 😊
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🙂
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Torch of The Faith has a good book recommendation for Advent today. http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the ways of Thine only-begotten Son: that through His coming we may be ready to serve Thee with purified minds (Collect Prayer for the Second Sunday of Advent in the Traditional Latin Mass).
We always think that this Second Sunday of Advent gives an opportunity to reflect and take stock of how well, or not, we are preparing our hearts to meet Our Blessed Lord; and to ask for His grace to keep a good Advent.
A few years ago, we came across a marvellous Advent resource in the form of St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s book, The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ. We highly recommend this book, because it has such a wealth of solid teaching, powerful devotions and practical suggestions for the spiritual life.
The contents include: meditations for every single day of Advent; extra meditations for the first eight days of Advent; discourses and meditations for the Novena of Christmas; meditations for the Octave of Christmas; meditations for the following days until Epiphany; proofs that Jesus Christ has given us His love in the work of Redemption; and various hymns and prayers.
What follows is taken from the Affections and Prayers in the meditation for this Second Sunday of Advent.
O my Jesus! if Thou hadst not accepted and suffered death for me, I should have remained dead in my sins, without hope of salvation and without the power of ever loving Thee.
But after Thou hast obtained life for me by Thy death, I have again many times voluntarily forfeited it by returning to sin. Thou didst die to gain my heart to Thyself, and I by my rebellion have made it a slave of the devil. I lost all reverence for Thee, and I said that I would no longer have Thee for my master.
All this is true; but it is also true that Thou desirest not the death of the sinner, but that he should be converted and live; and therefore didst Thou die to give us life.
I repent of having offended Thee, my dearest Redeemer; and do Thou pardon me through the merits of Thy passion; give me Thy grace; give me that life which Thou hast purchased for me by Thy death, and henceforth mayest Thou have entire dominion over my heart.
Never let the devil have possession of it again; he is not my God, he does not love me, and has not suffered anything for me. In past times he was not the true sovereign, but the robber of my soul; Thou alone, my Jesus, art my true Lord, Who hast created me and redeemed me with Thy Blood; Thou alone hast loved me, and oh, how much!
It is therefore only just that I should be Thine alone during the life that remains to me. Tell me what Thou wouldst have me to do; for I will do it all. Chastise me as Thou wilt; I accept everything Thou sendest me; only spare me the chastisement of living without Thy love; make me love Thee, and then dispose of me as Thou wilt.
Most holy Mary, my refuge and consolation, recommend me to thy Son: His death and thy intercession are all my hope.
We pray for a fruitful Second Sunday of Advent for all our readers.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori – Pray for us!
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Available as PDF here: https://www.archive.org/stream/incarnationofjes04liguuoft?ref=ol#page/n23/mode/2up
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Wow, it’s an audio book also! Thanks.
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This piece also touches on another aspect of what faith (πιστις) means in the Scripture: faithfulness. In talking of salvation (for example in Romans), the writers of Scripture are referring to faithfulness to Yahweh – that means choosing to follow Him, and rejecting the other gods, now and forever. I have recently finished reading a very good series on this and how it affects our understanding of the OT and the Cross.
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Sounds interesting Nicholas
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Yes, if you’d like the link: http://drmsh.com/author/ronnjohnson/
You may not agree with all of the conclusions, but this is a good survey of the material.
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I reflect: it is not recorded that Christ moved any mountain, though He assuredly could have done so. But it is piously believed that some of his saints did this. To this extent, the scripture is literally true.
A faith that must test itself by the attempt to move a mountain, is perhaps not as strong as that faith which does not see the need for such a test. But they that move mountains, are strong in faith.
Our affective dispositions in the life of faith will ebb and flow. But the content of our faith should remain unshaken; to doubt in a matter of faith is a sin.
The dark night of the soul doesn’t entail sinful doubt; it is a process of purification, which involves the loss of spiritual consolations. Suffering yes, but not doubt as such.
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I think we make ourselves look credulous if we think anyone has moved a mountain – pious belief should not be a synonym for believing any old rubbish.
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I believe it. I don’t insist that you should believe it, but I believe it.
I’d rather go to my Judge appearing too credulous, than too incredulous.
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Fine, but in terms of talking to the public that puts one in the ‘sky fairy# league – no evidence, but hey, I want to believe it so it must be true. Not, I think, a good tactic in apologetics.
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People in Post-Christian Europe who do not accept the Resurrection generally do so because because, from their point of view, no evidence could ever be sufficient. They exclude miracles a priori.
If you do not think miracles are inherently improbable, then you will be open to other miracles.
If there is a tradition in Orthodox circles that at the word of a certain saint a mountain was removed and went into the sea, I am ready to believe it. Such a miracle is worthy of God, which suffices for intrinsic plausibility.
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The Resurrection is much harder to believe in than the translation of a mountain.
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No, we have plenty of eye-witness evidence. Do we have 500 people who say they saw a mountain move?
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Are you familiar with Ignatian spirituality? I’m only beginning to study it, but what little I have learned has been tremendously helpful, especially regarding the spiritual desolation to which you refer.
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Yes, I am, and you are quite correct.
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Most holy Mary, my refuge and consolation, recommend me to thy Son: His death and thy intercession are all my hope/
How come praying to Mary isn’t once mentioned in the bible?
Youre not going to wake up in hell because you believed in a queen of heaven that god hates. Youre going to wake up in hell because you follow a substitute Christ. You wake up in hell because you never knew Jesus. You thought a cracker and a queen of heaven was going to save you. Most people are going to hell. Im very sorry that its going to be my friends that are going. They trust in fish hats and queen of heaven and crackers. Babylon Mystery Religion. They love it and wont leave it. Someone has to be in it or Jesus wouldn’t have mentioned the Babylon mystery religion. Pins cones, dagon fish hats, Semiramis, tammuz. its all there and its devotees love it. Your time is up. You filthy idolaters will stay filthy still.
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As you keep being told, no one, except you, thinks any one worships Mary. I am sure there must be a point in your perpetuating your own lie, but except to show that even when you are corrected, you can’t help it, I’m not sure what it is.
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Two things good brother Chalcedon…..a lie is something said that the sayer knows to be false. If you have noticed ive never called you a liar because I believe you sincerely believe what you say.You say im a liar. But your pedophile holymen do wear dagon fish hats. You call me a liar but you never say what im lying about. You cant say im lying about the pine cone staff of Bacchus that your chief molester holds. You cant say god loves a queen of heaven. You just say im a liar. I don’t mind. Im hoping you find in your heart that you neede Jesus instead of a Babylonian religion for salvation.
The second thing…..you said I accused you of w2orshiping Mary in my above post. Cut and paste where I said that and I will apologize and go away and never come back to this Babylonian dagon worshiping site. If you cant produce it, I want you to admit you cant read and that you hallucinate. And that you accuse me falsely. Your prob is that you and your other dagon worshipers see red when I expose your idolatry.
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…. they do worship Mary – by any definition of the word ‘worship’ that isn’t too clever by half.
They’ve never succeeded in giving a definition of ‘veneration’ is that doesn’t look exactly like what I always thought ‘worship’ was supposed to be.
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Jock, it’s terribly simple. Worship is what we give to the uncreated God, veneration is what we give to any creature deserving of it. Since God tells us through Scripture that the name of Mary will be blessed by all generations, we bless her name; what is it you do?
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It doesn’t tell me what ‘veneration’ means.
There is a world of grammatical difference between ‘will be blessed’ (passive) and ‘we bless’ (active).
Blessing goes (as I understand it) from the greater to the lesser. This is the striking feature of Jacob blessing Pharaoh when he met him; Jacob presumed a greater status and Pharaoh accepted this. Whatever I personally ‘do’, I know intuitively to be ‘filthy rags’ before a Holy God.
So while Mary is blessed by all generations, this does not mean individuals who actively do some thing bless her and it is presumptuous of you to imagine that you bless her by your act of veneration (whatever it is that you do).
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Whenever I find myself straining to have to redefine words, I usually know I am wrong. Where is it written that in saying Mary’s name will a,ways be blessed, that means the blessing goes only from the higher. We bless Mary, the Bible says that will happen. I missed where you said what it was you do.
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As far as I can see, you are the one who is re-defining words – so presumably you know that you are wrong.
Well, if you think that you bless God, then best of luck. Most of us think of our works as ‘filthy rags’ which don’t bless anybody. Perhaps you are a superior being.
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Now where did I say we bless God. I said we call Mary blessed, asked you whether you called her bless, and you, wisely, changed the subject.
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Well, then we have been talking at cross purposes.
Mary is blessed; Scripture tells us so. Whether or not you or I or indeed anybody else calls her blessed is irrelevant.
Or does ‘veneration’ simply mean ‘statement of a fact’?
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Veneration means acknowledging she is blessed. Glad you venerate her too.
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By this definition, I also venerate myself – and everybody else who has been brought into the number of the Saviour’s family.
Surely you require something in addition to this.
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It’s only the same if you can prove the Bible says all generations will bless your name ☺️
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Good brother Jock, they say Mary is queeof heaven with her on throne in heaven, they carry her graven image on their shoulders, they bow to the ground befor her image, their church declairs that her graven images com alive and move and bleed and do miracles, they go to adoration events…….but they don’t worship her. AT LEAST they tell the prots that.
That’s not why they will wake up in hell. I am guilty of idolatry. They, like anyone, must open the door to Jesus.
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Bosco. I wrote a whole post (put ‘Dagon fish hats into the search bar and you will turn it up) refuting the hat legend. You assert, of have I got you wrong, that because the pine cone is there it means the Vatican takes the same view of it as pagan did. You did not accuse me of worshipping her but you accused my church of worshipping her, and since I hold all my church holds to be true, by extrapolation you accused me.
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You said that you don’t go overboard with Mariology like a lot of cathols do. I assume that means you don’t believe everything every cathol believes. No to cathols agree on everything.
As for the Babylonian Nimrod religion and its symbolism……whats it doing all over the catholic church?
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If you put it there, you’ll find what you’re looking for. You are relying on some very dodgy nineteenth century ‘scholarship’ from anti-Catholc sources – so, of course, you reach some dodgy anti-Catholic conclusions.
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What is anti catholic? Is this someone who just hates the catholic religion for no good reason? How about anti false religions? Someone who points out all the false believes and practices of false religions. They aren’t anti anything. They just put the truth out. The devotees of the false religions then claim these people just are anti their religion. Try this out……maybe these anti catholics are trying to warn you. You say people who stand on the bible are haters because they say there is no Mary queen of heaven. You cathols are relying on this Mary to pray for you on the hr of your demise. Does it enter your thick head that this person is warning you that there is no Mary and that you will wake up in hell expecting some queen of heaven to save you?
Just because the catholic church has renamed all the Babylonian symbols different names doesn’t change the sick sad fact that they are Babylonian pagan satanic symbols. I fully understand that you must defend your religion and say it aint so, or something like that. Fish hat isn’t a fish hat…a pine cone staff isn’t a pine cone staff. It keeps you from waking up in the night and screaming.
Have a nice day
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No. Anti-Catholic is repeating stories with no foundation. You state Catholics worship Mary; they don’t. You state we are relying on Mary to save us, we aren’t, we know there is one Saviour. You thinking is so sloppy, and you seem to think everyone else is as sloppy.
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Throughout the last two decades, there has been an increasing interest in three words used to honor Our Blessed Mother and describe her role in our regard: Co–redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate.
http://www.cuf.org/2007/05/faith-fact-co-redemptrix-mediatrix-of-all-graces-and-advocate/
Your church, as you must well know, claims Mary as co redemtrix or co redeemer. But, that’s not why people go to the lake of fire. Not being born again is the reason for hellfire. If the catholic religion has its flock asking Mary for help, they wont get any, and die unsaved. Joseph Smith wont save you, neither will Budha. Your cult claims MARY give out all graces. People who believe these things either…A; have never opened a bible….or…B; don’t believe one gat danged word of it. Its time to ask yourself if your religion is leading you astray or not. At least the prot demoninations don’t bar the way to salvation with supposed saints(who happen to be all catholic down the line) or some queen of heaven who doesn’t exist. The unsaved will fall for anything and everything. You can see that. God gave the human race watchmen to tell people the good news….that you don’t have to be saddled with some false religion. Jesus burden is light. He stands at the door and knocks. Now that you have heard the word, you have no excuse. If you die expecting this religion and its rituals will save you, you die unsaved. You cant tell god that you didn’t know. People are now free to choose religion or a relation.
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We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses – the Saints. Your man-made imitation of Christianity may not know this – the real Church, founded by Jesus, does.
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Which is more Christ-like: to revere and honour the Mother of Christ, the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, and love her as a mother, or to reject all familiar feeling towards that same Mother as bordering on (if not fall-blown) idolatry?
You have no society with the Mother of Christ, or indeed with St Joseph, His foster-father, or indeed with any of the other saints and the extended Holy Family of Our Lord, in both the spirit and the flesh. You don’t ever speak with them, or honour them with your words; you have nothing but bile to pour out against them.
So how do you claim to be of the Household of God, when you despise God’s own family? You are an impostor.
Do you confess this creed: “I believe in … the Communion of Saints”? So what communion do you have with the saints who have attained Glory before you? None. They are to you simply as dead men, but Our God is not the God of the dead. So who is your god, if not the Devil?
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Furthermore, even if one finds it objectionable to seek the intercession of the saints triumphant, one might still recite the Salutatio or the Magnificat.
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Very true.
Luckily for such people (and for all of us), the Saints will continue to intercede, whether we seek it or not.
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You have reminded me: is there any recent Catholic scholarship on the role of the Church Triumphant as the new Divine Council?
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I will ask one of my more scholarly acquaintances and get back to you.
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Gratias ago tibi. 🙂
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Creed? I don’t need no stinking creed.I don’t know Mary or Joseph or any of the saints that died befor me. They probably were nice people, or my guess, they were dunderheads. I don’t have the energy to worry. The Lord is my Shepherd, not dead men. I leave the cathols to follow dead men, and they will follow them to the grave.
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Better Hell on your own terms, rather than Heaven on anyone else’s terms, eh Bosco?
God is not the God of the dead. (Mk 12:27)
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He is the god of the living. You are correct Quiav the Great.
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For a while our companies were members of a Christian Chamber of Commerce (CCC). It was particularly useful for my wife’s dissertation when she pursued her MBA research among a number of companies to compare those with a particularly Christian ethos and management and others. The title of her work was “Called to be Different – the Relationship of the Holy Spirit to Business”. This was prompted by our personal experience in business which is another remarkable story.
To get to the point of this comment. The CCC put out a tape as a method of recruiting Christian companies and it contained the following story.
The founder of the CCC visited a furniture manufacturing company operated by a Christian and questioned how the business was going. The report was that business was going well. But further questioning revealed that there was a ‘mountain’ in the business.
They were manufacturing for one customer who stipulated that there were to be no knots in the wood they used in his furniture. Consequently they had a ‘mountain’ of short pieces of knotty wood that had had all been paid for in this manufacturing process.
If only they could do something with it!
The CCC founder told the owner to call all his manager and supervisors into the store area where this ‘mountain’ of wood was. He read the ‘mountain moving’ passage from the gospel to them. He then proceeded to pray and commanded in the name of Jesus that this mountain move out the door in the form of profitable produce.
The next day the company owner received a call. It was an enquiry for him to make kitchen units doors and side trims etc. The caller explained there was something of a problem in his specification. He wanted these articles made entirely of wood with lots of knots.
The ‘mountain’ moved and gave testimony to the factory staff of the power of ‘the prayer of faith’ and the trustworthiness of the Saviour. No doubt why all the senior staff had been summoned to witness the prayer and its answer.
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What a wonderful testimony – thank you for sharing it.
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Steady on, Chalcedon, my dear chap – you’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?
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No, not at all.
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Jock, you do believe in miracles, don’t you?
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loving mother of the redeemer, gate of heaven.
Gate of heaven. You teach this blasphemy to your children. Give me just one reference to any of this Mary stuff in the old or new test and I will admit defeat. And no, don’t try the woman of Rev 12, because she is the tribe of Israel. The 12 stars is Rachel and the moon is Abraham. If Mary was the dispenser of all grace and salvation, why didn’t any of the apostles mention that in the NT? Ah, who cares.? You semiramis worshipers care. Time to ask Jesus to come sup with you.
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Give me one reference in the NT to what books are in the NT, or the fact there is an NT and then we can talk about why mention in the NT is all that you need.
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Where else in this round wide world would we go to find out about the apostles words and goings on and Jesus Words and doings except for the scriptures?
You want a reference to what books are in the bible? Open the cover and look in the table of contents.
My god is a strong god and he gave me a complete book to read about him. He used who he wanted to complete it and get a copy into my hot little hands. Im going to guess you want the credit to go to men. That’s typical of the religion you subscribe to. Its a cult of personality replete with all sorts of costumed holymen with different titles and special powers. Cathols hold these men up in high regards, manufactor feast days in honor of them….my favorite being the Feast Day of St Bosco.
Ive lamblasted the catholic church and the Mormons and the jehovas plenty. Now its time for me to lamblast my side of the street. Prots(Methodist, Baptists and what ever) celebrate Babylonian holydays. I , myself, bought some cool looking spooky skeletons and stuff last month, and they are still hanging up around the house. We are gearing for chriatmas and then easter. If I lived alone I wouldn’t celebrate as much. The calvary chapel wont even mention the names of those holydays. So, in short, I too have a picture of MOM(the mother of Harlots) in my wallet. So who am I to point a finger at cathols or any other sick sad religion.
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Fail, Bosco. It was the church you hate which decided what books were Scripture and write the contents page. God worked through the church, he did not dictate the Bible to you. You’re a joke – you accept the book of the Church yet claim to know better than the church how to read it. You’d be more fun if you were not do ignorant.
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I don’t hate the catholic church. There is no catholic church. it exists in the minds of men. I only warn you to drop that stuff and seek the risen Christ befor its too late.
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You clearly don’t believe Jesus. He told us was founding a church which would endure even against the gates of hell. It still exists I am part of it. When you get there, the Church is there for you too.
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Thanks for the invite, but there are too many pedophile priests for me to bring my family into that snake pit.
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