I know several men that were molested by Priests when they were boys. Anecdotal. But coupled with the consistent reporting of Pedophilia within the Catholic church... I am far more inclined to believe that the Catholic church is less "the Church" and more a way for Satan to get at young, Christian males. To break into their spirits, hijack their faith and them use them to do the same to others.
I do not believe I have been deceived, I am extremely skeptical of the media and do know they have an inherent hatred for Christ and the church.
For example, I was never on the George Pell hatred bandwagon, he got lambasted in the media and that is enough for me to push back against their accusations and without evidence.
But looking back DECADES at the consistent reporting of these issues within the Catholic church along with the many doctrine based fallacies, one could argue that Catholicism is less about the exaltation of Christ and more about the exaltation of man and ritual.
I am not opposed to your viewpoint, I can honestly say I don't know enough about the Catholic Church from 150 years ago (as conceived by Aquinas and Augustine as you put it) to make an accurate judgement about it.
I will do the research however and take a look... but if I see:
confessing to a priest
petitioning the saints and/or mary
the only guy handing out communion is the priest
I'm going to call it what it actually is... a bastardization of the word of God. Its close to correct... but far enough to cause you issues in the after-life.
Heres a great example... Latter-Day Saints... they claim to worship Jesus Christ. But their Jesus Christ is also Lucifers brother. They claim Jesus Christ is the Lord of this Earth and they will be like him one day and have their own planet to govern... this is not the true Jesus. So when they pray and ask their Jesus for forgiveness, it's not the Jesus of the Bible... it's the Jesus of the Book of Mormon. And as we know... if it ain't Jesus, it's Satan.
If you twist the word, if you insert ritual and remove relationship with Christ... you get Chaff.
I would much rather ask Jesus for forgiveness then a man, you know... like it says in the New Testament.
Catholicism is full of rituals that have nothing to do with the core values of what Jesus Christ taught.
Jesus sought to break down the traditional barriers of 'religion' and replace it a personal 'relationship' with him.
Mary... the Saints... they are all just dead people. Jesus is alive.
I will not take pointers from a religion that is earmarked by their prevalent pedophilia.
Protestants may have split the Christian faith along doctrine lines, but without it, I would probably have been molested as a little boy.
I know several men that were molested by Priests when they were boys. Anecdotal. But coupled with the consistent reporting of Pedophilia within the Catholic church... I am far more inclined to believe that the Catholic church is less "the Church" and more a way for Satan to get at young, Christian males. To break into their spirits, hijack their faith and them use them to do the same to others.
I do not believe I have been deceived, I am extremely skeptical of the media and do know they have an inherent hatred for Christ and the church.
For example, I was never on the George Pell hatred bandwagon, he got lambasted in the media and that is enough for me to push back against their accusations and without evidence.
But looking back DECADES at the consistent reporting of these issues within the Catholic church along with the many doctrine based fallacies, one could argue that Catholicism is less about the exaltation of Christ and more about the exaltation of man and ritual.
I am not opposed to your viewpoint, I can honestly say I don't know enough about the Catholic Church from 150 years ago (as conceived by Aquinas and Augustine as you put it) to make an accurate judgement about it.
I will do the research however and take a look... but if I see:
I'm going to call it what it actually is... a bastardization of the word of God. Its close to correct... but far enough to cause you issues in the after-life.
Heres a great example... Latter-Day Saints... they claim to worship Jesus Christ. But their Jesus Christ is also Lucifers brother. They claim Jesus Christ is the Lord of this Earth and they will be like him one day and have their own planet to govern... this is not the true Jesus. So when they pray and ask their Jesus for forgiveness, it's not the Jesus of the Bible... it's the Jesus of the Book of Mormon. And as we know... if it ain't Jesus, it's Satan.
If you twist the word, if you insert ritual and remove relationship with Christ... you get Chaff.