Lately, I have been noticing some behavior from a lot of so-called Christians that really disturbs me. Especially in the Catholic church. You'd think that worshiping Mary, praying for forgiveness to humans rather than God, and praying in vain would be bad enough! Guess not! As you may have heard, there have been Catholic priests around the world assaulting children. They've been taking advantage of the kids lack of knowledge about God and his word by saying it would make God angry if they don't have sex with them! This is a very serious issue. But I am not just writing this to call out my Catholic brothers and sisters, no. There have been many others outside the Catholic church, even non-denoms like my self, who have been doing some pretty awful things. Things such as adultery, slander, drug abuse, self harm, homosexuality, murder and/or suicide! This is exactly what the enemy wants, for people to give into the worldly temptations of this temporary life and eventually fall away from God! There are far to many people in this world today that claim to be Christian but don't really follow Jesus. Don't you see that to be Christian is to follow Jesus? Now, this is not an easy thing to do. You must give up everything and be willing to suffer for Jesus. You have to pick up your cross and follow him! You could be persecuted and even killed for doing this. but a true Christian would be willing to make these sacrifices any day for Jesus because they love him, as he has sacrificed so much and loves us too. We are willing to do anything, give up everything to our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the light of the world. He is our creator and the almighty God, and he loves not only us but you as well, dear reader. Jesus created you as well and is proud to be your loving father. He died to save us all, not just the true Christians! Do you want to know why? Because Jesus wants all of his beautiful children to belong to him and not the world. When you follow the world, you do not follow Jesus! When you follow the world, it leads you right to the lake of fire! However, when you follow Jesus, he leads you to righteousness! Jesus will lead you to peace and safety. He will lead you to justice! The enemy knows that Jesus loves you and how much it would hurt him to hurt you and make you fall away from the truth. This is why Satan attacks, deceives, and tempts us, to hurt Lord Jesus! Jesus knew this would happen, however, he made Lucifer anyway. Yeah, that's right, he created Lucifer. The ex-angel of light. Before Lucifer turned against Jesus, they where really close. Unfortunately, pride took over him and he became rebellious. Him and a fourth of the ex-angels where kicked out of Heaven. Now, he is known as Satan and is our enemy, the most evil one. Who is pleasured by deceiving and hurting us. "Ari, if Jesus knew this would happen, why did he create Luficer"? The answer is simple; to prove his mercy and provide salvation. Without Satan, it would be even harder to understand how God loves us. Because without sin, Jesus would not need to suffer and die on the cross, presenting perfect love. Do not fear Satan, brothers and sisters. He is nothing but a lonely, depressed coward! He has no power over God, and he cant have any power over us with Jesus living in our hearts!Satan fears God’s plan; salvation, new heaven, and new earth for His chosen people who are made holy, and loving. God will prove that He is victorious over evil and evil beings who follow Satan’s ways in these last days. Salvation was bought with the blood of Christ Jesus. He is the only way to heaven. Nothing of this world can save your soul! This world has become worthless! However, Jesus can lead us away from it. Are you willing to follow? Not just claiming to follow, I mean truly follow him. You can not give into worldly temptations and still follow Jesus. Temptations such as alcohol, drug abuse, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, and slander. To follow Jesus, you must lay these things down and carry your cross. Remember, dear reader, to follow Jesus is to be Christian and to be Christian is to follow Jesus. Christianity is greater than religion, it is to live for Jesus and to follow him until the end and beyond. If you are still struggling with letting go of the temptations of this world, remember that nobody but Jesus has never sinned. Everybody has fallen short of the glory of God. But we can all be forgiven and turn from sin. You still have time, don't waste it. Jesus is coming soon. Are you ready?
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Sadly most of what you say is true. Many have not acted like good Christians. I just wanted to correct one thing about what you said at the beginning. I have talked to many Catholics and they do not worship Mary nor do they worship statues like some accuse them of. I know at least that these two accusations are false for they have been explained to me as well as I have done a little research.
This is what I heard.
When Catholics pray to Mary they are not worshiping her, rather they are honouring her and asking for her intercession on their behalf — in fact, more than praying “to” her, Catholics pray “with” Mary, asking her to pray with and for them, like you ask a friend to pray with you or for you.
Also Mary is believed to be as a mother because in John 19:26-27 this is what took place.
" When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, 'Woman,[a] here is your son,' and to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' From that time on, this disciple took her into his home." So it is believed she is our like our mother as in she loves us, we honour our mother and so it is not wrong to honour Mary, it is in fact wrong to worship her so they do not do so. Do you really think from what you've heard of her in the Bible she would be the kind of person who would want to be worshipped? Every Catholic I've talked to has definitely denied that they worship Mary, they honour her as you would honour Abraham Lincoln or other such people.
As for the statue thing the reason is simple. Catholics do not worship statues, they statues are a reminder, like a picture of a loved one or a statue to honour and remember someone in history. When you see a Catholic kneeling in front of a statue of Jesus praying, they are indeed not praying to the statue, they are praying to the person behind the statues, they are praying to Jesus. When you see a Catholic kneeling in front of a statue of a saint they are not praying or worshipping the statue as well as they are not worshipping the saint, they are honouring the people them selves for what they did in there lives on earth, and how they lived for God and died for him to defend him. They are honoured like Mary or Abraham Lincoln.
I don't know where you heard that they pray for forgiveness from humans rather than God, I know Catholics dont practice that in their faith. They as well as everyone should, asks God for forgiveness.
As for them praying in vain that may be true for some Catholics who do not act as they should in their faith, but those who are devoted to their faith and God do not pray in vain. I have had the opportunity to pray with Catholics and even when saying their set prays (or formal prayers) I can see them saying it with much meaning like they were speaking it right from the heart. All of their set prayers, aren't just completely made up and then written down so everyone can prayer it when they're to lazy to think of something there's way more to it than that. Most of their prayers have many quotes and highlights from the Bible. I must admit they are in danger of praying in vain but with God's grace they are helped not too.
Satan can tempt Catholics as much as anyone to praying in vain.
Remember, just because a few who claim to be "Catholics" have done something wrong that doesn't mean all Catholics do it. People can't judge a religious by the few wrong people. Just because one "Catholic" does something bad that doesn't mean its in their faith, it sometimes means that person isn't a practicing the Catholic faith as it was ment to be practiced, that person may be making up its own rules that are against God with a Catholic mask on it's face. And other Catholics are getting a bad reputation because of that one guy who is doing bad and isn't truly Catholic. Example. Some people believed all of Germany agreed with what Hitler was doing. So the people thought all of Germany bad but apparently when some of the soldiers saw what was happening to the prisoners they were disgusted. All of Germany was thought bad because of one man's wrong doing.
Wow I've said a lot. I really enjoyed your article Ari keep up the good work, you have a lot of ideas to share, just try to remember not to be too harsh when sharing them because some people are sensitive and takes offense highly, even when it's not directed directly towards them. Snow signing out.
Jesus loves you.
I would think that giving your honor, or praise to Mary or any saint, or asking for Mary's intercession definitely doesn't sound like a good thing. Mary has no power, the saints have no power: any good they ever did was by God and thru God who touched their life and changed their heart. I'd have to say the only one worthy of any Honor & Glory would be God Himself, and I believe we should only lift Up His name, for He's going to be the only one that Stands There to be Defender and Savior and Comforter
The 5th commandment says "honor thy father and thy mother." If God tells us to honor our parents then he himself is not saying he is the only one who should be honored. Parents are people and people do not have any power yet God tells us to honor your parents.
Mary gave birth to Jesus and he honored her because she was his mother.
Gabriel the angel called Mary blessed
If you look up the word 'Blessed' in the dictionary, it means holy, venerated, honored . God is telling us that Mary is Holy.
What I do know for sure, no matter what people tell me, God is the almighty and no one can compare to him. God is our savior.
Hey Ari! I'm sorry that I can't do a long, complete review right now, but I'll do my best!
First, I agree with rosette that you should separate all that text into paragraphs. One huge block of text can be hard to read. Also, add Scripture in. Christianity's foundations and God's Will are found in the Bible.
Second, this is more of a technical thing: when it comes to calling God by His different names and forms, usually one would say that God is our Father, as in God the Father. We usually don't call Jesus our Father because He is the Son and we call Him our Savior, just like the Holy Spirit is called our Counselor. But of course, everyone's relationship with the Lord (who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is slightly different, so I guess it's okay. But I agree with your statement that Jesus is the Creator, because according to the Bible, the Trinity was present at the creation of the universe!
I think overall, everything was good, though I would caution you to choose some words carefully, as coming off as too forceful or adamant may drive people away, though we cannot compromise or soften our beliefs, of course. We can only hope and pray. Anyway, God bless you!
~Lael
Hey-o Arianna!
I am here to review your work as requested
Firstly, before I say much else, I would recommend splitting this huge wall of words up into little paragraphs. It was a little difficult for me to read, at times.
Second of all I absolutely love this whole idea of "To Follow Jesus". Indeed, to be a Christian is to follow Jesus! I feel like that's a thought a lot of people are rejecting nowadays, so thank you for bringing it up like this. Now this isn't an article, but I still think you could give references for some statements. For example, you can show from certain scriptures in the Bible how important it is to follow Jesus, and what He said about it.
Here's a great place to put a verse: John 3:16!
Amen! I understand what you're saying, and I don't think your intentions are harmless, but I think a lot of people might be upset at some of these statements of yours. Such as this:
Why don't you share some scriptures that show some of these aren't right? That way it doesn't look as if you're believing certain things without proof.
I think that's an interesting thought. But Satan can't hurt God. He can't do anything to Him! God created him, and God has the power over him.
Once more: some references. So people don't think you're making this stuff up. ;P How did Lucifer become lifted up with pride? What was his plan?
I like a lot of what you said, Ari. It's so true. We just get so caught up in following our own desires and wants, following the trend, following the world, we forsake what Jesus said. When we follow Him, we crucify that old man, and He creates new desires in us. It's beautiful, really.
But I do think you need some background on many of the things you said. Tell us why you believe worshipping Mary is evil, and how is their praying all in vain? It might be helpful to go through this again, look at certain claims you made or statements and ask yourself "why?" or "how?" The more reference you have for what you believe in the better it will be received. As Christians, I think we ought to put our best foot forward with these kinds of articles and such. We don't want our works to look sloppy and not thought out, but we want to present a considerate, thoughtful piece that shows how much our God means to us. Know what I'm saying?
Anyway. Those are my thoughts on this! Hope you found some of 'em helpful.
Love ya girl,
And remember: JESUS LOVES YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xD
I'll see you around.
Jesus loves you too! This is very helpful indeed! Thank you!