Catholicism ?

Let me tell you people a joke I heard from Kevin Leong a few days back ... It goes like this :

A son wanted to "inherit" his father's car and drive , his father was a priest . So , he approached his father one day and asked him . His father said that he could get the car IF he : Cut his hair and Study the bible for a year .
The son happily did it . A year later , he approached his dad again .

Son : Dad , I've studied the bible , can I have the car yet?
Father : But you haven't cut your hair .
Son : See dad , I have studied the bible , and it seems that Moses , Noah even Jesus had long hair .
Father : Ah , but if you really studied it , you should know that they all WALKED .

hahahahahahahahaha


Anyway , speaaaaaking of priests . . . Which is something you wouldn't find in your average protestant church...

Well , it all started like this for me . I was 9 , me and my family were heading up to Genting Highlands , as my mom just hung up on the phone with her cousin , which is my Aunt , I then asked out of curiosity , "Ma ! What is Aunty XXXX's Religion ar ?" "She's a catholic . " She replied . I asked :" What's a Catholic " . They answered...:"Something like Christian but a bit different only , they pray to Mary "

So that was how I first heard the word "Catholic" . I always assumed that Catholics were like our "Allies" or something .

IT ALL CHANGED , on one fateful afternoon . I went to Centrepoint after church when I was about 12 years old . I bought a comic , by TheCrusaders . The word "Crusader" always attracted me ... So yeah.

I read about it , it was about Satan , and demonic stuff in this earth , I read a segment of the comic which said about one of the grandchildren of Noah called "N...something" Which turned out to become the Egyptian "Horus" , and his mother was "Isis" . As you all would have heard these names before , they were some ancient Egyptian "God" , turns out , That dude whose name started with N something , was so evil , that his uncle , one of Noah's four sons , killed him . I'm not too sure about this part , since it's been years since I read the book , why didn't I just take the comic back out and read ? Read on... And after that segment , the shocking part : The idols of Isis and Horus had been secretly transformed into something else....The statues of the Catholic Church , Mother Mary and Baby Jesus . That shocked me so bad , I was...Traumatized I could say , I asked my Dad , and he said some stuff which I didn't understand that time , he asked for the book , just so he could present it to his CellGroup for questions . Later on , he gave it back to me . I hid it so well , that until today , I can't find it anymore . I bought two comics , one of them came back into my hands , which was talking about rock music etc.etc.

So after that , I started being scared of Catholics , and to add to my point , I've even read of the evil of the Catholic church's doings in the past , and all it's controversies .

Then I started growing up , and I've decided to do my own research , I've met a few Catholic friends , but some of them couldn't really answer me well...Until one day , something brought me to someone's blog , and her intro read : ...Roman Catholic... . And from there , I started asking questions...

And the results ? Some of my assumptions and the rumors which I heard were either true , but with a different meaning behind it .

1. They do not think of the Holy Communion as "Bullshit" . Who ever said this must have misunderstood his friends .
2. They don't eat meat on Fridays , Yes I know , there was a verse where Jesus said that " Whatever that goes in you will not cause you filth , but it's whatever that comes out of you " Which could signify that we as Christians could eat anything . Yes , WE can eat anything , BUT , these people are FASTING meat . In honor of Good Friday .
3.They "Pray" to mother Mary , to intercede for them , but they still do pray to God directly . Why pray to Mary you ask ? Well , it turns out that they say that Jesus listens to his mother , and Jesus has never been a hypocrite , which means when he said "Honor thy father and mother" . He could have meant it in THAT way too . Again , this topic is controversial . Because according to some , Mary was just Jesus's earthly mother .
4.They confess their sins to the priest sometimes , in something called the Sacrament of confession (Not sure about this)
5.Their Bible consists of more books than our average Bible .

But that didn't really changed my viewpoint of them ... It's the process of "researching :P" That did . I came across Romans 14 in the process... And it says :

1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11It is written:
" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.' "[a] 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food[b] is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.


It might explain alot .

Catholics aren't DOOMED or anything , IF they accept and love HIM ! And obey HIM .

Sources , And thank you's - :
Wikipedia (En.wikipedia.org)
Samantha Ho (The person whom I have been bugging all the time with all these questions . Thank you . I met you in very very very weird circumstances. It all started with Benji naming his PSP at his Birthday party @ Shogun...That was funny. )
Daniel Joseph Tay (The encourager . The one who printed the whole wikipedia article out for me , Thanks)
Dominic Gan Bo Wei (That is , IF he brings his Catholic bible for me to read . =P )
BibleGateway.com