Had to leave for awhile. I answered earlier when I posted I don't know. Regardless, what he did doesn't negate NT teaching on idolators WILL NOT inherit the kingdom. OT folks did alot of crazy stuff but doesn't justify me doing it.
BTW How does relate to idolatry today?
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Today pull up the little weeds,
The sinful thoughts subdue,
Or they will take the reins themselves
And someday master you. --Anon.
The most deadly sins do not leap upon us, they creep up on us.
I too was raised RC until the age of 12. The only idol worship I remember was the near-worship of the holy Rosary. I often heard stories of it being used to ward off evil in the home -both spiritual and physical, and how it was draped over someone suffering from illness only to have that person healed. Or even how it would be clutched in a death grip as a method to try and convince God to answer your prayer.
Yes, the RC DID practice idolatry!
You mean YOU and others practiced idolatry - or at least YOU witnessed others practicing idolatry. And, I certainly wouldn't deny that many Roman Catholics (and many others as well) practice idolatry.
I'm just saying, the "official" line is that these items (rosaries, statues, etc) are "aids to prayer." The purpose of the rosary is to use the beads to keep track of how many times you've repeated a particular formula (oops! Don't go "there," right?).
Anyhoo, the beads were for counting, like an abacus. It wasn't originally intended to be wielded to ward off zombies and vampires. Check out all of the "Praying the Rosary" sites. The "official" ones, and almost all of the others as well, attribute the "power" of the rosary to praying the rosary, not wielding it like a mini nunchaku. In this regard, the rosary is seen as an aid to getting a particular formula recited correctly... no, don't go "there."
Can't be serious? Not even close to kneeling down praying to saints so and so.
Other than it's just weird (and necromancy is forbidden, is it not?), there's no difference at all. You ask someone other than God to do something for you, in both cases. If that is why it's wrong to pray to saints, then it must also be wrong to ask your friend for a favor.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
A lot of people around here are connection-challenged!
Somalia. Pirates.
And... the guy who was handing out Bibles wasn't even a Catholic. It doesn't appear that anyone on the boat was a Catholic. Yet that has become the topic of this thread.
Catholics are still going to hell. Why? Because Somali pirates killed some evangelical guy out of Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA.
Is the dead yacht captain going to hell? Anyone? Let's weigh in...
What about the dead pirates? What if one of the dead pirates, while he was dying, managed to open a Bible on the yacht and the Book just sort of fell open to Acts 2:38? Reading the True Plan of Salvation®, he determined that he was NOT going to go to hell like the evangelical yacht captain...
... so, when the American mercenaries boarded the ship (just like they boarded the airplanes that they wired to fly into the WTC on 9/11) and began to collect the ears of the dead as trophies to be worn in necklaces around their necks, this converted former pirate throws himself into the sea while shouting, "IN GEE-ZUS NAME!" As the hail of bullets tore through his now sin cleansed body, his last words were unintelligible gurglings - somewhat identical to the sounds made by Borat at the UPC camp meeting.
So, at least this pirate is going to heaven, right?
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