Catholic answers to common questions by members of Iglesia ni Cristo

March 11, 2012 at 12:50 am

1. Why do Catholics eat blood?

Christ said: “Hear and understand.11 It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one….Are even you still without understanding?17Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine?18h But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile.19* For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy.” (Mt 15:16-19)

2. Why do Catholics honor divorce?

There is no divorce in the Catholic Church. Annulment in the Catholic Church is not divorce. Divorce is the breaking of a valid marriage. Annulment is a declaration that no marriage happened in the first place because of an impediment to marriage, e.g. the man is a priest, there was previous marriage, etc.

3. How do Catholics expel members?

Membership in the Catholic Church is through Baptism. Expulsion in the Catholic Church is by excommunication, e.g. the man is forbidden to receive Holy Communion. The person is excommunicated until he repents of his sins and confesses them to a priest or bishop. Many theologians are excommunicated for not teaching the Catholic teaching, e.g. those who deny the divinity of Christ or the Trinity. Those who committed the grave sin of abortion also incur automatic excommunication and only a bishop or his specially designated representative can forgive this sin in confession.

4. Why do you call priests father?

If the verse you quoted should interpreted in the most literal way, then Paul is the worst interpreter of the words of Christ:

“14I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.* 15Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.g 16Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me.h 17For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ [Jesus], just as I teach them everywhere in every church.i” (1 Cor 4:14-17)

5. Why do you pray in repetitions?

If you love a person, you tell him “I love you, I love you, I love you.” Once is never enough. As St. Paul said, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17). The rosary is made up of prayers “Our Father” and “Hail Mary”. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray the “Our Father”. Can you make a better prayer than what Jesus made? The Angel Gabriel said to Mary, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). Can you write a better way to address Mary than Angel Gabriel? When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,s 42cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:41). Can you praise Mary more than Elizabeth who was filled with the Holy Spirit? The words of Angel Gabriel and St. Elizabeth are what Catholics repeat when they pray the “Hail Mary”. If you call these prayers pagan, then Jesus, Angel Gabriel, and St. Elizabeth are pagans.

Is Christ a Myth?

Submitted on 2011/05/11 at 10:07 pm

What’s all these fuss about the actual birth date of Jesus! He might have not existed at all.

–Marz

Monk’s Hobbit:

Submitted on 2011/05/12 at 1:22 pm | In reply to Marz.

Marz,

If Christ were a myth, why did the apostles died as a witness to his death and resurrection? Most of the apostles are ordinary fishermen. They have no talent for making wonderful stories about Christ and invent his teachings. Can you invent “Our Father” and the “Beatitudes”? These apostles are even cowardly men who could not defend Christ when He was arrested. Peter, the head apostle, even denied knowing Christ three times. But after the Pentecost, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and they proclaimed Christ boldly fearless of death.

Now, if you also deny the historicity of apostles themselves, the Catholic Church keeps good histories. In fact, you can trace any Catholic bishop to the bishop who ordained him through the laying of the hands (1 Tim 4:14). If you follow the succession of bishops back in time, you can trace them to one of the apostles. If this is difficult, try the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, the 265th successor of Peter. Here’s wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popes