If you really believe that then prove it.  I think you have confused this statement with one that means having a lack of faith.  It does not.  I am a hard core Christian, I pray everyday, and I have faith that my Lord & Savior will guide me through all.

However, that does not mean He wants us to be righteous lazy sheep.

If you really believe that those who try & help themselves God does not help, then prove it.  I want you to quit your job, get rid of any guns you own, and do nothing other than pray.

Will God provide everything for you?  No. Faith in Him is not an excuse to expect Him to do everything for you.  If you believe it though, please, go ahead.

That is what I mean when I say God helps those who help themselves.  It does not mean having a lack of faith, it is simply meant that He gave us a mind to think and to do things on our own, not expect Him to do everything for us which some people apparently believe.

As for the Catholics at the Ohio college, yes, it is Steubenville, and while I respect their... super faith, it amazes me at how out of touch with reality these people are.

You see, the ones I have met, about 5 or 6 of them from up there, they are all very nice people, but my goodness, they're thinking is one that would only work in Heaven.  They seem to think all people are really good, and that no harm can come to them.

My g/f lives with her brother who is a Steubenville graduate.  He is ALWAYS leaving the door unlocked to their apartment with her sleeping inside, and it's not the best complex.  One time I even came to see her and the door was wide open, and he had left hours ago to go to work.

She and her mom get on to him and he's just like, "Oh please... nothing is going to happen. Why would anyone come into the apartment?  It's in the back where no one can see it."

Stupid idiotic moron.

I don't mind righteous people, but I do mind those that think they are better than everyone else and clearly express that they think people (like me), are just stupid for owning a gun, or for encouraging the belief of Santa Claus or something like that.  I'll respect that they don't wanna do it, but that respect ends when they make it apparent they think I'm out of touch with God for believing the way I do.

He bashes my primarily Protestant beliefs behind my back too, in a very... rude way.  Like she says he'll laugh when he's talking about what I "probably" believe.  The truth is he's never asked and doesn't even know, but because I was raised Protestant he just assums I believe everything they do.

Stuckup righteous sheep.

Ignorance huh? When you were going through your "Conversion classes", did you look into the Word of God and find where it said the things you were learning were [u]of God[/u] or man made?



You know the history of what church? The catholic church? Where did you learn this history from? Was it a unbiased source? Did you look at the all faiths and open your Bible and read what and Who the Church is and is supposed to be?

AZ_Redneck,

When I was converting MYSELF from Athieism to Christianity, I read a bible that was given to me by a minister of the Christian faith. I read through that bible three times over four years and I attended a Quaker church for two years, a Non-denominational Christian Church for one year, and a baptist church for two years. I have experienced enough that I feel justified in finding happiness in the Catholic Mass. I currently teach the bible to young children in my parish. I feel good about my self education in the Word. My education about the history of the Christian faith is from my academic pursuits as an undergradaute and graduate student as well as being a fan of the History Channel and other mainstream educational works.

Let us all not confuse though here... I think the problem a lot of people with the Church are as follows:

#1 There are a lot of members that will defend the Church no matter what it does

#2 It is a huge organization, and over time has changed a lot of rules for their own purposes. i.e. Priests can no longer be married.  Yes, priests used to be married in the Church.

Hundreds if not over a thousand years after Jesus' death, they started this big Mary thing. Before that she was not revered like the Church has her today.  Now I actually hear Catholics say, "What can we do but put it in Mary's hands?"

Newsflash: You could put it in God's hands as Jesus said to do.

In addition, I have family that is Catholic as well.  I do not believe it is wrong to belong to the Catholic Church, but my problem is with those that are so tied and worship the Church so much, that they can think it does no wrong.  That to me, is the sole reason some people believe it to be "a cult," as someone mentioned.

I was born and raised Catholic and yet I also feel that the Vatican should clean up its own act by properly (and publicly) correcting our child molesting priests before letting one of its Cardinals stick his head up his ass publicly with a moronic statement like that.

Much of what you said could be said about any organization.  In fact the Vaticans response to Sadaam is echoed by other governments, religions, and even some of our politicians and citizens. Is that a big suprise to anyone?

I can think of nothing more insulting than slamming religions whatever they might be. One reason I have great respect for Jews is as a whole they dont try to belittle or convert other relgions.

The origins of prayers to honor Mary can be seen with written text as far back as the 4th century. These have their origins to writings in the first chapter of Luke. The Eastern Orthodox Church honored Mary as did many Protestant reformers including Martin Luther who recited the Rosary throughout his lifetime.

Do I follow blindly and believe what the Vatican says? No, and many U.S. Catholics feel the same way. You cannot broadbrush the believers of a certain religion based on political motivated statements of official spokesmens. Doesnt mean I will abandon my faith any time soon.
Doug Kmiec,  dean and St. Thomas More Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America School of Law and senior policy fellow at Pepperdine University summed up one response to the war with Iraq as follows:
"This is not to elide the inescapably hard questions of proportionality and prudence concerning whether the good to be achieved by war outweighs its evils (including the further destabilization of the Middle East or a spike in terrorist suicides against human life here or abroad). But hard questions aren't resolved either by naive or self-serving platitudes from diplomats or even the heartfelt homilies of bishops. A dozen years of international noncompliance, the loss of life to terrorist hands, and the immensity of the evil capable of being fostered by Saddam suggest that if the president believes this is the right time to act, we should."

Small point, but it was the other way around. The Catholic church headed by the Roman see (Pope) broke away from the Orthodox church.

CW