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Zhi -> RE: Pope Benedict XVI in America. Are you excited? (4/7/2008 11:09:19 AM)
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True, but there's something different about Francis. Hard to explain. And I do think that the Reverend Billy Graham is a shining example of a Protestant saint. But seeing the example of Francis, and the thousands of other saints doing similar things is powerful.
Francis of Assissi was a wonderful Christian, no doubt about it... but I can come up with a list of people who have been sainted (and some have had that status revoked) which weren't exactly models of moral character either.
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I know several married priests. That's not a 100% rule, it's a discipline and can be changed. But I think it's a good rule and it has plenty of scriptural precedent. After all, was Jesus married? Or Paul? There's actually considerable scriptural support for all the other questions you have. Most of which we have one stop threads for. You might want to check them out. Even if you don't agree with the Catholic interpretation, you might see that we're not just pulling things out of thin air. :)
Peter was married though (obviously, since Jesus healed his mother in law), and isn't he supposed to be the origin of the papal line? As for Paul, he says it's also good to be married, though he isn't.
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He didn't have much choice with being a member of the Hitler youth. And he didn't care much for being drafted either but again, he didn't have a choice. As far as being invalid, you must understand what we Catholics and Orthodox believe regarding the term "Church". We hold the Eucharist to be the center of Christian worship. After all, we believe the Eucharist to be the literal Body and Blood of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus. (There's a one stop thread going over this too btw). Unfortunately, due to human failings, Christianity is not united anymore. And many communities of Christians don't believe the Eucharist to be the literal presence of Jesus. But we still recognize them as our beloved brothers in Christ, and we see that the Holy Spirit is indeed moving through them and we rejoice in their fervor and devotion to Jesus. But without the Eucharist, we feel that they're incomplete. I don't know if I'd personally use the word invalid, looking back in my past I don't think my old churches were invalid. But I do feel that they were missing out on the joy that is the Eucharist.
There is always a choice. To say there was no choice is a terrible insult against the many people who DID refuse to answer the draft and who actively resisted the Nazis.
But, frankly, that's not my major complaint against Benedict. My major complaint would be his handling of and involvement in the coverup of child molestation by priests (for which he has been actively named in lawsuits, though he was granted immunity from the Justice Department due to his status as a head of state). I do not see how anyone truly walking God's path, much less claiming to be a direct apostolic successor of Peter, would be capable of such a thing.
I guess what bothers me most about the Catholic church is how they cling to often destructive traditions at the cost of the Scripture, morality, and innocent lives. Whether it's the debauchery of historical Popes, the invention of new traditions (like selling papal dispensations) for wealth and power, the perpetuation of idolatry by offering prayers to people who are not God, or the startlingly current reshuffling of priests to cover up molestation of children, I simply cannot accept that such a corrupt and scripturally unsound group would be considered by Jesus or Peter to be their de facto and sole "true church". To me, the true church has nothing to do with what label is over the door or what language your service is in or what songs you sing while you're there... it has to do with trust in Jesus as Savior.
After all, had the Catholic church not been so spiritually and morally bankrupt, Protestantism would never have started. A lot has been fixed since then, yes, but not nearly enough.
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