First and foremost I am a Roman Catholic and I am an avid supporter of JTF principles and objectives.
Upon seeing this post, it reaffirms my belief that certain people on this forum should go read more and comment a whole lot less.
I think that Catholicism suffers from the incredible lack of understanding found in non-Catholics. I would like to respond to the points made by the poster one by one.
In regards to Popes vying for Israeli surrender... It must be understood that any "good Christian" is one that is a complete and total pacifist and would surrender his life even if threatened by imminent doom at the hands of evil hordes. So really when you see all these hawkish Christians (like myself) that believe in and take part in killing evil people where they sleep, they are in reality bad Christians. This may seem insane to some but that is what Christianity is at its core. Tying this back in to Israel, it is not that Popes believe in "Israeli surrender" it is that they pray for peaceful resolutions and wish for that to happen even if that meant the Palestinians teeming into Israel murdering every Jew in sight. It is not because the Popes hate Jews, it is because they believe that the Jews letting themselves get murdered is more moral than them killing (sinning) to protect themselves. I know this sounds strange, but it is what it is. Maybe some people see the logic in that even if they believe it is perverse.
In regards to devout Catholics being Jew haters... Saying that any of the individuals you mentioned is a devout Catholic is like me saying that Rudolph Giuliani is a social conservative. In the realm of pacifist, love-driven morals, devout Catholics are probably the most zealous people one could ever meet. It is so cliché on this forum that I almost don't want to say it, but Jews are a sacred people to any good Christian. I was brought up my whole life being told that Jews were God's chosen people. Think of that notion for a moment, a religion that teaches its young adherents that ANOTHER RELIGION's adherents are GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE. Let that set in for a bit.
In regards to Jews killing Jesus... Speaking literally, the Romans convicted and executed Jesus Christ. However, I think that we can all agree on where this concept originates. Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of his disciples who was a Jew only then to have a crowd of Jews rally before the Romans to essentially lobby for his death. Now this is the part I never understood; Why does any of what I have said, accurate or otherwise, mean that we Catholics have an obligation to hate all Jews for eternity? That goes against the whole concept of Catholicism and Christianity, particularly in two ways. First we should never hate anyone, and should especially love our enemies and those who act against us. Secondly, if it were not for Jesus being arrested and savagely executed then he obviously would not have been able to resurrect and save all mankind from their sins, as is the belief of Catholics.
As for the last bullet that is a bundle of different ideas... Where to begin? First, Catholics do not deify man. We worship God (NOT MARY, STATUES, CRUCIFIXES, CANDLES, INCENSE, BARNEY THE PURPLE DINOSAUR or anything else you might have heard), who is an all powerful being. Jesus Christ was a man. His ability to perform miracles and the like came from his likeness to God, a likeness that all men have due to our being created by God and having souls. The Holy Trinity is what may confuse some people. It is something that is another topic all together which I can speak to if anyone is interested.
Contraception is considered a sin because it prevents the creation of life which must be considered the greatest gift bestowed upon us by God. I am not sure why the poster tied this into pedophilia but I can talk to that a bit too. First of all the pardons come from the Catholic Church's message of mercy and forgiveness. Many of us who are more conservative think pedophiles should be tossed in a cell somewhere or worse, however, that is not the stance of the Catholic Church. That same message of mercy, no matter what the crime, ties back in to the whole "turn the other cheek" concept, which is also why Catholics are not supposed to believe in capital punishment. I can also answer some questions as to why there is a trend of Roman Catholic priests in the United States and you never hear of similar scandals in other nations with many Catholics such as Spain or Italy. One reason is that many men of the generation that are today’s priests were in some cases practically coerced by parents into becoming priests because it was trendy to have a priest in your family. Secondly, regardless of all the Paris Hiltons and Pamela Andersons running amok, America is a very sexually repressed nation. Some would debate that to the bitter end, but I think that people are more comfortable with sexuality in Europe than in America. That being said I genuinely believe that this repression is a factor in the pedophilia issue. As a parallel to support the point, we can look at the pedophilia issue in Muslim countries. I say this not to make a joke, but I know that while I was serving with Iraq, all the biggest baddest terrorists I killed were enjoying little boys much more than their four wives. The whole point being that I think we can count Muslim nations as some of the most sexually repressed nations on Earth.
I will not attack anyone on this forum and I am by no means a perfect Catholic, quite far from it, but I think that if the most creative thing that someone can do on the JTF forum is call my Church the “First Nazi Church of Perpetual Sodomy,” then they are no friend of JTF, Israel, America or Western Civilization. I must say that I am tiring rather quickly of the recurring theme I have seen of people either doing nothing but making jokes and calling out problems and offering no solutions. I believe that Chaim and people like him have every right to joke and criticize because they are ACTORS in the movement, NOT TALKERS. According to the tenets of my own Catholic/Christian faith, I have literally sacrificed my soul doing what I have done for my country and to keep people like the poster safe from threats such as transnational terrorists. I have one final thing to say, and it goes out to all of those people on this forum that are sitting in dorm rooms on college campuses where they are learning some generic trade; You contribute nothing eating potato chips and typing slurs into this forum. Get up off your rear end and join the military, the intelligence or Foreign Service community, enter the political world, DO SOMETHING. I truly tire of putting my life and my family’s stability on the line to do work that benefits and protects people I will never meet and never be thanked by while they accomplish nothing more than being night and weekend cyber activists.
I look forward to responses.
Topic: Catholicism: the world's biggest cult? (Read 13588 times)