sherpa

What? What Luther did was expose the "creativity" and fund raising component of Roman Catholicism. You know, actually ask tough questions about popes, saints, Mary, indulgences, fund raising and their legitimacy. Answering those should not have been tough. Didn't quite work out that way, and still isn't.

Interesting post on many levels. Faith is to be enjoyed and celebrated, not endured, and certainly not for family acceptance. Find a Christian church that allows you that. Being an adult means you're free to make your own choices.

Statistical evidence is not hogwash, your father's "example" aside. Because the point will soon be made that the Bills will trade their 12th and a saint to be named later for Pope Paul VI.

Your post seems to indicate an all or nothing vis a vis the Catholic church and faith. Nothing could b e further from the truth. There are plenty of options away from the stuff of Catholic Church doctrine. Thus, the Protestant view.

Your premise would fall on it's face given the statistics. When the father is removed, ie., "punishment for non-compliance," (to use your words), is removed the stats are undeniable. From my link: "The question was asked to determine whether a person’s religion carried through to the next generation, and if so, why, or if not, why not. The result is dynamite. There is one critical factor. It is overwhelming, and it is this: It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children."

There is nothing Biblical regarding meat on Fridays, nor Ash Wednesday, nor Lent. There is nothing Biblical about Mary being a virgin for life. There is Biblical proof that supports that Jesus had real brothers and sisters. Anyway, the point is that these things always treat Catholicism as some provident authority on Christianity, when that is far from the truth. Catholicism has a bunch of non bionically supported traditions, but that is just what they are.

I'm sure all is well, but when I read things like this I really wish people would understand what the Bible is really about.

I really wish the Christian question was removed from the Catholic question. I did 12 years of Catholic education. Usual stuff. Got married, converted to Lutheran. It made so much more theological sense. The Catholic church, in my view, has a rich tradition that is largely invented for popularity, prosperity and longevity. The pope, inventing the history of Mary, veneration of saints and relics. The nonsense of selling indulgences. It goes on and on. Anyway, our kids have been raised Christians and still are, but Catholic doctrine is totally foreign to them. Interestingly, and to the point of this thread, the single largest influence of whether a child continues on in the faith, is the father. If both father and mother attend regularly 33% of the children will attend church regularly, and 41% will attend irregularly. 25% not at all. If the mother is a regular attendee and the father not, only 3% will attend regularly, but 59% irregularly. 38% not at all. Further, if a father does not go to church, only one in fifty will become a regular attendee, while a non practicing mother with a practicing father will see one third of their children attend. Seems that the father is critical, and portends a number of things if the father isn't ever present. Dads and church In retirement, I teach a course for Christians that is designed to end generational poverty. The 800 pound gorilla in the group that attends is the total absence of males. Just a thought.

da Vinci's painting is based on Catholic tradition at the time. Extremely improbable there wa anything like that table at the meal. They ate reclined with cushions, and very low tables which held the food.

The universal healthcare promise from Chavez was a scam from the beginning, as were all his programs. They imported Cuban "doctors," housed them in an old beach resort, and operated from there. Nobody had any idea what their qualifications were, and of course, by now it doesn't matter. Just a total economic, political and social tragedy, brought about by the "Bolivarian Revolution," a Chavez fantasy modeled after all things, Cuba. What could go wrong?

I know what the Reformation was, and I know how to spell it. Labeling it "a little doctrinal dispute," in inaccurate in the extreme. The Roman Catholic Church, as run by the pope, had gotten non-scriptural in the extreme, to the point of selling indulgences to raise additional money from peasants. There were many other "doctrinal issues," like the Catholics invention of the power of saints etc. Luther tried, in vain, to engage the papal leadership is an attempt to address these issues, and to base doctrinal beliefs on scripture rather than papal inventions, and was unsuccessful. He posted his 95 Theses, and was excommunicated. How it spread had a lot to do with finally translating the Bible into people's native tongues, the printing press, and various nationalistic events that triggered resistance to Rome in specific regions.

What? Martin Luther's issue was that the Pope led Catholic church was inventing non scripturally based principles, largely to raise money. Not much more to it than that. It was really simple. Had noting to do with anything I wasted space quoting from you above.

You are clearly clueless. The Reformation had nothing to do with "catching up with the Renaissance, and the more capitalistic society emerging at the time." Absolutely nothing. It was about an individual who was a faithful fan of the pope and the Roman Catholic church, and sought rapprochement, getting sick of Catholic officials selling indulgences to raise money for the construction of St. Peter's among other things. They wouldn't relent from the fundraising, and off we go. Nothing to do with emerging capitalism or the renaissance. Do you just dream this stuff up?

I'm getting the feeling you aren't particularly well versed in Biblical knowledge, nor have the ability to separate the pope from Christianity. That aside, there is nothing Biblical about burning homosexuals.

Kindly don't misapply the word "Christian," with the pope. The pope is a Catholic thing, so whatever he says has little or no interest among other Christian faiths. Further, you characterization of "God" in the Old and New Testaments is incorrect. God is God. The Bible is about covenants mad by the same God. The Old Testament is a story about a nation, and the covenant made with them to establish the kingdom of God on earth. They failed, and killed him. The New Testament is a story about an individual, and the covenant to include all who believe.

Survival Evasion Resistance Escape School in the Navy, also known as POW school. Three days without food was easy. The scary part was standing in formation as they picked out other officers to waterboard. It was really the only time I can ever remember being scared.

Like humans, some penguins are smarter than others. The smart penguin And some have a greater fashion sense. Inside out.

Methinks you're foolish. It has nothing to do with bigotry. It has to do with idiotic statements. I never even considered race. It had to do with what I remembered off the top of my head, and like it or not, male/female/black/white, it makes no difference to me. I don't judge people by the color of their skin, but by the content of their foolish statements, so just stop. And you're not "good at putting two and two together," at least in this case. You just think you are pretty good, and you're wrong.

Sheila Jackson Lee had a few classics. Asking folks at the JPL if the Mars Rover would be able to drive over and show the flags the astronauts planted was pretty good. So was complaining about racism in naming hurricane as the names are "lilly white." She suggested naming them "Keisha, Jamal and Deshawn." Celebrating the "victory" in Vietnam and the "two Vietnams, side by side, North and South." Representative Hank Johnson asking Admiral Willard if he's worried Guam will "tip over and capsize" is the standard to beat. The sink and capsize question

They don't have a wall. “The existence of this wall is hindering the inter-Korean reconciliation, cooperation and independent reunification,” the Korean Central News Agency quoted a communist party newspaper report as saying. One of the greatest hindrances to tearing down the wall is that it doesn’t exist." The North Korean "wall" lie The other two claims you have reversed. North Korea doesn't impose trade barriers, except for weapons and some luxury items. The barriers are imposed on them, not by them. They have a "pure ethnic population: because they don't let people out, not because they don't let people in.

He also knows what the Colts wanted for their #3 pick, and decided it wasn't worth the cost, unless someone thinks the Colts didn't leverage us against the Jets.

I'm not missing your point. You are missing the point, and the only one being "kidded" is you. Virginia boosters couldn't be more happy with Bennett. The team was unranked entering the season and blew away the ACC. That isn't what gets people un-satisfied. I live here, and I have kids who are UVA alums. This is the epitome of what a really successful college program is about. Hideous loss, but a sports loss for 20 year olds who will get over it by next weekend. Other things matter. Virginia's problem has always been that it's in the ACC, which includes Duke, UNC, and the occasional powerhouse Wake and NC State. Bennett has taken them on and beaten them, without one and done players. They have never had the big middle guy, nor the take control guards. This year, the guard play has been great. Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome are way better than Virginia has had in the past, and are not done.

I think Ralph Sampson was OK.

Point is, it isn't a one and done program. It attracts certain kids who are really good athletes but have more to give. Not a bad combination, if you ask me.

Malcolm Brogdon, last year's NBA rookie of the year. That's pretty good, I'd say. In addition, he has a master's from UVA and is deeply involved with Chris Long, also a UVA kid who donated his entire salary last year, in clean water for Africa projects. It's a damn good program that attracts damn good kids, and some are pretty good athletes. MLB is full of them, Ryan Zimmerman included.