Catholics ARE Idolaters” discussion continued:

Protestant Theology & Catholic Doctrines

Exposed to cover & discover the “Naked Truth“...

Catholic responses to the Booklet:

“Answers to my Catholic Friends” by Thomas F. Heinze …   

Part 5c

A Catholic reply to Protestant “[mis]- Understandings” Part 5c

DEVIDED INTO  3 SEPARATE LESSONS      This is the final section on this topic

Good advise to our friends

Our Loving God manifest His love and concern for us in three ways:

1. By doing things For us

2. By doing things In us

3. By doing things Through us

Luke.10:parts of 1 to 24

After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. .. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. .. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; heal the sick in it and say to them,

`The kingdom of God has come near to you.'  But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'

I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that town. …

 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." 

 The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.  

Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. …All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."  

“Catholics ARE Idolaters” discussion continued:

1^st. Tim.6:1-6 “Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be defamed. …

If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness,  

he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing;

he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain”

There is great gain in Godliness with contentment.

John 15: 5 - 8 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.”

The other half of the issue is in a correct understanding of what Catholics believe and practice about “Worship“. Catholic “going THROUGH”  through Mary and the saints is the VERY SAME THING the Jewish peoples in the desert were doing through the brass-serpent… they were praying THROUGH IT to God, for their physical salvation. Similarly, Catholics pray THROUGH Mary and the Saints for our SPIRITUAL salvation. God NOT Mary or the Saints is the end- goal or purpose of these prayers of “intersession.” Because Mary and the Saints actually ADD their own prayers on-top of ours; thus increasing their effectiveness.  … This will be covered in greater detail when we discuss “prayers.”

Our Second Topic is Constantine and his influence of world religions, especially the Catholic Church.

ALL of this information regarding Constantine comes from a NON-Catholic [maybe even anti-catholic source… From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia     …A NOTABLY-UN-CATHOLIC SITE. 

QUOTE  Begins..  “not until Constantine conquered the entire “known world” in the mid forth Century, that he permitted “free practice of religions.” Not only Catholism, influenced by his mother who was a staunch catholic; but from a pragmatic-governance perspective. Because he had such a large territory to govern and control; Constantine understood the reality of not getting involved  in other peoples religions would allow him to govern the many various countries and faiths, with FAR less difficulties to him and Rome. Constantine himself was a Pagan [at this time] who worshiped many false gods.

Constantine’s Religious policy

Constantine is perhaps best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor; his reign was certainly a turning point for the Church. In February 313, Constantine met with Licinius in Milan where they developed the Edict of Milan. The edict stated that Christians should be allowed to follow the faith of their choosing.[ This removed penalties for professing Christianity (under which many had been martyred in previous persecutions of Christians) and returned confiscated Church property. The edict did not only protect Christians from religious persecution, but all religions, allowing anyone to worship whichever deity they chose. A similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, then senior emperor of the Tetrarchy; Galerius' edict granted Christians the right to practice their religion but did not restore any property to them. The Edict of Milan included several clauses which stated that all confiscated churches would be returned as well as other provisions for previously persecuted Christians.

Scholars debate whether Constantine adopted his mother St. Helena's Christianity in his youth, or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life. Constantine would retain the title of pontifex maximus until his death, a title emperors bore as heads of the pagan priesthood, as would his Christian successors on to Gratian (r. 375–83).

According to Christian writers, Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, writing to Christians to make clear that he believed he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone. Throughout his rule, Constantine supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (e.g. exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the Diocletianic persecution. His most famous building projects include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and Old Saint Peter's Basilica.

Constantine did not patronize Christianity alone, however. After gaining victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312), a triumphal arch—the Arch of Constantine—was built (315) to celebrate it; the arch is decorated with images of Victoria and sacrifices to gods like Apollo, Diana, or Hercules, but contains no Christian symbolism.

In 321, Constantine instructed that Christians and non-Christians should be united in observing the venerable day of the sun, referencing the esoteric eastern sun-worship which Aurelian had helped introduce, and his coinage still carried the symbols of the sun cult until 324. Even after the pagan gods had disappeared from the coinage, Christian symbols appeared only as Constantine's personal attributes: the chi rho between his hands or on his labarum, but never on the coin itself. Even when Constantine dedicated the new capital of Constantinople, which became the seat of Byzantine Christianity for a millennium, he did so wearing the Apollonian sun-rayed Diadem.

Constantine burning Arian books

The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the emperor as having some influence within the religious discussions going on within the Catholic Church of that time, e.g., the dispute over Arianism. [a religious faction that denied the Divinity of Christ] Constantine himself disliked the risks to societal stability that religious disputes and controversies brought with them, preferring where possible to establish an orthodoxy. The emperor saw it as his duty to ensure that God was properly worshiped in his empire, and that what proper worship consisted would be determined by the Church. In 316, Constantine acted as a judge in a North African dispute concerning the validity of Donatism. After deciding against the Donatists [heretics] , Constantine led an army of Christians against the Donatist Christians. After 300 years of pacifism, this was the first intra-Christian persecution. More significantly, in 325 he summoned the Council of Nicaea, effectively the first Ecumenical Council (unless the Council of Jerusalem is so classified). [It’s NOT]  Nicaea was dealt mostly with Arianism. Constantine also enforced the prohibition of the First Council of Nicaea against celebrating the Lord's Supper on the day before the Jewish Passover (14 Nisan) (see Quartodecimanism and Easter controversy).

Churches were seized and many were exiled. Yet the Donatist heresy did not disappear until the Moslem invasion of Africa in the seventh century.”

Constantine made new laws regarding the Jews. They were forbidden to own Christian slaves or to circumcise their slaves

In 331, Constantine commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople. Athanasius (Apol. Const. 4) recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for Constans. Little else is known. It has been speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists, and that Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles.

Christian Emperorship: Enforcement of Church policy

The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian Emperor in the Church. Emperors considered themselves responsible to God for the spiritual health of their subjects, and thus they had a duty to maintain orthodoxy. The emperor did not decide doctrine — that was the responsibility of the bishops — rather his role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity. The emperor ensured that God was properly worshiped in his empire; what proper worship (orthodoxy) and doctrine (dogma) consisted of was for the Church to determine.

Constantine himself was baptized into Christianity just before his death in May 337 by his distant relative Arianian Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. During Eusebius of Nicomedia's time in the Imperial court, the Eastern court and the major positions in the Eastern Church were held by Arians or Arian sympathizers. With the exception of a short period of eclipse, Eusebius enjoyed the complete confidence both of Constantine and Constantius II and was the tutor of the later Emperor Julian the Apostate. After Constantine's death, his son and successor Constantius II was an Arian, as was the later Emperor Valens.

Constantine's position on the religions traditionally practiced in Rome evolved during his reign. At first he prohibited the construction of new temples and tolerated traditional sacrifices; by the end of his reign, he had begun to order the pillaging and tearing down of Roman temples.[END QUOTE]

Our Third Issue  of this topic is why Do Catholics Pray “to” Mary and the Saints?

Matthew 16:18-19 “ And I [Jesus /God] tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock [you Peter] I will build my church, [SINGULAR] and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.
I will give you [AND YOU ALONE] the keys of the kingdom of heaven, [to control the access to heaven] and this is [ACCOMPLISHED in John 20:21-22] and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." … One errors gravely in forgetting the fact that to Peter ALONE as the head of Christ new Covenant Catholic-Church, did JESUS / GOD entrust the very “keys to heavenly access.”

Canonization in the Catholic Church is quite another thing. The Catholic Church canonizes or beatifies only those whose lives have been marked by the exercise of heroic virtue, and only after this has been proved by common repute for sanctity and by conclusive arguments. The chief difference, however, lies in the meaning of the term canonization, the Church seeing in the saints nothing more than friends and servants of God whose holy lives have made them worthy of His special love. She does not pretend to make gods

The true origin of canonization and beatification must be sought in the Catholic doctrine of the worship (cultus), invocation, and intercession of the saints. As was taught by St. Augustine (Quaest. in Heptateuch., lib. II, n. 94; Reply to Faustus XX.21), Catholics, while giving to God alone adoration strictly so-called, honor the saints because of the Divine supernatural gifts which have earned them eternal life, and through which they reign with God in the heavenly fatherland as His chosen friends and faithful servants. In other words, Catholics honour God in His saints as the loving distributor of supernatural gifts. The worship of latria (latreia), or strict adoration, is given to God alone; the worship of dulia (douleia), or honor and humble reverence, is paid the saints; the worship of hyperdulia (hyperdouleia), a higher form of dulia, belongs, on account of her greater excellence, to the Blessed Virgin Mary.