Religion: What is the one true faith?

[Ben Kenobi]

Before I go into the rest of your post...

...there are hundreds of Protestant churches who claim the same thing.

Guilty as charged.

The whole point for the reform movement is to bring the church back to their original teachings. In that sense, all the Protestant churches exist only to fix the church, and not to establish themselves as a seperate authority, on the same level of the Catholic or the Orthodox church.

This is why our churches have to focus so much on the bible, in that it is the only source of our legitimacy.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


Okay.

Could Orthodox priests conduct a mass, and Roman Catholics would be able to participate? How about vice-versa?

We Protestants aren't allowed either, we cannot participate in a Catholic mass, nor does the Pope allow Catholics to participate in a Protestant eucharist/ communion.

Speak for yourself. I would be permitted to participate in a Roman Catholic mass. AFAIK the Roman Catholic doesn't object to any Christian participating in their masses, though I suppose I could be wrong. Do you have confirmed information to contradict me. It is true however that the Vatican maintains the position that if a Roman Catholic goes to a Protestant service it "doesn't count". If Saint Marcus were to attend an Episcopalian service the Vatican would treat it as if he hadn't gone to church at all, but wouldn't excommunicate him for doing so......it would try to excommunicate him just for general purposes. However, the God of the English would probably fry him the moment he dared set foot in one of out temples anyway.

[Ben Kenobi]

Dr. Strangelove:

My sloppy wording shows sloppy thinking.

I would be permitted to participate in a Roman Catholic mass.

You can go to the service, but can you take communion?

That's what I meant by participating in the service. I am permitted to participate in the remainder of the mass, I have done so with my girlfriend for about the past 6 months or so.

The same is what I meant by participating in a Protestant communion. Though by my church, my girlfriend would be permitted to take the bread and the wine, the Pope does not allow this for the reasons of Apostolic succession. In short, our pastors are still rebels, and Christ will not be present in bread or the wine.

I'm not sure about Episcopals or Anglicans, you folks are a funny sort of protestants, much closer to the Catholics doctrinally than my church would be, particularly regarding the Eucharist.

[Drake Tungsten]

You know, if you guys were Shintoists, you wouldn't have to worry about all this boring stuff. Think about it.

[Ben Kenobi]

you wouldn't have to worry about all this boring stuff.

I find it interesting.

To each his own.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
Dr. Strangelove:

My sloppy wording shows sloppy thinking.



You can go to the service, but can you take communion?

That's what I meant by participating in the service. I am permitted to participate in the remainder of the mass, I have done so with my girlfriend for about the past 6 months or so.

The same is what I meant by participating in a Protestant communion. Though by my church, my girlfriend would be permitted to take the bread and the wine, the Pope does not allow this for the reasons of Apostolic succession. In short, our pastors are still rebels, and Christ will not be present in bread or the wine.

I'm not sure about Episcopals or Anglicans, you folks are a funny sort of protestants, much closer to the Catholics doctrinally than my church would be, particularly regarding the Eucharist.

Yup, we can take the Catholic communion. Sometimes our neighbor's daughter shanghais my daughter to their church on Sundays. No one has freaked out about her being Episcopalian.

[Sava]

None of these stupid human religions is right. There's a slim chance someone got lucky... but it's more likely they are all wrong. We're not given knowledge of what lies beyond death. We have minds capable of reason and discerning reality. Some people decide to use them, some people decide to have faith.

[Verto]

Religion: What is the one true faith?

Mine.

[sprucemoose3311]

The question should not be what is the one religion.

The question should be: what is a good way to live? or what is moral and ethical?

If we spend so much time worry about the next world what have we acomplished?

slight tangent:
The early Christians were taught this (paraphrase) from paul:
Do not do good works because you are Christian, do good works because it is within the nature of Christianity. Heaven is not the main focus, your charity (actions) should be the main focus

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Kirnwaffen


BING BING BING!

Give that man a prize!

Yeah -- he basically said what I said in a previous post.

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove


Wouldn't it be cool if Mr. Chick went to a hell of his own design?

Yep.
Maybe God has a faible for fulfilling such special Wishes

[Ben Kenobi]

Some people decide to use them, some people decide to have faith.

"Faith is hope in things not seen."

[Proteus_MST]

Like Air for example

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by Proteus_MST
Like Air for example

Only if you take that quote as literally as possible. The quote should really be hope in things not perceived. We perceive air, though we don't see it. We perceive subatomic particles, though we don't see them. We perceive gravity, though we don't see it.

For all these things there is evidence that indicates that there existence is real even if we cannot see it with our own eyes. Observation and experimentation still shows that these things are there.

And before you think that your sight is so reliable, you should know what seeing is. Photons, generally emitted by the sun or from our own artificial sources, strike atoms, exciting the electrons of those atoms. The electrons, in order to maintain a stable orbit, release photons that correspond to the properties of those atoms and then sink back down to their normal position. These photons - which are both particles and waves at the same time - make contact with our eyes. This produces an electrical signal that travels throughout our brain, is flipped around a good deal, and is then interpreted based upon our knowledge of the universe, our experiences. Then we "see" it. Seeing is believing?

And now to faith. "Faith is hope in things not seen." If a thing is not seen (read: perceived) then it can have one of two sources. The first source is the supernatural, an area above and beyond our natural universe that does not necessarily follow any of the laws we are familiar with. People with faith trust that the supernatural exists.

Or, if a thing does not exist in the physical, detectable universe, then it exists in our mind. If a thing cannot be shown to be real, then it would have to be an artificial construct of our brain. In addition, this thing must be willed into existence by our consciousness, for it cannot have an external source. If it were to have an external source, it would be "seen" and would not be faith-based.

In other words, faith is more accurately described as hope in things greater than ourselves, or hope in things desired. And there is absolutely no way that we can ever tell the difference.

[JCG]

There is no certain way to find out, at least not here on Earth, during our mortal lives. The most accurate answer to the original question would be: "wait and see", I think.