Whats the latest news?

To my young adult teens let me ask you a question and let everyone post comments to this posting and lets get some dialouge going?

• Is there any real point to dating or calling someone your boyfirend while in High School, if so why or why not? 
• Now in days are most teenagers sexual active? If so why, are teens not keeping themselves anymore? 
• Is sending naked pictures by text showing any respect for yourselves and therefore the boy, shouldnt respect you? 
• If your boy friend lives with you already and you guys are sexual active but, not married. Do you think he will ever marry you? Do you consider yourselves respecting yourself? 

#3Roman Catholicism Vs. Protestantism

PLEASE READ PREVIOUS LESSONS PRIOR TO THIS ONE IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY FOR GRATER UNDERSTANDING PLEASE...

Roman Catholicism Vs. Protestantism

The Sufficiency and Authority of Scripture

Another difference is the sufficiency and authority of scripture. The early church views the scriptures as the sole and sufficient source of authoritative revelation from God. Which means that all Christians were to give their attention to the bible. Finding in the bible the very words of God that are to be believed and obeyed just as God does not require or prohibit anything of Christians that is not contained in scripture either explicitly or by implication. But a change took place in the middle ages. As the Catholic church permitted other sources to lay claim to the title of authoritative truth. This consist of written scripture church tradition and the magisterium. Meaning scripture alone was not enough for salvation and becoming christlike. Sola-Scripture alone is the protestantism motto. This point became the decisive point of division between Protestantism and Catholicism. It meant scripture alone is absolutely authoritative for doctrine and practice, and following scripture alone is sufficient to please God in all things. 

The Doctrine of Salvation 

There are many other issues that arise because of the foundational issues of the canon of scripture, proper biblical interpretation, and sufficiency and authority of the bible. The Doctrine of salvation differs as well. According to Protestantism Rom. 3:21-4:8 and 5:15-19 , justification is the act of God by which he declares a sinful person to be no longer under judgment for his or her guilt, but forgiven and righteous instead, because the sin-bearing righteousness of Christ is accredited to the person 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil 3:9. This declarative as isn’t based on any inherent goodness are any personally achieved righteousness of the sinful person, and it does not render a person morally transformed. Justification is grounded solely on the grace of God as expressed by he atoning death of Christ. Which can only be received by faith; salvation can’t be merited by human effort in whole or even in part through moral conduct of religious activity Eph. 2: 8-9. 

The Roman Catholics include other justifications acts of God in salvation. They say its not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man. Meaning Justification is a work in progress that increases and decreases in relation to the degree of inward renewal of the sinful person, rendering any assurance of salvation impossible for this life. Rather salvation is conferred in Baptism and other sacraments of the catholic traditions. Its human effort and Gods grace established so that a sinful person not only expresses his faith in Christ atoning death but also moved by love and the holy spirit merits eternal life by participation in the church and good deeds. 

Protestants have considered this a very serious difference. Since Faith-plus-human-effort view of justification is so different from the true gospel message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone Rom 4:4-5, 16, 5:1; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9. 

Doctrine of Eschatology- last things

Protestants only two eternal destinies await human beings one is eternal life for all who are justified by Gods grace through faith in Christ alone John 3:16,Rom 8:1, 33-34 or eternal condemnation for all who reject this salvation John 3:18; 2 Thess. 1:5-10. Roman Catholics are to these two eternal destinies, they add a third destiny: temporal punishment in purgatoryfor all who are on the way to final bliss. “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. Purgatory is a temporal punishment as a means of final purification. Protestants deny this doctrine because it is based on apocryphal writing (2 Macc. 12: 45, which is not canonical scripture). Also, it’s on misinterpreted biblical passages Matt. 12:31; 1 Cor. 3:15. Furthermore its shows the doctrine outgrowth of the logical Roman Catholic misunderstanding of salvation. 

Role of Mary 

Protestants place attention on Jesus Christ. Catholics adds to this singular focus some attention to Mary his mother. In terms of her personal history Catholics believe in Mary’s immaculate conception. She is invoked in the church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix invoked here means “Prayed to”. The have a 17 festival days annually dedicated to her and the 50 “Hail Mary” prayers in the set of prayers Known as the rosary. 

So there remains a vast difference of these two doctrines. Their bibles are different, their idea of interpretation is different, and their view of scripture clarity, authority, sufficiency and necessity is different. And because of these diffrences, Protestants and Roman Catholics theologies also diverge on the crucial doctrines of salvation, purgatory,Mary and the church.  

Education On Roman Catholics VS. Protestantism

Welcome back sorry I know it’s been a while. I often study various things and than get off track. Anyway, let's pickup from where we left off. In the previous study we studied how the Roman Catholicism bible is different from the Protestantism Bible and how that all came about if you didn’t read that lesson please go back and read it before moving on to this reading so you will have a greater understanding of things. 

Interpretation Of Scripture

Another important matter is the interpretation of the bible that differs from Roman Catholics and Protestants. Roman Catholics insist that the prerogative to determine the proper and authoritative interpretation of the scripture belongs solely to its magisterium, or teaching offices, which is only the pope and the bishops. This was a decision that the council of Trent made in about 1546 in response to the growing protestant movement. So Trent basically was saying no one relying on his own judgment shall, in matters of faith and morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine should distort the Holy Scriptures with its own conceptions. The Roman Catholic Church claims that it possesses the sole right to give the correct interpretation of scripture. So you may be asking how is this any different than a protestant church and the pastor, ministers such as my self-ministering over the pulpit? Great question I’ll tell you the answer. 

Protestant Churches don’t have such as authoritative teaching office to decide correct and authoritative interpretations rather we encourage all believers to engage in careful and responsible interpretations of the bible by observing sound interpretative principles, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with the help of divinely ordained and gifted elders (1 Tim 3:2; 5: 17; 3:16; Titus 1:9 or Pastors (Eph. 4:11) and taking into account the way other believers have interpreted text. Protestants rejects Roman Catholic magisterium- by this we mean the teaching of the office of the church and instead we encourage personal bible study because of its conviction that scripture is clear and is necessary for all Christians who will also be made competent by the Holy Spirit for such an interpretative task. However, in an encourageing development more and more Catholics are becoming involved in Bible Study and familiarizing themselves with scripture. 

We have two more sections that I will like to cover to please stay with me on this lesson and difference of doctrines. To me if you don’t stand to know what you believe in why, you believe in it and that your doctrine is “Truth” and the only “Truth” monotheism you will fall for anything. Stay soon for more please read my lessons on Jehovah’s Witnesses and Later Day-Saints (Mormonism) coming soon, Judaism coming soon and Protestantism and remember we are learning together so post your comments and knowledge as well just as the lesson indicates above.  

Proverbs 18:24

Friends can come and Friends can go, but a true freind sticks by you like family. The problem is that we all yearn for a true friend that we can trust. But true freindship is hard work. We need to all realize if we are going to have company riding with us we must be willing to scoot over and rerrange to accomodate each other. Every realtionship requires adjustments. In order for relationships to survive we must have endurance. A true freind is one that regardless of your imperfections and your deepest scars, as you become transparent with them will they still stay your friend? By your nudity and transparent state. Has it  altered their commitment to being your friend. But having to many freinds can create jealousy, absorbs time, and cheapens your commitment with God the father. It's not the quanity of freinds that should be our concern, it should be the quality. A freind that can share with you, knowing that you will still love them behind their imperfections. We must be able to love like God. God sees every imperfection we have but, he still keeps a commitment of love. Too often we throw away freindships, good people that did a Bad thing. We can easily forget all the good they have done and undulge on that one or two.. bad things. The deeper concern is are we throwing away the whole vechile over just a bad battery? What we all need is a unique gift of acceptance. Just like God gives. Where is it, and how can we get it back? You tell me lets talk about that....(written by Angelique Tembo inspired by T.D JAKES)...Proverbs 18:24

THE DIFFRENCE OF ROMAN CATHOLISISM VS. PROTESTANTISM

THE Bible in Christianity

Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have many beliefs in common, both adhering to the truths expressed in the Apostles’ Creed and the doctrines crystallized and codified at Nicea and Chalcedon (Trinity and Christology, respectively).  However, they have serious differences in they're understanding of doctrines such as Scripture, salvation, purgatory, Mary and the Church. 

All the books of the Protestant Bible are found in the Catholic bible, the catholic bible contains additional books(Tobit, Judith) that isn’t found in the Protestant Bible and they have additional books in certain Sects  like the book of Esther, and Daniel. These additional books and sections are called the Apocrypha- and its all related to the old Testament.  Their New Testament however, is identical to the Protestant New Testament.  Now you may ask Why the difference or how did this difference come about? What we now call the “old testament” (Christians) was once the entire Bible of the Jews and was originally written in Hebrew, But in the third century b.c a Greek Translation of this Hebrew Bible was undertaken called the Septuagint GK. Seventy; often abbreviated LXX: it is more extensive than the Hebrew Scripture, and its additions are called the Apocryphal (or hidden) writings, or the Apocrypha. 

Beginning in the second century a.d a Latin translation of the bible was done. So the version of the OT that was originally translated was the Septuagint not the Hebrew Bible. During this time the church in the West begin to adopt Latin as their new language and the Latin translation including the Apocrypha became its Bible. Are you following me reader’s? I hope you are if not go back and read what has been given to you so far before you read on. 

In a.d 382 Jerome embarked on  a new Latin translation of Scripture, called the Vulgate. He commenced his work from the OT he translated from the Hebrew bible. That’s because he considered only the writings in the Hebrew bible to be authoritative Scripture, and he knew the Apocrypha never had a place in the Hebrew Bible but, Augustine urged Jerome to include translations of the apocryphal writings. So as the Vulgate became the church’s new bible, the apocryphal writings were increasingly regarded as part of canonical Scripture (Canonical Scriptures, those books which are declared by the canons of the church to be of divine inspiration; called collectively the canon. The Roman Catholic Church holds as canonical several books which Protestants reject as apocryphal).

Several church council around the fifth century a.d ratified the Latin Vulgate the old testament, with the apocrypha, and the new testament would be the bible of the church. This view went without challenge until the reformation. This was the disagreement in the sixteenth century between the Roman Catholic Church and the new Protestant movement was the canon of Scripture. So, Protestants insisted that the shorter Hebrew Bible should match the OT and not the Septuagint with its additional apocryphal writings. WE (CHRISTIANS) argued that the Jewish bible which did not include those writings had been the scripture used by JESUS AND THE DISCIPLES(JESUS WAS A JEW AND REMEMBER THE BIBLE OF THE JEWS WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN HEBREW)therefore it must be considered the basis of the church overall bible.Also, some of the Apocrypha writings included incorrect historical or chronological information, and had been considered unsound by the early church(goggle the early church that's informal as well) so, the reformers dismissed the Apocrypha from the canonical OT (check that out wow! blew my mind) so because of this; this is why, the Roman Catholic Bible is different from the Protestant Bible. Because the Apocrypha was considered non-canonical, it could not be used as the basis for church doctrine. Belief in purgatory and the practice of praying for the dead (which was supported in the apocrypha)were without biblical support and were therefore discontinued by the protestant churches. 

In summary the Roman Catholic bible is different from the protestant Bible because of the presence of the apocrypha in the catholic OT. THis divergence was the result of significant disputes about the proper source for the bible's translation, the range of the Holy Spirit's inspiration of the Scripture, and the limits of the word of God as iced by Jesus and his disciples. This is what continues to be the major differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. 

My words: Jesus of a Jew the bible was written in Hebrew. Why, add anything to that? It is just the way it is and that is why, I am a Protestant A christian doctrine. There is only one way to heaven/salvation and that is through Jesus. Others may disagree but, this is my belief… 

AMen 

Well, hope this helps many this study took 24hours and tomorrow we will cover the Interpretation of Scripture how that Differs from Roman Catholicism stay with me and learn or it may just be a Knowledge Check lol lol….   

"ThanksGiving " my bible study for today on this day of Prayer

Ignore in typos: I was typing as I learned I wasn't focused on Grammar but just the WORD it self+ im not the best writter. But thats okay because Moses wasnt the best speaker am I right? 

The word holiday actually means "holy day"; hence these events should be remembered and celebrated in a holy manner. We have strayed from that purpose over the years as we have embraced many unholy practices and worldly customs and added them to our "holy days."

Thanksgiving is one of our main national holidays here in the U.S.A. A good question to ask is "Are we as Christians celebrating it the way the Lord would have us celebrate, or have we compromised with the world?" Have we lost the emphasis on thanksgiving and prayer and shifted it to a gluttonous feast of food, drink and games like those in the world have done? God wants us to enjoy family, friends and feasting, but leaving God out of the day breaks His heart. More and more the media is referring to this holiday as "turkey day" instead of Thanksgiving Day. They also eliminate the object of who we are to offer our thanks. We are just to be "thankful" we are told. Who should our thanks be directed to? The object of our thanks for our many blessings, should be directed to the Lord God. It should not just be a general "thanks."

The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated less than a year after the Christian Plymouth colonists had settled in the new land of America. The first Thanksgiving Day, set aside for the special purpose of prayer as well as celebration, was decreed by Governor William Bradford in July 30, 1623. There were harvest festivals, or days of thanking God for plentiful crops. During the Revolutionary War, eight special days of thanks were observed for victories and for being saved from dangers. On November 26, 1789, President George Washington issued a general proclamation for a day of thanks. Our national day of thanksgiving was proclaimed by President Lincoln in 1863 with these words, "a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father."

Are we forgetting the main purpose of this day is prayer and thanksgiving as we feast and fellowship? The Lord is not opposed to our feasting and our gathering of friends and family to dine, but if our only prayer is to ask God to bless our food are we not forgetting the real meaning of this day? God delights in blessing us as His children. However, do we, as His children delight in blessing Him with our prayers and thanks? Do our celebrations revolve more around the meal and the football game that follows, than around the discussion of the things we should be thankful for? Many are worshipping the idol of ball games on holidays instead of focusing on the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Not that watching games are wrong in themselves, but many have forgotten the Lord and have replaced thanking God, praying and reading the Bible with watching games, drinking and eating. Let us ask God to forgive us and truly celebrate this day in real thanksgiving and prayer.

Psalm 75:1, "Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare."

Psalm 107:1, "O Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever."

The fourth product of a life that is growing by the knowledge of God in spiritual wisdom and understanding. A worthy walk that pleases God occurs in those who both recognize and stay occupied with God as their heavenly Father, their very source and benefactor of life (Rom. 11:36). Being thankful also requires a proper comprehension of the reasons why we should be thankful. Thankfulness cannot occur in a vacuum of ignorance. The reason for thanksgiving is found in the saving acts of God because it is these blessings that deliver believers out of Satan’s domain of darkness and into the realm of light and spiritual fruitfulness.

Through Christ, the Father has:

qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light,
delivered us from the domain of darkness,
transferred us into the kingdom of His Son, and 
redeemed us, providing the forgiveness of sins (as seen in “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins).

Words from a Influential leader

Without a strong vision, you will end up gong over the same decisions again and again because you are constantly in two minds and tempted to change direction. (John Edmund Haggai).