A Discussion of Abortion, in particular Partial-Birth Abortion

Hello to everyone!  What a great Sunday it was today.  Thanks for reading : )

I have decided to post a paper that I wrote for a Social Studies class on here.  We were supposed to take a side on a subject, and I decided to write about partial-birth abortion.  This is a very sensitive topic for many people, so I apologize if my view does not agree with yours.  This is just my personal view on it, which happens to agree with the Catholic view, imagine that.  : )

So, if you feel like reading it, download it here.

"Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God."

-Psalm 22:9-10

Feel free to post comments on this subject, but keep it respectful please!

God bless you all!

Your sister in Christ,

Emily

A Study of the Differences between the Christian Religions (Catholic, Lutheran, and Methodist)

Hello everyone.  Thanks for reading : D

Have you ever wondered what the differences are between Catholicism and the Lutheran branches of religion?  How about the Methodist religion?

Well, I'm about to tell you : )

I'll also explain a bunch of different terms you may not have heard of from Catholicism.

So, the first difference is the number of sacraments.

1.  The Catholic church believes that there are 7 Sacraments.  They are:

Baptism

Communion- see this and this

Reconciliation- see this

Confirmation

Marriage

Holy Orders- Holy Orders is the process where a bishop gives another bishop, priest, or deacon the rights to be in that vocation.

Anointing of the Sick- This is where a priest blesses a sick person with holy oil.  It can be done when close to death by old age or sickness.

Why so many, you may ask?  There are several reasons.  All of the above sacraments require a priest to carry out.  Also, something really cool that not all people realize is that not one person can receive all 7 sacraments.  One cannot receive the sacrament of marriage and holy orders.  Why?  In the Catholic church, we believe that the priest cannot take a wife, and must be celibate.  We believe that the priest marries the Church.  He devotes his life to helping the Church.

2. Everything that I have on the Lutheran church is from research, not my own knowledge, so sorry if this is a little limited.

The Lutheran church believes in two main sacraments:  Baptism and Communion.  They believe these are the only two because they are the only ones referred to in the Bible.

3.  The Methodist church believes in two sacraments as well, with the same reasoning as the Lutheran church. 

The next topic is the authority (leader) of the Church.

1.  As Catholics, we believe that the Holy Father, the Pope, is the leader of the Catholic church.  Jesus said, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)  We take what he says here literally.  We believe that Peter was the first Pope of the church, and all other popes were supposed to follow his example.  We look to the pope for guidance and to resolve all issues within Catholicism.  Cool fact:  All priests, deacons, cardinals, bishops, and popes were all touched indirectly by Jesus himself.  When they are ordained, the bishop lays their hands on the priests, which we believe started with Jesus and his disciples.

2.  The Lutheran church refers to the Bible for direction.  Whereas in the Catholic church, the pope has the last say, the Bible has the last say in the Lutheran faith.

3.  Methodist is same as Lutheran.

The next topic is where we receive our salvation.

1.  The Catholic church believes that we are given God's grace of salvation through Jesus Christ, but we also believe that your works on Earth may defer you to eternal damnation.  If you do bad works (sins) on Earth, we believe that you confess them, especially mortal sins.  For more on this, see this post.

2.  The Lutheran church believes that we are automatically saved through God's grace, no matter what.

3.  The Methodist church's belief is somewhere in between the Catholic and Lutheran belief.

There are also lots of things in the Catholic religion that no other religions have, such as saints and reconciliation.

Saints

Saints are icons in the Catholic church of holy people.  There is a very extensive process that deals with sainthood.

"The formal process of sainthood involves a complicated process taking time, money, testimonies, and miracles, and the church follows a strict set of rules in the process.

First, to determine who qualifies, the Vatican looks to its Congregation for the "Causes of Saints". Typically, a would-be candidate's "cause" is presented to the local bishop by his or her admirers who persuade him that the life of the candidate was a model of holiness.

Once the applicant is approved as a candidate, an appointed postulator interviews those who knew the individual. Personal testimonies, letters, and writings of the candidate's are put together. A relater then sifts through this information and prepares a position paper. If the volumes of evidence prove a life of "heroic virtue", the person is given the title "venerable" by the Pope.

The next title, beatified (blessed), is attained if it can be proven that a miracle occurred after the death of the candidate, the result of someone praying to that person for help.

To finalize a canonization, it must be established that a second miracle occurred. (Martyrs are the exception. The pope can reduce their miracle requirement to one or waive it altogether.) Most often prayer requests are for a physical healing.

Verifying a miracle is considered the most difficult hurdle in the process. Just deciding what constitutes one causes debate. A life of heroic virtue is obviously easier to establish than a healing that results from prayers."

-http://home.comcast.net/~motherteresasite/sainthood.html

As you can see, this is a very long process.  However, there are many, many saints.  There are also patron saints.  Patron saints are the "patrons" of a certain thing, such as music, or priests.  However, there are a lot of patron saints for weird things too.  It's actually really fun to look for weird patron saints, like this website did.

Also, many people ask why we "worship" Mary, the blessed mother.  I have done quite a bit of research on this, and I believe I found the answer.

There are two main forms of "worship" that we use.  Adoration and veneration.

Adoration is reserved only for the Holy Trinity, that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  This is the highest form of worship in the Catholic church.

Veneration is quite different.  It is honoring someone, not worshipping.  We honor this person and, by honoring them, honor God who made them in his likeness.

For Mary, she has a special type of veneration.  We believe that she is the Mother of the Church; that is why we pray to her.

There is also the differences between the reception of Communion. 

1.  Catholics believe in transubstantiation.

2.  Methodists believe in the real presence of Christ only during the time of Communion. Christ is present, however it is believed that it is a mystery as to how he is present, and just knowing that he is present is enough. After Communion the bread is simply bread, and the juice is juice. More information can be obtained by reading a study called "This Holy Mystery" which explains in detail a lot of the history behind not only communion in the Methodist church but also a brief overview of Communion in other churches.

3.  Lutheran churches differ from church to church, but I have found two distinctions.  They either believe that the bread and wine is just a symbol of Christ's body and blood, or that they are Christ's body and blood, but still remain bread and wine throughout.  The second view is called consubstantiation.

So, after writing about this for a couple days, and researching for many hours, I believe this is correct.  Please comment if you want to chat more about any of this.  If anyone from one of these three religions would like to post, or from any other Christian religion, I would really appreciate it!

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in
unity!"

-Psalms 133:1

May the blessing of the Lord be upon you!

Your sister in Christ,

Emily

Answer to: "What are the different types of sin?"

Hi everyone.  Thanks for reading, I really appreciate all of you : ) .

I have decided to post once or twice a week because I'm going to start getting busier.  Also, I am running out of topics, so keep posting questions for me.

This week's topic is sin, and the different types.  Please comment on this note if you have any questions about a certain sin and what it would be considered.

There are two different types of sin, mortal, and venial.

Mortal sins have three qualifications:

1.  They have to be of a grievous matter.

2.  There must be "reflection".  One must have thought about what they were going to do.

3.  It must be something that you have to choose to do.

Lots of mortal sins come from the ten commandments (Not all sins coming from the ten commandments are mortal).  For example, missing Mass can be a mortal sin, IF it fits the three qualifications.  But mostly, they are really intense things, such as murder or aiding in an abortion procedure.

So what if you forget about committing a mortal sin?  They are very hard to forget about.  For example, if your mortal sin was missing Mass, you must have thought about going, but then didn't.  If something came up, such as sickness or an emergency, then skipping Mass would not be considered a mortal sin.

Venial sins are all other sins.

All sins break contact with God, and he disapproves of all sins.  However, only mortal sins break the grace of God.  If you have committed a mortal sin, you must have God forgive you, via reconciliation.  See the other note for more information.

Remember, sin is something that we all do.  So, don't think you are the only one.  Please post questions!

—Proverbs 28:13

"For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

—Romans 6:20-23

Bless you all!

Your sister and witness in Christ,

Emily

Answer to: "What is reconciliation?" (Edited Version)

Hello everyone. Thanks for reading : )

Today's topic is reconciliation, basically a walk-through of what it is and why we as Catholics believe in it.

First, a basic explanation. Reconciliation is, first of all, one of seven sacraments in the Catholic faith.  During the sacrament, the sinner, for lack of a better word, professes their sins to the priest, and God as well (although He already knows everything).  They also profess their regret and promise to never do it again.  After this, the priest gives the sinner absolution for their sins, or forgiveness.

So here's the step by step process.

Reconciliation is either held in one of those confessional kind of things, like you see on TV, or you are talking to the priest face to face, without anything between you.  I have never done it the first way, so I can't say much about that, but I personally think it's cooler to have just a one-on-one conversation with the priest.

So, you go in and sit down.  The priest says a blessing and then asks what you want to confess.

You confess as much or as little as you want.  I think it's more powerful to confess everything because the priests are always so forgiving and nice.

Afterward, you say an act of contrition, or a statement professing how sorry you are and that you will never do it again.  Some people have a basic one memorized, but I feel that it comes more from my heart if I just say my own.

Then the priest absolves you (forgives you) from your sins, by saying something like this:

"God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

During the bold part, you make the sign of the cross, and then you are free from your sins!

So what is so cool about Reconciliation?

God is forgiving you for whatever you did!  It really doesn't matter what you did, He will forgive you for anything.  Also, it lets a huge pressure off your chest to finally tell someone about what you have done.  Afterward, I always feel so refreshed and renewed, like God's grace and forgiveness really did come upon me.

Some people are really intimidated by it, but it really is not that hard to go through.  The priests always really care about you and do the best to help you.

So, there is also one more part to this.  That is the sin factor.  I will cover the two types of sin in my next post, but know this:  Venial sins are strongly recommended for you to confess, but you don't have to.  If you have committed a mortal sin, and not confessed it, or had the intentions to confess it before you die, you may earn yourself a one-way ticket to Hell.  So, keep that in mind.

Let me know if you have any questions/comments about this topic, or if you have any questions for new topics!

Answer to: When shouldn't I receive Communion?