Catholic Verses - 95 Bibles Passages That Confound Protestants?
ELISHA'S BONES RAISE A MAN FROM THE DEAD
Page 147: 2 Kings 13:20-21. Catholics believe that physical matter can be a conveyor of spiritual grace. This is the foundation for the use of relics (objects associated with saints) and sacramentals (sacred or devotional objects). Catholic apologist Bertrand Conway elaborates: The Catholic Church does not teach that there is any magical virtue or any curative efficacy in the relic itself. The Church merely says, following the Scriptures, that they are often the occasion of God's miracles. In the Old Law we read of the veneration of the Jews for the bones of Joseph (Exod. 13:19; Josh. 24:32), and of the prophet Eliseus (Elisha) which raised a dead man to life (2 Kings 13:21) (Conway, 373).
Note: Throughout history people have been mistaken for being dead when they were simply unconscious.
Acts 14:19-20 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
Page 148: Protestants often act as if matter and spirit are naturally opposed to each other (with matter being evil or less good than spirit). Catholics, of course, strongly disagree with this outlook. This tendency in some strains of modern Evangelicalism is seen, for example, in silly legalisms about dancing being immoral, or puritanistic notions of sex (even married sex) being a "dirty" or evil thing. It is seen in the reluctance to accept the Eucharist as substantially the Body and Blood of Christ (along with, of course, opposition to relics and things like holy water and crucifixes).
Note: Christians will be focused on Jesus Christ instead of worldly pursuits.
Romans 8:1-8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Note: Do you want to please God or the Catholic Church?
Pages 149-150: It must be noted again that veneration of the saints and their relics is essentially different from the kind worship or adoration reserved for God alone, in that it is a high honor given to something or someone because of the grace revealed or demonstrated in them from God. The relic (and the saint from whom it is derived) reflects the greatness of God just as a masterpiece of art or music reflects the greatness of the artist or composer. Therefore, in such veneration, it is God being honored. The saint is venerated only insofar as he reflects God's grace and holiness. To worship as divine a saint or relic is not following Catholic teaching, which fully agrees with Protestantism with regard to the evil of idolatry.
Note: In regards to the bones of Joseph, he simply wanted to be finally interned in the land of Israel not Egypt.
Genesis 50:24-26 And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Page 150: In the passage from 2 Kings, matter clearly imparts God's miraculous grace. That is all that is needed for Catholics reasonably and scripturally to hold such relics in the highest regard and honor (veneration). It is not necessary for the entire doctrine of veneration to be spelled out in the verse, only the fundamental assumption behind it (matter can convey grace), which is the basis for the Catholic belief and practice.
Note: As do cult members, this author has tried to change the definition of the word venerate to hide its pagan roots.
Definition of venerate: to solicit the goodwill of (a god), worship, revere, verbal derivative of vener-, stem of venus, presumably in its original sense “desire”; see Venus)
Page 150: As for the graven-image prohibition of Exodus 20:4, what God was forbidding there was idolatry: making a stone or block of wood into a god. The Jews were forbidden to have idols (which all their neighbors had), and God told them not to make an image of him because he revealed himself as a spirit.
Note: The author must have forgotten about the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome depicting God the Father in human form.
The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, at the commission of Pope Julius II, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The ceiling is that of the large Papal Chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV after whom it is named. The chapel is the location for Papal Conclaves and many important services. The ceiling's various painted elements form part of a larger scheme of decoration within the Chapel, which includes the large fresco The Last Judgment on the sanctuary wall, also by Michelangelo, wall paintings by several leading painters of the late 15th century including Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Pietro Perugino, and a set of large tapestries by Raphael, the whole illustrating much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis of which the Creation of Adam is the best known, having an iconic standing equalled only by Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the hands of God and Adam being reproduced in countless imitations. The complex design includes several sets of individual figures, both clothed and naked, which allowed Michelangelo to fully demonstrate his skill in creating a huge variety of poses for the human figure, and have provided an enormously influential pattern book of models for other artists ever since. Wikipedia Encyclopedia.
Page 151: Catholics and Orthodox worship Jesus through images (including crosses, crucifixes, and statues of Jesus), and we venerate saints through images. The common Protestant objection and opposition to veneration of images or of relics (as in this case) is as silly as saying that a person raising his hands toward God in worship and praise at church is worshiping the ceiling. That person may not have an image of God in his mind, but he uses the symbolism of "upward" as being directed toward God (yet God is everywhere, so one could just as correctly stretch his arms downward or sideways). We are physical creatures; God became man, and so by the principle of the Incarnation and sacramentalism, the physical becomes involved in the spiritual. Icons and relics are both based on these presuppositions.
Note: Christians approach God through the Holy Spirit not physical relics.
Romans 8:9-17 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Note: Are you in bondage to the physical relics of a church based in Rome?