Apology QUESTION from JJ October 30, 2000 I apologize for wasting your time. I also would like to regret hearing you damning me to hell for praising God in a different way than yours. I always hoped God was forgiving and accepting but I guess not. Am I wrong to think God is forgiving? Also is Christianity the only way to show proper praise to God? Personally I think we should allow ourselves many ways to praise God. For no religion can be the one true religion, we must make due with the information God presents to us and decide for ourselves the best way to show our praise. Take care my friend and I will keep you always in good thoughts.
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, O.L.S.M. on December 17, 2000 Dear Mr. JJ:
You are mistaken. I have not damned you to hell. I never once said that or implied that. I might have said that your actions or beliefs might place you at RISK of hell, but I cannot damn you or anyone to hell.
Actually we damn ourselves. We have a choice to accept God or not. If not, then we choose eternity without God -- that is hell.
God is forgiving. All you have to do is repent of your wrongdoing and ask God for forgiveness. He is open and ready to wrap his arms around you in forgiveness. BUT you must accept His Truth.
You are wrong that there is no true religion. What a cruel God we would have if He left us in chaos without a definite Church to protect and guarantee that His truth would not be corrupted!
The Catholic Church is the only true Church. It is the fullness of the TRUE religion of Christianity. Yes, all we have is the information that God has given us in Revelation and that information says that we are to follow the faith taught and protected by His appointed Prime Minister who sits in the Chair of Peter -- The Pope.
When we decide for ourselves we find ourselves in error. Look at the Protestants. They decide for themselves and as a result there are now more than 25,000 different Protestant groups -- sometimes contradicting each other in their doctrine yet all saying that the Holy Spirit gave them their doctrine. Well that is not possible. The Holy Spirit can only give the truth and the truth cannot be contradictory. Either it is, or it is not. So if two faith groups have contradictory doctrine, they CANNOT be both right. Either one is right and the other is wrong, or both are wrong.
God in his love spared his children from that kind of chaos. He appointed a Prime Minister with the authority to watch over the flock, to teach the faith, and to guarantee the faith. That Prime Minister is the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.
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