Djeuve said:
There is something I feel uncomfortable with when it comes to Christianity. It is supposed to be a worship of God and all, but (not so much anymore) people pray to Saints as though they were lesser Gods of the Christian pantheon...
Some people even pray to Jesus.
I realise that since people can only think and visualise something with a certain limit, they need something they can see so they can pray to it...but doesn't that border on worshiping Idols?
Let me stop here and say I'm not trying to prove some point, rather, I am asking. I really want to know.
So, knowing that, a lot of religions pray to A God, even if that God is not quite the same in all...but, would that matter as long as you keep good faith in that God, or in some cases, a set of moral values?
In that way, then it would not be condemning Buddhists and Muslims, or people in the far reaches of the world who have never even heard of the Christian faith, straight to hell... wouldn't it?
That's why I feel uncomfortable when I think about choosing a faith... I'd be afraid I'd just think: "Hah! I'M in the right one, and YOU'RE going to Hell!!" Just sounds unfair and unbalanced to me...arrogant to some extent...
OK, let me try and field this. I am going from memory, so if I say something inaccurate, and anyone sees it, please correct me.
The Bible is made up of two main parts, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. Before The Old Testament is the world of God BEFORE the coming of Jesus Christ, and both Jews and Christians believe it and follow it. In the Old Testament, among the many things that happened, there is a prophecy of the coming of God. Jews believe in and acknowledge Jesus as a prophet, but do not believe that He was the son of God. Christians do, and it is at this part that Jews and Christians part ways.
I am a Catholic, which was the first Christian Faith. According to my faith, Jesus assigned Saint Peter to be the first Pope. Jesus told Saint Peter
From Matthew 16:18-19
"I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."
Catholics believe that Jesus named Peter the first Pope of the Church, and gave him the power to create Church Law. Further, God will make whatever the Church dictates happen.
The Greek Orthodox church is essentially the same as the original Catholic Church, except they do not accept the idea of the Pope being able to make religious law. They do not recognize the covenant between Jesus made with Saint Peter. They also never changed many of the original Catholic Church laws, and so they are they follow the church's more, for lack of a better word, "stricter" rules. For example, I believe they still say mass in Latin. Catholics believe that as the times changes, so much God's Laws here on Earth to better reflect the times, and have "Vatican Councils", which are pretty rare events, to "update" Church Law.
So, you had the original Church, The Catholic Church, and then you have the Greek Orthodox Church. Those are the first two forms of Christianity. All the other branches of Christianity, such as the Lutherans and the Baptists, all split from the Catholic Church for various reasons. Essentially, all Christians believe as Jesus Christ as their Lord and saviour, but believe different things about how we should live here on earth. As a Catholic, I strongly believe what Pope John Paul II said, which was, "The Church is PERFECT. It is the people within the Church that make it imperfect". In essence, what he was saying was that the Catholic Church as an institution is PERFECT, but many evil, corrupt, and somtimes downright inept, people have run the Church, and it is they who have done wrong, not the Church. As I said, I agree with that. There has been much corruption, and many bad decisions made on the part of the Catholic Church, but again, I believe the individuals make these mistakes in the name of the Church are to blame, not the Church itself.
In regards to Saints, when you "pray to a Saint", you are not doing so to worship him or her. You are asking them, since they are closer to God, to go before God and petition God in your favor. It is sort of like "having a friend in a high place who has the ear of God" to put in a "good word" for you. It is not meant to replace God in ANY WAY, and while praying to God directly is certainly never wrong, the Church believes that some people may have trouble so doing so. Saints are humans that lived lives worthy of respect, and served as examples for their fellow Christians. In no way, shape or form are you meant to pray to a Saint to grant you anything other than "putting in a good word" to God. It is the equivalent of asking your family and friends to pray for you when you are sick. You are asking the Saint to pray for you as well. Nothing more, nothing less.
In regards to praying to Jesus, we Catholics believe in the "Holy Trinity", which is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that God is in heaven, He manifested himself here on Earth through His Son Jesus, and also lives in spirit form as the Holy Spirit. You often here "God sent the Holy Spirit", which means God came down to earth in spirit form, and the manifested Himself as the "Holy Spirit". So, when you pray to Jesus, you are actually praying to God, since Jesus was God on earth. We also call this the "Holy Mystery", and we do not profess to understand it fully.
I love my Church, and I find it's formality to be comforting. I was a "self professed atheist" for a while and I have to say, after not going to church for 20 years, and then going back to the same thing, it was very comforting. Not much has changed in 20 years, and that made me feel warm inside. :D
The "Official Catholic Handbook" is called the
Catechism of the Catholic Church.
