Which Religion is the TRUE Religion??

[not_alice]

@tomndebb

I don’t really recall whether priests and auxillary bishops have the authority to excommunicate. Any suffragan bishop, (a bishop with leadership authority over a diocese), has the authority to excommunicate–he’s the boss. Auxiliary bishops in a diocese are also suffragan bishops of symbolic locations. They may have authority to excommunicate, but since they are not operating in the diocese of which they have been named suffragan, I am not sure whether they have that authority where they are exercising their auxiliary duties.

OK, that sounds like mid level officials at best can do it then. IIRC in the other thread, we settled on that just the Pope could do it.

Is there anything like a rulebook (not being snarky, don’t know the proper term) that folks can refer to on something like this?

[dropzone]

@not_alice

What also wasn’t addressed there, as I understood it is that three is a difference between no being in a state of communion and being excommunicated in that one is irrevocable and results in being tossed from the Church (is there/must three be a pronouncement? by whom?) and the other is a temporary transgression, shall we say.

Case in point: As I understand the rules, I am not in a state of communion, and to restore it I need to confess my sins and properly marry my Protestant wife of 33 years in the Church. To get me a proper excommunication you have to go through Pope Benny, and he’s not about to waste his time on a low-life like me. Excommunication is used on big-time offenders, or their subjects, for whom the ability to receive the Eucharist is seen as required so they can go to Heaven. Me? I don’t see the Consecration of the Host as being only in the hands (actually, the blessed thumbs and forefingers) of ordained priests, because, when trained in the ways of the sacrament of Extreme Unction, I was taught how to do it my own damned self. And we clarified that our own eventual damnation didn’t count if we were sincere when we did it. And sure, Pastor Steve isn’t particularly Catholic (I reserve “not at all Catholic” for Jews, Muslims, Baptists, Mormons, and Seventh-Day Adventists), but he’s damned close, uses the same ceremony (though I’ve missed the invocation of Sts Cosmas & Damian since barely past the updates in the vernacular of V2), and he “seems” to impart a “niceness” to the bread. And since we use Port, not some wimpy, non-fortified wine, I’m extra happy.

[tomndebb]

@not_alice

Is there anything like a rulebook (not being snarky, don’t know the proper term) that folks can refer to on something like this?

The Code of Canon Law most recently revised in 1983. It is pretty comprehensive, although there may be nooks and crannies that are missed, based on an assumption that one is aware of all the previous revisions along with case law. (Law is law and there are precedents and distinctions that occur in the actual implementation of the law in courts, just as with any civil code.)

[John_DiFool]

@kanicbird

Not really, if we disown Jesus, He will disown us. So if we go our own way God will allow it, and we can’t expect to remain on the vine, as the vine is Him, so if that happens He will break us off.

What if I disown what I perceive as the caricatures of Jesus, and, furthermore, refuse to pledge alleigance/love to what is essentially a label, a meaningless series of syllables?

[cosmosdan]

@John_DiFool

What if I disown what I perceive as the caricatures of Jesus, and, furthermore, refuse to pledge alleigance/love to what is essentially a label, a meaningless series of syllables?

Excellent point. It’s not rejecting Jesus to reject the concepts and traditions of men about Jesus.

[kanicbird]

@John_DiFool

What if I disown what I perceive as the caricatures of Jesus, and, furthermore, refuse to pledge alleigance/love to what is essentially a label, a meaningless series of syllables?

God looks at the heart, a caricature of Jesus is a object, and a idol, which is really nothing at all. Here is a way of looking at it:

• A father gives one son a teddy bear, that son loves his father though that bear, when he holds the bear he feels the love of his father. This is a use of a object which I believe is OK and scripturally supportable
• A father gives another son a teddy bear, that son rejects the teddy bear but still loves his father, again IMHO ok and scripturally supportable
• A father gives a 3rd son a teddy bear, and that son places that bear ahead of his father. not wanting to be with his father but with that bear instead, now we get into problems.

Since everything comes from God and everything is God’s, is it God who gave you the bear regardless of the actual person who gives it to you, but it is how you take it that makes a difference.

Worship is personal, along with God’s relationship with us. If you don’t want to worship at a caricature of Jesus that’s fine for you and where you are in your faith, just as long as you are worshiping God in the way you know how to. This goes for prayers as well, if you don’t agree with them, that’s fine, though I would look into why you disagree, but as long as you are able to have a conversation with your Father that’s what He wants.

[Czarcasm]

@kanicbird

• A father gives a 3rd son a teddy bear, and that son places that bear ahead of his father. not wanting to be with his father but with that bear instead, now we get into problems.

What if the teddy bear is cute and cuddly and has never done the boy any harm, but the father is into mass destruction, genocide on a planetary scale and punishment that far outweighs the transgression?

[cosmosdan]

@Czarcasm

What if the teddy bear is cute and cuddly and has never done the boy any harm, but the father is into mass destruction, genocide on a planetary scale and punishment that far outweighs the transgression?

Yeah, and what if the teddy bear comes to life and is actually a grizzly and starts attacking people and eating them? What then huh??

[Czarcasm]

@cosmosdan

Yeah, and what if the teddy bear comes to life and is actually a grizzly and starts attacking people and eating them? What then huh??

It’s like you’re reading my mind!

[cosmosdan]

@Czarcasm

It’s like you’re reading my mind!

too funny

[pantheon]

This explains it pretty well for the uninitiated.