PAUL MITCHELL: Capital punishment does not work. This is why it is so hard to find Mafia informants, who are given swift, predictable cement boots by their brethren when discovered. The Mafia does not keep statistics or footnotes, nor sport psychology degrees, so it is no wonder they don't know capital punishment doesn't work. At least that is our best guess why they don't know; the police are currently out of informants, so we are just guessing.

Eccl 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

BAPTISM, SACRAMENT OF: The primary sacrament whereby a person is cleansed of original sin, made a member of the Mystical Body of Christ and charged with the Christian mission. This sacrament prints and indelible mark on the soul and can be received only once. It also forgives actual sins and the temporal punishment due them. The ordinary minister of the sacrament is a priest; in case of emergency, however, anyone can baptize. The matter of the sacrament is the pouring of water. The form is: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The water is poured on the forehead in the figure of the cross while the form is being recited. Natural water suffices for the sacrament but in solemn Baptism special baptismal water is used. The Church recognizes as valid Baptism by infusion (pouring of water), immersion and aspersion (sprinkling). The Church also recognizes as valid Baptisms performed in non-Catholic rites provided the proper matter and form are used. Baptism is necessary for the reception of the other sacraments. The Church requires a sponsor (god-parent) at Baptism. The godparent must be a Catholic in his or her fourteenth year or older. "The godparent assumes the responsibility of providing for the religious education of the child if the parents should be negligent or unable to provide such education. The Church teaches that Baptism is necessary for salvation (Mt. 28:18-20). However, if a person cannot receive Baptism of water, he may receive Baptism of blood (martyrdom for the Christian faith or a Christian virtue) or Baptism of desire (perfect contrition plus a desire to do whatever God requires for salvation). (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

"Baptism took place by immersion in ancient times." (New Interpretation of the Mass, p. 120).

"Catholics admit that immersion brings out more fully the meaning of the sacrament, and that for twelve centuries it was the common practice." (Question Box, p. 240).

"Baptism used to be given by placing the person to be baptized completely in the water: it was done in this way in the Catholic Church for 1200 years." (Adult Catechism, pp. 56-57).

"The church at one time practiced immersion. This was up to the thirteenth century. The Council of Ravenna, in 1311, changed the form from immersion to pouring." (Our Faith and the Facts, p. 399).

INFANT BAPTISM

"There is no express mention of the baptism of infants in the New Testament" (Question Box, p. 23).

"It is difficult to give strict proof from the scriptures in favor of it" (Catholic Dictionary, p. 61).

"Catholic controversialists soon proved to the Protestants that to be logical and consistent they must admit unwritten tradition. Otherwise by what right did they rest on Sunday and not on Saturday? How could they regard infant baptism as valid, or baptism by infusion?" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XV, p. 7).

"Ecclesiastical custom with regard to the administration of Baptism has undergone a change in the course of history. Whereas the early Church baptized adults only, the baptism of children soon became the usual practice." (Pastoral Medicine, pp. 32-33).

"Where in the fourth and fifth centuries the doctrine of original sin became better known, the practice of infant baptism progressed rapidly." (Legislation on the Sacraments in the New Code of Canon Law, p. 72).

"When all fear of persecution had passed away, and the empire had become almost entirely Christian, the necessity for a prolonged period of trial and instruction no longer existed, about the same time the fuller teaching on the subject of original sin, occasioned by the Pelagian heresy, gradually led to the administration of baptism of infants." (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, p. 78).

Exod 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth."

Isa 42:8 "I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images."

CELSUS: "[But such Christian] wisdom is ludicrous. Who but an utter infant imagines that these things are gods and not votive offerings and images of gods?" (Celsus, 170 AD, "True Doctrine," Cels. 7.62; cited in "The Christians as the Romans Saw Them," Robert Wilken, pg. 119, Yale Univ Press, 1984.)

"The ordinary people might also direct pleas to an 'intercessory statue', an image of a god, or a deified human being, thought to have special access to the gods. One such statue, of Amenhotep, son of Hapu, is inscribed with the following text: 'O people of Karnak who wish to see Amun, come to me! ...I will transmit your word to Amun in Karnak. Give me an offering and pour a libation for me, because I am an intermediary nominated by the king to hear requests of the suppliant.'" (Ancient Egypt, DP Silverman, Ed, Oxford Univ Press, 1997, p163)

"Cornelius [Acts 10] does too much in his reverence towards a living and genuine saint; then how can prayer to the images of saints be justified? No true successor of Peter is he, nor has he Peter's humble mind, who suffers his feet to be kissed. The worship of the instrument obscures the honour of the Divine Agent. The word of Peter rebukes, not only the worship of saints, but all excessive hero-reverence and worship paid to great men in the Church." (The Pulpit Commentary, Acts 10:23-24, Eerdmans Publishing, 1962)

"Why do Catholics have statues and pictures of the Saints?

1) Because they wish to honor the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, just as we honor public heroes.

2) Because it is easier to pray when looking at a picture or a statue." --Rev. Wm J. Cogan, A Catechism For Adults, ACTA Publications, 5735 Univ Av, Chicago 37, IL, 1958, p.18

"It is interesting to note how often our Church has availed herself of practices which were in common use among pagans." (Externals of the Catholic Church, p. 156.)

"Though the veneration of images was a gradual growth in the Church - owing to the prevalence of heathen idolatry and the caution required to prevent their use from being misunderstood by the pagans - sculptured memorials of the Blessed Virgin are found as early as the third century." (Practical Preaching for Priest and People, p. 89-90.)

ICONOCLASTS: Followers of a heretical doctrine of the 8th and 9th centuries that taught that the use and veneration of sacred images was unlawful. It began with an edict of Emperor Leo in 726 which supported the heresy and ordered images destroyed. It was condemned by the Sevnth Ecumenical Council in 787." (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

IDOL: Any person or thing which receives the worship properly due only to the true God. The images used in the Catholic Church do not receive worship. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

IDOLATRY: The worship given to a person or thing which properly belongs solely to God. It is a sin against the virtue of religion. Idolatry is material (external) if the worship is only external and fictional. It is formal (internal) when the worship is meant. Idolatry is against the First Commandment, and is not sinful only when it arises from invincible ignorance.  [a lack of knowledge which persists despite ordinary efforts to dispel it]. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

VENERATION: The respect shown to saints. It may take the form of prayers, hymns and services, or it may consist in honoring their relics or statues. Above all, we show veneration by asking their prayers for us, and by imitating their virtuous lives, Veneration is distinct from the homage we give to God, usually called adoration. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

IMAGE: A representation of Our Lord, Our Lady or of a saint. It may be a sculpture, a painting or some other form of representation. The Constitution on the Liturgy of Vatican Council II called for such images to be of high artistic value and to avoid sentimentality. Images are not the object of worship but are only venerated because of the person they represent. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

IMAGES, VENERATION OF: When sacred relics and images are honored, the honor is called relative because it is referred to God or the saints. Thus we regard with respect, awe and admiration God or the saint represented by the image.

(The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

"APPEARANCES" IN PAGANISM: "Ever since she has taken on her priesthood the gods have been appearing in visitations as never before, to the girls and women but also, too, to men and children. What does such a thing mean? Is it the sign of something good?" (Stone inscription speaking of Alexandra, priestess of Demeter; Miletus, 3rd century AD. Cited in Pagans and Christians, Robin Lane Fox, Knopf publisher, p. 102)

"The 'Immaculate Conception,' which refers to Mary, not Jesus, has been Catholic dogma only since 1854; it proclaims that Mary was born without original sin. In 1950, the Catholic church proclaimed the dogmas of the Assumption (Mary was assumed to Heaven). That probably marked the peak of Mariological maximalism. Since then the Second Vatican Council toned down some Mariological excesses. Some Catholics wanted to refer to her as "Mother of the church," but Vatican II rejected this language and retained the title De Beata Maria Virgine Deipara in mysterio Christi et Ecclesia, whcih translates as "On the blessed God-bearing Virgin Mary in the mystery of Christ and the church." (Joel Achenback, "Why Things Are," from an interview with Monsignor Michael J. Bransfield of Washington DC, Tacoma News Tribune, May 23, 1994, Soundlife insert, pg. 2)

491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854...

494 ... As St. Irenaeus says, "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." ...

495 ... the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).

508 From among the descendants of Eve, God chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of his Son. "Full of grace," Mary is "the most excellent fruit of redemption" (SC 103): from the first instant of her conception, she was totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.

964 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death"; it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion. ... enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her ...

966 "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son ..." The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection ... "In giving birth you kept your virginity... You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death" (Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion, Feast of the Dormition, August 15th.).

968 "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the Saviour's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace."

969 "... Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us gifts of eternal salvation. ... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix." --– The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

971 "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." The Church rightly honours "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. ..." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary. --– The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

2131 Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified against the iconoclasts the veneration of icons--of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new "economy" of images. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

3^RD CENTURY: "Though the veneration of images was a gradual growth in the Church - owing to the prevalence of heathen idolatry and the caution required to prevent their use from being misunderstood by the pagans - sculptured memorials of the Blessed Virgin are found as early as the third century." (Practical Preaching for Priest and People, p. 89-90.)

"The death sentence is a necessary and efficacious means for the Church to attain its ends when rebels against it disturb the ecclesiastical unity, especially obstinate heretics who cannot be restrained by any other penalty from continuing to disturb ecclesiastical order." (Pope Leo XIII, Preface to vol. 2 of "Book of Canon Law," 1901 [cited in Seldes, "The Great Thoughts"] )

4. "What is moral sin? [A.] A big sin, a serious violation of God's law. Examples: Getting very drunk, adultery, stealing something expensive.

8. What is venial sin? [A.] A small sin, not a serious violation of God's law. Examples: Impatience, ordinary anger, stealing something cheap, getting slightly drunk.

11. Can a number of venial sins become a mortal sin? [A.] No. --Rev. Wm J. Cogan, A Catechism For Adults, ACTA Publications, 5735 Univ Av, Chicago 37, IL, 1958, pp.32-33

TRADITION (Latin tradere, to transmit):

1. The body of teachings of Christ and His Apostles which are not explicitly contained in the Bible but passed on through the centuries by the teaching Church.

2. The actual transmission of Catholic teaching through the ages by the Church.

3. Something or some action that has been customary in the Church for a long time.

(The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

"As Catholics, our nature is to not always have to defend ourselves with scripture." (Monsignor Michael J. Bransfield of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC, in an interview with Joel Achenback, "Why Things Are," Tacoma News Tribune, May 23, 1994, Soundlife insert, pg. 2)

NOT A BIBLE DECISION: "If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church," (Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore replying for the Cardinal in a letter dated February 10, 1920)

NOT A BIBLE DECISION: "The Catholic Church of its own infallible authority created Sunday a holy day to take the place of the Sabbath of the old law," (Kansas City Catholic, February 9, 1893)

NOT ALWAYS A BIBLE DECISION: "As Catholics, our nature is to not always have to defend ourselves with scripture." (Monsignor Michael J. Bransfield of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC, in an interview with Joel Achenback, "Why Things Are," Tacoma News Tribune, May 23, 1994, Soundlife insert, pg. 2)

NOT INTENDED TO BE WRITTEN:

"If Christ Himself had written the book and set it forth as a text-book, so to speak, of His religion, we would rest securely in it, and have no need to inquire farther. That the Bible is not a book, like the Koran for instance, set forth by the founder of the religion as its authoritative exposition, is in fact the fundamental weakness of Bible Protestantism. If Christ had intended His religion to be propagated and preserved by means of a book, can any conceivable reason be urged why He should not have written one? Of His ability to do so there can, for the Christian, be no question." (Plain Facts for Fair Minds, p. 26).

"Christ gave his disciples no command to write, but only to teach." (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 767).

"Is it not strange that if Christianity were to be learned from the Bible only, that Christ himself never wrote a line or commanded his apostles to write; for their divine commission was not to write but to preach the gospel." (Question Box, p. 70).

NOT INTENDED TO BE CIRCULATED:

"The Apostles are never reported to have circulated a single volume of the Holy Scripture, but 'they going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord co-operating with them.' (Mark xvi. 20)." (Cardinal John OBrien, The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 66).

NOT EXPECTED TO BE GATHERED INTO ONE VOLUME: "But nothing was further from the minds of the writers, and of the Apostles generally, than that these writings be gathered together and made into a book, which would be accepted as a complete statement of the doctrine of Christianity. Any one of them would have been shocked had he known that his letters would in time be made use of by heretics in an attempt of usurping the place of the authoritative teacher, the Church of Jesus Christ." (The Faith and the Facts, p. 348).

"There is in them no evidence whatever to suggest that it was the expectation of the writers that what they had written would one day be gathered together to become a part of the New Testament." (Campaigners for Christ Handbook, p. 162).

NOT ACCESSIBLE TO ALL: "First, the Scriptures were not accessible to the primitive Christians, for the simple reason that they were not all written until many years after the establishment of Christianity." )." (The Faith of Our Fathers, P. 152)

GOD CRIPPLED WITHOUT A PRINTING PRESS? "The art of printing was not invented until the fifteenth century (1440). How utterly impossible it was to supply everyone with a copy of the Scriptures from the fourth to the fifteenth century!...It was well for Luther that he did not come into the world until a century after the immortal invention of Guttenberg. A hundred years earlier his idea of directing two hundred and fifty million men to read the Bible would have been received with shouts of laughter, and would inevitably have caused his removal from the pulpit of Wittenburg to a hospital for the insane." (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 69; see also The Faith of Millions, p. 152).

"But even if the Bible were at all times accessible to everyone, how many millions exist in every age and country, not excepting our own age of boasted enlightenment, who are not accessible to the Bible because they are incapable of reading the Word of God?" (The Faith of Our Fathers, pp. 69-70).

"Even at the present time, as in all previous ages and climes, there are millions who are unable to read, millions to whom the Bible remains a sealed book." (The Faith of Millions, p. 152).

BIBLE NOT ENOUGH: "We must, therefore, conclude that the Scripture alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith because they cannot, at any time, be within the reach of every inquirer..." (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 73).

BIBLE NOT A SAFE GUIDE: "From all of which it must be abundantly clear that the Bible alone is not a safe and competent guide because it is not now and has never been accessible to all..." (The Faith of Millions, pp. 154-155).

DOES NOT CONTAIN ALL TRUTH:

"The Bible does not contain all the teaching of the Christian religion, nor does it formulate all the duties of its members." (The Faith of Millions, pp. 153-154).

"Now the Scriptures alone do not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe, nor do they explicitly enjoin all the duties which he is obliged to practice. (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 72)

"Can you learn to save your soul just by reading the Bible? No...because the Bible does not have everything God taught." (A Catechism for Adults, Q. 1, p. 52).

INCOMPLETE, FRAGMENTARY:

"I find that in no way are the teachings of the scriptures complete. Nowhere do they tell that they contain all that Christ taught." (I Believe, p. 148).

POPE TELLS GOD WHAT HE "SHOULD" HAVE DONE: "Granting that the Bible as we have it is a faithful record...it is plain that this record and this picture are far from being as complete or as clear as they should be.

"...Our Bible record is fragmentary." (Plain Facts for Fair Minds, pp. 23-24).

NOT UNDERSTANDABLE: "For the Scripture is not like other books, dictated by the Holy Ghost, it contains things of deepest importance, which in many instances are very difficult and obscure. To understand and explain such things there is always required the coming of the same Holy Ghost." (Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, p. 227).

BIBLE UNINTELLIGIBLE: "Second--a competent religious guide must be clear and intelligible to all, so that everyone may fully understand the true meaning of the instructions it contains. Is the Bible a book intelligible to all? Far from it; it is full of obscurities and difficulties not only for the illiterate, but even for the learned." (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 70).

BIBLE UNINTELLIGIBLE: "We must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith...because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible even in matters of the highest importance..." (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 73).

BIBLE UNINTELLIGIBLE: "Secondly, the Bible is not a clear and intelligible guide to all." (The Faith of Millions, p. 152).

YOU’RE HELPLESS WITHOUT US, GOD: "How can you get the true meaning of the Bible? You can get it only from God's official interpreter, the Catholic Church. 'This, then, you must understand first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is made by private interpretation' (2nd Peter 1:20)." (A Catechism for Adults, p. 10).

FORGET THE NOBLE BEREANS: "No prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation. This shows plainly that the scriptures are not to be expounded by any one's private judgment or private spirit..." (From a footnote on 2 Pet. 1:20, Douay-Rheims Version, p. 582).

"...St. Peter...declared against private interpretation of the Scriptures (2 Pet. 1:20..." (Father Smith Instructs Jackson, p. 153).

BIBLE UNINTELLIGIBLE: "Secondly, the Bible is not a clear and intelligible guide to all. There are many passages in the Bible which are difficult and obscure, not only to the ordinary person, but to the highly trained scholar as well. St. Peter himself tells us that in the Epistles of St. Paul there are 'certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and the unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.' (II Peter, 3:16)." (The Faith of Millions, pp. 152-153).

"Second--A competent religious guide must be clear and intelligible to all, so that everyone may fully understand the true meaning of the instructions it contains. Is the Bible a book intelligible to all? Far from it; it is full of obscurities and difficulties not only for the illiterate, but even for the learned. St. Peter himself informs us that in the Epistles of St. Paul there are 'certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and the unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.' (II Pet. iii. 16)." (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 70).

REBUTTAL: "...It is at once objected that if the Bible is of God, it should be so plain that no one could misunderstand it...We might as well say that if God is the Author of Nature, its meaning should be so apparent that all would perfectly understand it, and therefore, understand it alike. And yet we know that our scientists are quite disagreed about many things in nature, and that the great masses of men are in ignorance, almost from first to last, respecting the whole question. God has therefore, made it necessary to study nature in order to get its lessons. Geology, astronomy, physiology, etc, etc, are known only to those who study them. It is reasonable, therefore, that He should make it necessary to study His word." --Prof DR Dungan, "Hermeneutics," pg 1-2, Gospel Light Pub., Delight, Arkansas

---An interesting point can be derived from the above. The Catholic points to the difficult passages of the Bible, claiming they can’t be deciphered. Yet he doesn't apply this same reaction to the sciences, which are at least as divided and contentious in their theories. Why doesn't he give up on science and go back to mythical and magical answers?!

Jesus purposely made things hard to understand in order to separate the real students from the scoffers when He said we must eat His flesh and drink His blood (Jn 6:53). This methodology runs throughout the Bible, and does not lend itself well to the extremist or charlatan.

PRIVATE INTERPRETATION IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE CATHOLIC:

"Its roots must be traced back to the principle of subjectivism which Luther introduced into religion by making the private judgment of the individual autonomous and supreme. According to this principle, the subjective reaction of the individual, with its large core of feeling and emotion, constitutes the sole criterion of religious truth and error." (The Faith of Millions, pp. 35 36).

" 'Either my dear friend, you are infallibly certain that your particular interpretation of the Bible is the correct one or you are not. If you maintain that you are infallibly certain, then you claim for yourself and you cannot very well deny the same for every other reader of the Bible a personal infallibility which you deny only to the pope and which we claim only for him. " 'If you do not claim to be infallibly certain that your interpretation of the whole Bible is correct, then of what value is it to have an infallible Bible without an infallible interpreter? In either case your statement crumbles. The plain fact is that an infallible Bible without an infallible living interpreter is futile. Infallibility never gets from the printed pages to the one place it is needed: the mind of the reader.' " (The Faith of Millions., p. 138).

THE BIBLE NOT A SAFE METHOD:

"The Bible does not pretend to be a formulary of belief, as in a creed or catechism. There is nowhere in the New Testament a clear, methodical statement of the teaching of Christ" (Question Box, p. 66).

"The very nature of the Bible ought to prove to any thinking man the impossibility of its being the one safe method to find out what the Savior taught." (Question Box., p. 67).

"Again it has ever been practically impossible for men, generally, to find out Christ from the Bible only." (Question Box, p. 70).

"...The Bible nowhere implies that it is the only source of faith." ("Again it has ever been practically impossible for men, generally, to find out Christ from the Bible only." (Question Box, p. 70).

"...The Bible nowhere implies that it is the only source of faith." (Question Box, p. 77).

"The Bible was not intended to be a textbook of Christian religion." (Catholic Facts, p. 50). ., p. 77).

THE BIBLE IS A DEAD LETTER:

"The Scriptures indeed is a divine book but it is a dead letter, which has to be explained, and cannot exercise the action which the preacher can obtain." (Our Priesthood, p. 155).

"...A dead and speechless book." (Question Box, p. 67).

"The simple fact is that the Bible, like all dead letters, calls for a living interpreter." (The Faith of Millions, p. 155).

"Through Luther, although Calvin seems to have been the first to announce Monobiblicism clearly, the Bible became the arm of the Protestant revolt. A dumb and difficult book was substituted for the living voice of the Church, in order that each one should be able to make for himself the religion which suited his feelings. And the Bible open before every literate man and woman to interpret for themselves was the attractive bait to win adherents..." (A Catholic Commentary, p. 11).

SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL THE POPE:

THE BIBLE DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD: "Since it is clear from experience that if the Sacred Books are permitted everywhere and without discrimination in the vernacular [common language] there will by reasons of the boldness of men arise there from more harm than good..." (Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, p. 274).

LET’S KEEP IT A TRADE SECRET: "As it has been clearly shown by experience that, if the holy Bible in the vernacular is generally permitted without any distinction, more harm than utility is thereby caused..." (Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, pp. 412-413).

THE POPE: "CLOSE YOUR BIBLES!" "In early times the Bible was read freely by the lay people...New dangers came in during the Middle Ages...To meet those evils, the Council of Toulouse (1229) and Terragona (1234) forbade the laity to read the vernacular translations of the Bible. Pius IV required bishops to refuse lay persons leave to read even Catholic versions of Scripture unless their confessors or parish priests judged that such reading was likely to prove beneficial." (Catholic Dictionary, p. 82).

GOD: OPEN YOUR BIBLES!! "The unfolding of Thy words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple." Ps 119:130

STARK ADMISSION: "Of all the advice that we can offer your holiness we must open your eyes well and use all possible force in the matter, namely to permit the reading of the gospel as little as possible in all the countries under your jurisdiction. Let the very little part of the gospel suffice which is usually read in mass, and let no one be permitted to read more. So long as people will be content with the small amount, your interest will prosper; but as soon as the people want to read more, your interest will fail. The Bible is a book, which more than any other, has raised against us the tumults and tempests by which we have almost perished. In fact, if one compares the teaching of the Bible with what takes place in our churches, he will soon find discord, and will realize that our teachings are often different from the Bible, and oftener still, contrary to it." (an address given by the Cardinals to Pope Pius III, and is preserved in the National Library in Paris, Folio No. 1068, Vol. 2, pp. 650-651)

THE BIBLE THE CAUSE OF DIVISION: "The hundreds of sects, with their divisions and subdivisions, which the Religious Census of the United States Government lists in our own country, offer grim evidence of the ceaseless dissension and havoc which the principle of the private interpretation of Scripture has wrought in our own day." (The Faith of Millions, p. 153).

THE BIBLE THE CAUSE OF DIVISION: "In sharp contrast with the sorry spectacle of Protestantism with its hundreds of warring sects and creeds, agreeing with one another only in their disagreement with all others, there is the Catholic Church with its 431,000,000 members--more than twice the total of all the sects of Protestantism combined--speaking every tongue and in every land under the heavens, all united in the strong bonds of a common faith." (Ibid., p. 156).

THE BIBLE THE CAUSE OF DIVISION: "The reformation produced indeed an exaggerated individualism, which by declaring every man equally competent to find out the doctrine of the Savior from his own private reading of the Scriptures, has led millions to the utter denial of Christ." (Question Box, p. 131; there is a similar statement from Archbishop Spalding in his book entitled, Miscellanea, p. 392).

ABSURD CLAIM: "The simple fact is the Catholic Church loves the Bible, reveres it as the inspired word of God, gives to it a loyalty and a intelligent obedience greater than any other religious body in the world." (The Faith of Millions, p. 143).

80 Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other.

82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.

100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

INFALLIBILITY (Latin in, not; fallere, to deceive) That quality in the Church by which it is preserved from error in matters of faith and morals. This incapability to err is a special gift of the Holy Spirit who resides in the Church.

Infallibility does not mean that the Church defines new revelations but that it interprets the deposit of faith. **Infallibility is necessary so that the faithful may be assured of the validity of their beliefs. The doctrine of infallibility was defined by Vatican Council I and promulgated on July 18, 1870. The decree defined infallibility in three areas:

1. In the pope. When the pope speaks ex cathedra, i.e., in virtue of his office and apostolic authority, on a matter of faith and morals. Papal infallibility does not extend to Church policy, discipline or the pope's private opinions.

2. In the ecumenical council. The pronouncements of this council on faith and morals when issued with the approval and by the authority of the pope are infallible.

3. In the body of bishops. The ordinary teaching of the bishops when in union with the pope is infallible." (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY) (**Which invalidates biblical commands to STUDY "too see whether these things are so," and not just parrot what the Vatican says is so!)

"INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE - The doctrine that the pope is free from error insofar as he is head of the Church on earth and when he speaks in that capacity to define a doctrine of faith or morals. Such statements are irreformable by nature, not by reason of the Chruch's consent. Infallibility of the pope is neither impeccability nor inspiration. Infallibility refers only to the pope's ex cathedra statements, not to his every doctrinal act. Infallibility resides primarily in the Church. The pope is one of the three organs of this infallibility of the Church, the other organs being the bishops spread throughout the owrld in union with the Holy See and the bishops gathered together with the pope in an ecumenical council. Even when the pope proclaims that a doctrine must be believed, he can do so only after first examining the belief of the Church in the particular matter." (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

POPE PIUS IX: ". . . we teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks *ex cathedra*, that is, when in discharge of the office of the pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that his Church should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith and morals; and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church. . . .

"But if any one -- which may God avert -- presumes to contradict this our definition: let him be anathema." -- Pope Pius IX, "The Dogma of Papal Infallibility," 1870 [cited in Seldes, "The Great Thoughts"]

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."

891 The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful--who confirms his brethren in the faith--he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. ... The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. ... This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1229 AD, The Council of Toulouse Prohibits the Reading of the Bible: "We forbid also the permitting of the laity the books of the Old and New Testament in the common tongue."

"HOLY FATHER": The term "Holy Father" is used only once in the Bible. It is used by Jesus in John 17:11 as He prayed to God the Father.

"SITTING IN THE SEAT OF MOSES": "The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the pope has supreme and full power in faith and morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true Vicar of Christ, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by one, God himself on earth." (The New York Catholic Catechism, under: Pope)

"SITTING IN THE SEAT OF MOSES": "[The pope holds] upon this earth the place of God Almighty." (Papal Encyclical, "The Reunion of Christendom" (1885), Pope Leo XIII)

"SITTING IN THE SEAT OF MOSES": "Sitting in that chair in which Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, sat to the close of life, the Catholic Church recognizes in his person the most exalted degree of dignity, and the full jurisdiction not based on constitutions, but emanating from no less authority than from God Himself. As the Successor of St. Peter and the true and legitimate Vicar of Jesus Christ, he therefore, presides over the Universal Church, the Father and Governor of all the faithful, of Bishops, also and of all other prelates, be their station, rant, or power, what they may be." (Council of Trent)

"SITTING IN THE SEAT OF MOSES": "The Pope can make and unmake laws for the entire Church; his authority is supreme and unquestioned. Every bishop, every priest, every member of the Church is subject to him." ("My Catholic Faith" pg 251)

ARCHBISHOP (Greek arch-, chief; episkopos, bishop): In the Western Church, a bishop of an archdiocese who has a canonical role over the bishops of a province. The archbishop occupies the metropolitan see, and the bishops of the other dioceses of the province are know as suffragan bishops. An archbishop's rights in other dioceses of his province are severely limited. An archbishop takes over his archdiocese by being invested with the pallium, a circular band of white wool worn on his shoulders. He is also entitled to use a cross with a double bar. In the Eastern Church, any bishop immediately subject to his patriarch is called an archbishop. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

BISHOP (AS. biscop, from Latin episcopus, bishop): One who has received the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, a successor to the Apostles. Only bishops have the power to administer Holy Orders and consecrate other bishops. Although subject to the authority of the Holy See, bishops exercise their powers by virtue of their office. Ordinarily a bishop administers the temporal and spiritual affairs of a diocese, and is responsible before God for the faithful of his diocese in the manner that a shepherd is responsible for his flock. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

BISHOPS, JURISDICTION OF: Only the pope has universal jurisdiction. The bishops as successors of the Apostles govern their dioceses with ordinary jurisdiction under the authority of the pope. They cannot act against common law (the law of the Church as contained in canon law) and they have no jurisdiction over exempt religious. The bishop has supreme direction in all else. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

BISHOPS, OBLIGATIONS OF: A bishop must reside in his diocese, be present in his cathedral at certain times of the year and complete a pstoral visitation of his diocese every five years. He must make expected reports to the Holy See and perform ad limina visitations to the Holy See. It is also the obligation of a bishop to rule and govern his diocese, safeguarding and developing the faith of his people. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

BROTHER: A form of address used for novices and postulants in certain religious orders of men, and for lay brothers in orders of priests; also for men who belong to congregations whose members do not usually become priests. The term is used formally, as in documents, in referring to friars who may be priests, i.e., Franciscans or Dominicans. The collective name "Brothers" is used of those congregations and institutes of men whose members do teaching nursing or other works of charity and do not become priests. The Alexian Brothers, the Christian Brothers and the Xaverian Brothers are some examples. The Marianist Brothers whose work is teaching, ordain a few members to the priesthood to take care of their own religious needs. A modern foundation, the Little Brothers of Jesus, following the example of the hermit Father Charles de Foucauld, has members who make a living by manual labor and lead a life of contemplation. Another modern association, the pious union of the Little Brothers of the Poor, aims toward giving Christlike devoition and joy to the poor together with material aid. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

CARDINAL: (Latin cardinalis fr. cardo, hinge): An ecclesiastical prince of the Church who is a member of the pope's supreme council, the Sacred College of Cardinals. He is an adviser an assistant to the pope. The Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1918 states that a cardinal must be at least a priest; previous to that time cardinals could be drawn from the laity. Cardinals elect a pope when the Holy See becomes vacant. They act as protectors for religious orders and institutes and serve on the Sacred Congregations. The College of Cardinals goes back to 1150, although before that time, the pope had a body of advisers. In 1179 the right of appointing cardinals was reserved exclusively to the pope. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

FRIAR: Term applied to members of mendicant orders (such as Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, Augustinians) whose physical and spiritual duties represent a mixture of the active and contemplative life, to distinguish them from religious who devote their lives almost exclusively to solitude and contemplation in monastic institutions. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

METROPOLITAN (Greek metropolis, a city):

1. An archbishop in the Western Church who is place over a number of suffragan dioceses. Every metropolitan is an archbishop but not vice versa since there are titular archbishops. The metropolitan may call a provincial council and preside over it, and appeals from suffragan courts are made to his. He takes precedence over suffragan bishops and may use the pallium in his province. (See archbishop).

2. In the Eastern Churches the title tends to supplant that of archbishop, even though most archbishops have no suffragan sees.

3. The word is also used to refer to the see (metropolitan church, etc., of such an archbishop.

(The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

MONK (Greek monos, alone): A member of a religious community of men, living a life of prayer and penance apart from the world, under the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The name is sometimes extended to Capuchins, Franciscans, Dominicans and like groups, but it is not accurate since members of these communities move about in the world teaching and preaching. Members of the Benedictines, Carthusians, Trappists, Premonstratensians, Camaldolese and Cluniacs are monks in the strict sense. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

MONSIGNOR (Italian, my lord): 1. A title of distinction given to minor prelates of the Roman court. In the United States the title is bestowed on members of the clergy for their services to the Church. Monsignors are entitled to wear violet vestments. In the United States the following classes of monsignori (pl.) are to be found: Protonary Apostolic, domestic Prelate and Papal Chamberlain. The formal title for the first to is Right Reverend, and the latter is Very Reverend. There are other grades in Rome: Auditor of the Rota, Privy Chamberlain, Honorary Chamberlain. 2. In certain countries a bishop is addressed as monsignor. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

NUN (Latin nonna, a child's nurse): A member of a religious order or congregation of women. The word has a very specific meaning and should not be used interchangeably with "Sister," although the latter word is prefixed to the religious name of a nun when addressing her. Canon law distinguishes between moniales (nuns) and sorores (Sisters). Nuns belong to institutes having solemn vows while Sisters belong to institutes having simple vows. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

NUNCIO APOSTOLIC (Latin nuntius, messenger): An ambassador of the Holy See to a foreign power; a permanent diplomatic representative of the pope accredited to a foreign civil government.

POPE: (Greek pappas, father) The visible head of the Church founded by Jesus Christ; successor to St. Peter. The Pope rules the enitre Church and is infallible when he speaks ex cathedra on faith and morals. The title was used for the Bishop of Rome as far back as 521 [AD-Ed.] and came into general use in the 11th century. The pope exercises supreme jurisdiction in the Church but for smooth operation delegates many of his powers. His full title is Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Sucessor of the Prince of Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy; Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the City of the Vatican. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

PRIEST (Greek presbyteros, elder) A deputy of Jesus Christ who is charged directly and primarily with the extension of the Mystical Body of Christ, and who through the reception of Holy Orders is enabled to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice of the New Law. It is Catholic teaching that the priesthood was instituted by Christ as a sacrament, imparting a sacred and unending character on the soul. A priest has the power of administering all the other sacraments, except Holy Orders, but for the valid administration of Penance and Matrimony he must be given jurisdiction by his ordinary or superior, and for Confirmation he must have and indult. A bishop is said to have "the fullness of the priesthood" because he has the additional power of bestowing Holy Orders and consecrating other bishops. A priest is often called alter Christus (another Christ) because the faithful should be able to see Christ reflected in his life. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

SISTERS: Members of various sisterhoods of women, bound by the simple religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, usually living together in communities and devoting themselves to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The terms "Sisters" and "nuns" are often used interchangeably, but "nun" is more properly used of members of contemplative orders, bound by solemn vows, and "Sister" of women bound by simple vows and practicing a mixed life of contemplation and active service as teachers, nurses, social workers, catechists, etc. (The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

TRADITION (Latin tradere, to transmit):

1. The body oif teachings of Christ and His Apostles which are not explicitly contained in the Bible but passed on through the centuries by the teaching Church.

2. The actual transmission of Catholic teaching through the ages by the Church.

3. Something or some action that has been customary in the Church for a long time.

(The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, 1965 Edition, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, NY)

AMEN: "One is forced to admit that the gradual corruption of Christianity began very early." (Catholic Encyclopedia, XII, p. 414.)

LOCAL CUSTOMS RESPECTED: "It has been and always will be the intent and tradition of the Apostolic See, to make a large allowance in all that is right and good, for the primitive traditions and the special customs of every nation." (Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, p. 308.)

ADMITTING THE APOSTLES DIDN’T SAY SO: "Writers of the fourth century were prone to describe many practices (i.e., The Lenten Fast of Forty Days) as apostolic institutions which certainly had no claim to be so regarded." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 484.)

STARK ADMISSION: "Moreover, the use of holy water and incense was also no doubt suggested by the similar customs of pagans around them." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 76.)

LOCAL CUSTOMS: "To convert and civilize her new subjects she descended to their level and employed means in keeping with their notions and customs." (History of the Church of God, p.407.)

"We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense, and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendor of religious ceremonial. We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, orations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc., were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular but they were common to almost all cults." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 246.)

STARK ADMISSION: "Moreover, the use of holy water and incense was also no doubt suggested by the similar customs of pagans around them." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 76.)

STARK ADMISSION: "We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense, and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendor of religious ceremonial. We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, orations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc., were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular but they were common to almost all cults." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 246.)

STARK ADMISSION: "It is interesting to note how often our Church has availed herself of practices which were in common use among pagans." (Externals of the Catholic Church, p. 156.)

The origin of this sacramental (Agnus Dei-Ed.) is a matter of great obscurity. When the people of Italy and other countries had been converted from idolatry, they retained some of their beliefs in charms and amulets, and it is probably that the Agnus Dei was devised as a substitute for these relics of paganism." (Externals of the Catholic Church, p. 205.)

"The Church which has received from Christ the power to forgive sins, both as to the guilt and the penalty, and who has the distribution of the spiritual treasures accumulated by our Lord and the members of His mystical body, can satisfy the claims of divine justice by taking from the superabundant satisfactions of Christ and His saints and apply them to sinners." (Legislation on the Sacraments, p. 273.)

The Catholic Church, which spent hundreds of years trying forcibly to convert Jews to Christianity, has come to the conclusion that it is theologically unacceptable to target Jews for evangelization, according to a statement issued yesterday by organizations representing US Catholic bishops and rabbis from the country's two largest Jewish denominations.

Citing teachings dating back to the Second Vatican Council, and statements by Pope John Paul II throughout his papacy, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops declared unequivocally that the biblical covenant between Jews and God is valid and therefore Jews do not need to be saved through faith in Jesus.

''A deepening Catholic appreciation of the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people, together with a recognition of a divinely-given mission to Jews to witness to God's faithful love, lead to the conclusion that campaigns that target Jews for conversion to Christianity are no longer theologically acceptable in the Catholic Church,'' declares the document, ''Reflections on Covenant and Mission.''

The declaration, which was negotiated by the bishops and an organization representing Conservative and Reform rabbis, demonstrates the dramatic changes in Catholic thinking about Jews and Judaism in the wake of the Holocaust. In the decades since Hitler's attempt to exterminate Jews during World War II, the church has rejected its longtime position that Christianity superseded Judaism and instead has embraced Judaism as a legitimate faith both before and after the life of Jesus.

''The significance is far more than theological, because for centuries it was the refusal of Jews to embrace Christian teachings that legitimized the persecution, and often murder, of Jews in communities throughout Christendom,'' said Robert Leikind, New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. ''What the bishops have done here is decisively separated themselves from that history and indicated once and for all that Jews have an authentic relationship with God and an authentic mission in the world, and therefore there is no reason for, or logic in, trying to evangelize Jews.''

Jesus and his early followers were Jewish, but those who embraced Christianity began to turn on those who did not more than a millennium ago. Violence by Christians against Jews began with the Crusades and anti-Semitism intensified during the Middle Ages and informed the Nazi effort during the Holocaust.

Catholic teaching began to shift dramatically in the early 1960s, when the Second Vatican Council declared that ''the Jews must not be presented as rejected by God.'' Since then, Catholics have abandoned efforts to convert Jews and have emphasized in religious teachings that Jesus was Jewish.

Catholic and Jewish officials said the statement was the sharpest definition to date of the evolving relationship between Catholics and Jews. Cardinal William Keeler, the archbishop of Baltimore and the bishops' liaison for Christian-Jewish relations, called yesterday's declaration ''a significant step forward in the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community in this country.''

...Fisher said Catholic efforts to convert Jews ''dried up'' after the Second Vatican Council. He cited as an example the Sisters of Zion, a religious order that once focused on trying to convert Jews, but after World War II decided on interfaith dialogue instead.

Yesterday's declaration ''caps a development in a certain theological direction, by pulling it all together,'' he said. ''In the US, the motivation of the American bishops to watch that development closely is very strong, because of the dialogue with the world's largest Jewish community, which is in the US.''

STARK ADMISSION: "Moreover, the use of holy water and incense was also no doubt suggested by the similar customs of pagans around them." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 76.)

LOCAL CUSTOMS: "To convert and civilize her new subjects she descended to their level and employed means in keeping with their notions and customs." (History of the Church of God, p.407.)

ABSTAINING FROM THE APPEARANCE OF EVIL? "We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense, and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendor of religious ceremonial. We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, orations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc., were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular but they were common to almost all cults." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 246.)

APPEARANCE OF MAGICAL POWERS: "The Church believes also that fallen angels retain some power, under the control of Divine Providence, to act on the material universe and use material objects for their own wicked ends, so that places and things are liable to diabolical infestations within the limits allowed by God. Over them, therefore, she pronounces exorcisms, beseeching God to restrain this power in order that these objects may not become a danger to men. Thus she often exorcises water, salt, and oil which she uses in turn for personal exorcism or for blessing or consecration, for example of churches, altars, and sacred vessels, as well as for private

devotion. Holy water consists of exorcised water and salt, and in prayer for its blessing the Church beseeches the Almighty to endow it with virtue, that it may protect those who use it against the attacks of the devil." (Legislation on the Sacraments, p. 405.)

COMPARE TO CATHOLIC PRAYING TO DEAD SAINTS: "By virtue of their justification in the underworld tribunal of Osiris, the beatified dead were believed to serve as intermediaries between their surviving relatives and the court of the gods. Now equipped with divine powers themselves, the spirits (akhs) retained their personal interests, allegiances and family bonds, and could be swayed by petitions and prayers." (Ancient Egypt, DP SIlverman, Ed, Oxford Univ Press, 1997, p142)

APPEARANCE OF EVIL: Romans interpreted the signing of the cross as magic. It made their sacrifice unfavorable or the diviner unable, if someone made the sign. While Christians denied the charges of black arts, they did not flee from the appearances of evil; they thought it would ward off demons and insure the favorable future.  They said it was more powerful than black magic signs (as tho those have power). They had stories of the Eucharist warding off death and evil spirits. (Condensed, paraphrased from Stephen Benko, "Pagan Rome and the Early Christians," BT Batsford Ltd, London, 1984, p 114-119)

STARK ADMISSION: "Moreover, the use of holy water and incense was also no doubt suggested by the similar customs of pagans around them." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 76.)

STARK ADMISSION: "We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense, and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendor of religious ceremonial. We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, orations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc., were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular but they were common to almost all cults." (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, p. 246.)

APPEARANCE OF EVIL: "But the important point is that too often Christian authors talked like magicians; they boasted of their ability to summon powers from another world, and they claimed that by manipulating the correct elements under the correct circumstances they could force the divine to do their will. They may have claimed that this was not magic, but it certainly looked like magic to others. After the patristic period we find that the church increasingly absorbed and sanctified pagan magical practices; the veneration of relics and the use of incense, charms, and bells were integrated into the life of the church. This peculiar Christian brand of magic was not merely tolerated but promoted as long as it was within the ecclesiastical framework." (Stephen Benko, Pagan Rome and the Early Christians, p131)

STARK ADMISSION: "It is interesting to note how often our Church has availed herself of practices which were in common use among pagans." (Externals of the Catholic Church, p. 156.)

980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church: "Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers `a laborious kind of baptism.' This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn" (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1672; cf. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 39, 17: PG 36,356). – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

982 There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. ... Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Council of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire. "As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire." – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1032 From the beginning the Church has honoured the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1250 Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God ... The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1414 As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.

1365 Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. ... In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ... "In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner." – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring "... by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."

1413 By the consecration the transubstantion of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).

1374 ... In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1375 It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. ... The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered. ... The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed.

1370 ... In communion with and commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1418 Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar he is to be honoured with the worship of adoration.

1378 Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. ... reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1493 One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience. The confession of venial faults, without being necessary in itself, is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church.

1456 All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue. ... those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, `for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know.'

1497 Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution remains the only ordinary means of reconciliation with God and with the Church. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1471 An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. ... Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead.

1478 An indulgence is obtained through the Church who ... intervenes in favour of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the punishments due for their sins. ...

1479 Since the faithful departed now being purified are also members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins may be remitted.

1475 In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others ...

Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.

1476 We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of saints the Church's treasury....

1477 This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints. ... In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

1674 Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful ... such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc. – The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 French version (1994 English translation)

"NEVER CHANGED ITS TEACHINGS"

"Has the Catholic Church ever changed its teaching? No, for 2000 years the Church has taught the same things which Jesus taught." (Catholic Catechism for Adults, p. 57).

"It is a historical fact the Catholic Church, from the twentieth century back to the first, has not once ceased to teach a doctrine on faith or morals previously held, and with the same interpretation; the church has proved itself infallible." (My Catholic Church, p. 145).

ISRAEL SAID THE SAME THING: "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." (I Kings 12:28-33)

SABBATH

OUT-OF-WEDLOCK STATISTICS:

Of all births, these figures (1^st column) represent bastard children; the 2^nd column is bastard children of mothers of ages 15-19.

Sweden:                  55%

France:                    41%                          4%

England:                39%

Canada                 36%                            15%

US                         33%                             29%

Spain                      15%

Italy                          8%                           10%

Japan                     1%

Beliefs of the culture obviously have a huge affect. In Japan, unwed mothers are stigmatized with the government even refusing benefits. (Scientific American, January, 2002, p24)

NO ORIGINAL SIN: "When a baby is born to one of them, they honor God, and if it should happen that the little child dies, they honor God even more, for it has passed through the world without sin." (Aristides, Apology 15, 16; ca 137 AD, cited by Eberhard Arnold, "The Early Christians," Plough Publishing, 1997, pg 110)

PLATO: "The youth of today are on a road to certain destruction. They are rude, dress inappropriately, and waste their time in meaningless involvement in dubious music and frivolous talk." --Plato

SINGLE-PARENT FAMILY STATISTICS: In the late 1600's, parents died so often that most children in Virginia were reared by just one parent, and more than a third lost both parents. In the 1800's, death came so often that the proportion of single-parent families was roughly what it is today. While death is not divorce, the incidence rate of "homogenized" families is the same, accompanied by all the peculiar problems. -(Facts from "Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History," Richard Shenkman, 1988, Wm. Morrow & Co., NY)

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN: 1818 and again in 1828, Yale students revolted against the food and closed the school down with violence. One Christmas they rampaged smashing windows in campus

buildings.1830 students at Yale revolted over the math curriculum until it was resolved by expelling half the class. In the following years tensions remained so high most students came to school armed. Between 1800-1830, Princeton experienced 6 major insurrections. At Harvard during this period, several buildings were partially blown up by students. In 1836 University of Virginia students, armed with guns, engaged in mob violence to the extent the military was called out to suppress them. Later in 1840 a professor was killed by his students. (Facts from "Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History," Richard Shenkman, 1988, Wm. Morrow & Co., NY)

SOLDIERS V. CIVILIANS: "The rule of faith committed all Christians to the apostolic and prophetic soldiership of the Spirit. Non-Christians were therefore called "civilians" or pagani, from which the word "pagan" stems."

--Eberhard Arnold, "The Early Christians," Plough Publishing, 1997, pg 21

SPIRITUAL CONQUERORS: The philosopher Seneca is quoted by Augustine, alluding to the spread of Judaism in the ancient world, as saying, " Victi victoribus leges dederunt," "The conquered have given laws to the victors." (Augustine, City of God 6.11)

TERTULLIAN: "(The church) . . .should not be called a political club [party] but a senate."

--Tertullian, Apol. 39, 40, cited by Eberhard Arnold, "The Early Christians," Plough Publishing, 1997, pg 118.

SPIRITUAL NATION: "The Christian movement was revolutionary not because it had the men and resources to mount a war against the laws of the Roman Empire, but because it created a social group that promoted its own laws and its own patterns of behavior. The life and teachings of Jesus led to the formation of a new community of people called 'the church.' Christianity had begun to look like a separate nation, but without its own land or traditions to legitimate its unusual customs."

--Robert Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, Yale Univ Press, 1984, p.119

EVERYWHERE: "...we are only of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you: city, islands, fortresses, towns, market places, the army camp, tribes, palace, senate, and forum."

--Tertullian, Apology, Chp 37, (180 AD); cited by Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan, Random House, NY, 1995, p.149.

TERTULLIAN: "Those who once hated Christianity... now begin to hate what they formerly were, and to profess what they formerly hated... The outcry is that the State is filled with Christians---that they are in the fields, in the cities, in the islands; many people lament, as if for some calamity, that both men and women, every age and condition, even people of high rank, are passing over to professing the Christian faith."

--Tertullian, Apology I; cited by Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan, Random House, NY, 1995, p.115.

BARELY NOTICED: Until the Civil War, Christmas was barely noticed. Historians report that the pages of the New York Tribune in 1841 did not contain a single example of advertising with a Christmas theme. It wasn't until 1870, when the West was expanding and catalog merchandising developing that retailers found a gold mine in Christmas. -(Facts from "Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History," Richard Shenkman, 1988, Wm. Morrow & Co., NY)

GEORGE WILL: Article by Washington Post columnist George Will, The (Tacoma, WA) News Tribune, December, 1993 (exact date unknown): "The invention of modern Christmas got a boost 150 years ago from a book that begins with three unfestive word: "Marley was dead." In 1843 Charles Dickens, that volcano of Victorian sentimentality, erupted with "A Christmas Carol." Christmas was making a comeback.

When Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector he protected England from Christmas which, Puritans said, was "an extraeme forgetfulnesse of Christ, by giving liberty to carnall and sensual delights." Of course to Puritans a fruitcake was a dangerous delight.

Christmas in Merrie England had become a rollicking good time after the Norman Conquest imported French flair. By 1252 Henry III was slaying 600 oxen to go with the salmon pies and roasted peacocks. By the 1640s Cromwell was not amused.

Besides, the second syllable of "Christmas" suggested a popish plot. So the House of Commons sat on Christmas days and sheriffs were sent forth to require merchants to open for business. Pro- and anti-Christmas factions rioted.

The Puritans were bullies but were not wrong when they said that Christmas observations in December had their origins in pagan festivals of the winter solstice, and no one knew in what season Christ was born. Some say that if shepherds really were tending their flocks in the fields that night, it must not have been winter, when sheep in Palestine were penned at night. Some early Christians in Egypt fixed Christ's birth at May 20, and dates were suggested in every month before Dec. 25 became the consensus choice.

That choice coincided with some rival religions' celebrations of the rebirth of the sun, symbolized by candles and by what would come to be called yule logs. Pagans had traditionally decked their halls with boughs of holly, evergreens and mistletoe to symbolize winter's inability to prevent the renewal of life.

In one of life's nice caroms, Christmas trees, a German tradition, may have been introduced to America during the Revolutionary War by Hessian mercenaries of the sort that George Washington routed from Trenton after crossing the Delaware on Christmas night 1776.

The Puritans brought to New England a Cromwellian detestation of Christmas, the celebration of which was made a crime in Massachusetts in 1659. That edict was repealed in 1681, but in 1686 the governor needed two soldiers to escort him to Christmas services.

In 1706 a Boston mob smashed the windows in a church holding Christmas services. New Yorkers, dissolute even then, and Southerners, always sensualists, celebrated Christmas from the 17th century on, but as late as 1874 Henry Ward Beecher, America's most prominent preacher, said, "To me, Christmas is a foreign day."

The birth of Christmas in its modern form, as a festival of sentiment and material comforts, was made possible by the cooling of religious passions. In 1823 the Troy (N.Y.) Sentinel published anonymously Clement Clark Moore's decidedly secular poem beginning, "'Twas the night before Christmas. . ." Forty years later Thomas Nast, the illustrator and political cartoonist who gave us the "Democratic donkey and Republican elephant, popularized the modern image of Santa Claus, a jolly one-man shopping mall.

It was not until 1885 that all federal workers were given Christmas Day off. President Chester Arthuyr, an otherwise sound fellow, signed that law. Franklin Roosevelt discerned Christmas' potential as a counter-cyclical program and moved Thanksgiving from the last Thursday to the third Thursday in November in order to get Christmas shopping humming sooner.

Dickens, who did so much to define the modern Christmas, did so with virtually no reference to religion. He was just 31 in 1843, still tormented by memories of youthful privation - his father in debtors' prison, himself toiling in a blacking factory - and intensely interested in child labor and the conditions of the poor. "A Christmas Carol," written in haste and rapturously received by the rapidly expanding reading public, epitomized the Dickens who Orwell was to describe as "generously angry."

Orwell distilled Dickens' doctrine into 10 words: "If men would behave decently, the world would be decent." On the eve of a revolutionary era in Europe - 1848 was just five years away - Dickens said that a change of hearts was the key to changing society.

Scrooge did not need to be trundled in a tumbrel to a guillotine or even have his property expropriated. A few ghosts and a winsome child named Tim would suffice for a conversion experience. In the end Scrooge was still a capitalist, but a prince of a guy.

Karl Marx, who in 1849 settled in London not far from Dickens, ardently admired Dickens' depiction of social ills. But if Marx understood the writer's message, he must have gagged. Count that among the good that Christmas has done."

JOHN W. WHITEHEAD: "In modern America, the state does not claim divine worship, as pagan Rome did...But it seems to be seeking to make itself the center of...all human values, and the final arbiter of all human destiny. Without using the language of religion, it is claiming to be divine, and is creating a potentially devastating conflict with the church." (The Second American Revolution, p.148, JW Whitehead, 1982, David C. Cook Publishing Co.)

JOHN W. WHITEHEAD: (Speaking of Samuel Rutherford's "Lex, Rex") "...he sets forth three levels of resistance in which a private person may engage. First, he must defend himself by protest... [i.e. legal action]. Second, he must flee if at all possible; and, third, he may use force, if absolutely necessary, to defend himself. But a person should not employ force if he may save himself by flight. Nor should one employ flight if he can defend himself by protest and the employment of constitutional means of redress. Rutherford illustrated this pattern of resistance from the life of David."

(Citing "Lex, Rex," p.160; The Second American Revolution, p.156, JW Whitehead, 1982, David C. Cook Publishing Co.)

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER: "The early Christians died because they would not obey the state in a civil matter. People often say to us that the early church did not show any civil disobedience. They do not know church history. Why were the Christians in the Roman Empire thrown to the lions? From the Christian's viewpoint it was for a religious reason. But from the view point of the Roman State they were in civil disobedience, they were civil rebels. The Roman State did not care what anybody believed religiously; you could believe anything, or you could be an atheist. But you had to worship Caesar as a sign of your loyalty to the state. The Christians said they would not worship Caesar, anybody, or anything, but the living God. Thus to the Roman Empire they were rebels, and it was civil disobedience. That is why they were thrown to the lions. ("A Christian Manifesto," p.92; as quoted in The Second American Revolution, p.148-149, JW Whitehead, 1982, David C. Cook Publishing Co.)

HARVARD LAW PROF. HAROLD BERMAN: "Thus, the first principle of Christian jurisprudence, established by historical experience, was the principle of civil disobedience: laws that conflict with Christian faith are not binding in conscience...The Christian era began with the assertion of a moral right - indeed, a duty - to violate a law that conflicts with God's will. This right and duty, reasserted in our time by such men as Martin Luther King and the Berrigan brothers, is one of the foundations of our constitutional law of freedom of speech." Harold Berman, "The interaction of Law and Religion," p. 52-52; cited in The Second American Revolution, pg. 204, JW Whitehead, 1982, David C. Cook Publishing Co.)

CLERICAL BIG BUSINESS: "The practice of offering mummified animals at a shrine of the god became a successful business for the temples, which maintained large breeding pens for the animals. When they reached a certain age (for cats this was about ten months) the creatures were killed and mummified, and the mummies were sold to pilgrims. The practice was evidently very lucrative: the ibis catacombs of North Saqqara are believed to hold the mummified remains of around four million birds, and the cemetery at Bubastis, cult centre of the cat goddess Bast, contains many thousands of cat mummies." (Picture caption): "A decoratively wrapped mummy of a young crocodile (1st century CE); thousands of of such mummies were buried in honour of the crocodile god Sobek." (Ancient Egypt, DP SIlverman, Ed, Oxford Univ Press, 1997, 163)

CLERIC BELIEF STATISTICS: "A survey of 950 religious teachers and counselors which was conducted by the University of Houston in 1984 revealed that of the 500 who responded to the questionnaire, 40% did not believe that premarital heterosexual sex is immoral, and that 87% believed that adultery should not be a crime...Sixteen percent said that adultery is not morally wrong, 9% were uncertain, and 75% said it is morally wrong. But almost none of them thinks the civil government has any role in punishing adulterers. Only 53% said that the legal system ought to limit marriage to people of opposite sexes." (Associated Press story, Tyler Morning Telegraph, Dec 28, 1984, as quoted by Gary North, The Sinai Strategy, pg 137, Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, TX:)

CLERIC BELIEF STATISTICS: "The sociologist Jeffrey Hadden completed a survey of the beliefs of ten thousand Protestant ministers in May 1982, (as reported in a magazine published by Christ For The Nations).

In response to these questions, ten thousand mainline Protestant pastors answered as follows:

1. Was Jesus born of a virgin? (over 50% said "no")

2. Was Jesus the Son of God? (over 80% said "no")

3. Is the Bible the Inspired Word of God? (Over 80% said "no")

4. Do you believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus? (Over 36% said "no")

(Grant R Jeffrey, "The Signature of God," p 25, Frontier Research Publications, 1996)

"We who formerly treasured money and possessions more than anything else now hand over everything we have to a treasury for all and share it with everyone who needs it." (Justin Martyr, First Apology 14, cited by Eberhard Arnold, "The Early Christians," Plough Publishing, 1997, pg 106)

If man ever creates life, all that it will show is that it took intelligence to create life. –Anon.

ALAN KEYES: "It [the Declaration of Independence] also offers, I think, a practical guide in other respects. We have these big debates over whether we should teach creation in the schools and so forth and so on. Now, I am not going to stand here right now and get into a big debate about who's right and who's wrong. I myself happen to believe that it is slightly more disparaging than I'm willing to tolerate to suggest that my early relatives were monkeys and stuff, but there are some people in the country who feel comfortable with that. If they wish to lay claim to this lineage, they may. I think I'd want to see that genealogy laid out in real detail. And we all know, or we all ought to know, that in spite of all the claims of evolutionary science they can't lay it out in detail. And this is a problem. And I'm not saying that we simply dismiss it on that basis, but doesn't science require that you examine the evidence?

But we've been scared off from examining the evidence on all sides by people saying you can't talk about creation; that's religion. And I look at the Declaration, and it says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are -- CREATED -- equal." Now I keep telling my audiences: How can they tell us this? You can't get to equality, unless you go through the creation. And that means that when we're teaching our children about their rights, and the foundation of their right and liberty, we've got to explain what this word means, or they won't get it.

And so, if somebody comes to you, as the judges have done, and says you can't talk about creation because it's religious, I'll say, "No, it's not religious, this is American. I just want to explain to my son Andrew what the Declaration says. How dare you stop me!" You know, they wouldn't have an answer for that one. And if they did, you know what we ought to do? If they had an answer, and they said, "Well, no, we judges say that you can't teach the Declaration" -- that's the moment that you know why they put the impeachment clause in there.

So there again, the Declaration provides us with a foundation for making a judgment in a practical issue where they said there was no way of resolving it, we had to shut up. But there is." --Ambassador Alan Keyes Declaration Foundation, Inaugural Address Wyndham Plaza Hotel, San Diego August 11, 1996

US SUPREME COURT:, 1987: "We must first acknowledge that teaching the scientific evidence for creation is permissible. In the most recent decision on this, the Supreme Court stated that "teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind to school children might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science

instruction" (Edwards vs. Aguillard, 1987, pg.14).

This decision ruled unconstitutional an effort by the Louisiana legislature to mandate the teaching of both evolution and creation, because the Court (wrongly) suspected a religious purpose behind the law, even though this was denied, and the bill emphasized that the evidence be presented without religious content.

The Court further stated that teachers "already possess" the "flexibility to supplant the present science curriculum with the presentation of theories, besides evolution, about the origin of life" (pg.8). They are "free to teach any and all facets of this subject all scientific theories about the origins of humankind" (pg.9). The Court thus sustained the lower Court finding that "no court of which we are aware had prohibited voluntary instruction concerning purely scientific evidence that happens, incidentally, to be consistent with a religious doctrine or tenet." In short, teaching the scientific evidence, which supports creation, is legal!

However, can it be done? In the place of freedom, there exists a reign of terror by certain "civil liberties" groups and the education establishment. The word is out: any teacher who dares to step out of line can expect an immediate and costly lawsuit. Evolution must be taught as unquestioned fact. A lawsuit might result if a teacher even discusses the evidence, which doesn't fit well with evolution. This evidence must be censored out of the classroom along with the abundant evidence, which better supports creation than evolution. Thus, teachers are intimidated into surrendering their freedoms. ("Does the Law Require Public Schools to Teach Evolution as Fact?, "John D. Morris, Ph.D., Institute for Creation Research, PO Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021. Voice: (619) 448-0900 FAX: (619) 448-3469 http://www.icr. "Vital Articles on Science/Creation" September 1994Copyright © 1994 All Rights Reserved)

SHINTO CREATION: "According to the oldest Shinto mythologies, two of the original gods who appeared out of formlessness were the ancestors of the whole of creation. Known as Izanagi and Izanami [his wife], they came down to earth by means of thrusting the "Jewel-spear of Heaven" downwards into the ocean, where drops from its point became an island where they built their palace and erected a heavenly pillar. ...Izanagi, the god, rebuked his wife for being the first to speak which, he said, was 'not proper' for a woman." ("The Mythology of Sex," Sarah Dening, MacMillan Co, NY, NY, pg 97)

HINDU CREATION: "Descriptions of ritual sexual intercourse occur in the Upanishads, which describe the Original Being as being both alone and lonely. he therefore split himself into two parts, which became the original husband and wife and, subsequently, the parents of humanity. A later part of the first Upanishad tells how the Lord of Creatures, Prajapati, created a woman and worshipped her." ("The Mythology of Sex," Sarah Dening, MacMillan Co, NY, NY, pg 104)

(The idea is that if God instantaneously created a fully functional earth for Adam and Eve it would necessarily have an "appearance of age" simply due to its mature and whole functionality. But what about the fossil record, which lends to an ancient earth?)

"The reason no one appeals to appearance of age for fossils is that fossils are close to something having actual labels on them. The labels in the case of fossils read 'I was once alive.' It is obvious they couldn't have been both once alive and newly created at the same time... It would be passing strange indeed if God created a natural record fundamentally deceptive at its core to testify of His fundamentally faithful and true divine nature. The natural record at face value is an AWESOME testimony to that." (Hill Roberts, "Survival of the Fit," "Does God Exist," Sept-Oct, 2001, pg 21. Doesgodexist.org)

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY ALLIANCE:

ROMAN CATHOLIC:

The New Catholic Catechism, 1992 Latin version, (English translation completed in 1994)
Three Key quotations:
1. Introduction by John Paul II

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the result of very extensive collaboration; it was prepared over six years of intense work ... The project was the object of extensive consultation among all Catholic Bishops, their Episcopal Conferences or Synods, and of theological and catechetical institutes. As a whole, it received a broadly favourable acceptance on the part of the Episcopate. It can be said that this Catechism is the result of the collaboration of the whole Episcopate of the Catholic Church ... the harmony of so many voices truly expresses what could be called the "symphony" of the faith.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, lastly, is offered to every individual ... who wants to know what the Catholic Church believes.

80 Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other.

82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.

bible interpretation the sole right of pope and bishops

100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."

891 The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful--who confirms his brethren in the faith--he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. ... The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. ... This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.

THE BIBLE AGAINST CREEDS:

The Holy Spirit speaks ONLY what He hears, and, NOT on His own initiative (even tho it may be truth!!): "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak..." John 16:13

Jesus does not speak on His own, and does not seek His own glory: "Jesus therefore answered them, and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." (John 7:16-18)

Jesus spoke JUST AS the Father told Him: "For I [Jesus] did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, WHAT TO SAY, and WHAT TO SPEAK. And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak JUST AS the Father has told Me." (John 12:49-50)

Peter said: "Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God..." (1 Pet 4:11)

Even evil Balaam had some caution in this matter of paraphrasing God:

Num 22:18 "And Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, 'Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, EITHER SMALL OR GREAT, contrary to the command of the LORD my God.'"

Num 22:20 "And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise up {and} go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do."

Num 22:38 "So Balaam said to Balak, "Behold, I have come now to you! Am I able to speak anything at all? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I shall speak."

Num 24:13 "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything contrary to the command of the Lord, EITHER GOOD or bad, of my own accord. What the Lord speaks, that I will speak'?"

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God chose those who would state His "creed:" Matt 18:18 "Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

If man writes a creed and binds it on others, he is perilously close to proclaiming himself equal to the apostles. And what shall he say if he has "loosed on earth" what was NOT "loosed in heaven"? No pharmacy would accept an RX which was not written by the MD himself, but rather was rephrased, rewritten (truthfully or not) with a claim to binding authority.

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My children ask me "Dad, what do we believe about (whatever)?" I answer them that I only know what I believe, that they must study and decide for themselves. This is the proper way, no creedal statement to satisfy their intellectual laziness, nor stunt their curiosity, nor misdirect them!

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Creeds bind what are matters of individual faith. The Presbyterian Creed of 1842 states mechanical music is anathema, but Presbyterians today practice it. They assuredly will proclaim it a matter of faith, which proves the point that their previous creed bound what is not bound, in their mind of today.

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Jesus did not cite or refer the hearer to a creed of the Jews, but rather answered Satan, the faithful and the unfaithful repeatedly by saying, "It is written..."

*CRUCIFIXION

During the first revolt of the Jews against the Romans in AD 66-73, Josephus mentions that in the fall of Jerusalem (AD 70), "the soldiers out of rage and hatred amused themselves by nailing their prisoners in different postures." (Josephus, Jewish War 5.11 & 451) AMULETS: The nails of a victim crucified were among some of the most powerful medical amulets in antiquity and thus removed from the victim following their death. This is attested to by the Mishriaic passage10 which states that both Jews and Amorites (colloquium for non-Jews) may carry a flail or whip from a crucifixion as a means of healing. For the Jews, this was even, according to some Rabbis, permitted on the Shabbath when Jews were normally forbidden to carry objects. As this Mishnaic passage mentions both Jews and non-Jews carrying these objects, one can infer the power of these amulets. (Shabbath 6.10)

MOSES: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain." ---Exodus 20:7

GARY NORTH: "Consider a familiar violation of this commandment in English, the expletive, 'God damn you.' It is used thoughtlessly, usually in anger. Biblically speaking, the phrase is an imperative: the invocation of the ultimate biblical curse, a calling upon God to execute His judgment to destroy eternally a personal opponent. It should not be understood as simply a breach of good manners, a violation of biblical etiquette. It is a verbal expression of personal outrage or disgust which is prohibited precisely because it invokes the ultimate power of God for distinctly personal ends. In other words, IT IS AN ATTEMPTED MISUSE OF POWER. Even Michael the archangel avoided such language when he confronted Satan himself, for he dared not 'bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you' (Jude 9)."

--Gary North, The Sinai Strategy, pg 54, Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, TX.

Ancient Christian custom was generally to let the beard and hair grow, as the 'untampered face is in the image of God.' Yet because pagan Germanic and Scandinavian barbarians knew not the razor, shaven faces and tonsured monks appeared at least in part as a reaction. No pope in the last three centuries has even had a mustache.

By the 1920s, any facial adornment in America was the object of both derision and suspicion. The full-bearded House of David baseball team out of St. Joseph, MI, traveled the country to be laughed at -and coin money. Movie villains without black hats could be spotted immediately by their mustaches. It took Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Ronald Colman and Errol Flynn to confuse us again.

When the collegiate rebels of the 1960s let their hair grow long as a symbol of defiance to the "establishment," they were reversing a 17th-century British situation in which the power holding Stuarts had the luxuriant locks and the rebellious Puritans cut theirs, thus becoming "Roundheads." In the 1980s the circle turned again with the advent of rightwing Neo-Nazi skinheads.

You are hard-pressed to find antique pierced-earrings from the first half of the 20th century because they were considered "slutty." (Myths, Legends & Lies.....?)

Foy E Wallace, an early 20^th century gospel preacher whose prime was in the day of the of pocket watch, once said if a man wore a wrist watch he might as well wear lace panties. (This was reprinted in the Gospel For Today, but unfortunately the date is lost to me).

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