ootws, never buy a new car, get a good low mileage used. I've worked my butt off physically all my life while my wife worked addressing food stamps and other welfare concerns. She also made about 3 times what I made which I was thankful for. I think she actually had a harder job than I because of the mental BS she had to put up with. Each evening she needed to unload, I didn't because I enjoyed what I was doing, she didn't. I believe in equal pay for equal work and results and I believe the job of being a good mother and wife is probably one of the hardest jobs there is. Mike

Jesus was not saying that the church will be built upon Peter, but on Himself.

Look at the Greek of Matthew 16:18, it is not obvious in the English t***slation, which t***slates both words as a "rock," but two different words with two different meanings are obvious in the original Greek.

Jesus, who knew the heart of Peter, was not saying that Peter, the movable and unstable stone, would be the immovable rock upon which the Church would be built. Rather, it would be built upon Jesus; and it was this t***h that Peter had affirmed what he said to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," (Matt. 16:16).

"...you are Peter (πέτρος, petros) and upon this rock (πέτρα, petra) I will build My church..."

In Greek, nouns have g****r, either masculine, or feminine.

The Greek word "petros" is masculine; "petra" is feminine.

Peter, the man, is appropriately referred to as Petros, a rock, a rollable boulder, or a throwable rock.

But Jesus said that the rock he would build his church on was not the masculine Greek word, "petros" but the feminine "petra, meaning bedrock, a cliff, a solid unmovable mass of rock."

The feminine "petra" occurs four times in the Greek New Testament:

Matt. 16:18, "And I also say to you that you are Peter (petros), and upon this rock (petra) I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it."

Matt. 27:60, "and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock (petra); and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away."

1 Cor. 10:4, "and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock (petras) which followed them; and the rock (petra) was Christ."

1 Pet. 2:8, speaking of Jesus says that he is "A stone of stumbling and a rock (petra) of offense"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed."

Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible is the term "rock" ever used to describe a man. It is used to describe God.

Deut. 32:4, "The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice."

2 Sam. 22:2-3, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; 3 My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge."

Psalm 18:31, "And who is a rock, except our God."

Isaiah 44:8, "Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none."

Romans 9:33, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed."

Also, taken in context, Jesus Christ is the subject of the passage, not Peter.

Thomas Aquinas built his entire theology around the philosophy of Aristotle, and attempted to combine Greek philosophy with God's wisdom, rather than allowing God's words to stand.

First of all, the entire Christian world cannot be accurately classified as two groups, as you are attempting to do.

If you can look upon over a billion people around the globe and stereotype them all as:

1) Catholic, or

2) anti-Catholic,

how truly miserable you must be.

I have observed Catholic services at St. Patricks Cathedral in Manhattan more than once, and have also toured the famous St. Louis Catholic Cathedral, as well as smaller Catholic churches in several states.

Characterizing something you have not witnessed is never valid nor can it be accurate.

Any "service," in which any group of Christians engage, needs to meet the criteria to be called a Worship Service, as we meet to honor, glorify and exalt our Almighty Triune God (God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and God, the Holy Spirit), the Creator of the Universe and all life that is upon it.

If the service does not center around the worship of God, everyone is wasting their time.

Spiritual singing, praying and preaching from God's Word, and worshiping God, in general, in a "Worship Service" is exactly what the Bible commands.

In 1st Samuel 15:22, we are asked: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams."

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil." (Ecclesiastes 5:1)

Elaborate rituals, rites and ceremonies are not requested in the New Testament Bible.

"I say therefore, my brethren, that whenever you gather, whoever among you has a Psalm, let him speak, or whoever has a teaching, or whoever has a revelation, or whoever has a language, or whoever has a t***slation, let all things be done for the edification of each other." (1st Corinthians 14:26).

We are to worship God in spirit and in t***h.

This crosses all denominations, however they choose to identify themselves. All are an invisible unity; all are indwelt by the same Holy Spirit.

The "Us VS Them" mentality displayed by the creator of this thread is very rare among Christians. If we are in Christ, we are One. If we have trusted His one time sacrifice to wipe out all our sins, we have eternal salvation from sin through Him.

To show that Roman Catholic doctrine contradicts God's Holy Bible is not a condemnation of Catholic people.

They can forsake their false teachings at any moment, if they so choose. Many have and more will.

It is not possible to honestly read the entire Bible without realizing every important Roman Catholic document contradicts God's Words, and God's will.

As for the marks of a cult. Only Roman Catholicism meets all ten of the marks of a cult, beginning with a man who claims to be able to deny the words of the Bible given to us once for all, and speak as God ex cathedra and change God's words.

That is a cult.