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Vatican cardinal faces corruption inquiry over Rome property deals

conrad — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:48:33 +0000

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Corruption and criminals within the Catholic church hierarchy, will it ever stop?
(Reprinted from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/20/vatican-cardinal-corruption-inquiry-rome-property-deals)

Catholic church dragged into public works scandal that has sent shockwaves through Italian government

* Tom Kington in Rome
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 June 2010 22.24 BST

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe The archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, delivered a fiery sermon after hearing of the investigation. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

A senior Vatican cardinal is under investigation for corruption, dragging the Catholic church into a public works scandal that has sent shockwaves through the Italian government.

Italian media reported today that Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the archbishop of Naples, was suspected of striking cosy deals while head of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the Vatican congregation that uses proceeds from a property empire including 2,000 Rome apartments to fund missionary efforts.

Sepe allegedly oversaw the sale in 2004 of a building in Rome to the then transport minister, Pietro Lunardi, for the suspiciously low price of €4.16m, newspapers reported, adding that magistrates wanted to know why Lunardi then freed up €2.5m in state funding the following year for the congregation to create a museum in its headquarters, and why that museum never opened.

Magistrates are reportedly looking into Sepe’s links to builder Diego Anemone and former public works official Angelo Balducci, both suspected of being at the centre of a web of alleged kickbacks and corrupt state construction contracting.

Italy’s industry minister, Claudio Scajola, has already resigned after claims that Anemone paid €900,000 to subsidise the purchase of his luxury Rome flat.

Newspapers said magistrates suspected Sepe and Anemone were involved in furnishing accommodation on Rome’s Via Giulia to Guido Bertolaso, Italy’s powerful civil protection chief.

The case has shed light on the links between Roman politics and the Vatican.

Balducci was a papal usher but was dismissed when the corruption inquiry brought to light his suspected involvement with a Vatican chorister in a male prostitution ring. The Vatican said it hoped the investigation could be wrapped up fast “to eliminate any shadows, be they on the person [Sepe] or church institutions”.

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The Catholic church’s steady decline

conrad — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:13:00 +0000

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Empty pews: Catholics are fleeing the Church in record numbers - particularly Irish American Catholics

The Catholic Church has a proud history, proud not of the Godly and spiritual sense but of the temporal. Afterall, this same church was the one and same as the Roman Empire. A casual check of history would reveal that this supposed religious organization started out as a tool by the Roman Emperor Constantine to consolidate power and to control disagreements between two groups. For a few thousand years, this empire in the guise of religion grew by forcibly “converting” pagan to their own form of Christianity. This form of Christianity is of course paganism in disguise. This has been proven not only on this blog but in many books written by notable writers as well as other blogs. But those glory days are long gone and the steady decline of this pagan based religion continues today. A quick browse of the news and blogs would reveal countless proof of this steady decline. In this blog entry I will quote a few starting with their title and then the pertinent information relevant to the subject of this blog. Here’s goes:

Steady Decline

Parishioners ‘hurting’ over transition to one church

By David Robinson
The Evening Telegram
New! Mon Jan 04, 2010, 10:09 AM EST

St. Johnsville, N.Y. -

St. Patrick’s Church in St. Johnsville and St. Peter’s and Paul’s Church in Canajoharie will both close Feb. 14 and their congregations are being asked to begin worshiping at St. James Church in Fort Plain.
But at least one parishioner said she does not intend to follow the plan, which is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany closure over the last year of 17 percent, or 33 of 109, of its churches.
Grace Archambault, 80, of St. Johnsville, said she is planning to begin attending services at Holy Family Parish in Little Falls. And when she can not make it there, Archambault said she is considering worshipping at St. Paul Lutheran Church in St. Johnsville.
Archambault explained her intentions in a letter to the diocese, citing a mishandling of the closure as part of the motivation for her choice.
“I didn’t desert my church, my church deserted me,” she said in a telephone interview.
The three parishes in October merged financially, forming a single parish named Our Lady of Hope, and began the process of deciding which church would remain open. A pastoral council, consisting of representatives from the three congregations, met to discuss the closures.
But Archambault said the process was insensitive, especially to long-time members of the churches.
“People have spent their whole lives in their churches,” she said, referencing many having been baptized and married under the same roof. “This is like their second home.”
Margaret DiGiacomo, 64, said she has been with St. Patrick’s for all 64 years of life, and the closures have impacted a lot of her friends, family and fellow parishioners. “The people here are really upset over the way this was handled,” she said, “it’s been very discouraging.”

Laity-led church

Tuesday December 29 2009
The slow drip of clerical scandals and its final conclusion with the Murphy report has led me to the inevitable conclusion that the Catholic Church, as we know it, is dead.
This, I feel, is a very good and necessary development.
If Christ the man were to come back today and walk into the Vatican he would immediately turn around and walk the other way. He would have been confronted with big, gaudy buildings with all the pagan trappings of gold and wealth.
He would have sensed power, pomp, inequality and secrecy.
He would have seen his church controlled by an exclusive, elderly gentleman’s club with an 82-year-old as its leader and the total exclusion of half of its members — females.

source:independent.ie

Irish Catholic Cardinal Daly brought Pope to Ireland but utterly failed on pedophiles
By
PATRICK ROBERTS
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, January 2, 2010, 9:26 AM
Updated Saturday, January 2, 2010, 8:28

Cardinal Cahal Daly, who has died aged 92, will also be remembered as the man who oversaw the most rapid decline in the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland because of the pedophile crisis.

Posted 11/7/2004 10:49 PM Updated 11/8/2004 5:28 PM

Church struggles with change
By Cathy Lynn Grossman and Anthony DeBarros, USA TODAY

Today there are fewer parishes and fewer priests than in 1990 and fewer of the nation’s 65 million Catholics in those pews. And there’s no sign of return.”

Nine-Year-Old’s Abortion Outrages Brazil’s Catholic Church
By Andrew Downie / São Paulo Friday, Mar. 06, 2009

Time/CNN

Brazilian devotion to the Catholic Church has declined over the past several years. Whereas Brazil was once an almost entirely Catholic nation, only 74% of Brazilians today admit allegiance to Rome, with large numbers, especially the urban poor, having defected to Protestant Evangelical sects. Many more water down their Catholicism with dashes of African religions such as Candomble or spiritist beliefs such as Kardecism.

December 24, 2009
This Christmas, 78% of Americans Identify as Christian
Over time, fewer Americans identify as Christian; more have no religious identity
by Frank Newport
Gallup.com

The trend results are based on annual averages of Gallup’s religious identity data in America that stretch back over 60 years. One of the most significant trends documented during this period is the substantial increase in the percentage of American adults who don’t identify with any specific religion. In 1948, only 2% of Americans did not identify with a religion. That percentage began to rise in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Eleven years ago, in 1998, 6% of Americans did not identify with a religion, a number that rose to 10% by 2002. This year’s average of 13% of Americans who claim no religious identity is the highest in Gallup records.

The percentage of Americans who identify as Catholic, Protestant, or some other non-Catholic Christian faith has been concomitantly decreasing over the years. This suggests that one of the major patterns of religious transition in America in recent decades has been the shift from identification as Christian to the status of having no specific religious identification.

In 1948, 91% of Americans identified with a Christian faith. Twenty years ago, in 1989, 82% of Americans identified as Christian. Ten years ago, it was 84%. This year, as noted, 78% of all American adults identify with a Christian faith.

There has also been a slight increase in the percentage of Americans who identify with a religion that is not specifically classified as Christian. Sixty years ago, for example, 4% of Americans identified with a non-Christian religion. By 1989, 9% of Americans were in this non-Christian religion category, the same percentage as today.

And there you go. News items in the last 5 years indicating the Catholic Church’s steady decline which by projection will result in the eventual and complete disappearance of the once mighty Roman Church, the same way it’s previous incarnation, the Roman Empire.

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Catholic Church uses drug money to build chapel

truthcaster — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:49:31 +0000

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Mr Abe Arganiosa

Mr Abe Arganiosa, a Catholic priest and blogger recently published a blog entitled “Katanungan tungkol sa pananalapi ng Vatican (Question about the finances of the Vatican)”. He was supposed to be responding to a comment by an anonymous poster but curiously, instead of answering the questions with facts Mr Arganiosa started attacking the Iglesia Ni Cristo. This really doesn’t surprise me as Mr Arganiosa is one of many Catholic bloggers on a smear campaign against the Iglesia. Sadly though that’s all they’re capable of and none of these so called Catholic defenders will ever face an Iglesia Ni Cristo minister in a face to face debate. I can’t blame them since they can’t even defend their doctrines in forum debates.

Anyway, Mr Arganiosa started out his blog with a photo of what he wrote was the Vatican Museum. It was really impressive, very neon like and honestly looked like something you see in Las Vegas. Curious also the caption “Meron ba ang mga (derogatory remark) nyan? Ha, ha, ha…Mamatay sila sa inggit!”. Roughly in English this translate to “Do the (derogatory remark)? Ha, ha, ha…Let them die of jealousy!”. Shocked? Surprised? I was. You wouldn’t expect this kind of speech from a so-called “man of the cloth“. But Mr Arganiosa is not you regular “spiritual leader“. Nope. He’s of the Eli Soriano kind that is, they don’t guard their mouth. The same mouth they used to supposedly speak the words of God is the same mouth they use to slander, malign and derogate whom they perceive as their enemy. So much for loving you enemy. Anyway, as we try to ignore his abusive behaviour let’s see what Mr Abe has to say about the Catholic finances.

Vatican wealth? Investments

He said the Vatican is not the wealthiest of countries. While this may be true the Vatican is not poor either. And unlike purely religious organization such as the Iglesia Ni Cristo, the Catholic church is an investment machine! Very true. The Catholic church invest just like any corporation. In 1965, Time published the following:

Bankers’ best guesses about the Vatican’s wealth put it at $10 billion to $15 billion. Of this wealth, Italian stockholdings alone run to $1.6 billion, 15% of the value of listed shares on the Italian market. The Vatican has big investments in banking, insurance, chemicals, steel, construction, real estate. Dividends help pay for Vatican expenses and charities such as assisting 1,500,000 children and providing some measure of food and clothing to 7,000,000 needy Italians. Unlike ordinary stockholders, the Vatican pays no taxes on this income, which led the leftist Rome weekly L’Espresso last week to call it “the biggest tax evader in Italy.”

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,833509,00.html#ixzz0aszryQKU

Vatican Museum

Impressive! And that is in 1965. For a country with a population of less than a thousand that’s a lot of money! Aside from the investments the Vatican also makes money by charging admission to that museum Mr Arganiosa talked about not to mention tourist dollars and sale of postage stamps and mementos. One could say it has self generating income much like any other tourist destination. Admission to the Vatican Museum is € 14,00 about the same as the Hollywood Wax Museum.

One would think that with all these wealth the Catholic church would be able to help it’s needy members for something as essential in the practice of religion as a chapel. After all, Diocese do indeed send money to the Vatican however small that money is it still adds up over the years. But does the Vatican help out small Catholic congregations for such essential need as financing the building of a chapel where the faithful can practice their faith?

Drug money funds chapel renovation

Drug addiction ruins lives

In October 1995 a series of news articles rock the religious world when a Mexican bishop of the Catholic Church admitted to receiving money from drug traffickers. And he wasn’t shy admitting to it but was actually proud. He argued that the money is “purified” once it passes through the parish doors! Catholics can rationalize anything and had done it all throughout history. From burning innocents during the Inquisition to in action in World War II and now by accepting money tainted by the blood and wasted lives of souls who fell victim to drugs sold to them by the very benefactor of the Catholic church. The newspaper account goes like this

Tainted Church cash rocks Mexico
AP, MEXICO CITY
Thursday, Oct 06, 2005, Page 7

When a Mexican bishop told reporters recently that drug traffickers often donate to the Catholic Church, shock waves ran through this predominantly Catholic nation, not because the news was a surprise, but because admitting it was tantamount to confessing that nothing is sacred — not even God — when it comes to organized crime in Mexico.

Provoking the uproar were declarations by Bishop Ramon Godinez of the central state of Aguascalientes, who remarked earlier this month that donations from drug traffickers are not unusual, but that it was not the Church’s responsibility to investigate. He argued that the money is “purified” once it passes through the parish doors.

“Just because the origin of the money is bad doesn’t mean you have to burn it,” Godinez said. “Instead, you have to transform it … We live on this, on the offerings of the faithful.”

Then again in 1997, another report came out concerning the same issue that is the Catholic church taking money from drug traffickers.

October 21, 1997

DRUG LORDS BUY WAY INTO CHURCH’S HEART
MEXICO: PRIEST’S PRAISE FOR TRAFFICKERS BRINGS ‘NARCO-CHARITY’ INTO OPEN. BISHOPS DENY TAKING FUNDS BUT SAY THEY WON’T POLICE COLLECTION PLATE.

MARY BETH SHERIDAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BAMOPA, Mexico

Abelino Ortiz needed a miracle. The farmer, a devout Catholic, had rallied the peasants in this mountain village to build a chapel, but the project was short of cash–until the local drug lord happened by, briefcase in hand.

“He threw out 100,000 pesos,” then about $ 3,500, recalled Ortiz, sitting on his porch overlooking the tiny red-brick church he built 15 years ago. Because of Rafael Caro Quintero, a local boy who had become Mexico’s marijuana king, the people of Bamopa could now praise God.

Caro Quintero is now in a Mexican prison, convicted of drug trafficking and the murder of Enrique Camarena, a U.S. drug agent. But in Bamopa, he enjoys a saintly status. “The good memories he left will not be erased,” Ortiz said.

And there you go. I’m sure Mr Arganiosa would be able to come up with a rationalization of this shameful acts. He might even disown his Catholic brethren and of course he would again aim his diatribe at the Iglesia Ni Cristo complete with slander about the Iglesia’s leaders. Nothing new as he has always done the same in the past. But one thing is also sure: The Vatican where the Catholic hierarchy lives has enought money to fund a small chapel in Mexico but elected not to, forcing a poor constituent to take money from a criminal. So much for a shepherd taking care of its flock.

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December Philippine Fiesta

conrad — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:54:15 +0000

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The parol bears a striking resemblance to the Pentacle, a pagan symbol

San Fernando Giant Lantern Festival/Fiesta ng Parol – celebrated the whole month of December in San Fernando, Pampanga. The festival culminates in a judging contest of the best, biggest and most beautiful Christmas lantern made by the local craftsmen in San Fernando.

There is always a fiesta (festival) going on somewhere in the Philippines as every city and barrio holds at least one each year. The fiesta is usually to honor the local Roman Catholic patron saint and pay homage to the barrio’s namesake for good harvest and health. It is a mixture of both pagan and Catholic beliefs. These fiestas are marked by feasting and celebration of holy mass, music, dance and song.

Christmas is one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the Philippines. Filipinos take pride in having the longest Christmas celebration in the world … as soon as the month ending with “ber” rolls around, preparations for Christmas begins. September signals the start of the Christmas season and you begin to hear Christmas carols everywhere and Christmas lanterns of all shapes and sizes light up the streets of Metro Manila. Filipinos buy star-shaped lanterns called “parol” (pronounced pah-role) to hang outside their homes. The “parol” represents the Star of Bethlehem that led the three Wise Men to the infant Jesus more than two thousand years ago.

The PENTACLE

Other names:

Five-pointed star. Star of the Microcosm. Witch’s Foot. The Morning Star. The Evening Star. Endless knot.

History:

Pentacle - a pagan symbol

The five-pointed star is the result of astrological research done over 6,000 years ago resulting in no connection whatsoever to Satanism or Christianity. Pythagoras utilized the Pentacle to represent the human being with the points of the star representing the head, arms and legs, adding the circle unifies and creates Spirit. On a side note, the Pentacle or Pentagram represents phi: 1.618, the perfect number. This number symbolizes perfection in all things that exist on this plane, for one instance, the human face, broken down in shape has the basic core and structure of a Pentagram. How’s that for perfection?

The Elements:

The Pentacle represents the five elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit.

Magical Uses:

As a protective device: Wear a pentacle around your neck to protect yourself.

Ritual Use:

A Pentacle is synonymous with Wiccan Rituals. It represents Spirit and Protection. A Pentacle is one of the most important devices in your Ritual Circle and can be simply represented by drawing a Pentacle in the air above your working space, in the dirt if working outside, or on a piece of paper to be discarded later.

sources:

www.goldentreewands.com – Wiccan Symbols

www.vtaide.com – Philippine Celebrations.

www.philsite.net – Philippine Fiesta

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Merry Christmas?

conrad — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:49:20 +0000

What do people do at Christmas? what else but merry making, eating and drinking!

Christmas Revelry

Saturnalia

Millions of people from virtually every country of the world celebrate the holiday season during the Winter Solstice, and this has been true even before Christmas as we now know it existed. Pagans , farmers and common folk celebrated the coming of spring during ancient times with festivals such as the Roman Saturnalia or rituals such as the Scandinavian Yule Log. These celebrations formed the backbone of holiday traditions that we all follow to this day.

source:www.christmasrevelry.com

Hard as it may be to believe, I’m not a complete curmudgeon. I sort of like Christmas. The eating, the drinking

source: Tim Hayward, guardian.co.uk

Christmas Party

We all know that the origin of Christmas is pagan. Is this against teachings of the bible? Here’s the verse:

Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.”

There you go. plain and clear.

O Christmas tree

conrad — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:38:17 +0000

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Christmas tree at St Peter's Square

The Catholic tradition of decorated trees did not come from Christianity as laid out in scriptures but from Norse mythology similar to the eggs and bunny of Easter.

The world tree is an enormous ash that grew in the middle of the world and was sacred to Odin the chief God in Norse paganism. The mythical embodiment of the universe, its survival was necessary for the survival of the Aesir world or the Norse Pantheon. Three Norns (trinity!) lived at the foot of this tree who decided the fate of every human being, they were all knowing.

The Christmas tree descends from the world tree, and many of its traditional decorations were adapted from Norse mythology. Candles, and in the age of electricity, Christmas lights symbolizes Thor’s flashing lightnings. Garlands and ribbons are symbols for the rainbow bridge to Asgard. At the top instead of the pagan eagle, the Christmas angel keeps watch; and at the bottom, the Christ child in his crib replaces the Norns as the Christian ‘s arbiter of human destiny. The pagan eagle at the top of the tree fanned the air with his wings which causes winds to blow.

Yggdrail - the World tree

Some writers think the Christmas tree was adopted by Catholics of German descent such as Martin Luther. Legends say that Luther on his way home from a midnight mass saw light reflecting from icicles on a small evergreen tree. He cut down the tree brought it home and decorated it with candles, ribbons and sweets. In the morning, he read religious stories under it. The Christmas tree was first mentioned in 1605 at Strasburg and introduced to France and Englad in 1840.

Even the Catholic Pope John Paul II found it necessary to explain the Catholics’ use of the pagan symbol. Quite supprisingly, his explanation bore a striking similarity to the pagan symbolism. He said the Christmas tree is a symbol of “the tree of life, a figure of Christ, God’s greatest gift to all men.”

Asherah Pole

Tree worship is not unique to Norse mythology nor Catholic tradition, and is one of the oldest form of animism and paganism. It was among the most common form of idolatrous veneration in Ancient Assyria and is a true form of Tree Worship. It would not be hard to believe that this was the same Asherah poles or Grove mentioned frequently in the Bible.

“Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going.
If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped.

Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles”

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source:
D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths
Ingri D’Aulaire

Legend of the Christmas Tree
Matuszak, Pat

newadvent.org

Tree and serpent worship
James Ferguson

The basis for the worship of “The Virgin Mary”.

truthcaster — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:59:18 +0000

Cybele, Mother Earth

Goddess worshipping religions were mostly based on being fertile and its relationship to nature. Crops yield bountifully(read fertile) because the “Mother” provided. This belief honors the females “power” to produce or “create new life”. Nature, and the earth in particular is itself a “mother” which produces bounty.

Goddess worship is found in almost all the pagan religions throughout history, including the ancient middle east countries, Egypt, Sumeria and Canaan not to mention India, Europe and Africa. The Goddess has a long history as proven by stone statuettes indicating Goddess worship as early as the Paleolithic ages.

By the time of Jesus’ ministry, the worship of Goddesses such as Artemis and Aphrodite was prevalent in the Middle East, Greece and Rome. The pagan goddess Cybele, or the “Earth Mother/Magna Mater” was brought to Rome to “protect it” from foreign foes. It was also for Cybele where the tradition of procession was observed when the statue was brought from Pessinos to Rome. Under Emperor Augustus, Cybele’s prominence so much so that the emperor restored her temple on Palatine hill, the centermost of the seven hills of Rome. The Basilica di Santa Maria now occupies the spot.

Cybele, also known as Kubile, worship spread from Phrygia now modern day Turkey (think Constantinople) and well into Greece, Rome and neighboring countries. Like the Ephesian Artemis (see Acts 19) Cybele was worshiped in the Roman Empire until the 4th Century well after the death of Christ’s Apostles. Her full Roman name was “Mother of the Gods”. She was deified as a great single parent not only of gods but also of human beings. In 431 at the Council of Ephesus, the devotion tot he Virgin Mary was formally sanctioned by the Catholic church. It was through this council that Mary was declared the “Mother of God”.

Stephen Benko specializes in early Christianity in its pagan environment. In The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology, he traces the development of the cult of Mary from Greek and Roman mythology through to recent times. Benko avoids anti-Catholic polemics and is sympathetic to the place of the “queen of heaven” in Christianity. That said, he unerringly traces Mary’s roots to the pagan, pre-Christian heavenly queens of Greece, Rome and the wider Mediterranean—those mutable goddesses whose ranks include Artemis, Astarte, Celeste, Ceres, Cybele, Demeter, Diana, Ishtar, Isis and Selene.

Source: The Rise of the Queen of Heaven; vision.org

It is interesting to know that the first basilica dedicated to Mary is located in Ephesus where the ancient pagan goddess of Artemis was worshiped.

Notes on Catholics: Who’s the real heretic.

truthcaster — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:02:17 +0000

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Constantine and pagan god Sol Invictus

Generally accepted today as fact most specially by Catholics is the alleged heresy of Arius. According to most historians, Arius of Alexandria in Egypt held the teaching that Jesus was not co-equal with God the Father, and did not exist in “the beginning”. This teachings was said to cause a dispute with his Bishop, Alexander who believed on the contrary. Historians claim that the dispute boiled over and reached a fever pitch up to the time when Emperor Constantine took control of the empire. Constantine, an astute politician, saw religion as a more powerful unifying factor than force or fear, and least expensive and destructive at that. He knew that to maintain “peace” throughout his empire, this dispute needed to end and to end it is quite simple: find out which side has the majority of adherents and adapt and enforce this side throughout the empire. Emperor Constantin by all accounts is a pagan and did not have the basic understanding of the Christian faith as preached by Jesus and the Apostles themselves.

Council of Nicaea

And so in 325 AD, the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine I convened a council in Nicaea in an effort to attain “consensus” in the church. This council will come to be known as the First Council of Nicaea.

Constantine supposedly “invited” bishops of the “Christian” church, among them were Eusebius of Caesarea and Athanasius of Alexandria. It may not be known how many were in attendance but some historians put the number at more than 1,500 with all expenses paid for by the empire. The pagan Emperor Constantine was also in attendance in this supposedly “Christian” gathering.

Emperor pope

“Resplendent in purple and gold, Constantine made a ceremonial entrance at the opening of the council, probably in early June, but respectfully seated the bishops ahead of himself.”As Eusebius described, Constantine “himself proceeded through the midst of the assembly, like some heavenly messenger of God, clothed in raiment which glittered as it were with rays of light, reflecting the glowing radiance of a purple robe, and adorned with the brilliant splendor of gold and precious stones.” Constantine organized the Council along the lines of the (pagan)Roman Senate.

source:wikipedia.org, emphasis mine

Who’s the real heretic

Webster.com defines “heretic” as someone who “dissents from an accepted belief or doctrine”. In the case of the council, we can safely assume that Arius was pronounced a heretic before a doctrine was officially accepted. Sneaky.

Destroying evidence!

The First Council of Nicaea’s purpose was supposedly to “create” the first uniform Christian doctrine, which later was to be called the Creed of Nicaea. (This runs contrary to the teachings of the bible! But I digress.) The council supposedly affirmed the teachings of the Apostles regarding who Christ is; that Christ is the one true God in Deity with the Father. The disagreement started from the church in Alexandria, Egypt over the nature of Jesus. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius his assistant took the position that Jesus was co-equal, and co-eternal with God the Father. Arius on the other hand maintained that Jesus was not eternal and that he was a created being. The council decided against the Arius and so the doctrine that Jesus was God was created and adopted.

So was Arius really the heretic? Or was it the Catholic “church fathers” and their host, the pagan Emperor Constantine? The answer depends on who you ask. If you ask the bible it would be very clear who the real “heretic” is. According to the Lord Jesus himself, who is God and who is Jesus.

1 These things Jesus spoke, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said: Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee. 3 Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

source: Douay-Rhimes; emphasis mine

The verse is clear, Jesus said the Father is the only true God. If the Father is the ONLY true God, Jesus cannot be God because if he was he would be talking to another God, which would then contradict his own pronouncement that there is ONLY ONE true God, the Father.

So, who now is the “heretic”?

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Anti-catholic? me?

truthcaster — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:43:33 +0000

Inquisition torture

My “bff”, Ernie Vasol aka losav on his alter-blog is accusing me of being an “anti-catholic”. I guess because I was blogging about catholic church doctrines and practices which do not necessarily agree with his own beliefs make me an “anti-catholic”. This made me chuckle a bit because if you read my post, nowhere will you find anything that is anti anything. My post are borne out of reading publications that had been available longer that I’ve been alive! So to call me anti-catholic would be the equal to calling my references anti-catholic. That would be well and good for my “bff” but the problem is that included in my list of references are the bible and the Catholic Catechism itself!

He pointed to a web page about anti-Catholicism but when I followed the link it turned out to be an encyclopedia entry for anti-Catholicism in U.S. History! You see, I’m a filipino who hasn’t lived in the U.S. long enough to be considered part of U.S. History. So, his definition of me being anti-catholic is both false and erroneous. And being a native of the only Catholic majority country in Asia and ruled over for 300 years by the Catholic religion, it’s an insult to be called anti catholic. “Victim” of catholic oppression is probably more accurate.

He also said I denied being a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. This also is not true. What I said is that I am not writing for or in behalf of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. What I write is based on my own reading and research, guided of course by what I’ve learned so far, and motivated by my interest in the history of religions in general. My blog is not meant to indoctrinate or propagate my own belief, but rather to share what I’ve learned along the way.

Brokeback mountain

He also said I was “assassinating characters”. I and my “bff” have a long story that I’d rather not get into and not for my benefit but for the benefit of my “bff” losav. Suffice it to say, I did not do anything illegal, immoral or unfair. What I presented was put there in the open by losav himself. I simply pointed it out. If I were my “bff”, I would stop mentioning this episode because each time he does, another reader gets the urge to look. It’s like a bad road accident. The more you point to it, the more people feel the need to look.

Concerning his claim that I was contradicting “impartial” sources that purportedly say the Catholic church is “historically” the original Church. Whether this is true or not I’m not personally certain because I haven’t gotten that far in my research. So the jury is still out on this one. But is it really important and necessary at this point to prove that the Catholic church was indeed the original church? Notice the emphasis on “was”. What’s important is to ask, is the Catholic church today the same as the church built by Jesus? This is quite easy to answer. With one bible verse it can be proven that the Catholic church is NOT the church built by Christ in the first century:

For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus:
Douay-Rheims Bible

Contrast this to what Catholics believe:

Emperor Constantin rules over Council of Nicaea

The Council declared that the Father and the Son are of the same substance and are co-eternal, basing the declaration in the claim that this was a formulation of traditional Christian belief handed down from the Apostles. This belief was expressed in the Nicene Creed.
wikipedia.org

Now I don’t normally trust wikipedia because the founder himself said himself not to. But for this particular post, I’ll allow it.

And there you go. Another blog post dedicated to all my catholic readers.

the Orthodox Church: the RCC’s not so popular split personality

conrad — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:02:54 +0000

The Orthodox church claims to be the “one holy, catholic, apostolic” church. That’s fine and dandy, I guess. Except, the same title is also being claimed by another paganism based religion, the RCC. So, which is the true “one, holy, catholic, apostolic” church? Well, neither.

Anyway, many RCC say the Orthodox church “split” from the RCC. The Orthodox on the other hand say the RCC is the “confused” one which split from them. But whatever the case maybe, by splitting from each other, neither can claim to be the “one” body of Christ. For by claiming to be the “one holy, apostolic” church would be saying the other one is NOT “holy catholic apostolic”.

Therein lies the quandary.

Some catholic defenders contend that the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic church have the same father, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. They also say that the Protestant sects are daughters of the Roman Catholic church. This is of course contrary to scriptures for in the holy book it is clearly stated that the Lord Jesus Christ is the GROOM of the church. As far as the Protestants are concerned, the bible talks of a church that is called the “mother of harlots.” Figure it out yourself.

Besides, the if the founder of the Church is Christ, they it is only logical and reasonable to assume that the name of his (Christ) church be named after him, Christ church or Church of Christ. It cannot be Roman Catholic church as those names don’t even appear in the bible where the life and ministry of the Lord is chronicled.

Still other catholic defenders could not accept that the church they belong to is not the church founded by Christ. They come up with some mumbo jumbo defeating the pagans so on and so forth. The reality is, the Catholic church was defeated and conquered by paganism. All of the rituals, traditions and practices of the Roman Catholic church and it’s offspring are based on pagan practices, traditions and rituals. For example, Christmas

In the 4th century CE, Catholicism imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Catholic leaders succeeded in converting large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Catholics.[2]

The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Catholics leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday