The Blood of the martyrs

Stephentlig

Hiya forum, I want the mod to know I've read the rules on promotion of websites and scams, ( at least thats the way I interpreted such requests ) but I assure them that this has nothing to do with profit or business, but is just my blog on the internet and is in relation to Christianity.

I created a blog called ''the blood of the martyrs''. In light of the Ryan report, and all those who consider leaving the church based on the conduct of its members, I thought they might want to consider giving this blog a look before they do leave the church for such reasons.

they too will find out that I also was a person who had a hard time returning to the church based on the conduct of its members just over 2years ago before my ( what I like to call ) radical conversion in the spring of 2008.

the Blog contains Martyrs such as Sister Dorothy Stang, St.Oliver Plunkett, Fr.George ibrahim, Archbishop Oscar Romero, St.George the great Martyr, the thirty siroki brijeg martyrs who were tortured by communists and many more.

www.thebloodofthemartyrs.blogspot.com

God bless everyone
Stephentlig

philologos

Stephen, welcome to the boards. Are you the same Stephen who spoke with Paul Dunbar of countmeout.ie on Dundalk FM a few weeks ago?

I think you have a good point. Men are set to fail, the Church should be setting its standard by looking to God, and to Jesus Christ rather than to fallible individuals.

Stephentlig

Jakkass wrote: »

Stephen, welcome to the boards. Are you the same Stephen who spoke with Paul Dunbar of countmeout.ie on Dundalk FM a few weeks ago?

I think you have a good point. Men are set to fail, the Church should be setting its standard by looking to God, and to Jesus Christ rather than to fallible individuals.

Yes, I am the person who spoke with Paul a couple or more weeks back. Yes we should always look to Jesus Christ, reminds me of how in the gospel amidst the storm, the disciples were looking foward to one another on how to steer the ship and get it together, but it wasnt until they looked to Christ, did everything settle down.

St.Peter ( the first pope ) in ( acts 5:29 ) also requests that we obey God before we do man. When we in the midst of the scandals of the church, hold to the doctrine, thats exactly what we are doing, obeying God before we obey man. the Pope is the representitve of that truth, and even he can fall. Judas who was so close to Jesus betrayed him, and his kiss of betrayal is one that has lasted centuries within the church.

scandals within the church are also very biblical.
Matt. 13:24-30 - scandals have always existed in the Church, just as they have existed outside of the Church. This should not cause us to lose hope in the Church. God's mysterious plan requires the wheat and the weeds to be side by side in the Church until the end of time.

Matt. 13:47-50 - God's plan is that the Church (the kingdom of heaven) is a net which catches fish of every kind, good and bad. God revealed this to us so that we will not get discouraged by the sinfulness of the Church’s members.

Matt. 16:18 - no matter how sinful its members conduct themselves, Jesus promised that the gates of death will never prevail against the Church.

Matt. 23:2-3 - the Jewish people would have always understood the difference between a person's sinfulness and his teaching authority. We see that the sinfulness of the Pharisees does not minimize their teaching authority. They occupy the "cathedra" of Moses.

Matt. 26:70-72; Mark 14:68-70; Luke 22:57; John 18:25-27 - Peter denied Christ three times, yet he was chosen to be the leader of the Church, and taught and wrote infallibly.

Mark 14:45 - Judas was unfaithful by betraying Jesus. But his apostolic office was preserved and this did not weaken the Church.

Mark 14:50 - all of Jesus' apostles were unfaithful by abandoning Him in the garden of Gethsemane, yet they are the foundation of the Church.
John 20:24-25 - Thomas the apostle was unfaithful by refusing to believe in Jesus' resurrection, yet he taught infallibly in India.

Rom. 3:3-4 - unfaithful members do not nullify the faithfulness of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

Eph. 5:25-27 - just as Jesus Christ has both a human and a divine nature, the Church, His Bride, is also both human and divine. It is the holy and spotless bride of Christ, with sinful human members.

1 Tim. 5:19 - Paul acknowledges Church elders might be unfaithful. The Church, not rebellion and schism, deals with these matters.

2 Tim. 2:13 - if we remain faithless, God remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.

2 Tim. 2:20 - a great house has not only gold and silver, but also wood and earthenware, some for noble use, some for ignoble use.

Jer. 24:1-10 - God's plan includes both good and bad figs. The good figs will be rewarded, and the bad figs will be discarded.

1 Kings 6,7,8 - the Lord commands us to build elaborate places of worship. Some non-Catholics think that this is controversial and the money should be given to the poor, even though no organization does more for the poor of the world that the Catholic Church. We create our churches with beauty because Christ our King lives in the churches in the blessed Eucharist.

Matt. 26:8-9; Mark 14:4-5; John 12:5 - negative comments concerning the beauty of the Church are like the disciples complaining about the woman anointing Jesus' head with costly oil. Jesus desires that we honor Him with our best gifts, not for Him, but for us, so that we realize He is God and we are His creatures.

Matt. 26:10-11 - Jesus says we have both a duty to honor God and give to the poor - a balanced life of reverence and charity.

the previous biblical qoutes have been taken from John Salzas website.
www.scripturecatholic.com



anyhow, hope you enjoy the Blog.

In Christ.
Stephen