Looser in the sense that drinking and smoking (examples) are not so heavily looked down upon in Catholicism as compared to most Protestant sects. Some Protestant sects even condemn dancing and going to a movie; the axiom being not to sit in the house of sinners lest that person will be judged as being part of them. Catholics reign regarding when ya do something wrong then wait until the next confession sort of thing. I went with a Roman Catholic and she was heavy into confession but not much in the area of repentance. Constant Merry Go Round. As far as the Muslims go I think we have a misunderstanding. I referred to the Catholics as having an extensive [and well established] missionary calling which has spanned the world. Such a calling has gone on since the start of the denomination. As for the Muslims, I know of NO orphanages or hospitals that were / are established by them. As a matter of interest, I hope there are but I do not know of any Jehovah’s Witness, 7th Day Adventist or any other sect other than Baptists who have a humongous interest in the Rescue Mission Ministry in the United States. I don’t know what the stats are now but the old IUGM (turned AGRM and now City Gate) had around 300 established Rescue Missions in the association around the free world (but mainly in the U.S.) and it’s predominantly Baptist.
Here is many Americans problems with Catholic ccharity, most of those the church bring in get on welfare and take up low income rentals away from low income American families.The church takes them in gets new members and liberal voters,but the American people lose jobs to them ,we can't afford immigrants .Our hospitals are closing down in some major cities. Drugs are epedemic as is other crimes. Water is running out crops are in trouble top it off with a pandemic. You have two families: "Joe Legal" and "Jose Illegal". Both families have two parents, two children, and live in California ... Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted. Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table". Ready? Now pay attention... Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has $31,231.00. Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, or $31,200.0 0 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00. Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.00. Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and local clinics and emergency hospitals at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00. Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $18,031.00. Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps, WIC and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00. Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Joe Legal now has 9,631.00. Jose Illegal receives a $500.00 per month Federal Rent Subsidy. Jose Illegal pays out that $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $ 31,200.00. Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for car insurance. Some of that is uninsured motorist insurance. Joe Legal now has $7,231.00. Jose Illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and still has $31,200.00. Joe Legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc... Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.. Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work. Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family. Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same elementary school. Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches, while Jose Illegal's children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal's children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal's children go home. Now, when they reach college age, Joe Legal's kids may not get into a State School and may not qualify for scholarships, grants or other tuition help, even though Joe has been paying for State Schools through his taxes, while Jose Illegal's kids "go to the head of the class" because they are a minority. Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay. Do you get it, now? If you vote for or support any politician that supports illegal aliens... You are part of the problem! We need to make changes ASAP! It's way PAST time to take a stand for America and Americans!
@Marie Mallery, you make some good points but I fail to see what they have to do with Catholicism or any other flavor of Christianity - or this thread, for that matter, which is about the many flavors of Christianity.
By my estimate, there are about 2.5 billion "flavors of Christianity" world wide. We each are our own type of Christian.
I was on a plane sitting next to a guy working feverishly between the Bible, the DaVinci Code and another book. Never said a word to me. Looked up periodically to write more notes. As we got close to landing, he started packing up. Then he said, he was giving a talk on the effect the DaVinci Code is and was going to have on Christian Religions. (just after the movie came out) He seemed rather upset. When we got up to deplane, I said to him, You know it doesn't matter. He looked at me. I said, it does not matter if women are given credence or position in the religions. Christ's message was love, and only that. He got off the plane. I think a lot of people don't know the meaning of the word, in the Bible. Or how to practice it.
Interesting thread. I grew up in an old-timey, non-denominational, very strict Christian home: No smoking, no drinking, no swearing, no work on Sundays, and no television, among others no-nos. It was very tough growing up like that, especially during the '60s, and I rebelled big time. Having said that, my parents were the best parents anyone could hope for. But I had big problems (and still do) with their religion. As I learned when I got older and started reading about all this stuff, the religion I grew up in practiced "exclusivity" -- meaning: We are right, all of our rituals and beliefs are right, and if you aren't in our religion then you will not be saved. I think the Catholics believe this, and I know the JWs do (I've known quite a few of them) as do many other denominations. Even as a kid it never made any sense to me. I saw similar patterns with the JWs that I befriended in my 30s. I came to conclude that a lot of these religions that believed in exclusivity go out of their way to differentiate themselves from other denominations so they can then say: "See, because we believe this and we practice these rituals we are not like 'those' people over there. So we are right and they are wrong." I never heard anyone actually say that, but that seemed to be the attitude. One of my sisters belongs to a Baptist church and they do NOT believe any of that. I have never joined any church, but did retain a lot of the values. I have no idea if there really is any god and will probably die being a "devout agnostic." Boiling all that down I come up with this, and my sister agrees with me: If there is a god, I don't think he cares what building you go to on Sunday mornings, how you dress, how you have your hair, etc. -- he cares what is in your heart and how you treat your fellow man. The True Believers are scattered around the world in all types of churches, some here some there, mixed in with the probably large numbers of hypocrites, who only attend church because their spouse wants them to, or from tradition, or for social reasons. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Haha, the JWs did their best to convert me but I never bent -- although I did go to a couple of their services.
Right on the smoking and drinking. Catholics have never had a problem with drinking, as Jesus drank wine (no matter what view is held by others) but spoke against overindulgence. First miracle recorded was changing water into wine. I think the Catholics never found an issue with smoking as they felt it did no harm. We know better now, but I don't think Muslims or Orthodox Christians have a position on it either. I don't know about Jews. I have read and spoken to some Muslims who claimed that they could drink beer and distilled spirits, just not wine. Seems strange.... I knew several sects/denominations that forbade drinking, dancing, and just about anything that can be fun. My neighbor's church doesn't allow any of that, and does not allow knees or elbows to be exposed. They also don't allow television, but do allow computers with internet access and radios. I have never gotten a really good answer for my questions about the whys of those beliefs, especially the computer access. They are wonderful people, though, and we can count on them in time of need. Also, United Methodists once had an extensive charity network, too, but I don't know if it still exists. Perhaps @John Brunner knows more about that. We didn't have a misunderstanding at all on the Muslim question. I threw that in in response to another poster. @Bobby Cole have you perchance read The Power and The Glory by Graham Greene?
Don: My cousin (who grew up the same as I did) had an interesting take on this, and has as much credibility as any other theory IMO. This was thirty or more years ago and we happened to be discussing the Amish. He said something to the effect that a lot of religions follow the cultural norms wherever they happened to be in the world, at the time of their founding. This seems to be true for the Amish and also for the religion we grew up in. The women in the church we grew up in, especially, dressed like women did in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The church was founded around 1897. Yet today they all have computers, although TVs (as far as I know) are still forbidden or at least frowned upon -- depending on where you live. Some areas of the country and world are more culturally liberal than others, and they tend to follow the regional norms.
Your sister must belong to an American Baptist Church. The American Baptists here don't really seem to believe in anything. I carried on a long email correspondence with a n American Baptist preacher here and he seemed not to be a conventional Christian. He didn't believe in any statements of faith, was a big advocate of gay and transgender marriage, and was very anti-Trinitarian. Even the Unitarians I have known were not as liberal as that man. I don't know if he is representative of the denomination or not. I am not a Catholic, but have attended a Catholic church for many years. I have never heard anything said in a Catholic church against any other denomination or religion. I cannot say the same for the many Protestant churches I have attended. They also have four scripture readings as a part of every service; I have never understood why people don't think they believe in the Bible. Monks were, for the most part, the ones who preserved the texts we now use. As far as exclusivity goes, I think every religion and Christian denomination believes they have the correct interpretation on things, and I have no problem with that as long as they don't criticize others interpretation of things. If I attend a church that criticizes another church or religion, I either walk out, or never return to that church. I don't deal well with intolerance.
When I last dealt with the Amish, they held that they didn't want anything in their homes that interfered with or was a barrier to their relationship with God. They had telephones over which to conduct business, but they were never in their homes, and they use lots of modern machinery such as power tools and sawmills, but not in their homes. I can understand all that, but I still don't know why computers are okay but TVs are not. If you stick with broadcast TV, there is a lot less offensive content than is available on the internet.
Yeah it doesn't make much sense. Some years ago I went along for the ride with my buddy to a farm supply, run by the Amish (there are a lot of them not too far from here, in the Penn Yan area of NYS). They had computers for inventory, searching, checking out, etc. Yet driving to and from the store we saw a lot of farms and houses that had no power lines going to them. None of this surprised us, but it was interesting to note.
The American Baptists believe in autonomy for the individual church for the most part, so you can expect sharp differences from one ABC church to another.
I apologize for insulting your church. I mixed politics with religion and took out what that gang in the Whitehouse ha done to our nation. I almost did aa 'but' and my uncle is a good man and he was catholic,I really wasn't talking about the people but the agendas. Open borders and illegals is not the fault of the church ,it's Americans got complacent. During this time of so much I need to not talk politics or religion wwithout an aadviser.
Yes, that's kind of the drift I get from my sister, although it's not something we talk about all the time. But she has noted the somewhat different beliefs in the pastors she's had over the years -- although nothing big I don't think. Something else notable: She is a flaming liberal and likes her church, so that gives me pause as to what her church actually believes. Most likely they are quite woke, or she wouldn't be going there. We never discuss politics so I can only stab in the dark at this stuff.