Catholic Melinda Gates defends contraception program

Responding to simmering controversy among Catholic bloggers about her new birth control program, Melinda Gates — a practicing Catholic — said she will not shrink from her role as an advocate for poor women.

"Part of what I do with the (Gates) Foundation comes from that incredible social justice I had growing up and belief that all lives, all lives are of equal value," said Gates during a recent interview with CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

About the flak over her Catholicism she said: "We're not going to agree about everything, but that's OK."

Gates is promoting an ambitious family planning program — which includes raising billions of dollars to provide contraceptives to 120 million women worldwide — at the London Summit on Family Planning July 11.

While most Catholics, in the United States, at least, according to polls, seem to agree with Gates that contraception for women is not controversial, some Catholic bloggers are taking issue with the plan.

Continue reading at www.cnn.com

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dntmkmecomoverther

If these so called Catholics would live consistently with the views of the Roman Catholic church, there would be no discussion like this. (I am not advocating for or against their stance on contraception, but if one is going to wear the label 'Catholic' then one must also acquiesce to that set of beliefs…other wise, they are NOT catholic.)

As an example, how would it work to be an employee of Microsoft, and go around saying that you believed some of what Microsoft makes is good, but you totally disagree with their Windows 8 platform, and as an employee, you actively go around talking against it. How long do you suppose Bill Gates would put up with that? Not long at all; you might be entitled to your opinion, but you would be uttering under different employment arrangements.

If the Catholic church espouses beliefs she does not hold, then Mrs. Gates is NOT Catholic; and for her to call herself Catholic is a lie. Mrs. Gates, do some homework on theology, and go find a belief system that you 'think' works…but stop calling yourself Catholic. (this would go for many of our politicians as well; ie: Pelosi, Harkin etal.)
- sadnana
  
  Agreed. She is just another Catholic in name only. If she doesn't adhere to Church teachings she should find another place to worship. Also, the RC Church is wrong to wink at open and public defiance of Church teachings by Gates and so many others. It sets a bad example and undermines the influence of the Church. It may give the Church cache to say that her members include the wealthy and powerful; perhaps this is why their apostasy is tolerated. But no matter what the reason, it shows both bad judgment and dereliction of their duty to tolerate that which is forbidden by Church teachings.
- paxcat
  
  Gates Foundation also supports eugenics in the form of "pro-choice" or enforced "choice."
- myth buster
  
  Bad example: Bill Gates wouldn't have much of a say in the matter since he's retired, and one can legitimately say the product line has some serious problems that will spell trouble for the company. A better example would be the employee actively undermining management or cursing the company itself as evil.
Barb

Who cares what she thinks. Just because she has millions doesn't mean she is right or we should follow her to who knows where. I'm tired of Hollywood and the rich thinking we should follow them. They are no more smart or important than anyone else. We are all the same in God's eyes.
Evermyrtle

I wonder if Gates has any ideas about the Biblical angle of sex, especially outside of marriage. If you follow the Bible there is very little chance to get the diseases that are so prevalent today.. Check it out in I cor, 6:13b-20.
Chris P

Yes because she has seen the harm done by the Roman Catholics.
- http://twitter.com/goodone121 @goodone121
  
  WHAT harm?! What about children in the womb?!
Wayne

Does Melinda Gates believe that she has had some great revelation that the Pope has not yet received from God? If she does, then she needs to go ask the Pope to move over and put her in the driver's seat. If she doesn't then she might need to evaluate her belief system and see where it is lacking. To oppose the church of her very own choosing at the level that she does would seem good enough reason to have her excommunicated. Or does her money buy her favor with the church?
- bighoss
  
  Melinda Gates has as much chance of getting a revelation directly from God as the Pope does or as any others in a long line of charlatans and poseurs have had, including such conniving weasels as Mary Baker Eddy, Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, and the current clown posse of televangelists claiming to get their stuff directly from God Himself by special revelation.
  
  Ms. Gates' views on contraception are like those of about 95 percent of American Catholics. You gonna kick all of them outta the church?
Robert De Leon

There is a phrase that explains some comments from "catholic" (?) people::
"There are anti-catholic Catholics", Mr. Biden, Ms. Pelosi, Ms. Sebelius, etc.
It's not enough to say: "I am a catholic". A catholic must follow Jesus Christ teachings and act as a consequence of it.
Otherwise, it would better to stop calling myself "catholic"
Robert.
Stephen

Robert, you error when you say that a Catholic must follow the teachings of Jesus. I spent 10 years in Catholic schools so I know a little bit about what Catholicism teaches. Catholics must follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, even when they are in contradiction to the bible. This is the sad error that Catholics make. There are probably some Catholics who have come to a real saving relationship with Jesus. However, the vast majority of them are marching in step and following the teachings of the Mother Church straight to hell. The Catholic teaching on salvation is very different from the teachings of Jesus in the bible. I don't know about you but I go with what Jesus says not what any church would say. May salvation is assured by following Jesus.
- cmjay
  
  You spent 10 yrs. in Catholic School and that makes you an authority on the teachings of the Catholic church? You don't say you ERROR – it should be you ERRED. I don't need a SERMON from a NINCOMPOOP like you.
  - Despeville
    
    How about if you need a quote from your nefarious and apostate religion that corrupted the Gospel to create its damnable version used in a massive spiritual holocaust of souls?
    
    Now compare this blasphemous thievery of God's Name and assignment of it and its role to a creature that Mary was and is:
    
    ""This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation …. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."
    
    ~ Catechism of Roman Catholic Church, Point 969, Official Vatican Site: http://bit.ly/Nd9LEZ
    
    "If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you."
    
    ~ Gospel of John 14:15 -17
    - http://twitter.com/goodone121 @goodone121
      
      Mary is the MOTHER OF GOD, in that she is the Mother of Jesus Christ-THE WHOLE of Him, who is God (the Son). Hence, and due to her sinless soul (she was saved from sinning BEFORE she sinned, by being protected from Original Sin),she is the MOST PERFECT creature. That, in turn, means she can intercede for us to HER SON, who, in turn, intercedes for us before His, and our, Father.
      She is also the Spouse of God, in that she freely accepted the overshadowing of God the Holy Spirit. If she ISN'T the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, then He is an illegitimate parent, and Jesus is an illegitimate son.
      Finally, your Gospel usage is flawed, and may even be the fallacy of non-sequitur; the Scripture you used says NOTHING about the Paraclete being an Advocate to the exclusion of all others.
      - Despeville
        
        Bunch of smelly blasphemous hogwash. Just support any of your religious pagan fantasies from the Word of God. You beleive in a mirrage of assertions build on each other without A SHRED OF BIBLICAL PROOF. ZERO. All you have is your myths that evolved hundreds of years after the Apostolic Church.
        
        Christ is THE ONLY ONE without sin. Proof:
        
        "how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
        
        (Hebrews 9:14 ESV)
        
        Mary was a SINNER in need of Savior as she said herself:
        
        And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
        (Luke 1:46-47 ESV)
        
        Which is in perfect unison with Apostolic teaching for example here:
        
        as it is written:
        “None is righteous, no, not one;
        no one understands;
        no one seeks for God.
        All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
        no one does good,
        not even one.”
        “Their throat is an open grave;
        they use their tongues to deceive.”
        “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
        “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
        “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
        in their paths are ruin and misery,
        and the way of peace they have not known.”
        “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
        (Romans 3:10-18 ESV)
        
        "Mother of Jesus Christ-THE WHOLE of Him,"
        
        Nope, the creature could only provide a creature part and not Divine person that preexisted her since eternity.
        
        "That, in turn, means she can intercede for us to HER SON, who, in turn, intercedes for us before His, and our, Father. "
        
        Do you have any Scripture to support that blasphemy? Nope, you do not…
        
        "She is also the Spouse of God, in that she freely accepted the overshadowing of God the Holy Spirit."
        
        Do you have any Scripture to support that blasphemy? Nope, you do not…
        
        " the Scripture you used says NOTHING about the Paraclete being an Advocate to the exclusion of all others."
        
        OTHERS WHO??? God is the only intercessor and there are no others, Not in Christianity which yours is not.
        
        For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
        
        (1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV)
      - http://twitter.com/goodone121 @goodone121
        
        "Christ is THE ONLY ONE without sin. Proof:
        
        'how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.[']
        (Hebrews 9:14 ESV)
        TO SERVE Him, which requires US TO FREELY CHOOSE SO.
        
        "Mary was a SINNER in need of Savior as she said herself:
        
        [']And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior[.'"]
        (Luke 1:46-47 ESV)"
        I SAID she needed a Savior, just He worked DURING OR IMMEDIATELY AFTER conception.
        
        "Which is in perfect unison with Apostolic teaching for example here:
        
        [']as it is written:
        “None is righteous, no, not one;
        no one understands;
        no one seeks for God.
        All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
        no one does good,
        not even one.”
        “Their throat is an open grave;
        they use their tongues to deceive.”
        “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
        “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
        “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
        in their paths are ruin and misery,
        and the way of peace they have not known.”
        “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[']
        (Romans 3:10-18 ESV)"
        That is PROVERBIAL, therefore ADMITTING OF EXCEPTIONS.
        
        "Nope, the creature could only provide a creature part and not Divine person that preexisted her since eternity."
        Any Scripture, or are you, HYPOCRITICALLY, relying on the opinions of the Reformers, here?!
        
        "Do you have any Scripture to support that blasphemy? Nope, you do not… [x2]"
        So, if it ISN'T EXPLICITLY in Scripture, it's blasphemy? Then, in the IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING point, YOU committed blasphemy. Care to retract?
        
        "OTHERS WHO??? God is the only intercessor and there are no others, Not in Christianity which yours is not.
        
        [']For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.[']
        
        (1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV)"
        WHERE does it say OTHERS can't intercede before Jesus?! That's exactly what you ask for when you request someone to pray for you on Earth, It would be ARBITRARY AND INCONSISTENT of God not to allow others in Heaven to do likewise, and God ISN'T arbitrary NOR inconsistent-rather, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
      - Despeville
        
        "WHERE does it say OTHERS can't intercede before Jesus?! That's exactly what you ask for when you request someone to pray for you on Earth, It would be ARBITRARY AND INCONSISTENT of God not to allow others in Heaven to do likewise, and God ISN'T arbitrary NOR inconsistent-rather, He is the same yesterday, today and forever."
        
        The Gospel is not for anyone to EDIT as your religion does but to truthfully PROCLAIM and OBEY as Biblical Christianity does…
        Thanks for showing all the classic example of your maceration and additions by which your nefarious religion wrecks a real Gospel and create a paganised, demonized corruption of it, a fake really able to damn and damn only which is what Dr.Martyn Llyod-Jones rightly stated about the nature of corruption of your Babylonian religion. READ:
        
        "The Roman Catholic System
        
        What, then, are we looking at? We are looking at a system; and I would not hesitate to assert that this system, Known as Roman Catholicism, is the devil's greatest masterpiece! It is such a departure from the Christian faith and the New Testament teaching, that I would not hesitate with the Reformers of the sixteenth century to describe it as "apostasy". Now let us be clear about this.
        
        We define apostasy as a kind of total departure from the Christian truth. "Well," says someone, "are you saying that about the Roman Catholic Church?" We have to be most careful here. If we say that Roman Catholicism is apostasy we must be clear as to the sense in which that is true. let me put it like this therefore. Here it is not so much a matter of "denial" of the truth, but rather such an addition to the truth that eventually it becomes a departure from it."
        
        ~ Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
        More: http://bit.ly/L8wrHn
      - http://twitter.com/goodone121 @goodone121
        
        I noticed you DIDN'T refute ANY of my counterpoints, Despeville, instead using the non-argument of Argumentum ad Hominem against my religion. Unless you address my counterpoints, I will take your non-response as a concession of the debate.
      - Despeville
        
        You did not offer any "counterpoints"… You offered a pablum of your opinions and useless traditions running completely alien to the Gospel of Christ.I don't care what you take or not take and this is not any debate or you obviously have no idea what debate is.Not once you have honesty answered to the Scriptures provided nor provided any for your religion is alien to the Scriptures.
      - http://twitter.com/goodone121 @goodone121
        
        "You did not offer any "counterpoints"… You offered a pablum of your opinions and useless traditions running completely alien to the Gospel of Christ.I don't care what you take or not take and this is not any debate or you obviously have no idea what debate is.Not once you have honesty answered to the Scriptures provided nor provided any for your religion is alien to the Scriptures."
        First off, you LIED by your first statements. I DID offer counterpoints-whether or not you FEEL like answering them is IMMATERIAL. You ALSO lied and/or confused terms when you said, "…[T]his is not any debate…." While this may be informal, and not prearranged, it IS, in fact, a DEBATE. Your second or third lie comes when you said, "Not once you have honesty answered to the Scriptures provided…." I HAVE honestly dealt with the scriptures. YOU are the one being hypocritically obtuse.
        
        "By the way would calling you fellow believer with Muslims worshipping Allah qualify as ad hominem?"
        No, but you STILL aren't being responsive.
      - Despeville
        
        What a trite pap. I provided a specific Scriptural arguments to which you have imagined to "respond" with a trite, inane unsupported opinions only. Do not waste my time if you cannot respond to the Scriptures.
      - http://twitter.com/goodone121 @goodone121
        
        THESE are opinions?!
        
        "Any Scripture, or are you, HYPOCRITICALLY, relying on the opinions of the Reformers, here?!
        
        …
        
        So, if it ISN'T EXPLICITLY in Scripture, it's blasphemy? Then, in the IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING point, YOU committed blasphemy. Care to retract?
        
        …
        
        WHERE does it say OTHERS can't intercede before Jesus?! That's exactly what you ask for when you request someone to pray for you on Earth, It would be ARBITRARY AND INCONSISTENT of God not to allow others in Heaven to do likewise, and God ISN'T arbitrary NOR inconsistent-rather, He is the same yesterday, today and forever."
        
        I think NOT-these are facts (used in its denotation of "something capable of being proven true or false.)
      - Despeville
        
        Yes, unsupported pablum and inane rhetoric plastered in complete disregard of Biblical points made by me and without any interactions with those texts whatsoever.
        You are making a series of illogical errors with category errors and with arguing from silence… plus asking a bogus circular questions already answered and supported by the texts. In short trite pap.
      - Despeville
        
        By the way would calling you fellow believer with Muslims worshipping Allah qualify as ad hominem?
        If so you need to complain to Rome:
        
        'The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
        
        ~ Catechism of Roman Catholic Church, Point 841, Official Vatican Site: http://bit.ly/LEYfzU
      - myth buster
        
        From a passage in the Catechism detailing the Church's relationship with non-Christians in general. The previous point was on her relationship with Jews, and the subsequent points are on her relationship with pagans and atheists.
      - Despeville
        
        Gee really? What a genius you are, Thanks for restating the OBVIOUS. How about dealing with the SPECIFIC i.e. that you Roman Catholics:
        
        A. Assert that Muslims are SAVED in their religion as thy practice it which is denial of Christ.
        B. Muslims TOGETHER WITH YOU adore and worship SAME GOD.
        C. Muslims therefore are your brothers in SAME GOD.
      - myth buster
        
        If Mary is not the Mother of God, then neither did God die on the Cross for your sins? And how dare you refer to Christ as a creature? He is indeed a man, but He is the Creator, not a creature, and no part of Him is a creature. Again I say, if Christ be not a single person such that Mary is rightly called the Mother of God, then God did not die for your sins. Could a mere man redeem you? Is God the author of confusion, deception and farce? By no means! Yet that is what you must believe if you say that Mary is only the mother of Christ's human nature, because if that were so, then only His human nature died on the cross, and His divinity was uninjured.
        
        And I most certainly do have Scripture to support calling Mary the Spouse of God, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord." A handmaid is a wife, not a mere servant.
      - Despeville
        
        "And how dare you refer to Christ as a creature? "
        
        A LIE form A LIAR. Nowhere have I said that. I said that about Mary LIAR.
        
        And the rest of your deceitful, pap diatribe is based on that LIE you conjured for yourself due to your lack of real arguments and as such does not deserve nor warrants any respect nor answer.
        
        Mary WAS A SINNER and she admitted that in HER OWN WORDS:
        
        And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
        (Luke 1:46-47 ESV)
        
        Only SINNERS need the Savior and she knew that while you do not.
      - myth buster
        
        You said that Mary provided the creature part of Christ, but Christ is not a creature. NO PART of Christ is a creature. Answer the question: Did God die on the Cross. If you say no, you deny the redemption obtained by His death. If you say yes, you confess that Mary is the Mother of God. Choose now.
- Despeville
  
  Very true and honest observation Stephen and DeMelon will ignore it and obfuscate it as he always does with so much of Roman Catholic falsehood and apostasy as he always does with this one which is so obviously anti Gospel and so blatant that he hes no way to manipulate out of it or lie about it:
  
  'The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
  
  ~ Catechism of Roman Catholic Church, Point 841, Official Vatican Site: http://bit.ly/LEYfzU
- Phil
  
  My dear brother in Christ you are so very correct. Please pray for the enlightenment of those who oppose your Holy Ghost given revelation. Keep the Faith and Stay In The WORD!
  
  Phil
- Evermyrtle
  
  And knowing this you stayed 10 years????
Robert De Leon

Stephen:
I just wonder in what kind of "catholic" schools you spent 10 years – unsuccessful. Thanks to God I was born as a Catholic and – thanks God – I will die as a Catholic. I hope to be in Heaven just for God's Grace. All my life I've been learning from the Bible and my Catholic Faith, as rich, pure, holy and splendorous as you can't imagine.
Those that attack Catholicsm are full of hate and/or ignorance. The Christian, One, Holy, Catholic and Roman Church is trhe only one founded by our Dear and Sweet Lord Jesus Christ (God) and is as Biblical as you can't imagine either.
The rest of "churches", mainly from Protestant origins were founded by mere men. Therefore fallible as any man can be.
I repeat, what kind of "catholic" schools did you go?
Robert.
- Despeville
  
  :Those that attack Catholicsm are full of hate and/or ignorance."
  
  Hahhahahaha yes assert your special "gnosis" DeMelon. You are so hopelessly deluded. What If I tell you that I have priests in my family. That I have rpeatedly visited Roman Catholic seminaries. That I spent hours in their libraries and their book stores, That I have saw in person your pope. That I have attended Roman Catholic presentations ran by Roman Catholic Professors with Phd titles? What if I tell you that I debated them as well in public? Of course I could not do any of that and all I am is "hateful" and "ignorant" while you never even read any significant and serous work from Reformation… Delusion does not hurt DeMelon but it surely debilitates and kills in the end.
  
  Is this and "ignorant and hateful" quote from your PRIMARY SOURCES too?
  
  'The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
  
  ~ Catechism of Roman Catholic Church, Point 841, Official Vatican Site: http://bit.ly/LEYfzU
  - Robert De Leon
    
    Desperate:
    So sad! So much time wasted from your part No wonder my Dear and Sweet Lord Jesus Christ said: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you" (St. Matthew, 7:6)
    That's exactly what it did happen with you when you were among catholic oriests, visiting catholic seminaries, etc.
    Anyhow, I'll keep praying in your behalf, even if you say that you don't need it.
    Robert.
    - Despeville
      
      Usual trite pablum from inane Roman Catholic cultist. How is that Allah worship going DeMelon and how are your Muslim brothers in faith?
  - Annie
    
    IT takes one to know one, one filled, that is.
- Despeville
  
  ""This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation …. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."
  
  ~ Catechism of Roman Catholic Church, Point 969, Official Vatican Site: http://bit.ly/Nd9LEZ
  
  "If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you."
  
  ~ Gospel of John 14:15 -17
  
  DeMelon,
  
  As you can see black on white (or gray in this instant) your Babylonian religion REPLACED the True Advocate – God the Holy Spirit with a false advocate – Mary even though you do deceiving and lip only service to God the Holy Spirit. This by far not the only replacement that was done while keeping a surface level pretense of orthodoxy. You have done the same with the Christ as the true head of the Church and assigned him a vice president your pretentious pope while in practice you have banished Christ somewhere hijacked Him and Holy Spirit with you pope and Mary while giving a lip service to the other. That kind of confinement and replacement is akin to Mormons and their delegation of their "god" to the planet Kolob.
  - Robert De Leon
    
    Desperate:
    Don't worry. A catholic will always recognize the Holy Mother of God – as Jesus Christ's mother – Mary, as our own mother and Mother of the Church. It doesn't matter whatever you can say, against what you can read on these texts from the Bible:
    Genesis, 3:15; St. Luke, 1:28 and 1:35; St. John, 19:26-27; Revelation, 12:1-5.
    Robert.
    - Despeville
      
      "It doesn't matter whatever you can say, against what you can read on these texts from the Bible: "
      
      Roman cultist notice that I showed how your Roman whore stole title belonging to God and assigned it to a creature to which you fail to respond as you have no response. Your another cheat sheet of abused references is laughable and show how completely clueless and indoctrinated you are. How is your Allah "god" DeMelon?
    - msjallen
      
      You are blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary is NOT the mother of God – only the humanity of Jesus – Mary did not form God in her womb. Mary had to go through the ritual of purification just like they all did under the Law. (See Luke 2:22 Leviticus 12:1-8) She was not holy. She cannot hear your prayers or give you anything; only God can. She also had other children with Joseph. Matthew 13:55-56 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters are they not all with us? John 19:26-27 only tells us that John took care of Mary. Rev 12:1-5 the "woman" is Israel, not Mary.
      - Despeville
        
        True but it goes on closed ears and blinded eyes…
      - myth buster
        
        That's because it's false. Mary is and has to be the Mother of God, or we cannot be saved! Why? Because if Mary is not the Mother of God, it is because Christ was not truly both God and Man, but rather God possessing a meat puppet. If Mary be not the Mother of God, then God did not die on the Cross, nor rise from the dead, for how can the divinity of Christ die, if it be not joined to His humanity inseparably. Could a meat puppet save you? Could a sham sacrifice on the Cross save you? By no means! Only the death and resurrection of God Incarnate can save you, and if Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, then Mary is the Mother of God.
  - myth buster
    
    You who refuse to eat the Bread of Life, and indeed curse and blaspheme Him, have no sense with which to render a coherent argument. Instead of breaking and eating the Bread of Life, you break apart the Church! What mockery is this, that you break apart the Body of Christ to create division rather than breaking the Body of Christ as spiritual food?
    - Despeville
      
      More trite pablum from another religious myths hobbyist. Deal with what was presented here and do not jump to your further unwarranted phantasmagorical myths conjured by your charlatans. Clueless one, the BIGGEST DIVISION in the history of Church was caused by your greedy power mongers from Rome in AD 1054 where your pope and his handlers excommunicated ENTIRE EASTER CHURCH which to this day is know as THE GREAT SCHISM. Learn something sometimes… for Reformation although a righteous movement of God in terms of numbers and division pales in comparison what your pope did.
      
      As far as your eating of "continually sacrificed god" read words of Jesus that you ignore in your ritualistic blasphemy on Sundays which the Lord of Glory spoke at the end and summation of what you abuse:
      
      It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
      (John 6:63 ESV)
      - myth buster
        
        Dividing the Church is NEVER righteous. It is condemned by Scripture.
        
        The words "Spirit" and "spiritual" NEVER mean symbolic; they always refer to metaphysical reality. Communion is nothing short of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, and that has been sound Biblical teaching since the days of the Apostles. And is this not the source and summit of our differences? For if you cannot get basic Christology right, you clearly lack a sound and stable mind to interpret the Scriptures correctly.
- msjallen
  
  Robert, you HOPE to be in heaven. Don't you know? Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior? Eternal salvation from sin, death and hell is the free gift of God's grace, and is based solely upon man's personal faith and belief in Jesus Christ. He voluntarily died as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins and arose bodily from the dead, thus guaranteeing our own resurrection to eternal life. This salvation is not received by, nor based on, any sacrament, merit, or good work on our part. This one who receives Christ's salvation is eternally secure. (John 1:11-13, 3:16, 5:24, 10:28-30, 14:6; Acts 16:31; Romans 3:23-26, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 7:24-25; I Peter 1:18-19, I John 5:11-13) You didn't do anything for salvation and you can't do anything to get out of it. This is God's grace.
  - Despeville
    
    Indeed.
    
    "…Salvation is from the LORD."
    ~ Jonah 2:9
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Patton/592034163 Andrew Patton
    
    The Scriptures warn against presumption. They do not say that we know with absolute certainty that we will go to Heaven, but rather, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling," (Philippians 2:12) and "If any man thinks he is secure, he should take care not to fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12)
TOM

SHE'S NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC IF THIS IS HER BELIEFS
- bighoss
  
  Melinda Gates has more good sense than the entire Magisterium combined!
  - Despeville
    
    I would have to agree with that given that she knew how to get her money legally and without fleecing and milking gullible in the name of God and Mary idol.
Capt Ed

Stephen, If you spent 10 years in Catholic schools, You should know that the Catholic church follows the Bible to the letter and that is all of the books not excluding the books that the protestants threw out. You also should know that the Catholics wrote the Bible and kept it safe.
- angelvoice91
  
  Amen!
- Despeville
  
  'You also should know that the Catholics wrote the Bible and kept it safe."
  
  Christians wrote the Word under inspiration of God the Holy Spirit although they were a part of Universal Church – Catholic they were not a part of future mutation of if known under oxymoron names as Catholic (universal) and Roman (particular).
  Learn a bit of true Church history past of your Roman propaganda with its known scams and falsifications used to prop up your Nicolaitan moloch such as known forgeries of Donation of Constantine or Pseudo-Isidorean Decretals. You people are dark and kept in darkness as to the forgery and a scam your church is based on.
  - myth buster
    
    Roman Catholic is shorthand. The full name is Roman Rite (or Latin Rite) Catholic Church. The Roman Rite is 96% of the Catholic Church, with the other 4% consisting of about 25 different Eastern Rites. However, there are no doctrinal differences between the rights, just a different style of worship with different disciplines. A Latin Rite Catholic can receive sacraments from an Eastern Rite presbyter as long as he is properly disposed and vice versa.
    
    And if you say that the so-called Apostasy occurred in 325, why do you blaspheme the Eucharist by denying and cursing the Real Presence? The doctrine of the Real Presence dates back to the lifetime of the Apostles and was used as one of the tests for verifying orthodoxy. You accuse us of idolatry, but then you curse Christ! And where are the ancient Protestants? For it is impossible that the entire Church fell into heresy, lest Christ be found a liar, for He said, "On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." How could the total apostasy of every Christian be other than the gates of hell prevailing against His Church?
    - Despeville
      
      Gee really? Do you think the number of rites matters? No matter what you put in front of Catholic it is not UNIVERSAL anymore but an oxymoron of Particular qualifying UNIVERSAL as it is with for example Malankarese Catholic or Maronite Catholic or Roman Catholic etc. etc. You missed the entire point…
      
      "And if you say that the so-called Apostasy occurred in 325,"
      
      I did not say a word about that, That is your shenanigan functioning in your head only…
      
      'You accuse us of idolatry, but then you curse Christ! "
      
      Again, in your indoctrinated head only papist.
      
      "And where are the ancient Protestants?"
      
      Hahahahaha what a shibboleth. You are incredibly deluded. Where are the ancient Roman Catholic with the whole vestige of your syncretic, synergistic developments and the whole made up theology and traditions which grew on the true Gospel as a cancer does on the heatedly cell?
      
      "For it is impossible that the entire Church fell into heresy, lest Christ be found a liar, for He said,"
      
      Clueless and ignorant one. Did you hear about Athansasius and his "Athanasius contra mundum" ??? The ENTIRE CHURCH, ALL BISHOPS fell into the heresy of Arianism including all bishops in the West and that would be in Rome and all bishops in the East too. And he alone stood against this heresy that is still around today as with JWs. And how did Athansasius stood against them for a period of OVER FORTY YEARS??? Based on traditions??? All of them went ARIAN. Based on the church? All of it went ARIAN. So how did he stood oh clueless one? Athansasius stood on truth of God's Word and God's Word only as logic, historical sources and quotes from him and his disciples proves. That means you have an early and prolonged attestation to the truth and effectiveness of Sola Scriptura which you deny after your ignorant priests. Sola Scriptura because your Roman concpept of Sola Ecclesia went bankrupt and heretical drowned in Arianism and for DECADES too.
      
      ""On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." "
      
      Clueless one read Matthew 18:18 to observe that the keys were given to ALL APOSTLES and DISCIPLES and not Peter only as the description of audience in Matthew 18:1 proves.
      
      Learn a bit past your Roman pamphlets and web sites…
      - myth buster
        
        No it is not in my head- you curse the Eucharist, and the Eucharist is Christ, therefore, you curse Christ. And never did the entire Church go Arian. Where would you get nonsense like that? Athanasius was simply the most outspoken Catholic apologist against the Arian heresy- that is why he was called, "Athanasius against the world," not because he was the only faithful bishop. And how could he have believed in Sola Scriptura when the Canon had not been infallibly declared yet?
      - http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Patton/592034163 Andrew Patton
        
        All the Church fathers believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Athanasius explicitly said:
        You shall see the Levites [deacons] bringing loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the Body, and the wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘And again:’ Let us approach the celebration of the mysteries. This bread and this wine, so long as the prayers and supplications have not taken place, remain simply what they are. But after the great prayers and holy supplications have been sent forth, the Word comes down into the bread and wine – and thus His Body is confected. (Sermon to the Newly Baptized) source: http://classicalchristianity.com/2011/02/10/patristic-quote-of-the-week-11/
        
        So, if you believe that Athanasius was the only true Christian at the time (which he wasn't, but that's besides the point), then you must a heretic if you disbelieve that the Eucharist is indeed the Flesh and Blood of Christ.
    - msjallen
      
      Ps 118:22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. The Stone which the builder rejected. Peter never went to Rome; Paul did. Where in the Bible is the proof that Peter went to Rome? Mt 16:18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon THIS ROCK I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Peter’s original name was Cephus and means: little stone and Barjonah means: Bar = son, Jonah = his father’s name in the Aramaic. Little Stone Son of Jonah into Greek is Petros, a little stone in a group of bigger stones. Peter, and on THIS ROCK Petra is what Peter SAID, not about Peter himself. Petra is a gigantic rock made up of a lot of little stones. We are little stones in the gigantic rock, the Royal Family of God; The Church: not a building but all believers of this age.
      Oikodomeo – to build on the ROCK Christ Jesus, not a stone or any human including Peter.
      - http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Patton/592034163 Andrew Patton
        
        Peter's tomb is in Rome.
  - Annie
    
    Did Christians write the old testament????
    - Despeville
      
      :) Good point and better yet question is how much of Old Testament was "written" by Roman Catholics and "approved" by Roman popes that did not show up on the historical scene for another 2200 to 800 years depending on the part of OT.
      - Annie
        
        There no Catholics during the time of the Old testament.
Dan K

She is not a practicing catholic. A catholic does not support and believe what they want. They support and believe the Gospel and God's Word and what the Church teaches. In the bible Jesus welcomed children and rejoiced to see them and blessed them and scolded his disciples for preventing children from coming to Him responding " the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these ( children) After knowing this scripture of Jesus's love and joy seeing children why would God endorse contraception at all. He does not in any way shape or form. She is not a practicing Catholic as far as I'm concerned.
- Despeville
  
  The passage about children points to the nature of saving faith only i.e. child like trust and nothing else. And if she is not a Roman Catholic then why she is not excommunicated by your Church but actually welcomed and appreciated?
jmsmaxwell

Isn't it strange that they raise BILLIONS to provide for MILLIONS, Considering that the cost of a condom is about $.50 in
almost any restroom in America and that is after taxation. Sounds more like a scam for money rather than contraception
protection for women to me. But regardless, in many cultures and even in the Catholic Church I though that contraception
was forbidden. I have known women who insist on the "No glove, No Love" concept and others who prefer it bareback
and let the babies fall where they may so to speak. But to the best of my limited knowledge a practicing catholic does not
use birth control nor sponsor it. That is one of those who believed in selective religious practices are a "Have it your way"
concept.
- bighoss
  
  Well, Maxwell, the "have it your way" Catholics are a whopping majority of American married Catholics, since about 95 percent of them use artificial birth control. You might consider them not to be "practicing Catholics" but I can tell you that. based on the ones I know, many of them consider themselves Catholics in good standing and go to mass, confession, etc. just like other American Catholics. I suspect that the unmarried but fornicating Catholics score at least as high in the birth control department..
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Patton/592034163 Andrew Patton
    
    It matters not whether they consider themselves to be Catholics in good standing, but rather what the Church teaches. The unequivocal teaching of the Church since the beginning is that all sex outside of marriage is gravely sinful, and all sex where contraception is used is gravely sinful even if it occurs within marriage. If they approach the Sacraments aware of these teachings and disregard them, they commit sacrilege.
jmsmaxwell

Bighoss, I understand you comment and reply. Likewise I know many catholics who go to chruch on a regular basis and
have a strong beleif. I do not pretend to know how GOD will judge any us on our day of reckering and surley will not
pretend to judge others. Last time I tried to walk on water I almost drowned and it was only a cople of inches deep. But
the view I stated was Romes not my personal view. I am against abortions but I know that others beleive that in some
cases it is justifyied, that is their decision and I hope I never had to make that one personally. Birth control by use of
some devices are definatly a better choice than an abortion and the taking of a life. As one lady I knew in Louisiana told
me on time when the Priest ask her why she did not have more children, She said she told him "Father you take care of
the confessional and I will take care of the bedroom", those that knew here knew she was a staunch and strong Catholic
and strong in her beleifs but she was a strong woman and had a mind of her own even back in the late 50's.