I wish to ask this to the pope as well as any who will read: "Do you know jesus Christ as your personal savior? We are not to call anyone father, but our father in heaven. We must know His son, and only put faith & trust in him for salvation. Not works or purgatory etcc...

-- J. R. Branscum (jbcmbc@sbcglobal.net), December 30, 2002

Answers

The Catholic Church teaches we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross and given eternal life by the grace of God. We are saved by grace. This grace enables us through faith, hope and charity to live as Christians and follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. Works are the visible manifestation of this free gift of grace. Works alone without faith cannot save anyone.Catholics call their priests "Father" because just as St. Paul considered himself father to the first Christians and they his children, so is the relationship with us to our priests and bishops. If we were truly to call no man "father", then we could not use that title within our own families. Scripture is telling us to consider no man God. Catholics call no man God, but Jesus Christ.

-- Andrew.M.Tillcock (Drewmeister7@aol.com), December 30, 2002.

Do you know jesus Christ as your personal savior?YES we are not to call anyone father, but our father in heaven.

1) What do you call your male parent. 2)Matthew Chapter 1 – Men are called "father" so many times that I quit counting. 3)Romans 4:1-18 – St. Paul calls Abraham our father no less than eight times. In fact, the name Abraham means "father of the multitude." 4)Romans 9:10 – Isaac is called our father 5)1 Corinthians 4:15 – St. Paul calls himself a father to the Corinthians. 6)1 Corinthians 10:1 7)Galatians 1:14 8)Ephesians 5:31 and 6:4 9)Philippians 2:22 – St. Paul calls himself a father to Timothy 10)Colossians 3:21 11) Thessalonians. 2:11 12) Timothy 5:1 13)Timothy 1:3 14)Hebrews 1:1, 3:9 and 12:9 Hope this helps you in your search.....

-- Andrew.M.Tillcock (Drewmeister7@aol.com), December 30, 2002.

Dear J.R.,

You are preaching to the choir. If Catholics, and especially the visible head of the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ, did not know Him as personal Lord and Savior, neither would anyone else. You would never even have heard of Jesus, if not for the Catholic Church's preaching and teaching, which was the principal way the gospel message was spread for the first 1500 years of Christianity. Are you aware that Jesus founded His Church about 33 AD? Are you aware that He said all men were to become disciples of that Church? Are you aware that Jesus said all Christians were to be ONE in faith, ONE in worship? If you are aware of these essential facts, why are you involved with a tradition of thousands of conflicting manmade denominations, only a few hundred years old? You have apparently learned some solid Catholic doctrine - Jesus is our only Lord and Savior, and we put our trust in no-one but Him. Why not come and learn the rest of the fullness of truth He has revealed? All are welcome in His own Church.

In Christ, Paul

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), December 30, 2002.