"And that's why we say hindsight is 20/20."
disclaimer: religious stuff in this post.
was talking with a Pentecostal at a bookstore, and to pass the time while he and the lady from his church wrapped the presents I bought my family, I noted what one of the little square pamphlets said and asked what the Pentecostal attitude towards non-Pentecostal Protestants or Catholics was.
he said they were more accurately "Pentecostal Apostolics" because they follow the teachings of the Apostles & the apostolic tradition...I asked "don't all Christian churches do that?"
he said no, that Catholics are the worst offenders, because Jesus said not to add or subtract any (books? teachings?)...and the Catholics added a lot of books, and the Catholics put a lot of intermediaries between man and God. (actually, first he said Catholics pray to people, not to God - then I asked if Pentecostals don't have saints...it seems they do, but they stop being saints once they die)
he gave an example of if I was in the Army, and I wanted to speak to the General,....then would I want to speak to the General, or would I talk to a Lt. who would pass on my message? (I said the General might be busy, but he said the General's never busy)
then we talked about Job for a while...he didn't realize it was Job that the line about Leviathan was uttered (he thought it was Paul or Moses)
(then he tried saying that, no, God wasn't yelling or laying the smackdown on Job - Job defended God to his wife and his friends, and God proceeded to say all the things that God can do that Job can't (if that's not a smackdown, its surely boasting))
but it was only after I left the bookstore that I realized three possible responses I could have made:
Option 1: People like having names and faces they can speak to. (if he said that's not true, I could have asked if he prays to Jesus or to God)
Option 2: All who have died are brought close to God. So if I pray to St. Christopher, he's part of/within God. (I did say something close to that in conversation, though - I said that even if I'm talking to him, the woman next to him could reply to anything either of us say)<
Option 3: If the General can always grant me an audience, then the analogy is flawed.
was talking with a Pentecostal at a bookstore, and to pass the time while he and the lady from his church wrapped the presents I bought my family, I noted what one of the little square pamphlets said and asked what the Pentecostal attitude towards non-Pentecostal Protestants or Catholics was.
he said they were more accurately "Pentecostal Apostolics" because they follow the teachings of the Apostles & the apostolic tradition...I asked "don't all Christian churches do that?"
he said no, that Catholics are the worst offenders, because Jesus said not to add or subtract any (books? teachings?)...and the Catholics added a lot of books, and the Catholics put a lot of intermediaries between man and God. (actually, first he said Catholics pray to people, not to God - then I asked if Pentecostals don't have saints...it seems they do, but they stop being saints once they die)
he gave an example of if I was in the Army, and I wanted to speak to the General,....then would I want to speak to the General, or would I talk to a Lt. who would pass on my message? (I said the General might be busy, but he said the General's never busy)
then we talked about Job for a while...he didn't realize it was Job that the line about Leviathan was uttered (he thought it was Paul or Moses)
(then he tried saying that, no, God wasn't yelling or laying the smackdown on Job - Job defended God to his wife and his friends, and God proceeded to say all the things that God can do that Job can't (if that's not a smackdown, its surely boasting))
but it was only after I left the bookstore that I realized three possible responses I could have made:
Option 1: People like having names and faces they can speak to. (if he said that's not true, I could have asked if he prays to Jesus or to God)
Option 2: All who have died are brought close to God. So if I pray to St. Christopher, he's part of/within God. (I did say something close to that in conversation, though - I said that even if I'm talking to him, the woman next to him could reply to anything either of us say)<
Option 3: If the General can always grant me an audience, then the analogy is flawed.