Friday, May 31, 2013

make not for thy selves grave images.

so in my journey one of the difficulties which I have faced is the idea of statues, and icons being used in worship. being raised a protestant I was taught that there should be no images (such as crucifixes, or icons) in the sanctuary, the most adornment was of course a simple wood cross above the pulpit and i suspect this was only out of some sense of tradition. but as I walked through my theological formation I found that it was indeed acceptable to use such items in worship. the only unacceptable thing to use was an image claiming to be that of God the Father. the reason for this is because all the saints, the angels (some any way), Mary, and even Jesus him self had an earthly form. the reason it is unacceptable to make an image of God the Father is because he has and never had no earthly form. If we attempted to give God an earthly form we are saying we have a power over him. There for I say to my protestant brothers and sisters look into the tradition of most importantly to me icons and iconography, but also statuary.        


yours in Christ Jesus our risen savior~ Malachi Blaze Peter Holmes.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

all things necessary for salvation?

Okay that is it! I have had it with people saying it is not possible to be Catholic and protestant! Today i am here to say yes it is possible, so deal with it!!!  in truth every Christian who confesses the Apostles Creed, or any other creed proclaimed by a Christian concle is already doing it.  what i mean by this is that when we confess the basics of our faith we join together with the Christian saints, and holy souls throughout the entirety of history.  
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
    the Maker of heaven and earth,
    and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
    born of the virgin Mary,
    suffered under Pontius Pilate,
    was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell. [See Calvin]
The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
    and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
    from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
    the holy catholic church;
    the communion of saints;
    the forgiveness of sins;
    the resurrection of the body;
    and the life everlasting.
Amen.
This is the Christian faith, this is our unity, and our salvation. if i hear one more person say it is not possible to be protestant, an Catholic i will.... do nothing, and forgive then becaus that is what God would will me to do.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Prayers to saints heresy, or useful for growth in faith.

     well my friends this is one of those times my Catholic colors show through. I believe that prayers to saints are a very good thing. before we can address the actual issue of prayers we must first address the issue of weather our prayers simply fall on deaf ears. this is a major issue and is a very common hang up for protestants. while in my studies of the Holy Scriptures I have found no concrete evidence for either side my personal belief is that we are not cut off from our loved ones on Earth after we die. but rather we are in a better position to pray for our friends and family in that we are fully aliened to God's holy perfect will, and this will only support with prayer that which is within His will.  now we can address the actual prayers and trust m this was a hard thing for me to come to terms with my self. The idea is that we pray to the saints who in turn pray To Christ who goes to God the Father. where people get mixed up is that it gets to the idea that the saints have some form of power in and of them selves, this is in no way true. the saints have no more power than us on Earth. the only difference is that they have finished the race set before them in a fully faithful  way some were faithful even to giving their lives for Christ. the only thing the saints can do for us is to pray. this is why i believe it is a useful tool in the box of Christianity.
 yours in Christ~ Malachi Blaze Peter Holmes.