I am Catholic and I do not believe in Purgatory

I do not deny it I no longer believe in purgatory.  Regardless of what some say I am as much a Catholic as those that do believe in purgatory.  For non-Catholics purgatory is that place, according to the Roman Catholic Church doctrine, where everyone who is saved must go for a time to be purged of their sins and purified before they can enter into God’s holy presence. If that doctrine is true Christ did not accomplish His purpose for coming to the earth and it was not finished on the cross as Christ said and Christ did not pay the price of our sins.

I make no apology that I believe Christ paid for all our past, present and future sins and that Christ did accomplish His purpose for coming to earth.  I said ‘all’ Christians go through purgatory, but that is not true those declared ‘Saints’ by the Catholic hierarchy are exempt according to Roman Catholic Church doctrine.

There is nothing in Scripture about purgatory. The concept was added to Catholic theology long after the New Testament age. There is no need for a Christian to go there or anywhere else to be purged of sins. Jesus accomplished that task once and for all on the cross. Through faith, we have our sins purged and we are purified only by his grace and imputed righteousness.

I am a Christian a follower of Christ before I am Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, etc.  I am an American even though I do not approve of everything the leaders of my country do. I am Caucasian, but I am not proud that my ancestor owned slaves in Alabama. I consider myself a Texan even though I was born in Alabama. I am what my convictions lead me to believe I am what I believe myself to be rather than what anyone says I am.  Yes, I am Catholic, but I am not going to follow any man blindly.

Oh by the way, I believe I can forgive those that sin against me, but I do not believe a Pope, Cardinal, Bishop or priest can forgive me of my sins – only God can.

Gambling/lottery is not a sin - your attitude towards them can make them a sin.

NFL conference championship games are Sunday (Jan. 24) and millions of Americans are poised to bet money, a new survey finds most have no moral issue with sports gambling.

An evangelical polling group found 64 percent of U.S adults said sports gambling are not morally wrong, 31 percent disagreed and 5 percent were unsure. Only 40 percent agreed “sports betting should be legalized throughout the country.

Gambling should be a State issue not a Federal issue and should be decided by a vote of the people. I am not for Internet betting because it allows those living in a state where the majority of the people oppose legalized gambling to gamble. If you do not agree with the majority of voters in your state and gambling is that important to you then you should move.

The Bible does not specifically condemn gambling. The Bible does warn us to stay away from the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10; Hebrews 13:5). Scripture also encourages us to stay away from attempts to “get rich quick” (Proverbs 13:11; 23:5; Ecclesiastes 5:10).  

Gambling is a difficult issue to discuss because if it is done in moderation and only on occasion it is not necessarily evil. Gambling is nothing more than entertainment for many people. We spend money on all types of entertainment sports events, movies, expensive meals, vacations, holidays, purchasing items we do not need, etc. What some see as a waste of money others do not. Anytime you spend money that you do not have to spare on anything you do not need is a waste of money and I personally see it as a sin.

There are people who are addicted to gambling as there are people addicted to drugs and alcohol. Is it our responsibility to try and make it difficult for them to satisfy their addiction – I think not. If a person is addicted to something they will find a way to satisfy their addiction regardless of what we do. A cure for any addiction only comes when the person who is addicted wants to stop and seeks help.

I had a friend that was addicted to alcohol. I would have dinner parties and holiday parties and if he was in attendance I would not serve any alcoholic beverage. I was confronted by other friends and ask why they all should do without wine or cocktail simply because he had a problem. I thought and prayed about it and then approached my friend with the problem and explained the situation and told him I would be serving wine and cocktails in the future and if he felt it was best he not attend I would understand. He laughed and told me he had no problem with my decision and confessed he kept a bottle in his car and would take a drink before and after leaving one of my dinners. My not serving alcohol did not help him in the least.

The Bible does not explicitly mention gambling, but it does mention events of “luck” or “chance.” As an example, casting lots is used in Leviticus to choose between the sacrificial goat and the scapegoat. Joshua cast lots to determine the allotment of land to the various tribes. Nehemiah cast lots to determine who would live inside the walls of Jerusalem. The apostles cast lots to determine the replacement for Judas. Casting lots is a form of gambling.

I do not deny that lottery participants are usually those who can least afford to be spending money on lottery tickets. The allure of “getting rich quick” is a temptation for those who are desperate. Those that are desperate are usually desperate because they do not know how to manage their finances regardless if they gamble or purchase lottery tickets or not. Society had a lot of desperate citizens before the lottery and gambling became legal in some states.

Laws have never stopped prostitution or addictions. They only have made the vices go undercover. When they go undercover the government has absolutely no control of them. Illegal lottery brought down President Estrada in the Philippines. Lottery is now legal in the Philippines, illegal lottery continues, but does not present the same problems it once did.

I have heard that the money the government collects from lottery does not go to fund the causes it is supposed to. I am sure that is happening, but that has nothing to do with the lottery and everything to do with the politicians we elect.

I have heard the argument over and over to justify not having the lottery that lottery winners have less in a few years after winning the lottery than they had before winning. Whose fault is that? How can you blame the fact that they are irresponsible on the lottery?

I have heard fellow minister use scriptures to judge those who play the lottery or gamble. One scripture they use is Proverbs 13:11, “Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” How can gambling or playing the lottery be classified as dishonest money if it is done legally and won fair and square? I have even heard it said God does not want money donated to the church that is drug money or money stolen in a bank robbery and God does not want money that was “stolen” from the poor in the temptation for riches. That honestly sounds stupid to me – lottery money is not money STOLEN from the poor. I think the poor have a choice if they want to play the lottery or gamble. If we passed a law that you must show prove of income to gamble or play the lottery then the liberals would be screaming discrimination.

These are other arguments that I have heard protestant ministers use to oppose gambling or the lottery - First Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Hebrew 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Do we assume that if someone eats an expensive meal in the finest restaurant they are putting money before God? If we do there certainly are a lot of ministers putting money before God. Using scripture improperly to support your personal agenda is what has made Christianity look foolish to some.

One minister calls the lottery and gambling a sin because he says it causes materialism, greed, discontent, reliance on chance vs. reliance on God's providence, exploitation, laziness vs. working, thwarting of charity, seeking to gain from the loss of others – REALLY! If that is true and it is probably true in some cases then I think his time would be better spent on teaching his followers the sin of materialism, greed, discontent, reliance on chance, exploitation, laziness, charity and taking advantage of other rather than focusing on trying to make gambling and lottery illegal.

He also says the lottery and gambling produces addiction, poverty, crime, dishonesty, family strife and divorce, escape into alcoholism and exploitation of the poor. It could contribute to all of those problems. I question if poverty, crime, dishonesty, family strife, divorce, alcoholism and exploitation of the poor would end if gambling and lottery was made illegal. What happen when the Federal government ban alcohol? What happen when prostitution was made illegal? Cocaine and heroin are illegal has it solved the problem or slowed the problem?

Moral issues are corrected in the home, in the schools, in the churches, by friends and not by government – never has and never will.

There is more than one Christian solution to the refugee problem.

The Christian Church in the United States may be about to face the largest divisive issue we have faced in decades. The issue of homosexuality may pale to the Syrian refuge issue.

Christians that want us to welcome the Syrian refugees with open arms will tell us: The story of Exodus is the story of God’s people without a land and without a home. God delivered the Israelites because “He heard their cry. - The story of the Good Samaritan is Jesus’ way of saying, remember that Jews and Samaritans did not get along it is a story of how you have to care for people, even those who you despise. - If we claim to be a Christian, or even claim we are a Christian nation we have to care for those in need regardless of who they are. - “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.” Jesus serves as the final authority of how we are to greet and care for the least of these. - James writes to scattered people, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” - As tens of thousands of refugees flee Syria, they are a people without a land. They are aliens without a home. Syrian refugees are strangers to us who have a culture, language and religion different from us. They are the least of these. They are men, women and children who are in need of a new place to call home. This “Christian nation” is called by scripture to care for Syrian refugees.

A decade ago, maybe even five years ago, I would have agreed whole heartily without hesitation with all those words. I might be up in arms against those that did not want to welcome the Syrian refugees, but times have changed. I hope that I would not have called those that disagreed with me a bigot and hypocrite as many of the Christians supporting bringing the Syrian refugees to the U.S. are doing, including our President.

When it comes to Muslim immigration, we must not be led by our emotions. The spread of political Islam and creeping sharia law is often accomplished by means of immigration. BBC reports that fake passports are already being used to get jihadists into Europe. German customs officers have seized packages containing Syrian passports and police suspect they are being sold illegally to asylum seekers. Honduras stopped six Syrian men with false passports on their way to the United States. A finance ministry official said both genuine and forged passports were in the packets intercepted in the post office. ISIS has threatened to send 500,000 migrants to Europe as part of jihad. Do we close our minds to these facts?

ISIS claims they have fighters that are already in place in Europe and with the reason events in Paris I have no reason to doubt them. Our own Homeland Security and F.B.I. say they are investigating reported terrorist suspects in every State. There can be and most likely will be consequences to badly directed compassion.

We must also ask why most rich Muslim nations are refusing to take in these refugees. Perhaps they know something we don’t. Five of the wealthiest Muslim countries have taken no Syrian refugees, arguing that doing so would open them up to the risk of terrorism. Muslim nations are admitting that Muslim refugees pose a genuine terrorist threat. Yet, Obama, Liberals and a lot of Christians are asking us to throw our doors wide open with no questions asked. Western countries tend to want to be more politically correct than right and God knows they do not want to be accused of Islamophobia.

Please, do not lecture me about vetting and that it would take 18 to 24 months before we saw the first Syrian refugees. We did not do such a good job vetting the terrorist that came on student visas. We did not do such a good job of keeping up with the terrorist that over stayed their tourist visas. We have estimates as high as sixteen million illegal aliens in our country today and no one in our government can tell us where they live.

I had a friend send me two pictures of dead children that washed ashore asking me how I could look at those pictures and question if we should open our doors to Syrian refugees. I admit the pictures broke my heart. The children in my opinion were not dead because advanced countries have immigration laws. The children were dead because criminal traffickers risked the lives of their victims in pursuit of money.

The President of Turkey said that one of those children and his parents had been living in Turkey for three years and were provided shelter. The President of Turkey claims they were safe so I ask were they fleeing from danger, or fleeing towards a higher standard of living. I thought the definition of refugee was one that was fleeing danger. Am I supposed to automatically assume that the President of Turkey is lying?

Michel Houellebecq, has a new book out where he prophesies a Muslim dominated government in France about seven years from now, ushered into power by the French Tory and Labor parties. He says his research reveals they want France to disappear.

How many people today remember the community in Wasco County, Oregon? It was incorporated as a city in the 1980s, and was populated with followers of the spiritual teacher Bhagwat Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho. They eventually imported 7000 people to this small community. Initially, they had stated that they were planning to create a small agricultural community; their land was zoned for agricultural use. But it soon became apparent that they wanted to establish the kind of infrastructure and services normally associated with a town. The land-use conflict escalated to bitter hostility between the commune and local residents, even leading to murder.

In 1986 the courts ruled that the religious group had the right to incorporate the city and elect their own government officials. The city eventually went bankrupt. Unfortunately most of the local farmers and ranchers had already been forced to move away. This could be an example of a refugee problem in a small established community.

Will there be any type of control where these refugees will settle. What if they eventually take over a small town in the Western United States and force the locals out. You believe that is farfetched, well I believe bringing refugees in without any terrorist being among them is farfetched. I believe bringing Syrian refugees to our country without a plan that covers vetting, housing, medical, education, clothing, food, where they will work and what cities they will live in is not worth the risk.

We cannot rely on emotions and sadly we cannot rely only on scripture to solve this serious problem for us. We had to override scripture when it came to slavery, women’s rights, killing children that talk back, killing adulterous people, etc. The Good Samaritan story just may not be applicable to this situation we are in now.

One Baptist minister from Alabama said, “If we cannot trust the process by which the United States Government vets refugees fleeing violence and persecution, then we cannot trust any form of our border security or immigration or visa processes.” At the moment I don’t trust any form of our border security or immigration or visa processes. If these policies were working then how did the terrorist carry out 9/11 and how did maybe sixteen million illegal aliens get into our country?

The Baptist minister quotes John Sandweg, former acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: “The United States employs a robust and layered approach to the screening of refugees. Prior to setting foot on U.S. soil, refugees must first clear a comprehensive background investigation that includes multiple layers of in-person interviews, biographic and biometric background checks, and interviews of third-persons who may have information related to the individual. No refugee may be admitted into the U.S. unless and until this lengthy process is complete and reveals no information that would suggest the person poses a security risk.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied she had a private server and had classified information on it. The head of the I.R.S. Lois Lerner said the I.R.S. was not discriminating against conservatives for tax exemptions, but then she took the fifth. President Obama said there was not one smidgen of corruption in the I.R.S. and we found out differently. Obama said if you like your health care plan you can keep it – did that turn out to be true? Obama said my father left my family when I was 2 years old and we now know he never spent one night with his father. Obama said The Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration we now know for a fact it began in 2009 under his administration. Obama claimed they revealed to the American people exactly what they knew about the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi and that turned out not to be true. Obama said transparency and the rule of law would be the touchstone of his Presidency - what a joke!

Does the Baptist minister expect me to believe John Sandweg? Isn’t this the same John Sandweg that left his position in less than a year? He walked out without providing a clear explanation. Is he not the same John Sandweg that had no experience in Immigration and was opposed by many when he was being vetted? Isn’t this the same John Sandweg that tried to stop a Freedom of Information investigation into spending in the DHS? I am sorry, but I have a hard time taking John Sandweg’s word on anything.

I wish some Christian had facts that were proven to be trustworthy so I could reconcile the conflict I have in my heart with the Syrian Refugee problem, but no one has.

The only viable solution I see at the moment is extending more financial aid to Muslim countries, particularly Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to take care of the Syrian refugees where they are. These refugees will have a better chance of getting back into their country and possibly gaining control of their country if they are living near where they came from rather than moving them to Europe, Australia and the United States. I do not deny that our country and all Western countries, regardless if they are Christian or not, has an obligation to protect their security and provide adequate living conditions for them. Supporting them there would help stop them from needing to go elsewhere.

Syria in my opinion will remain a serious problem for many years, that's all the more reason for a longer-term humanitarian response, including setting up schools and medical facilities. We would probably get more loyalty from the Syrians and they would be more encouraged to stand up to ISIS by helping them with aid than spending millions on training a few Syrian rebel fighters.

I have read the Syrian refugees do not want to live in camps where all the tents look alike. They want to live in homes. I wish that was possible. I am sure the people in the Philippines that have been without homes for over two years due to typhoons would like to have a home. We cannot always have what we ‘want’ we sometimes have to settle for what we can get at the moment.

I do believe building permanent homes may be more feasible than tents, since this is going to be a long term problem. I guess the Syrian refugees would complain that the home all look alike. The people of the Philippines that have been given government homes that all look alike are thrilled. It makes me question the Syrian refugee’s real motives.

One last point the Syrian refugees I see on television appear to be healthy young men.  If these are real refugees, where are the women? Where are the elderly? Where are the weak and the sick? It appears to me that they have no intention of fighting for their own freedom in Syria. They have made up their minds they want to live in the West.

This is a quote from a group of young men that left the refugee camp in Hungary, “No good here in Hungary. No good. They try and lock us up. But we want Germany, there it is good. We have no worry about nothing there. They give us food and house and job. In Hungary they want to watch us all the time.” They are in the majority amongst the thousands who arrive each day in Hungary on their way north. While they wait they want to charge their iPhones, eat more pizza and board their trains.  Everyone either has an iPhone or knows someone else who does. They use them to talk to family members on the other side of the world or network with each other sharing information. This is what they told an aid worker.

Several of the young men had already spent $5000 on travel when they got to Hungary. Refugees have $5000 plus in cash? One said, “I want new life. I want to go to university. Make money. I want to work in a bank, be a banker. Bring all my family later.” When ask why he did not stay and fight for his homeland he said, “There is nothing worth fighting for.”

There is no future there because Obama took away all their future by allowing the “J.V. Team” as Obama called ISIS to take over their country. Obama says as long as he is President he will befriend the refugees. If he was truly a friend of the refugees he would not have withdrawn the troops against the advice of his military advisors and he would have stood up to the President of Syria when he crossed Obamas red line.

I am not convinced that God expects us to risk allowing terrorist to come into our country as they did in France and kill our citizens. I am convinced God does expect us to help the Syrian refugees. There is more than one way to accomplish that and other ways have far less risk for the citizens of the United States. Help them where they are!

A Jewish man was taking a trip alone and was attacked by robbers. A Samaritan man came by. Even though they both lived in the land of Palestine and shared a similar religion, the Jews and the Samaritans definitely did not think of each other as "neighbors." In fact, they hated each other. They had considered each other enemies for hundreds of years and refused to even talk to each other! This Samaritan man took pity on the injured Jewish man. He bandaged his wounds. He put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn where he could be safe and recover. Jesus was pleased with the Samaritan man in the story even though he did not take the Jewish man back into his home, but took care of him where he was.

God led the Jews into battle and they took the Promise Land from its inhabitants and the Jews settled on it. Why aren’t the Christians and Obama that advocate bringing the refugees to the United States willing to take the land back from ISIS and let the Syrian return to their land? God and the Jews defeated the pagans cannot God and the United States defeat the ISIS pagans? I think we can.

Have we stopped believing that God hears the cries of the Syrians? God said, “Whatever you do for the least you do for me.” James wrote we are to look after the orphans and widows are Christians not capable of doing that there instead of the United States? There is not just one Christian solution to the Syrian refugee problem.