I’ve always been disgusted by the ugly, dark, thoroughly uninspiring religious artwork (if you could call it art) and architecture in Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral.
Now, Joseph G. has been kind enough to direct me to a site that features ugly and possibly even Satanic artwork located in the Vatican and elsewhere, throughout the Catholic Church.
This stuff is really disturbing. And in light of the new, super ugly John Paul II statue in Rome, you really have to wonder what is going on with the people in charge.
Or perhaps the “art” simply reflects the evil spirit of the age!
See for yourself. Visit the site.
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Doug Lawrence's Catholic Site 
You said; “Or perhaps the “art” simply reflects the evil spirit of the age!” Age? Change that word to “catholicism” and you would be correct. Do you know why it is so difficult (impossible) for a catholic to see the evil of catholicism?
God’s Word tells us: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14.
I was catholic for 38 yrs. I have been born again for 31 yrs and have studied catholicism all these years. catholicism is evil under the guise of Christianity. This disturbs me a lot because I am a Christian.
I will not use upper case “C” for that word.
Fear Steveair,
I could make precisely the same case for your falling away from the one, true faith.
At least Catholics have the words of Jesus Christ on which to rely, and the Christ-pledged advocacy of the Holy Spirit to keep them from going too far off the track.
What do you guys … who showed up 1500 years late … with an entirely new form of religion … have … that you can actually prove … without twisting the words of the Bible?
When did Jesus Christ personally found, authorize, empower and eternally guarantee your little group?
When did Jesus give you the Keys to the Kingdom, and the power of binding and loosing, on earth and in heaven?
Big ‘c” or little makes no difference. Jesus Christ, while he still walked the earth, personally founded only one church, the Catholic church. He never founded any other.
If you have a problem with that, take it up with him. I’m busy.
Cheers!
Doug
Respectfully; I did not fall away. I totally and absolutely abandoned catholicism after I started reading the Bible.
You said: “At least Catholics have the words of Jesus Christ on which to rely, “. I have the Word of the Lord which says “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by me”. So according to catholicism you try to come to the Father by your sacraments (baptism, confession to a priest, penance etc.) “For by grace you are saved not of works. It is the gift of God, least any one should boast.”
Dear Steveair,
I find it amazing that you and I could read the exact same holy book and arrive at two totally divergent opinions.
No one these days seems to write much about traffic lights, since they are as ubiquitous as dandelions, and everyone knows that red means “stop” and green means “go”. By your logic, fifteen hundred years from now, people will be denying that we had traffic signals, simply based on a dearth of topical literature.
Similarly, the Mass and the sacraments were absolutely essential to the life of the early church, and just as ubiquitous. Participation was so regular
and consistent, and devotion so great, there was little need to write about it.
Only in later, post-biblical times, as the church expanded and became truly universal, did the need for formal sacramental catechesis … typically via religious art … not the written word … become necessary … since most people wouldn’t be able to read, for another fifteen or eighteen centuries.
Every time a Catholic receives a sacrament he/she, by the power of the Holy Spirit, personally encounters the risen Christ in a way that is otherwise totally impossible, in this earthly life.
As such, sacraments are not “works” any more than worshiping God in spirit and truth, with one’s whole mind, whole heart, and whole soul constitutes “works”.
At the same time, Jesus never sends any of the elect away “empty-handed” – so the sacraments also constitute God’s primary channel of superabundant grace.
Does anyone actually “need” to regularly and personally experience the risen Christ – body, blood, soul and divinity – in this life? If they have no intention of spending eternity with him, in heaven – certainly not! Otherwise, absolutely!
There’s no profit in taking the Bible literally, except when you happen to disagree with it:
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (John 6:53-58)
While the works of the law were actually a curse, the sacraments are just the opposite: inestimably powerful positive blessings, carrying the awesome power of divine transformation and personal sanctification, according to God’s will and his grace.
The Catholic Church has understood, appreciated and practiced these things since the first Christian Pentecost. As such, they predate the Bible by several hundred years, and they are not dependent on anyone’s particular interpretation of it. They depend instead upon the authentic, full revelation of God and the awesome and virtually unrestricted power and authority Jesus gave to the only church he ever personally founded.
Neither the old Judaic faith tradition, nor Jesus Christ, nor the Catholic Church, nor the Bible itself ever taught the erroneous principles of “scripture alone” or “faith alone”. Rather, it is a combination of the divine teaching authority that God vested in those who sat in “the chair” (of Moses … and later … Peter) PLUS the totality of sacred scripture … PLUS the totality of authentic sacred tradition.
Together these “three witnesses” invariably lead one to arrive at the truth. Less than that … and anything goes!
May God bless you and keep you and provide for all your needs!
Doug