inquizitive1:

Questions

1- What is the significance of ash wednesday? 2- What is the BIBLICAL significance of ash wednesday? 3- If praying the rosary is so important, please give me corresponding scripture(s)……i’ll wait 4- Where in the Bible may I find the Hail Mary?  5- Why do you partake in Lent? 6- Did you read the Bible in order to see what exactly Jesus did during those 40 days? (Hint it was more than just fast) 7- Have you been baptised? (Having water sprinkled on your head doesnt count) The Bible says that you need to be baptised (see john chapter 1) 8- Why do you go to a preist for confession? Get to know and talk to your Heavenly Father on your own, He wants to get to know you. 9- Why is the crucifix so prevalent? JESUS IS ALIVE! He is not still on the cross. 10- Why don’t you walk in power and authority? God gave you such, use it!

Good questions!

1. and 2. From Wikipedia

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent. Ashes were used in ancient times, according to the Bible, to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent’s way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. An ancient example of one expressing one’s penitence is found in Job 42:3–6. Job says to God: “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. The other eye wandereth of its own accord. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (vv. 5–6, KJV) The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: “O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes” (Jer 6:26). The prophet Daniel recounted pleading to God this way: “I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: “That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes” (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39).

Other examples are found in several other books of the Bible including, Numbers 19:9, 19:17, Jonah 3:6, Matthew 11:21, and Luke 10:13, and Hebrews 9:13. Ezekiel 9 also speaks of a linen-clad messenger marking the forehead of the city inhabitants that have sorrow over the sins of the people. All those without the mark are destroyed.

It marks the start of a 43-day period which is an allusion to the separation of Jesus in the desert to fast and pray. During this time he was tempted. Matthew 4:1–11, Mark 1:12–13, and Luke 4:1–13.^[20] While not specifically instituted in the Bible text, the 40-day period of repentance is also analogous to the 40 days during which Moses repented and fasted in response to the making of the Golden calf. (Jews today follow a 40-day period of repenting during the High Holy Days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur.)

3. http://www.catholicbible101.com/therosary.htm

Furthermore, might I ask why you place such high importance on the bible, so much so that you put it above all other parts of the faith?  Obviously, you believe it is the word of God, but why do you believe so, without also accepting other articles of the faith?  How can you have faith in the bible without also having faith in the Church that agreed upon the books of the bible?  The bible was a compilation of earlier sources such as the Q, P,Y, and E sources.  How can you accept the bible without also accepting the Church that made and defended the bible?

4.  You can find the Hail Mary in the Gospel.  When the angel appears to Mary the angel says:  “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”  When Mary goes to meet Elizabeth, Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”  Catholics consider Mary “Holy Mary, mother of God” and she is a pretty holy woman considering she is the mother of Christ who is God.  We ask her, “Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death,” In the same way you might ask your friend, relative, or neighbor to pray for you. 

5. Lent is a time of conversion and drawing closer to God.  By removing the non-essentials from our lives, we can draw closer to the essential thing, God.  Lent is a time of sacrifice, but not for its own sake, but for the sake of reviewing and renewing our relationship with Christ!

6.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temptation_of_Christ

7.  We are baptised, and we are also confirmed.  But we continually renew our baptism day in and day out, week in week out, through the ministry of the Church, and the institution of the Eucharist.  See, Catholics don’t see our faith as static.  We see baptism as merely the entrance into the faith, but it goes much deeper than that.  In a sense, you are making the Baptist mistake of asking, “Are you saved?”  To which the good Catholic responds,

“As the Bible says, I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), but I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13).”

On the back of the card …

Hope for Salvation … Not Assurance of Salvation:
Mt 7:21 - not everyone saying “Lord, Lord” will inherit
Heb 10:26 - if sin after receiving truth, judgement remains
1 Cor 9:27 - buffet body, make it a slave for fear of being rejected
Rom 2:26 - will award to every man what his acts have deserved
Rom 11:22 - importance of continuing in God’s grace
Mt 24:13 - those who persevere to the end will be saved
Phil 2:12 - work to attain salvation in anxious fear
1 Cor 10:11-12 - those thinking they are secure may fall
Gal 5:4 - separated from Christ, you’ve fallen from grace
2 Tim 2:11-13 - must hold out to end to reign with Christ
Heb 6:4-6 - describes sharers in Holy Spirit who then fall away
2 Cor 5:10 - we reap what we earn according to our deeds
Rom 5:2, 8:24 - confident in the hope of attaining glory of God

8.  http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Why_Confession.htm

Furthermore, we are a community of faith.  We don’t believe that faith is just a personal relationship with God, though that is part of it.  Really, faith must be experienced in community, or rather, with the Body of Christ.  The Church is the Body of Christ, and when one part of the Body is hurting, the whole body is hurting.  When one part of the Body sins, the whole Body is affected.  Thus, Catholics understand that not only do we reconcile ourselves with God, but also with our Brothers and Sisters in faith.  In fact, in the Confiteor, Catholics say: