i was raised catholic. i doubt that jesus and mary were actual people. the documentary zeitgeist said jesus is a supernatural personification of the sun. god's sun / son. many ancient civilizations had a diety similar to jesus. the mythology of jesus is very similar to the greek god zeus. and the mythology of zeus probably was based on ancient egyptian and sumerian gods. ancient hebrews plagiarized most of the bible from ancient sumerian & egyptian mythology.
also, i've read that virgin mary is a supernatural personification of the constellation virgo.
i believe in the mythology and morality of jesus and mary. but i disagree with ancient hebrews' claim of "god's chosen people". so i ignore the hebrew parts of christianity. the ancient sumerians and egyptians were undoubtedly more advanced than the ancient hebrews. the word 'hebrew' is from the ancient sumerian and egyptian word 'hapiru'. it means 'murderer, criminal'.
That's what the Protestants protested against: The Vatican tried to diminish Jesus: instead of God himself, he was a prophet or even just an allegation. This way, they could take his place and forgive sins (selling letters of indulgence and define what is good and evil). When the bible was translated and mass printed, the Vatican was proven wrong. So they invented a new bible, the Jesuit one with old Gnostic and pagan texts in them.
The main difference between Pagan/Gnostic/Catholic and Protestant is, that the moral teachings of the former are fluid (and so is the moral: "the end justifies the means"), while the received scriptures are fixed, nobody can adjust or "modernize" the word of God.
yeah, catholics believe we can confess sins to clergy, do penance, and be forgiven by god / jesus / mary. but you left out a lot of info. about sin. there are different types of sin. a mortal sin possibly is unforgivable. also, you make it seem as though catholics confess their sins, so they have a clear conscience to commit new sins. most clergy wouldn't allow that. shame and guilt are a main part of catholicism, especially confession. if a person commits an unforgivable sin, or many sins, they could be ex-communicated.
The system of micro-managing guilt, atonement, and forgiveness can have beneficial effects when used with good intent. In history, however, there have also been negative outliers when the system was misused for political purposes. The famous letters of indulgence were an example of how not to do it.
Your view was prophesied over 2000 years ago. Go read Ezekiel 8.
it was written by ancient hebrews. as i said, i ignore that part of christianity. and the ancient hebrews plagiarized the ancient sumerians' and egyptians' religions.
the romans had a record of jesus execution
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