okay, i'm not going to quote many chunks, coz it'll just be quotes of quotes of quotes...

i already explained why i asked "point being?". i didn't tell you how good a Catholic you were or grew up as, or whatever. i told you that telling me you "grew up catholic" tells me nothing whatsoever about your understanding of Christianity.

there's an enormous lot to being Catholic that the Bible doesn't tell us. if we just look at the Bible, we find Christianity as it's meant to be: accept God as your Saviour and you're saved. Catholicism has its own inconsistencies that stem from un-Biblical tradition, which teaches about all these things you have to do for God's favour, whereas Christianity as the Bible teaches says we can't earn righteousness; none of us are righteous; but having faith in Jesus will put us in God's good book.
i didn't say there was no power; i said there is very little power. mature Christians are asked to encourage and teach other Christians using the Bible so that they can see if it's truth or not. powerful figures such as the Pope get power from the people who follow him, not from Christianity.

and i never said "no pressure". but now that you mention it... the burn in Hell thing isn't much pressure on a Christian, because we can have confidence in God and have no need to fear Hell. it puts a little more pressure on a Catholic, who is taught that mortal sins that you don't confess at a confession will cause you to go to Hell, and how well you act in your life determines how much purging you need before going to Heaven.

julz