your LETTERS Bible Study
your LETTERS Bible Study I enjoyed reading the article on “ Chaldeans yesterday, today and tomorrow” [February 2006]. You had many interesting facts and interviewed many interesting people. I appreciate the outlook you gave on Chaldeans leaving the Catholic Church. I am amazed to think back to the generations of our ancestors from the ancient Assyrians to where we stand today that led to where our community is now. And also the great leap of faith it took for the great elders of our community to come to the foreign land of America in order to provide a better life for the younger generation Chaldeans. The question now unfolds is if we can better understand the faith and principles that this country was founded on, which was based off of Biblical Christianity. In the article you spoke of Chaldeans leaving the Catholic Church to Orthodox Christianity, which was very interesting to me because my family is a part of the Christian Church. The question then comes to what are the major differences between Biblical Christianity and partaking of the Roman Catholic Church? For myself I have found to agree with one of the people you interviewed that has left the Catholic Church, Danny Mikhail. His main reasoning is that he wanted to follow what God had given us in the Bible rather then certain traditions that the Church have given us that may not fall in line with Biblical teachings. Although the community may not fully understand this, it is the teachings that America was founded on and what the teachings of the early settlers followed; the Bible. All religious teachings must be tested by God’ s word. This was shown when St. Paul gave the message of the Gospel to the Berean Church and the Scriptures say what they did to see whether his teachings were of God or not, “ Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11). We must do the same when we examine the faith we hold to and in order to do this we must study the Bible. On judgment day we will all be held accountable for what we believed as individuals, not on a corporate basis. So let us as a community be able to come together and study what God has preciously given us and see if we hold to the teachings of His Word. Chris Rassam Commerce Township Leaving Catholicism I’ m writing this letter with much love and no intention to attack any individual(s) but to just give my brief declaration as to why I left the Roman Catholic Church. I believe there are people in the Roman Catholic Church who are redeemed by Jesus and who have a personal relationship with him but are afraid to speak out against the system. Then there are others who just make public professions and outward expressions of so-called piety but in reality need to be told the true message of the Gospel. My whole life I’ ve been taught that the Roman Catholic Church was the only true church on Earth and never thought of leaving the system. I thought my departure from the Roman Catholic Church would jeopardize my salvation (go to Heaven), and upset my family and friends. According to Pope Boniface VIII in his Unam Sanctum, “ We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” When I was a Roman Catholic, I never thought to verify if statements like these were in the Bible since I thought the Bible can only be interpreted by the bishops or priests (Catechism of the Catholic Church par. 85,100). I never read the Bible as a Roman Catholic; after God put much in my life I soon came to him as a guilty sinner, confessed what things I’ ve done against him (asked for forgiveness) and asked Jesus to come in my life with full belief in my heart that He can help me. Mostly everything at our Chaldean Catholic Church was tradition and unbiblical. We never need to ask another man to forgive us, God alone is the one that forgives 10 CHALDEAN NEWS APRIL 2006
sin. Even the verses the Roman Catholic Church uses to back up this type of claim(s) are completely taken out of context to justify their traditions. Most Roman Catholics were born into the religion, as I myself was; there was no choice to be made. Just because a person is born into a religion, does not make that religion true; Indians are born into the Hinduism religion, but they worship over 300 million gods. Ask any Indian who is a Hindu if they have the right religion and they will tell you that they do since they have been taught that it’ s right all their lives. However, the Bible says, “ There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Brian Thweni Oak Park A Second Home The Chaldean Catholic Church is the way, the truth, and the light to every wanted believer. It is the only truth because Jesus is there waiting for you. I am extremely proud to be a Chaldean Catholic believer. The Bible is present in the Chaldean Church, it is presented and elevated in the priest’ s hands during the reading. The words of the Bible are put into action through our various committees that help the needy. The Chaldean Church is doing a superb job in taking the faith into a higher level by offering theology and apologetics courses to our community. May God bless every Chaldean that is truly committed to the Chaldean Catholic faith. The Chaldean Church is my second home. Ibtihal Atisha Stand And Defend I read the article on “ Changing Faces” and there was a section that deeply offended me, about the Chaldean kid who converted to Protestant. It had many false facts about the Catholic faith, about not having Bibles in the church and so on. Those are very untrue facts. It saddens me that The Chaldean News went that far to print an article on a faith, which is unlike the majority of the Chaldeans. How could you go that far to print an article like that, not one section there was to defend our faith. How sad is that? We are Catholics and not Protestant! And I speak for all our people, which are the majority Catholic. There wasn’ t anything that spoke about the Catholics and defending them against this wave of new religion. We must stand and defend our faith and this must be an issue that The Chaldean News needs to take a concern about. In your eyes it might not matter, but to many it could make them think twice about their faith, and that is wrong! We have the true faith and we are blessed to have it. God blessed us from the time our families came over here from Iraq, and we must not come here to America and leave our faith. This issue needs to be addressed, and not in a minor way, but in a major way! We as Catholics were attacked by another religion and that is very appalling! You as The Chaldeans News should be more observant in what is printed! We as Catholics read the Bible, pray the rosary, honor the saints, have the true Eucharist, have a priesthood, and go to mass! This is our faith and our faith defines our culture! Amanda Foumia West Bloomfield More Than One I would like to remind everyone that Mr. [Yonadam] Kanna is not our only representative in Iraq as stated in your article “ Iraq’ s Kanna comes calling” [March 2006] when you claimed Kanna is the only Christian in Iraq’ s newly elected 275-member National Assembly. There are also two other Chaldeans elected in as being part of the Kurdistna Alliance List. They are Mr. Fawzi Franso Toma and Mr. Ablahad Afram Sawa, and they have worked hard for our people in the Arbil province. Their results can be seen in places like Ankawa, where the economy has flourished. Noor Matti Warren Every Tuesday FREE APPETIZER With meal one per table Dine-In Only Full Menu—including breakfast specials till noon everyday. Private parties up to 30 people in each room. “We would like to thank all our customers for their support at our new location.” Carry-out Service at our Northeast Entrance. Catering Services Available OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK M-F: 11am – 9pm Sat & Sun: 9am - 9pm – George, Teresa and staff George’s Honey Tree Family Restaurant 33080 Northwestern Highway • West Bloomfield, MI Phone: 248-539-8300 • Fax: 248-539-8303 APRIL 2006 CHALDEAN NEWS 11
