Catholics are weirdos. All yall.

It's a rainforest, get it right! Lol jk.

I'm gonna do the same thing with Jesus as you do with Allah, Zeus and Krishna.

Some slight difference at the ages your sequence of events happened, but that pretty much describes me. The Lutheran in me is pretty strong. One of Luther's points was that we do not need an intermediary to confess our sins to God and to ask for his forgiveness. You can "confess" your sins straight to God who already knew you were going to do it and that you did do it, whatever it was. Christ died for you and me "for the remission of sins." They are paid for already, all we need to do if we actually believe is try to avoid committing sin as much as is humanly possible, and believe in Jesus as the Son of God. We are all guilty by thought, word, and deed and should strive to avoid those things that we know (from our innate nature) are wrong/sins. Praying to Mary or other Saints was hard for me to accept. I've done it, but it never really felt right. That was the Lutheran thing again.

But, for mankind, knowing and doing are sometimes quite different things. We are also to love one another. Often easier said than done.

Addition to my last. Baptism (from what I learned) is to make the baby, a member of God's Church on Earth, in case something were to happen to the baby. The baby when it was born, was born with natural sin, which we all got from Adam and EVE. Then, if the baby survives and gets old enough where he/she can actually grasp and understand the given religious concepts they are to be taught. After being tested on those basics then in both Lutheran and Catholic you can confirmed.

funny I get to correct you this time... say the same thing I "did" with the others, not "do", right its now in the past tense... and that is awesome, good for you, I'm happy to hear your going to study them, compare all their doctrines and finally come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is the One True Living God, that all the others were false teachers and in their graves, or never existed... LOL jk

The problem is that has zero precedent in scripture. Was the thief on the cross baptized?

Thief on the cross was already believer when he was on his cross. If there is zero precedent in Scripture. then why did John the Baptist, baptize Jesus in the Jordan river? John already knew that Jesus was the Redeemer. Serious question, I only "know" what I was taught, so if you have other information I'm all eyes and ears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PhZZndeZng

For mormons

Are you suggesting the thief had underwent some sort of water baptism? Jesus had to be baptized it’s a requirement of Judaism.

Catholic wedding receptions rock

3 things baptists don’t believe in
the Pope, baptisms by sprinkling, and another baptist in a liquor store

I agree with the "all denominations vary from the as-written Bible at least a little bit" theory, but the difficulty with Catholics is that they have some very important and core processes that can appear to be very non-biblical.

Praying to Mary isn't Biblical to my knowledge. Jesus never said we should pray to others to ask for his help.
The concept of a Pope is very old Testament and does not align with the new testament covenant with God
The idea of priests granting forgiveness, or people saying prayers to someone other than Jesus (Hail Mary's...) to get this forgiveness is not at all in alignment with the new testament covenant between man and God

My wife went to a catholic college (University of Dallas) so she had tons of catholic friends and we discussed this at length many times and I never could reconcile many of their traditions and processes with Biblical teachings. Not to say they are or aren't Christians - that's for God to judge. And many catholics are some of the most genuinely amazing people that I know. So I don't know how to answer the original question, but I do understand why some non-catholics struggle coming to a decent answer on it

As previously mentioned.. denomination means nothing. Do you have a personal relationship with god? If the answer is yes, you are a Christian. Going to church, being baptized, donating a percentage of your income… none of that is necessary. Love god, pray, and do everything you can each day to be a morally sound person. My church every Sunday morning is running across the lake watching a beautiful sunrise and thanking our lord for another glorious day. (Even when it’s 105 lol).

You little rascal!!!