So something that I have noticed with most of the threads on this part of the forum is that they tend to have a theological issue that is debated to infinity with Catholics vs. Protestants getting nowhere. In general, the Catholics walk off more Catholic and the Protestant walks off more Protestant. Both sides have simply assented to an (albeit different) authority already.
So if we have two authorities, then we have two different theologies. One cannot therefore assess the other camp theologically because both sides differ already at the core.
The question we all want to bypass or sometimes even ignore in all of this is that of Authority.
Now why is this question important?
It is important because every religion on this earth makes a set of supernatural claims.
Since we cannot directly verify supernatural claims as humans, we have to trust the person or persons claiming these truths.
But to do so, we must first know
- that the person has authority to know supernatural truths, and
- what truths the person (or persons) taught
Now both of the above must be knowable within the realm of day-to-day reasoning (which we will refer to as
natural reasoning for convenience) .
So the Catholic claim for (1) is that Jesus proved his authority to know and control the supernatural through his death and resurrection and that it is a historically verifiable fact. This is pretty much what all Protestants would claim as well (other than those who hold a modernist view that it is a spiritual resurrection).
The division between Catholics and Protestants then take place on point (2) on what Jesus taught.
The Church is then judged using the Bible.
B]Now it must be noted that either of the claims must be accessible through natural reasoning and otherwise we must conclude that we just don’t know what Christ taught.
Now I would first like to handle the arguments for (2) from the Protestant side
a) It says in Scripture that it is inspired by God
b) Therefore it is the Word of God
Problem with the above is that I can write a book and include a sentence that it is the Word of God.
That does not make it true.
a) When reading Scripture, one sees that it is indeed the Word of God
But “X is the Word of God” is a supernatural claim. Since we cannot directly perceive the supernatural, we cannot make such claims.
Now one can present the objection to the Protestant claim as follows
1a) “Scripture is inspired by God” is a Supernatural claim
2a) Supernatural claims are not directly verifiable
3a) Therefore the claim must be made by a person or an entity that one can decide through reason to possess knowledge and be authoritative on the Supernatural.
So the (3a) requires that we have another authority that has either proven itself as Christ did or can be seen to have some authority to teach what Christ taught.
Now in our human understanding, teaching authority is usually passed down by the teacher to a selected set of students.
This is so intuitive to us that this is how we maintain all our professional bodies and their fields of knowledge as well as academic structures.
When we want medical advise, we turn to a certified Doctor.
Same with Engineers, Lawyers etc.
So anything that we cannot verify directly by ourselves is accepted through a certified authority.
In the same way, Catholics see Christ’s Apostles as worthy of being considered as having the authority of Christ.
Now treating Scriptures as nothing more than historical accounts of Christ, we know that among many Disciples (students) of Christ, 12 were specifically chosen and had a more closer relationship with Christ.
Therefore it seems reasonable that these 12 were given the knowledge and authority to teach what Christ taught about supernatural truths. Thus we have the birth of a field of knowledge regarding the supernatural and its caretakers, experts and teachers.
Now these Apostles themselves had students of their own that they selected.
They would be the Apostolic Successors. In the same way, this field of knowledge has been maintained, passed down and taught by Apostolic Successors to this day.
Therefore, anyone who wants to know what Christ taught must assent to the authority of the Church consisting of Apostolic Successors.
The Church itself has defined its scope and extent of authority through the centuries, just like any other professional body in charge of a field.
So we accept that and all of its teachings by faith.
Therefore the Catholic accepts all supernatural claims such as “Scripture is the Word of God” or “God is a Holy Trinity” through faith in what the Church teaches.
Also, unlike Protestants,
the Catholic recognizes that the Church has claimed it to be the final authority in interpreting Divine revelation, whether it be Scripture or Tradition.
So in all things,
the faithful assents to the Church and strives to interpret Divine Revelation within the guidance of the Church.
So now that I have made the Catholic position clear and presented objections to the Protestant position.
Let the discussion begin!
hhello-- this was a funny game-- and i wouldn’t want to get lost in your human reasoning–
what is lacking – as in many church’s is the Holy Spirit–
