Now the Apostles had all the authority to bind and loose heaven, …as to fill the place left vacant by Judas?
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Hi, again,
I am not familiar enough with the position of Mathias to offer a point of view …
“God did no such thing … basically damns all those who cannot read …”
What happened with Moses and the Israelites?
Didn’t Moses come down from the Mountain with the Law WRITTEN in tablets of stone?
Could the Israelites read???
Although we are not specificall told in the Bible, the Bibe does assure us that:
Acts 14:16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways;
Acts 14:17 yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
God is never without witness in this world, but his witness is intelligible to all … and that does not necessarily mean that its only revelation throughout all time wil be by book, and nor, indeed did I state or imply that).
Its just that the form of which I treat is a book.
The Catholic Encyclopaedia tells us:
The Reformed Churches were unanimous in declaring the Bible to be the sole rule of faith. “We believe that the only rule and standard by which all dogmas and all doctors are to be weighed and judged, is nothing else but the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments” (Form. Concordiae, 1577).
And, under Rule of Faith:
The Rule of Faith
tt=76
The word rule (Latin regula, Gr. kanon) means a standard by which something can be tested, and the rule of faith means something extrinsic to our faith, and serving as its norm or measure. Since faith is Divine and infallible, the rule of faith must be also Divine and infallible;
Th Bible (The Word of God), I understand to be The Rule of Faith, whereas, again, I understand, The Church is, among other things, the Deposit of Faith.
So, perhaps my allusion to the Bible is not so “ludicrous” at all …
“…where does your idea leave them, since they believed in false scripture”? you ask…
Well, once again, I see your contrary points only proving complimentary to my premise …
You see, if there was once something that was accepted by the whole Church and it is now no longer accepted, there must have been a mistake somewhere along the way at one point (and I say this as a matter of fact, and not in the least to be disparaging).
All the more reason, then, for checking for ourselves … or do you think when these Christians who were misled by the mistake and are thus “condemned” for their mistake, that God will let them off because they did or believed what they did or believed at the behest of some perceived higher authority???
I do not think so …
You relate to “many passages in Scripture that indicate that it is incomplete”… so, am I to take it that Catholics believe that The Bible (the Word of God) is “incomplete”?
I would be interested to be able to examining references to this in the Scripture …
I made no suggestion that “a single thing Christ said or did was unimportant …” Nothing like it, indeed, and specifically becauseI believe the exact opposite.
In your statement from Timothy, referring to, I presume,
Timothy I 3:15 if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.
Again, I feel that you make my point ,since, if we care to look at the function of a Pillar or a Bulwark …
A pillar “supports” and a bulwark “defends”, and we are therefore being told that th Church both supports and defends the Truth, and wherein is the Truth contained other than in the Bible (the Word of God … The Rule of Faith)?
Again, as to “Bishops and Popes” and “when they tell us it is Christ telling us”, and that we “DON’T have any option to disagree with their Magisterial teaching…”, I believe that this premise is “misguided”.
By its dictate, once the Magisterial teaching has been pronounced, there being no “option to disagree”, it could never be changed, since nobody could ever 'gainthnk it, let alone 'gainsay it.
We must remember that even the most “enlightened” souls on this earth are necessarily “imperfect” …
What, again, I would ask you about the various Anti-Popes that there have been???
The list of questions could be endless, but, in the end, I still feel that you have actually made my point, which is that to use his God given power of reason and discernment in all things, is not only desireable, but is a duty incumbent.
And, just for the record, if you read the Pharisaic teachings (and I mean purely for information,I am not “canvassing” for them…), you will find many of them broadly similar to those of Jesus Christ (in fact, such is the similarity, that I know of more than one book suggesting that Jesus Christ was a Pharisee himself … again, this is not a theory for which I imply support, I merely report its existence.
I am sorry that my post irked you, but I hope now that you see my position is not quite so “ludicrous” after all.
With best wishes and
God Bless
William