D
Dokimas
Guest
There is mention in the Bible (NT) of heresies going around in the churches of the 1st century. Heresies have always invaded the church. Why do you think it is different now or for the last 15 centuries?If we look at this logically, it is impossible for Jesus to have taught anything incorrect. Therefore, everything that he teaches in the Gospels is correct and anything opposed to it is heretical.
Now, we must look at what is taught in the rest of the Bible. If the other works have incorrect teachings in them, we should discard the lot. We have no way to verify what is and is not correct in them. However, if we take the two statements by Jesus that the Holy Spirit would guide the Church to all TRUTH (i.e. no heresies) and that hell would not prevail over the Church (i.e. no heresies would be taught), then we can say that the NT contains no heresies. But, since the faith is founded on the teachings and very existence of Jesus Christ, anything in the Bible must be understood based on what Jesus himself taught (in other words, if we think that John or Paul are saying something different, we need to hold to what Jesus said and understand the others based on that).
So, we have a Bible that contains no heretical teachings.
Is there any reason to think that the protections from Jesus applied only to the First Century Church? If yes, then it is possible that heresies have entered the faith. If not, then we should be able to compare that which the Church teaches to that which is opposed and say there is heresy. I would like to say that if heresies entered the Church, we have the same issue that we have with the Bible: there is no way to be sure what should be kept and what should not be kept.
Now, if you say that we should only keep that which is in the Bible, we run right into the verse in John where he says that not everything Jesus said or did is in the Bible. Further, Paul says that we should hold fast to that which we were taught by word of mouth or by letter. We get into a possible situation where there are some things that are not recorded that may be important to the faith.
:byzsoc: