I think when Mercy Gate called the deut’s the rogue books, she was being facetious.
Always for Him,
Luther started out merely wishing to reform the Catholic Church. He never intended to break away, he never intended to start a new denomination. If you study his life, you will find that his theology changed dramatically during it’s course.
The more you study of protestantism and the many ensuing denominations of fundamentalism and evangelicalism, the more frustrated you will become. I don’t recommend it. It will make you want to pull your hair out (it you have hair) and scream yourself silly at the many contradictions, lack of Biblical/Historical support, down right hypocrisy and general error. Also, you will come up with literally thousands of questions to which there are no logical answers. “Where in the Bible does it say that?” will become a phrase you will say in your sleep.
Protestants/fundamentalists will not, they can not let the Bible mean what it says in many, many verses. Everything has to be “interpreted” through their system of private interpretation and made to mean what they already believe. The Bible doesn’t directly say anything about most of what they believe. It’s amazing, really. Where in the Bible does it mention “altar call?” Notice their churches have no altar, by definition, because they have no real sacrifice. Some employ “altar boys, (girls)” but again, they have no altar. We all know that the word “alone” never appears in the NT, following the word faith except in James 2:24 where it says, “and not by faith alone.” No where does the Bible tell us we have “assurance” of salvation, in fact it talks a lot about how we are to live our lives in hope. What do non-C’s have to “hope” for? They have assurance. For them it’s a done deal, no matter what the do or think as long as they where “once saved.” The Bible never claims for itself to be the final “authority” of man. In fact this one even “goes against,” the dictionary as an inanimate object, ie: a book, can not be “an authority.” Although it can be authoritative in the hands of a person, the Bible itself can neither make a decision nor enforce a law. So by definition, it can’t be an authority. They, non-C’s always must leave out some pertinent information. In this case it is the word “figure.” They have no “authority figure” and so in their world, anything goes.
Notice that the non-C’s are no where in sight on either of these two threads you have been engaged with them on, ever since you started asking questions. That’s because they can’t answer logically. In an oral debate, if you ask a question they will change the subject by asking you another question on a different topic. The minute you start pressing for answers they will end the debate, usually with, "well, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. That’s it. And it is most exasperating.
I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as evangenlization unless you are talking to a non-believer. Believer’s from other denominations must come to the truth through a desire for the truth, on their own. They must recognize in their own mind and senses that something isn’t right in their own system of faith and seek for themselves the answers to these questions. There is nothing we can do or say to lead them to that point. Only the movement of the Holy Spirit can do that, and they must be willing to follow that movement.
So, the only thing we can really do is pray for them and as the Bible says, be ready with an explanation if someone asks us the reason for our hope.
There has been some truly incredible information, I believe on this thread, about the words in Matt 16 and it doesn’t appear to have made a difference for any of the non-C’s. They just continue to argue their position, never answering a question, just throwing more questions at the Catholics on the board. Kind of sad, don’t you think?
Pray for them.
