Since it is a historical fact that the Catholic Church canonized and codified the Bible, all 21st century Christians should, for all practical purposes be Catholic, just as all Christians during this 4 century canonization process were Catholic.
For the earliest Christians, God spoke His word not only to but through His Body, the Church, and it was within His Body, the Church, that the word was confirmed and established. Without question the Scriptures were looked upon **by early Christians **as God’s active revelation of Himself to the world. At the same time, the Church was looked upon as the Household of God, “having been built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:20-21).
There was no organic separation between Bible and Church as we find so often today. The Body without the word is without message,
but the word without the Body is without foundation. As Paul says in I Timothy 3:15, “The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” The Church is the living body of the incarnate Lord. She is an integral part of the Gospel message and it is within the context of the Church that the New Testament was conceived and preserved.
If the Church is not just a tangent or a sidelight to the Scripture, but rather an active participant in its development and preservation, shouldn’t it be time for non-Catholics to reconcile their differences and abandon their prejudices, as I did as a former Lutheran. Rather than trying to judge the Church with a modern understanding of what the Bible is saying, Christians should come into union with the Church that produced the New Testament, and let her be a guide into a proper understanding of the bible.
To those who, like I once did, stand dogmatically on “Sola Scriptura,” in the process rejecting the Church of God which not only produced the New Testament, but also selected through the guidance of the Holy Spirit those books which compose the New Testament, I would say only this:
Study the history of the early Church and the development of the New Testament canon. Use source documents where possible. Examine for yourself what happened to God’s people after the 28th chapter of the book of Acts.
If you examine the data and look with objectivity at what occurred in those early days, I think you will discover what I discovered. The history of God’s Church didn’t stop with the first century or fall by the wayside (complete apostasy). If it had, we would not possess the New Testament books which are so dear to every Christian believer. The phenomena of separating Church and Bible which we see so prevalent in much of today’s Christian world is a modern phenomena. Early Christians made no such artificial distinctions.
Once you have examined this data, I would encourage you to find out more about the historic Catholic, Apostolic Church which collected, selected, compiled, edited, preserved, canonized and finally codified the the 46 books of the Old and the 27 books of the New Testament. Every Christian owes it to himself or herself to find out more about this Church and to understand its vital role in proclaiming God’s word to our own generation, as it did for 1500 years --before the man-made doctrine of Sola Scriptura, which states that scripture alone is the final, and infallible court of appeal as to the truthfulness of any doctrine which it (scripture) addresses. (The ultimate non-sequitur)
Mt 16:18 -
“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;
(not write scripture) and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” *According to the protestant mindset, Hades did prevail. *
Mt 18:17 -
“If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;
(not, read scripture) and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” The apostolic church alone (according to the bible and history) is the final arbiter, and
very fallible court of appeal via the
Infallible Holy Spirit, as to the truthfulness of any doctrine which the church addresses.
) Google returned this very thread back as a link. Had I not clicked on it, I would have saved about 2 hours of my life. Actually I enjoyed this debate, no offense, but I feal stronger about my faith now than I did before I clicked the link. I hope the rest of you have experienced the same.
