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Where does Jesus use the words doctrinal error?? He said the gates of hell would not prevail against the church period. That means if we believe we will not go to hell and satan could never prevail over us (the church).
When He prayed for unity, He made it clear that unity is based on adherance to the Truth. “Thy Word is Truth”. That means doctrinal unity. When He told the Apostles to “teach all that I have commanded” He was commanding doctrinal unity.
Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us to the truth. If the Holy Spirit is in us all, technically HE’s guiding us all to the truth. Jesus never said the Holy Spirit would prevent you from teaching false doctrine or prevent you from misunderstanding.
Jesus made this promise only to the Church. I agree that individuals are not covered, unless they are in union with the Church. That is why the Church can prevent the teaching of false doctrine, and prevent misunderstanding.
I say go get me a Budweiser from the fridge please. You bring me a Miller. I say, I said Budweiser. You say, I thought you just meant a beer by saying Budweiser so I grabbed the first thing. (Crude example I know). It’s very easy to misunderstand. It’s for this reason that Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to us all.
No, I think not. The reason that Jesus gives the HS to believers is to keep them in union with the Church. To the extent that believers are not, they resist the HS. The reason He gave the HS to the Church is to prevent misunderstanding.
Not just the Pope or Magisterium. That way if someone innocently mis-taught something, the Holy Spirit is there to guide. If the Holy Spirit controlled the way we taught then no one would ever disagree. No schism would ever happen.
You make my point above, that the HS does not prevent individuals from going astray. The HS does keep the Church from going astray, so the extent to which individuals remain in unity with Her, they will stay on track.
I agree the church should have authority but that authority does not reside in Rome with one person or one group. Jesus makes this very clear when he speaks out against exercising authority over one another.
Certainly not! On the contrary, authority resides in every validly ordained bishop throughout the world.
First the church was not founded in Rome. It was actually founded in Jerusalem. And many other Christian churches were founded long before Peter and Paul ever went to Rome.
Just for clarity, there is only one Church, and all these faith communities are members of the One Church. They are all in unity with one another in faith and doctrine.
So to ascribe authority to Rome on this premise doesn’t hold water. Paul actually wasn’t planning to stay in Rome. Only visit on his way to Spain. We don’t know why Peter went to Rome. Only that he supposedly died there. His ossuary interestingly though was found in Jerusalem under the mount of olives where Jesus prayed.
Rome developed primacy because both Peter and Paul lived, taught, and died there. It was a mecca of orthodox doctrine. This fact is attested to throughout the early fathers.
I believe all Apostles would assume we are well versed in sacred scripture. Why? Look at 2 Timothy 3:
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God [2] may be competent, equipped for every good work.
You’re saying switching to sola scripture was a change in church policy. That assumes there had to be an initial policy. What was it specifically?
The initial policy was to receive the Teachings of Jesus as handed on by the Apostles. Later, some of those teachings were committed to writing, but there was never any thinking to separate the Sacred Writings from Sacred Traditions from whence they came. Authority belonged to the Bishops,the successors of the Apostles.
Many Christians prior to 100AD and even after worshipped and observed the Lord’s Supper in their houses. What policy were they following?
The followed the sacred traditions that were taught to them by the Apostles and their successors. The Divine Liturgy has changed very little since the last supper.
Given the education level of these people I doubt they would even be able to comprehend the volumes of catechisms that exist today. It’s not about policy and authority. It’s about Faith.
You make it sound like it has to be either/or, but it is not. The NT clearly talks about recognizing and submitting to authority, and we also see this clearly in the ECF. In the early days of the Church, the catechuminate lasted three years. I agree that there was not as much to learn as there is now, but there was plenty! It is teaching people a way of life, and it does not happen overnight.
You’re making the same mistake the Jews made that Jesus called them down on. They got so focused on scriptural law and were proud that they were experts on it they didn’t realize the scriptures actually pointed to Jesus. Catholics are so caught up on authority and policy they seem to be losing sight of Jesus as well.
I don’t see where you get this at all.
