H
heiscominginthe
Guest
I am referring to the early churches established by the apostles.guanophore;5630831]No, heis, they were not. There were whole parts of the Roman Empire that some of the letters did not reach. Some churches had posession of, and were using documents that were later not included in the canon, such as the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas. There was quite a bit of disagreement about which books were inspired, and which were not, and out of the 400+ being examined, which should be included in the canon.
Such as?There were letters that were considered inspired that were not included, and some of those that were later included were not considered by some to be inspired.
Now, is the infallible guide the Holy Spirit or the CC?By defeated I mean that God revealed His eternal Truth to the Church, just as He promised. He also was clear that people would continue to fall into error. That is why it is so important to have an infallible guide.
So what denom are you referring to?Yes, I was on the wrong side (espousing heretical beliefs) for a long time.
The Word of God justifies itself. It needs no help from me.Of course, you must believe this, in order to justify yourself.
All men are sinners and fall short of the glory of God.You are confusing the actions of sinful men with the actions of the pure and infallible bride of Christ. The Church cannot sin because she has as her Head Christ Himself, and she is ensouled by the Holy Spirit. It is these divine elements that prevent her from error. When men sin, they separate themselves from His Holiness.
Yet, there are many in the CC past who did not practice what they preached.The Catholic Church teaches that it is a sin to commit murder. The end does not justify the means. We are not in a seat high enough to judge the souls of such men. Only God can do that.
So let’s say the apostles did not exist, then would the NT exist? You say the apostles did not define the canons, I say they did. Just because it was hand written and not of a printing press does not mean it did not exist.No, heis. The debates had nothing to do iwth how they “felt”. The debates had to do with understanding how to apply what the Apostles taught to the issues of the day. There were issues that emerged that did not exist in the time of the Apostles. When new heresies arose, the Church had to take action to shepherd the flock into all Truth. One of these issues was to define the canon - something not possible in the times of the Apostles.
For if the canons had only been orally passed down from generation to generation, this world would be already judged.
For when you examine how a man is told one thing and then he tells it to another, and that person tells this person, over time the message is not the same. That is why it is important to have it written.
Yet, which side was of the true faith? The one being hunted down and killed for disagreeing with the council or the council itself. I tell you this, that the true bride of Christ will not hunt down and kill those who oppose it. The bride is like Jesus who was the innocent lamb who was slaughtered.No, heis. Chaos was present. the debates afforded the opportunity to deliver the faithful from chaos. The devil always wants to split the Body fo Christ by such chaos.
Not a license to kill? Yet, they killed.No, heis. The decisions made by the councils guided the Church into all Truth. The people who were hunted and persecuted were victims of the pride, arrogance, and sometimes the fears of sinful persons who did not understand the principles that Jesus taught. When the Councils condemned heresies, they did so just as the Apostles did. It was not a license to kill,. but a statement of one’s faith becoming shipwrecked if they refused the revelation of God.
At least we argee on something.No, heis, you are in error. I understand a lot more about the rifts in the church than you think. I do agree with you, that they falling away began long before the Reformation.
The Apostles called the Church Catholic, as is reflected in the NT, and the letters of the early fathers.
I disagree. I believe the apostles worked very hard to make sure each church had the gospels, had the scriptures. And all were in one accord. To do different would not be the way of the Lord. For that is what it means to be in one accord, to be the body of Christ.No. Your understanding of the history of scripture is very limited. The Apostles taught the doctrine that we see in scripture before any of it was written. The earliest letter we have is 20 years after the Church was born. The entire collection was not brought together for centuries.