well perhaps I should reconsider getting myspace “hombre”…Keep up the good work defending the “fe”.
Perhaps I could reveal to you a small revelation that was explained to me the other day when I was having tea with Tom Howard (you can look him up online…he’s more than credible in the area of apologetics). He explained that every heresy has at it’s root two
things:
- Misinterpretation of the Bible
Every heretic, heresy, and fringe group (denomination-sect-etc) since the EARLIEST times of the Church has staked their “claim to Godly fame” on their own individual understanding of the Scriptures in hopes pf spreading it and convincing enough people they were right and go from there. During the times of the Apostles, this was easy to combat because their authority went unquestioned, so if they denounced your rendition of the Scripture, then you might as well stick a fork in it because you’d be done… But after them, it became harder and harder to combat heresy because the “institution of the Scripture” (as Sproul calls it) became bigger with people giving authority now to the writings of the Apostles (all 12 of them and others like Clement of Rome, Sixtus, Titus, Timothy, and several others) in addition to the Gospels themselves. So if someone came along and said that Paul taught something bizarre like that Christ was not God or something (and there were many early church heresies that did these types of things). BUT…the Apostles’ authority remained with the Presbyters and Bishops and they continued defending what they were DIRECTLY taught by the Apostles (notice how heretics never have direct contact with Apostolic tradition but rely on their OWN understanding of the Scriptures), which is the faith that we Catholics hold to today. And the great mystery that we Catholics profess, which is more like a miracle, is that the Holy Spirit, since the beginning, has ENSURED that the true faith has been passed on to us, and still does so today, through the Petrine Promise given to Peter instilled on the Church at Pentacost when they received the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? That means that the Holy Spirit takes one interpretation above ALL OTHERS and ensures that it is correct, AND ALWAYS WILL BE CORRECT…“and the gates of hades will not prevail against it” (the Church)
- Denial of the Church’s authority
The logical conclusion of #1 is that the Church is wrong, clearly in contradiction to Mt. 16:18, which is the second claim that every heretic has made since the beginning. The main reason for this in the early church (and I would still is still a main reason today) is a never-ending power struggle, partially due to man’s own sinfulness and a desire to know God perfectly fully knowing we can’t. The power struggle is for the “claim to fame” as to who decides what true Christianity is to be. Ultimately every “Christian” today would say that the final arbitor (and some the only arbitor because they place no emphasis on the Apostles or the ability of man to do
anything right or good) is the Holy Spirit. But clearly our Lord wouldn’t have chosen 12 Jews (and Saul to be Paul) to DIRECTLY give his message to in a
special, different, and reserved manner if they were not meant to relay that message to the world and have
at least some say in what the truth of Christ is (after all they we chosen by Him). And our Lord clearly wouldn’t have give Peter the “keys to the kingdom of Heaven” and the power to bind and loose in conjunction with the Heaven’s if Peter wasn’t meant to have any authority on earth. And our Lord wouldn’t have called Paul to the ministry…Paul who said (and I’m paraphrasing) "if anyone, EVEN AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN, comes and gives to you another Gospel other than what we (Apostles) give you, ANATHEMA SIT…:knight2: Clearly, if our Lord didn’t mean to give any authority to man (the apostles), then He must have made a big mistake by choosing the 12 Apostles…
I’m joking obviously, because if anyone honestly thinks that, then they’re clearly “pendejos” and feel free to tell them that (in Spanish even!). The bottom line is, Christ DID call the Apostles…He DID give Peter the keys to the kingdom…He DID call Paul who was the most authoritative one of them all…EVERYTHING Christ did and said in the Scriptures points toward the authority of the Apostles and the earthly Church which they were chosen to establish. And we have to follow this authority AND NO OTHER because Christ did not
directly chose me, or you, or ANYONE ELSE but the Apostles, and they have the message that is reliable and we must be attentive to what THEY SAY…(cf. 2 Peter 2 I think…)
