Need for a Catholic response

[eucharist04]

I hear non-Catholic christians quote Galatians 1:6-9 and that this is applied to the CC teachings on the Marian doctrines.

What should be our response?

 

[kristie_m]

I hear non-Catholic christians quote Galatians 1:6-9 and that this is applied to the CC teachings on the Marian doctrines.

What should be our response?

This is the old sola scriptura thing that says that anything that is based on tradition must be wrong. Just because it’s not in the bible, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I heard an interesting discussion about that yesterday morning. Basically, the answer was, if not for sacred tradition, how could anyone be saved? After all, there were quite a few years between the death and ressurection of Christ and the writing of the gospels. Were none of those people saved? How could they be, if they didn’t have the bible to read?

Okay, so the speaker said it better than I did, but that was the generall idea.

 

[davidv]

I hear non-Catholic christians quote Galatians 1:6-9 and that this is applied to the CC teachings on the Marian doctrines.

What should be our response?

I would ask how anything in those passage say anything about Marian doctrines without the unsupported assumption that Marian doctrine are a “false gospel”.

 

[rwoehmke]

[Gal 1:6-9] I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking the one who called you by (the) grace (of Christ) for a different gospel (not that there is another). But there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach (to you) a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed!

The person citing this as evidence against Marian Doctrine is in error. At the point this was written the Gospels of the New Testament were non-existent and the gospel preached was the oral teaching passed on by Jesus and the Apostles to Paul; Sacred Tradition.

 

[eucharist04]

The rant I heard was concerning Mary’s part in salvation.

 

[kristie_m]

The rant I heard was concerning Mary’s part in salvation.

Of course. Even some Catholics have trouble with the idea of Mary as anything other than a vessel. Though I can’t help but think that had she said “no, not me” then God would have found another way. But the fact is, she said “Let it be done unto me” which makes her someone we can and should hold in high esteem. She was obedient to the will off God, just as her son Jesus was. And let’s face it, an unwed woman bearing a child would normally have been stoned to death. But she said yes, anyway. She didn’t understand how it could happen, only that God said it would. Her faith is an example to all of us. Her obedience to the will of God had a direct effect on our salvation through her son Jesus. There’s not a Catholic around who will say that Mary saved us. But no one can deny that she DOES have a role in our salvation.

 

[Della]

[Gal 1:6-9] I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking the one who called you by (the) grace (of Christ) for a different gospel (not that there is another). But there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach (to you) a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed!

The person citing this as evidence against Marian Doctrine is in error. At the point this was written the Gospels of the New Testament were non-existent and the gospel preached was the oral teaching passed on by Jesus and the Apostles to Paul; Sacred Tradition.

The funny part is that the Gospel spoken of here, that Paul preached, is what was given to us by the Catholic Church . The “different gospel” idea being associated with that same Catholic Church is absurd. Especially coming from someone from a denomination that probably didn’t exist before 500 years ago and more likely only 100 or less.

Besides that, Paul was talking about the Judaizers who were telling Gentile Christians they needed to be circumcised in order to be heirs to the promises of Christ. This is the “different gospel” Paul was addressing not the very Church he was a part of.

It just boggles the mind to what lengths anti-Catholics will go, even twisting the Holy Scriptures themselves, in order to try to lure people out of the Catholic Church and/or keep people from investigating it for themselves.

 

[Philthy]

I hear non-Catholic christians quote Galatians 1:6-9 and that this is applied to the CC teachings on the Marian doctrines.

What should be our response?

“No it’s not, it’s in reference to doctrines like Sola Scriptura and Sola fide, for example, which appear nowhere in the history of Christianity until the 16th century.
Sola fide is directly refuted by James 2:24 “You see a man in justified by works and not by faith alone.” You knew that right? Sola Scriptura is refuted by the reality that we cant even know which books belong in the bible without an infallible, extrabiblical authority to tell us so! That authority, chosen by God, was the Catholic Church and it wasnt done until the 4th century. What were Christians doing for over 300 years without a bible? They listened to the Church - led by Peter’s successor in union with the Bishops around the world…just like today! 1Tim 3:15 describes the Church as the “pillar and foundation of truth”, not Scripture alone. 2 Thessalonians tells us to “hold fast to the traditions you have received from us whether by letter or by word of mouth” You knew that, right?
Sola fide and Sola scriptura are alterations of the “Gospel” itself, and faller under the condemnation of Galatians 1. Marian dogma is not really part of the “Gospel”(though it is part of the faith), and therefore doesnt apply to the admonition in Galations.
Who’d you get your facts from?”

 

[CentralFLJames]

I always viewed Galatians 1:6-9 as an apostolic curse against Protestantism. The Protestants are the ones who are teaching a completely new innovative never before heard Gospel and not a traditional apostolic Gospel.

What Protestants simply refuse to understand is that JESUS IS THE LIVING WORD OF GOD. They are just clueless that there is MUCH more to the LIVING Word of God than just written scripture.

Here are some favorite excerpts coming from DEI VERBUM and THE WORD OF GOD IN THE LIFE AND MISSION OF THE CHURCH (INSTRUMENTUM LABORIS draft in work).

• A true reading of the Scriptures as the Word of God cannot be done except in Ecclesia, in accord with her (the Church) teaching!
• The Word of God is like a hymn with many voices, proclaimed by God in a variety of ways and forms (cf. Heb 1:1). The history of Revelation is long and has many heralds, yet it is always characterized by a hierarchy in meaning and function.
• The Word was made flesh" (Jn 1:14): the ultimate and definitive Word of God is Jesus Christ.
• But the Word of God is not locked away in writing. Even though Revelation ended with the death of the last apostle(cf. DV 4), the Word-Revealed continues to be proclaimed and heeded throughout Church history…Preaching, in this sense, under the power of the Holy Spirit, is the Word of the living God communicated to living persons.
• Like fruit coming forth from its roots, the truths of the Church’s faith, in the fields of dogma and morality, fall within the sphere of the Word of God.
• …The Christian religion cannot be defined as a “religion of the Book” in an absolute sense, in that the inspired book has a vital link to the entire body of Revelation (4).
• A keen awareness of belonging to the Church, the Body of Christ, will be effective only to the extent that these different relations to the Word of God are coherently followed, that is, the Word proclaimed, the Word meditated upon and studied, the **Word prayed and celebrated **and the Word lived and propagated.
• **At the same time, the Word of God extends beyond the Book, reaching humanity through the living Tradition of the Church. This understanding of the Word of God works against a private interpretation of the Bible and one confined to Scripture only. **Instead, the Bible is read in a wider, unending procession of the Word of God, as shown in the fact that the Word continues to nourish generation after generation in always new and different times.
• …with regards to what might be inspired in the many parts of Sacred Scripture, inerrancy applies only to "that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation" (DV 11);

James