I would think the Bible itself is sufficient.
Your and “Digger’s” comments seem pretty sarcastic. I know this person and she is in love with her new Catholic faith and the Eucharist and is only doing the protestant bible study with these particular friends, who are still protestant. They have been doing bible study for many years and are very close friends. My friend has done a phenomenal job of sharing her faith and has begun to meet some resistance from them.
I was not trying to be sarcastic. Sorry if it came across that way. I was sincere in what I said.
And who would be doing the interpreting? Once again, each man becomes the center insead of God. It is certainly not sufficient. The bible is a teaching tool assembled by the Bishops of the Catholic Church in the late 300’s, Jesus Church guides all interpretation through the Holy Spirit. That is why the Church has remained unchanged and unswerving in teaching the Word to all mankind for 2,000 years, unlike the splintering into over 30,000 churches where each man thought that the Bible alone was sufficient. The pride of man has led to his downfall repeatedly, begininning with Adam and Eve. Think about the reason that Jesus came down and took on flesh. He did not write a bible, he taught us how to live and started the Church to guide us since we are incapable of being our own guide without His Church to give us the Bible and interpret it for us.
I suspect the main difference would be Catholics seeing a comparison between the Old Testament Tabernacle and Mary. Mary’s perpetual virignity and Immaculate Concpetion tie into the need to keep, like in the Old Testament, the tabernacle purified.
i just find it fascinating that you were able to retain your friendships with these 2. Praise God. i wish i could say the same. i have one person i was very close to for years. because of my conversion, our friendship became strained. we got to where we could not discuss spiritual things. he kept throwing baptist dogma at me. i think he thinks im lost. gave him some very good books to read. its been a year since ive seen him. since i moved out of the area. but he will not even take my calls. i have a friend who was a baptist preacher and converted to Episcopalian go through the same thing. he lost alot more tho. but now he has his own Church. thank God you were able to retain your friendships. Peace
I didn’t know about that one. Although it is a clear difference I don’t believe there is any protestant teaching of the Tabernacle that would contradict it. That sounds more like a teaching that would compliment the protestant teaching. However, modakota said she wanted to introduce some Catholic teaching, and I don’t think Mary’s perpetual virginity would go over so well. If she wanted to introduce this topic I would recommend getting the protestants on board with the Immaculate Conception and stop there. If she dives right into perpetual virginity they might react against that.
im just hoping no friendships are lost over this. my prayer is that the Holy Spirit guides their study. it can be touchy when you get into certain areas. i think the immaculate conception would be harder for them to understand, than the Blessed Mothers perpetual virginity. Peace
Good point. Maybe then just focus on the virgin birth. We all agree on that. Then she could introduce the teaching and develop it later if she sees an opening. Like said in the second paragraph sharing her personal experiences might prove to be the most beneficial. Nobody can refute her experiences because they are hers and hers alone. I think you are right to warn about friendship. If she pushes too hard they might push back.im just hoping no friendships are lost over this. my prayer is that the Holy Spirit guides their study. it can be touchy when you get into certain areas. i think the immaculate conception would be harder for them to understand, than the Blessed Mothers perpetual virginity. Peace
hi texasgringo. i really do think it is wonderful tho that she has been able to retain these relationships. it gives me hope. she is an inspiration for further understanding between Catholics and Baptist. that would be awesome. i really think whats going on there is a work of God. for all parties concerned. Peace
The Bible is NOT a “teaching tool” …“assembled by the Bishops of the Catholic Church in the late 300’s.”
Yes, I understand that difference, but I still was concerned about how some might interpret your post I responded to. I still think that the first place to start when wondering what the Old Testament meant about “tabernacle” or anything is the Old Testament itself.
I understand what you mean, but my thoughts were that a person who is unfamiliar with the Traditions of our Church explained in the Catechism offered up a simple one sentence response about what supporting texts could be used by the person in interpreting the Bible at her Bible Study saying only, “The Bible itself would be all that was needed.”