Protestant Idolatry

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Rightlydivide said:
Absolutely Ignatius demands obedience to the local bishops and never once mentions a bishop who has any jurisdiction out of their area. Never. As far as your contention, Paul wrote the vast majority of the New Testament and Paul/Saul appears more times than Peter/Cephas. Peter disappears after Paul comes on the scene? Coincidence?
The Bible came from the Catholic Church? I suppose that is true if you do not county any of the books prior to the NT…care to rephrase your statement?
They were not Catholic in practice. Read this and tell me the last time your congregation voted on their leaders?

From Clement.

The apostles approved me. We know that. Paul for one appointed elders and so did Timothy. But who else? Eminent men. Men of character. But who has to approve them? The church. The whole entire church has to vote on them or the congregation? Clearly the local church has the final vote. But do you do that? Nope.

Oh but maybe that is an exception CW. Maybe the early church really did not teach congregational polity in choosing their leaders.

How about the Didache? The first century right?

Everyone knows that the early church elected the local bishops and deacons.
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where does this teach that congregations chose the leaders. have read clement myself and i just assumed in these passages that it was the leadership that appointed elders and deacons and such. guess i just dont see it as you do. also the apostles cast lots to determine who would replace judas and take his office. sorry just do not see the local church having that much authority. maybe im missing something.🙂
 
benidict said:
also dont forget the trinity. not found in the bible, although alluded to, this also is a product of the One True Chuch.
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If I listed everyhting that Protestants do that cannot be found directly in scripture, it would take days!!
 
CWBetts said:
I have read more of the Bible in two months than most people do in a year (and no, I am not exaggerating!! Since August 25th: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1+2 Samuel, and portions of the Psalms). The verse you site make no reference to the Scriptures, but to God. Jesus may be the Word made flesh. But that does not mean that Jesus is fully identical with the Bible. The Bible is a book. A very good book. It is the written word of God, but it is not worthy of worship. The Bible is not sentient. To attribute these qualities to the Bible is clearly idolatry. To say that the Bible is God is to say that the Gettysburg Address is Abraham Lincoln. God does know our hearts. The Bible does not.
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👍👍👍

I am aghast that some can actually think the two are interchangeable. Perhaps the Bible hung on the cross .🙂
 
RightlyDivide, I am quite struck by your “religion: small church that follows the Bible”

I would probably define mine as a big (universal) Church that follows Christ 🙂
 
I now can give you a source for the quote that started this thread:

Hubbard, David A. Does the Bible Really Work. Word Books: Waco, TX. 1971

There you have it. Evidence that i was not making this stuff up.
 
benedictus2 said:
👍👍👍

I am aghast that some can actually think the two are interchangeable. Perhaps the Bible hung on the cross .🙂
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Just an aside…non Catholics tend to worship the Bible and give it supernatural attributes because they have no Teaching Authority…no Church…no unity…no effective leadership on a universal scale…no Tradition…(some traditions but no Tradition)…no connection with the early Church and it’s truth…at least not much that they would claim. This is why the Bible is overemphasized…they haven’t much else…sadly. For the same reasons they are forever on a quest for charismatic speakers. Without a charismatic speaker their gatherings fail in popularity and resources…always.
 
pismopal said:
Just an aside…non Catholics tend to worship the Bible and give it supernatural attributes because they have no Teaching Authority…no Church…no unity…no effective leadership on a universal scale…no Tradition…(some traditions but no Tradition)…no connection with the early Church and it’s truth…at least not much that they would claim. This is why the Bible is overemphasized…they haven’t much else…sadly. For the same reasons they are forever on a quest for charismatic speakers. Without a charismatic speaker their gatherings fail in popularity and resources…always.
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Too right! 👍
 
benedictus2 said:
RightlyDivide, I am quite struck by your “religion: small church that follows the Bible”

I would probably define mine as a big (universal) Church that follows Christ 🙂
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Mat 7:14 Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and *few *there be that find it.
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CWBetts said:
I now can give you a source for the quote that started this thread:

Hubbard, David A. Does the Bible Really Work. Word Books: Waco, TX. 1971

There you have it. Evidence that i was not making this stuff up.
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Couldn’t you scan the page and upload it?
 
I do want to make a comment about the Baptists (on this page).
It seems to me like they’re trying to solve an apparent authority problem in Protestantism. I’m guessing the Pastor at this Church as come to the conclusion that there must be a single unifying authority in Christianity. I’m guessing that he realizes there must be a single objective truth of Christianity. So far I’m with him.

Unfortunetly it would seem that he just can not, will not, dare not question his own beliefs. He will not question whether or not the bible could possibly not be the authority. Because of this, and his personal preference for the KJV bible (at least he picked a good translation) he’s decided that “well the bible is the authroity, but why do other people have other idea’s. It must be because Satan is manipulating scripture in all these other bibles”.

I guess from an Evangellical POV I suppose I could see how one might come to that conclusion. But is that truely reasnoble? I mean really, don’t you think you’re reaching? Then how do you explain how difference Christians, reading the same KJV bible still come to different interpetations and conclusions.

At what point do you just admit, the Holy Spirit was never Promised to all of us individually, to guide all of us individually to the full truth of scripture. Indeed, even the Scribes (ancient and moderns) are not promised the Holy Spirit to faithfully recopy the bible. We know this because there are over 200,000 variations (from ancient days) found in transcriptions of the bible. Indeed Proistants mistakenly add “For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory” to then end of the Lords prayer because a Scribe added the footnote (it was never in Gosple), because by the time that Scribe was transcribing the bible the layety (clergy following) had already added it on their own and this scribe felt inspired to add the footnote. It was accidently included as gospel text by a scribe, picked up by Protestants and to this day many stil beleive that is actually a part of the Lords prayer.

For a Catholic, this isn’t a problem at all. The reason for that is because we realize that Christ left a teaching institution behind, which will teach infallibily. Christ never left, or comissioned a bible to be written. That wasn’t even a thought at the time of the Ascension. It was written to fill a practical need.
 
Eucharisted said:
Yes, it is sad how Bible adoration is flourishing among some brethern.
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Adoration of the Bible???
The Bible should be read. We adore the Lord , not books.
How about you, where is your adoration directed?

God bless,
bluelake
 
bluelake said:
Adoration of the Bible???
The Bible should be read. We adore the Lord , not books.
How about you, where is your adoration directed?

God bless,
bluelake
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It is interesting how you say “we” as if Protestantism was actually unified an, well, anything! We adore God alone, but we venerate saints.
 
CWBetts said:
Catholics are always getting accused of idolatry with our devotions to the Blessed Virgin and the saints. However I was reading a book that belongs to my Protestant brother, and it elevated the Bible to the status of God. I understand that the Bible is God’s written Word, but the Bible does not “know what we need in our hearts” (It actually said that–I am NOT making this up!) That is idolatry, my friends! That author, at least, replaced God with a book! Very sad…
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Was mulling this question on the train yesterday and I thought it is not really idolatry of the bible.

Essentially, protestantism is idolatry of the self.

Interpretation of the Bible? I decide.

Worship? That which makes me feel good.

Morality? That which is convenient for me.

An obeisance to the unholy trinity of I / Me/ Myself.
 
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