Okay Protestants, here’s something for you to tackle:
Several years ago I showed a Baptist co-worker of mine James 2:20 (“faith without works is dead”) and Revelation 20:12 (“And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds”). She looked at me and said, “You’re right Jean. They DO say that!” She was so disturbed by the Bible verses and that she wasn’t doing any good deeds/works that she just had to go to her Pastor about it. And she did.
In fact, she came back to work that Monday and told me that after she showed her Pastor those 2 verses, he looked directly at her and told her, “Yeah, they’re there, but they don’t mean anything.” He also added not to worry about them so she didn’t. She was actually quite relieved to know those Biblical verses did not mean anything.
As a Catholic and like most, if not all, I take the whole Bible into consideration.
It seems that if something in the Bible does not jive with Protestant beliefs it is either there and does not mean anything OR it is there and we Catholics just are not interpreting it right.
As a Catholic, it bothers me and offends me even that it always comes down to is either there and does not mean anything OR it is there and we Catholics just are not interpreting it right. In some ways, it is even insulting to me.
Why is it Catholics are always wrong and Protestants are always right? Why can’t Catholics ever be right? Or, would that be too threatening to most Protestants? I mean… if Catholics are right it somehow shatters all of what they believe in, righht?
I am sorry, but either the entire Bible means something or it means nothing. You cannot say 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 means something and is important YET disregard James 2:20 or Revelation 20:12 like it does not exist.
