Wrong
This is a deification of the Sacred Scriptures, which is the
word of God, but one with Sacred Tradition.
The Only place where we find complete truth is in our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate
Word of God.
And the
Word of God told his apostles that He had many, many more things that He had to tell us, but that we weren’t ready to bear them, so the Holy Spirit would have the task of revealing them things in due time. Which is why the Lord also added: “Those who hear you, hear me. Those who reject you, reject me.”
I invite you to learn more about how the canon of the Sacred Scripture was formed, and about how it was the Church (that is, the Catholic Church) which for centuries put together the books of the Old Testament and of the New Testament. Had it been done today, the Holy Bible you hold in your hands would have said (C) Catholic Church. All the so-called “reformers” did was tear out some pages from the Old Testament.
And where did you receive this teaching?
Because remember what St. Paul said: “stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you …] to encourage others with sound doctrine and refuse those who oppose it”. This teaching of yours is
not in accordance with Sacred Scripture. It is also
not in accordance with what the Fathers of the Church have written. So I repeat my question:
where does this teaching, this new gospel come from?
Consider the following, and let’s see if you can guess the date in which it was written:
This was written by Clement of Rome, disciple of Peter and his successor as bishop, around the year 90 AD. However, its timeless truths still apply 19 centuries later.
In fact, it is rather sad that someone who is profoundly in love with Christ and probably willing do do good works and sacrifices for the love of God is putting such a great trust in the man-made doctrines that have shaped what is lousily called “protestantism”.
You are not alone in this - others have given us (and personally to me) evidence based on their doctrines and supported by the Scriptures that there is no Holy Spirit, that Christ is neither God, nor divine, but merely a creature or merely a man, that baptism is not necessary, et cetera. All of this is a lie, in fact, it is the mock gospel that the father of lies has slowly spread ever since the true gospel has been upheld and protected by Holy Church.
Don’t get me wrong: it is true that the first step is to turn towards Christ, for “a man cannot have two masters”. In fact Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and Doctor of the Church, who wrote extensively about the Catholic Church and its relationship to heretics, also wrote the notorious remark: “
love, and do what you will” - for in love, or rather, under grace, the works of Christ will be done. But the good works will require sacrifice, and grace can be lost. It’s in the Scriptures.
The blatant error is to say that this suffices to be saved. And it’s a truly ridiculous error. The only thing that stops you from learning why it is so and acknowledging it as such is that it requires you to step out of your comfort zone, to acknowledge that whatever protestant doctrine you follow is partially erroneous, and to acknowledge that the despicable Catholic Church was, after all, right. It is not easy. But we ought to follow not what we like, not what others have told us to be truthful, but the
actual gospel of Jesus Christ. This requires to learn what the Sacred Scripture teaches, to learn what the Church Fathers have written, to learn what the Catholic Church is and to learn how the Catholic Church dismisses the heresies that have appeared from the first decades after Pentecost until the “reform” until this very day.
Or you can just ignore me and keep listening to whoever is teaching you the man-made ideas of “faith alone” and “scripture alone”. and presume that all it takes for you to be a saint and be like Christ or as perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect is to say that you accept the Lord as your savior.
I would be naive to think that everything the Protestant churches taught was Biblical. The Bible is the only solid truth we have and anything else is doctrine by which Priests and Pastors alike can make mistakes in teaching.
But it also brings an excellent point to the whole works vs. faith debate. 