clarkest;12299350:
I want to make it clear that I have no desire to bash the catholic church and I don’t want to offend anyone. I wouldn’t even try to convince someone to leave it to become a protestant. Even though I disagree with many of its teachings, I believe that the catholic faith adheres to what is needed to obtain salvation. Sometimes if you pull someone away from the faith they follow, they end up giving up the christian faith altogether. My desire is that we’re all together for eternity with God, but I do have honest questions for myself.
The catholic church did not create the bible. The bible was created by God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the writers selected by God. The letters you speak of that were circulated among the churches were the writings that were later included into the formal canon of scripture. I agree that the church met and decided on what was to be included and excluded, but the decisions were based on whether they were written by an apostle or a close contemporary and whether or not they had already been in use in he various local churches over the years. The Protestant churches today could get together and do the same thing. They were just verifying that they met those criteria.
Which is one reason I asked my original question–I do believe that the requirement to attend mass every Sunday contradicts the bible.
I agree with you about the importance of celebrating the lord’s supper, which Jesus commanded us to do. Even though we disagree on certain on certain technical aspects, I believe we are communing directly with Christ. And yes, I’ve read from the catechism with great interest.
He did not abolish the law, but he freed us from it, by his fulfillment of it: 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law Romans 3:28 NIV. You may be able to prove me wrong, which I would accept if that was the case, but I’m not just aimlessly bashing the catholic church.
In that case, God bless you for your honesty and willingness to have an open discussion about this.
I was trying the Church created the Bible in the sense that there was no Bible and so the Church, with the authority, guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus, chose which letters were divinely inspired and created a book of them. The protestant denominations cannot do the same because they do not have the authority to do this. And even if they did decide they could figure it out on their own, without the Church (and therefore without the protection of the Holy Spirit promised to the Church) it may not come to a desirable end. Like changing the Bible, taking entire books out and sections of other books. Anyways, this is off topic. Sorry…
Anyways, you believe requiring Catholics to attend Mass contradicts Romans 14:5-- “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.” (NIV).
This verse, and the surrounding verses, are not about what the body of Christians would have to observe for all time. As is very obvious, the first Christians were all Jews. They had to figure out what Jews who decided to be baptized had to drop from their Jewish traditions in order to be authentic followers of The Way. Should they still be circumsized? Can they eat pork or other food forbidden to Jews? Do they have to make trips to a mikvah? Do they still have to observe all the Jewish holy days?
Romans 14:1-12 is addressing some of these issues. Lots of Jews would not drink wine or eat certain food because the gentiles do, and Paul is saying that the Christians should never look down on Jewish converts with weak faith who still hold fast to their Jewish traditions. One man is a vegetarian, and he does this because of his old tradition and wants to honour Yahweh. Well, this is okay because the Jewish convert is doing what he understands he needs to do to honour the same God the Christians are honouring. It is a transitional period, and the strong in faith are never to judge the weak. With mercy and charity their faith will come.
The study note in my Bible on Romans 14:5 says "“
14:5 one day as better: Refers to the sacred days of the Old Covenant calendar, including the weekly Sabbath. These ceremonial times belonged to the Mosaic age that expired with the coming of the messianic age (Gal 4:10; Col 2:16). For this reason, they are not binding on the Christian conscience, although Jewish converts are still permitted to observe them in the earliest days of the Church. Note that Paul is not indifferent to holy days as such, but only to ritual feast days of Judaism. See note on Acts 21:21.”
The study note in my Bible on Acts 21:21 says “
21:21 forsake Moses: Rumors had reached Jerusalem that Paul forbade Jewish Christians to observe the religious traditions of Judaism. James takes this report to be false and urges Paul to make a public display of his reverence for the customs of Moses. From the perspective of Acts, only the Gentiles were exempt from circumcision and other ceremonies of the Torah (15:1-11), although hints are given that the Temple and its Mosaic rituals will pass away even for the Jews in due time (6:14; 10:9-16). ~ According to the Council of Florence in 1442, circumcision and other rites of the Mosaic Law could still be observed in the earliest days of the Church, so long as no one considered them necessary requirements for salvation.”
Those study notes are both taken from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible 2nd Edition. RSV.
So I’m not quite sure how that contradicts the Church requiring us to go to Mass, because it isn’t about what all Christians should do but what Jewish converts are allowed to retain from Judaism and how they should not be looked down on for whatever choice they make in that regard.
