Christ first speaks through the Scriptures and the church if it is speaking for Christ must speak what Christ taught.
This is true, God did reveal Himself through Moses and the Prophets. Yet, though the Scriptures testified of Him, He came to His own, and they knew Him not. He spoke to them, gave them signs, and died for them, but they still did not recognize Him. Clearly knowledge of the Scripture is not necessarily sufficient.
Jesus committed His message to His Church, which He built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The reason that the Church speaks what Christ taught is because He is the Head of the Church. The reason that there is nothing in the NT that contradicts the Catholic faith is that it was written by, for, and about Catholics.
This is absolutely important since the church is not infallible and has and can err.
I think you must cling to this myth so that you can resist coming to the Church that Christ built. It would require that you relinquish your deeply ingrained hatred of the Catholic Church, and you can’t seem to do that.
That’s why the inspired-inerrant Word of God must take first place in matters of importance. All human teachers and institutions are to be under the authority of the Scriptures.
Betcha can’t find that in your bible.
One of the best examples of a rampant man made doctrine.
We must not just accept all that a church may teach without first comparing that teaching to the Scriptures otherwise you will find yourself following the doctrines of men.
This is especially true for all those separated from the Apostolic succession. The gift of infallibility was given to the Church through the Apostles. They passed on this treasure to their successors. Persons who are not in communion with them are prone to “follow the doctrines of men” with great gusto.
Again, this is not NT teaching. Acts 4:12 addresses this where it says: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
This may come as a shock to you, but the NT does not “teach”. Teaching is an activity that is done by a person. As valuable as the Holy Writings are, they don’t “teach” themselves. If they did, Jesus would not have needed to appoint teachers.
Salvation is in the God-man the Lord Jesus Christ and not in a church. The church has another function i.e. to build up believers.
There is no separation between Christ and His church.
The sin issue was dealt with at the cross. Colossians 2:13-14 makes this staggering claim and promise to us where it says:
This why not even sin can separate us from Christ since He has already defeated it at the cross… Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Cor 9:15
Indeed, Christ did deal with sin at the cross. However, the nature of sin did not change. It separates us from Him as much after His crucifixion as before. Although He died for all, not all have their sins forgiven. To benefit from His sacrifice, we have to have the benefits applied to us personally. When this does not happen, we are separated from Him by sin.
One of the characteristics of a true follower of Christ is that he perserveres. If that person is no longer following Christ he was not really His to begin with. This kind of person is described in the parable of the sower. See Matthew 13:18-23 espeically verses 19-22.
This is a doctrine of men.
If a person chooses not to follow Him i would take this as a sign he was never His to begin with. Again the parable of the sower alludes to this.
What we see in the parable of the sower is that only one fourth of the seeds never took root “to begin with”. One quarter persevered, and the other 50% began but did not finish. This is a poor parable to use to back up OSAS.
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