I was under the impression that Jewish tradition has a lot to do with it. I’m not overly familiar with Early Church history, I wish I could be of more help.
1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
You will need to, firstly, be open to understandin ALL that Catholicism professes in Her Holy Traditions, rather than, seemingly, looking to produce objections to each point a Catholic specifies.
Could you please explain those verses to me?You will need to, firstly, be open to understandin ALL that Catholicism professes in Her Holy Traditions, rather than, seemingly, looking to produce objections to each point a Catholic specifies.
The Church is Christian because it was established by Christ and it follows all that He taught. But you can see from the record that He is God, without begining or end. That being the case, the earliest traditions are those given to Adam as being the first revelation of God to man! (Monogamous Marriage)
Throughout the Old Testament, God interacted with humanity and from time to time revealed further traditions and laws for those who choose to follow Him to adhere to. But the record also shows how humans treat Divine revelation and either misunderstand, abuse or ignore them. (See the history of Israel in the OT)
Finally, He Himself came down here personally as the final revelation of His will for humanity and left with us the “How” to attain Heaven. We are taught that The Church is The NEW ISRAEL and all are ‘Jews’ (Chosen) as there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile!
Therefore, ALL Catholic Traditions stem from and include matters from the very beginning of God’s interaction with His creation. For instance, it is FROM ‘Catholic’ Tradition that we know of the Creation account. I say “Catholic” because the Jews did not procalim this knowledge in the same manner The Church does, nor spread it indiscriminately the way The Church did and has. It is now global knowledge, AFTER, The Church disseminated its Scriptures in proclaiming the Good News and claims of its Holy Founder.
I’m sure that you have Catholic ‘traditions’ earmarked as being erroneous and want to debate them, but just be aware that all that you know of Christianity, and as a Christian, stem from those traditions!
Now that is a very good question and strikes at the heart of all God’s revelations. For you see, God reveals himself to people within time and space. Our mortality means that the people who witnessed God’s revelation through his Son, Jesus Christ, are long gone and cannot witness to what was actually taught them. The only thing that is left to us is what they passed down to successive generations. So authenticity and reliability are key issues. As an example, how do we know that the Gospel of Mark was penned by Jon Mark, the disiciple of Paul and later Peter. There is little internal evidence that shows who the author was (authenticity) and how close to the resurrection it was actually penned (a measure of reliability). Only through the oral traditions of the early church was this knowledge retained, not through the written testimony of the Gospel.
No conflict- the RCC does not forbid marriage or command abstaining.
Yes, they certainly do. Priests aren’t allowed to marry, and Catholics aren’t allowed to eat meat on Friadays.
Eastern Catholic priests are often married. I ate meat on Friday. Abstainance from meat is a suggested penitential act, not a dogma.
That’s odd, since there are MANY Catholics in my area who think eating meat on Friday is a sin. Are they just misinformed?
Yes and no. We are asked by the Church to perform an act of penance on Friday to commemorate Good Friday. The tradition has been to abstain from meat, but one can substitute that act of penance with another (perhaps giving up drinking alcohol on that day, might be a good idea? - could be a tough thing for a university student to do on a Friday night, trust me
)Desciplinary actions or requirements are not dogmas! Priests used to be married, until a council and Pope decided otherwise, citing the assertion of St Paul and the example of Our Founder (Christ) that celibacy is ‘superior’ state for the clergy. Marriage is is an honourable union instituted by God, but since Christ was not married, you can take the argument up with Him.
When Jesus was incarnated, he came here for a reason: To pay the price for our sin. The fact that Christ wasn’t married only shows us that marriage wasn’t part of his mission.
No it certainly does not make one holier. Marriage is a gift and a beautiful one at that! But with gifts come responsibilities. If a priest were to marry, he would be committed to two loves which while admirable, are hard for most humans to handle. The priest is to view the Church as his wife, to protect her in every way he can the same as he would for a human wife. I’ve heard more stories of non-Catholic priests/ministers who are married and have been divorced many times because of the stresses involved both for the man as well as his wife. Catholic priests are called to do a job and put all their efforts into it, so it would be like asking a man to choose between two girlfriends I guess. Whichever one he commits to, he commits to for life.