Look at these things prayerfully and carefully.
Then - - -
Please Try to answer these questions directly and not with some post meant to turn the conversation in another direction.
Because - - -
I can keep showing you Authority for as lon as you can keep ignoring it.
It is IN the Bible - - It IS God’s Word.
This is where you are wrong.
Both of our authorities are Jesus Christ. He is The King and The Judge. The difference is not in the Authority but in our willingness to submit to His Authority.
This is where we differ.
Jesus came to redeem us from our sins.
He also set up a Body of Believers called His Church to which He gave Authority.
To Spread, Grow and Teach this Church Jesus wrote not one word. Instead He spent three years training 12 men plus many others.
After Jesus Ascention into heaven, He did not pour out books upon the Apostles but God’s Holy Spirit. The Apostles immediately began to go about fearlessly teaching the Good News.
Again you will note that not one word of NT has yet been written.
So we have a clear indication of which came first, the Church or the Bible.
The Earliest NT writing that is dated to about 20 years AFTER the ascention.
And The Church existed and taught long before the NT books were written down.
Now, of course, as the Apostles went about teaching and establishing Communities of Believers, there came need for additional teachers - priests and bishops. These were selected from among those who were “personally trained by the Apostles”. These then personally trained their successors - and so on. This personal training and passing on of the faith continued for nearly 400 years before the canon of The Bible was discerned and canonized “By Successors of Jesus’ Apostles”
So - It should be easy to see that the flow goes thus:
Jesus came first and established -
His Church which spread the Gospel and later assembled -
The Bible
So - Authority for the Bible comes From Christ Through The Church and not seperate from it.
The preacher of my church and your pope will never sit and debate scripture. You see my stand as another gospel as I see yours as another gospel.
I would say that you are right, it is highly unlikely that your preacher and the Vicar of Christ would meet and discuss scripture. Do you feel that your peacher is on the same spiritual level as Pope Benedict XVI?
I find it interesting that you wrote earlier that All you needed was the Bible and now you are admitting that you have a “preacher”. So — What is he preaching if it is not “his interpretation” of the Bible. You accuse me of being locked into the interpretations of the Catholic Church, and talk of the 'unction" of the Holy Spirit, and yet you yourself submit yourself to the preachings of a mere man. A man you evidently respect and I am sure who has profound influence on how you view scripture and history.
In Short, while you claim your beliefs to come strictly from the Bible and put forth the “Holy Spirit” as your inspiration, in Truth you are part of a “Faith Tradition” headed by a “Preacher” who teaches his interpretation of scripture and you buy into it. Of course in your case, if the Preacher started saying things that you didn’t agree with you could simply leave his church and go to another where they did agree with you.
Even our stand on salvation is not the same. I believe a man must be born again to enter the kindgom of God. Do you?
Why would you think that we are different?
The Church teaches that we must be born again in the Spirit.
YOu see - Once again you demonstrate that the only thing you know about the Catholic Church are the errors you have been spoon fed by anti-catholics.
If you are seeking Truth, then Seek it.
You once mentioned to me that I “have my own mind and soul”, well so do you.
Are you afraid to Listen to and read the actual Church histories, teaching and documents with an open mind?
I left the Church years ago and went looking - my searching led me back home to the Catholic Church. If you are searching for the FULL TRUTH, then get out there and make sound and critical studies of the Bible, and where it came from - various denominations and where they came from.
Peace
James