What is the Catholic gospel message?

[guanophore]

Is this what Christ taught? Does it make you feel good knocking someone down? So, what if the guy isn't catholic?! He still has a right to be here. As do I. But I feel discouraged about posting anything on here because of all the antagonism. Why can't we all get along?  If someone disagrees, you label them a product of the Reformation. That's a cheap shot! It gets tiring after awhile to see this ganging up on someone. What's the benefit?  Catholics and protestants/evangelicals can learn much from each other.

I agree that we all have much to learn from each other. I have learned a lot on CAF. Most people that disagree with the Catholic faith do so because they are products of theReformation. How is that a “cheap shot”? I see it as a statement of fact. I just read on another thread where a poster stated that he thought the Reformation was God renewing His Church. He obviously considers this a benefit, not an insult.

One benefit of refuting error is that of loving others. It is not loving to confirm other people in error.

The Reformation was NOT about abolishing the catholic church, but rather to make some reforms because of the abuses that were going on and the church was getting too powerful and very wealthy. A far cry from the poor carpenter’s son from Nazareth. Also the fact that man-made traditions were taking precedent over the Holy Scriptures.

I agree that it did begin this way, but because men are the way we are, it quickly took on a life of it;s own, and it most certainly did include abolishing the Catholic Church. I think you will see this when you study history.

Let me ask some questions:

Do you defend unscriptural traditions?/quote]

Yes. The most valuable of these might be the Scriptures, which came from Catholic Sacred Traditions. The table of contents of what belongs in scripture is not found anywhere in scripture.
yankee_drifter;5582512:

Was the roman catholic church really around in the 1st century? Scriptures do not support your consensus that the first Christians were catholic. The Bible simply doesn’t say that.

That is because the Catholic Church is not “Roman”.

Was the 1st century church founded in Rome? The Bible says it was Jerusalem.

That is why the Eastern Rites are older than the Latin.

Who were the catholics that you claim wrote the bible? Names? When?

Most of the names of the writers of the NT are contained within the books. Those names that were not, such as Matthew, were preserved by Catholic Sacred Tradition, just as the gospels were before they were written.

Where in the bible does it say priests have the power to forgive sins? Bible says it belongs to God alone.

There is[forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=288727]](http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=288727]) another thread running

on this topic, so I refer you to it.

If you need to use outside sources or extra biblical sources to prove your case, then how can you convince the rest of the christian world?

It is difficult, especially since so many have fallen for the error of Sola Scriptura, and falsely believe that the Church founded by Christ is “biblically based” when it is not. The Church founded by Christ preceded the New Testament (and in fact, produced the NT) and is founded upon the Apostles and Prophets.

 

[guanophore]

Acts 17:10-12
As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

It is interesting about the emphasis here. Catholics see the nobility in the Bereans **for they received the message with great eagerness **. this is the main difference between the Bereans and modern Protestants. They examine the scriptures, thinking that in them they will find the Truth, but they do not receive the Apostolic message with eagerness from those that were authorized by God to deliver it. They accept messages from all sorts of places, some of them downright off the wall. All can justify themselves with scripture, though.

It is obvious that in your view, Paul is arguing against sola Scriptura in this passage from Acts 17. What is it specifically, that makes you convinced that Paul is talking about sola Scriptura here?

Paul taught that the message delivered by the Apostles was the standard by which the Truth should be judged. This was true prior to the NT being written, and remains true to this day. the reason that the Catholic faith seems to many to be inconsistent with the Scripture is because they have received the message from elsewhere first. Most do not even realize that what they were taught is not from the Apostles. Sola Scriptura is a good example of this.

The Apostles taught the inestimable value of the Holy Scripture. They taught that it was a useful tool for the church in the building up of the body of Christ- a duty committed to the Church by Christ.

 

[Disciple96]

Sola Scriptura is a good example of this.

The Apostles taught the inestimable value of the Holy Scripture. They taught that it was a useful tool for the church in the building up of the body of Christ- a duty committed to the Church by Christ.

Yep. And I’d like to add that the Scriptures the Apostles are talking about would be the Old Testament in the form of the Septuagint, the Greek version, which is different from the Hebrew text canonized later.

So if Protestants accept the Sola Scriptura idea and try to prove it from Scripture, then they prove too much and prove the New Testament out of the Bible. It wasn’t there yet.

And when was the New Testament written? Many years after the Church had already been in existence, with heirarchy and rules and rituals and ways of doing things and holy days and the Eucharist and the sacraments, etc. The NT was composed by the Church for the Church, by Apostles and Bishops who wrote works for pastoral use and for liturgical worship. Leave out that liturgical key and you will misunderstand everything written with it. Have that key and use it, and the whole economy of salvation opens up to you: The Church, established by Christ to administer the Sacraments she received from Him, through which He gives us His sanctifying grace.

It’s there in the Bible. Right there. It’s been there all along. But I didn’t see it until I found the Church, the Church called me, and the Church showed me, just like Philip, a Deacon, showed the Ethiopian in his chariot that day. “How can I understand unless someone shows me?” Turn away from the Church and you turn away from the very Mother who can nourish and nurture your faith and make it come alive.

Can I just mention again the talks by Fr. Nolan on the economy of salvation, the Church, the Mass and how it works? Download the audio. Whether you’re Catholic or not, I’m tellin’ ya, I think you’ll benefit from listening to these talks, especially the first two.

 

[YouthMinister88]

1. God loves you and has a plan for you.
2. Sin destroys that plan, but not God’s love for you.
3. God sent His only Son to die for you and your sins.
4. Turn to Jesus Christ and join His Church.

The Scripture references are obvious and numerous.

 

[guanophore]

1. God loves you and has a plan for you.
2. Sin destroys that plan, but not God’s love for you.
3. God sent His only Son to die for you and your sins.
4. Turn to Jesus Christ and join His Church.

The Scripture references are obvious and numerous.

Welcome to CAF, YM. You may have searched for threads of interest to you, and this is good. However, you should attend to the dates as well. This one was started two years ago, and it may be that everyone who was on it is now long gone.

The OP (original poster) was banned because he violated the forum rules, so he can’t respond to your answer.

Thanks for your post, though!