Matt Janes
Member
When people start correcting people with Scripture and saying all people who through no fault of their own never heard of the Gospel went to hell, it is good to take it with a grain of salt. Scripture says a lot of things.
The Bible says, "Many will become Eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of God". Any volunteers?
Scripture says "Call no man your Father, while at the same time says "honor your Father and Mother" and Paul says, "I became your Father".
Scripture says no one has seen the face of God while at the same time saying Moses interacted with God face to face.
Scripture says those who believe in Christ will drink poison and it will not affect them. Any volunteers?
Scripture says "If you have the Faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains". Anyone seen a mountain move?
Scripture says, "ask anything of the Father in my name and it will be done for you". Many people beg God incessantly for healing of various afflictions in the name of Jesus and healing doesn't take place. I've personally experienced this far too many times to count.
Scripture says "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out". I know without a doubt that my eye causes me to sin. Should I pluck it? I kid you not, I was in a psyche ward with a patient who plucked out his eyes over a pornography addiction.
Scripture says those who believe in Christ will do his works and greater works. There are approximately 2 billion Christians in the world and I know not of a single one who is doing the works of Christ and greater works.
Scripture says it is shameful for a man to have long hair, yet all the depictions of Christ that I have seen show him with long hair.
Scripture says it is wrong for a woman to talk in Church.
Scripture says a lot of things.
Scripture is full of hyperbole's, poetry, parables, and symbolism that isn't supposed to be taken literally. Scripture contradicts itself, has lost some meaning through translation, and much of the context is lost, especially if you don't understand the language and culture of when it was being said.
Hence, the need for a Church. Christ knew people would misinterpret the Scriptures, so he set up a visible authority to settle disputes about Doctrine and Scriptural interpretation.
The Bible does not teach that the Bible is the only and final authority for settling Doctrinal disputes and interpretation of Scripture.
The first Christians were not Bible Christians. If the Bible was to be a final authority, surely Christ would have left people with such a book. He didn't. The Bible came hundreds of years later, and the printing press came much later. Most people were illiterate anyway until very recently in our history. The Catholic Church decided the Canon of the first Bible at the Councils of Rome, Carthage, and Hippo. The founder of the Protestant Reformation was a Catholic Priest, Hence, Protestants get their Bible from the Catholic Church and the Bible is a Catholic book.
The early Christians relied on the Church. The Apostles didn't go around handing out Bibles and Scriptures to everyone.
In the council of Jerusalem, Acts 15, The Apostles decided that following the law of Moses and circumcision was no longer necessary. That decision totally contradicted the Scriptures of that time. They, as the Church Hierarchy, and visible authority on earth, were guided by the Holy Spirit, and did not use the Scriptures as the infallible guide for their decision, because the Scriptures at that time totally went against their decision.
This idea that the Bible is the final authority and only source of Theological truth was not practiced by any Church before the 16th century. Practicing this Doctrine is very common now a days but it is totally unbiblical. If the Bible is to be the final authority, then there should be something in the Bible that states that the Bible is the final authority, and there is nothing that states that.
Protestant Churches were founded by men, and their foundation is an Unbiblical man-invented Doctrine that destroys itself.
The Catholic Church however dates back to Christ, and the claim that someone other than Christ founded the Catholic Church has been repeatedly refuted.
The World book encyclopedia shows an unbreakable chain of Bishops of Rome (Popes) dating back to the first century. The Second Pope was Saint Linus in 67 AD.
The Protestant reformation splintered Christianity into thousands of denominations, because the Bible is such a confusing book to begin with and was never supposed to be the sole rule for sacred Theology.
Before the 16th century there were occasional Schisms, but those Schisms were not Protestant anymore than the Eastern Orthodox Churches are Protestant.
For many centuries, there was one Christian Church and you don't have to be a Historian to know it was the Catholic Church.
Now, am I telling you you should convert to Catholicism? Absolutely not! If you have found a path that better works for you, follow your heart, follow your vocation, follow your calling....if the shoe doesn't fit, don't wear it.
What bothers me though, is that so many people who only follow the Bible, attack people for not following their interpretation of Scripture, and say that they are unsaved and going to Hell.
I started a thread recently and was told that Buddha and all people who (through no fault of their own) never heard of Christ would go to Hell. That is simply disgusting, depressing, and the epitome of unjust! Yet it is a belief that is strangely prevalent due to people following the man-made, invented, solascriptura Doctrine.
The Bible says, "Many will become Eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of God". Any volunteers?
Scripture says "Call no man your Father, while at the same time says "honor your Father and Mother" and Paul says, "I became your Father".
Scripture says no one has seen the face of God while at the same time saying Moses interacted with God face to face.
Scripture says those who believe in Christ will drink poison and it will not affect them. Any volunteers?
Scripture says "If you have the Faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains". Anyone seen a mountain move?
Scripture says, "ask anything of the Father in my name and it will be done for you". Many people beg God incessantly for healing of various afflictions in the name of Jesus and healing doesn't take place. I've personally experienced this far too many times to count.
Scripture says "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out". I know without a doubt that my eye causes me to sin. Should I pluck it? I kid you not, I was in a psyche ward with a patient who plucked out his eyes over a pornography addiction.
Scripture says those who believe in Christ will do his works and greater works. There are approximately 2 billion Christians in the world and I know not of a single one who is doing the works of Christ and greater works.
Scripture says it is shameful for a man to have long hair, yet all the depictions of Christ that I have seen show him with long hair.
Scripture says it is wrong for a woman to talk in Church.
Scripture says a lot of things.
Scripture is full of hyperbole's, poetry, parables, and symbolism that isn't supposed to be taken literally. Scripture contradicts itself, has lost some meaning through translation, and much of the context is lost, especially if you don't understand the language and culture of when it was being said.
Hence, the need for a Church. Christ knew people would misinterpret the Scriptures, so he set up a visible authority to settle disputes about Doctrine and Scriptural interpretation.
The Bible does not teach that the Bible is the only and final authority for settling Doctrinal disputes and interpretation of Scripture.
The first Christians were not Bible Christians. If the Bible was to be a final authority, surely Christ would have left people with such a book. He didn't. The Bible came hundreds of years later, and the printing press came much later. Most people were illiterate anyway until very recently in our history. The Catholic Church decided the Canon of the first Bible at the Councils of Rome, Carthage, and Hippo. The founder of the Protestant Reformation was a Catholic Priest, Hence, Protestants get their Bible from the Catholic Church and the Bible is a Catholic book.
The early Christians relied on the Church. The Apostles didn't go around handing out Bibles and Scriptures to everyone.
In the council of Jerusalem, Acts 15, The Apostles decided that following the law of Moses and circumcision was no longer necessary. That decision totally contradicted the Scriptures of that time. They, as the Church Hierarchy, and visible authority on earth, were guided by the Holy Spirit, and did not use the Scriptures as the infallible guide for their decision, because the Scriptures at that time totally went against their decision.
This idea that the Bible is the final authority and only source of Theological truth was not practiced by any Church before the 16th century. Practicing this Doctrine is very common now a days but it is totally unbiblical. If the Bible is to be the final authority, then there should be something in the Bible that states that the Bible is the final authority, and there is nothing that states that.
Protestant Churches were founded by men, and their foundation is an Unbiblical man-invented Doctrine that destroys itself.
The Catholic Church however dates back to Christ, and the claim that someone other than Christ founded the Catholic Church has been repeatedly refuted.
The World book encyclopedia shows an unbreakable chain of Bishops of Rome (Popes) dating back to the first century. The Second Pope was Saint Linus in 67 AD.
The Protestant reformation splintered Christianity into thousands of denominations, because the Bible is such a confusing book to begin with and was never supposed to be the sole rule for sacred Theology.
Before the 16th century there were occasional Schisms, but those Schisms were not Protestant anymore than the Eastern Orthodox Churches are Protestant.
For many centuries, there was one Christian Church and you don't have to be a Historian to know it was the Catholic Church.
Now, am I telling you you should convert to Catholicism? Absolutely not! If you have found a path that better works for you, follow your heart, follow your vocation, follow your calling....if the shoe doesn't fit, don't wear it.
What bothers me though, is that so many people who only follow the Bible, attack people for not following their interpretation of Scripture, and say that they are unsaved and going to Hell.
I started a thread recently and was told that Buddha and all people who (through no fault of their own) never heard of Christ would go to Hell. That is simply disgusting, depressing, and the epitome of unjust! Yet it is a belief that is strangely prevalent due to people following the man-made, invented, solascriptura Doctrine.
