Hi Lorelei,
I'd like to respond to a few of your recent comments, if I may.
The catholic church proclaims to be THE church of Christ. They have no proof.
Actually, the "proof" is in the history. Either the Catholic Church is the same historic Church founded by the Apostles, retaining the fullness of faith written and preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Holy Spirit through Apostolic Succession down to this very day
or with all due respect, there are a few things you need to explain:
1. Your allegiance to (and solely to) the Bible, the canon of which was decided by councils of the Catholic Church.
2. Your practice (I assume) of Sunday worship (instead of Saturday Sabbath observance)with such scanty Scriptural evidence for such a practice.
3. The reason why you do not (I assume) make use of the practice of proxy baptism which is clearly Scriptural, being mentioned matter-of-factly by the Apostle Paul without the slightest hint of condemnation in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:29).
4. Your calculation of and even your observance of an annual celebration of Christ's Resurrection (Easter), taking into account the fact that this is noowhere mentioned in Scripture. This also goes for your celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25 (a practice that did not appear until at least the Fourth Century).
These are just a few examples of practices and beliefs that are not explicitly Scriptural and/or are later (and natural) developments of the Catholic Church. This is recorded history. So, if you think that the Catholic Church is so wrong, why adhere to the decisions of that Church on such issues? It seems that, in honesty to your faith, you would want to peel off all that is Catholic and not explicitly Scriptural in your beliefs and practices.
The catholic church proclaims to be infallible in doctrine. They have no proof.
Actually, the Catholic Church is made up of sinful and fallible human beings in need of the salvation only available through Jesus Christ (yes, even the pope). It is the Holy Spirit, the guide of the Church and her shepherds that is infallible.
The catholic church proclaims to be proclaiming the gospel. They have no proof.
? No offense, but you can't be serious about this one. The Catholic Church has been proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ for nearly 2,000 years now. What more proof do you need?
The catholic church proclaims to believe the Bible is the Word of God and that they hold it infallible and teach it's doctrine. They have no proof.
Once again, I can't believe you are serious about this one, either. A good tip is that if you want to know what the Catholic Church believes on any subject, defined in an easy-to-understand manner, turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. On this subject, I quote:
"Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely...For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body. In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, 'but as what it really is, the word of God.' 'In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them.'" (CCC 102-104).
So we can't disprove your doctrine unscriptural, because to you, your interpretation is right, and therefore can't be questioned. Because your church "said so".
And to you,
your interpretation is right, and therefore can't be questioned. Textual criticism and context analysis aside, there are still some pretty "grey" areas on some subjects in the Bible.
I argue that this is because God didn't guide the writing and compilation of the Bible for every individual Christian to be their own theologian and magisterium (if so, the mass numbers of illiterate believers throughout history have been at a distinct disadvantage). No, Scripture was compiled by the Church, protected by the Church, promulgated by the Church for the purposes of
reserving the writings of the Old Covenant and of the Apostolic Church, teaching the faith and for use in liturgical worship. Once again, history is on my side.
God bless.
In Officio Agnus,
Deacon's Son
