‘I’m going to Heaven, you stay here with Dad’: Italian mom sacrifices life for unborn baby

ROME, June 25, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - When Chiara Corbella learned she was pregnant with her third child, it was a great joy that ended in bittersweet tragedy for the young Italian mother, who died this month after postponing cancer treatment to save her cherished baby.

n a story that echoes that of Roman Catholic saint Gianna Molla, Chiara and her husband Enrico Petrillo embarked on a remarkable journey of faith in 2010 when they learned that they were pregnant with Francisco - and that Chiara had an aggressive form of cancer, reports the Catholic News Agency.

The news was especially poignant for the couple since both of Francisco’s elder siblings, Maria and David, had been lost shortly after birth. In fact, Chiara and Enrico had become popular pro-life speakers for their stories of their few treasured moments with each of their first two children before their brief lives came to an end.

This time, doctors said Francisco was healthy and developing normally. So when Chiara was advised to begin treatment immediately for her cancer, she declined, waiting for Francisco to be born in May of last year. The cancer progressed over the following year, depriving Chiara of sight in one eye before she finally succumbed on June 13, 2012.

“I am going to heaven to take care of Maria and David, you stay here with Dad. I will pray for you,” Chiara wrote to baby Francisco in a letter, one week before her death.

Chiara’s funeral Mass was celebrated by the Vicar General of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, who called Chiara “the second Gianna Beretta.”

Saint Gianna Molla was an Italian pediatrician who died in 1962 from complications caused by a fibroma on her uterus, after she refused both an abortion and a hysterectomy because she was pregnant with her fourth child.

Although a tragedy to outside observers - and certainly also for Enrico, to whom Chiara was happily married – the couple’s last conversations reveal, in the young husband’s words, “a story of love on the cross” that seemed to conquer even death.

“The truth is that this cross – if you embrace it with Christ – ceases to be as ugly as it looks. If you trust in him, you discover that this fire, this cross, does not burn, and that peace can be found in suffering and joy in death,” said Enrico, according to CNA. “I spent a lot of time this year reflecting on this phrase from the Gospel that says the Lord gives a cross that is sweet and a burden that is light.

“When I would look at Chiara when she was about to die, I obviously became very upset. But I mustered the courage and a few hours before – it was about eight in the morning, Chiara died at noon – I asked her.

“I said: ‘But Chiara, my love, is this cross really sweet, like the Lord says? She looked at me and she smiled, and in a soft voice she said, ‘Yes, Enrico, it is very sweet.’

“In this sense, the entire family didn’t see Chiara die peacefully, but happily, which is totally different.”

Enrico said he would tell his son Francisco when he was older that “the most important thing in life” is to “let yourself be loved in order to love and die happy,” and that “this is what his mother, Chiara, did.”

“She allowed herself to be loved, and in a certain sense, I think she loved everyone in this way,” he said. “I feel her more alive than ever. To be able to see her die happy was to me a challenge to death.”

Glad to see you agree that scripture is the authority in this matter. I will gladly change my position if you can show me where the doctrine of purgatory after this life is found in scripture.

Yes, the apostles recognized the Septuagint as scripture. Almost all of the apostles’ quotes from the Old Testament were directly from the Septuagint. Exceptions include Matt 2:15 and 2:23, John 19:37, John 7:38, and 1 Cor. 2:9 which contradict your notion that the LXX is always preferred over the Hebrew (or supposedly “Pharisee”) texts.

More significantly, nearly all of the Old Testament books are quoted authoritatively in the New Testament. The absence of the other texts being quoted supports the recognition of which texts are canon. There are many useful books which are not God-breathed. While some of these texts are helpful, the apostles did not invoke the authority of these non-canonical books.

Further, Jesus identified the divisions of scripture as commonly accepted in that time - Law, Prophets and Psalms. He read from those scriptures and never accused the contemporary clergy with wrongly identifying scriptures. He did however address that they had placed doctrines of men above the commands of God - something many continue to do.

So we can easily identify scriptures using the scriptures. We receive the writings of the apostles who have met the tests of apostleship. Paul listed these qualifications for us in his writings, all of which writings Peter tells us are scripture. John further commended churches which implemented these tests when he wrote to the seven churches of Asia.

We still have these apostles with us today, who being dead still speak. We have Paul, Peter, John and others. Modern claims of apostolic authority by the Catholic church fail to meet biblical standards which include being an eye-witness of Christ’s resurrection. This witness is one of seven essential elements of the Gospel which you accuse me of deviating from. Indeed I do deviate from the gospel you proclaim but not the one referenced in the biblical passage you cite.

When Paul instructed the Corinthian church to turn over a believer to the destruction of the flesh, it was so that his “spirit may be saved”. No mention was made of his need to suffer after death. He also says that believers works will be proved by fire. Anything deficient will be burned up, and we will be “saved... by fire”. Reward is promised for good works that pass this test. Again, no mention of any punishment being given for the works that burn except the “suffering” of lost reward. If there was a purgatory, either the apostles did not know about it, or they did a poor job of providing proper instruction on the matter.

No where in the Hebrew or Greek scriptures is there a purgatory. You are the one at risk of proclaiming a false gospel which Paul, Peter and John did not preach - one that gives hearers a false hope of a second chance after this life. Now is the accepted time. Today is the day to receive salvation. After death the opportunity has passed, and no amount of empty, futile, and sacrilegious prayers will move one soul from judgment into Heaven because any soul having been cleansed by the blood of Christ will not need such prayers, and souls not having received such cleansing will be hopelessly and eternally lost to God’s abiding wrath.

Luke 16:24-26
Then he [the lost rich man] cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

2 Corinthians 6:2
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Hebrews 9:27
It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

“What subset of Scripture to you accept?”

I accept all of scripture and not what men have added to it and claimed to be from God. And don’t be disingenuous. It is pretty obvious from my comments I accept the same texts most protestants accept as divinely inspired.

“If you accept the same Scriptures Christ and the Apostles Accepted plus the entire New Testament just read through those books that Luther threw in the trash and then get back to me.”

Which texts did Jesus and the Apostles quote authoritatively from? I will accept those. I don’t remember any time when Jesus rebuked the Devil and said it is written and then quoted from the apocrypha.

Luke 24:25-27 - Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

While 6 out of 7 times the New Testament quotes the LXX, it does not mean all of LXX is canon. The LXX was made up of collections of “books” with four major divisions: The Law, The Prophets, and The Writings or Psalms, and then the non-canonical portion.

The above passage combines the Prophets and Psalms into a general category of All of the Prophets. Sometimes Jesus simply referred to the Old Testament scriptures as The Law or The Law and The Prophets. My assertion here is supported by Jesus calling a quote from the book of Psalms as being from the Law:

John 10:34 - Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” (Quoting from Psalm 82:6.)

Note two other points from my earlier passage reference in Luke 24:

Luke 24:44 - Jesus said: “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Again He summarizes the general categories of the LXX that ARE canon, i.e. scripture. There are 7 essential elements to the true Gospel proclaimed in the New Testament. I mentioned one earlier being that there were many eye witnesses of His resurrection. This is also one of the tests of apostolic authority. Another essential element of the Gospel is that His work of redemption was fulfillment of scripture which prophesied of what He would accomplish.

None of the apocryphal books are cited. None offer any prophecies which Christ fulfilled. Here, in Luke 24, we read that He explained from ALL scripture what was foretold. That is, He explained from the Law, Prophets and Writings the work of redemption He had completed.

All scripture at this point did not include the New Testament since it had not been written yet. All scripture at this point was the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (i.e. poetic writings).

Jesus and the apostles quoted from every canonical book. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon are considered “books” today but were part of larger collections during this time. The apocryphal writings (after 400 b.c. I think) were not part of these collections and were significantly never quoted as scripture in the New Testament writings.

In Matthew 23:55 Jesus refers to the “the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah” affirming the first book of the Hebrew scripture as Genesis, and the last book as II Chronicles (during the time of Malachi).

So, the short answer to your question is that I accept as scripture what Jesus called all scripture: the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms (including all of the Old Testament poetry).

It is clear that the LXX was popularly quoted from in the New Testament. It is important to note what arguments are made when these passages are cited or even alluded to. Because often the meaning gives credibility to one source over others. Specifically Christ alluded to many Old Testament passages which can be compared between Septuagint, Masoretic and Aramaic sources. A diligent study reveals that none are exclusively supported while the others being rejected. Rather, some teachings of Christ allude to LXX, some Masoretic Hebrew, and some to Aramaic versions of the texts. Christ was the author of the original Old Testament passages (before He entered the world as a man). He obviously knew which writings were scripture and which were not. He knew the true meaning and intent of every passage. He also made it simple to see which parts of the LXX are scripture if you can receive it.

Since you don't accept the entire Old Testament which is the entirety of Scripture Christ and the Apostles quoted and taught from we really have nothing to discuss

There's no sense pointing out anything in the subset of the Bible you may say you accept because if you have so little regard for Scripture that you toss a portion of the Bible in the trash can and ignore it you're sure be willing to twist and distort the subset you keep and pretend to rely on.

Believe whatever you like and pretend it's the Truth, but don't bother to tell me that what you believe is Christianity and the imitation of Christ. At least be honest enough to call what you believe Husism, Lutherism, Wycliffeism, Russelism, or whatever 'ism' applies to the man you accept as your final authority in order to avoid accepting the same Scripture Christ and the Apostles taught from without ever implying those Scriptures contained anything that shouldn't be there.

The one thing you might consider is how much:
Numbers 16:3 And when they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said: Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them: Why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord?

sounds like:
";Dr. Martin Luther will have it so, . . . I will have it so, and I order it to be so, and my will is reason enough. I know very well that the word 'alone' is not in the Latin or the Greek text . . . "

and how God the Father Himself responded to what is written in Numbers. Then consider how God the Father Almighty must look at those who follow a man rather than His Son, The Incarnate Word of God made flesh.

I John 5:9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony of God, which is greater, because he hath testified of his Son.

I included those few verses on the off chance that they're from portions of the Bible that you include in the subset of the Scriptures you claim to accept.

have a nice day

“Since you don’t accept the entire Old Testament which is the entirety of Scripture Christ and the Apostles quoted and taught from we really have nothing to discuss”

I’ve already shown from scripture what Christ called and the apostles called “all scripture” at the time of Christ which included the Law, the Prophets, and Psalms (poetic writings). Your assertion that there are more than this “all scripture” carries no weight and contradicts scripture.

“The one thing you might consider is how much:”

Numbers 16:3 And when they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said: Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them: Why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord?

The people rebelled against the man God had chosen to be the mouthpiece of God and put there own dreams and visions above his authority. There was no Law for the people to consult then. Moses was the source of the Law for them.

I have the utmost regard for the authority of Moses and the apostles. They are the ones who wrote the scriptures. It is you who are asking me to disregard their authority for that of contemporary men on the supposition these modern clergymen have more authority than God’s Word, Moses and the apostles.

You will assert the Church is needed to understand scriptures. Who then will help you understand the Church? And who will explain that person’s explanation, and so one, forever. The Word of God is alive and can explain itself without the need for a human teacher. And God has provided His Holy Spirit to teach also.

“Then consider how God the Father Almighty must look at those who follow a man rather than His Son, The Incarnate Word of God made flesh.”

But you are the one advocating to follow modern clergy men to tell me what is God’s Word when I do not need them because Jesus and Peter and Paul already tell me what is God’s word and who has apostolic authority.

A larger problem here is that I have already addressed these issues very plainly, and you skip over my arguments as if they were not even there, and fail to answer them, and just assert more vehemently that you are right. You haven’t answered anything regarding apostolic credentials, or what Jesus and the apostles called “all scriptures”.

Oh, please:

"I accept all of scripture and not what men have added to it and claimed to be from God."

If someone honestly believed that or believed Scripture interprets itself, then the tens of thousands of different interpretations is proof that they should throw out the entire New Testament. But then, everyone really knows Scripture never has been the self-explanatory collection of nursery rhymes Luther and so many others want to pretend it is. That's exactly why so many non-Catholics refer to various self-illuminating, obvious, Scriptures to "prove" it's fine for them to ordain queers, marry queers one to another, excuse abortion as no different than stealing a pencil at work, and all the other things that “the clear meaning of Scripture” rationalizes for tens of millions of people in this country. Face the facts, Luther threw out portions of the Old Testament because they so clearly disagreed with his desire to worship Self. Likewise, there are tens of thousands of different groups each preaching what makes them feel good or makes them a buck, and when folks throw out Scripture before they even begin to interpret His Word there’s no limit to what sort of heresy and falsehood they can claim to find in whatever subset of the Scriptures they decide to retain.

Why would anyone who is honestly seeking to follow Christ believe that a council of Jews who were trying to kill off Christianity and murdering Christians whenever they could is the proper authority to dictate the Christian canon? That's exactly what those who refuse the Christian canon as it stood from the time of Christ until Luther do. They’re agreeing with men who were actively trying to halt the conversion of Jews to Christianity and knew what they threw out was extremely effective in leading Jews to Christ. That’s exactly the same reason Luther wanted shed of James, Hebrews, Jude and Revelation, along with so much else in the New Testament, because those Scriptures clearly do not teach the gospel of Self and Luther knew it. Most people these days aren’t even familiar with what Luther threw out, so it’s that much easier for those who claim Self deification to agree with Luther rather than what has been accepted as Scripture ever since the Apostles. If someone claims be guided by the Word of God but starts out by throwing away portions of Scripture Jewish, anti-Christian, survivors of the revolt against Rome thought were too Christian, they’re not serious about Christ or Christianity. They’re serious about being comfortable with their worship of Self. Without removing such clear teaching about Christ and Christianity, it’s much more difficult to preach another gospel while pretending to base it on the Word of God. Self worshipers can easily get by preaching their gospel of Self as long as they keep anyone from focusing on the fact that they really only believe a select subset of the Bible even though they claim to believe in Scripture Alone. They really begin with Scripture I Like Alone and try to keep anyone from noticing that fact.

When someone accepts that sort of reasoning there’s no doubt they’ll go along with all sorts of revisions and reinterpretations of whatever subset of the Scriptures they pretend to believe if that’s what it takes to make themselves comfortable. Claiming that they are really, really, full of the Holy Spirit is simply an attempt to skip over the facts they’ve already denied, and one thing they’ve already denied is the power of the Holy Spirit. Never mind that minor tidbit, they just argue their personal favorite (for the moment) interpretation of Scripture or one of the tens of thousands of available interpretations that all claim they are correct. Once someone is doing that, it’s a short step to absurdities like, “those millions of souls who thought they were Christian before Reverend Johnny Come Lately was shown the truth were just wrong and all in Hell”, or “God didn’t love mankind until Calvin, people before that were zombies born into this world predestined to Hell with no way to avoid it”. So, why stop with just throwing out Scripture? Why not add a few books of your own the way some people have or at least just one the way Calvin did? Use some snazzy 1830s style PowerPoint charts to “prove” those millions who the Holy Spirit let think they were Christian when they really weren’t don’t matter anyway. Better still; claim those folks were all in a different sales region of the health and wealth machine God is running. People who begin by throwing out portions of the Bible will do whatever it takes to rationalize their religion of Self.

Of course, if someone honestly believes what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit, they know it’s absurd to pretend that Holy Spirit was on vacation for fifteen hundred years and returned just in time to cheer Luther on as he threw out parts of both the Old and New Testaments. The reality is that anyone who believes in guidance from the Holy Spirit knows that if the Holy Spirit allowed the canon as established by the Catholic Church to stand for fifteen hundred years, then that canon is correct. If someone can’t agree with that, they’re denying the power of the Holy Spirit. There’s absolutely no reason to believe someone arrived at what they’re preaching due to their being guided by the Holy Spirit if that person has already denied the power of the Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately, the majority of folks will keep wallowing in that sort of contradiction along with hundreds of others in order to frolic through their lives worshiping their own Most High and Holy Self and following Eve rather than Christ. Exactly like Eve, they’ll alter the Word of God to suit themselves and their goals even if it means throwing a portion of His Word into the garbage to avoid what His Word teaches. Such folks all insist they each one have the authority to revise or ignore any portion of the Word of God that denies them something they want exactly the same way Eve ignored the Word of God when she wanted to eat the forbidden fruit. Anyone who can't bear the cross of obedience isn't following Christ. They're refusing to follow Christ exactly because Christ expects them to surrender to Him, not enthrone their Self and claim the power and authority to negotiate the terms of their surrender.

Such folks are just so much tepid water flowing along the path of least resistance. And the path of least resistance in this country has always been to call yourself a Protestant Christian of whatever flavor is popular at the moment. Jesus Christ Himself founded The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, entrusted His Church to His Apostles until His return, and defined that Church as His Body we’re all to be a part of. Furthermore, Christ called His Church a bright shining city on a hill, not some sort of invisible phantom or shadow organization with tens of thousands of differing doctrines.

Just because someone roots around in the muck and tosses out a pearl they’ve stumbled across doesn’t change the fact that refusing to accept portions of the Word of God before even discussing the meaning of what’s in His Word is a clear refusal to surrender to Christ. That much is proved by the fact that even with, clear, direct quotes, of Christ Himself to refer to, many people refuse to accept the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. There’s no need to go beyond the fact that someone doesn’t accept and won’t accept the entire Bible before even discussing interpretation to know that whichever doctrine they want to challenge, Purgatory or whatever, isn’t what they care about. What they care is about rationalizing the same thing Eve did, deciding for themselves what God really commands. Defending a subset of Scripture as interpreted by the Most High and Holy Self isn’t defending the Truth, the Bible, or Christ; it’s defending the pyramid scam Self has fallen for and trying to avoid the Truth so buyer’s remorse won’t set in. As they say, busy hands are happy hands and no good con artist like Satan wants his marks idle rather generating interest to help sell speaking engagements, books, DVDs, and anything else that generates new marks.

Purgatory is every bit as clear in both the Old and New Testament as the Trinity is and is backed up by the sacred Tradition of His Church as handed down from Christ through the Apostles to us through His Church. Most sincere people will over time recognize their error and become a part of His Church unless they actively work to stay distracted or to avoid the Truth for fear of having to admit they were wrong. Those who are happy with Self Worship, though, don’t actually care whether Purgatory exists as long as they’re comfortable with their Self so they can eat, drink, and be merry in this life. Most such folks are really not worried about being Christian in this life because they’ve accepted the heresy that says Christ will forgive them even though they spent their lives making a fool of Christ by claiming to be Christian but preaching something He and the Apostles never preached, and even though they’ve slandered the Holy Spirit by denying the Holy Spirit is capable of protecting His Word. It’s very sad, heartbreaking in fact, but the fear of the Lord just isn’t in them because they’ve fallen into the worship of Self. Unfortunately for them, Christ said He will be telling such Self worshipers, “I never knew you”.

So much for a first and second admonition.

have a nice day

“That’s exactly why so many non-Catholics refer to various self-illuminating, obvious, Scriptures to ‘prove’ it’s fine for them to ordain queers, marry queers one to another, excuse abortion as no different than stealing a pencil at work, and all the other things that ‘the clear meaning of Scripture’ rationalizes for tens of millions of people in this country.”

Many false and wrong interpretations of scripture is no basis for claiming yours is the one and only correct one or that what I believe is false. The scriptures are the final and highest authority.Your approach to identifying and understanding scriptures puts Catholic clergymen in a position above the scriptures, above the apostles and above Christ.

Jesus said His sheep hear His voice. Either this is true or it is false. You do not hear His voice because you are not one of His sheep.

Jesus said that whoever is willing to do the will of My Father will know My doctrine whether it is from God. Either this is true or it is false. You cannot hear, identify or understand His doctrine because you are unwilling to obey His commandments.

Protestant groups have no monopoly on false claims of Christianity while promoting homosexuality. The local Catholic bishop in my area sets aside scriptural rebuke of this perversion and instead justifies it as normal. The Catholic church is full of devotees who ignore both the Catholic doctrine and the scriptures on this along with abortion and many other wicked things. The Catholic priesthood has plenty of sexually immoral men who the scripture identify as having no inheritance in God’s kingdom, but these same men are not only not ex-communicated, they are often relocated to continue their wickedness and further damage the name of Christ. Your familiarity with Catholic clergy training necessitates an awareness that extremely little study of scriptures is involved in spite of such devotion being required by the apostles from those who exercise church leadership. Paul told Timothy to give himself completely to them.

“Face the facts, Luther threw out portions of the Old Testament because they so clearly disagreed with his desire to worship Self.”

You brought him up, not me. I have no affiliation with
Luther accept in your mind.

“If someone claims be guided by the Word of God but starts out by throwing away portions of Scripture Jewish, anti-Christian, survivors of the revolt against Rome thought were too Christian, they’re not serious about Christ or Christianity.”

Your history is quite confused. History records the use of the Septuagint and the abandonment of it by non-Christian Jews. That part is correct. Greek was the most common language of the day. While I do not follow Luther, it is a fact he not only translated the books of the Apocrypha into German, he also included them in his German Bible. This is not throwing them away.

Again I have already cited specific internal evidence which you simply choose to ignore and not respond to:

Why did Jesus refer to the “the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah” in Matthew 23:55 and not cite the death of someone later than 400 b.c. if the disputed texts are to be regarded as scripture?

Why did He never quote from the disputed texts? Why did the apostles not?

Why are the disputed texts not included in “all scripture” identified in Luke 24?

Further... why did Christ and the apostles only quote the Septuagint part of the time when quoting the Old Testament? Why did some of their word choices support alternative (including Masoretic) renderings of the Old Testament?

Why in Matt 11:29 does Jesus tell his audience to take his yoke upon them: “and you will find rest [anapausin] for your souls” when Jer 6:16 being alluded to says “walk in (the good way), and find rest [nirgw`] for your souls” in the Masoretic texts while the Septuagint has “and you will find purification [hagnismon] for your souls”?

Why does Mark 4:26-29, when Jesus alluded to Joel 4:13 use therismos (”harvest”) like the Masoretic text rather than the Septuagint’s trygetos (”vintage”)?

Why does Jesus in Mark 13:8 warn His disciples that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” when He alludes to Isa 19:2 in the Hebrew reads: “city against city, kingdom against kingdom” while the Septuagint reads: “city against city, province against province”?

Why in Mark 14:24 does Jesus speak of His blood, “which is poured out [ekchynnomenon] for many”, which alludes to Isaiah 53:12 in the Hebrew: “He poured out [h’rh] his soul to death”; while the Septuagint says: “His soul was given over [paredothe] to death”?

“And the path of least resistance in this country has always been to call yourself a Protestant Christian of whatever flavor is popular at the moment.”

No it hasn’t. When this nation was formed, it was less than 2% Catholic. Now it is over 20%. There is no group who identify as Christian in the USA that is larger than the Catholics. The explosion in of this percentage happened in the late 1800’s when so many other destructive forces were at work here including civil war, feminism and the introduction of “higher criticism” of biblical texts by Catholic influenced “scholars” Wescott & Hort. This nation has ever been a thorn in the side of Rome but those days have long passed. The current supreme court has not a single protestant among its members. Plenty of Catholic leaders there and in Congress though.

“Jesus Christ Himself founded The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, entrusted His Church to His Apostles until His return, and defined that Church as His Body we’re all to be a part of. Furthermore, Christ called His Church a bright shining city on a hill, not some sort of invisible phantom or shadow organization with tens of thousands of differing doctrines.”

And the Roman Catholic church is not that one true church no matter how much you and its other clergymen assert it to be so. The true church has the same apostles today as at the beginning and does not need this foundation laid again and again since it was already laid. The church of Rome has no apostolic authority having met none of the biblical criteria. While God requires all men to submit to authority, He does not command us to submit to everyone who claims to have authority. Such is the case with Rome.

“Purgatory is every bit as clear in both the Old and New Testament as the Trinity is and is backed up by the sacred Tradition of His Church as handed down from Christ through the Apostles to us through His Church. “

I see the doctrine of the Trinity supported throughout scriptures. To elevate the man-made doctrine of purgatory to this level is as absurd as it is dangerous. Purgatory is clear in the New Testament? Name three passages supporting it.

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