Posted on 10/27/2013 5:25:55 AM PDT by NYer
There are 38 questions + a few bonus questions. I have split them into two separate posts of 20 and 18 + bonus questions. In case you missed it, here is the link to Part 1. Are you ready?
21. Who in the Church had the authority to determine which books belonged in the New Testament canon and to make this decision binding on all Christians? If nobody has this authority, then can I remove or add books to the canon on my own authority?
22. Why do Protestant scholars recognize the early Church councils at Hippo and Carthage as the first instances in which the New Testament canon was officially ratified, but ignore the fact that those same councils ratified the Old Testament canon used by the Catholic Church today but abandoned by Protestants at the Reformation?
23. Why do Protestants follow postapostolic Jewish decisions on the boundaries of the Old Testament canon, rather than the decision of the Church founded by Jesus Christ?
24. How were the bishops at Hippo and Carthage able to determine the correct canon of Scripture, in spite of the fact that they believed all the distinctively Catholic doctrines such as the apostolic succession of bishops, the sacrifice of the Mass, Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, baptismal regeneration, etc?
25. If Christianity is a “book religion,” how did it flourish during the first 1500 years of Church history when the vast majority of people were illiterate?
26. How could the Apostle Thomas establish the church in India that survives to this day (and is now in communion with the Catholic Church) without leaving them with one word of New Testament Scripture?
27. If sola Scriptura is so solid and biblically based, why has there never been a full treatise written in its defense since the phrase was coined in the Reformation?
28. If Jesus intended for Christianity to be exclusively a “religion of the book,” why did He wait 1400 years before showing somebody how to build a printing press?
29. If the early Church believed in sola Scriptura, why do the creeds of the early Church always say “we believe in the Holy Catholic Church,” and not “we believe in Holy Scripture”?
30. If the Bible is as clear as Martin Luther claimed, why was he the first one to interpret it the way he did and why was he frustrated at the end of his life that “there are now as many doctrines as there are heads”?
31. The time interval between the Resurrection and the establishment of the New Testament canon in AD 382 is roughly the same as the interval between the arrival of the Mayflower in America and the present day. Therefore, since the early Christians had no defined New Testament for almost four hundred years, how did they practice sola Scriptura?
32. If the Bible is the only foundation and basis of Christian truth, why does the Bible itself say that the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim. 3:15)?
33. Jesus said that the unity of Christians would be objective evidence to the world that He had been sent by God (John 17:20-23). How can the world see an invisible "unity" that exists only in the hearts of believers?
34. If the unity of Christians was meant to convince the world that Jesus was sent by God, what does the ever-increasing fragmentation of Protestantism say to the world?
35. Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you." What is the expiration date of this verse? When did it become okay not only to disobey the Church's leaders, but to rebel against them and set up rival churches?
36. The Koran explicitly claims divine inspiration, but the New Testament books do not. How do you know that the New Testament books are nevertheless inspired, but the Koran is not?
37. How does a Protestant know for sure what God thinks about moral issues such as abortion, masturbation, contraceptives, eugenics, euthanasia, etc.?
38. What is one to believe when one Protestant says infants should be baptized (e.g., Luther and Calvin) and another says it is wrong and unbiblical (e.g., Baptists and Evangelicals)?
Where does the Bible . . .
. . . say God created the world/universe out of nothing?
. . . say salvation is attainable through faith alone?
. . . tell us how we know that the revelation of Jesus Christ ended with the death of the last Apostle?
. . . provide a list of the canonical books of the Old Testament?
. . . provide a list of the canonical books of the New Testament?
. . . explain the doctrine of the Trinity, or even use the word “Trinity”?
. . . tell us the name of the “beloved disciple”?
. . . inform us of the names of the authors of the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?
. . . who wrote the Book of Acts?
. . . tell us the Holy Spirit is one of the three Persons of the Trinity?
. . . .tell us Jesus Christ was both fully God and fully man from the moment of conception (e.g. how do we know His Divinity wasn't infused later in His life?) and/or tells us Jesus Christ is One Person with two complete natures, human and Divine and not some other combination of the two natures (i.e., one or both being less than complete)?
. . . that the church should, or someday would be divided into competing and disagreeing denominations?
. . . that Protestants can have an invisible unity when Jesus expected a visible unity to be seen by the world (see John 17)?
. . . tell us Jesus Christ is of the same substance of Divinity as God the Father?
424 Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church. "To preach. . . the unsearchable riches of Christ"
Those FRoman Catholics here claim it was Peter but the RCC shows it wasn’t. Go figure.
LOL It amuses me when they are condemned by their own double speak.
Continually hoisting themselves and never pausing long enough to think over their position. It’s forward ho! no matter where they’re going, they think the trip is worthy. SURELY it must be, after all, their leader wouldn’t steer them wrong (oh, wait, that’s the Mormons..no one ELSE could be so duped..) It’s an amazing thing to behold.
\ would you then say that God created something that was imperfect even though He said “it is good”?
Bless your heart! You try so hard to be relevant.
Either way he died because of an action that resulted in contraception.
It’s a good thing most of us don’t follow Luther!! He was after all still a Catholic priest, trained and indoctrinated by them and retained much of their error. The Protestant churches are referred to as the daughters of the Catholic Church for a reason.
THey just don’t get that we are not all Protestants. THINK INDEPENDENT, Catholics. Republican, Democrats, INDEPENDENTS.
Think about it. Babies or potential babies aren’t killed through Natural Family Planning.
What is it about non-Catholics and their misunderstanding of NFP?
I’m not sure they would know how to process “independent”. It doesn’t fit their two party system of Catholic and Protestant. It may mess up their whole system of apostate designations. Even thought the RCC says even those who aren’t Catholic but are baptized are saved. Oh, and those who don’t even know who Jesus is, are saved also. Oh, and the Muslims serve the same god as the Catholics so they are good to go. Oh, and Mother Teresa said whatever you are is just fine.
Hey, it’s your church fathers who said it’s wrong to waste or “vainly ejaculate” seed.
In A.D. 195, Clement of Alexandria wrote, “Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted” (The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2).
If sex is for propagation and Catholics avoid sex during the time when propagation can happen it’s “wasting” seed.
Nice little pile of Straw questions!
“Have you ceased to beat your spouse?”
.
The “catholic” church is just over 1650 years old. (Founded by Constantine the Pagan Roman emperor)
Yeshua’s church (the one that meets wherever two or more are gathered in his name) is 1975 years old, and his elect have walked the Earth for 6013 years.
>> “I’m not sure they would know how to process “independent”. It doesn’t fit their two party system of Catholic and Protestant. It may mess up their whole system of apostate designations.” <<
.
And therein, you have voiced the condition of the present day
world of believers, that have been called out of the Whore and her daughters.
The Catholic Church was founded by Christ on the Apostles. Where are you getting your faulty dates.
Catholic, protestant/ muslim, Jewish, or pagan.
Feel better now?
“We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendor of religious ceremonial. We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments etc. were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular; but they were common to almost all cults” (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, 246.)
“When we give or receive Christmas gifts; or hang green wreaths in our homes and churches, how many of us know that we are probably observing pagan customs...the god, Woden, in Norse Mythology, descends upon the earth yearly between December 25th and January 6th to bless mankind...But pagan though they be, they are beautiful customs. They help inspire us with the spirit of 'good will to men', even as the sublime service of our Church reminds us of the ‘peace on earth’ which the babe of Bethlehem came to bestow” (Externals of the Catholic Church, 140).
What's more, Ray's sophomoric attacks on Protestants come very close to undercutting some cornerstone of Christianity, even parts of Roman Catholicism we Prods would have no issues with.
Ray's arguments are just a very small step from declaring Christianity a false religion and him coming out of the closet as an atheist.
Beware whose arguments you latch onto.
Stopped reading when I got up to this completely ignorant comment.
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