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?
Oh but the rest came from your Catholic Church!
If you really wanted it read then you wouldn’t have began with a false premise.
It’s the RCC that says they incorporated pagan practices.
Ain't that the truth. Talking to the Catholics about the infallibility and inerrancy of scripture is like trying to talk to a liberal that their health care insurance is either going to go away or premiums will rise. The only way they'll understand it is when they finally see it. :O)
You: "God did."
- - - - - - -
Since there were numerous conflicting "canon lists" in the early years of the Church (and they can't possibly all be right or directly defined, either by God, or by the original apostles, because those canon lists do contain real differences between them), exactly where and when did God say which "books" belong in the Bible (source), and specifically who did God tell this to?
How do you know this happened?
Was that vitally important instruction (about which writings were to be included in the Bible) then written within the Bible itself, or was that vitally important, indispensable instruction something that was passed down to others via some form of extra-biblical (outside-the-Bible) tradition?
Also, do I understand you correctly -- that you seriously think that "all Catholics are wrong", and you also think that "all Protestants are wrong", and you also think that "CynicalBear is right"?
>> Also, do I understand you correctly -- that you seriously think that "all Catholics are wrong", and you also think that "all Protestants are wrong", and you also think that "CynicalBear is right"?<<
LOL Catholics are so funny! Only scripture is right.
So, then we should all just ignore every single thing you write that is not a direct quote form scripture, because "only scripture is right"?
As with this list, uncritically posting from RC polemics ignores the context of Luther’s quote, as this quote it is part of a polemic of Luther, in which he goes on to say:
“But what is now our defense? And what is the ground on which we can hold our own against such offense and continue to defy those people? It is nothing else than the masterly statement St. Paul employs in Rom. 9:7 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] : “Not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants.” Not all who bear the name are Israelites; or, as the saying goes: “Not all who carry long knives are cooks.” Thus not all who lay claim to the title “church” are the church....
See below link for all of this and the Master Archive (side bar) before pasting more RC quotes of Luther, many of which are spurious or doubtful (not to justify all he said, as he is not our pope). http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2006/11/luther-infallible-church-declared.html
Seems only fair. It’s what I do with Catholics.
Your answer: "Seems only fair. It’s what I do with Catholics."
- - - - - - -
Trust me, we all know that already, CynicalBear. That's the major cause of your massive misunderstandings.
Now, seriously, if "only scripture is right", why do you keep on writing so much endless stuff that is not scripture, and so, by your own definition, is "not right" (in other words, what you write is "all wrong", per your own definition)?
Don't you think it would be much preferable to cease writing so much wrong stuff, and better for your soul?
So show me what I wrote that wasn’t backed up by scripture.
Yeshua founded no ‘church’ that rejects his spoken words.
Your ‘church’ was founded by Satan, through Constantine, in the mid fourth century. That is solid recorded history that cannot be denied.
>> “Catholic, protestant/ muslim, Jewish, or pagan.
Feel better now?” <<
.
Noticeably, you left out “The Way” founded by Yehova through his Son, Yeshua.
Consntantine legalized Catholicism==that’s all. I don’t know where you get the ideas -— want to tell me?
Christ breathed on the Apostles on Easter Day giving them the power to forgive or bind sin, thus making them the first Bishops — look it up in Scripture.
Even Paul lays his hands on Timothy and ordains him — it’s in the Bible, why don’t you believe it?
What Constantine “legalized” was the crushing of the worship of Yeshua, replacing it with the worship of Tammuz and his harlot mother under proxy names purloined from Yeshua and his mother.
Constantine used the power of Rome to persecute the followers of Yeshua, and the followers of Judaism, murdering thousands of them.
That is recorded history.
it is through the efforts of the Catholic Church that you even know what the scriptures are...
Where do you get this misinformation? You post no sources at all.
BTW, Yeshua Breathed on his Apostles at the time of his ascension, shortly before Shavuot, and had absolutely nothing to do with the vile pagan celebration called ‘Easter.’
Typical catholic ignorance of the plain facts recorded in scripture.
Bishops are just pastors, IOW teachers, Apostle was a decidedly separate office that no longer exists. There were only 12 Apostles (not counting Judas who never was given that office)
Very wise and measured statements. I told Daniel1212 if it was not stated who posted the article, my first guess would be an atheist website.
the destruction of the Catholic church in England, her churches, monastaries, libraries and citizens makes the inquisition just another bad period....the inquisition was justified in the minds of those people because they felt that they were the last line of defense of Christianity as the hoardes of revolutionists began to develop.
then, of course there were the Salem witch trials.....oh well!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.