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When my last post ended with a quote from that towering theologian who converted to Catholicism, Cardinal Henry Newman who wrote that “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant” that this would end the streaming shallow ripostes of Bible Christians But they show an uncanny ability to pull themselves deeper into the quicksand

DANIEL 1212 apparently pulls off stuff from anti-Catholic “Sola Scriptura” blog sites to make such stunningly conclusions that the Assumption of Mary was a doctrine in dispute.

He forgets that like the early Church fathers, the successors to Peter forensically examined the theological evidence for dogmas. In this process contrapuntal are addressed. These “disputes” are part of serious inquiry. Faith, Revelation, Scripture does not fall from the skies. Even the Apostles themselves quarreled among each other. This usually occurs in major theological universities where it is an intrinsic Catholic intellectual tradition to explore all the evidence in establishing the ONE truth. This is no different from the process that led to the establishment of the canonical texts in the fourth century under Petrine authority after 300 years of discussion and debate infused by Divine Revelation.

The Word of God is a divine imperative. An imperative (like a law) without authority is the stuff decried by pagan gods or today’s autocrats. And the exercise of legitimate authority without obedience dissolves into an embarrassing farce. Bible Christianity has neither valid Christological authority nor obedience to follow through on. There are multiple paths to multiple truths. This is why we have the David Koreshs’ and the Joel Osteens’, the Moonies, and the Jehovah’s Witness, and every other Bible Christian blog that purports to offer “their” own interpretation. They cannot point to the type of Divine authority entrusted exclusively to Peter and his successors.

Marian dogmas are irrefutable. From the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, Mary was given the term in Greek “Theotokos” or “Birthgiver of God.” Thus for example even while the dogma of Mary’s Assumption does not require a direct basis in scripture it is implicit in the consequence of Divine Motherhood. Mary is indissolubly linked to her Son on earth and in heaven. With Mary full of grace, her body was not for the worms and parasites of the earth.

Benedict puts it well. The dogmas of Mary’s perpetual Virginity, her divine Motherhood, her Immaculate Conception and bodily Assumption into heavenly glory complement the original faith in Christ as true God and true man: two natures in a single Person. This makes Mary’s Assumption as the immortal destiny that awaits all humanity. Mary is the one who does not fear to follow her Son along the Way of the Cross; stand under the Cross; be present at His burial (think Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’) and who is present at the birth of the Church. She is also the one who, as the Evangelist emphasizes more than once, “keeps and ponders in her heart” that which transpires around her, quintessential human nature. As a creature of courage and of obedience she was and is still an example to which our “human” nature can and should look to.

Having abandoned Sola Scriptura in spades, DANIEL 1212 writes that because “the word of God was orally preached should not be the issue. Instead, he continues: “the issue is that this does not translate into Rome speaking the word of God as is described in Scripture.

This train of logic goes off the rails. So he concedes the early Church authoritatively “preached” the unwritten Word of God, authoritatively assembled the “written” Word of God, but somehow now loses that authority to continue to declare the Word of God.

He overlooks the obvious. It is precisely this derailment, this indefensible uncoupling of authority that has led to a mudslide of heresies, the prophesied false prophets unleashed by Bible Christianity. Enter into this breach Jim Jones, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Rev. Billy Graham, Jimmy Swaggart, First AME, First Calvary, First Baptist, and First Whatever. This is what lends credence to the observation of Evangelical theologian turned Catholic Dr. David Anders’ that Protestantism is in the end “a confused mass of inconsistencies and tortured logic.”

That the strong Catholic intellectual tradition has brought in converts of every religion, atheists and agnostics included, give the lie to DANIEL 1212’s prior post that Catholics are “docile sheep.” Some sheep.

DEPROGRAMLIBERALISM challenges us to win him over. Actually he wants us to win over his “soul” by showing him why the canonicity of James is not fallacious and berates us for “childish behavior.” On the latter he needs to dialogue with WVKAYAKER whose response (Steelfish say: blah, blah, blah….He repeats over 30 time for effect) is understandable. It is the drowning cry of Bible Christians when taken into the deep end of theological pool. We cannot cry for those who refuse a lifeline.

DEPROGRAMLIBERALISM’s save his “soul” argument cannot be taken seriously only because he dredges up an old argument of Luther who heaped scorn on the Epistle of St. James. This was because James’ Epistle roundly refutes Luther’s heretical doctrine that Faith alone is necessary for salvation. The Council of Trent again acting with Petrine authority dogmatically defined the Epistle of St. James to be canonical based chiefly on the testimony of the ancient Fathers.

Here’s a quick snapshot:

(a) In the Latin Church it was known by St. Clement of Rome (before A.D. 100), the Pastor Hernias (about A.D. 150), St. Irenaeus (125?-202?, 208), Tertullian (d. about 240), St. Hilary (d. 366), St. Philaster (d. 385), St. Ambrose (d. 397), Pope Damasus (in the canon of about A.D. 382), St. Jerome (346-420), Rufinus (d. 410), St. Augustine (430), and its canonicity is unquestioned by them. (b) In the Greek Church, Clement of Alexandria (d. 217), Origen (d. 254), St. Athanasius (d. 373), St. Dionysius the Areopagite (about A.D. 500), etc., considered it undoubtedly as a sacred writing. (c) In the Syrian Church, the Peshito, although omitting the minor Catholic Epistles, gives that of St. James; St. Ephraem uses it frequently in his writings. Moreover, the most notorious heretics of Syria recognized it as genuine. Thus we find that Nestorius ranked it in the Canon of Sacred Books, and James of Edessa adduces the testimony of James, v, 14. The Epistle is found in the Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Armenian versions. Even if the canonicity of the Epistle of St. James was questioned by a few during the first centuries, from the very earliest ages, in different parts of the Church, there exist numerous testimonies in favor of its canonicity. From the end of the third century its acceptance as inspired, and as the work of St. James, has been universal, as clearly appears from the various lists of the Sacred Books drawn up since the fourth century.

If DEPROGRAMLIBERALISM is interested in saving his “soul,” he could easily embrace the Living Christ in the Eucharist, but instead he elliptically raises an issue of James’ canonicity as if the early Church fathers got this one wrong. In short, by “his” research he and other Bible Christians can practice the heresy of authoritatively picking and choosing what constitutes the true Word of God. Enter into this “picking and choosing” those mainline Evangelical and Protestant Churches that find scriptural support for ordaining married gay and lesbian pastors.

Finally, there is the irrepressible aMORE PERFECTUNION who keeps over and over again in insisting that we provide him a list of traditions unable to comprehend something so basic as that it was sacred oral tradition that governed the Church for the first 300 years and was the very foundation for validating the authenticity of the written texts that were established by the Catholic Church. Tradition is not some fad to be picked up until something novel come along.

The Catholic Church is indeed steeped in liturgical traditions that complement scripture especially of John in 21: 25 and backed the full scholarship of its theologians.

From the color of vestments our priests wear during the liturgical year, to the offering of incense, to the veneration of Mary, as the “full of grace,” the Mother of God; the use of incense; the architecture of our churches, the Stations of the Cross; the making of the sign of the cross; the Crucifix at the center of our faith.
There is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday. To Bible Christians, the resurrection is about a dead man coming alive to be celebrated at meaningless Sunrise Services at the beach with picnic basket and dog in tow. For Catholics it is an ontological event that changed our understanding of the universe where the Living Christ is forever present in the Eucharist. This is what the Church believed from the times of the early Church fathers to this day. As Luke 20:38 elegantly puts it: “He is not God of the dead but of the living; for all live to him”

Today Bible Christianity is nothing short of an embarrassing caricature as leading Protestant and Evangelical converts to Catholicism have found out after a lifetime of study and scholarship. Its heresy has been exposed long enough that there is nothing more to discuss.

If Bible Christians really, really want to save their souls, then follow the example of Ulf Ekman, the founder of Scandinavia’s biggest Bible school. His congregation exceeded 4000 individuals. He could not live with this lie anymore when in his long course of theological inquiry he converted to Catholicism because he believed the indispensability of Catholic sacraments.