Posted on 06/27/2015 6:34:38 PM PDT by Morgana
No fair asking questions we cannot answer decisively. No man knows their hearts ... but if we take James at his teaching, by their works we can know if they have saving faith in Christ. And it doesn’t look too good for them based on performance standards for those who are in God’s family being led by His Spirit.
And as You have been told ex-communication does not stop someone from being Catholic, it prohibits them from receiving the sacraments until they have repented of their sin, confessed and received absolution.
Well that explains the ‘being Catholic’ angle. But what about being in Spiritaul Church of God’s family under Christ’s blood, indwelt by His Holy Spirit?
What about it?
Any thoughts as to whether any on that list have been born from above?
“To be deep in Scripture is to cease to be Catholic.”
Tell that to the Protestant ministers - who have degrees in scripture and studied it in the original languages - who have become Catholic. I know a number of them myself. They certainly no more scripture and know it in a deeper way than you do if your posts are anything to judge your knowledge by.
Full of ‘nos’ eh?
Yes, they certainly do!
...The Church should combat widespread "Biblical illiteracy" among the Catholic faithful, Archbishop Eterovic said...
-- from the thread Synod to Focus on Proper Use of Scripture
....The flip side of this embarrassment is the presumption among many Catholics that they “get” the Bible at Mass, along with everything else they need for their spiritual lives....Given that exposure, many think they do not need anything else. As Mr. McMahon put it, “The majority still say you go to Mass, you get your ticket punched, and that’s it for the week.”
-- from the thread A Literate Church: The state of Catholic Bible study today
According to a study released in September by Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, evangelical Protestants are a whopping eight times more likely than Catholics to read the Bible on a weekly basis....we tip our hats to our separated brothers and sisters in Christ for their zeal for the Word of God.
-- from the National Catholic Register article Get Cracking, Catholics!
My son is currently a seminarian at the larger LCMS seminary. He has an undergrad degree in theology. He studies Scripture deeply in the original languages and I have enjoyed learning from him. He is in no danger of becoming RC
Thanks be to God!
“Apostolic Succession is not a claim that the bishops are new Apostles.”
Apostolic Succession is a claim that the bishops, priests, popes, etc. have authority over the church and its doctrine and that this authority was handed down to them in a continuous chain from the first Apostles.
As I showed from the Bible, this claim is untrue. Apostolic authority was vested in specific people who then became the source of New Testament scriptures from which we are able to receive clear and specific instruction with apostolic authority. This authority is not from man but from God’s word. Those who speak the words of God are backed by His authority. Those who speak from their own authority are false.
Apostolic Succession further claims that Rome is “greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul” (according to Catholic websites).
Paul and Peter did go to Rome and were martyred there, but they did not found or organize the church there. Paul wrote to the Roman church (the book of Romans) before he ever visited Rome. Further, Rome is spoken of symbolically in Revelation not for its lofty position over the church but for its great sin, iniquity, and bloodshed of believers. This was true of pagan Rome which killed Paul and Peter and many other believers. It was also true of religious Rome which killed Christians who challenged its false doctrines. And while I am unaware of any such murder being openly orchestrated by the Vatican today, the history of Rome certainly contradicts the claims of Apostolic succession being traced to Rome. Neither Paul nor Peter had any supposed heretics executed. They dealt with heresy by proclaiming the truth.
That message is where we can look for Apostolic authority rather than to a piece of real estate or to robed men who have never received signs of apostleship and have not seen the risen Christ. They have failed the tests which the Bible admonishes believers to use when responding to claims of apostolic authority.
For more than two hundreds years after the death of John of the Revelation, there were five bishoprics, each considered equal. Rome had one, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. It was only after the Roman Empire broke into two 'legs' that the Bishopric at Rome tried to make all the others subservient. The Bishop at Rome excommunicated the Bishop at Constantinople, and then the Bishop in Constantinople returned the favor. In 445 Leo I had the Emperor declare him the 'Primate of all Bishops'. Which lasted not too long because the Western leg of the Empire fell in 476. The Eastern leg outlasted the Western by 1000 years. Oddly, the conferences held in Constantinople, before the great schism, were conducted in Greek, not Latin.
Certainly looks otherwise doesn't it...especially with Pope Francis....He's operating like Obama is...regardless of constraints. He's simply using a softer approach, which is all the more diabolical IMO....appealing to peoples feelings and a false unity.
Pope Francis tends to “smoother” what he says with a host of otherwise feel good verbiage to make his statements appear “almost right” and appealing....which is far worse for it's deceptive.
Perhaps that smooth slide into hell is why the Vatican is not revealing too much about their preparations to welcome ET whom they believe are not fallen from Grace as humans are, so these ETs will be ‘evangelizing’ humanity while God’s chosen 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel are doing real evangelism based upon the Bible. The (Jesuit) Vatican Astronomer to the Pope has said “Jesus might be the son of a star child.” [Br Guy Consolmagno]
Off base. This is the staple of anti-Catholic blogs. You are hopelessly confusing the lives of individuals with the authority and doctrine of the Church. The Church is made of humans not angels. Even one of the 12 chosen directly by Christ had to be replaced.
You need to check with your own pre-eminent Lutheran and and Evangelical theologians (unlike the “internet” drive-by theologians) who after a lifetime of serious study, scholarship, and teaching concluded that Protestantism is nothing but as mass of confusions, utter rot, and who ended up converting to Catholicism. The Church of over 2000 years and the one that authenticated the “written” Word of God did not have to wait of the mudslides of Protestantism that crashed and burned on the shores of this planet in 1517, to reaffirm and continue its authority. Today, Protestantism is reduced to a caricature, the kind of stuff that attracts the low -IQ congregants of a Joel Osteen entertainment show.
So you attack protestants as proof there aren’t attacks on protestants....
With all the recent corruption going on in the world you would think that Catholics would have other things to do than attack protestants.
I mean don’t you need to lobby for global government and socialism to save Gaia or something.
The Pope said “Who am I to judge” ... *tut, tut* You guys need to follow that lead.
Now bow to the bones of St Whatsit and ask him to intercede with God (you can only get to the father through me-Jesus) and ask a Priest (why not God) for forgiveness for being judgemental of protestant FReepers.
Say 25 Hail Jesus’ and you will feel better in the morning.
While I appreciate the compliment of being called low IQ and having my doctrine called utter rot, there are many pre-eminent Lutheran theologians who remain Lutheran to the end of their days.I have the pleasure of knowing some of them, my son studies with a lot more of them in seminary. And I assure you whatever flaws I may have a low IQ is not one of them.
However, I have the assurance of my salvation. I am washed by the Blood of Christ and look to no other source for my salvation and faith. He is the author and perfector of my faith and I await His glory that will be revealed in me at His coming. All else in the end matters naught.
“You are hopelessly confusing the lives of individuals with the authority and doctrine of the Church.”
Not really. People can be saved, institutions can not.
Individuals souls are much much more important to God than any earthly bureaucracy or “religion”.
authority and doctrine of GOD are what is important.
This “Church” is so busy calling for world government, socialism, open borders and condemning the people who made his own body guards weapons to do what it should be doing.
we here in the South just shaqke our heads and say 'Bless their little hearts, they don't know no better than to follow that there Magicsteeringthem.
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