I believe that much of the misunderstandings that are rife on this thread are caused by the different styles and modes of communications and learning that have occurred through the 2000 or so years since Jesus walked among us.
Now that most people are texting and tweeting information the “truths” we are passing down are becoming more corrupted and error filled since the key objective is to keep it simple which often does not lend itself to the pursuit of truth. Additionally with all of the technology (radios,newspapers,printed materials,smart phones,internet, television ad infinitum) dedicated to passing along info there is little time to think free of distractions and noise. Add to that the different languages,interpretations and translation of the written word whether tradition or scripture and one can see how these back and forths get us nowhere. In other words it is difficult to be a “truth seeker” these days.
Nonetheless,dialoguing is a good way to pursue truths but one must always be aware that it probably is best to present the position they hold or their particular religious denomination holds and answer the question posed by the asker without denigrating the others beliefs. So often when I read others assessments of what I and other Catholics believe I am surprised at the the lack of understanding of what Catholicism is all about. I also know that there are many Catholics that have fallen away because they thought the commandments and the seven deadly sins were just fabricated and were too harsh,some fell away because of true sadness and disappointment of some of the sins of other members,others left because they no longer believed in God and started thinking they were god and yet others left because Catholicism can be quite intellectually challenging and they couldn’t quite “get it”. That is one reason I do believe the magisterium is a great gift to the world and the church.
In any case I think we could bring more people to God by less sniping and presenting our own beliefs cogently and correctly.Just my thoughts. and to .45Long Colt. Look at all the references mentioned next to the citation and you will find that some will bring you to the Church Fathers and others to Corinthians and the gospel of John and one or two other scriptural verses.But it takes a long time and you may not want to spend the time but I think you might enjoy it.
There simply is NOT that much difference between translations of Scripture as people who like to cast doubt on its integrity like to posit.
It's not confusing. And it's not hard to become a seeker of the truth. There are tons of resources online that can connect one to the original Greek and Hebrew to clarify anything one is uncertain about.
As far as *interpretation*, it is not as mysterious and difficult as Catholics would like to have us believe in order to claim the need for their church to *properly* interpret the word for us.
Most of Scripture is clear and straightforward and the problem with *interpretation* is when someone doesn't like what they are reading and want it to say something different and need to find *deeper* meanings for it.
Tradition is tradition and does not rise to the level of certainty as the written word. Arguments over tradition are meaningless as there is no sold basis for the truth of them.
1) Learn the original languages, or, have a teacher/pastor who knows the language. That alone will clarify a lot of the misconceptions of Christianity.
2) Learn about the time period of the early church.
3) Read the Bible in the context of the above two. Also, read the Bible in context itself.
4) The Bible is to be the final authority on what we believe.