Posted on 04/22/2016 8:47:44 AM PDT by metmom
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand” (1 Corinthians 15:1).
The true church has consistently testified to the power of the Resurrection.
Kenneth Scott Latourette observed in his History of the Expansion of Christianity: “It was the conviction of the resurrection of Jesus which lifted his followers out of the despair into which his death had cast them and which led to the perpetuation of a movement begun by him.” This statement was true for the church at Corinth, even with its many problems.
The apostle Paul opens his well-known chapter on the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 by implicitly affirming the Corinthians’ testimony to that doctrine. Simply by receiving the gospel and having their lives transformed, the believers at Corinth demonstrated the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. And that resurrection is what empowered the gospel. Paul did not need to explicitly remind the Corinthians of Christ’s rising to life until verse 4, “He was raised on the third day.” The apostle was confident at the outset that the Corinthians had already believed in the truth of the Lord’s resurrection.
The fact that the Corinthian church continued to exist, though beset with problems of immaturity and other weaknesses, was a solid witness to the power of the gospel of the risen Christ. Only a living Savior could have converted some of the hardened sinners of Corinth—extortioners, idolaters, the sexually immoral—into a community of the redeemed. Paul was concerned and distressed about many of the things that did and did not happen in the church at Corinth, but he did not hesitate to call the core group of members there “brethren.”
In spite of many challenges from skepticism, persecution, heresy, and unfaithfulness, the church through the centuries has continued to testify to the reality of Christ’s resurrection. The true church celebrates that truth often, not just on Easter Sunday. Actually, because the church gathers on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week (when Jesus rose), we remember the Resurrection every week. Praise the Lord for that reminder the next time you worship on the Lord’s Day.
Suggestions for Prayer
Thank God that His church was faithful in the past to testify to the truth of the Resurrection.
For Further Study
Read Acts 4, and list some things that suggest a testimony to the power of the Resurrection.
No, I said the first edition was recalled. The final edition is flawed, also.
Crazy soft keyboard... ‘Catholocs” == “Catholics”
Hoss
So I’ll ask you again: Do you believe John 3:16 is truth? Do you believe Jesus said that verse to Nicodemus? Do you believe Jesus left out a few details which are also necessary to ‘obtain Salvation?
After all, this is what the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops states:
What is the doctrinal or teaching authority of the Catechism?
"The Catechism is part of the Church's official teaching in the sense that it was suggested by a Synod of Bishops, requested by the Holy Father, prepared and revised by bishops and promulgated by the Holy Father as part of his ordinary Magisterium. Pope John Paul II ordered the publication of the Catechism by the Apostolic Constitution, Fidei Depositum, on October 11, 1992. An apostolic constitution is a most solemn form by which popes promulgate official Church documents. The new Code of Canon Law, for example, was promulgated by the Apostolic Constitution, Sacrae Disciplinae Leges. In Fidei Depositum, Pope John Paul II said, "The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved June 25th last and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition, and the Church's Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion." John Paul II also stated that the Catechism "is given as a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine."
And,
Does this mean that the Catechism can be disregarded?
"No. The Catechism is part of the Church's ordinary teaching authority. Pope John Paul II placed his apostolic authority behind it. Its doctrinal authority is proper to the papal Magisterium. In Fidei Depositum John Paul II termed the Catechism a "sure norm for teaching the faith" and "a sure and authentic reference text." He asked "the Church's pastors and the Christian faithful to receive this catechism in a spirit of communion and to use it assiduously in fulfilling their mission of proclaiming the faith and calling people to the Gospel life."
So, who are YOU, if you're a Catholic, to question JP II's apostolic authority? Do you know more than "Christ's Vicar"?
It appears to me that the Roman Catholic Church, and you, are hoist on your own petard.
The CCC teaches heresy, Roman Catholics must believe it, and are thus in the grips of a false gospel -- a blasphemous, heretical, and un-Christian teaching.
It says what it says, and it's authorized teaching of the RCC.
If you have an issue with it, take it up with the Vatican.
Hoss
Read thru the thread again....
Nope. You don’t hear His word. He told Peter and his successors to go “Teach” His word. That is a teaching AUTHORITY. There can be only ONE authority to teach ONE truth. Either you are a Catholic who hears God’s word or you are not.
It may take you several times. Keep at it.
>>Hoss: I've been told over, and over, and over again that the RCC does not teach error; yet you indicate that a teaching source is flawed and thus the RCC DOES teach error. <,
ebb...your debate skills need a little work.
You admit your own catechism is flawed!!!! I almost fell out of my chair with your admission of what Christians have known all along.
and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Acts 11:26 NASB
Man are catholics ignorant of the Word.
Nope. You don’t hear His word. He told Peter and his successors to go “Teach” His word. That is a teaching AUTHORITY. There can be only ONE authority to teach ONE truth. Either you are a Catholic who hears God’s word or you are not.
I guess you missed ebbtide's admission that the official teaching document of the roman catholic church is flawed.
ebbtide: JP II’s “catechism” is flawed. The Bible is not.
10 It is therefore no surprise that catechesis in the Church has again attracted attention in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which Pope Paul Vl considered the great catechism of modern times. the General Catechetical Directory (1971) the sessions of the Synod of Bishops devoted to evangelization (1974) and catechesis (1977), the apostolic exhortations Evangelii nuntiandi (1975) and Catechesi tradendae (1979), attest to this. the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 asked
"that a catechism or compendium of all Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals be composed"
13 The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, made the Synod's wish his own, acknowledging that "this desire wholly corresponds to a real need of the universal Church and of the particular Churches."14 He set in motion everything needed to carry out the Synod Fathers' wish.http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM
But the Protestant church world is incredibly divided into hundreds if not thousands of groups, and splinter groups from those main groups.
Protestantism PROVES the falsity of sola sciptura or one can achieve doctrinal truths from the bible ALONE. If such were true, then
Protestants have NO SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY for how they INTERPRET scripture.
Each group has their own David Koresh or Jim Jones or Billy Graham or the local neighborhood Four Square Church pastor authority, or pastor of First Baptist, First Lutheran, or First whatever. for interpreting scripture THEIR WAY.
Is the body of Christ divided into 30,000 ways of understanding doctrine? Or is there one body and one faith?
Catholic Church Fathers (those early theologians) spent the better part of some 300 years sorting out hundreds of written texts and fragments before they assembled the canonical texts. This was a full ELEVEN CENTURIES before the heresy of Protestantism washed ashore and itself fell on fallow ground that it sprouted thousands of sects of hybrid varieties from the likes of Billy Graham’s vapid interpretation of scripture to the deadly Jim Jones and comical Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Many of them like wild mushrooms have withered away.
Moreover, as stated before, the Catholic intellectual tradition, to cite only Augustine, Aquinas, Newman, and Benedict after whom colleges and universities have been named, encourages the pursuit of truth on God’s Word against a world of heretics. Catholicism hasn’t gone down the hellhole of Protestantism where every Jack and Jill is allowed to crack open the pages of the Bible and offer us “his” or “her” definitive versions of God’s Word.
When doctrinal disputes occurred in the first and second century, they were resolved by the Church. Why? Because it alone is the teaching authority given by Christ to all peoples for all times.
So all this citation to scripture by ealgeone; elsie, metmom, etc is of no use. Each is assuming his or her own teaching authority.
At the end of the day, you are either a Catholic or a non-Catholic.
So why do you not accept what the FIRST church council agreed upon for newborns into Christ?
Let me say that again as it appears you listen really slow.
One of your fellow catholics has admitted that the official document of catholic theology is flawed.
The very document composed by catholics is flawed.
Further, your assertion regarding the many times disproven catholic lie about the number of denominations, fails also. Unless you can with 100% certainty say that every homily, every Sunday School lesson, every Bible study that is conducted by a catholic, has been approved by the Vatican, your position fails.
Can you say that with 100% certainty? Around the world every catholic has their lesson approved by the Vatican?
Are they appealing to the admitted flawed document known as the catechism?
Just on this board alone we see a myriad of opinions on catholic issues.
Case in point. The apparitions claiming to be mary. When the message of the apparition is good, catholics sing it to the mountaintops. Yet, when the detailed messages of the apparitions are examined the catholic will retreat to the position of "private revelation" in an effort to distance themselves from these apparitions.
The hypocrisy of roman catholicism is appalling.
Christianity has no reason to believe anything roman catholicism teaches.
John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 6:37-39 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It does, but it also tells us how to avoid Hell. If you read the Word in context you may see that.
And on what authority do you decide who you have to listen to or not?
The Triune God's authority.
Catholicism has changed its beliefs many times over the centuries.
The EO are at odds with the church at Rome over m any not insignificant issues. They claim they are the original Catholic church and Rome is wrong. You guys claim the same about them. Both of you consider the other to be in schism from the *true* Catholic church.
So who's right?
Actually it proves nothing of the sort. God does not demand lockstep adherence to church doctrine for salvation.
There are areas which Paul pointed out in Romans 14 which are referred to as *disputable matters*. God allows for individual conscience in those areas.
The existence of different denominations is not proof of doctrinal differences or differences in interpretation. Some of it is simply governing preferences.
At the end of the day, you are either a Catholic or a non-Catholic.
I'm a non-Catholics and I'm saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. I am secure in my salvation and will be in heaven when I die because HE who promised is faithful.
And yet, there you go, cherry picking single verses out of context to build your own doctrine.
So here are some passages that state that salvation is by FAITH, believing.
They are taken in context, not single verses lifted out.
Romans 3:20-30 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Romans 4:1-25 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Romans 10:9-13 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Galatians 2:15-21 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Galatians 3:1-29 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Ephesians 2:1-10And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Titus 3:4-8 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
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