Posted on 12/04/2023 5:19:36 PM PST by Az Joe
Game, set, match. Now sit down and be quiet.
“The Catholic Church is the supreme earthly authority”
It lacks apostolic authority. The New Testament carries apostolic authority. The modern Catholic Church, by asserting authority above the scriptures, continues in a long-term rebellion against the scriptures.
God gave the apostles authority to govern the Church and gave them the inspired scriptures that convey the apostles’ commandments to us today.
“The Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.’”
Yes, a change in the catechism in 2018.
Thomas Aquinas defended the death penalty in Summa Theologica.
The Roman Catechism (1566) affirms the rightful use of the death penalty by civil authorities. However, the dogmas have never addressed this specifically, to my knowledge.
I will add this one point. Many things in the Bible warrant the death penalty for which we are all guilty. Catholics and Protestants generally agree that we are all under the penalty of death through our sin which is universal. (We all sin and we all die.) So, when I point out that the Bible treats various things as capital crimes, I am fully aware that I condemn myself. There is an issue as to where the line should be drawn when it comes to offering mercy versus justice.
St. Peter
Case closed.
Heretic
The Bible records that Christ gave authority to the apostles who were to become the foundation of the Church:
Matthew 16:18 NKJV
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Acts 1:8 NKJV
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth
Ephesians 2:20-22 NKJV
[The Church] having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
By the way, a foundation is laid once. It is not broken up and replaced but is built upon. There is no need for modern clergymen to assume the role of apostle nor of a pope to assume the role of the vicor of Christ (as the Holy Spirit does the work of Christ on earth).
1 Corinthians 3:11 NKJV
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
John 16:7 NKJV
Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
Those who falsely claim apostolic authority have been around since the Church began:
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 NKJV
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
2 Thessalonians 2:2 NKJV
[You should] not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us [i.e. the apostles], as though the day of Christ had come.
For this reason, claims of apostolic authority are not supposed to be accepted without proof. Such claims must be tested:
1 John 4:1 NKJV
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Revelation 2:1-2 NKJV
To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, “These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: ‘I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars.’”
How is apostolic authority tested? What are the minimum qualifications to be considered an apostle?
1. Chosen by God to be an apostle
2. Performed sign miracles
3. Accomplished great works for God through supernatural gifts
3. Persevered through great opposition and persecution
4. Personally taught by Jesus
5. Witnessed that Christ rose from the dead
Here are examples of God choosing apostles:
Luke 6:13 NKJV
And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles.
Acts 9:15-16 NKJV
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he [i.e. Paul when he was still named Saul] is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
Notice how the above verse also speaks of the suffering and perserverance through which Paul would demonstrate his apostleship.
When the Corintian church questioned Paul’s apostleship, he defended it based on certain criteria, and mocked the self-asserted authority of the false apostles who challenged his credientials. He points out that he is an eye-witness of Christ’s resurrection:
1 Corinthians 9:1-2 NKJV
Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
Here he points out that his apostolic authority was confirmed with sign-miracles also:
2 Corinthians 12:11-12 NKJV
I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
Of course the other 12 apostles (13 if we count Judas), were taught by Jesus, but Paul also asserts that he was personally taught by Christ as well:
Galatians 1:1-12 NKJV
Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ... nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Apostolic authority is present today in the scriptures as it was when they were written by the apostles in the first century:
2 Peter 3:15-16 NKJV
Consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
This further aligns with the idea that apostlic authority was not hiearchical and was equally shared by the apostles who demonstrated a consistent message among themselves.
2 Corinthians 11:5 NKJV
For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles.
2 Peter 1:12-14 NKJV
For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.
There is no apostolic succession:
Acts 1:15-26 NKJV
And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.” (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it’; and, ‘Let another take his office.’ “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
The above passage shows that the office Judas held was filled by Matthias because it was necessary to fulfill prophecy. Judas was replaced, NOT BECAUSE HE DIED, but because he “fell” by his sin of betrayal. When the apostle James died, there was no one appointed to replace him:
Acts 12:2 NKJV
Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Also, Paul was apppointed to be an apostle by Christ and was not a replacement to anyone of the other apostles:
1 Corinthians 15:8 NKJV
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
He indicates that his apostleship is extraordinary in this case because he came later than the others.
There is absolutely no evidence for today’s pope or any other pope being an apostle, having apostolic authority over the entire earth-bound Church, as they do not meet any of the requirements to qualify as an apostle.
Today, we can hear from the apostles directly by reading what they wrote which is contained in our Bibles. While God uses other people to teach us about the Bible and what it means, no human can replace the Revealer of the deeper, spritual truths of the Bible because that is role of the Holy Spirit.
1 John 2:27 NKJV
But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
Those who put their faith in a pope and Catholic doctrines not contained in the Bible are trading scripture for the doctrines of men, the Holy Spirit for a pope, and the biblical Savior for some other Jesus (i.e. false christ):
2 Corinthians 11:4 NKJV
For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
“Here is your God”
Lol. I don’t idolize men or angels. But your religion does and teaches its adherents to do so. They make statues of men, women, and angels. They practice bowing to them, praying to them, and giving them offerings such as incense, food, or flowers. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and the angel who appeared to John in Revelation all rejected such conduct when men wanted to bow to them or make offerings to them. (See Acts 10 & 14, and Revelation 22.) Why do you bow to images of them when they forbade anyone from bowing to them?
I don’t base my beliefs on men. I am not a follower of men. You are the one who advocates following men, including your current failure of a pope.
It’s funny that you fixate on Luther (who was merely one of many reformers calling for repentance and returning to long-held doctrinal truth contained in the scriptures), but for all his mistakes he’s simultaneously more biblical AND more Catholic than your current pope.
When Judas fell, he was replaced. But you’ll keep your popes, bishops, and priests no matter what they do. You think the Church is comprised of these clergymen with their long robes, real estate, and stained glass windows.
Your religion is based on the doctrines and traditions of men.
How can it be infallible when it changes? I gave you an example of the death penalty. The official view of your church has changed.
I don’t consult Luther or the Catechism to get answers.
I gave you what the Bible says. Whether you accept it or not is up to you.
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