Dear Moses,
I want to tell you that I can see from all you have studied
and researched, you are very devoted to helping the Lord Jesus in the way you
know best.
Let me tell you what we believe as catholics.
We do not believe that the Church is superior to the canon
because she has put the scriptures together. This is clearly stated in
the CCC, and I know tht you read the catechism
sometimes. I am glad to hear that too. It is best to know just what
catholics beleive so that
you are not disagreeing with something we don't beleive
in the first place!
Now secondly Moses, you mentioned that:
Since only Scripture is God-breathed, ...
Now before we can go any further, we must note that it is
not exactly true when you say that only scripture is God-breathed.
After all, there are many instances in the scriptures of other things
that are God-breathed:
First of all, the life giving Spirit that God put in the
clay that became man was God-breathed.
Gen 2, 7
Secondly, when Jesus breathed upon the apostles and said :
"As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive
the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you
retain the sins of any, they are
retained." John
20, 21-23
Catholics see in this the ability of the apostles to
forgive sins through the power of the holy
Spirit. Although you might later say "How can a man forgive sins?
Only God can forgive sins!" Amen. But we do not claim that a
man can forgive sins, but only God, in man, forgiving sins by the authority
given by Jesus Christ and his Spirit. Through Him,
with Him and in Him.
And also, how Elijah's prayer caused the Lord to perform a
miracle in 1 Kings 17, 19
These are different things in which the Lord breathes His
Spirit into, and also, how He breathes that Spirit: through his
chosen apostles and prophets.
So here I hope you see that we cannot say that only
scripture is God-breathed, for the scriptures can speak to us
otherwise. I hope that I have shown this clearly from those
same scriptures.
Now Moses, I want to speak delicately about this next
subject. I am not sure how to phrase this so may the Lord help me. amen.
You said that there for the divine table of contents, God
revealed it. This is true. Do you know, however, in what way this
divine table of contents was revealed?
After many years of discussion by the Church as to what
books were canonical and which were not, some books sometimes being accepted
and then later being rejected back and forth over many years (40-397
A.D.), what finally happened was that the Church held a council very much
like the council described in Acts 15. A Church
council.
God then revealed finally what books belong to the
bible, a "divine table of contents." but
He did this over a long period of time, and through His Church at the
council. If you want to read some deep research and history into this,
please visit:
http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2006/11/new-testament-canon.html
I invite you to read the link above,
At the very least you will be better equipped to answer catholic belief
by studying this page. You will also learn so much about how the bible
came into existance. All people should have
this wonderful knowledge about the thing they love the most, the bible.
To contiue, you quoted 2 Pet 1, 19-21:
Moreover, we possess the prophetic message
that is altogether reliable. You will do well to
be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
until day dawns and the morning star rises
in your hearts.Know this
first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of
personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but
rather human beings moved by the holy
Spirit spoke under the influence of
God.
Now let me speak at some length about these verses for I
love them very much so.
Peter says that he and those with him posses the prophetic
message that is reliable. the message about Jesus
Christ. The message that was entrusted to Peter and the
Apostles to teach over all the earth.
He then says that you (the reader) should be attentive to
it (the message). That message contains the power to make the morning
star rise in your heart. It is a wonderful proclamation of the love of
Jesus for all people.
And also, he says: "there is no prophecy of
scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation"
this means that the bible cannot be interpreted by humans. This is
because it cannot be understood without the holy
Spirit.
"for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather
human beings moved by the
holy Spirit spoke under the influence of
God. "
Peter and the Apostles were sent by Christ to bring His
message and had the holy Spirit that He breathed to
them. This is the beginning of the sending of the Spirit to all the world.
Why? So that with the Spirit, all people might come to
know, love and serve Jesus. For without the holy
Spirit, no one can ever understand the scriptures. And hence, Sola
Scriptura cannot be true.
For you need not only the scriptures, but you also need the
holy Spirit to interpret them.
But how can anyone receieve the holy Spirit that was given to the Apostles so long
ago? Well they must receive it from those who already have it.
Please try and follow me here where I am going with this Moses.
"For "everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved."
Rom 10, 13
I want to begin here. I am sure that you agree with
this verse. And if you read further, I pray that you this will make
sense.
"But how can they call on him in whom they have not
believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how
can they hear without someone to preach?
I would like to present this teaching to you to help you
understand this:
Romans 10:14 "But how are men to call upon him in whom
they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have
never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?"
In this verse we see that in order to properly hear the word of GOD so that
they may believe, there is a condition attached.
They cannot "believe in Him" unless they have heard it, and have
heard it from a preacher.
Does that verse mean any preacher, even a false one (2Cor 11:12-15)?
No, definitely not, for Holy Scripture teaches that it could
not be just any preacher, but only a preacher who is sent by GOD.
The very next verse will teach us this.
Romans 10:15, "And how can men preach unless they are sent?
As it is written (Isaiah 52:7, Nahum 1:15*), "How beautiful are the feet
of those who preach good news!"" (Please note that "good
news" is the meaning of the word "Gospel".)
"And how can men preach unless they are sent?" Sent?
If anyone has been sent, then it stands to reason that
"someone" had to do the sending. Isn't that true?
And if someone had to do the sending, the word sent by itself implies authority
By simple deduction, and by common sense, the question must be asked that they
who were sent then, were sent by whom?
In this verse we can see and hear the death knell of the "Once saved, always
saved" false belief.
The word for "sent", as used in the Greek language of
which the book of Romans was written, is apostello.
Doesn't that sound like another Biblical word for which we are all familiar?
Apostello means to send out properly on
a mission. From apostello we get the Greek
word "apostolos", meaning "Apostle".
The Greek word "Apostolos" means
"he who is sent".
So who are the "they" who are those sent, and by whom are
"they" sent?
The same Greek word, apostello, is used
by Jesus Christ when He spoke to His "Apostolos"
in John 20:21:
"Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.""
It is obvious that those who are sent (apostello)
by GOD are also given authority by Jesus Christ who is GOD.
That authority was delegated to the Apostles alone by Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:15 had said, "And how can men preach unless they are sent?". I must ask, "Sent by whom and with what authority?"
"And He appointed twelve, to be with Him, and to be sent out to
preach..." Mark 3:14
So, those who are sent, are sent with the
authority given to them by GOD. Consequently, the only persons authorized to
preach were the Apostles, and those who followed them in a long line of succession, the office of the Bishops (Psalms
109:8, Acts 1:20).
This was said by
"So, if I brag a little too much about the authority which the Lord gave us, I'm not
ashamed. The Lord gave us this authority to help you, not to hurt you."
2Corinthians 10:8
In addition there were a few others mentioned in Scripture who were appointed
directly by the Lord such as the seventy who were sent in Luke 10:1.
There is another Greek word for sent, and it is pempo.
Pempo is used in verses where sent
means not sent with the authority of GOD, such as in Matthew
14:10.
Non-Catholic preachers will have a hard time trying to prove that they were sent
by the authority of GOD since they are not in the line of succession going all
the way back to the Apostles. So by what authority do these persons preach?
They cannot claim that "GOD told me" either, since that would be, at
most, only a private revelation if that, and not a public one, so how could
anyone "prove" that their claim to "GOD told me" is to be
believed? Anyone can utter the excuse that "GOD told me!".
History is repleat with heretics,
criminals, dictators, and despots who used that term as their supposed
justification for their evil deeds.
In Numbers 12:1-2, Mariam and
Aaron complained against Moses, "Is it through Moses alone that the Lord
speaks? Does He not speak through us also?" "And the Lord heard
this."
Now read the rest of that chapter and see what the Lord did to them for their
false claim. GOD has always spoken through one "Father figure", be it Noah, Abraham, Moses,
David, Peter, and on down through Peter's successors for almost 2000 years.
GOD is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Today, as
in the past, He does not speak through multiple father figures who do not have
the fulness of truth, but speaks only through His one
authoritative Vicar of Christ on earth.
In Luke 10:16, Jesus said, "He who hears
you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects
him who sent me." That verse is a
verse of authority and it is a verse of infallibility as well. It is a verse also of
obedience for those who were sent.
Now there are well over 38,000 non-Catholic sects, each
with at least one preacher and all of them are preaching something different
from one another. So, given the fact that there can be only one truth and with obedience to only one authority, which one of those tens of
thousands is the model of obedience and has the authority and infallibility
given to him or her by Jesus Christ?
Which one of the tens of thousands of them could lay claim to Luke 10:16?
"...and he who rejects you rejects me,
and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
What else could this part of Luke 10:16 mean other than to
be applied to those who reject the teaching of His "Apostolos"
and their successors through the one Church which He founded?
this teaching was written by Bob Stanley @ http://home.inreach.com/bstanley/truth.htm
Well I hope this shows how someone must be sent by Christ
to preach. And the catholic church has had that
sending forth continuing sicne the time of
Christ. Or better still, we can trace our message right back to Jesus
Himself. He started our Church afterall, or
should I say before all.
So Moses, I hope that this has been an eye opener for
you. I hope you don't mind me including this in our defense. I feel
that it is important to present this. Why? Only because I love you
and I know for certain that Christ loves you. That is why we having this
discussion after all. Not to agrue or debate,
but to come to the Lord in a deeper way. Because He is the One who is calling us.
Praised be the Lord!
with love in Him,
Ben