Nevertheless, God, who desires to call all peoples to himself in Christ and to communicate to them the fullness of his revelation and love, “does not fail to make himself present in many ways, not only to individuals, but also to entire peoples through their spiritual riches, of which their religions are the main and essential expression even when they contain ‘gaps, insufficiencies and errors'”.27 Therefore, the sacred books of other religions, which in actual fact direct and nourish the existence of their followers, receive from the mystery of Christ the elements of goodness and grace which they contain.
You're denomination is saying that the Koran, the Pearl of Great Price, Doctrines and Covenants, the Bhagavad Gita, were received from Christ....and contain elements of goodness and grace????
I quote Surah 9:5 from the Koran.
If viewed in chronological order, this is one of the last "revelations" received from Allah by Muhammed.
This is one of the verses Muslims use to justify jihad.
You're attempting to tell me in some way this came from Christ??
"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." Surah 9:5, The Holy Qur'an
It would appear from this statement that the RCC has equated these other texts to be of equal value with the Bible.
NO where is Scripture is this supported.
This is why Christianity relies upon only the Scriptures as the only inspired texts to be used by the believer.
Christianity and Roman Catholicism....there is a difference.
They receive the “elements of goodness and grace.” Of course. These are folks who have never been introduced to the Gospel or the Church which authenticated the Bible.
Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims can be good people who can just as well follow the Sermon on the Mount. However, it is through the salvific mission of the Church that prays for sinners and nonbelievers that in God’s mercy they may obtain salvation as a “revelation of his love.” That is what Ratzinger is alluding to. If you read Ratzinger’s long and heavily authority-referenced treatise you will get this whole picture. It took me several days of very careful reading and actually reading some of the footnotes as well as you would expect (as I say this with utmost humility) from someone with a postdoctoral degree from a major ivy league school. Please don’t use this against me. It is today a highly secular, some would call an anti-Christian university. I keep an open mind and went from Fabian socialist to hard right Reagan conservative. The study of economics, culture, and even science all require a deep historical insight.
The great convert who founded the Oxford Movement, John Henry Cardinal Newman once said, “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.”
Many colleges an universities have what is called the campus Newman Club.
The history of Church takes you to Peter, Linus, Cletus etc. St. Irenaus, a disciple of St. John and his writings on the early Church and belief in the Eucharist. This is why folks like Dr. David Anders, a theologian who entered Wheaton to specifically disprove Catholicism and write the definitive proof on “why” Church doctrine is untrue, ended up being a convert to Catholicism.