CynicalBear:
Your answers are typically fundie. How has anything I stated suggest that I do not believe in Christ. You say based on Scriptures, but the Bible does not interpret itself, the Bible was put together by the Church and the doctrines that were defined by those Church Fathers, Incarnational theology, Christ as a Divine person with both a human and Divine Nature, the Trinitarian of One God yet three Distinct persons, who while all Divine and distinct, are by relationship One God. These doctrines were defined by those CHurch Fathers and CHurch COuncils.
Who defined your doctrines? You did. All you have demonstrated is that you reject the Catholic Faith, which all Protestants do. For most of you, your entire existence is defined by what you reject, yet most of you here never which Protestant Sect, among the thousands out there, you belong too and none of those Protestant groups at the Doctrinal level are in agreement yet all claim we believe the Bible. What you really believe is your own recent novel interpretations of the Bible which are not in continuity with the Historic Church.
With the help of the Holy Spirit it most certainly does.
1 Corinthians 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. - I John 2:27 Actually Cyril had it right.
Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 315-386) is reflective of the overall view of the Fathers:
Concerning the divine and sacred Mysteries of the Faith, we ought not to deliver even the most casual remark without the Holy Scriptures; nor be drawn aside by mere probabilities and the artifices of argument. Do not then believe me because I tell thee of these things, unless thou receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of what is set forth: for this salvation, which is our faith, is not by ingenious reasonings, but by proof from the Holy Scriptures....In these articles we comprehend the whole doctrine of faith….For the articles of the Faith were not composed at the good pleasure of men, but the most important points chosen from all Scriptures, make up the one teaching of the Faith….This Faith, in a few words, hath enfolded in its bosom the whole knowledge of godliness contained both in the Old and New Testaments. Behold, therefore, brethren and hold the traditions (2 Thes. 2:15) which ye now receive, and write them on the table of your hearts....Now heed not any ingenious views of mine; else thou mayest be misled; but unless thou receive the witness of the prophets concerning each matter, believe not what is spoken; unless thou learn from Holy Scripture....receive not the witness of man. [A Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church (Oxford: Parker, 1845), "The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril" Lecture 4.17.]
As one of the "FR Fundie Protestants" you labeled in derision, let me answer a few of your false contentions. The Bible says what it means and means what it says. It is self-interpretive, meaning Scripture interprets Scripture. All those councils or church fathers took what SCRIPTURE said and used it to write their creeds. In addition to that, they had the indwelling Holy Spirit - that we ALL have who are in Christ - and, as Jesus promised He would, leads us into all truth. That there are different denominations does not mean that there are that many different "interpretations" of Holy Scripture. There IS only ONE truth concerning the MAJOR tenets of the Christian faith. If ANY church claims to BE Christian, they must adhere to those doctrines clearly laid out in Scripture. When Paul called the church the "pillar and foundation of the truth", he certainly did not mean this church MAKES up the truth. NO, the church is to uphold and support what IS the truth. By your same measurement, why are there hundreds of denominations with Catholicism? Don't you agree that, no matter what a church calls itself, if it is "Christian", then is must adhere to Christian tenets?
Yet Protestants DO NOT reject all of the catholic faith. As long as ANY church upholds the doctrines of the faith, they are in unity. But no matter what the outside sign says on the church building, if what is taught within does not comport with what Scripture states, then they are NOT representing the true church of Christ, the Body of Christ, the called-out assembly of believers in Christ. That body spans time, nations, peoples, languages and, yes, even denominations. Us "Fundies" believe in the virgin birth of Christ, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - God in three persons, that Christ died as a propitiation for our sins, that Christ was foretold in Scripture and He has fulfilled prophecies about the Messiah, that through Christ God created all that is or ever will be, that Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, that of His kingdom there will be no end, etc. There's PLENTY we do not reject of what Catholicism teaches. But where we DO disagree, is major and it is no small matter, but is the difference between eternal life in heaven or hell. Why do you think we concentrate on this issue more than any other? The GOSPEL?
Those early church fathers, the Apostles, the early church, they ALL understood that salvation was by grace through faith and not by works - justification by faith. We are justified by faith because of God's grace and grace is not grace if works have to be added in. Out of the many areas the Reformers sought to restore the church back to orthodoxy, that was the MAIN thing. All the other issues do not mean much at all if this one doctrine is perverted. This is NOT a novel or new "interpretation" at all but it is backed up by the early leaders in the churches, the writings of the theologians back then, and, more than anything else, it is what Scripture clearly teaches and it was taught in both the Old and New Testaments. It is ALWAYS been about God's grace. Does God desire us to live holy lives? Of course He does! Does He tell us what he expects of us? Absolutely! But the ONLY way we can live victorious, God-honoring lives is by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that is given to us when we by faith receive Jesus Christ as Savior. ONLY then, is it even possible to please God. Doing good, living clean and holy lives, doing good works only matter to God when they are done out of gratitude to Him for His grace, and NOT as a means to gain His grace. If nothing else is understood in this comment, I pray this one thing is.
On the contrary, my identity is Christ and being in Him. That is why we do NOT identify as Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, whatever, because it is CHRIST who saves, not churches which save.
We have died in Him, been buried with Him, and raised in Him. The local assembly which we attend on Sundays for worship is incidental to our identity IN CHRIST.
It's all about Jesus. It's ONLY about Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.