Posted on 11/02/2013 12:04:14 AM PDT by matthewrobertolson
First question:
Is this one of those protected sites where you can’t comment or make a statement?
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. 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.’ “
I dont understand the first point. Arians, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in Christ (or at least not the Christ orthodox Christians know) so therefore they are not part of the Universal Church.
I am not a Lutheran, but I can safely say this author has no idea of what he is talking about.
The post is full of misrepesentations and half-truths about what my Lutheran brothers and sisters believe.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
I can picture this.. then he opened his hands raised an eyebrow
and said; “DUUUUUUGH”..
The point there is: who defines “orthodox,” if there is no authoritative institution to look to?
The only church invisible to us (but not to God nor to Satan and his angels from afar, nor to saints gone into Glory with God's singing angels) is the general festal gathering and summoned deliberative body in Heaven, mentioned in Hebrews 12:23. Jesus announced:
"My Kingdom is not of this world system . . ." (Jn 18:36b).
Jesus certainly did not give Simon bar Jonah (Peter) any more authority than He gave any of the other disciples, or that He has given to any regenerated believer-disciple-priest today, for in Mt. 18:18 He said:
"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. "
(The correct grammatical exegesis her is that He is saying that whatsoever you-all--not just thou, Peter, but all of you--shall bind on earth is that which is already bound in heaven; and whatsoever yo-all shall loose on earth is that which is already loosed in heaven.)
Here, the "you" is plural, and he is addressing the entire company (including Judas of Kerioth), and perhaps even more, including women, who kept company with them.
Christ, in Mt. 16:19, never said that the keys of the kingdom were restricted to Peter alone, for the keys that open the way to the Kingdom of The God are the articles of The Faith given by preaching the Gospel, and though a herald may exercise the keys of the Gospel, with The Holy Ghost opening the eys of one's understanding, the hearer chooses whether to enter, not the preacher. Nor can the herald/preacher close the gates for the enterer.
Furthermore, take notice that at this point in time, none of these disciples were yet saved as Christians, for the first prototype local church at Jerusalem was not yet formed. In fact, Peter himself was not yet converted, let alone regenerated (born of the Spirit), for Jesus said, on the very night previous to His slaughter, he commanded Simon:
"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Lk 22:31-32).
Then, subsequently, Peter denied him six times--thrice before the first chortle of the rooster, then three times more after the first and before the second rooster's crow. One may assume that Peter, not having foreknowledge, concluded that his salvation was lost, for had he not been clearly taught by Jesus the Anointed One, The Master:
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Lk. 14:26);
and:
"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven" (Mt. 10:32-33).
And, altogether, Simon left off following Christ six times, IIRC, as well as denying Him 6 times just before the Sacrifice of the Only Lamb whose Blood could wash away sins.
Though Simon Peter was the first to exercise the keys on the day of Pentecost, and 3,000 more entered into the Kingdom and were added to the Jerusalem church, later on he was not the local ruling elder; James was. Nor was Peter accorded a ministry beyond supervising the evangelism to the Jewish segment. It was Paul, trained both in gentile liberal arts and in theology by ben Gamaliel and later by Christ, that was assigned to the evangelism mission to the rest of human society. Peter as a "Pope"? Nah.
The faith summed in the above article won'tr hold Bible truth any more than a sieve will hold water. IMHO.
In which case who defines which institution is "authoritative"? It's the same problem just restated. Scripture and the Holy Spirit define orthodoxy.
When Jesus himself taught the disciples to pray be began with “Our Father...” not “Holy Mary...” That little bit of non-scriptural practice was added by someone else.
Sounds like the Obama administration.
“sounds like the Obama administration...”
An appropriate analogy would be that the Supreme Court is needed to uphold the constitution (etc.) because laws become complicated and need an authority to clarify them when they are called into question. (Before the Supreme Court became a bunch of liberals with an agenda, as it was first intended).
A teaching authority is evenyually required as the human brain easily becomes confused and issues evolve that need clarification; without a final authority everyone ends up making up their own interpretations, Luther included.
Apologetics are a waste of time, IMHO. Just believe and leave the judgements to God.
Setting up straw men and knocking them down is not a recognized form of apologetics
Still sounds like the Obama administration.
I reject your entire notion. To put it bluntly. I know when another man volunteers to interpret religion for me, it’s time to put my hand on my wallet and one foot out the door.
The Bible is sufficient as an authoritative base. I do not need a man made ‘theology’ in order to know God and be a believer and follower of His only begotten Son.
“..little bit of non scriptural practice...”
Luke : Chapter 1 Verse 48
For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Catholics are part of the generations calling Mary blessed as the bible instructs.
If non catholics don’t like the Hail Mary, fine; but don’t label it as unscriptural.
Just making the point that Luther’s interpretation is as up for grabs as anyone’s.
Well your first mistake was assuming an air of divine knowledge.
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