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I'm thought you might not be able to leave this alone; that's good. You should be troubled, though of course you're avoiding the obvious issue, and cast about desperately for more comfortable targets.

So, if you've nothing to fear, why not actually look at the Scriptures? You say you believe them. Surely there can't be any harm in looking at them, and thinking, can there? Not saying you did, but actually doing it?

Or you could keep bringing up as many non sequiturs as you could think of, trot out cliches, try to quiet your conscience.

And after all that's done, the issue will still be: will you begin to trust Christ alone for salvation? Will you begin truly to trust God's Word as sufficient?

Or will you continue in willing thralldom?

Your issue.

Dan
(Thos Scriptural questions you're trying to avoid)

Your arrogance in your own self-assuredness is saddening. Seriously, you condescend to anyone who thinks differently from you to the point of absurdity. I will pray for you; pray as a Christian, since being a Catholic makes me one (though you disagree). The fact that you cannot see that beyond your own bigotry is such a tragedy. May Christ open your eyes, your mind, and your heart that you may see past your own inflated ego.

>>>>>>Or will you continue in willing thralldom?

Yes. I actually find the great J. R. R. Tolkien's theological arguments highly persuasive. As did C. S. Lewis, whom Tolkien persuaded to return to Christianity. Alas, Lewis' Northern Irish background instilled in him an anti-Catholicism that not even Tolkien could fully erase, to Tolkien's great distress, but the two men together certainly made an enormous contribution to Christian thought.

Dan, I've been reading this thread between you and Thorin, and I can only ask you to consider carefully what Thorin is saying. Twenty years ago, I was in your shoes. Then I did a lot of studying, and realized that I was deeply mistaken. Go read the Church Fathers. Study Church history. You will see that what you are defending is not the Bible, but rather a very contemporary philosophy applied to Christianity. It is called individualism. You make the Bible into your sole authority, and you are the ultimate interpreter of the Bible for yourself. You think you can interpret the Bible for yourself. You don't recognize apostolic succession, and the authority of the Church. Christ told us that as people mistreated Him and maligned Him, so they would mistreat and malign the Apostles and their successors. You are fulfilling Christ's statement, in what you have said on this thread. Just pause a second, and think about how serious that is, if you are wrong. When Ananias and Saphira lied to Peter (and to the Holy Spirit), they were struck dead. And yet you have the nerve to say of Peter's successor the things you have said. Even Michael the archangel did not make a judgment against the devil, as Jude tells us. Yet you have no reluctance to put Peter's successor in hell. Some caution, and reverance, is in order, just in case you could possibly be wrong. You, like so many posting on this thread, have many misconceptions of Catholicism. Not only do you not understand it, you don't understand the support for it. Nor do you recognize the philosophy which underlies your rejection of Catholicism. You have a lot of studying to do. Be prudent, and do your studying first, before saying foolish things that you might later regret. You may end up being a Catholic someday, as strange as that may sound to you now.

-A8