The world didn’t need the catholic church to preserve the bible. How arrogant. God would have preserved His Word with or without the Popes church.
The fact is that God used the Church He established on earth, the Catholic Church, to collect, Canonize, preserve, protect and defend the Scriptures so that beginning 11 centuries later people like Luther, et al, could utilize their free will and begin abridging and editing it to their liking. Denial of that fact is both arrogance and ignorance on your part.
On the contrary, the Bible as a whole was not compiled until the late 4th century and then it was compiled by a Catholic saint (St. Jerome) at the request of a Catholic pope (St. Damasus I).
Christ stated that the Church, not Scripture should be the final authority: "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church: but if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." (Matthew 18:17 ) Christ did not state to refer to or consult Scripture for disputes and correction. He said to go to the Church as It is the final authority in Christianity.
In addition, St. Paul states that the Church, not Scripture is "THE pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Timothy 3:15) Since the Church alone is mentioned as the pillar of truth, then It alone has the right to discern the truth and interpret Scripture. For if individuals could correctly interpret Scripture, then all interpretations would be exactly the same as there can only be one Spiritual Truth for the plural of the word "truth" never appears in Scripture. The Church is Christ's bride (Ephesians 5:29) and has "no spot, wrinkle or blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). Christ also stated that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18).
The world didn’t need the catholic church to preserve the bible. How arrogant. God would have preserved His Word with or without the Popes church.
And that He did it WITH His (not the popes)Church doesn’t count for anything? Dismissing how it was ACTUALLY done isn’t arrogant?
Like or dislike anyone you want but credit where it’s due. As the Jews brought the Torah thru four and a half millienia, the Catholic church brought the new Testament thru two millenia.