Now, why would God suddenly drop His guidance of His established Church?
This is where I am lost regarding the Protestant mindset. It is a contradictory stance. Either determine the Scriptures for yourself and invent any sort of idea you want, or believe that God has revealed Himself through ONE Body. I don't see how you can have it both ways except by special pleading.
Hi jo kus ...
Protestants believe that God guided the formation of the Canon infallibly.
Protestants choose to make this infallible "Word of God" ... the basis for what we believe.
It is a faith issue.
We trust the Apostles.
We trust the canonized record of their writings.
We trust that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth regarding the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We trust that the universal Church of Jesus Christ ... will never forsake the necessary truths of the Gospel.
We do not place any similar faith ... in any contemporary human institutions.
Protestants have, simply, concluded that the Scriptures (as interpreted to us through the Holy Spirit) are the One utterly reliable guide to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yes, it is a matter of faith. Catholics have faith that the Church was established by Christ and that He continues to guide it, to include the formation of the Scripture canon. We do not believe that the Catholic Church is a mere human organization. We realize that there are weeds among the wheat. God will harvest when He is ready. Thus, the Church on earth consists of not only those who are "true" believers, but also those who are nominal believers, such as Christ discusses in Mat 7:21. Now, who are the elect? We won't know that answer until we stand before Christ and are judged.
Perhaps that is the difference and why we talk past each other. Many Protestants consider only "true" believers as members of the Church, which is synonymous with the elect (which would be an invisible body), while Catholics consider a person baptized as part of the Church (making the Church visible to the world) - while again, the elect are unknown in this life. The Catholic view takes into account the parables of Jesus and discussing the Kingdom, consisting of weeds and wheat, good and bad fish, and so forth.
Your comments?
Regards