Prove it. Mere assertions are a dime a dozen.
-A8
Prove it. Mere assertions are a dime a dozen.
Yes, I know the Roman mere assertions and twisting of Scripture and inventing history are a dime a dozen.
You see, Roman Catholics have been force-fed the false teaching that, the Roman church is to be believed and obeyed, without question, blindly, unconditionally, no matter what. So, when you cite a passage such as you did that says "listen to the church", etc, you see it through that lens of blind, unconditional obedience, when there is the precedence of obeying God and the Truth over that of men.
When the gospel first began being preached in Jerusalem, the "one true only church and supreme rulers" at that time ordered Peter and the disciples to stop preaching the Gospel.
Pay close attention to Peter's reply at the end.
Acts 5;
24 Now when the high priest,[b] the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. 25 So one came and told them, saying,[c] “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” 26 Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” 29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.
Paul commends the Bereans for not blindly believing his preaching, but checking the Scriptures to see if Paul's preaching was true.
Acts 17;
10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
Paul goes further to say that if he or anyone, even an angel of God preached another gospel and another Jesus than what he had preached, that they should be eternally damned.
Galatians 1:
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
God has never required unconditional, blind obedience and believing of anyone who purports to be proclaiming something to be true. Quite the contrary, as Peter and Paul both stress, the first obligation is to obey and please God, not men who teach false doctrine.
Rome requires unconditional, blind obedience contrary to the clear teaching of Jesus, Peter, Paul and the Scriptures.
Jesus and the Apostles warned of false teachers and false prophets, who would come looking like the real thing, but are wolves in sheep's clothing, meaning they are deceivers, treacherous and stealthy.
Once again, pay attention to Paul's strong comment in Galatians:
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
Rome preaches another gospel than what Jesus, Paul and the Apostles preached.
Rome makes it absolutely necessary for salvation belief in the Assumption of Mary.
Rome makes it absolutely necessary for salvation belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
Rome makes it absolutely necessary for salvation belief in Roman Papal Infallibility.
Rome makes it absolutely necessary for salvation belief in Purgatory.
Those are to name just a few additions which pervert the Gospel of Christ, thus preaching another gospel, which is not good news at all, but is bondage making whereas Jesus came to set His sheep free.
Rome has practiced deceit in it's increase of papal power since the medieval period, with it's use of fraudulent, forged, deceitful manufacturing of forged documents that it used to make it appear that the Roman pope had held spiritual and temporal supremacy from antiquity, with fraudulent documents like "The Donation of Constantine", "Liber Pontificalis" and especially the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals", which became the basis for RC canon law, all of them deliberate frauds.
Therefore, the RCC preaches a false gospel, seized power by treacherous deceit, deliberate fraud and intrigue, and by the authority of Scripture is NOT a legitimate church, is a false teacher and false prophet, a wolf in sheep's clothing.
We obey God, not men in Rome claiming to be supreme rulers when their claims are self assuming and fraudulent.