“It would be helpful to know to which aberration you are referring.”
I was responding to this statement in the original article:
“Protestant individuals, 1500 – 2000 years removed from the events in the NT, are pretty much on their own.”
I was trying to point out that as the church started out in Acts, and spread hither and yon, and this elder and that bishop became more prominent, and then, as we most of us know from church history, a battle broke out between the eastern and western authorities, starting the first major schism (Eastern Orthodox vs. Roman Catholic), and (from my perspective) the Roman Catholic church went downhill with more and more papal bulls and decrees that frequently (from my perspective) contradict Scripture - for example, the infamous work of Tetzel which Luther railed against, the selling of indulgences - that THEY were the aberrant ones. The further they wandered from Scripture, the more aberrant they became.
This is as opposed to faithful Christians, even before the Reformation (the Waldensians come to mind, as an organized group) which acknowledged Scripture and the authoritative decree of God. I see them, us, the Protestants, as the non-aberrant ones. Not perfectly, but in the main, I see us as the continuation of the early church.
I don’t see the RC church as totally aberrant. For example, they confess the Bible as the true word of God (with the addition of the Apogrypha), the creation of the world by God, the Trinity (very important), the sinfulness of mankind, the fact that Jesus is the Savior, He died for our sins, was buried, resurrected, and will return again - all very true and very important doctrines. So it is important to remember all that we have in common.
Such a statement, dear friend, requires support. From which "Scripture" did the Catholic Church wander? What is the source of your statement?
As a Catholic, I thank you for your thoughtful responses. You have made your position very clear.
I ask you to consider for a moment that perhaps all your study and inquiry is based on the belief that only Scripture matters. If you have viewed Church history though that prism, you have viewed it with a bias.
I ask you to remember that Christ promised to guide His Church forever. It also states in scripture that the writers of the Gospels couldn’t write down all the wondrous things Christ did and all his teachings. Scripture only records a small percentage of what He did and taught. Christ didn’t tell the Apostles to sit down and write out their teachings and evangelize by having everyone study it. He told them to go and verbally teach His word. He set up a system to do that with a hierarchy. He sent them the Spirit to guide their thinking. This is all Scripture based fact.
If you can imagine studying Scripture from that perspective, from the basis of Christ’s intentions and actions for His Church, I think you would begin to see where Catholics are coming from. We believe in the system Christ set up before He died. He passed on insight, understanding, and knowledge verbally. He didn’t write it down for the Apostles. He sent them to verbally teach others. He began traditions, like the breaking of the bread in Mass, and asked them to continue His traditions. He followed Jewish customs and traditions. He believed in them as the fulfillment of God’s promises to man.
Christ wanted His Church to continue oral teaching and tradition. He wanted us to remember what He taught us and set up a living, breathing body to do that. His message, and His Church, is more than Scripture.
I also ask you to consider that He chastised the Jews who clung to the letter of the Law/Scripture and didn’t want to learn from the living, breathing, acting Man in front of them. They had no respect for Christ’s oral tradition and teaching.
No matter how you slice it, breaking away from a Church after 15 centuries because of disagreements/concerns is still breaking away from an existing Church. It is separating yourself from the original. Only one Church can really trace its roots, leadership, teaching, oral tradition, and written record back to Christ. Various Protestant faiths filtered the Gospels to fit their beliefs.
I hope this clarifies what many Catholics feel for you. We believe that if you go back and research the earliest versions of Scripture, in the original languages, you will find ample reasons for Catholic dogma. I invite you to consider that you are studying Christianity through the prism of what you want to find- that only Scripture matters. Look to the original Scripture with an open mind and heart and you will find that the Catholic Church is the most scripturally accurate Church, from Christ’s time to today.
Thank you for your patience with my long post. I thank you for what you cited that we have in common.