With regard to the Bible, I know my answer won’t satisfy you, but it satisfies me...Jesus said his sheep would know his voice. When I read the scriptures, I have confidence it is the Word of God. I’ve read the Apocrypha, and some of the NT Apocryphal books - I don’t have any confidence in them.
I realize that is a matter of faith, not logic. Most of my beliefs cannot be proven by logic, and that doesn’t bother me. I think we can only know God by revelation. If my mind was great enough to logic itself to an understanding, I would assume that understanding was wrong - I know my limitations, and I’m not 0.001% big enough to comprehend God.
I don’t think my faith is UNreasonable, but that is quite different from believing it can be proven.
And while I am glad to discuss what I believe with you, I don’t expect or try to prove it to you - we’ve discussed this long enough for you to know that by now. I am responsible for how I live my life, and you are responsible for kosta50.
Of course, someone can do that with the “Sacred Deposit of Faith” too, but I don’t even see where anyone has ever said what was IN that deposit.
As for Protestants twisting scripture - of course we do. All I can claim is that I’m willing to be untwisted, if shown where wrong. And I have done that often in my life.
It is very hard to come to any writing or tradition and not rewrite it in one’s mind based on one’s own experiences. When studying, that is the goal one shoots for, and often misses. Protestants view the study of scripture, not as ‘I’ve got the truth’, but as ‘I’m heading towards the truth’. Scriptures lead us to God, but they are not God Himself.
If Catholics would say, “We’ll believe what we wish, regardless of scripture”, I’d disagree - but at least that would be consistent. It is the claim that their traditions - some dating back a hundred years - match scripture perfectly that drives me nuts.
I hear what you are saying and, believe it it or not, I do respect your honesty. In addition to that, you seem to be a very reasonable person, and fond of learning.
Given our notions influenced by the Bible, it is almost imperative to conclude that we can only "know' God by revelation. But you never answered me just how do you know it's God that is being revealed to you (as the NT reminds us), since we do not know what God's essence is in order to recognize it in some shape or form, whether it be spiritual, by word, or by physical appearance.
In order to know who is human and who is not, we must know what makes human human, i.e. the essence, or humanity. Obviously, it transcends form and shape, and color and size. In other words, we can confidently say that, based on humanity as a concept, we can call all men, regardless of color, race, gender, size, etc. human. We can, knowing that only humans possess a written language, confidently say that "if it talks it's human." we know children are human. We can safely ascertain that a newspaper article is written by a human, that a developing embryo is human, that any word we know and any letter is confidently a human creation, etc.
How do we interpolate unreachable, incomprehensible, unknowable God's essence into ordinary physical phenomena and not run a risk of mistaking, to use the biblical example, Satan for the Angel of Light? How do we say with confidence "this is from God" if we really dont know what God is?
Obviously even in their faith humans are not capable of coming to a common agreement as manifested by various Christian sects and even cults, and a variety of biblical canons, and worship.
In other words, if our logic is not big enough to comprehend God, our faith isn't either.
As for Protestants twisting scripture - of course we do. All I can claim is that I’m willing to be untwisted, if shown where wrong. And I have done that often in my life.
How can I show you that you are "twisted" in your beliefs (not that I am saying you are) if you already believe that the holy spirit led you this far? And what will help you get untwisted if not, OMG! facts and logic? Now you are telling me that your faith does depend on logic (and not on revelation) because it can be "untwisted" by facts (I suppose).
It is very hard to come to any writing or tradition and not rewrite it in one’s mind based on one’s own experiences. When studying, that is the goal one shoots for, and often misses. Protestants view the study of scripture, not as ‘I’ve got the truth’, but as ‘I’m heading towards the truth’. Scriptures lead us to God
While I recognize your perception of human tendencies as part of your knowledge of humanity, I am still in the dark how the Protestants know that scriptures lead one to God? In what sense?
If Catholics would say, “We’ll believe what we wish, regardless of scripture”, I’d disagree - but at least that would be consistent. It is the claim that their traditions - some dating back a hundred years - match scripture perfectly that drives me nuts.
I think every religion has a "working defense department" by which it seeks to justify its existence. Realistically speaking, there is no certificate of authenticity of any orthodoxy except by the fact that the party that called itself orthodox got to write the history. We can speculate whether the victory of the orthodox party was a divine providence as much as an election of a pope, we can be sure that if Arians won the Gospel would be interpreted differently and that would be the standard and the definition of their orthodoxy, and of their sacred deposit.