There is a scriptural basis for everything Catholic that you reject.
Ah, so it is Catholicism that has the extra stuff not contained in the scriptures that He wants me to have.
Sorry, 2 Peter says I need nothing beyond what Christ has given me ...
It is only a tendentious and self-serving reading of the scriptures that allows people to think otherwise.
lol ... Catholics never read the Bible with their own theological view in mind.
Sola scriptura is supported nowhere in any valid version of the Bible.
Your belief that this is so is RCC tradition ... whose sole purpose is to undermine the authority of the Bible in the believers life.
At the last supper, for instance, He said nothing of import that isn’t reported in the Gospels? Really?
And what would you ever use for a source of these things that are missing from the gospels? Anything you use beyond the NT has no apostolic authority, if it had apostolic authority it would have been recognized by all the early churches and would have made it into the NT.
Further, if God wishes to bless us, who are you to say you don’t need what He offers?
When He explicitly states in the scripures that He has already given me everything I need for life and godliness ... why would I seek anything else? What you are trying to argue is that He has NOT given me everything I need (oops, you are ignoring your first pope) ... but rather, I should seek these so-called extra blessings that He will give me through the teachings of the RCC.
If I seek these extra teachings that you are espousing, then I must admit that His word is not true, that He has NOT given me everything I need, and that I need something more. Anathema.
One of the most important things He wants you to have is access to 2,000 years of the intellectual work product of the brightest, holiest men that the world has produced. You might start by chipping away at the surface of that.
You are proceeding from a false assumption ... namely, that the early church fathers present a coherent theology. They had no such thing ... many of them had heretical views about many topics. Can we read them and perhaps glean some insight from them ... occassionally, but when they depart from the Biblical faith espoused in the NT then we are to reject them ... as we would reject an author on a topic today.
There is absolutely no way that any single human being could develop, in a single lifetime, one one-millionth of the understanding that is to be found in Catholic writings.
So perhaps it would be prudent to stick to the text of the Bible.
I initially intended to respond to each of your statements. However, when I reached the end of your post, I realized that we have a possibly insurmountable problem.
I wrote, “There is absolutely no way that any single human being could develop, in a single lifetime, one one-millionth of the understanding that is to be found in Catholic writings.”
Your answer was, “So perhaps it would be prudent to stick to the text of the Bible.”
If we reduce that to a simple syllogism, it looks something like this:
We want to understand Christ’s teachings.
The most authoritative source is the Bible.
Catholic writings are of infinite value in understanding the Bible.
Therefore, a prudent person refuses to read Catholic writings.
Dude, I really hate to have to say this, but that’s not even rational. It’s not the result of clumsy reasoning; it’s not the result of faulty premises; it’s just plain irrational.
To continue a discussion under these circumstances would be useless.
Still, I do feel compelled, in closing, to respond to a few of your remarks.
You wrote, “Ah, so it is Catholicism that has the extra stuff not contained in the scriptures that He wants me to have. Sorry, 2 Peter says I need nothing beyond what Christ has given me...”
Christ gave you the Catholic Church, so, yes: a lot of things that God wants you to have are contained in Catholic teachings.
You wrote, “When He explicitly states in the scripures that He has already given me everything I need for life and godliness ... why would I seek anything else?”
He doesn’t state that everything he gave is in the scriptures. As a matter of fact, everything He gave was passed down by word of mouth before the Gospels were written. You have been taught to turn your back on a great deal of what He has given us. How could you possibly think that you know and understand everything that God has taught or given mankind?
You wrote, “What you are trying to argue is that He has NOT given me everything I need”
There you go again. I am not arguing that God has not given; I am telling you that you fling his gifts back in his face.
You wrote, “but rather, I should seek these so-called extra blessings that He will give me through the teachings of the RCC.”
They are not “so-called extra blessings.” They are a part of the whole, and a part you reject.
Good bye, and good luck.
That sure is my plan. ;o)