“And it has demonstrated by its opposition to God’s word, that it no longer is whether Catholics want to believe it or not”
Without the Catholic Church there would be no Bible. You read the Bible because the Catholic Church compiled it, and decided what would be put in that Bible. Not baptists, not methodists, not mormans, not muslims, not pentacostals, but Catholics.
Even the protestant’s great hero Luther said without Catholics there would have been no Bible. A little respect is due.
“You read the Bible because the Catholic Church compiled it, and decided what would be put in that Bible.”
Hmmm...so the Catholic Church’s list of scripture agrees with Protestants?
“One thing must be emphatically stated. The New Testament books did not become authoritative for the Church because they were formally included in a canonical list; on the contrary, the Church included them in her canon because she already regarded them as divinely inspired, recognising their innate worth and general apostolic authority, direct or indirect. The first ecclesiastical councils to classify the canonical books were both held in North Africa — at Hippo Regius in 393 and at Carthage in 397 — but what these councils did was not to impose something new upon the Christian communities but to codify what was already the general practice of those communities.”
http://www.bible-researcher.com/bruce1.html
That's all you want, is a little respect? The problem is not only that the church of Rome today is critically and otherwise different than the NT church, but regardless, the often repeated we-gave-you-the-Bible assertion, if it is to have any real import, seems to be arguing that being an instrument and steward of Scripture makes such the infallible authority on it, so that those who dissent from these stewards are rebels against God. Affirm or deny?
I keep asking this because RCs keep making this polemical assertion, but will not answer my question as to its import.
And Luther had respect for the church that preached the Word and for the many great men that faithfully followed the ways of God as I do. I would be reading the Bible today whether the Catholic church had been designated to shepherd it or not. God said He would preserve His Word. So He did. That should be a designation of honor humbly accepted, like Mary did in her role in salvation. It doesn't mean that the Catholic church has had a beneficial effect on the spreading of the Gospel in later years, as it works show.
If you were to actually Luther quote I asure you that you would never, ever say that again. It so condems the Papist heresy that I even shutter.