I’ve read part of this and so far it’s like other Catholic writings I’ve read on the same subject - it misuses Scripture. Scripture is just picked out and twisted to confirm what the Catholic priesthood has said. The Catholic Church (meaning the priesthood) puts itself as God (standing in place of Him) over the ordinary believer. What any Christian should really be looking for is how God Himself in any time or place is working. God doesn’t change, but He works all the time, and work changes things and accomplishes things. So we have to ask things like, what was or is God trying to do here, and what does He mean to be permanent and what temporary, and how long is temporary? etc. And the ultimate authority (not only, but ultimate) is His Word, the Bible. So what was happening when, say, Paul wrote to Timothy? There wasn’t the New Testament, but there was the Word of God, through the disciples (and others) who had lived and walked with Jesus and witnessed His Resurrection. The disciples were also Jews, so Cont’d
Just FYI, you can write as much as you want in one post on FR. It’s not like other forums where you have a maximum character count for each post. (Another reason I like FR).
Ultimate authority — the Bible? No.
But how did the Bible come into being?
From person to person communication.
Old Testament and New Testament alike. The Old Testament wasn’t written down until the exile.
Gospels weren’t written until approximately 50 AD to 100 AD.
They got their information through Holy Tradition — mouth to mouth communication before they wrote it down.
**There wasn’t the New Testament, but there was the Word of God, through the disciples (and others) who had lived and walked with Jesus and witnessed His Resurrection.**
Exactly. Thanks for stopping by and verifying the above thesis.
And where in the Bible does it say that it is the ultimate authority? Not an authority, which Catholics accept, but the ultimate authority. And to whom do we appeal if we disagree on the meaning of the Bible, such as about the Eucharist?
Except, of course, that Mark and Luke did not live and walk with Jesus nor did they witness his Resurrection. Their gospels are accepted as Scripture because the church accepted them. The church came before the written New Testament; belief in the New Testament does not produce the church!