Posted on 10/15/2001 6:54:40 AM PDT by malakhi
Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. - John Adams |
Huh? I thought dignan was the one posting that.
Well, yeah, history rolls on. There are folks who aren't even in Pennsylvania who claim to have the first pro player. Historians can debate about it, but the NFL declared Latrobe the birthplace of pro football. It even says as much at the Latrobe stadium. The NFL has spoken.
SD
Huh? I thought dignan was the one posting that.
Yeah, but you were thinking it.
SD
LOL! After all this time, still no bet payment?
Works for me! ;o)
I knew I could count on you to post that! LOL!!!!!!
SoothingDave ... mindreader. ;o)
Becky
Thanks Becky, I found it. Looks like 'Conservative til I die' started it with his #3271, but no one really took him to task until 'nobdysfool' in #3302, a few hours later. Then, as a certain IFBB said, "Now it could get interesting!".
Becky
To which you said in answer: The Bible is God's revealed Word, and complete in all matters of faith and Godliness.
The Bible is "complete" in that it consists of a closed canon to which nothing has been added since the 4th Century. Would those who closed the canon have included any works as Scripture which they though inconsisent with the doctrine they taught or the liturgy they employed? Yet this was substantially what is now taught by the Catholic and the Orthodox churches, doctrines which Protestants reject.
The convoluted Catholic Church hierarchy is not found in the Bible, nor is its practice of priests and bishops standing between the people and God. Jesus is our High Priest, who ministers before the Throne of God, and it is He who has bought our passage into the Holy of Holies with His own Blood, that we may stand before God's Throne and petition God directly for those things we desire of Him. It is He who we are to confess our sins to, it is He who we are to draw near to in fellowship and worship. I repeat, there is one mediator between God and man, the Man, Jesus Christ. We are all Christ's representatives here on earth. The division of the church into clergy and laity is an artificial division, created by men to maintain and exert control over the masses. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, there everyone is equal.
You, like Luther, BEGIN with the rejection of the authority of the hierarchy and THEN turn to the Scripture to justify what was for him and all ex-Catholics an act of rebellion and for Protestants in general a basic principle. Protestantism is what remains of Christianity without a priesthood, and I think it it as the artifice of men attenpting to begin from scratch and rebuild the church from what they can find in Scripture.Having rejected hierarchy, of course they see none there.
If I may pretend to read the New Testament naively--which is something I think impossible--still I see a hierarchy. Peter is the obvious leader of the Twelve and chief spokesman. Paul "fathers" churches and leaves behind "bishops" like Timothy to minister to their needs after the Apsotle has passed on. aAccording to Acts, Paul himself went to Peter and to the Church--- to "ground himself" in the Truth, so that after failing as a missionary, he now begins his success story. No, the Peter of Acts was no "pope," No "prelate of Rome" but now only the outstanding personality in the Church. "Running the Church" was not his job. Peter "founds" the church of Rome not by ecclesiastical edict but by becoming a martyr in Rome, a city favored also by the martyrdom of Paul. From this seed grew the institution of the papacy. Those obscessed with primitiveness will no more see John Paul II in Peter than the sophisticate will see the man in the fetus, but I have no difficulty with this"convoluted" mustard tree.
Becky
Is this a trick question? ;o)
I think maybe it was Jerry Jones, or was it Brett Favor (after all, isn't that the way it should be pronounced?).
Your memory is better than you think it is. Dig used to post the readings and followed them with the standard "Pray for JPII"
Becky
Just say something about horses. :-)
SD
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.