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You said — “So can I safely assume that you believe that Catholics who believe in their complete Bible are Christians? And everyone else are just pretenders?”

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Actually, if you want to know what the Bible says about being a Christian, one brief explanation is given here —

Romans 10:9-10

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

This is just one reference, as there are other references that help fill out the picture. It’s just an easy one to refer to and one that came to mind. If one wanted to do a study on what salvation is and represents in Christianity, I’m sure they could, but this verse just gets down to the basic point, without a long study or explanation.

As far as one particular denomination representing Christianity — denominations don’t provide Salvation — only Jesus does. Christianity came from the Bible (not denominations) and the Bible is the source for our knowledge of God and Jesus. The Bible is what tells us about salvation and what it entails.

And since there are many “denominations” which say the *exact same thing* about salvation as the Bible does, there’s not a problem with a lot of them. As long as a denomination points to the Jesus of the Bible and presents Jesus as the Bible does, they are doing fine in regards to salvation.

It’s not the denomination which has the power to offer “salvation” — but only Jesus, as the Messiah of Israel (that same Jesus that I described up above, in prior posts — and not the Jesus of Islam, for example or the Jesus of some “cult religions” — it’s only the Jesus of the Bible that Christians are referring to).

So, just remember, it’s not the denominations that “saves” (no Christian church does that). It’s *only* God who saves through Jesus Christ (that’s the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, through Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, as described specifically in the Bible). It matters *not* what denomination that you go to — as long as one is saved by the Jesus of the Bible. The *key* is the *real Jesus* (and not the “fake Jesus” of cults or of aberrant religions).

Finally, you said — “So can I safely assume that you believe that Catholics who believe in their complete Bible are Christians? And everyone else are just pretenders?”

Well, the first thing to say about that is that one must be absolutely clear on the fact that it’s not a ‘church” (or denomination) that “saves” (i.e., “offers salvation”). It is *only* the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who does that, through His Son, Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, who does that (the Jesus as described fully in the Bible and not a “fake Jesus” of cults or Islam).

So, the question is misleading right off the bat. It would give the impression that it’s a “church” that saves, and that’s totally false.

But, having settled that issue of “who saves” and “who offers salvation” we can talk about what the Bible is and what books it consists of.

If one wants to know what the “canon” of Scripture for Christianity is (and was), including the Catholic Church, one just needs to look back in history to see what the Christians of the beginning centuries agreed were the books of the Word of God. In other words, what books did they see, that they recognized the “hand of God” in these writings, through the authors that God picked?

And we see that these were the 66 books of the Bible (Genesis through Revelation) written by the 44 authors that God had picked. The Christians for over a 1,000 years -all- fully recognized these particular books. No one varied, until 1,200 years later. That was the Council of Trent, 4th Session, April 8, 1546, “Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures”.

It was there that a pronouncement was made. And it appears that this was a political move to counteract the Catholic monk, Martin Luther, who is recognized as having sparked the Reformation, which brings many of our present-day Protestant churches. It was found that Martin Luther had some very good arguments and some extra books were “brought in” to counteract some of his arguments. Thus, some books were added, at that time [1546], over 1,500 years after Jesus and His Apostles were on this earth — and long after all Christians had been settled on the issue.

So, there is some *serious* doubt about those books being “in the canon” of Scripture, and legitimately so. Otherwise, they are useful books to read.

BUT — the “saving grace”, in terms of Salvation — is — that it is not found in the Apocrypha (those extra books added 1,500 years after Jesus). Thank goodness for that. It’s found in the 66 books of the Bible that Christians had agreed to for 1,200 years and that most agree to today.

And since Salvation, in Christianity, is not based on a denomination (or a “church”) — but rather on Jesus Christ (of the Bible, as described in the Bible and not as described by cults or Islam) — one need not be concerned with what denomination they are in — as long as they preach the salvation of Jesus, from what the Bible says..

In terms of *salvation* — one only needs to be concerned about what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob provides through His eternal, self-sufficient and uncaused Son — Jesus, the Messiah of Israel.

Denominations are of *absolutely no issue* when it comes to Salvation from the Jesus of the Bible.