My leaders? Please, take me to my leaders, FK. Biblical spiritual truths come from the Faith alone, and the Faith comes from God. The veracity of the Bible is a matter of faith, not fact, that much should be clear to anyone.
You don't believe because you read the Bible; you read the Bible because you believe. Once you have faith, the Bible becomes the Holy Word of God and everything in it is true and real -- on faith alone.
To those who do not believe, the Bible is nothing, as the Koran is nothing to me. The Jews read the same Old Testament but believe in it differently.
The Protestants claim the same Christian faith as the Apostolic Church, but we are night and day apart when it comes to Trinity, Christology, Divine Economy, etc. not to mention, as qua said after calling Church theology "superstition," that Protestants approached the faith with "Hebrew glasses." Indeed, one often wonders if they do not feel more "Hebrew" than Christian.
You Protestants have substituted the Church (from which you were thrown out by your own heresy) with a Bible -- which exists in the form you use because of the very Church you deny.
But there is one thing no one can argue with when it comes to the New Testament: it's spiritual message, apart from all the events, facts and parables. Whether you believe or do not believe, the spiritual message is loud and clear -- it proclaims God's Justice as mercy, love, compassion, and salvation for all mankind. OT doesn't.
One can believe or disbelieve, but the spiritual message of the NT cannot be disputed. It proclaims the ideal of which humanity is capable, with God's help, but unwilling. There is nothing to dispute; there is nothing to disprove in its spiritual message: it remains loving, true, hopeful, eternal and inerrant.
The Protestants claim the same Christian faith as the Apostolic Church, but we are night and day apart when it comes to Trinity, Christology, Divine Economy, etc.
Well said. God bless your patience. I think I am going back to more constructive pursuits for the time being. I have found that my prayer life is not what I want it to be because this effort has taken so much time. Apparently, it has been a fruitless effort. Some false presumptions die hard. I wish you well in your efforts of repeating the orthodox/catholic point of view over and over again.
Brother in Christ
My leaders? Please, take me to my leaders, FK. Biblical spiritual truths come from the Faith alone, and the Faith comes from God.
I have been told a hundred times that for you Biblical spiritual truths do not come from faith alone, instead they come from the Church, or faith in the Church, i.e. your leaders. I have been told, in effect, that you would be lost without the Church to give you spiritual truths. How can this be "Faith alone" from God? Anticipating your response, do you have the same faith in the Church that you have in God?
You Protestants have substituted the Church (from which you were thrown out by your own heresy) with a Bible -- which exists in the form you use because of the very Church you deny.
Yes, "us" Protestants do put the Bible over fallible men. Horrors! :) You can give the Church credit for the Bible all you want, I give the credit to God.
But there is one thing no one can argue with when it comes to the New Testament: it's spiritual message, apart from all the events, facts and parables. Whether you believe or do not believe, the spiritual message is loud and clear -- ...
I agree that the spiritual message is loud and clear. I just think that the power of the message loses something important if it is divorced from the truth of the vehicle. That is, unless it is clear from the context that the vehicle is intentionally metaphorical, such as with parables. How can the hearer fully appreciate the message if he constantly has to decide which parts are fact and which parts are fiction?
For example, what does the rainbow mean to you? We all know that God made a covenant with Noah, but is the rainbow His seal? If not, then does God seal any of His covenants, or is that important? If God doesn't use seals, then were there literally two stone tablets or not? If not, then what was carried in the Ark of the Covenant, or did it even exist? You get my drift, what is a poor Christian to do if he has no idea what to believe in?