That could very well be true. At least it goes to show that I do not think all extra-scriptural Tradition is automatically wrong. :)
If you would like, I can advance the Arius point of view, strictly from the Bible.
If it wouldn't be any trouble, I would be curious to hear it.
The Church was given power to bind and loosen - which includes interpreting Scriptures, exactly what Jewish authorities did, as well. Are you upset that God didn't put you in charge?!
And look at what a stellar job the Jewish authorities did at it! :) I'm not upset that I'm not in charge. I should give thanks to God every day that I am not. :) I only get upset when there's any suggestion that God is not in charge.
Naturally, those who cannot live by their own standards, such as Sola Scriptura - by inventing Sola Fide as well as Sola Scriptura - do not have an agenda!!!
In terms of agreeing with the text of the Bible, I would put Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura up against extra-scriptural Tradition any day of the week. That would be an interesting test, say, to find 100 very bright people who have absolutely zero knowledge of Christianity in any form. Then, have each one of them read the whole Bible. Next, on certain preselected issues, present the two views of Catholicism and of the Reformed Protestants. Finally, ask them to vote on each issue as to which view more closely matches what they read in scripture. I could be wrong, but I don't think it would even be close.
Sanctification is real, especially THROUGH the sacraments of the Church.
I thought for sure you believed that, it just didn't sound like it from your prior post. I even "think" you believe that sanctification is really a part of justification, that sanctification has to do with final salvation.
I have a difficult time wondering why God established a Church that would totally destroy everything Christ taught in less than 100 years - that is the argument of Protestantism that exceeds all other fantasies...
Oh, it's not that bad, we just talked about the Trinity, right? :) My belief IS that the Church strayed, but it's not a fantasy, it's a mystery. Why would God create men just so they could continually turn their back against Him after He only loves them and bestows blessings? I don't know. The Bible is absolutely packed with examples of men being put into power, only for bad things to result. This does not mean "THEREFORE" the Catholic Church is wrong, it just means I don't think they are any more insulated against error than anyone else. (Of course this view is predicated on my belief that God's Church and the RCC are not one and the same.)
LOL! I am beginning to wonder if you actually have read the New Testament. One of the most prominent themes of Scriptures is that men can fall away and they must continue to persevere to the very end - not the fantasy of "once saved always saved". If a person ACTUALLY read the following, tell me how they would STILL come up with OSAS?
Because lawlessness shall abound, the charity of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. Mat 24:12-14
And if thy hand causes thee to fall, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that can never be quenched, where their worm does not die, and the fire is never quenched. Mark 9:43-44
Those on the rock [are] those that when they hear, receive the word with joy, but these have no root, who for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. Luke 8:13
He who does not abide in me shall be cast forth as an [unsound] branch and shall wither, and they are gathered and cast into the fire and are burned. John 15:6
I know this, that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Also from among your own selves, men shall arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. Acts 20:29-30
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13For if ye live according to the flesh, ye shall die; Rom 8:12-13
Do not be highminded, but fear that if God did not forgive the natural branches, neither shall he forgive thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity, but toward thee, goodness if thou continue in [his] goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Rom 10:20-22
Know ye not that the unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor 6:9-10
Neither let us tempt the Christ, as some of them also tempted and perished by the serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and perished by the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them as types, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. Therefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall 1 Cor 10:9-12
I therefore so run, not as unto an uncertain thing; so I fight, not as one that beats the air; but I keep my body under, and bring [it] into subjection, lest preaching to others, I myself should become reprobate. 1 Cor 9:26-27
lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I would have to mourn over many who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed… Examine yourselves whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Do ye not know your own selves if Jesus Christ is in you? Unless ye are reprobates 2 Cor 12:21, 13:5
Now, having known God, or rather being known of God, how do ye turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, in which ye desire again to be in bondage? Gal 4:9
Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Gal 5:1
And you, that were in another time alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled [you] in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and [are] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard Col 1:21-23
It is in order then, brethren, that we beseech and exhort [you] in the Lord Jesus, that in the manner ye were taught of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, [so] ye would continue to grow. For ye already know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For the will of God is your sanctification, that ye should separate [yourselves] from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honesty, not with affection of lust, as the Gentiles who do not know God, That no one oppress and defraud his brother in [any] matter because the Lord [is] the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification. He therefore that despises [us], does not despise man, but God, who has also given unto us his Holy Spirit. 1 Thes 4:1-8
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to saving health through the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in [the] truth, unto which he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and retain the doctrine which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle. 2 Thes 2:13-15
Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, listening to spirits of error and doctrines of demons; that in hypocrisy shall speak lies; having their conscience seared as with a hot iron; 1 Tim 4:1
I desire therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, govern the house, giving no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned back after Satan. 1 Tim 5:14-15
[This is] a faithful word: That if we are dead with [him], we shall also live with [him]; if we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]; if we deny [him], he also will deny us. 2 Tim 2:11-12
They profess that they know God, but in works they deny [him], being abominable and rebellious and reprobate unto every good work.: Titus 1:16
I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, 11if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12Not as though I had already attained [it], either were already perfect, but I follow after, if I may lay hold of that for which I have also been laid hold of by the Christ, Jesus. 13Brethren, I do not reckon to have laid hold of [it] yet, but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind and extending myself unto those things which are ahead, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:10-14
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unfaithfulness, to depart from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called. Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some of those that came out of Egypt with Moses, when they had heard, did provoke; howbeit not all. But with whom was he indignant forty years? [Was it] not with those that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom he swore that they should not enter into his rest, but to those that disobeyed? So we see that they could not enter in because of [their] unbelief: Heb 3:12-18
But we desire that each one of you show the same diligence until the end for the fulfillment of [your] hope, that ye not become slothful, but imitators of those who by faith and patience inherit the promises. Heb 6:11-12
For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful hope of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Heb 10:26-27
Do not lose, therefore, this your confidence, which has great recompense of reward; 36for patience is necessary, so that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. 38Now the just shall live by faith, but if [any man] draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Heb 10:35-39
For judgment without mercy shall be done unto the one that has showed no mercy; and mercy boasts against judgment. My brethren, What shall it profit though someone says [that] they have faith and do not have works? Shall faith be able to save them? James 2:13-14
For it is time that the judgment begins from the house of God; and if [it] first [begins] with us, what shall the end [be] of those that do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous are saved with difficulty, where shall the unfaithful and the sinner appear? 1 Peter 4:17-18
These are spots and blemishes, who eat [together] with you, while at the same time they revel in their deceit, having their eyes full of adultery, and not knowing [how] to cease from sin, baiting unstable souls, having their heart exercised in covetous practices; cursed sons, who forsaking the right way have erred, having followed the way of Balaam [the son] of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, and was rebuked for his iniquity; a dumb animal accustomed to a yoke (upon which he was seated), speaking with man's voice, hindered the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are brought by [a] whirlwind, to whom gross darkness is reserved for ever. For speaking arrogant words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, [through much] wantonness, those that were clean escaped from those who converse in error, promising them liberty, being they themselves the servants of corruption: for he who is overcome by someone is subject to bondage by the one that overcame him. Certainly, if having separated themselves from the contaminations of the world, by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they again entangle themselves therein and are overcome, their latter end is made worse for them than the beginnings. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known [it], to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog returns unto his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. 2 Peter 2:14-22
Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. For if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall abide in you, ye also shall [continue to] abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he has promised us, [even] eternal life. These [things] I have written unto you concerning those that seduce you. 1 John 2:24-26
Look to yourselves, that we not lose those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a fulfilled reward. Whosoever rebels and does not abide in the doctrine of the Christ, does not have God 2 John 8-9
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that does good is of God, but he that does evil has not seen God. 3 John 11
I will, therefore, remind you, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those that did not believe. Jude 5
Bethou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. Rev 2:10
Thou hast a few persons also in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcomes shall likewise be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Rev 3:4-6
This is from ALMOST EVERY book of the New Testament. Either you haven't read it, or you read over such verses and ignore them. Thus, you have a set of beliefs that you twist the Bible to fit your pattern. ALL people who have fallen away from the Catholic Church have done this, from Aruis and the Gnostics to the currently multipling sects of Protestantism. If man was not meant to know God's revelation in truth, then Christ made a mistake that the US Constitution did not fail to make - a living organization that could interpret the written rule for people of today.
I don't see any point in going further on these arguments. You have clearly chosen to reject much of what the Bible says - while holding to Sola Scriptura! I have found your arguments quite frustrating and having no common sense - Scriptures clearly reject much of what you say...
Can faith [without works] SAVE him?" NO! James 2:14
Except to Protestants, this seems pretty darn clear...
God bless