>>How do you know you were regenerated BEFORE your baptism?<<
By the fruit produced from it. By the fact that my heart was rent and I saw my sin for the first time as the vile and nasty thing it is. By the fact that my desires, opinions, and convictions started coming from a different viewpoint.
I was regenerated in February - I wasn't baptized until August of the following year. My baptism was a public profession of my belief to other believers, it did not save me or convict me.
>>I never said that the Church is the Word of God<<
No, you alluded that Christ did not establish the Bible, he established the Church. I showed you that the Word was alive from the very beginning.
>>I am not talking about the building, but the Apostolic Church, which is a community of believers who continue in the Apostolic succession.<<
Thank you for clarifying, but be sure to note to whom you're giving the credit for not only salvation, but also the fruit that is produced.
The Church says that God is preparing you to receive His Spirit, to confess faith in Him, a preparation for Baptism. Adults don't become baptized until the Spirit begans to prepare them by repentance and such. But this is not regeneration. Regeneration, as the Scripture notes, is the washing of our sins, not being sorry about them.
My baptism was a public profession of my belief to other believers, it did not save me or convict me.
Scripture clearly tells us that through Baptism, we are buried with Christ, our sins are forgiven, we become new creations, not before. All the repentance and such was preparation that God worked within you to accept Baptism.
No, you alluded that Christ did not establish the Bible, he established the Church. I showed you that the Word was alive from the very beginning.
Christ did not establish the Bible. But the Bible is not the WORD of God in its true ontological sense. Jesus Christ is the WORD of God, not the Bible. The Scriptures are a sacramental sign of God's presence, His recorded words to us. The Scriptures were not "alive" from the beginning. Again, Christ left to us a Church, a community of men led by the Apostles with the commission to preach and teach and baptize, not to write a Scripture that would be read outside the Church's interpretation of it! We highly treasure the Scriptures, but it is not the entire word of God, nor is it the WORD of God.
Thank you for clarifying, but be sure to note to whom you're giving the credit for not only salvation, but also the fruit that is produced.
Catholics don't deny that Christ saves us! We say that He chooses to save us THROUGH the Church. We receive His Body THROUGH the Church. We hear His words THROUGH the Church. We are forgiven of deadly sins THROUGH the Church. We are brought into the Church THROUGH Baptism performed by the Church. God continues to call people to Himself THROUGH the Church. The Church is the means by which Christ extends His work of redemption to all men.
Regards