No, I am asking that people keep an open mind. Don't ascribe some motive to me, ok?
The Catholic Church determined the Canon of scripture? Without the Catholic Church you Protestatnts wouldn't have a Bible?
Puhleeze. Take your one liner talking points elsewhere.
The Roman Catholic Church can hardly take credit for the OT portion of the Bible. The Jewish people wrote that. LOL.
As for the New Testament, it will take more than presumption on your part to convince anyone that the RCC wrote the New Testament.
As an example of RC ridiculousness, I do know that the RCC relies on 1 Clement to buttress one of its doctrines - Apostolic Succession.
Peroblem is, is that 1 Clement was either written before or after 88 AD. If it was written before 88 AD, then Clement was not writing it as a so-called "pope", so how does 1 Clement carry any authority, then, since the RCC does not consider 1 Clement as Canonical?
If it was written after 88 AD, then Clement was writing it with the authority of a so-called "pope." Right?
Problem is, is that Clement in 1 Clement, describes the mythical phoenix as an actual living creature!:
"Let us consider that wonderful sign that takes place in eastern lands - that is, in Arabia and the countries around it. There is s certain bird that is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and it lives for five hundred years. When the time of its dissolution draws near for it to die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, myrrh, and other spices. When the time has come, it enters the nest and dies. But as the flesh decays, a certain kind of worm is produced, which, being nourished by the essence of the dead bird, produces feathers. (Clement of 'Rome'?, 1 Clement c. 96 AD).
Given what Clement says here, if 1 Clement was written by Clement when he was a so-called "pope" then the RCC doctrine of the Apostolic Succession is tied to the mythical phoenix.
And that's a nice albatross hanging around its neck!
You see, not many are aware of the RCC's juicy little secrets...like this one.
Abraham was born in 1948; thus he knew Noah and was 58 years old when Noah died. It is fascinating that from Adam to Abraham there was a word-of-mouth tradition spanning only four people: Adam, Lemech, Noah and Abraham.
Similarly, Moses, through whom the Torah was given saw Kehath who saw Jacob, who saw Abraham. Accordingly, there were not more than seven people who carried the tradition firsthand from Adam to the generation that received the Torah. (Abarbenel)
Hmmmm, I don't know about RCC bashing, but that would nicely explain the funny looking butterfly in Polly's cage after Polly's demise...
Yes, and the fact that so few people supposedly know these juicy little secrets about the Catholic Church indicates that these bits of knowledge are not factual.
"Let us consider that wonderful sign..." Would you have such a strong objection if it were translated "symbol"?
I would hope you wouldn't, but even if you did, you would merely be further exemplifying your anti-Catholic bias. You see, what Clement is saying here is that the phoenix is indeed a "sign" or a "symbol" of what resurrection is, that is, the concept of resurrection. He's not saying that Jesus' resurrection is the same as the phoenix, and indeed, there is no language in that paragraph to indicate that he believes the phoenix to be a mythical beast on par with God, Jesus or the Church.
You go on to further state that this is what Apostolic Succession is based on, the story of the phoenix. This is patently false, and easily demonstrable as such by a simple re-reading of the text (the ENTIRE epistle) in question, to see this is the case. The example of the phoenix is given in Chapter 25, but the discussion of apostolic succession doesn't occur until chapter 42! How you get that the one paragraph in chapter 25 is related to Chapter 42 (and after Chap. 42), is beyond my comprehension. Maybe you could explain that. ( this is the best one I saw at the site you provided, it's the clearest to read: 1 Clement's First Epistle)
At any rate, this claim you make about 1 Clement's teaching is, IMO, pure anti-Catholic tripe. Maybe Jack Chick would like it. e-mail him.
Don't assume that everyone who objects to this propaganda is a Catholic. Or even Christian. That would be inaccurate.