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That is why Augustine says, "He cannot have God for his father who does not have the Church for his mother."

With all due respect to Augustine, there is simply NO scriptural basis for that statement. I respect his love for & loyalty to his church, but nowhere in scripture is it said we need a "mother" of any sort or that God alone is not sufficient. This is fundamentally conflicting, to say the least, with scripture. The comment implies one is not exclusive of the other and that is simply not true.

Salvation does not come through a church, whether with a big "C" or a little "c". Salvation comes from the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus is ALL that is necessary for one's salvation. In His FINISHED work on the cross there IS sufficient for all of mankind's salvation. We have no need for a "mother" be it a church or other person. Our Father, in all of His righteousness and Glory, is more than enough for us. He shares His Glory with NO ONE. I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another... - ISAIAH 42:8

To be saved one must be incorporated into Christ's body, to be made a part of His bride, the Church.

That is just not true:

The jailer] "brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:30-31)

"Nowhere in scripture is it said that we need a 'mother' of any sort".

It's quite apparent that Jesus Christ Himself chose to come to us in his body through a mother.

If "we are the body of Christ, member for member" (St. Paul), then we are incorporated in Him through a mother.

It is the way He has chosen to "become flesh and dwell among us."

With all due respect to Augustine, there is simply NO scriptural basis for that statement.

Why must there be a "Scriptural basis" for it? There is no "Scriptural basis" for 'sola scriptura'. Nobody thought in terms of sola scriptura for 1500 years. 'Sola scriptura' is an historical novelty, a modern contrivance completely foreign to the Church which Christ founded. That is why Cardinal Newman said that to be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant. As soon as one comes to understand that for 1500 years the Church recognized the *authority* of bishops, one sees that any group that does not recognize the authority of bishops and which espouses 'sola scriptura' is not the Church that Christ founded and the Apostles spread. A good book about this is Sungenis's Not By Scripture Alone.

-A8