***If you are accusing me of Bibliolitry for saying this, then perhaps I made a mistake about you. ............. I don’t know what you mean when you say that words in the Bible “didn’t exist”. Do you mean that since English hadn’t been invented yet that our Bibles must be wrong?***
I am simply saying that since the English words that are in your Bible didn’t exist and they vary from Bible to Bible anyway, that the words that some do worship aren’t God’s - they are translations of translations of translation. In other words, they are the best attempts of fallible men to write the infallible word of God in our language as it is today. The truths are contained within - at least the best translations such as the NAB :) - but the individual words are not necessarily as God would have had written in the original Greek (NT) and Hebrew (OT).
Many Protestants will point at the KJV or NKJV or NIV or... and say that the specific words or phrases mean exactly something based upon their understanding of those words or phrases even though they differ from other translations and therefore somebody else will come up with a different understanding. How can somebody worship words which differ from translation to translation?
***I confess the truth of Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and my God. He is the only begotten Son and He came to earth to save me from my sins. He died and was resurrected, and He lives today! I am a lowly sinner and I need His forgiveness. I have asked Him to come into my life to be my God and to lead me in all things.***
As do all sincere Christians.
*** I also totally reject the earthly authority of the Pope as I understand Catholicism claims it, and I reject the vast majority of Roman Catholic theology as I understand it.***
Then I and other Catholics have fallen short of the mark for being unable to get you to understand it. It is our failing, not yours. It is our burden and something that we shall answer for to Him.
***Am I a member of what you call “God’s Church”? This is how we find out if your side claims ownership over anything.***
The Vatican has said that valid baptism makes you a member, but distancing one’s self from the Catholic Church may imperil one’s soul. We do not own God - we are the creatures of God. We do not attempt to individually define God - we accept His Church’s teachings. Is FK going to eternal salvation? I would certainly think so, but that is entirely up to God. We have God’s Church and the statements of Jesus and the Apostles and the Church Fathers.
I will not play chicken with my soul by gainsaying or second guessing the Apostles and the Church Fathers.
In the case of the NAB I'd say the truth is DEEP within. Extremely deep. Almost unfathomably deep.
The Vatican has said that valid baptism makes you a member, but distancing one’s self from the Catholic Church may imperil one’s soul.
In nit picking mode: I think it's important to say Baptism is the "ordinary" (that is prescribed by the "order" not in the sense of "everyday" or "usual, though the first sense should lead to the second - uh - ordinarily) means of becoming a Christian (= member of The Church). But it is not the beginning of God's call or the Spirit's action. The guy I'm sponsoring for baptism at the Vigil is certainly ready to give his life to Christ and to accept Him as Lord -- so much so that I'd say "to all intents and purposes" he has done so.And as far as imperiling the soul goes, it would be worse for Forest Keeper or anyone whose conscience (which is more an affair of thought than of "gut feeling") informed by study, prayer, deliberation, consultation with wise and holy people and so forth told him that we are wrong. Following your conscience may lead one to do something wrong, but it is always wrong not to follow one's conscience, I (with Aquinas) would say.
I would say, in the face of corrupt Catholics everywhere and my own manifest, ah, imperfections, that my THINKING is that Dominus Iesus of on the ball, and that the full ministrations of grace, with all the help and "consolations" they can provide are so wonderfully beneficial that to reject them is to lose a lot. And in that way, the peril is increased to those outside the Church.
There are other aspects which are less blatantly supernatural. Accommodating myself to the incredible diversity of people in the RC Church, seeking in the spirit of Romans 14-15 to seek the good of those whose style of piety is different from my own, making myself subject in small things to others, these are good for one, and provide opportunities which with grace can lead to virtue. (So I hear, anyway.)
I guess I"m trying to say that if the best you can do and think leads someone to think we are wrong, then they must not seek to enter into closer union with us. But, I think, in so doing they, miss out on some good stuff.
Of course, they think something similar about us. All I'm trying to do here is to develop the notion of imperiling the soul" Not to say, "We're right and you're not, nyah!"
I don't know anyone around here who worships words. W(w)ords are not God, but they are His power. To the extent I have sympathy for what you are saying is one reason I like the NIV, idea for idea. However, I can't think of a SINGLE theological or material difference on anything, that I have with a devotee of the KJV, such as Dr. E., based on differences in text. The KJV is a wonderful text and I now consult it often. I've never found any major conflicts. I have been showed one or two examples that look pretty different, but nothing to cause me to change a view.
Then I and other Catholics have fallen short of the mark for being unable to get you to understand [Catholicism]. It is our failing, not yours. It is our burden and something that we shall answer for to Him.
Don't worry, all of you have done your noble best. I do not at all feel like I'm hurting for information. :)
Is FK going to eternal salvation? I would certainly think so, but that is entirely up to God.
I thank you for the sentiment and I do return it. It is definitely more charitable than others I have received. :)